own Sister Miriam for using some undutiful speeches against him was strucken by God with an exceeding great Leprosie and so odious was the murmuring of Korab Dathan and Abiram and their Confederates as the Lord caused the Earth to open and to swallow some of them quick and the Fire to consume the rest Joshua succeeding Moses the People professed their Subjection and Obedience unto him saying All that thou hast commanded us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go as we obeyed Moses in all things so will we obey thee Whosoever shall rebel against thy Commandment and will not obey thy Words in all that thou dost command him let him be put to death During the Reign of all the Judges though the People are noted for many great Enormities yet we do not find that they rebelled or shewed any great disobedience against them whom God had set over them to rule them except the particular murmuring and opposition of the Ephramites against Gideon and Jephtha at their first entrance upon conceit they had been contemned which opposition God punished with a great overthrow of them When the People had Kings according to the manner of other Nations to order and govern them their subjection was rather encreas'd than diminished according to Samuel's description of the King's Claim or manner of ruling which should reign over them To command not only over the Persons of his Subjects but also over their Goods which manner of ruling or dealing by any King without a just cause as it was Tyranny so to deny it when the necessity of the King and State did require it according to the Laws of the Kingdom was a great neglect of preserving the publick good and a high degree of disobedience Besides it is generally agreed upon that Obedience to Kings and civil Magistrates is prescribed to all Subjects in the Fifth Commandment where we are enjoyn'd to honour our Parents Whereby it followeth that subjection of Inferiours unto their Kings and Governours is grounded upon the very Law of Nature and consequently that the Sentences of Death awarded by God himself against such as shewed themselves disobedient and incorrigible to their Parents or cursed them or struck them were likewise due unto those who committed any such Offences against their Kings and Rulers being the Heads and Fathers of their Commonwealths and Kingdoms which is not only apparent by way of consequence but likewise by Example Practice and Precept as where Shimei is judged to die for cursing of David the Lord 's Anointed where David himself appointed by God to succeed King Saul would not be induced by any perswasions to lay violent hands upon his Master the King and where it is said Principi populi tui non maledices and again Ne maledicas Regi in corde tuo to which purpose more might be alledged CAN. XVI IF any Man therefore shall affirm that it was lawful in the Old Testament either for Children or Nephews to have been disobedient to their Fathers being their chief Governours from the Creation till Moses's time or afterward for the Children of Israel either under Moses Joshua the Iudges or their Kings to have been disobedient to them in their lawful Commandments or to have murmured or rebelled against them or that it was in those times more lawful unto Subjects for any cause whatsoever either to curse their Princes Kings or civil Governours or to bear Arms against them or to depose them from their Kingdoms or Principalities or to lay violent hands upon their Persons than it was in the said times lawful upon any occasion for Children either to have cursed their Parents or to have rebelled against them when they did reprove or correct them or to have withdrawn themselves from their subjection saying unto them they being private Men We will be no more your Children or you shall be no more our Fathers or bearing civil Authority over them we will depose you from your Government over us and will be no longer ruled by you or to have offered any violence unto them or to have beaten them and much less to have murthered them He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XVII WHen God appointed Princes Judges and Kings to Reign over his people the manner usually was that they had notice of it thereby to conform themselves to obedience Moses and Aaron acquainted the Israelites with God's pleasure for their deliverance out of Egypt by their service agreeably to his Promise formerly made to Abraham and they chearfully and with great thankfullness submitted themselves to be ruled by them God having appointed Joshua to succeed Moses the same was signified by Moses to the Israelites and they willingly protested their obedience unto him Likewise no sooner did the Lord assign Judges to defend and govern them but presently they followed and obeyed them Upon the people's request Samuel having anointed Saul for their King when the same was made apparent to them either by casting of Lots or by answer from the Lord they shouted when they saw him and said God save the King King David being anointed by Samuel at God's appointment to succeed King Saul and after Saul's Death coming thereupon by God's direction to Hebron the Tribe of Judah presently anointed him again for their King and yielded themselves to be governed by him Seven years after all which time King David had Wars with Ishbosheth Saul's Son the rest of the Tribes came unto David and acknowledged that God had ordained him to be their Governour King David growing old and having appointed by God's direction his Son Solomon to be anointed King in his own Life time when the people knew that Zadok the Priest had so anointed him they forthwith upon the blowing of the Trumpets said all with one Voice God save King Solomon Afterwards also the like course was held upon the Death of every King to make his Successor known to the people Sometimes they were so addicted unto new Kings as they expected no further Circumstance but submitted themselves to their Government and sometimes it was held fit for the young Princes to imitate King David's Example by kind usage and loving words to knit more firmly their Subjects hearts unto them Placet eis CAN. XVII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the callings of Moses of Aaron of Joshua of the Iudges of Saul of David of Solomon or of any other of the Kings of Judah elected and named by God himself or coming to their Kingdoms by Succession according as Jacob by the Spirit of Prophecy had foretold did receive any such virtue or strength from the people their said notice presence and applause as that without the same the said callings of God either by Name or by Succession had been insufficient or that if the people had withstood any of them so called by God as is aforesaid they
had not thereby sinned and unjustly opposed themselves against God or that the Kingdom of Judah by God's Ordinance going by Succession when one King was dead his Heir was not in Right their King however by some Athaliah he might be hindred from enjoying it or that the people were not bound without any further circumstance upon sufficient notice of their former King's Death to have obey'd his Heir Apparent as their lawful King he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XVIII ALthough we doubt not but that the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament were reckon'd amongst the rest of such as were subject to their Princes Judges and Kings yet we have thought it fit to make the same more apparent by some particulars Aaron the chief Priest and the rest of the Levites after that Aaron was possest of the high Priesthood were at Moses's direction all the time that he lived and when he the said Aaron had in some sort forgotten his duty to Moses in joining with his Sister undutifully against him he found his offence therein and did humbly submit himself in this sort to him Alas my Lord I beseech thee lay not this sin upon us which we have foolishly committed It is likewise manifest in the Book of Joshua that Eleazer who succeeded Aaron with the rest of the Priests and Levites under him dispos'd of themselves and of their service as Joshua their Prince and Governour did command them And how obedient and humble both the Priests and the Levites and the Prophets themselves were to their Kings the Examples of Zadok Jehojadah Azariah Helchiah Nathan and divers others do declare they submitted themselves to their directions and when they came into their presence made Obeysance before them upon their Faces to the ground Likewise having Offices distributed and assigned severally unto them by sundry Kings they executed the same in the service of the Temple accordingly And as while they did their duties they were cherished so upon any notorious offence committed by them they were censur'd and punished Solomon deposed Abiathar from the High Priesthood and placed Zadok in his room And Josiah likewise thrust all the Priests from the Altar of the Lord in Hierusalem who had burnt Incense in the high places Placet eis CAN. XVIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Priests in the Old Testament were not as rightly and properly subjects to the civil Governours as the rest of the people or that when they any ways offended they might not be punished as lawfully by them as any others he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XIX AS we have said of the people that when the Kings of Judah were to succeed one another their Duty was to come together with joy and gladness to receive them for their Kings as sent unto them as from God himself and accordingly to submit themselves unto their Authority and Government so at such times the Priests for the most part besides their general duties as Subjects had some further service to be then by them perform'd the parts of which service are all of them manifest in the advancement of King Solomon to the Royal Throne of his Father King David where the Priests by King David's direction did give thanks to God and prayed for King Solomon they offered the peoples Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for their new King and Zadok the High Priest did himself anoint him Howbeit this their service thus by them perform'd did neither give to King Solomon any Right or Title to succeed his Father nor to themselves any priviledge or exemption from their subjection and Obedience unto him Abiathar the High Priest did anoint Adoniah to have succeeded King David and no Duty of likelyhood was omitted which was to be done in such a solemn action but thereby Adoniah received nothing but a badge of Treason against the King his Father which he carried with him to his Grave and Zadok the High Priest notwithstanding that he had anointed King Solomon was afterward as much subject and as dutiful unto him as he had been before unto his Father King David Nay the greater the services are of any persons to their Soveraigns the greater is and so ought to be their subjection and obedience unto them CAN. XIX IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Adoniah was ever lawfully King of the Israelites because Abiathar the High Priest had anointed him or that King Solomon received from Zadok or from the holy Oyl which he poured upon his Head any Interest to his Fathers Kingly Seat which he had not before by the Ordinance of God and his Fathers appointment or that Abiathar might not justly have been condemn'd for a Traytor in that he anointed Adoniah as is aforesaid the Right of the Kingdom being then in King David and in him by God's appointment to be disposed of and bestow'd upon his younger Son Solomon or that it had not been a traiterous offence in Zadok if being commanded thereupon by King David to anoint King Solomon he should have refused so to have done or that either Zadok or any other Priest who afterward according to their duties anointed the Kings of Judah were thereby more exempted from their subjection and obedience unto them than were the rest of the people by their joy and applause when their Kings were newly advanced to their Kingdoms he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XX. AS it is apparent in the Scriptures that the Israelites generally as well the Priests as the People were equally bound as Subjects personally to honour reverence and obey their Kings So is it there also as manifest that the Authority of their Soveraigns over them did not only extend to civil Causes but in like manner to Causes Ecclesiastical For as it was then the duty of Parents so by the Law of Nature was it of good Kings and Civil Magistrates to bring up their Children and Subjects in the true service and worship of God as having a care committed unto them not only of their Bodies but likewise of their Souls In which respect the chief charge that all Subjects and inferiour Persons of what condition soever should diligently observe the said Law of Nature being the very same in substance that God writing with his own Finger gave unto Moses and stiled by the name of his Ten Commandments was principally imposed upon Kings and civil Rulers They were to provide that their Subjects had no other God but him who made Heaven and Earth that they made to themselves no graven Images nor bow'd down to them nor worship'd them that they did carefully meet at certain times to serve honour and magnifie the Name of God and that they might not be negligent in the observing of the rest of his Commandments And albeit through the sin of our first Parents both Kings and Subjects were become unable so to perform these their Duties of Piety
executed that Judgment upon the said King and afterward so vanquished the Moabites and subdued them under the hand of Israel as the whole Land was at rest from the oppression of their Enemies eighty years Besides it is to be observ'd that as God's appointing by Name and Election of Moses Joshua and Saul and after that the Kingdom was held by Succession the very being of the King's Son and the true Heir Apparent after his Father's Death gave unto them all the actual Interest Right and Possession as Possession in those cases is to be expounded of their several Governments to do any act or acts as well before as after any subsequent Formalities and Ceremonies even so the said form of calling the Judges by God himself immediately made them also Judges actually and did give unto them a full and absolute Authority independent upon any but upon him that gave it them to undertake any thing that by God's direction appertain'd to their places Again there is one other Example of Jehu amongst the Kings of Israel which we have before touched like unto this of Ahud wherein it appeareth that he the said Jehu was of a Subject first made the King of Israel before it was lawful for him to have killed Joram As Ahud a Subject was first made the Judge Prince and Ruler of the People before he might have lawfully killed King Eglon. Both which Examples being but in number two throughout the Histories of all the Princes Judges and Kings either of Judah or Israel do make it known unto us That although the Lord both may and is able to overthrow any Kings or Emperours notwithstanding any claim right title or interest which they can challenge to their Countries Kingdoms or Empires yet foreseeing in his Heavenly Wisdom and Divine Providence what mischief private Men under colour of these Examples might otherwise have pretended or attempted against their Soveraigns as being either discontented of themselves or set into some fury by other Malitious Persons he did so order and dispose of all things in the Execution of these such his extraordinary Judgments as that thereby it might plainly appear to any that should not willfully hoodwink himself never to be lawful for any Person whatsoever upon pretence of any Revelation Inspiration or Commandment from his divine Majesty either to touch the Person of his Soveraign or to bear Arms against him except God should first advance the said Person from his private Estate and make him a King or an absolute Prince to succeed his late Master in his Kingdom or Principality CAN. XXVII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that any godly or dutiful Subject in the Old Testament did ever by the direction of God's Spirit account this fact of Ahud to be a lawful Warrant for him to have murder'd the Kings under whose subjection he lived for any cause whatsoever though he should have had never so many motions in his heart thereunto or that the High-Priest himself or all the rest of the Priests who then lived join'd together with him could have given Authority to any Person born a Subject to have so dealt with his Soveraign though he had been never so wicked and that such his Death might have availed the Church in their Opinions never so greatly or that either the said High-Priest and all his Consistory of Priests might lawfully have encouraged any who being born Subjects should have pretended in their Zeal toward Religion never so many Illuminations Directions or Commandments from God to have laid violent hands upon their King the Lord 's anointed for their proceeding in that course or that any Person born a Subject and affirming by all the Arguments which Wit or Learning could devise that God had called him to murther the King de facto under whom he lived yea though he should have first procured himself to be proclaimed and anointed King as Adonijah did and should afterward have laid violent hands upon his Master ought therefore to have been believed of any that feared God except which is impossible he should first prove his Credit in so affirming to be equal with the Scriptures and that Men were bound as strictly to believe him in saying that God called and stirred him up to the perpetrating of that fact as we are bound to believe the Holy Ghost by whose Instinct the Scriptures were written when he telleth us that God raised up Ahud for a Saviour to his People He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXVIII HItherto in the whole course of that mild and temperate Monarchical Government which it pleased God to establish among his own People the duty of Inferiour Persons and Subjects of all sorts was ever Obedience They neither took upon them to chuse their Governours nor to bear Arms against them Howbeit it happened otherwise amongst some other Nations Nimrod not contenting himself with the portion which by Noah's general direction appertained unto him could never have erected his Tyrannical Government if a number of rebellious and discontented Persons had not cleaved unto him as the factious Sichemites did to Abimelech and made him their King The Romans having Kings rebelled against them and took the Government into their own hands the execution whereof did trouble them exceedingly Sometimes they committed it to many and sometimes to fewer their two Annual Consuls pleased them long but at the last they thought it fit to have a Dictator till in the end Julius Caesar and Augustus reduced their Government again into a Monarchy And as the Romans dealt with their Kings so did the People in some other Countries with their Governours Whereupon divers other kinds of Governments termed according to their Temper Aristocratical Political Tyrannical Oligarchical or Democratical c. were afterwards setled in many places The Inconveniencies of which Forms of Government being found upon many occasions oftentimes to be very great the People have been driven of necessity in sundry Countries to frame them again as near as they could to the Monarchical Government either by electing to themselves Kings upon certain Conditions to reign over them or by appointment of Dukes or Princes to be the Managers of their chief Affairs according as they themselves should direct them Besides as the said rebellious Humours of the People declining from their Obedience did in many Countries alter that temperate and fatherly Government which Noah had prescribed unto his Off-spring and which God himself established afterward amongst his own People so did the ambitious and insatiable dispositions of sundry no less elsewhere impeach the same as by the beginning and progress of the four Monarchies it is most apparent In all which Abberrations from the said mild and temperate Government before specified Almighty God who for the Sins of any Nation or Country altereth their Governments and Governors transferreth setteth up and bestoweth Kingdoms as it seemeth best to his heavenly Wisdom did ever by his Foresight and Providence so
by the Maccabees themselves because he was a Priest of the Seed of Aaron did traiterously notwithstanding and treacherously Murder sundry of the Jews and held the Government of that Country till Judas Maccabaeus put him to flight Howbeit accusing the Maccabees again of wicked things he urged afterward the said King to send a new Army against them and was himself as it seemeth in the Host when Judas Maccabaeus was slain Besides it is also reported of him how he commanded that the Walls of the Inner-Court of the Sanctuary should be destroy'd and how he pulled down the Monuments of the Prophets and how in that his so wicked and profane an attempt he was stricken with the Palsey and died with great torment Now concerning Onias who if he had been of lawful Age and might have had his right ought to have been High-Priest before both his Uncles Jason and Menelaus when he perceiv'd that Alcimus had gotten that place and saw no probability how he might get it from him he fled into Egypt and there procured a Temple to be built like unto that in Hierusalem whereof he was made the principal Ruler So greedy was he of the High-Priesthood that seeing he might not be High-Priest in Hierusalem he would needs be a High-Priest in Egypt against God's Command But perhaps the High-Priesthood amongst the Jews was better bestow'd afterwards Indeed now it came into the hands of the Maccabees but how they used it there is little mention It is probable that being so distracted as they were and so continually in a manner vexed with Wars they had no time to execute that office in such sort as otherwise divers of them no doubt would have done But it cannot be denied that some of that rank were greatly puffed up with that Authority and did thereby much forget themselves and the holy Duties appertaining to the High-Priesthood Else would not Aristobulus have so unnaturally famished his own Mother nor have suffer'd the cruel Murther of his Innocent Brother Antigonus nor would Alexander succeeding Aristobulus have committed the like Murther upon his younger Brother nor would afterward the two Sons of the said Alexander viz. Hircanus and Aristobulus have grown through their ambitious desires to such mortal hatred For Aristobulus thrusting his eldest Brother Hircanus from the High Priesthood and he the said Hircanus continuing still his claim they never ceased their Hostility till Pompey having subdued them both brought both them and the whole Country under the subjection of the Romans We omit what great sums of money they bestowed on either side to procure Pompey's favour to whom they had committed the deciding of their Causes and also how Hircanus assisted Pompey in his attempt against Hierusalem partly in hope thereby to get the High Priesthood and partly in malice against his Brother who as long as he could defended that City the Issue of all which strife was this Pompey subdued the City slew twelve thousand Men Aristobulus is put from the High Priesthood the civil Government is separated again from the High-Priesthood the High Priesthood is bestowed upon Hircanus for his Service and the civil Government thenceforth translated to strangers the Temple was spoiled and Hierusalem was made Tributary to the People of Rome Of all which Calamities falling in this sort upon the Jews the dissention betwixt Hircanus and Aristobulus was held in those days to have been the cause to the great blemish of their credits professing themselves to be God's High-Priests Besides while Jason Menelaus Alcimus and the Maccabees were busied in their said Un-Priestly Contentions and Greekish profanations divers Sects of Religion arose and encreased among the Jews especially that of the Pharisees a crafty and an arrogant kind of Men seditiously bent against their Kings and impugners without fear of their Authority In which course they were the rather animated because they found through their Hypocrisy that Women were generally addicted to them and that the People did so admire them as they believed in effect whatsoever they told them against any although it were never so false or maliciously devised by them And thus Religion went in those days when the Priests had gotten the Reins into their own hands although we doubt not but that there were some few notwithstanding both of the Priests and of the People who disliking of all their said hypocritical ambitious profane and wicked Practices cover'd sometimes with a pretence of Zeal and sometimes with the glorious name of the High Priesthood did truly from their hearts both fear and serve the Lord. CAN. XXXII IF any Man therefore because in the Law of God there was great obedience to the High-Priest prescribed and required or that it is said by the Prophet That the Priests Lips should preserve knowledge and that the People should seek the law of his mouth whereas the meaning of the Holy Ghost in those and such like places only is that the High-Priests were to be obeyed when they commanded that which was not repugnant to the law of God and that the Lips of the Priests ought to preserve knowledge shall affirm either that it was not wickedly done by their Priests to thrust the People into many imminent dangers for the maintenance of their lewd quarrels and factions or that they did not grievously offend God when they forsook his true worship and brought heathenish and profane Sacrifices into his Temple or that the People were bound to obey when they requir'd them to conform themselves to the Idolatrous worship of the Heathen or that it was lawful for any of the said High-Priests by injury bribery or cruelty to seek the High Priesthood or that the Priests and People that joined with them did not wickedly who assisted Pompey to invade Hierusalem and to bring their own Countrey in Bondage to the Romans or that any such Pharisaical Sects never ordained by God were lawfully then permitted to seduce the simpler sort of the People leading them into Factions and Dislike of their Superiours He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXXIII THE Jews being subdued by the Romans and brought under their subjection about sixty years before the coming of Christ were used by them very kindly and with great respect They had liberty granted them to live according to their own Laws so as they paid their Tributes and framed their Behaviour to Quietness and Obedience Hircanus the High-Priest placed by Pompey lived long after in great Authority But nothing would satisfie them till in the end it came to pass that as the Ambition and Strife betwixt Hircanus and Aristobulus brought Pompey upon them so now their own Wickedness and rebellious Hearts were the cause of their greater Servitude Afflictions and Miseries The remnant of the Maccabees Aristobulus and his two Sons Alexander and Antigonus would never desist from their rebellious Attempts until they were all cut off Antipater the first Governour or Procurator appointed
Shadows Sacrifices and whatsoever else was typical in the true Worship of God and Priesthood of Aaron were truly fulfilled and had their several Accomplishments according to the Natures of them Yet we are further to understand that as from the beginning there was a Church so there was ever a Ministry the Essential parts of whose Office howsoever otherwise it was burdened with Ceremonies did consist in these three Duties viz. 1. Preaching of the Word 2. Administration of Sacraments and 3. Authority of Ecclesiastical Government and that none of all the said Figures Shadows and Sacrifices or any other Ceremony of the Levitical Law had any such relation to any of the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry as if either they the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry had only been ordain'd for their continuance until the coming of Christ or that the accomplishment or fulfilling of the said Ceremonies had in any sort prejudiced or impeached the Continuance of them or any of them So as the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry were in no sort abolished by the Death of Christ but only translated from the Priesthood under the Law to the Ministry of the New Testament Where in the judgment of all Learned Men opposite in divers points one to another they do or ought for ever to remain to the same End and Purpose for the which they were first ordain'd Now concerning the two first Essential Parts of this our Ministry or Priesthood of the New Testament there are no Difficulties worthy the insisting upon how they are to be used Only the third Essential Part of it as touching the Power of Ecclesiastical Regiment is very much controverted and diversly expounded extended and applied For some Men relying upon one Extremity do affirm That it was in the Apostles time radically inherent only in St. Peter and so by a certain consequence afterwards in his supposed Vicar the Bishop of Rome to be derived from St. Peter first to the rest of the Apostles and other Ministers while he lived and then after his Death in a fit proportion to all Bishops Pastors and Ministers to the end of the World from the Bishops of Rome and that St. Peter during his time and every one of his Vicars the Bishops of Rome successively then did and still do occupy and enjoy the like Power and Authority over all the Churches in the World that Aaron had in the Church established amongst the Jews There are also another sort of Persons that run as far to another extremity and do challenge the said Power and Authority of Ecclesiastical Regiment to appertain to a new Form of Church-Government by Presbyteries to be placed in every particular Parish Which Presbyteries as divers of them say are so many compleat and perfect Churches no one of them having any dependency upon any other Church So as the Pastor in every such Presbytery representing after a sort Aaron the High Priest there would be by this project if it were admitted as many Aarons in every Christian Kingdom as there are particular Parishes And the Authors of both these so different and extream conceits are all of them most resolute and peremptory that they are able to deduce and prove them out of the Form of Church-Government which was established by God himself in the Old Testament Howbeit notwithstanding all their vaunts and shews of Learning by perverting the Scriptures Councils and ancient Fathers the Mean betwixt both the said extreams is the truth and to be embraced viz. That the administration of the said Power of Ecclesiastical Regiment under Christian Kings and supream Magistrates doth especially belong by the Institution of Christ and of his Apostles unto Arch-Bishops and Bishops This Mean bearing the true Pourtraicture and infallible Lineaments of God's own Ordinance above-mentioned and containing in it divers Degrees of Priests agreeable to the very order and light of Nature some superiour to rule and some inferiour to be ruled as in all other Societies and civil States it hath been ever accustomed So as we are bold to say and are able to justify it That as our Saviour Christ as he is God had formerly ordain'd in his National Church amongst the Jews Priests and Levites of an inferiour Order to teach them in every City and Synagogue and over them Priests of a superiour degree termed Principes Sacerdotum and lastly above them all one Aaron with Moses to rule and direct them So he no ways purposing by his Passion more to abrogate or prejudice this Form of Church-Government ordain'd by himself than he did thereby the temporal Government of Kings and Sovereign Princes did by the direction of the Holy Ghost and Ministry of his Apostles ordain in the New Testament that there should be in every National Church some Ministers of an inferiour degree to instruct his People in every particular Parochial Church or Congregation and over them Bishops of a superiour degree to have a care and inspection over many such Parochial Churches or Congregations for the better ordering as well of the Ministers as of the People within the limits of their Jurisdiction And lastly above them all Archbishops and in some especial places Patriarchs who were first themselves with the advice of some other Bishops and when Kings and Sovereign Princes became Christians then with their especial aid and assistance to oversee and direct for the better Peace and Government of every such National Church all the Bishops and the rest of the particular Churches therein established And for some proof hereof We will conclude this Chapter with the testimony of one of no mean account and desert Who when Archbishops and Bishops did most obstinately oppose themselves as being the Pope's Vassals to the Reformation of the Church was the principal Deviser of the said Presbyteries though not in such a manner as some have since with too much bitterness urged whereof out of all Question he would never have dream'd if the said Bishops had not been so obstinate as they were for the maintenance of such Idolatry and Superstition as were no longer to be tolerated That every Province had amongst their Bishops one Archbishop that also in the Nicene Council Patriarchs were appointed who were in Order and Degree above Archbishops that did appertain to the preservation of Discipline And a little after speaking of the said Form of Government so framed although he shewed some dislike of the word Hierarchia yet saith he Si omisso Vocabulo rem intueamur reperiemus Veteres Episcopos non aliam regendae Ecclesiae formam voluisse fingere ab eâ quam Dominus verbo suo praescripsit CAN. V. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures either that our Saviour Christ was not the Head of the Church from the beginning of it or that all the particular Churches in the World are otherwise to be termed One Church than as he himself is the Head of
Birthright was not presently executed which did in their civilaffairs appertaining to themselves bear some chief sway amongst them And touching the Priesthood although the People were then generally much polluted with Idolatry yet therein also they had some most likely the first-born who although they durst not there offer Sacrifices to God as they should in that servitude yet some of them we doubt not instructed the people in matters concerning the Promises of the blessed Seed and perform'd as they might the other Offices of their Priesthood although many of the People and of the Priests as it seemeth were then greatly polluted with Idolatry CANONES IX and X. IX IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the uniting of the Children of Jacob into one Nation or the severing of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Functions the Prerogatives of Birthright from Reuben the first-born and dividing of them from one person was made by themselves X. Or that their servitude in Aegypt was unjustly suffer'd to lie upon them so long by Almighty God or that they being his Church he left them destitute of such comforts of direction and instruction as were necessary those times consider'd for their Civil or Ecclesiastical Estate or that the People took upon them the appointing of the heads of their Tribes and Families or the choice of their civil Superiours or of the Priests or that the Example of those wicked Kings may be any lawful Warrant for any other King so to oppress the People and Church of God he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XI WHen the time came that God in mercy was pleased to deliver the Children of Israel out of Egypt and to place them in the Land which he had promised them he raised up his Servants Moses and Joshua to take that charge upon them and accordingly Moses being made their Prince or as the Scripture speaks their King did not only by God's Appointment and Assistance lead them out of Egypt but governed them being 600000 Men on foot besides Women and Children forty years by his Authority in the Wilderness and Joshua likewise succeeding Moses in the same Princely Power and Authority did after many difficulties bring them into the Land of Canaan and gave them lawful possession thereof So that although formerly the Children of Israel were kept in such great Servitude and Bondage whilst they were in Aegypt as notwithstanding their number they were no way able like a free People to lift up their Heads yet now they are knit together in one Body and setled as a particular State and free Nation in their own Countrey being rul'd and govern'd successively after a mild and temperate manner first by Moses in the Wilderness as is aforesaid and then by Joshua in Canaan whilst he lived CAN. XI IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Children of Israel were delivered out of Aegypt by their own strength and not by God's special Direction and mighty Power or that it had been lawful for them not warranted by God to have departed thence as they did without Licence first obtained of King Pharaoh or that Moses and Joshua were not called to that high Authority by God himself but received the same from the People as depending upon their choice or that Dathan and Abiram descended from Reuben can be justified in challenging of Moses that he took too much upon him in executing only that Authority which God hath given him he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XII AS Almighty God took order for the setling of his People in the Land of Canaan and established a Princely Authority to rule and govern them civilly so was he no less careful of his Church For however the Priesthood was disposed of before this time yet now it is apparent in the Scriptures that the same was after setled in the Tribe of Levi and Aaron was made by God's appointment for the better Government of the Church the Chief and High Priest the whole Priesthood being assigned to his Children and their Off-spring as well to succeed him in the said highest place as also to execute the other inferiour Functions belonging to Priests and the rest of the Tribe of Levi were to attend other Ecclesiastical Services CAN. XII IF any man therefore shall affirm either that the Tribe of Levi was assigned by the People to undertake the said Ecclesiastical Offices or that Aaron and his Posterity were chosen by the People to be their Priests or that they were not chosen directly by God himself or that the People had any lawful Interest at any time afterward either to chuse their Priests or they being appointed of God as is aforesaid to deprive them of their places or that Corah of the Tribe of Levi can be justified in saying That Aaron took too much upon him thereby repining either that Aaron was rather made High Priest than he himself or that the Priesthood was annexed to Aaron's Posterity whereas the rest of the Levites were to serve in inferiour places he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XIII BEfore Moses's Death God had appointed Joshua to succeed him but in Joshua's days he appointed none to follow him immediately whereupon after his Death the Israelites were left without a Chief Head or Prince to govern them They had then remaining the particular Officers and Judges appointed by Moses at Jethro's Council in their several Tribes as also the general Senate of Seventy Elders ordained by God upon Moses's complaint over all the Nation Yet there fell very great Disorders and Confusions amongst them for want of a chief Judge and Governour whereby they might see their own Disabilities and Errors and find by experience what it was to want a chief Governour and furthermore be moved when they were in distress to fly unto God and depend only upon him for the raising up of One from time to time to deliver and defend them and it is apparent that the People shortly after Joshua's time falling most strangely into gross Idolatry and being from time to time during the History of the Judges very grievously afflicted by the bordering Nations and such as dwelt amongst them when they found themselves still unable to withstand their Enemies using any great Force against them then they had for the most part recourse to God by Prayer who did at such times appoint one for their Prince chief Captain and Ruler to deliver them from their said Enemies we say for the most part because sometimes they attempted some matters of Importance without seeking any chief Governour from God as at one time the People of Sichem presumed to chuse them a Prince of their own after Gideon's Death which turned both to his Ruine and their Destruction And it is here generally to be observed that when there was the greatest liberty among the Israelites during the time from Joshua to Saul whatsoever the People thought of their own Courses
as they should have done and that therefore the Priesthood was not only to instruct them in the mysteries of their Salvation hid from Nature but likewise to teach them that Grace did not so evacuate the Law but that still they were bound to obey it with this addition or interpretation That their Faith being grounded upon the blessed Seed of the Woman if they endeavoured to do that which God had commanded them that which either they did amiss or omitted should upon their Repentance be forgiven and not imputed unto them Yet this mystical and Heavenly Doctrine did no way release or set at liberty Kings and Princes from their Charge before mentioned but rather laid a heavier burthen upon them to provide that their Subjects might be train'd up both in the Doctrine of Faith and in such Obedience to God as his said Commandments so qualified by Grace as is before-mentioned did require CAN. XX. IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Natural or Political Fathers Kings and Princes in the Old Testament had not a charge laid upon them by God to bring up their Children and Subjects in his fear or that the Institution of the Priesthood did more prejudice the Authority of natural Fathers or of Kings and Princes in that behalf than Grace did abrogate the Commandment and the Obedience of the Law or that Natural Parents Kings and Princes in those days were not more strictly bound by the Doctrine of Grace than they were before in respect of God's great Mercy unto them to provide that their Children and Subjects were not suffer'd either to have any false Gods among them or to bow unto or worship the likeness of any thing which they had made to themselves to blaspheme and take in vain the blessed name of God or to profane his Sabbaths or to neglect the observation of the rest of God's Commandments by committing of Murther Adultery Theft and such like Offences to the displeasure of God and disturbance of their Families Principalities and Kingdoms or that the Kings Princes or Governours of the Israelites being instructed in the Mysteries of their Salvation were not as much bound by the Law of Grace to bring up their Subjects in the true Doctrine that was grounded upon the blessed Seed as they were by the Law of Nature that they should carefully observe the moral Precepts and Commandments of God or that being so far bound they had not equal Authority to compel as need should require all their Subjects of every Calling and Condition whatsoever to keep and observe both the said Laws as well of Grace as of Nature He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXI ALthough it were sufficient to have shewed that godly Kings and Rulers amongst the Jews had Authority from God as well in causes of true Religion as in other of their temporal Affairs yet if they had never put the same in practice some scruple in the minds of the simpler sort might thereby have risen to the prejudice of it But this point also is manifest in the Scriptures and ought always with due thankfulness for the same to be remembered It is true that the Dignity of the Priests in the Old Testament but especially of the High-Priest was very great and eminent howbeit the same notwithstanding had it not been for godly Kings and Princes Religion among the Jews after the first publick establishment of it would not have continued so long as it did without very great and intolerable Corruptions Moses did blame Aaron for yielding to the making and worshipping of Idols and reformed the offence And again when Aaron being consecrated High-Priest had with his two Sons Eleazar and Ithamar done amiss in burning the Sin-offering which they should by God's appointment have eaten and Moses being angry with them reproved them for it In the days of the Judges when the People fell to the worshipping of Baalim and Ashtaroth the Scriptures are silent what became of the Priests but it is apparent that during the lives of the Judges the People were by them restrained in some sort from that Impiety whereunto still after their death they greedily returned When Jehosaphat came to his Kingdom he found the People so destitute of Teachers as that he was moved in zeal to send the Priests and many of the Levites through all the Cities of Judah to teach and instruct them Ahaz the King of Judah was a very great Idolater delighting himself altogether in the Abominations of the Heathen and Vriah the High-Priest was a fit Instrument for him For what the one did wickedly command the other to the intolerable Profanation of God's true Worship was ready to put the same in execution In the days of Manasses and Ammon Groves were planted hard by the Temple Horses were kept by the entrance of the House of the Lord either to be offered as 't is thought for Sacrifices to the Sun or else to carry the Picture of it as an Idol to be worshipped The Priests sundry of them served in high places and many of the People burnt incense unto Baal to the Sun to the Planets and to the Host of Heaven all which abominations the godly King Josiah did abolish reforming both the Priests and the People and afterwards when the Kings of Judah did altogether neglect their Duties in Church Causes Religion decreased and went to havock Insomuch as the Scriptures rehearsing the causes of the Destruction of Hierusalem do set down this among the rest for one viz. All the chief of the Priests had trespassed wonderfully according to all the abominations of the Heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had sanctified Much more might be alledged to this purpose as also to shew how King David King Solomon and King Jehosaphat distributed the Levites and Priests into their Orders and prescribed certain Rules for them to observe in the manner of their Attendance and Service But to the purpose in hand this is sufficient CAN. XXI IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the godly Princes and Kings in the Old Testament did not practise their Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical or that in such their Practice of it they did not that which they were bound to do or that amongst the Jews the true Worship of God was not very much furthered and continued by the godly Care and Endeavours of their Princes and Kings or that the want of such godly Kings and Princes was not then an occasion and an opportunity taken both by the Priests and by the People to follow their own fancies and to run into many Disorders false Worships Idolatry and sundry such Abominations He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXII WHat we have said either of the Authority of Kings or of the practice of it in Causes Ecclesiastical among the Jews we would not have it extended so far as if we imagined that in matters of Religion Kings
might then lawfully command and do what they list In the separation of the Priesthood from the Regal Principality the same having been formerly in one Person they were then so by God distinguished as in some things appertaining to the Office of Kings no Priest as he was a Priest had any Authority to intermeddle as in some other things appertaining to the Office of Priests no King as he was a King might lawfully be an Actor both of them having their bounds and limits appointed unto them by God which without Sin they might not exceed And therefore as we greatly blame the High-Priest Vriah for obeying the wicked Command of King Ahaz in building by his direction an Altar in the Temple according to the Form of One that was in Damascus so do we greatly commend the godly Zeal of Azariah the High-Priest and of Eighty other Priests that were with him in withstanding as far as lawfully they might Vzziah King of Judah when in the Pride of his Heart he went into the Temple of the Lord and would have burnt Incense upon the Altar of Incense which none might lawfully do but Priests But it is to be observed that they did not withstand the King by force or Armies but told him that it did not appertain unto him but to the Priests to burn incense unto the Lord and therefore urged him to go forth of the Sanctuary Howbeit the King being angry with them for the same persisted as it appeareth in his former purpose and having Incense in his hand would have burnt it upon the Altar if God himself had not struck him in the Forehead with a Leprosie wherewith being terrified as also with a great Earthquake then happening as some learned Men have written from Amos 1. 1. he was constrained not only to desist from that rashness and to depart hastily out of the Sanctuary but likewise as a Leper to dwell in a house apart according to the Law and Jotham his Son as Viceroy ruled his Father's house and judged the People of the Land Vzziah himself during his life remaining King CAN. XXII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Uriah the High priest was bound to have built the said Altar because King Ahaz did command him or that Azariah and the other Priests did amiss in reproving King Uzziah so plainly or that they lawfully might have used any violence or force against the King's Person either in hindering him from burning of Incense or in thrusting him out of the Temple or in compelling him to dwell apart in a house as he did though he was a Leper if he had not of himself yielded to the observation of the law in that behalf or that he was deprived of his Kingdom either by the said stroke of God or by his dwelling in a house apart or that any thing which the Priests then did might have been a lawful Warrant to any Priest afterward in the Old Testament either to have deposed by sentence any of their Kings from their Kingdoms for the like offences or to have used Arms or repressed such their unlawful attempts by forcible ways though they had imagined the same might have tended to the preservation of Religion or that either before that time or afterward any Priest did resist by force of Arms or depose any of the Kings either of Israel or of Judah from their Kingdoms though the Kings of Israel all of them and fourteen of the Kings of Judah were open and plain Idolaters he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXIII WE have shewed before that King Solomon did lawfully depose Abiathar from the Priesthood and placed Zadok in his room but that any Priests in the Old Testament as likewise we have before declared did ever depose from their Crowns any of their Kings how wicked soever or had any Authority so to do it can never be proved Howbeit one Example of Jehoiada the High-Priest is fit to be considered After the Death of Ahaziah King of Judah his Mother Athaliah finding his Children to be very young killed them all but the youngest and reigned by Usurpation six Years over the Land The said youngest Child whose Name was Joash was secretly conveyed away by his Aunt Jehoshabeth his Father's Sister and the Wife of Jehoiada the High-Priest who kept him so secretly in the Temple as that Athaliah the Usurper could never hear of him Now after the said six Years that Joash the true and natural Heir apparent to the Crown had been so brought up he the said Jehoiada being the King's Uncle and the chief Head or Prince of his Tribe sent through Judah for the Levites and chief Fathers both of Judah and of Benjamin to come unto him to Hierusalem who accordingly repairing thither and being made acquainted by him with the Preservation of their Prince as is aforesaid and that it was the Lord's Will that he should reign over them they altogether by a Covenant acknowledged their Allegiance unto him as unto their lawful King and so disposed of things as presently after he was crowned and anointed which dutiful Office of Subjects being performed they apprehended the Usurper Athaliah and slew her as before it was by the said States resolved In all the process of which Action nothing was done either by Jehoiada the High-Priest or by the rest of the Princes and People of Judah and Benjamin which God himself did not require at their hands Joash their late King's Son being then their only natural Lord and Sovereign although Athaliah kept him for six years from the Possession of his Kingdom CAN. XXIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Athaliah did well in murthering her Son's Children or that Jehoiada and his Wife did amiss in preserving the Life of their King Joash or that Athaliah was not a Tyrannical Vsurper the right Heir of that Kingdom being alive or that it was neither lawful for Jehoiada and the rest of the Princes Levites and People to have yielded their subjection unto their lawful King nor having so done and their King being in Possession of his Crown to have joyned together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Vsurper or that Jehoiada the High-Priest was not bound as he was a Priest both to inform the Princes and People of the Lord's Promise that Joash should reign over them and likewise to anoint him or that this fact either of the Princes Priests or People was to be held for a lawful warrant for any afterward either Princes Priests or People to have deposed any of the Kings of Judah who by right of Succession came to their Crowns or to have killed them for any respect whatsoever and to have set another in their places according to their own choice or that either this Example of Jehoiada or any thing else in the Old Testament did give then unto the High-Priest any Authority to dispute determine or judge whether the Children of the Kings of Judah should
dispose both the Rebellion of Subjects and the Malice and Greediness of encroaching Kings upon their Neighbours as albeit such their attempts of all sorts were in themselves very wicked and detestable in his sight yet he having the skill to bring Light out of Darkness and to use wicked Instruments and Actions for a good purpose did always frame and apply them to execute his own just Judgments When the Sins of a Nation but principally of his own People were of that Nature Height and Ripeness as his Justice could not fitly be put in execution by any other but by the wicked for example in the overthrowing of Hierusalem God's own City in burning of the Temple that was the place of his Glory and carrying his own People into Captivity though never so much by them deserved no godly King could well have been employed but such a One only as the King of Babylon was In respect of which their Imployment such wicked Instruments to execute God's just Judgments are called sometimes his Servants and the Rods of his Wrath or as Attila termed himself the Scourge of God And when having attained their ungodly desires whether ambitious Kings by bringing any Countrey into their subjection or disloyal Subjects by their rebellious rising against their natural Sovereigns they have established any of the said degenerate Forms of Government amongst their People the Authority either so unjustly gotten or wrung by force from the true and lawful Possessor being always God's Authority and therefore receiving no impeachment by the wickedness of those that have it is ever when any such alterations are throughly setled to be reverenced and obeyed and the People of all sorts as well of the Clergy as of the Laity are to be subject unto it not only for fear but also for conscience sake the Israelites in Egypt after Joseph's death being oppressed very tyrannically many ways did never rebel against any of those Kings but submitted themselves to their Authority though their Burthens were very intolerable both in respect of the impossible works imposed upon them and because also they might not offer Sacrifices to the Lord a special part of God's Worship without apparent danger of stoning to death Besides it may not be omitted when God himself sent Moses to deliver them from that Servitude he would not suffer him to carry them thence till Pharaoh their King gave them licence to depart Afterward also when the Jews being brought into subjection to the Kings of Babylon did by the instigation of false Prophets rebel against them they were in that respect greatly condemned by the Prophet Jeremy and in their Captivity which shortly after followed they lived by the direction of the said Prophet in great subjection and Obedience they prayed not only for their Kings and for their Children that they might live long and prosper but likewise for the State of their Government the good success whereof they were bound to seek and regard as well as any other of the King 's dutiful Subjects And thus they lived in Babylon and other places of that Dominion till the King gave them leave to depart notwithstanding in the mean time they endured many Calamities and were destitute for many years of the publick Service and Worship of God which was tyed to the Temple and might not elsewhere be practised or attempted CAN. XXVIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Subjects when they shake off the Yoke of their Obedience to their Sovereigns and set up a Form of Government among themselves after their own humours do not therein very wickedly or that it is lawful for any bordering Kings through Ambition and Malice to invade their Neighbours or that the Providence and Goodness of God in using of Rebellions and Oppressions to execute his Iustice against any King or Countrey doth mitigate or qualifie the Offences of any such Rebels or oppressing Kings or that when any such new Forms of Government begun by Rebellion are after throughly settled the Authority in them is not of God or that any who live within the Territories of such new Governments are not bound to be subject to God's Authority which is there executed but may rebel against the same or that the Jews either in Egypt or Babylon might lawfully for any cause have taken Arms against any of those Kings or have offered any violence to their Persons He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXIX ALthough the Jews upon their deliverance out of Captivity and restitution to their own Country received many favours from the Persian Kings and had liberty given them to live in a sort according to their own Laws yet they never recover'd their former Estate but liv'd in great subjection and servitude under them whilst that Monarchy endured The Temple and City of Hierusalem were again built but not with the magnificence which they had before Zorobabel first and then Nehemiah were made successively by the said Kings the Rulers and Governours of the Jews so restored but with divers restraints It was not forgotten what mighty Kings had ruled in Hierusalem and therefore the said Rulers were not permitted to govern any more in that Regal sort They were still subject to the direction of those Kings and paid unto them very large Tribute and Customs insomuch as when the Priests gave publick thanks unto God for his restoring unto them the state which they had they said thus withal unto him as bewailing their condition Behold we are Servants this day in the Land which thou gavest our Fathers it yieldeth much fruit unto the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins and they have dominion over our Bodies and over our Cattel at our pleasure and we are in great affliction The extraordinary favour which was shewed to any was principally extended toward the Priests over whom the said Kings had not so jealous an eye as they had over the Princes and the rest of the People Howbeit the same notwithstanding they the said Priests were subject to their own immediate Princes both in Temporal and Ecclesiastical Causes as formerly the Priests had been to the Kings of Judah before the Captivity Their Governours forbad certain who said they were Priests from eating of the most holy things Nehemiah ministred an Oath unto the Priests he reform'd the abuses of the Sabbath and prescrib'd Orders for the better observing thereof He appointed certain of the Priests to oversee the Tithes in the Treasury He commanded the Levites to cleanse themselves and to keep the Gates and to sanctifie the Sabbath Eliasib the High-Priest having defiled the Temple by letting Tobias a Stranger a Chamber in the Court of the House of God where in afore times the Offerings the Incense the Vessels and such other things used in God's Service had been kept Nehemiah the Governour was greatly offended with it and displacing the said Tobias cast forth all his stuff out
of his said Chamber and brought thither again the Vessels of the House of God with the Meat-offerings and Incense CAN. XXIX IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Almighty God kept not his promise to the Iews made in his name by the Prophet Jeremy as touching their deliverance by Cyrus out of their Captivity because they were not restor'd to any such perfect liberty and Government as they had before or that the said Kings of Persia continuing still by God's appointment a supream Authority over the Jews so restor'd might by them for any cause or under any colour have been defrauded of their Tributes or resisted by force of Arms or otherwise impeach'd either in their States or Persons or that Zorobabel and Nehemiah were not lawful Princes over the Jews because they were placed in that Government without the Peoples Election or that they the said Princes by dealing in Cases Ecclesiastical as is aforesaid did take more upon them than by God's appointment appertain'd to their charge or that the Priests both high and low had not grievously sinned if they had not submitted themselves in the said Ecclesiastical Causes to the direction of those their civil Governours he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXX THE High-Priest as before we have said in that mild and temperate Government which God himself had Ordained was the second Person in the Kingdom Whereupon the same after the Captivity being turn'd as it were into a Dukedom and for ought that appeareth the Princes after Nehemiah's time growing poor by reason of their payments to those Kings to whom they were Tributary and receiving small assistance or countenance from them because they were still jealous of them whereas the Priests it seemeth being freed from all-Tributes and Impositions grew rich and were no way suspected it came to pass the sins of the people so requiring that the High-Priest did easily oversway both their Princes and their People and thereby attained very great Authority in that Principality Only they stood in awe for the time of the Kings of Persia to whose Obedience they were bound by an Oath when they were made High-Priests but otherwise for ought we find they had no great regard of any other Authority which so advanced the dignity of the Priesthood as afterward the practices of the High-Priest's Children to succeed their Father in that high dignity grew as troublesome to the People as was their servitude to the Persians For Jesus the younger Brother of John the second High-Priest after Eliasib mentioned by Nehemiah procured by corruption the favour of the chief Governour of the Persians in those Countries adjoining for his assistance to deprive his Brother that he himself might enjoy the High-Priesthood whereof his elder Brother having some notice did kill him in the Temple which the said Governour took in so evil part as he spoiled the said Temple being as he said profaned with Blood and laid an exceeding great Tribute in that respect upon the People to indure for seven Years But John the High-Priest continued in his place After whose Death his two Sons Jaddus and Manasses fell at great variance the younger to make himself strong against his elder Brother Married contrary to the Law of God with a Daughter of Sanballat another Chief Ruler in Samaria under the King of Persia For which offence Jaddus notwithstanding the Authority of Sanballat remov'd him from the dignity of Priesthood and thereupon he the said Manasses procured by Sanballat's means a Temple to be built in Mount Garizin near Samaria in form and magnificence like to that in Hierusalem where he flourished and whither all the lewd persons of Judah had daily recourse Upon which occasion much trouble arose afterwards betwixt the Samaritans and the Jews The said Jaddus lived till the Monarchy of the Grecians began who when Alexander having overthrown Darius the King of the Persians sent unto him that he should assist him in his Wars and become Tributary to the Macedonians as he had been to the Persians return'd for his Answer that he might not yield thereunto because he had taken an Oath for his true Allegiance to Darius which he might not lawfully violate whilst Darius lived being by flight escaped when his Army was discomfited We have here cited and shall hereafter cite some things out of the Books of the Maccabees and other ancient Historiographers of purpose to continue the manner of the Government of the Jews in what case they stood from time to time after the days of Nehemiah not meaning thereby to attribute any Canonical Authority unto them nor to establish any point of Doctrine out of them but only to proportion and measure the regiment and actions of that people by the rules and analogy of the holy Scriptures CAN. XXX IF any Man therefore shall affirm contrary to the grounds and truths of the said holy Scriptures either that albeit Kings of Persia had authorized some succeeding Princes as they did Zorobabel and Nehemiah and whether they did so or no is not certain yet the High Priests might afterward have lawfully born the sway that they did and not been subject unto them as their Predecessors had been to Zorobabel and Nehemiah or that if Nehemiah continued alive in that Government till Jaddus's time as it is probable he did he might not lawfully being authorized as before though he were old have reform'd any abuse in the Priests both high and low or that they were not bound in Conscience to have obey'd him therein or that the Jews might lawfully have rebelled for any cause against the Persians during their Government over them or that Jaddus the High-Priest did amiss in binding his Allegiance to King Darius by an Oath or that he had not sinned if he had refused being thereunto required so to have sworn or that having so sworn he might lawfully have born Arms himself against Darius or have sollicited others whether Aliens or Jews thereunto he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXXI ALexander by God's Providence having vanquished the Persians the Jews amongst many other Nations became his Subjects He dealt favourably with them released them of some Payments granted them liberty to live according to their own Laws and left their Government in every point as he found it their Duties ordinary Tributes and some of their Royal Prerogatives always reserved to the Macedonians as they had been before to the Persians but this their tolerable Estate endured not long For upon Alexander's death his chief Captains conspiring together made such a scambling Division of the Empire amongst themselves as they could every one almost notwithstanding seeking how he might suppress the rest and attain the whole alone to himself So as thereupon the Jews were as free from the Macedonians as any other of their bordering Neighbours none of the said Captains having any lawful Interest or Title to Judah But that which turned to the benefit of some
others brought a great detriment for want of Ability unto them for one of the said Captains having gotten to himself a very strong Kingdom in Syria and another of them in Egypt the Jews dweling betwixt them both were miserably on every side vexed by them Sometimes the Egyptians by Oppression and Force brought them under their Subjection and imposed great Tributes upon them and sometimes the Syrians growing mightier than the Egyptians did likewise very greatly afflict them especially in the Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes whose Invasion and Government was most unjust and Tyrannical He shed innocent Blood on every side of the Sanctuary spoiled the Temple erecting in it the Abomination of the Gentiles and caused it to be named the Temple of Jupiter Olympius The Books of the Law by his Commandment were cut in pieces and burnt and they with whom they were found were put to death A general Commandment was by him published that they should offer no more Sacrifices nor circumcise their Children nor execute any other parts of their own Law in the Service of God but wholly to conform themselves therein to the manner of the Gentiles Whereupon the People by heaps forsook the Lord and offered Sacrifices to Idols and such as refused so to do chusing rather to obey God than Man were most cruelly slain and murthered by thousands until Mattathias moved with the monstrous Cruelty and Tyranny of the said Antiochus made open Resistance the Government of that Tyrant being not then either generally received by submission or setled by continuance It is not pertinent to our purpose to intermeddle with sundry Questions which might here arise Only we observe that Mattathias undertook that charge that he commended the same afterwards to his Sons and that it continued in them and their Posterity until both they and their whole Countrey were vanquished by the Romans CAN. XXXI IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Jews generally both Priests and People were not the Subjects of Alexander after his Authority was setled amongst them as they had been before the Subjects of the Kings of Babylon and Persia or that they might lawfully have born Arms against him or that they were not all bound to pray for the long life and prosperity both of Alexander and his Empire as they had been bound before to pray for the life and prosperity of the other said Kings and their Kingdoms whilst they lived under their subjection or consequently that they might lawfully upon any occasion whatsoever have offered violence and destruction either to their Persons or to their Kingdoms for the long continuance and prosperity whereof they were bound to pray or that after the Jews were delivered from their servitude under the Kings of Syria and the Government over them was settled in Mattathias's Posterity it was lawful for the People upon any occasion to have rebelled against them or to have offered violence to their persons He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXXII THE afflictions which the Jews endured whilst the Government of the Grecians lasted were much the more grievous unto them by reason of the great disorders which were then amongst their Priests For whereas they should have been a stay and a comfort unto them in their greater miseries their negligence one way and their ambition another way in striving about the High Priesthood did so distract them into parts taking as that thereby great effusion of blood did oftentimes ensue shortly after Jaddus's time this was the general report which for their Wickedness was given out of them The Priests were now no more diligent about the Altar but despised the Temple and regarded not the Sacrifices They did not set by the honour of their Fathers but liked of the glory of the Gentiles most of all The Temple was full of dissoluteness and gluttony of the Gentiles which dallied with Harlots and had to do with Women within the circuit of holy places and brought in such things as were not lawful The Altar also was full of such things as were abominable and forbidden by the Law and two or three of the High Priests applauded thereunto Simon the High-Priest leaving three Sons behind him Onias Jason and Menelaus was not long dead but Jason for three hundred and sixty Talents of Silver procured such assistance of Antiochus King of Syria as he thrust his elder Brother Onias out of the High-Priesthood and not long after had the same measure repay'd unto him again by his younger Brother Menelaus who upon some cunning information and for six hundred and sixty Talents got the place himself Whereupon Jason assembled Forces drove Menelaus into a Castle slew the Citizens without Mercy and in the end being repulsed died abroad as an exile Menelaus afterward caused his Eldest Brother Onias to be Murder'd because he blamed him for stealing certain Vessels of Gold out of the Temple Next Menelaus succeeded Alcimus whereas Onias the Son of Onias before-mentioned should in right have had that dignity Of all which four Persons eminent in their time these things are left for Records unto Posterity Jason to get Antiochus's good will for the High-Priesthood promised him besides his great Bribe to set up a School of Gentilism likewise to build a Brothel-House by the Temple and that the People of Hierusalem should be named Antiochians after the Kings Name He drew his Kinsmen to the Custom of the Gentiles and sent to Tyrus three hundred Drachms of Silver for a Sacrifice to Hercules Menelaus also took the like course or rather a worse for besides that he conform'd himself wholly in effect to the manners of the Grecians it is further thus written of him Antiochus went into the most holy Temple having Menelaus that Traytor to the Laws and to his own Country to be his Guide He thrust himself into the Kings Army against Judas Maccabaeus and the City of Hierusalem hoping thereupon to have attain'd that Government But Lysias the King's Lieutenant crossed his purpose therein and inform'd the King that he the said Menelaus had been the cause of all the mischiefs which had ensued the Wars with the Jews as being the Man who perswaded his Father Antiochus Epiphanes to compel them to forsake the Laws of their Fathers adding thereunto that whilst Menelaus lived the Jews would never be quiet Whereupon the King commanding him to be put to Death he was smother'd in Ashes because he had committed many sins by the Altar whose fire and ashes were holy Alcimus the High-Priest next succeeding was no sooner in his place but he took upon him to be the Captain of all the ungodly Men of Israel and solicited King Demetrius to make War against Judas Maccabaeus complaining that he had killed all the King's Friends The King thus instigated sent an Army against Hierusalem with one Bacchides and Alcimus who pretending that they came in Peace and being thereupon trusted
by the Romans was poysoned by one Maticus hoping thereby that Hircanus the High-Priest might have got a more absolute Authority and have been the chief Governour Alexander the Son of Aristobulus had been before very troublsome and carried many after him to their destruction but Antigonus his Brother did far exceed him who by the help of the Parthians rose up against Herod the Successour of Antipater and taking that Government upon him cut off Hircanus his Uncle's Ears that thereby he might be unable afterward to bear any more to his prejudice the Office of the High-Priest But shortly after he was subdued and put to death and his Father before him was poisoned by Pompey's Followers Howbeit no sooner were these Maccabees thus suppressed but divers other rebellious Persons thrust forward the People into Arms under pretence of their Love they bare to their Countrey and to the ancient Liberties thereof In which their wicked Fury sometimes they were content to follow this Man as their King and sometimes that Man such as were one Simon one Athrogus and Manahemus all of them very lewd and base Companions and at some other time every Rebellious Rout or Company would needs have a King of their own whereby in every corner of that Commonwealth there was a Petty King who still led the People by heaps to the slaughter and perished themselves with them Also there were some amongst them who finding no good success by having of such Kings did run into a contrary course affirming it to be unlawful for the Jews to acknowledge any Man but God himself to be their King and that they ought rather to suffer death than to call any Man Lord. The sum is That notwithstanding any great Distractions Dissention or bloody Combats amongst themselves which were very many and strange their Hearts were so hardened in Rebellion against the Romans and their Governours as they refused either to pay them any more Tribute or to pray for them but standing upon their Walls when they were besieged Caesari Patri ejus maledicebant There was never we think so obstinate and desperate a People for in their greatest extremities and when they saw nothing but imminent Death destruction of the Temple and the extirpation of their whole Nation no reasonable Conditions or Perswasions could move them Titus himself made a notable Oration unto them and commanded Josephus to deliver his Mind at another time more amply if it had been possible to have reclaimed them which Duty so imposed upon him Josephus performed very eloquently He told them that tho' the Romans had dealt sometimes very hardly with them yet their Rebellion was ever the cause of it that albeit Men might lawfully fight in defence of their Countrey when it was invaded by any yet being subdued and a new Government settled amongst them it was not lawful by Rebellion under pretence of Liberty to cast off that Yoke that their Fore-fathers being in Bondage under the Kings of Aegypt and Babylon and divers times in many other distresses did never of themselves by force of Arms seek their Liberty or Deliverance but ever expected the Lord's leisure who always in due time had compassion upon them and that although they were then in the greatest distress that ever People were and could expect nothing but utter Ruine and Desolation yet if then they would submit themselves they might be received to Mercy For saith he the Romans ask but their ordinary Tribute which your Fore-fathers paid unto their Predecessours and if yet they may obtain the same they will neither destroy your City nor touch your Sanctuary but grant unto you freely your Families your Possessions and the Practice of your Sacred Laws But all these Offers they refused Howbeit the compassion of Titus towards them still continuing he again when they saw their Destruction more apparently required the said Josephus to deliver his Mind to the same effect to their chief Captain that he had done before to the People which he accomplished but in the hearing again of the People very throughly and in the end finding them obstinate I my self deserve blame saith he quiâ—â— haec adversus fata suadeo Deique sententiâ condemnatos servare contendo Whereupon shortly after Titus protesting how loth he was thereunto assailed them with all his Forces which slew an infinite number of them burnt the Temple and destroyed the City Since which time they that then escaped and the rest of all the Race of the Jews have been dispersed far and near and lived like a cursed Generation in all Slavery and Servitude So that although we doubt not but that this heavy Judgment of God fell upon them principally for the hardness of their hearts in that they did not only refuse to hear the Voice of our Saviour Christ but likewise most malitiously unjustly and shamefully put him to death yet the immediate and apparent cause of it was their never-before-heard-of-like obstinate Rebellion CAN. XXXIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Aristobulus the Father or either of his two Sons Alexander or Antigonus having all of them submitted themselves to the Government of the Romans did not sin when afterward they rebelled against them or that Maticus did not very wickedly in poisoning of Antipater because he thought thereby the better to strengthen Hircanus in his High-Priesthood or that the People ought not to detest all such seditious Persons as under pretence of Liberty and Religion shall sollicite them to Rebellion or that the Jews were not bound both to have paid their Tribute and to have prayed for Caesar without dissimulation sincerely and truly notwithstanding any pretence of Tyranny which they had willfully drawn upon their own heads or of any cause whatsoever or that such as cursed Caesar their chief Governour did not thereby deserve any corporal punishment which is due to be inflicted upon such Traytors or that the Rebellion against any King absolute Prince or Civil Magistrate for any cause whatsoever is not a sin very detestable in the sight of God and therefore by all that fear the Lord to be eschewed because it ever tendeth to mischief and sometimes to the overthrow of the Kingdom Principality and Country where it is raised He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXXIV WE have spoken in the former Chapter of the Rebellion of the Jews against their civil Governours and the success thereof We made no mention either of the Priests or of any of those Sects of Religion which then bare sway amongst them Indeed it is likely that if they had done their Duties the People upon their Repentance might have regained God's Favour and prevented that utter desolation but it happen'd otherwise two factious Persons Judas and Matthias the best learned Men of the Jews and the most skilful Interpreters of the Laws of their Country growing into great favour with the People because of their said skill
serve or as St. Luke hath Christ's words Ye shall not be so that is Ye shall not live as Kings upon the Earth nor have such worldly Estates as that thereby ye might have occasion to vaunt in the World what great Benefactors you have been in advancing your Followers to this or that Dukedom according as great Kings and Monarchs are accustomed to deal with their Servants and principal Subjects but let the greatest amongst you be as the least and the chiefest as he that serveth For who is greater he that sitteth at the table or he that serveth Is not he that sitteth at the table and I am among you as he that serveth By which words of our Saviour it is very manifest how far he was from challenging to himself any worldly Kingdom and how much his Apostles were deceived in apprehending what great Men they should become by being his Followers and Disciples To this purpose much more might be here alledged by us as also it would not be forgotten what we have before observed in the former Chapter tending to the same effect in as much as Christ having made himself subject to the Obedience of the Fifth Commandment which tied him as well to be a Subject unto the Emperour under whom he was born as to the obedience of his Parents did thereby shew himself to be no temporal Monarch Howbeit all this notwithstanding there are some so much addicted in these days unto the said erroneous opinion of the Jews as for the advancement of the glory of the Bishop of Rome they will needs have Christ to have been here upon the Earth a Temporal King Affirming that upon his Nativity all the Kings in the World lost their Regal Power and Authority all their Kingdoms being devolved unto him and that they could no longer possess them by any Right Interest or Title until they had again resum'd them from him as he was Man and forsaken their ancient Tenures whereby they had held them of him as he was God Insomuch as some of them say in effect that neither Augustus Caesar nor Tiberius his Successor were lawful Emperours from the time of Christ's Birth for above the space of thirty years until our Saviour had required the Jews to pay Tribute to Caesar as if in so doing Tiberius had again received thereby his former right to the Empire and that thereupon he was from that time forward to hold it of Christ as he was Man In which erroneous conceits these Men proceed further than ever the Jews or the Apostles in their weakness did For the Jews never imagin'd of their Messiah that when he came into the World he should abolish all civil Government amongst the Gentiles and be a temporal King to Rule all Nations or that as many Soveraign Kings and Princes as should from that time forward desire to rule their Subjects by any lawful Power and Authority must receive and hold the same from the said Jews their temporal Kings but did restrain their conceits within more narrow bounds thinking that their Messiah should not have such intermedling with the Gentiles but only restore the Kingdom of Israel which had for a long time been miserably shaken and rent in pieces and live in that Country amongst them in a much more glorious form and state than any of their Kings before him had done And yet notwithstanding these the said Persons having inconsiderately so far overrun the Jews in their Follies are possessed nevertheless with some Imaginations no doubt that because the Pope doth either applaud or wink at their proceedings they may in time make it probable to the simpler sort who when force is to be used do bear the greatest sway that as all Emperours and Kings forsooth held their Kingdoms from Christ as he then was and still is Man so ought they now in these days to hold them of the Pope in that if Men might safely believe them our Saviour Christ did as they say after his Ascension bestow all such Worldly Dominions upon St. Peter and consequently upon his Successors the Bishops of Rome and that now all Worldly Principalities are theirs and must be held of them as they were before of Christ after his Incarnation by as many Kings and Princes as desire to hold their Kingdoms by any right title But these are Men not to be feared For to say the truth of them they are all of them in effect either but gross and unlearned Canonists or else but new upstart and sottish Nerians and of great affinity with the Canonists who meaning as it seemeth to outstrip the Jesuits do labour as much to make the Pope a Temporal Monarch as the Jesuits have done for his pretended Spiritual Soveraignty whose endeavours are altogether as we suppose to be contemned in that both the sorts of them as well Canonists as Nerians are more voluminous in their Writings than substantial filling them principally with very idle and ridiculous Canons and Decrees of the Pope's own making and having no true feeling or sense of Divinity do handle the Scriptures when they have leisure to come unto them with so foul and unwashed hands as that their Master either is or ought to be ashamed of them in that he permitteth their so absurd Books to come abroad into the World Besides it will not a little hinder their credit if it make them not a scorn to all Posterity even amongst such Men as have otherwise made themselves Vassals to the See of Rome because the said Jesuits and some others not to have been despis'd for their learning whilst they had strived to advance the Pope's Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical have themselves in a manner broken the Neck of his fondly-conceited temporal Monarchy Some of the chiefest among them affirming very peremptorily That our Saviour Christ as Man was never a temporal King upon Earth nor ever had any such temporal Authority or Government as doth appertain unto Kings and Soveraign Princes We will set down some words of one that is of especial Authority amongst them not because we intend to ground any thing upon them but for that they are true and may perhaps be of more force than ours are like to be with some kind of People the rectifying of whose hearts in the truth we tender as much as we do our own Christ saith he did not take Kingdoms from them whose they were for Christ came not to destroy those things that were well setled but to make them better Therefore when a King is become a Christian he doth not lose his Earthly Kingdom but procureth a new Interest to a Kingdom that is Eternal Otherwise the benefit of Christ should be hurtful to Kings and Grace should destroy Nature And again Christ as he was Man whilst he lived upon the Earth neither did nor would receive any Temporal Dominion And again I say that Christ was always as the Son of God a King and Lord of all Creatures in such sort as his Father
but for evil therefore he doth not simply command Obedience to Ethnick Princes c. 3. The like manner of writing St. Paul used in exhorting Servants to honour their Lords etiam infideles though they were Infidels for the Reasons by him there mentioned 4. By those Monitions meaning the said Commandments of the Apostle concerning Obedience of Subjects to their Princes and of Servants to their Masters just Dominion is not founded in the Persons of Ethnicks nam Paulus qui hec dicit non erat summus Pontifex for Paul who said so was not the chief Bishop c. 5. Furthermore in that time of the Primitive Church the Church could not de facto punish Infidels and transfer their Kingdoms c. Thus far this audacious and unlearned Canonist the very citation of whose Words we hold sufficient to refute them although he alledgeth for himself to support them very grave Authors the Distinctions forsooth the Gloss Hostiensis Praepositus adding that some other Canonists do concur with him Only we will oppose against him and all his Fellows to shew their Follies by a proof of this Nature the Testimony of the Pope's chief Champion the only Jesuit without Comparison now a principal Cardinal who maintaineth in express Terms That Infidel Princes are true and supream Princes of their Kingdoms and writeth thus against the said Assertion of the Canonist directly saying God doth approve the Kingdoms of the Gentiles in both the Testaments Thou art King of kings and the God of Heaven hath given thee thy Kingdom and Empire c. Restore those things unto Caesar that are Caesar's Note that he saith not Give but Restore those things that are Caesar's that is those things which in right are owing unto him And Give unto all Men that which is due unto them Tribute to whom you owe Tribute and Custom to whom you owe Custom Et jubet ibidem etiam propter Conscientiam obedire Principibus Ethnicis At certè non tenemur in Conscientiâ obedire illi qui non est verus Princeps that is and we are commanded in the same place even for Conscience to obey Princes that are Ethnicks but assuredly we are not bound in Conscience to obey him who is no true lawful or right Prince Hitherto the Cardinal We would not have cited this Man's testimony thus at large were not All that he hath said therein throughly supported by all the Learned Men as we suppose of his Society and sufficient to refel the Vanity of the Canonists and their Fellows in that folly For if we should insist herein upon the Authority of Men all the ancient Fathers do fully concur with us that through the whole course of the Scriptures Obedience was and is as well prescribed in the Old Testament to Ethnick Princes as unto the Kings of Judah and so likewise in the New Testament as well to Infidel Princes as Christian the Precepts of the Apostles in that behalf being general and so to be applied as well to the one sort as to the other in that they hold their Kingdoms of Christ equally as is aforesaid and therefore ought to be equally obeyed by their Subjects with that general Caution which was ever understood viz. in those things which they commanded them and were not repugnant to the Commandments of God And therefore the Judgments of the ancient Fathers being in this sort only remember'd by us we will not much insist upon them but give that honour which is due especially in a matter so apparent unto the sole Authority of the Holy Apostles who writing by the direction of the Holy Ghost those things which Christ himself before had taught them do give unto all Christians and Subjects to what manner of Kings soever these Precepts following Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers for there is no Power but of God for the Powers that be are Ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Judgment For Princes are not to be feared for good works but for evil Wilt thou then be without fear Do well So shalt thou have praise of the same for he is the Minister of God for thy Wealth But if thou do evil fear for he beareth not the Sword for nought for he is the Minister of God to take Vengeance of him that doth evil Wherefore ye must be subject not because of wrath only but also for Conscience sake For this cause ye pay also Tribute for they are God's Ministers applying themselves for the same thing In which words of the Apostle in saying that Princes have their Power from God and that he is God's Minister there is no repugnancy to that which we have abovesaid concerning the great honour and dignity of the humanity of our Saviour Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension to prove that Kings do hold their Kingdoms under Christ as he is Man the Lamb of God and Heir of all the World For we were very careful to have it still remembred that all the said Power and Dignity which he hath as he is Man doth proceed from his Divinity and likewise that by reason of the real Union of the two Natures in our Saviour Christ that which doth properly belong to the one nature may very truly be affirmed of the other So as it may in that respect be very well said and truly that all Kings and Princes receive their Authority from Christ as he is Man and likewise that they receive their Authority from Christ as he is God and that they are the Ministers of Christ being Man and the Ministers of God without any limitation But it is plain that the said words of the Apostle do very throughly refute the vanity mentioned of the Canonists and their new Companions in that by the said words it appeareth very manifestly That Kings do not otherwise hold their Kingdoms of the humanity of Christ than they did before of his divine nature They have their Authority saith the Apostle from God and they are God's Ministers And there is nothing written either by St. Paul or by any other of the Apostles which swerveth in any point from this Doctrine where they write of the obedience due unto all Kings and Soveraign Princes whose testimonies in that behalf we are as we promised a little further to pursue I exhort saith St. Paul that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all Men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty And again Put them that is both old and young and all sorts of Persons that are purged to be a peculiar People unto Christ in remembrance that they be subject to the Principalities and Powers and that they be obedient and ready to every good work Also St. Peter saith to the same effect Submit
shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth Again The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things And again I will not leave you comfortless but I will come unto you Which he doth continually when he upholdeth his Church daily against Satan and all that do malign it So as we may far more rightly and safely term the Holy Ghost to be Christ's Vicar-General over all the Catholick Church than we may ascribe that title to the Pope the Holy Ghost being ever present and ready not only to defend the Church generally but to aid and comfort every particular Member of it wheresoever they are dispersed upon the face of the Earth which we suppose the Pope is not able to perform We have before laboured to make it manifest that our Saviour Christ is the Creator of the World and the Governour of it that he hath redeemed and sanctified unto himself his Church whereof he is the sole Monarch that he hath neither appointed any one Emperour under him to govern the whole World nor any one Priest or Archbishop to rule the whole Catholick Church that as in respect of Christ the Creator all the World is but one Kingdom whereof he is the only King so in respect of Christ our Redeemer all that believe in his name wheresoever they are dispersed are but one Catholick Church and that the said one Catholick Church is not otherwise visible in this World than is the said one Universal Kingdom of Christ the Creator of it viz. by the several and distinct parts of them as by this or that National Church by this or that temporal Kingdom For our Saviour Christ having made the external Government of his Catholick Church suitable to the Government of his Universal Monarchy over all the World hath by the Institution of the Holy Ghost order'd to be placed in every Kingdom as before in another place we have observed Archbishops Bishops and inferiour Ministers to govern the particular Churches therein planted Priests Ministers in every particular Parish and over them Bishops within their several Diocesses as likewise Archbishops to have the Inspection and charge over all the rest according to the Platform ordain'd in substance by himself in the Old Testament as he hath in like manner appointed Kings and Sovereign Princes with their inferiour Magistrates of divers sorts to rule and govern his People under him in every Kingdom Country and Sovereign Principality some of their said inferiour Magistrates having Authority from their Soveraigns in particular Parishes some in Hundreds some in Shires or Countries and some in Governments of larger extents there being amongst them all divers degrees of Persons one over another and their Kings and Soveraign Princes excelling them all in Power and Authority as the Persons appointed by God to rule and direct all their Subjects of what calling soever in the right use of the Authority and Magistracy which they have committed unto them And we cannot but wonder as well at our said Jesuit where he saith That although there be but one and proper Head of the Church which is Christ that governeth the same spiritually yet she hath need of one visible Head or otherwise the Bishop of Rome and all other Bishops Pastors Doctors and Ministers were needless as likewise at our Countryman Harding who saith as is above-noted that if God had not deferred to one Man that is to Peter and his Successors the Rule and Government of the Church he should have brought amongst his faithful People that unruly Confusion which is called an Anarchy For were these their vain conceits and imaginations true then would it by the same reason follow that albeit there be but one and proper Monarch over all the World which is Christ that created it yet the same hath need of one visible Monarch or otherwise Emperours and all other Kings Princes and civil Magistrates were needless or otherwise Christ should have left amongst his People throughout the World that unruly confusion and destruction of all Common-wealths so much abhorred of Princes which the Grecians call an Anarchy which is a state for lack of order in Governours without any Government at all The fondness of which two consequents do so plainly argue the folly and falshood of the two former as we need no other refutation of them For if all Christian Kingdoms and Soveraign Princes would banish the Pope with his Usurped Authority as the Monarchy of Britany hath done and retain under them the Apostolical Form of Church-Government by Archbishops and Bishops with other degrees of Ministers as before we have divers times specified they should find the Churches in their several Dominions as well governed by them the said Archbishops and Bishops without one Pope to rule the whole Catholick Church as they have experience of the sufficiency of their own Regal and Soveraign Form of Government in their several Kingdoms and Countries notwithstanding there be no one Monarch over all the World to command or direct them And for an Example not to be controlled to make this good that here we affirm we leave unto them God 's own Form both of Temporal and Ecclesiastical Government established by himself amongst his own people the Jews Nay why should we doubt but that Kings and Soveraign Princes notwithstanding the Mists and Darkness wherewith the Bishops of Rome have daily sought to dim their Eyes have had long since a Glimpse of this Light and Truth About 400. and some odd Years since in the latter end of the Reign of Henry the second and in the days of Richard the first both of them Kings of England first Baldwin and then Hubertus being Archbishops of Canterbury there was a mighty Controversy betwixt them and the Bishops of Rome about the erecting of a new Cathedral Church in Lambeth the said Kings and Archbishops having a resolution utterly to banish out of this Kingdom the Popes Authority if the Monks of Canterbury in their Allegation to Pope Celestine against the said Cathedral Church did inform him truly These are their Words as they are recorded by Reginaldus one of the said Monks as it seemeth then living who hath written a whole Book of that matter In tantum enim jam opus processit quod ibi ordinatur Decanus Praepositus plusquam quadraginta Canonici de Bonis Cantuariensis Ecclesiae fundati genere nobiles divitiis affluentes cognati Regum Pontificum Quidam ipsi Regi adhaerent quidam Fisci negotia administrantes familiares Episcopis iisdem confoederati Adversuss tantos tales quid poterit Ecclesia Cantuariensis Certè timendum est non solùm Cantuariensis Ecclesiae sed quod Deus avertat ne hujus rei occasione sedis Apostolicae Autoritati in partibus Anglicanis derogetur Quùm enim fundaretur Canonica illa vox erat omnium sententia singulorum ut ibi essent
Universal Dominion over all the World temporaelitèr temporally and likewise sufficient Power to institute and appoint one Emperour under him as his Substitute to rule the whole World they use this Argument Summus Pontifex instituit ac confirmat Imperatorem sed Imperator habet Dominium universale temporaliter in toto Mundo Ergo Papa habet hoc idem Dominium temporaliter The Bishop of Rome doth ordain and confirm the Emperour but the Emperour hath universal Dominion temporally in the whole World therefore the Pope hath the very same temporal Dominion And about ten years since one Andrew Hoy the Greek Professor at Doway made an Oration De novae apud Europeos Monarchiae pro tempore utilitate taking upon him to prove that the King of Spain was the fittest Person of all the Kings and Princes in Europe to be advanced unto this great Monarchy But what should we trouble our selves with this point The King of Spain we suppose will greatly scorn to be the Pope's Vassal and the Emperour that now is or that shall succeed him hereafter as likewise all the Kings and Princes in the World may see most evidently how grosly and shamefully they are abused and how notably they neglect the greatness of their own Callings especially they who have been heretofore or shall be hereafter Emperours in that they do intermeddle any thing at all with the Pope or receive from him either their Confirmation or Coronation in that thereby he presumeth most ridiculously and without any shew of truth to challenge them for his Servants and Vassals It hath been before shewed by the Judgment of the Cardinalized Jesuit That the Bishops of Rome have no temporal Possessions at all but such as they have received from the Emperour and other Kings and Soveraign Princes In consideration whereof seeing that now they insult so notably over them all both Princes Kings and Emperours being so far from acknowledging themselves to be the Emperour's Subjects or to hold their said Possessions either of him or of any King that bestowed them upon them We do verily think that the said Princes Kings and Emperours who have been so beneficial to the said Bishops shall never shew themselves to be of that Princely Magnanimity and Prowess which their high places do require nor free their Sceptres from the thraldom and base subjection to their usurped Authority until either they take from them what before they gave them or bring them to a more dutiful acknowledgment of their Duties unto them And what we say of the Popes we likewise do hold concerning all the Clergy besides in Europe or elsewhere that if they shall either withdraw themselves from their subjection unto their temporal Soveraigns under whom they live or deny to hold the Possessions of their several Churches of their said Soveraigns or to do them Homage for the same they may lawfully in our Judgments not only resume the said Possessions into their own hands but likewise proceed against them as Rebels and Traytors according to the Form of their several Laws But this is a Digression For in the beginning of this Chapter we undertook to deal with those only who though they maintain the Popes general Supremacy over the Catholick Church yet they deny upon many weighty reasons that God did ever ordain any one Emperour to govern all the World But how long they will deny it we know not in that the principal Jesuit himself writeth thus Vtrum expediret omnes Provincias Mundi c. Whether it were expedient that all the Provinces in the World should be govern'd by one chief King in things Politick although the same be not necessary it may be a Question Mihi tamen omnino expedire videtur si possit eò perveniri sine injustitiâ bellicis cladibus Yet it seemeth to me expedient if such a Monarchical Government over all the World might be gotten without Injustice and such Calamities and Miseries as usually follow War What this Jesuit doth encline unto it is hereby evident But in that he confesseth that such a Monarchical civil Government is not necessary that is enough for our purpose because hereby it likewise followeth as before we have shewed that the Government of the Pope over the whole Church is in every respect as little necessary CAN. X. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures or that can be truly grounded upon natural Reason or Philosophy That our Saviour Christ should have shewed himself to have had no discretion except he had left one chief Bishop to have govern'd all the Churches in the World or that except he appointed one to the said end he should as a Person void of Providence have left his Faithful People in a miserable confusion and without any Government at all or that any of all the Arguments that may be deduced from Philosophy and natural Reason to prove that one Man ought to have the Government of the whole Catholick Church in spiritual Causes are not as forcible to prove that one King or Emperour ought to have the Rule and Government over the whole World in Causes temporal or that any of the Philosophers ever meant to have their reasons alledged by them to prove that in every particular Country the Monarchical Form of Temporal Government was the best to be extended to prove that there ought to be either one Bishop over all the Catholick Church whereof they had no knowledge or one Emperour over all the World or that because all Men have their beginning from Adam it doth not as well follow that there ought to be one Emperour to govern all the World as one Bishop over the whole Catholick Church or that Aaron was any more a Figure of St. Peter and his Successors that they severally in their times should govern the whole Church than King David was of Augustus the Emperour and his Successors that they severally in their times should have committed unto them the Government of the whole World or that the resemblances in the Scriptures of the Church unto an Host well order'd to a humane Body to a Kingdom to a Fold to an House to a Ship may not fitly be applied as well to the Vniversal Kingdom of Christ over all the World as unto the Church and so consequently as well to our Saviour Christ as he is the Governour of the whole World that he is the General of that Host the Head of that Body the King of that Kingdom the Shepherd of that Flock the Housholder of that Family and the Pilot of that Ship as may these Titles be ascribed unto him as he is the only Archbishop of the whole Church viz. That he is the only General of this Host the only Head of this Body the only King of this Kingdom the only Shepherd of this Flock the only Housholder of this Family and the only Pilot of this Ship or that the said Vnities concerning the
Vniversal Kingdom of Christ are not of as great validity to prove that there ought to be one temporal King under him to govern his Vniversal Kingdom over all the World as are the other Vnities touching the Church to prove that there must be one Bishop under him to govern all the particular Churches in the World or that because Kings when they have occasion to be absent from their Kingdoms do commonly appoint some Vice-Roy to Rule their People until their return it thereupon followeth that Christ supplying his corporal absence from his Spiritual Kingdom the Church by the comfortable presence of the Holy Ghost was of necessity to leave one carnal Man to be his Vicar-General over his said Spiritual Kingdom or that seeing our Saviour Christ held it expedient for his Catholick Church that he should deprive her of his corporal presence that she might be ruled by the Holy Ghost it is not to be thought great presumption for any Man to tell us that his corporal presence is necessary for the Government of the said Catholick Church as if he meant to put the Holy Ghost out of Possession or that either the said one Vniversal Kingdom of Christ the King and Creator of it is otherwise visible upon the Earth than by the particular Kingdoms and several kinds of Governments in it and perhaps in a sort and by Representation when some Neighbour Kings either in Person or by their Ambassadours may be met together for the good of their several Kingdoms or that the said one Catholick Church of Christ as he is the chief Bishop over all is otherwise visible on the Earth than by the several and particular Churches in it and sometimes by general and free Councils lawfully assembled or that it is a better consequent that if the Catholick Church have no visible Head all other Bishops Doctors Pastors and Ministers are needless than if one should say because there is no one King to govern all the World therefore there is no use of Emperours Kings and Soveraign Princes or civil Magistrates or that it doth more follow that Christ should have left his Faithful People in a confused Anarchy except he had left St. Peter and his Successors to govern the whole Church than it doth that the whole World hath been left by him in a Confusion without any Government in it in that he hath not left one Vniversal Emperour or that the intolerable Pride of the Bishop of Rome for the time still being through the advancement of himself by many sleights stratagems and false Miracles over the Catholick Church the Temple of God as if he were God himself doth not argue him plainly to be the Man of Sin mentioned by the Apostle or that every National Church planted according to the Apostle's Platform may not by the means which Christ hath ordained as well subsist of it self without one Vniversal Bishop as every Kingdom may do under the Government of their several Kings without one general Monarch He doth greatly Erre The End of the Second Book LIB III. CAP. I. IN pursuing our intended Course through the Old Testament and until the destruction of Jerusalem we overslipt and passed by the fulness of that time wherein the Son of God the Maker and Governour of all the World our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary So as now we are to return back and prosecute our said Course as we find the true grounds thereof are laid down confirmed and practised in the New Testament At our Entrance into which Course We confess our selves to be indeed greatly astonished considering the strange impediments and mighty stumbling blocks which through long practice and incredible Ambition are cast in our way in that we find the Estate of that Church which would rule over all to be degenerated in our days as far in effect from her primary and Apostolical Institution and Rules as we have shewed before the Estate of the Jewish Church to have swerved through the like Pride and Ambition from that excellent Condition wherein she was first established and afterward preserved and beautified by Moses and King David with the rest of his most worthy and godly Successors For except we should condemn the Old Testament as many ancient Hereticks have done and thereupon overthrow all which hitherto we have built and not that only but should furthermore either approve of their gross Impiety who read the Scriptures of the New Testament as if they were falsified and corrupted and by receiving and rejecting as much of them as they list do prefer before them as not containing in them all necessary Truth for Man's Salvation certain obscure and Apocryphal Writings Or should our selves impiously imagine that the New Testament as now we have it was but a rough Draught and a fit project compiled for the time by the Apostles to be afterward better order'd polished and supplied with certain humane Traditions and Doctrines by some of their Successors We can see no sufficient Warrant or probable reason why the Bishop of Rome should take upon him as he doth so eminent and supream Authority over all the Kingdoms and Churches in the World to rule them direct them bestow them and chop and change them under pretence of Religion as he from time to time shall think fit Sure we are if the Scriptures may retain their ancient Authority and continue to be true Rulers and principal Directors to all Apostolical Bishops that in them there will not be found any shadows or steps of those so high and lofty conceits To the proof whereof before we address our selves We have thought it very expedient for the carriage of our course more perspicuously and clearly to make it apparent by what degrees and practices the Bishops of Rome have proceeded in aspiring to that Soveraignty and Greatness which now they have attained Placet eis John Overall Prolocutor CAP. II. AS it was said long since Religion brought forth Riches and the Daughter devoured the Mother So may it very truly be said in these days The Empire begat the Papacy and the Son hath devoured his Father For as we suppose by the Effects no sooner did the Bishops of Rome even in the first times of Persecution get any rest and courage but they began to think with themselves That they were as able to govern all the Churches in the Empire as the Emperours themselves were to govern all the Kingdoms and Nations then subject unto them and that Rome was as fit a Seat for such a Bishop as it was for so great an Emperour Some Seeds of this Ambition began to sprout there when Victor presumed to threaten the Greek Churches concerning the Feast of Easter although Irenaeus then living did greatly dislike it and the Bishops of Asia little regarding him in that behalf said They nothing cared for such his threats And it was not we suppose an idle conceit of one who writing