all kings Ang. de Civit. Dei l. 4. c 33. illius jussu reges constituuntur And by whose command men are born by his command Kings are made And S. Augustine more plainly and more fully saith God alone is the giver of all earthly Kingdomes which he giveth both to the good and to the bad neither doth he the same rashly and as it were by chance because he is God but as he seeth good Pro rerum ordine ac tempore in respect of the order of things and times which are hid from us but best known unto himself and whosoever looketh back to the original of all governments he shall find that God was the immediate authour of the Regal power God the immediate authour of Monarchy and but the allower and confirmer of the Aristocratical and all other forms of government which the people erected and the Lord permitted lest the execution of judgement should become a transgression of justice for as Homer saith Hom. Odyss α. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Aristotle tells us Aristot Polit. l. 1. c. 8. that the Regal power belonged to the father of the family who in the infancy of the world was so grandevous and long-liv'd that he begat such a numerous posterity as might well people a whole Nation as Cain for his own Colony built a City and was as well the King as the father of all the Inhabitants and therefore Justin saith very well that Principio rerum Justin l. 1. Gentium nationúmque imperium penes reges erat The rule of Nations was in the hands of Kings from the beginning and the Kingly right pertaining to the father of the family the people had no more possibility in right to choose their Kings then to choose their Fathers and to make it appear unto all Nations that not onely the Kings of Israel but all other Heathen Kings are acknowledged by God himself to be of divine institution Jerem. 43.10 Esay 45.1 he calleth Nebuchadnezzar his servant and Cyrus his annointed And therefore though I do not wonder that ignorant fellows should be so impudent Jo. Goodwin in his Pamphlet of Anti-Cavalierism p. 5. as to affirm The King or kingly government to be the Ordinance or Creation or creature of man and to say that the Apostle supposeth the same because he saith Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King c. whereas he might well understand that the same act is oftentimes ascribed aswel to the mediate as to the immediate agent as Samuel's annointing of Saul and David Kings denieth not but that God was the immediate giver of their Kingdomes and the Authour of that regal power 1 Sam. 10. for God annointed Saul Captain over his inheritance and by the mouth of Nathan he telleth David that he annointed him King over Israel 2 Sam. 12. and Solomon acknowledgeth that the Lord had set him on the Seat of his Father David 1 Reg. 2. and Abijah in the person of God saith unto Jeroboam 1 Reg. 11. I will give the Kingdome unto thee 1 Sam. 11.15 and yet it is said that all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul King before the Lord and the men of Juda annointed David King of Juda 2 Sam. 5. and Zadock the Priest and Nathan the Prophet annointed Solomon King that is God annointed them as Master of the substance and gave unto them regal power in whom is all power primariò per se and the Prophets annointed them as Masters of the Ceremony and declared that God had given them that power And therefore the power and authority of Kings is originally Constituere regem est facere ut regiam potestatem exerceret Pinedas de reb Solom c. 2. and primarily as Saint Paul saith the Ordinance of God and secondarily or demonstratively it is as Saint Peter calleth it the ordinance of man when the people whose power is onely derivatively makes them Kings not by giving unto them the right of their Kingdomes but by receiving them into the possession of their right and admitting them to exercise their royal authority over them which is given them of God and therefore ought not to be withstood by any man And this Anti-Cavalier might further see that Saint Peter meaneth not that the King is the creature of man or his Office of mans Creation but that the Lawes and Commands of Kings though they be but the Commands and Ordinances of man yet are we to obey the same for the Lords sake because the Lord commandeth that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers Or if this will not satisfie him because the Greeks word is not so plain for this as the English yet let him look into Pareus that was no friend to Monarchy and he shall find that he doth by seven speciall reasons prove Pareus in Rom. c. 13. p. 13. 27. that the authority of Kings is primarily the Ordinance of God and he quoteth these places of Scripture to confirm it Proverbs 8.15 2 Chron. 19.6 Psalm 81.6 Joh. 10.34 Genes 9.6 1 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 12. 2 Kings 9. Dan. 2.21 Job 34.30 Eccles 10.8 And to this very objection he answereth that the Apostle calleth the Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane Ordination or Creation not causally because it is invented by man and brought up onely by the will of men but subjectively because it is born and executed by men and objectively because it is used about the government of humane society and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the end because it is ordained of God for the good and conservation of humane kind and he saith further that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellatio the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Deum primum autorem nos revocat sheweth plainly that God is the first author of it for though the Magistrate in some sense as I shewed may be said to be created that is ordained by men yet God alone is the first Creatour of them as Aaron though he was ordained the high-Priest by Moses yet the Apostle tells us None taketh this office upon him but he that is called of God as Aaron was Yet I do admire that Buchanan or any other man of learning to satisfie the people or his own peevish opinion will so absurdly deny so divine and so well known a verity and say that any Kings have their Kingdomes and not from God so flatly contrary to all Scripture CHAP. VII Sheweth the Reasons and Examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy Inferiour Magistrates have no power but what is derived from the superiour And the ill successe of all rebellious Resisting of our Kings The allegation to justifie Rebellion BUt to prove their absurdities they still alledge that the inferiour Magistrates as the Peers and Counsellours of Kings
and the first king that I find by that name in the Scripture was Amraephel king of Shinar with whom we find eight other Kings named in the same chapter Gen. 14.1 But we are not to contest about words or to strive about the winde when the Scripture doth first give this name unto them the plain truth is that which we are to enquire after and so it is manifest there were Kings ever since Adam and so named ever since Noahs flood for Melchizedech which in the judgment of Master Selden Broughton and others was Sem the eldest son of Noah though mine own minde is set down otherwise was King of Salem and Justin tells us that long before Ninus which was the son of Nimrod there were many other Kings as Vexores King of Aegypt and Tanais King of Scythia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripides de Cyclop Gen. 14.14 and the like and as reason sheweth us that eveâ—y one qui regit alios Rex est so every master of a family that ruleth his own houshould is a petty King as we commonly say to this very day every man is a King in his own house and as their families were the greater so were they the greater Kings so Abraham hand three hundred and eighteen servants that were able men for the War in his own house and therefore the inhabitants of the Land tell him Princeps Dei es inter nos thou art a Prince of God that is a great ruler amongst us and yet the greatest of these rulers were rather reguli then reges Kings of some Cities or small Territories and of no large dominion as those thirty and one Kings which Joshua vanquished doth make it plain Josh 12.14 Selden in his Titles of honour cap. 1. But Master Selden confesseth that civil societies beginning in particular families the heads thereof ruled as kings and as the World encreased or these kings incroached upon their neighbours so their Kingdoms were enlarged Kings therefore they were and they were kings from the beginning But how they came to be kings or what right they had to regal power from whence their authority is derived 1. Whether God ordained it or 2. Themselves assumed it 3. The people conferred it upon them herein lyeth all the question To which I must briefly answer The chiefest rights to kingdoms either of three ways that the right of all kings which have any right unto their kingdoms is principally either 1. By birth or 2. By the sword or 3. By choice whereof The last is and may be just and good The second is so without question but The first is most just and so best of all For 1. The best right whereby the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their royalty was that which God hath appointed that is 1. The best right without contradiction is by inheritance Gen. 4.7 Gen. 25.31 the right of primogeniture whereby the elder was by the law of nature to reign and rule over the younger as God saith unto Cain though he was never so wicked an hypocrite unto thee shall be the desire of thy brother and thou shalt rule over him though he was never so godly and syncere a server of God which made Jacob so earnestly desirous to purchase the birth-right or the right of primogeniture from his brother And 2. When the rightful kings became with Nimrod to be unjust Tyrants 2. The right by conquest is a just and a good right then God that is not tyed to his Vicegerent any longer then he pleaseth but hath right and power Paramount to translate the rule and transfer the dominion of his People to whom he will Psal 89.44 So the Israelites enjoyed the kingdome of Canaan and David the territories of them that he subdued c. Esdras 1.2 Esay 45.1 2. Dan. 2. c 4. hath oftentimes thrown down the mighty from their seat and given away their crownes and kingdomes unto others that were more humble and meek or some other way fitter to effect his divine purpose as he did the kingdom of Saul unto David and Belshazzar's unto Cyrus and this he doth most commonly by the power of the sword when the Conquerour shall make his strength to become the Law of justice and his ability to hold it to become his right of enjoying it for so he gave the Kingdoms of the earth to Cyrus Alexander Augustus and the like Kings and Emperours that had no other right to their Dominions but what they purchased with the edg of their swords which notwithstanding must needs be a very good right as the same cometh from God which is the God of war and giveth the victory unto Kings Psal 144.10 when as the Poet saith Victrix causa Deo placuit And he deposeth his Vicegerents and translateth the government of their Kingdomes as he seeth cause and to whom he pleaseth 3. The right of elective kings and how they came to be elected 3. When either the Kings neglected their duty and omitted the care of their People so far as that the People knew not that they had any Kings or who had any right to be their Kings or upon the incursion of invading Foes the Nations being exceedingly multiplied and having no Prince to protect them did change the orderly course of right belonging unto the first-born which their rude and salvage course of life had obliterated from their minds unto the election and choice of whom they thought the better and the abler men to expel their enemies and to maintain justice among themselves so the Medes being oppressed with the insolencies and rapines of enemies and the greater man said it cannot be that in this corruption and lewdness of manners we shall long enjoy our Countrey and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot lib. 1. Let us appoint over us a King that our Land may be governed by good Lawes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we turning our selves to our own affairs need not be oppressed by the rage and violence of the lawless and finding by their former experience of him that Deioces was the justest man amongst them they chose him for his equity to be their King which is the first elective King that I do read of and Cicero saith Cicero in Offic. pag. 322. Mihi quidem non apud Medos solùm sed etiam apud majores nostros justitiae fruendae causâ videntur olim benè morati reges constituti even as Justin said before And when the People do thus make choice of their King it is most true which Roffensis Roffensis de potestate Papae fol. 283. and our most learned Divines do say that Licet communicatio potestatis quandoque sit per consensum hominum potestas tamen ipsa immediatè est à Deo cujus est potestas though the power be sometimes conferred by the consent of men yet it is immediately given from God whose power it is
Empire of men should be Monarchicall And indeed it is concluded by the common consent of the best Philosophers that the Laws of Nature lead us to a Monarchy Monarchy founded in Nature as when among all Creatures both animate and inanimate we do always finde one that hath the preheminence above all the rest of his kinde as among the Beasts the Lion among the Fowls the Eagle among Grains the Wheat among Drink◠the Wine among Spices the Baulme among the Planets the Sun and all the best Divines conclude the Monarchicall government to be the most lively image and representation of the divine regiment and government of God Consonant to the Divine government who as sole Monarch ruleth and guideth all things and therefore we finde all the Nations of greatest renown lived under the Royal Government as the Scythians Aethiopians Indians Assyrians Medes Aegyptians Bactrians Armenians Macedonians Jews and Romans first and last and at this day the most famous people live under this forme as the English French Spaniards Polonians Danes Muscovites The Government of the most famous Nations Monarchicall Summo dulcius unum stare loco sociisque comes discordia regnis Statius Thebaid 1. Tartars Turks Abissines Moores Agiamesques Zagathinians Cathaians yea and the Salvage people lately discovered in the West Indies as being guided thereto by the rules of Nature do all of them in a manner live under the Government of Kings and I beleive the Apostle doth specially mean the Regal Government though he speaketh plurally of powers as understanding the same of many Kings because he speaketh but of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sword which being wrested out of the hand of the King and put amongst many would make them all like mad men fall out and fight which of them should bear it when one Sword can never be well guided by many hands and therefore I think it is a madness indeed for any people to be weary of that government which God first ordained which is most agreeable unto Nature most consonant to God's government most acceptable to God himself and most profitable unto men and to affect a late new invented government full of all dangers and inconveniences A family is a small kingdom and a kingdom a great family Therefore it is apparent that Monarchie is the first Ordinance of all governments a family being nothing else but a small Kingdome wherein the paterfamilias had Regal power potestatem vitae necis even over his own children as I have elsewhere shewed in the example of Abraham and of other Heathens that justly executed their own sons and a Kingdom being nothing else but a great family where the King hath paternal power and more then fathers now have because of the great abuse that divers fathers committed while they had their plenary authority therefore it was thought fit to abridge them of that pristine power and to place it all in the hands of the more publique father And to make this yet more plain unto the World I would fain know of these Democratical men 1. When 2. How their Democracy and Aristocracy had their being and came first in use I have shewed the age of Monarchy to be from Adam primáque ab origine mundi Ad mea perpetuum deduxi tempora Regem And I cannot remember that any Democracy or Aristocracy was in all the Assyrian Monarchy which notwithstanding lasted above a thousand years When Aristocracies and Democracies began for the Aristocracies of Greece alas they are but of yesterday of no age long after Homers time which yet lived but about the time of Jephte Judge of Israel and besides I will not believe Quicquid Graecia mendax Audet in historiis And for the Democracy of Rome Titus Livius sheweth when it was first hatched after the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus◠if therefore you will believe Tertullian that Id verius quod prius you must needs give the precedency of all governments unto Monarchy But that which is more considerable is to understand how these birds flitted out of the nest of Monarchy Our Saviour saith Every plant which my Father planted not shall be rooted up that he planted Monarchy I have made it plain Matth. 15.13 but when this Vine began to grow wilde and instead of grapes to bring forth bitter clusters that is oppression instead of justice What caused the change of Monarchy the people grew weary of God's Ordinance and loath to be contained within the bounds of obedience when they found strength and opportunity they withstood their lawful but degenerated Kings and then they deposed them from their estates and deprived them of their lives so that as the Poet saith Ad generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Juvenal Satyr 10. Descendunt reges siccâ morte tyranni And thinking to finde a better way then that which they found so thorny and a better government then that which formerly they found so bad they elected those men whom they thought would make them happy The unconstancy of the people in the choice of their Governours sometimes more and sometimes fewer as their disposition was to be their Governours so after the expulsion of Tarquinius the Romanes chose two Consuls and these giving not a plenary content unto the People they added the Tribunes to bridle the disorders of the Consuls and when all this would not satisfie their unsatiable expectation they must have their Decemviros and in great dangers their Dictator then comes the Triumvirat of Antony Lepidus and Augustus The Government never settled till it came as all things in nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Monarchy who at last takes upon him the name of an Emperour but the full power of a King and governs all as the sole Monarch thus they ran in a maze and turned round like a wheel and I should but weary my Reader to trace the Greek Histories to set down the state of Athens under the thirty Tyrants or of the Lacedaemonians under those Ephori that bore a fair shew to restrain their Kings Lacedaemoniorum aristocratia ex duobus Regibus quinque Ephoris octo viginti senatoribus composita 1 Sam. 2.14.15 Chap. 8.11 but were indeed a scourge and plague unto the people so that in truth the remedy proved far worse then the disease excessit medicina modum and the change of Government never brought any other good but an exchange of miseries the greater for the lesser unto the people as for that one rape of Lucrece by Tarquinius to undergo a thousand greater insolencies under the new erected Government of the Consuls and Tribunes and the Israelites for preventing the snatching of the flesh out of their pots by the sons of Eli and growing weary of the sons of Samuel to have a Saul that shall tear their own flesh in pieces and take their sons and their daughters for his vassals 2. Reason that Monarchy
the exaction of our goods or the vexation of our bodies and in these kinds of injuries Brentius in respon ad artic rusticorum the subject ought rather then in the former to be obedient to his Magistrate for if he steps forth to arms God hath pronounced of such men He that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword Cranmer Arch Bishop of Canterbury together with the rest of the Bishops and most famous Divines of this Kingdom saith If Princes shall do any thing contrary to their duties God hath not appointed any superiour Judge over them in this world but they are to render their account to God which hath reserved their judgement to himself alone and therefore it is not lawful for any subjects Cranmer in lib. de Châ—istiani hominis institutis how wicked soever their Princes shall be to take arms or raise sedition against them but they are to powre forth their prayers to God in whose hand Kings hearts are that he would inlighten them with his spirit whereby they might rightly to the glory of God use that sword which he hath delivered unto them Gulielmus Tindal a godly Martyr of Christ when Cardinal Lanio's sonne did lead the Lambs of Christ by troops unto the slaughter doth then describe the duty of subjects according to the strait rule of the Gospel saying David spared Saul and if he had killed him he had sinned against God for in every Kingdom the King which hath no superiour judgeth of all things and therefore he that indeavoureth or intendeth any mischief or calamity against the Prince that is a Tyrant or a Persecutor or whosoever with a froward hand doth but touch the Lords annointed he is a rebel against God and resisteth the ordinance of God as often as a private man sinneth he is held obnoxious to his King that can punish him for his offence but when the King offendeth he ought to be reserved to the divine examination and vengeance of God Tindal l. de Christiani hominis obedient and as it is not lawful upon any pretence to resist the King so it is not lawful to rise up against the Kings Officer or Magistrate that is sent by the King for the execution of those things which are commanded by the King for as our Saviour saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And as he saith unto Saul when he persecuted the servants of Christ Saul Acts 9.4 Saul why persecutest thou me when as he was then in Heaven farre above the reach of Saul yet because there is such a mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church the head and members as is betwixt man and wife no man can be said to injure the one but he must wrong the other so whosoever resisteth the Kings Lievtenant Deputy or any other Magistrate or Officer that he sendeth with Commission to execute his commands resisteth the King himself and all the indignities that are offered to the Kings Embassadour or servant that he thus sendeth are deemed as indignities offered to the King himself as we see the base usage of David's servants by King Hanun 2 Sam 10. David revenged as an abuse offered unto himself because the Kings person cannot be in all places where justice and judgement and many other offices and actions are necessarily to be done throughout the latitude of his Dominions but his power and his authority Whatsoever is done to any Messenger is deemed as done to him that sent him deputed to those his servants and officers that he sendeth are as the lively representatives of the King in every part of his Kingdome and whatsoever favour payment neglect or abuse is shewed unto any of them the same in all Nations is accounted and therefore punished or rewarded as a service done unto the King himself as our Saviour when but the Tole gatherer came for the Tribute-mony saith Give unto Caesar what belongeth unto Caesar And therefore it is but an idle simple most foolish and frivolous distinction of men to deceive children and fools to say They love and honour their King and they fight not against their King but against such and such whom notwithstanding they know to be the Kings chiefest officers and to be sent with the Kings Power Commission and Authority to do those things that they do This is such a foppery that I know not what to say to undeceive those that are so desirous to be deceived when the Devill * Saint Paul saith God sâ—ndeth them strong delusions 2 Thess 2.11 But what God sendeth justly as the punisher of their sin the Devil sendeth maliciously as the guider of them to Hell Ba nesius in Tract de humanis Constitut which knoweth how near their destruction hangeth over their heads sends them strong delusions that they should so easily and so sillily believe su h palpable lyes as to make them think they love him dearly whom they murder most barbarously Barnesius a very godly and learned man treating of the same Argument saith in a manner the same thing That the servants of Christ rather then either commit any evil or resist any Magistrate ought patiently to suffer the losse of their goods and the tearing of their members nay the Christian after the example of his Master Christ ought to suffer the bitterest death for truth and righteousnesse sake and therefore saith he whosoever shall rebell under pretence of Religion aeternae damnationis reus erit he shall be found guilty of eternall damnation Master Dod upon the Commandements Master Dod saith that where the Prince commandeth a lawful act the subjects must obey and if he injoynes unlawful commands we must not rebell but we must be content to bear any punishment that shall be laid upon us even unto death it self and we should suffer our punishment without grudging even in heart and this he presseth by the example of the Three Children and of Daniel that was a mighty man and of very great power in Babylon yet never went about to gather any power against his King though it were in his own defence Master Byfield upon 1 Pet. 2.13 Master Byfield expounding the words of Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreme saith This should confirm every good subject to acknowledge and maintain the Kings Supremacy and willingly to bind himself thereto by oath for the Oath of Supremacy is the bond of this subjection and this oath men must take without equivocation mentall evasion or secret reservation yea it should bind in them the same resolution that was in Saint Bernard who saith If all the world should conspire against me to make me complot any thing against the Kings Majesty yet I would fear God and not dare to offend the King ordained of God Serenissimus Rex Jacobus de vera lege liberae Monarchiae I might fill a Volume if I
any otherwise then they said or looked any further then they shewed Him He never dream'd that they intended to have an everlasting Parliament and so perfidiously to over-reach both the King and the Kingdom But though our gracious King being not so much versed with the dissembling subtilty and serpentine windings of wicked hypocrites that are to be removed from the King and expelled out of his House supposed all them to mean sincerely and to deal fairly as they seemed to do yet I do admire that the wisdom of the Kings Counsel but that they which as the Apostle saith are not ignorant of the devices of Satan are not permitted by these men to be of His Councel could not espy what mischief might lurk under this fair shade or what might be the Consequences of such a Parliament that is inconsistent with a Monarchy and therefore must in a convenient time be ended or else will make an end of all Monarchical Government Why then might not a year or two or three or more so the years were limited suffice to determine all businesses but that the life of this Parliament should be endless and the continuance thereof undetermined This is beyond the age of the Counsel of Trent What the faction could be contented with Complaint p. 19. that they say lasted above forty years for I presume if some of the contrivers of this Design might have their desires the youngest of us should hardly see the Dissolution of this Parliament Til the earthly Houses of our Tabernacles be dissolved for it is likely they could be well contented as one saith to make an Ordinance that both Houses should be a Corporation to take our Lands and Goods to themselves and their successours and when any of that Corporation dieth toties quoties the surviver and none else should choose a successour to perpetuity so they should be Masters of our Estates and disposers of all we have as they are now for ever And therefore this was a Plot beyond the Powder-plot and beyond the device of Semiramis The plot of Semiramis that with a lovely face desired her husband she might rule but three daies to see how well she could mannage the State and obtaining her request in the first thereof she removed all the Kings Officers in the second she placed her own minions in all the places of Power and Authority as now the saction would do such as they confide in in all places of strength and in the third day she cut off the Kings head and assumed the Government of all the Kings Dominions into her own hands for not three daies nor three years will serve their turn for fear they shall not have ability in so short a space to finish all their strange intended projects and therefore that they might not be hindered their request is unlimited that the Parliament should not be dissolved till both Houses gave consent which they were contented should be ad Graecas Calendas Yet God that knew best what punishments were due to be inflicted for their former Actions and for all the subtle Devices of their hard hearts gave way for this also that this third Impediment of their projects might be removed that so at last their sins like the sins of the Amorites by little and little growing unto the full might undergo the fulness of Gods vengeance which as yet I fear was not fully come to pass for till the Parliament was made perpetual the things that they have done since were absolutely unimaginable How the faction hath strengthened it self because that while it was a dissolvable body they durst not so palpably invade the known rights either of King or Subjects whereas now their Body being made indissoluble they need not have the same apprehension of either having strengthened themselves by a Bill against the one and by an Army against the other and therefore all the dissolutions of Parliaments from the beginning of them to this time have not done half that mischief as the continuance of this one hath done hitherto and God only knowes what is to succeed hereafter But seeing themselves have publickly acknowledged in their Declarations that they were too blame if they undertook any thing now which they would not undertake if it were in His Majesties power to dissolve them the next day and they have since used this means which was given them to disburthen the Common-Wealth of that debt which was thought insupportable What many wise men do say to plunge it irrevocably into a far greater debt to the ruine of the whole Kingdom to change the whole frame of our Government and subjecting us to so unlimited an arbitrary power that no man knows at the sitting of the House what he shall be worth at the rising or whether he shall have his liberty the next day or imprisonment Many wise men do say they see no Reason that this trust being forfeited and the faith reposed in them betrayed the King may not immediatly re-assume that power of dissolving them into his own hands again and both our unjustly abused King and our much injured people declare this Act to be voyd when as contrary to their own Faith and the trust of the King they abuse it to overthrow the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom though I could heartily wish that because it still carrieth the Countenance of a Law the faction would be so Wise to yield it to be presently dissolved by a Law CHAP. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature The fourth impediment of their design 4. THere was one stop more that might hinder or at least hardly suffer their plots to succeed according to their hearts desire and that is the Bishops Votes in the Vpper House nay they cannot endure to call it so but in the House of the Lords for they rightly considered therein these two special things 1. Their Number 2. Their Abilities Which are two main things to stop and hinder many evils For 1. They had Twenty six Voyces which was a very considerable number and might stop a great gap and stay the stream or at least moderate the violence of any unjust prosecution 2. They were men of great Learning men of Profound knowledge both in Divine and Humane Affairs and men well educated à cunabulis that spent all their time in Books and were Conversant with the dead that feared not to speak the truth and have wearied themselves in reading Histories The abilities of the Bishops comparing Laws and considering the Affairs of all Common-wealths and so were able if their modesty did not silence them to discourse de quolibet ente to untie every knot and to explain every riddle and being the immediate servants of the living God set apart as the Apostle speaketh to offer Sacrifice and to administer the Sacraments of God to prepare
in Publick throughout the whole Kingdom and they are not a little punished that neglect it and whatsoever Message Answer Declaration or Proclamation cometh from the King to inform his Subjects of the Truth of things and to undeceive his much seduced people they streightly forbid those to be Printed and imprison if they can catch them all that publish them as they did many worthy Ministers in the City of London and in many other places of this Kingdom 6. They have publickly voted in their House 6. Wrong and accordingly indeavoured by Messages to perswade our brethren of Scotland to joyn in their assistance with these grand Rebels to rebel against their Soveraign but I perswade my self as I said before that the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland are more Religious in themselves more Loyal to their liege Lord and indeed wiser in all their actions then while they may live quietly at home in a happy peace to undertake upon the perswasions of Rebellious Subjects such an unhappy war abroad 7. It is remonstrated and related publickly that 7. Wrong as if they had shaken off all subjection and were become already a State Independent they have Treated by their agents with forraign States and do still proceed in that course which if true is such an usurpation upon Soveraignty as was never before attempted in this Kingdom and such a Presumption as few men know the secret mischiefs that may lurk therein 8. They suffer and licence their Pamphleters Pryn Goodwin Burges 8. Wrong Marshal Sedgwick and other emissaries of wickedness to publish such Treasons and Blasphemies and abominable Aphorisms As that the negative vote of the King is no more then the dissent of one man the Affirmative vote of the King makes not a Law ergo the Negative cannot destroy it and the like absurd and sensless things that are in those Aphorisms and in Prins book of the Soveraign power of Parliament whereby they would deny the Kings power to hinder any Act that both the Houses shall conclude and so taking away those just prerogatives from him that are as Hereditary to him as his Kingdom compell him to assent to their conclusions for which things our Histories tell us that other Parliaments have banished and upon their returns they were hanged both the Spencers the Father and the Son for the like presumption Why the two Spencers died as among other Articles Per asperte vid. Elismere post-nati p. 99. for denying this Prerogative unto their King and affirming that if he neglected his duty and would not do what he ought for the good of the Kingdom he might be compelled by force to perform it which very thing divesteth the King of all Soveraignty overthroweth Monarchy and maketh our government a meer Aristocracy contrary to the constitution of our first Kings and the judgment of all ages for we know full well Pag. 48. from the Practise of all former Parliaments that seeing the three States are subordinate unto the King in making Laws wherein the chiefest power consisteth they may propound and consent but it is still in the Kings power to refuse or ratify and I never read that any Parliament man till now did ever say the contrary but that if there be no concurrence of the King in whom formally the power of making of any Law resideth ut in subjecto to make the Law the two Houses whose consent is but a requisite condition to compleat the Kings power are but a liveless convention like two Cyphers without a figure that of themselves are of no value or power but joyned unto their figures have the full strength of their places which is confirmed by the Viewer of the Observations out of 11. Pag. 19 20 21. Hen. 7.23 per Davers Polydore 185. Cowel inter verbo Praerog Sir Thomas Smyth de republ Angl. l. 2. c. 3. Bodin l. 1. c. 8. For if the Kings consent were not necessary for the perfecting of every Act The Letter to a Gentleman in Gloucestershire p. 3. then certainly as another saith all those Bils that heretofore have passed both Houses and for want of the Royal assent have slept and been buried all this while would now rise up as so many Laws and Statutes and would make as great confusion as these new orders and ordinances have done And as the Lawyers tell us that the necessity of the assent of all three States in Parliament is such as without any one of them the rest do but lose their labour Lamberts Archeion 271. Vid. the Viewer p. 21. so Le Roy est assentus ceo faict un Act de Parliament and as another saith Nihil ratum habetur nisi quod Rex comprobarit Nothing is perfected but what the King confirmeth But here in the naming of the three States I must tell you that I find in most of our Writers about this new-born question of the Kings power a very great omission that they are not particularly set down that the whole Kingdom might know which is every one of them and upon this omission I conceive as great mistake in them that say the three States are Which be the three States of England 1. The King 2. The House of Peers 3. The House of Commons For I am informed by no mean Lawyer that you may find it upon the Rowls of Henry the fifth Speed l. 9. c. 19. p. 712. Anno. 1 Ric. 3. as I remember and I am sure you may find it in the first year of Richard the third where the three States are particularly named and the King is none of them For it is said That at the request and by the assent of the three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and Commons of the Land Assembled it is declared that our said Soveraign Lord the King is the very undoubted King of this Realm Wherein you may plainly see the King that is acknowledged their Soveraign by all three can be none of the three but is the head of all three as the Dean is none of the Chapter but is Caput capituli and as in France and Spain so in England I conceive the three Estates to be 1. The Lords Spiritual that are if not representing yet in loco in the behalf of all the Clergy of England that till these Anabaptistical tares have almost choaked all the Wheat in Gods field were thought so considerable a party as might deserve as well a representation in Parliament as old Sarum or the like Borough of scarce twenty Houses 2. The Lords Temporal in the right of their Honor and their Posterity And to make the World believe how justly and sufficiently legal they could do this they made another Ordinance for the inhabitants of the Counties of Northampton Rutland Derby c. to pay the twentieth part and to be assessed by the Assessors that they name in imitation of the Statute lately made for the four hundred
yet they compell us to obey their Orders in a stricter manner than usually we are injoyned by Law and this course to make such binding Ordinances as they do to carry the force though not the name of an Act of Parliament or a Law is a mighty abuse of our Laws and Liberties for Sir Edward Cook tells us plainly That as the constitution of our Government now standeth neither the House of Commons and King L. Cook in the Preface of the Stat. of Westminster the second Lamberts Archeion 271. can make any binding Law when the Peers dissent nor the Lords and King when the Commonalty dissenteth nor yet both Houses without the Kings consent but all three King Peers and Commons must agree before any coactive Law can be composed Nay more it is sufficiently proved that Dare jus populo or the legislative power being one principall end of Regall Authority was in Kings by the Law of Nature while they governed the people by naturall equity long before municipall Laws or Parliaments had any beeing For as the Poet saith Remo cum fratre Quirinus Jura dabat populo Hoc Priami gestamen erat cum jura vocatis More daret populis Because this was the custom of the Kings of Scythia Assyria Aegypt c. long before Moses and Pharonaeus when Municipall Laws first began to give Laws unto their people according to the Rules of Naturall equity which by the Law of Nature they were all bound to observe And though some Kings did graciously yield and by their voluntary oathes for themselves and their successors bind themselves may times to stricter limits than were absolutely requisite as William Rufus King Stephen Henry the fourth Richard the third and the like granted many Priviledges perhaps to gain the favour of their Subjects against those which likely had a better Title to the Crown than themselves or it may be to satisfie their people as the guerdon or compensation for the sufferance of some fore-passed grievances as Henry the first Edward the second Richard the second and the like yet these limitations being agreeable to equity and consistent with Royalty and not forcibly extracted ought in all truth and reason to be observed by them And hence it is that the Kings of this Realm according to the oathes and promises which they made at their Coronation can never give nor repeal any Law but with the assent of the Peers and People But though they have thus yielded to make no Laws nor to repeal any Laws without them yet this voluntary concession of so much grace unto the people doth no waies translate the legislative power from the King unto his assistants but that it is formaliter and subjectivè still in the King and not in them else would the government of this Kingdom be an Aristocracy or Democracy and not a Monarchy because the Supreme power of making and repealing Laws and Governing or judging decisively according to those Laws are two of those three things that give being to each one of these three sorts of Government Therefore the King of England Cassan in cata◠gloria mundi 2 2 Ed. 3. 3. pl. 25. Vid. The view of a Printed book intituled Observations c. Where this point is proved at large p. 18 19 21 22. being an absolute Monarch in his own Kingdom as Cassaneus saith and no man can deny it the Legislative power must needs reside solely in the King ut in subjecto proprio and the consent of the Lords and Commons is no sharing of that power but only a condition yielded to be observed by the King in the use of that power and so both the Oath of Supremacy and the form of all our ancient Statutes wherein the King speaks as the Law-maker do most evidently prove the same unto us Le Roy voit Neither durst any Subjects in former times either assume such a power unto themselves or deny the same unto their King for you may find how the House of Commons denying to pass the Bill for the Pardon of the Clergy which Henry the 8th granted them when they were all charged to be in a Premunire unless themselves also might be included within the pardon received this answer from the King that He was their Soveraign Lord and would not be compelled to shew his mercy nor indeed could they compel him to any thing else but seeing they went about to restrain him of his Liberty he would grant a pardon unto his Clergy by his great Seal without them though afterwards of his own accord he signed their pardon also which brought great commendation to his judgment Sir Rich. Baker in vita Hen. 8. to deny it at first when it was demanded as a right and to grant it afterward when it was received as of grace And yet the denyal of their assent unto the King is more equitable to them and less derogatory to him then to make orders without him And this manner of compulsion to shew grace unto themselves is more tolerable than to force him to disgrace and displace his most faithful servants only because others cannot confide in them when no criminal charge is laid against them And therefore for the Lords and Commons to make Orders and Ordinances without the King and in opposition to the King is a meer usurpation of the Regal power a nullifying of the Kings power and a making of the Royal assent which heretofore gave life to every Law to be an empty piece of formality which is indeed an intolerable arrogancy in the contrivers of these Orders and the makers of these Ordinances a monstrous abuse of the Subjects and a plain making of our good King to be somewhat like him in the Comedy A King and no King And whereas no Subject yea under favour be it spoken nor the King himself after he hath taken his Oath at his Coronation is free from the observation of the established Laws yet they make themselves so far above the reach of Law that they freed him which the Lord chief Justice Bramston had committed to Newgate for felony in stealing the Countess of Rivers goods they hindered all men as we found in their journal from proceeding against Sir Thomas Dawes they injoyned the Judges by their Orders to forbear to proceed in their ordinary courses in the Courts of Justice contrary to the Oathes of those Judges and some Parliament-men came to the Bench to forbid the Judges to grant Habeas Corpus's which is as great an iniquity and as apparent an injustice as ever was done by any Parliament The most abominable wickedness of these factious Rebels And that which is a Note above Ela above all that could be spoken whereas the Law of God and man the bonds and obligations of Civility and Christianity tye us all to be dutiful and obedient unto our King in all things either Actively or Passively and no wayes for no cause violently to resist him under the greatest penalties that can be
sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this kingdom or otherwise it would follow that the king had power to proclaime war but not to be able to maintain it and that he is bound to defend his subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraigns their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realm of England supremam potestatem merum imperium apud nos habentes Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec praeter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by Oath to maintain the kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that not onely as they are singularly considered but overall collectively represented in the body politick for by sundry divers old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have been bounden and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience Respect 3 3. As the duty of every one of the kings of Israel was to be custos utriusque tabulae to keep the Law of God and to have a special care of his Religion and then to do justice and judgment according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judicial Laws of that kingdom so are the kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties The duty of the kings of England 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintain common right according to the rules and dictates of Nature And. 3. To see the particular Laws and Statutes of his own kingdom well observed amongst his people To all which the king is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his Oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these estabâ—ished Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty Respect 4 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but onely unto God Psal 51.4 and therefore king David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their most idolatrous The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings of England are accountable to none but to God Reason 1 1. Because they have their Crown immediately from God who first gave it to the Conquerour through his sword and since to the succeeding kings by the ordinary means of hereditary succession Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. Reason 2 2. Because the Oath which he takes at his Coronation binds him onely before God who alone can both judge him and punish him if he forgets it Reason 3 3. Because there is neither condition promise or limitation either in that Oath or in any other Covenant or compact that the king makes with the people either at his Coronation or at any other time that he should be accomptable or that they should question and censure him for any thing that he should do Reason 4 4. Because the Testimony of many famous Lawyers justify the same truth for Bracton saith if the king refuse to do what is just satis erit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem The Lord will be his avenger which will be punishment enough for him but of the kings grants and actions nec privatae personae nec justiciarii debent disputare And Walsingham maketh mention of a Letter written from the Parliament to the Bishop of Rome wherein they say Bracton fol. 34. 2. b. apud Lincol anno 1301. that certum directum Dominium à prima institutione regni Angliae ad Regem pertinuit the certain and direct Dominion of this Kingdom from the very first institution thereof hath belonged unto the King who by reason of the arbitrary or free preeminence of the royal dignity and custome observed in all ages ought not to answer before any Judge either Ecclesiastical or Secular Ex libera praeeminentia Ergo neither before the Pope nor Parliament nor Presbytery Reason 5 5. Because the constant custome and practice of this kingdom was ever such that no Parliament at any time sought to censure their king and either to depose him or to punish him for any of all his actions save onely those that were called in the troublesome and irregular times of our unfortunate Princes No legitimate and just Parliment did ever question the kings of England for their actions and were swayed by those that were the heads of the most powerful Faction to conclude most horrid and unjustifiable Acts to the very shame of their Judicial authorities as those factious Parliaments in the times of Hen. 3. king John Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and others whose acts in the judgment of all good authors are not to be drawn into examples when as they deposed their king for those pretended faults whereof not the worst of them but is fairly answered and all thirty three of them proved to be no way sufficient to depose him Heningus c. 4. p. 93. by that excellent Civilian Heningus Arnisaeus And therefore seeing the Institution of our kings is not onely by Gods Law but also by our own Laws Customs and practice thus agreeable to the Scripture kings they ought to be as sacred and as inviolable to us as the kings of Israel were to the Jews and as reverently honoured and obeyed by us as both the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul advise us to honour and obey the king CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto
be Rebels and Traytors against their own most gracious King they have not onely with Jerusalem justified Samaria Sodome and Gomorrah but they have justified all the Samaritanes all the Sodomites all the Schismaticks Hereticks Rebels and Traytors Papists and Atheists and all that went before them Judas himself in many circumstances not excepted and that which makes their doings the more evil and the more exceedingly wicked is that they make Religion to be the warrant for their evil doings the pack-horse to carry and the clokt to cover all their treacheries and thereby they drew the greater multitudes of poore Zelots to be their followers And therefore seeing it is not onely the honour but also the duty as of all other Kings so likewise of our King to be as the Princes of our Land are justly stiled the Defenders of the Faith and that not only in regard of enemies abroad but also in respect of those far worse enemies which desire alteration at home it behoves the King to looke to these home-bred enemies of the Church and seeing the king though never so willing for his piety and religion never so able for his knowledge and understanding What Gods faithful servants and the kings loyal Subjects must do in these times 1. To justifie the kings right yet without strength and power to effect what he desires cannot defend the faith and maintain the true Religion from the violence of Sectaries and Traytors within his kingdome it hehoves us all to do these two things 2. To justifie the kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his authority and right to the supreme Governour and defender of the Chuch and of Gods true religion and service both in respect of Doctrine and Discipline and that none else Pope or Parliament hath any power at all herein but what they have derivately from him which I hope we have sufficiently proved 2. To submit our selves unto our king and to add our strength force 2. To assist Him against the Rebels and power to inable his power to discharge this duty against all the Innovators of our Religion and the enemies of our peace for the honour of God and the happiness of this Church and Common-wealth for that power which is called the Kings power and is granted and given to him of God is not onely that Heroick virtue of fortitude which God planteth in the hearts of most noble Princes as he hath most grasiously done it in abundant measure in our most gracious king but it is the collected and united power and strength of all his Subjects which the Lord hath commanded us to joyn and submit it for the assistance of the kings power against all those that shall oppose it and if we refuse or neglect the same then questionless whatsoever mischief idolatry barbarity or superstition shall take root in the Church and whatsoeuer oppression and wickedness shall impair the Common-wealth Heaven will free His Majesty and the wrath of God in no smal measure must undoubtedly light upon us and our posterity even as Debora saith of them that refused to assist Barac against his enemies Curse ye Meroz curse bitterly the Inhabitants thereof Jud. 5.23 because they came not forth to helpe the Lord against the mighty CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiastical Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Laws by the advice of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay Counsellours how our late Canons came to be annulled that it is the Kings right to admit his Bishops and Prelates to be of his Council and to delegate secular authority or civil jurisdiction unto them proved by the examples of the Heathens Jewes and Christians OUt of all this that hath been spoken it is more then manifest that the king ought to have the supreme power over Gods Church and the Government thereof and the greatest care to preserve true Religion throughout all his Dominions this is his duty and this is his honour that God hath committed not a people but his people and the members of his Son under his charge For the performance of which charge it is requisite for us to know that God hath granted unto him among other rights these two special prerogatives Two special rights and prerogatives of the King for the government of the Church 1. To make Laws and Canons 1. That he may and ought to make Lawes Orders Canons and Decrees for the well governing of Gods Church 2. That he may when he seeth cause lawfully and justly grant tolerations and dispensations of his own Laws and Decrees as he pleaseth 1. Not onely Solomon and Jehosaphat gave commandment and prescribed unto the chief Priests and Levites what form and order they should observe in their Ecclesiastical causes and methode of serving God but also Constantine Theodosius Justinian and all the Christian Emperours that were careful of Gods service did the like and therefore when the Donatists alleadged that secular Princes had nothing to do to meddle in matters of Religion and in causes Ecclesiastical Aug. l. 2. c. 26. Saint Augustine in his second Epistle against Gaudentius saith I have already proved that it appertaineth to the Kings charge that the Ninivites should pacifie Gods wrath and therefore the Kings that are of Christs Church do judge most truely that it belongeth to their charge to see that men Rebel not Idom ep 48. ep 50. ad Bonifac without punishment against the same because God doth inspire it is to the mindes of Kings that they should procure the Commandments of the Lord to be performed in al their Kingdomes for they are commanded to serve the Lord in fear and how do they serve the Lord as Kings but in making Laws for Christ So they are called the kings Ecclesiastical Lawes as man he serveth him by living faithfully but as King he serveth him in making Laws that shal command just things and forbid the contrary which they could not do if they were not kings And by the example of the king of Ninive Darius Nebuchadnezzar and others which were but figures and prophesies that foreshewed the power duty and service that Christian kings should owe and performe in like sort to the furtherance of Christs Religion in the time of the New Testament when al kings shall fall down and Worship Christ Psal 72.11 Arg. cont lit Peul l. 2. c 92 and all Nations shall do him service he proveth that the Christian kings and Princes should make Laws and Decrees for the furtherance of Gods service even as Nebuchadnezzar had done in his time And upon the words of the Apostle Idem in l. de 12. abus grad grad 2. that the king beareth not the sword in vain he proveth against Petilian that the power and authority of the Princes which the Apostle treateth of in that place is given unto them to make sharpe penall Lawes to further
is immediately from God yet if he would believe learned Authours he might find enough of this judgment for the sublime power and authority that resideth in earthly Potentates is not a derivation or collection of humane power scattered among many and gathered into one head but a power immediately granted by God to his Vicegerents * So acknowledged by Act of Parliament 25 H. 8. c. 12.28 c. 10. Dr Sarav sol 175. Bellar. de Laicis cap. 6. 8. quam nunquam fuisse populo demandatam legimus which God never communicated to any multitudes of men saith Saravia And Bellarmine himself against the Anabaptists confuteth their error that denyed the power and authority of kings to be immediately from God I. From Script Sap. 6. Esay 45. Hierem. 27. Dan. 2. Rom. 13.1 Pet. 2. II. From the Councill of Constans Sess 8. 15. III. From S. Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 21. where he saith non tribuamus dandi regni potestatem nisi Deo vero which giveth felicity in the kingdome of Heaven onely to the godly but the earthly kingdomes he giveth both to the godly and to the wicked nam qui dedit Mario ipse Caesari qui Augusto ipse Neroni qui Vespasianis vel patri vel filio Idem de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 3. Irvinus de jure regni c. 2. p. 40. suavissimis imperatoribus ipse Domitiano crudelissimo qui Constantino Christiano ipse Apostatae Juliano And IV. it is proved from the confession of the Popes of Rome as Leo. ep 38. 43. Gelasius epist ad Anastasium Greg. l. 2. epist 61. Nicholaus epist ad Michaelem out of all which saith Irvinus it is apparent all and every king non multitudini aut hominibus sed Deo soli regum regi quicquid juris habent acceptum ferre And he might consider that a thing may be said to be immediately from God divers wayes as specially 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque ullo signo creato 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum aliquo actu conjuncto that is 1. Solely from God and no other presupposing nothing praevious to the obtaining of it So Moses and Joshua had their authority from God Heningus fusè c. 1. p. 4 5. de distinct duplici jurisdict Sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure Principi tamen facto divinitùs potestas data est Cunerus c. 5. de offic Princip 2. Joyntly with an interposed act of some other instrument as the Apostolicall power of Matthias was immediately from God though his constitution was from the Apostles so Kings though some of them be after a sort elected by men yet as our Saviour saith to Pilate that his power was from above though he was deputed by Caesar So may they be said to have their authority immediately from God though they should be some wayes deputed by men for we must distinguish betwixt the soveraignty the Subject and the collation of the Soveraignty to the Subject the Soveraignty is immediately from God the Subject is from it's naturall cause and the unition of the Soveraignty to the Subject is likewise immediately from God not onely approving but appointing the same in all the Kings of his ordination or to speak with the Schooles we must distinguish betwixt deputationem personae and collationem potestatis the designation of the person which is sometimes done by men and that is where the King is elective and the donation of the power which is proper onely unto God for so the Psalmist saith Psal 62.11 God hath spoken once and twice I have also heard the same that power belongeth unto God and the Apostle saith the powers that are are ordained of God Rom. 13.2 which is to be understood of the regall or Monarchicall power because Saint Paules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.13 Saint Peters description betwixt the King and the inferiour Magistrates A twofold royalty in a King 1 Merum imperium higher powers are interpreted by Saint Peter to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings that are supreme where Saint Peter makes an excellent distinction betwixt the superiour and the inferiour Magistrates the superiour is that which Saint Paul saith is ordained of God and the inferiours are they which Saint Peter calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are sent by the King for the better explanation of which place you must know that in every King or supreme Magistrate we may conceive a double royalty The 1 is merum imperium or regni potestas summa plenissima and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this fulnesse of power and independent of any creature and immediately received of God which the Civilians call jus regis or munus regni is in the person of the King indivisible not to be imparted by the King to any creature because he cannot devest himself divide this power or alienate the same to any subject no not to his own son without renouncing or dividing his Kingdome How the King cannot do unjustly and by this the Civilians say the King may governe sine certa lege sine certo jure sed non sine aequitate justitia without Law but not without equity whereupon it is a rule in the Common Law hoc unum rex potest facere quod non potest injustè agere which is to be applyed to this inseperable regality of the King 2 Imperium dispositivum and hath been often alleadged by other Parliaments to justifie the King from all blame The 2 is imperium dispositivum or jus gubernandi vel jurisdictio the right of governing or jurisdiction and distribution of justice and this may be derived and delegated from the King legatis vitalitiis either for terme of life or during the Kings pleasure But how not privativè when the King doth not denude himself thereof but cumulativè and executivè to execute the same as the Kings Instruments for the preservation of peace How the King delegates his power to his inferiour Magistrates and the administration of justice as it appeareth in their patent and this subordinate power is not inherent in their persons but onely committed unto them for the execution of some office because that when the supreame power is present the power of the inferiour officers is silent it is in nubibus fled into the clouds and like the light of the Moon and Stars vanishing whensoever the Sun appeareth for Kings when they do transfer any actuall power to the subalternate Officers retain the habituall power still in their own hands which upon any emergent occasion they may actually resume to themselves again which they could not do if they parted with the habite and forme of this despoticall power of government The words of the Apostles vindicated from the false glosses of the Sectaries Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13 The testimony of the Fathers for the Soveraignty of Kings Tertul. ad Scap. in apologet
rarò eminentes viros non magnis adjutoribus ad gubernandam fortunam suam usus invenies saith Paterculus as great men of a wealthy and vast estate are seldome without great counsel to assist them to govern and to dispose of that great fortune so Kings having a great charge laid upon them are not onely permitted but advised and counselled by God to have 1. Wise Counsellors 1. Faithful and wise Counsellors to direct them in the government of the people 2. Subordinate Magistrates to assist them in the government of the people Tacit. annal lib. 2. 1. Tacitus as I said before saith There cannot be an argument of greater wisedome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise and religious Counsel because the most weighty labours of the Prince do stand in need of the greatest helpes therefore Agamemnon had his Nestor and Chaleas Dionys Halicar lib. 2. Augustus had Mecoenas and Agrippa two wise Counsellors to direct him in all his affairs David had Nathan Gad Achitophel and Hushai and Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel Shadrach Meshac and Abednego and so all other Kings in all Nations do chuse the wisest men that they conceive to be their Counsellors 1. Subordinate Magistrates 2. For subordinate Magistrates Jethro's counsel unto Moses and Moses hearkning unto him as to a wise and faithful Counsellor makes it plain how necessary it is for the supreme Magistrate to chuse such assistants as may bear with him some part of the great burthen of government Thus far it is agreed upon on all sides but the difference betwixt us and our new State-Divines consisteth in these two points 1. About the choice 2. About the power of these officers A twofold difference For 1. We say that by the Law of nature every master hath right to chuse his own servants this is Lex gentium ever practiced among all Nations 1. About the choice of inferiour Magistrates and Officers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4 5. Exod. 18.11 why then should not the King make choice of his own Counsellors and Servants they will say because he is the servant of the Common-wealth But how is that I hope none otherwise then the Minister is the servant of the Church for Christ his sake and shall he therefore that is your King lose the priviledges of a common Subject Besides hath not God committed the charge of his people into the Kings hand and will he not require an accompt of him of their government how then shall he give an account to God when the government is taken out of his hands and subordinate officers and servants put upon him I am sure when the 70 grand Senators of Israel the great Sanhedrim of the Jewes were to be chosen Jethro saith unto Moses Thou shalt provide out of the people able men mark I pray you thou and not the people shalt provide them neither shall you find it otherwise in any History Pharaoh and not his people Gen. 41.41 made Joseph ruler over all the Land of Egypt Nebuchadnezzar and not his people made Daniel ruler over the whole Province of Babylon Dan. 2.48 Cap. 6.1 2. and Darius set over his Kingdome a hundred and twenty Princes and made Daniel the first of the three Presidents that were over all these And what shall I say of Ahashuerus and all other kings All kings chuse their own Officers Heathens Jewes or Christians that ever kept this power to chuse their own servants Counsellors and Officers except they were infant Kings in their non-age and so not able to chuse them But you will say that our Histories tell you Ob. how Ric. 2. Edw. 2. and others of our Kings had their Officers appointed and themselves committed unto Guardians by the Parliament therefore why may not our Parliament do the like in case of male-administration I answer that I speak of the right of kings Sol. 2 Reg. 19.37 and not justifie the wrongs done to Kings Adramelech and Sharezer killed Sennacherib their own Father is it therefore lawfull for other children so to do Why should we therefore alleadge those things Quae insolentiâ populari quae vi quae furore non ad imitationem exemplo proponenda sed justo legum supplicio vindicanda sunt which should rather have been revenged by the just punishment of the Law then proposed to be imitated by the example Therefore I say that whosoever abridgeth the King of this power robbeth him of that right which God and nature hath allowed him whereby you may judge how justly the Parliamentary faction would have dealt herein with our King by forcing Counsellors and great Officers upon him but I hope you see it is the Kings right to chuse his Servants Officers and Counsellors what manner of men he should chuse Jethro setteth down True Church lib. 6. c. 4. c. And I have most fully described the qualities and conditions that they should be indued withall in my True Church 2. As our Sectaries differ much from the true Divines about the choyce 2. Difference about the power of the subordinate Magistrates so they differ much more about the power of these subordinate officers and inferiour Magistrates for we say they are alwayes to be obedient to the supreme power or otherwise ejus est deponere cujus est constituere he can displace them that hath appointed them or if you say no because I cited you a place out of Bellarmine where he saith the Souldiers had power to refuse their Emperour while he was in fieri to be elected but not when he was in facto fully chosen and made Emperour so the King hath power to chuse them but not to displace them I answer briefly that in creating or constituting our inferiours we may but our superiour we may not because inferiours in the judgment of all men None can depose him in whom the supreme Majesty resideth have no jurisdiction over their superiours And therefore elective Kings are not deposeable in a Monarchicall government where the supreme power resides in the Monarch though perhaps the Kings of Lacedemon might be justly deposed because by the constitution of their Kingdome the supreme power was not in their Kings but in their Ephori But our new Sectaries out of Junius Brutus Burcher Althusius Knox and Cartwright teach very devoutly but most falsely that in case of defailance to do his duty they may with the Tribunes of Rome or the Demarchi at Athens censure and depose him too if they see just cause for the same Blacvod c. 33. p. 285. Grand Rebellion c. 7. p. 52. To confute which blasphemous doctrine against God and so pernicious and dangerous to this State though others have done it very excellently well already and I have formerly shewed the absurdity of it in my Grand Rebellion yet because all books come not to every hand I will say somewhat
of it in this place If these Counsellours Magistrates Parliament call them what you will have any power and authority it must be either subordinate coordinate or supreme 1 Subordinate officers can have no power over their superiors 1. If subordinate I told you before they can have no power over their superiour because all inferiour Magistrates are Magistrates onely in respect of those that are under their jurisdiction because to them they represent the King and supply the office of the King but in reference to the King they are but private persons and Subjects that can challenge no jurisdiction over him 2. that neither Peers not Parliament can have the supremacy None above the king at any time 2. If they be supreme then Saint Peter is much mistaken to say the King is supreme and they do ill to disclaime this supremacy when in all their Petitions not disjunctively but as they are an united body they say Your Majesties humble Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament and besides they are perjur'd that deny it after they have taken the Oath of supremacy where every one saith I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highness is the onely supreme Governour of this Realme c. But this is further and so fully proved out of Bracton the nature of all the Subjects tenures and the constitution of this government by the Authour of The unlawfulness of Subjects taking up armes against their Soveraigne that more needs not be spoken to any rational man Yet because this point is of such great concernment and the chiefest argument they have out of Bracton is that he saith Rex habet superiorem The Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton fully answered legem curiam suam comites Barones quia comites dicuntur quasi socii Regis qui habet socium habet magistrum ideò si Rex fuerit sine frano id est sine lege debent ei fraenum ponere nisi ipsimet fuerint cum rege sine fraeno and all this makes just nothing in the World for them if they had the honesty or the learning to understand it right for what is above the King the Law and the Court of Earles and Barons but how are they above him as the Preacher is above the King when he preacheth unto him or the Physician when he gives him Physick or the Pilot when he sayleth by Sea that is quoad rationem consulendi How the Law and the Court of Barons is above the King non cogendi they have superioritatem directivam non coactivam for so the teacher is above him that is taught and the Counsellor above him that is counselled that is by way-of advice but not by way of command and to shew you that this is Bractons true meaning I pray you consider his words Comites dicuntur quasi socii they are as his fellows or Peeres not simply but quasi and if they were simply so yet they are but socii not superiours and what can socii do not command for par in parem non habet potestatem that is praecipiendi otherwise you must confesse habet potestatem consulendi therefore Bracton addes qui habet socium habet magistrum that is a teacher not a commander and to make this yet moâ—e plain he addes Si Rex fuerit sine fraeno id est lege if the King be without a bridle that is saith he lest you should mistake what he meanes by the bridle and thinke he meanes force and armes the Law they ought to put this bridle unto him that is to presse him with this Law and still to shew him his duty even as we do both to King and people saying this is the Law this should bridle you but here is not a word of commanding much lesse of forcing the King not a word of superiority nor yet simply of equality and therefore I must say hoc argumentum nihil ad rhombum these do abuse every author 3 That neither Peers nor Parliament are co-ordinate with the King If their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their natural strength and power but of their right and authority be coordinate and equal with the Kings authority then whether given by God which they cannot prove or by the people there must be duo summa imperia two supreme powers which the Philosophers say cannot be nam quod summum est unum est Ommesque Philosoph jurisconsulti ponunt summum in eo rerum genere quod dividi non possit Lactant. l. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. 3.14 from whence they prove the unity of the God-head that there can be but one God and if this supreme power be divided betwixt King and Parliament you know what the Poet saith Omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit Or you may remember what our Saviour saith If a Kingdome be divided against it selfe it cannot stand and therefore when Tiberius out of his wonted subtilty desired the Senate to appoint a colleague and partner with him for the better administration of the Empire Asinius Gallus that was desirous enough of their Pristine liberty yet understanding well with what minde the subtle fox spake onely to descry his ill willers after some jests answered seriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that government must not be divided because you can never have any happiness where the power is equally divided in two parts when according to the well known axiome to every one Par in parem non habet potestatem But to make the matter cleare The Case of our Affaires p. 19.20 The Lawes of our Land acknowledge all Soveraignty in the King and to shew that the Soveraignty is inseperably inherent in the person of His Majesty we have the whole current of our very Acts of Parliament acknowledging it in these very termes Our Soveraigne Lord the King and the Parliament 25. Hen. 8. saith This your Graces Realme recognizing no superiour under God but your Grace c. And the Parliament 16. Rich. 2.5 affirmeth the Crown of England to have been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately to God in all things touching the regality of the said Crown and to none other and in the 25. of Hen. 5. the Parliament declareth that it belongeth to the Kings regality to grant or deny what Petitions in Parliament he pleaseth and so indeed whatsoever authority is in the constant practice of the Kingdom or in the known and published Laws and Statutes it concludeth the Soveraignty to be fixed in the King and all the Subjects virtually united in the representative body of the Parliament to be obliged in obedience allegeance to the individual person of the King and I doubt not but our learned Lawyers can finde much more proofe then I do out of their Law to this purpose And therefore seeing divers supreme
powers are not compatible in one State nor allowable in our State the conceit of a mixed Monarchy is but a foppery to prove the distribution of the supreme power into two sorts of governours equally indued with the same power because the supreme power being but one must be placed in one sort of governours either in one numericall man as it is in Monarchy or in one specificall kinde of men as the optimates as it is in Aristocracie or in the people as in Democracie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if by a mixed Monarchy you meane that this supreme power is not simply absolute quoad omnia but a government limited and regulated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will not much quarrell with our Sectaries because His Majesty hath promised and we are sure he will performe it to govern his people according to the Lawes of this Land And therefore they that would rob the King of this right They deserve not to live in the Kingdom that diminish the supremacy of the King and give any part of his supreme power to the Parliament or to any of all his inferiour Magistrates deserve as well to be expelled the Kingdome as Plato would have Homer to be banished for bringing in the Gods fighting and disagreeing among themselves when as Ovid out of him saith Jupiter in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo Because as the Civilians say Naturale vitium est negligi quod communiter possidetur útque se nihil habere putet qui totum non habeat suam partem corrumpi patiatur dum invidet alienae and therefore the same Homer treating of our humane Government saith Nec multos regnare bonum rex unicus esto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Aristotle doth so infinitely commend Arist Metaph. lib. 1. Statius Thebaid lib. 1. where he disputeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth Plato and all the wise Philosophers that followed after because as the Poët saith Summo dulcius unum Stare loco sociÃsque comes discordia regnis And as our own most lamentable experience sheweth what abundance of miseries happened unto our selves by this renting of the King's power and placing it in the hands of the Parliament and his own inferiour officers and as those sad Tragedies of Etheocles and Polynices Numitor and Amulius Romulus and Remus Antoninus and Geta and almost infinite more do make it manifest to all the world §. The two chiefest parts of the regal Government the four properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary faction transgresse in every property 4. The chiefest parts of the Regal government which are two Exod. 2.14 4. HAving spoken of those assistants that should further and not hinder the King in the Common-wealth it resteth that I should now speak of the chiefest parts of this government when Moses killed the Aegyptian that wronged the Israelite and the next day said unto the Hebrew that did injure his fellow Wherefore smitest thou him the oppressor answered Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us 1 Sam. 8.20 2 Sam. 5.2 and the people say unto Samuel we will have a King over us that our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our battails Out of which two places we finde two special parts of the King's government Sigon l. 7. c. 1. 1. Principatum bellorum the charge of the wars in respect whereof the Kings were called Captains as the Lord said unto Samuel concerning Saul Vnges eum ducem 1 Sam. 9.16 thou shalt anoint him to be Captain over my people Israel 1 Reg. 3.9 Psal 72.2 Araisaeus de jure Majest l. 2. c. 1. p. 214. 2. Curam judiciorum the care of all judgments in respect whereof David and Solomon and the other Kings are said to judge the people So Arnisaeus saith Majestatis potestas omnis consistit vel in defendenda repub vel in regenda all the power of royalty consisteth either in defending or in governing the Common-wealth according as Homer describeth a perfect King Homer Iliad γ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so you see the two principal parts of the King's government are the Offices 1. Ducis in bello gerendo 2. Judicis in jure reddendo 1. Part. In the time of War Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli autoritas atque consilium apud principes sit Aug. cont Faust l. 22. Arnis l. 2. c. 5. p. 345. Plato de legib lib. 2. 1. Of a Captain in the time of War 2. Of a Judge in the time of Peace 1. Then it is the proper right of the King and of none but the King or he that hath the regal and supreme power to make war and to conclude peace for Plato in his Common-wealth ordained that Si quis pacem vel bellum fecerit cum aliquibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Julian Law adjudgeth him guilty of High Treason Qui injussu principis bellum gesserit delectúmve habuerit exercitum vel comparaverit that either maketh War or raiseth an Army without his Kings command And to this part of the regall government Luc. 14.31.32 Aristot Polit. l. 7. c. 8. which consisteth in the Militia in Armes for the defence of the Kingdome pertaineth 1. The proclaiming of War which our Saviour properly ascribeth unto the right of Kings when he saith not what State or Common-wealth Arnis l. 2. c. 1. but What King going to war with another King c. 2. The concluding of Peace which our Saviour ascribeth also unto the King in the same place 3. The making of leagues and confederacies with other forraigne States 4. The sending and receiving of Ambassadors 5. To raise Armes and the like which the Lawes of God and of all Nations justifie to be the proper right of Kings and to belong onely unto the supreame Majesty But then you will say did not the Judges Moses Joshua Gideon Jephta Judges 11.11 Barac Samson and the rest make war and yet they were no Kings Why then may not the Nobles make war as well as Kings I answer that they do indeed make war and a miserable wretched war but I speak of a just war and so I say that none but the King or he that hath the Kings power can do it for though the Judges assumed not the name of Kings nor Captains sed à potiore parte vocati sunt judices but from the sweetest part of the Royall government were termed Judges yet they had the full power ducendi judicandi populum both of war and peace saith Sigenius and so the men of Gilead said unto Jephthe veni esto princeps noster and they made him their head by an inviolable covenant And of Moses it was plainly said He was King in Jesurun Deut. 33.5 and when there was no Judge it is said there was no King in
condition their Preachers are and of what worth of no faith of no learning that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the king and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soul to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deare to me as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soul dearer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Vniversities and all the Divines within the kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this War there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleive not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this war is lawful upon the Parliament side for though these Locusts that is the German It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king Scottish and the English Puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainly this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawful King is point blanck and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c 2. Keckerm Syst pol. c. 32. Jun. Brut. q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de laic c. 6. Suar. de fid cathol c. 3. Lichfield l. 4. 19. sect 19. Field l. 5. c. 30. that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing kings saith that no Protestant doth maintain that damnable doctrine and that rashness of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juel and Bilson and all the Doctors of the Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Field saith that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their kings though they were Hereticks and Infidels and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainly and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebels and Traytors that do resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselves damnation and truely I beleive most of their own consciences tell them so and they that thinke otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should aver such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justness of the War on the Parliament side But. 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his own defence for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion that is established by our Laws and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyal Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our own consciences to be true and therefore 2. As his Majesty professeth so we beleive him that he never intended otherwise by this war but to protect us and our Religion and to maintain his own just and unquestionable rights which these Rebels would most unjustly wrest out of his hands and under the shew of humble Petitioners to become at last proud Commanders for as one saith They whom no denial can withstand Seeme but to aske while they indeed command 3. For the persons that war with him they are the chiefest of the Nobility 3 His assistants learned honest and religious all the best Gentry that hazard their lives not for filthy lucre for the Kings Revenues being so unjustly detained from him they are fain to supply his necessities and to bear their own charges and the poor common Soldiers are nothing wanting to do their best endeavours neither need they to fear any thing because 4 His authority sacred and unquestionable What the pretended Parliament is 4. The King hath a just right to give them full power and authority to do execution upon these Rebels as I have proved unto you before And therefore the result of all is that the Parliament side under the pretence of Religion fighting if not for the Crown yet certainly for the full power and authority of the King who shall have the ordering of the Militia that is who shall have the government of this Kingdome which is all one as who shall be the King they or King CHARLES and which is the very question that they would now decide by the sword in taking away our goods are theeves and robbers in killing their brethren are bloudy murderers and in resisting their King are rebellious traytors that as the Apostle saith purchase to themselves damnation when as the Prophet Esay speaketh of the like Rebels being hardly bestead and hungry Esay 8.21 22. as I believe thousands of them are in London and other Rebellious Cities they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke upward as I fear many of them do curse the King with their tongues and God in their hearts and they shall looke unto the earth Matth. 8.12 and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse and anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse even to utter darknesse where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth if by a true repentance they do not betimes rent their hearts and forsake their fearful sinns And the Kings side in this war doing no further then the king gives Commission do no more then what God commandeth and therefore living they shall be accounted loyal Subjects worthy of honour and dying they shall be sure to be everlastingly rewarded CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deu. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Government came up 2 part of the regal government in the time of peace Master Selden in his titles of Honour p. 15. That the first government of Kings was arbitrary 2. HAving thus shewed you potestatem ducendi the Kings right and power of making War it resteth that I should speake De potestate judicandi of his power and right of judging and governing his people in the time of peace touching which we finde none denying his right but all the difference is about the manner where 1. I finde Master Selden rejecting
to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the rest of the Lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome Sol. His Majesties answer to the remonstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May 1642. To which I say that as His Majesty confesseth there are two speciall questions demanded of the king at His Coronation 1. Sir Will you grant and keep and by your oath confirm to the people of England the Lawes and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the king answereth I grant and promise to keep them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the king before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government And the king answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good king in His kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government The Kings Oath at His Coronation two-fold Then the king laying his hand upon the book saith the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keep so helpe me God and the contents of this Book Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two-fold promise and so a two-fold oath The first part of the Oath Populo Anglicano Vide D. p. 165. 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England Clergy and Laity and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus medis contrahitur contractus iisdem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium assensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the King and His Subjects Contracts wherein God is interessed cannot be dissolved without God which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gives his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principal party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists The second part of the oath Clericls Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so also with their consent some things I confess may perhaps be revoked but without their consent not any thing can be altered in my understanding without injustice for with what equity can the Laity vote away the rights of the Clergy when the Clergy do absolutely deny their assent just as if the Clergy should give away the lands of the Laity or as if I had lent the king ten thousand pounds upon the publique assurance of King and both Houses to be repaid again and they without mine assent shall vote the remission of this debt for some great benefit The party to whom the bond is made must release the bonds that they conceive redounding to the Common-Wealth by which vote I should beleive my selfe to be no better then meerely cheated or as if the Parliament without the assent of the Londoners should pass an act that all the money which they lent should be remitted for the releiving of the State I doubt not but they would conclude that act very unjust and so is this act against the Bishops because the Kings obligation to a particular body personall or politique cannot be dispensed with by the representative Kingdome without the releasement of that body to whom the King is obliged For I find that all the Casuists will tell you that juramentum promissorium ita obligat ut invito creditore non potest in melius commutari quia aliter justitia veritas non servarentur inter homines and it is their common tenet Suarez de juramento promiss l. 2. c. 12. n. 14. that it cannot be dispensed with quia per promissum acquiritur jus ei cui fit promissio utilitas unius non sufficit ut alter suo jure privetur the benefit of others must not deprive me of my right This point is so cleare that neither Scholer nor any man of reason or conscience will deny it Therefore to perswade the king that is bound by his oath to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Church and Clergy to cast out the Bishops out of their rights or to take away their Lands without their own consent whom the king by his oath hath obliged himself to protect I cannot see how they can do it without great iniquity or His Majesty consent to it and be innocent when he is fully informed of the Rights of his Clergy whereas otherwise the most religious Prince may be subject to mistakings and so nesciently admit that which willingly he would never have granted And if they can not perswade him to do this without iniquity how dare they goe about to force and compell him against conscience to commit this and such other horrible impiety but I assure my self that God who hath blessed our king and preserved him hitherto without blame as being forced to what he did or not throughly understanding what was our right the Bishops being imprisoned and not suffered to informe him nor to answer for themselves will still arme His Majesty with that resolution as shall never yeild to their impetuousnesse to transcend the limits of his own most upright conscience Yet still it is urged they were excluded by act of Parliament Ob. therefore their exclusion cannot be unjust as being done by the wisdome of the whole State and the king should not desire it to be altered I answer that all Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit Sol. but
to set down how the factious and malicious Preachers of the rebâ—llious Cities either neglect to pray at all or pray most seditiously and unchristianly for their own Liege Lord and gracious King and therefore the curse of Judas lights upon them that their prayer is turned into sin which should make them pray that Judas his end should not fall unto them But we that desire to follow the Apostles Precept considering the greatnesse of his cares and charge thaâ— he doth undergo and the multitude of dangers that he is lyable to will most heartâ—ly pray to God both in our Morning and our Evening Prayers both at our sitting and at our rising from our meat Vt vivat Rex exurgat Deus dissipentur inimici that God would give his Angels charge over him to preserve him in all his wayes that he dash not his foot against a stone that his enemies may be cloathed with shame and that he may flourish as the Lilly that he may raign long and happily here and raign for ever in Heaven this shall be my prayer for ever CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the King and the recapitulation of one and twenty Wickednesses of the Rebels and the faction of the pretended Parliament 3 The persons that must honour the King 3. HAving seen the Person that is to be honoured and the honour that is due unto him we are now to consider in the last place who are to honour him included in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour ye him which being unlimited and indefinite is equivalent to an universal and so Saint Paul doth more plainly express it Rom. 13.1 saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every soul be â—ubject to the higher powers which is an Hebrew Ideome or Synecdochical speech s gnifying the whole man the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being usually taken in Scripture pro toto composito for the whole man composed of body and soul as where it is said Gen. 46 62·27 Act. 2. that Jacob went down into Aegypt with 70 soules and S. Peter by one Sermon converted 3000 soules and the abstract word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that our subjection obedience and honour which we are to ascribe unto our King must be not as hypocrites render it in shew from the â—eeth outwa d but really and indeed ex animo from our soules and the bottome of our hâ—arts as Aquinas glosseth it and the concrete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added unto it makes it the more energetical to shew that all mortal men none excepted are ob iged to do this honour and to yield this subjection unto their King for seeing every man both spiritual and temporal and every sex both man and woman and every degree of men young and old rich and poor one with another hath an immortal soul as well as a mortal body it must needs follow that all cujuscunque gradûs sexûs conditionis are obliged both in soule and body to honour and obey their King And yet it is strange to see how many men can exempt themselves and grant a dispensation unto their soules for the performance of this duty The Pope and his Clergy would be freed from the subjection of Kings for the Pope will be freed because he hath a power above all powers to depose Kings and to dispose of their Kingdomes at his pleasure and the Popish Clergy will perform no duty unto their King because their Function is spiritual but to all these I may truly say as our saviour doth to the lewd servant ex ore tuo out of the Fathers whom they acknowledge and out of their own Authors they are confuted for Saint Chrysostome saith that whether he be an Apostle or Evangelist or Prophet Seu quisquis tandem fuerit or whosoever else he be Pope Cardinal or Deacon he is commanded to be subject to the higher power and that you may see what power he meanes he pointeth out the same by the symbol that is of him that carryeth the sword which you know must be the secular Prince and not the spiritual Pope and so not onely Euthym. Theophylact Oecumenius and other Greek Commentators do avouch but also those Epistles which are recorded by Binius and quoted by the Bishop of Durham as Leo 1. ep 26. 35. Simplicius 1. ep 4. Felix 3. ep 2. Anastasius 1. ep 78. Pelagius 1. ep 16. Martinus 1. ep 3. Agatho 1. ep ad Herac. Hadrian 1. ep ad Constant do make this most manifest unto vs and therefore Espencaeus convinced by such a cloud of witnesses confesseth very honestly that the Apostle here Espenc in Tit. 3. 1. Digres 10. p. 5. 13. Paris 1568. The wickednesses of the pretended Parliament shewed by their actions Docet omnes credentes mundi potestatibus esse subjectos nempe sive Apostolus sive Evangelista c. ut tenet Chrysost Euthym. qui non Graeci And as the Popelings will be free so the Presbyterians and the faction of this Parliament will be as free as they and because every wickednesse laboureth to exceed that which preceeded these do not agree with the Catholiques as Herod and Pilate did to crucifie Christ in the same conclusion and tenet of exemption but they will go a note beyond Ela and surmount both Jesuite and Pope and therefore they not onely dishonour and disobey their King but they have violated and incroached upon all his rights and assumed the same into their own hands for to recapitulate some of their choycest wickednesses 1. As the Church of Rome and the Jesuites teach in Aphorismis confessariorum ex Doctorum sententiis collectis p. 249. that Rex potest per rempublicam privari ob tyrannidem si non faciat officium suum cum est causa aliqua justa eligi alius à majore parte populi which falshood their own Divines confute when Royard saith Rege constituto non potest populus jugum subjectionis repellere so these men maintain that diabolical tenet that the Regal power is primarily in the collective body and derived to the king cumulativè not privatiuè and therefore upon the kings neglect or male-administration it comes back again to the collective body in whom it resideth suppletivè to discharge the royal duty when the king faileth to do the same and then the king so falling from his right they may refuse obedience and if they see cause which they can soone do they may depose him from his office which impudent falshood I have fully confuted in this Treatise 2. They say the Regall Majesty is a humane creature or the ordinance of men primarily and therefore may be deposed by men when as Cunerus could say Sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure princeps fiat principi tamen facto divinitùs potestas adest and therefore they have no power to take away that which God
noctem Homer Il. 〈◊〉 It beseems not a Prince to take a sound sleep all night long Quint. Curt. as Alexander did on that night when he was on the next very day to fight with Darius Which might have lost him the field Ezech. 2.9 had not his fortune been better then his fore-sight For God puts a Scroule into every Prince his hand semblable to that schedule of Ezechiel wherein all their charge and duties are set down at large with this inscription Gesta illos in sinu Bear all these alwaies in thy bosome and let them never depart one of thy mind and as the Egyptians Hieroglyphic painted Oculum cum Sceptro an Eye with the Crown or Scepter to betoken a prudent Prince so should every King have an eye in his head as well as a Scepter in his hand or a Crown upon his head and to use Vigilance as well as Authority over his people And so Augustus Caesar that found Rome of brick and left it of Marble The great care of August Caesar for the good of the Common-weâ—lth is made famous by the Historians for his great and extraordinary care and vigilancy which he alwaies used for the good of his Empire when as he gave himself no rest nor suffered any one day to pass over his head in quo non aliquid legeret aut scriberet aut declamaret but he either read or writ or made some speech unto the people and when he heard of a certain Gentleman of Rome that was very deeply indebted and yet slept most securely without care to pay his debts and without fear of any danger he desired that he might buy the bed A careless Gentleman whereupon he rested because the debts that he stood bound for both to God and to the Common-wealth would never suffer him to sleep so secure when as it is ars artium the chiefest of all arts and the heardest of all things to Rule and Govern an unruly people so difficult that the Prophet David compares it to the appeasing of the raging Seas saying Thou stillest the rage of the Sea and the noise of his waves and the madness of his people because as Seneca saith Nullum morosius animal nec majori arte tractandum quà m subtilis homo There is not any living creature so froward and so hard to be tamed and ruled as a suttle and crafty man Reges fatui quibus similes But those Kings and Princes that think the Common-wealth to be made for them and not themselves for the Common-wealth and do spend their time not much better then that Romans Emperour who when he was in his privy Chamber sported himself in catching flies and to pull out their eyes with a pin for which he became so ridiculous that oâ—tentimes when any demanded Who was with the Emperour his servants would answer ne musca quidem truely not a flie they are said to be tanquam simiae in tecto like Apes on the top of a house that delight themselves to spoil and to untile the house And God made them Kings and appointed them for other ends and not to destroy his people as many Tirants do which we deserved for being so unthankfull to God and so undutifull to our King that was so pious and so gentle like King David and so good as the best that ever England had Lesson 2 2. As King David spent not his time like Domitian in catching of flies nor like Heliogabalus in following after his pleasures That king Davids chiefest care was for Religion and to promote the service of God but like Scipio and Augustus for the good of his Kingdom So here you may see the chiefest good he aimed at was to erect an House and a House of Beauty and Majesty for the Majesty of the God of Heaven for his thoughts conceived it not a sufficient discharge of his duty to provide for the peace of his Kingdom and the happiness of the Civill State unless he did also take a speciall care for the honor and service of God and see the works of Piety performed as well and rather then the duties of equity and civility for he understood it full well that God ordained Kings to be not only Reges murorum for the preservation and defence of walls and Cities and the outward prosperity of their people but also Reges sacrorum to see the holy duties of Religion and Gods worship duly performed And therefore as God had made him a Monarch over men and had given him an House of Cedars so he was desirous to become the Priest of God and to build him an House for his service What all kings and Princes ought to do And this should be a good lesson for all other Kings and Princes to imitate this good and godly King in the like sweet harmony of pollicy and piety and to have a greater care to provide for the Ark of God then for the Kings Court because Religion is the basis and pillar that must bear up their Kingdoms And therefore all good Kings ought not only with Moses to rescue their people and to set them at liberty from the Egyptian bondage and out of the hands of Vsurping Tyrants as our gratious King hath now done or with Sampson to fight for them against the forces of the Philistines Judges 15. or with Augustus to make their Cities abound with all kind of prosperity or with Ezechias to set up an exchequer for silver and gold and pretious stones 2 Chron. 32.27 and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God 2 Sam. 6.17 and to set Levites to do the servâ—ce of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers and Bishop 〈◊〉 attend the Church and to teach the people 1 Chron. 16.4 and 37 c. and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God 1 Reg. 15.12 and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10.25 And to make this more apparant and clear That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion that all good Kings and Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of
societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil not only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have reference to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands diâ—ections of their Kings civil Governours and submitt themselves in all obedience to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot Exod. 32.22 And I would the Pope would do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duties and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God Obj. the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitates praestantiores essâ— secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1.16 Rom. 13 1â— And though the light of the Church be the greater yet that proves nor but that the King should be the prime and chief Governor of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secular State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pillar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer Sol. 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth Isidorus in Glossa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiasticae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular Balsamon in Sexta Synodo Canone 7. you must not so understand it as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differences among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of the Roman Church Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regaâ— power is only corporal and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Which is most false Obj. 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples nihil
to purge himself before Valentinian 2. q. 7. Nos si and Pope Leo the third before Charles the Great And it is registred that Pope Leo the 4th wrote unto the Emperour Lodouick saying Epist Eleuth inter leges Edovard Si incompetenter aliquid egimus justae legis tramitem non conservavimus admissorum nostrorum cuncta vestro judicio volumus emendare If we have done any thing unseemly and amiss and have not observed and walked in the right path of the just law we are most ready and willing to amend all our admissions or whatsoever we have done amiss according to your judgment Theodoretus l. 2. c. 1. and Pope Eleutherius saith to Edward the I. of England V s est is Vicarius Dei in Regno vestro that he and so every other King is Gods Vicar in his Kingdom This was the mind and sense of these Popes and many other Popes in former ages were of the same mind until pride avarice and ambition corrupted them to be as now they are How the Emperour and Kâ—nâ—â— executed the power that God had given thâ—m And as God hath given this power and required this duty of Kings and Princes to have a care of his Church and to reform Religion and the Fathers and Councels have confirmed this truth and divers of the very Popes themselves and Pâ—pists have yielded and submitted themselves unto their spiritual jurisdiction even in the Ecclesiastical causes so the Emperours and Kings omitted not to execute the same from time to time especially those that had the master power and ability to discharge their duties Idâ—m l. 1. c 7. for Theodoret writes that Constantine was wont to say Si episcopus tâ—rbas det mea manu coercebitur If any Bishop shall be turbulent and troublesome he shall be refrained and censured by my hands and both Theodoret and Eusebius tels us how he came in his own person unto the Councell of Nice Sozâ—m l. 4. c. 16. Et omnibus exsurgentibus ipse ingressus est medius tanquam aliquis Dei coelestis Angelus the whole company of the Bishops and all the rest arising he came into the midst amongst them as it were an Heavenly Angel of God And Sozomen writeth how that ten Bishops of the East and ten others of the West Conciliorum Tom 2. In vita Sylvani vigila were required by Constantine to be chosen out by the Convocation and to be sent to his Court to declare unto him the decrees and canons of the Councell that he might examine them and consider whether they were consonant to the Holy Scriptures And the Emperour Constantius deposed Pope Liberius of his Bishoprick and then again he deprived Pope Foelix and restored Liberius unto the Popedom and in the third Councell at Costantinople he did not only sit among the Bishops but also subscribed Concil Boni 3. c. 2. with the Bishops to such bills as passed in that Councell saying Vidimus Subscripsimus we have seen these canons and have subscribed our approbation of them And King Odoacer touching the Affairs of the Church saith Miramur quicquam tentatum fuisse sine nobis We do admire that you should attempt to do any thing without us for while our Bishop lived that is the Pope sine Nobis nihil tentari oportuit Nothing ought to be done without us much less ought it to be done now when he is dead And the Emperour Justinian doth very often in Ecclesiastical causes Authent Coliat 1 tit 6. use to say Definimus jubemus We determine and command and we will and require that none of the Bishops be absent from his Church Quomodo oportet Episcop above the space of a year and he saith further Nullum genus rerum est quod non sit penitus quaerendum Authoritate Imperatoris there is no kind of matter that may not or is not to be inquired into by the Authority of the Emperour Authent Collat. Tit. 133. because he hath received from the hands of God the common government and principality over all men And the same Emperour as Balsamon saith Balsamon de Peccat Tit. 9. Idem in Calced Concil c. 12. Idem de fide Tit. 1. gave power to the Bishop to absolve a Priest from pennance and to restore him to his Church And the same Author saith that the Emperours disposed of Patriarchal seats and that this power was given them from above and he saith further that the Emperour Michael that ruled in the East made a law against the order of the Church that no Monk should serve in the Ministry in any Church whatsoever And we read further how that divers of the Emperours have put down and deposed divers Popes as Otho deposed John 13. Evodius inter decreta Bonifacâ—â— Vâ—sâ—ergen anno 1045. Honorius deposed Boniface Theodoricus deposed Symmaâ—hus and Henry removed three Popes that had been all unlawfully chosen and in the Councel of Chalcedon the Supreme Civil Magistrate adjudged Dioscorus Juvenalis and Thalassus three Bishops of Heresie and therefore to be degraded and to be thrust out of the Church And so you see how the Emperours â—ings and Civil Magistrates behaved themselves in the Church of God and used their power and the Authority that God had given them as well in the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Church and points of Faith as in the Civil Government of the Common-wealth CHAP. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the function and to do the Offices of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a speciall care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge their duties of Gods service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time BUt as God hath given unto the Kings and Princes of this world a Power and Authority as well over his Church and Church-men be they Prophets Apostles Bishops Priests or what you will as over the Common wealth and all the lay persons of their Dominions So they ought and are bound to have a special care of Religion and to discharge their duties for the glory of God the good of his Church the promoting of the Christian Faith and the rooting up of all Sects and Heresies that defile and corrupt the same for as Saint Augustine saith and I shewed you before In hoc Reges Deo serviunt herein Kings and Princes do serve God if Aug. contra Crescon l. 3. c. 51. as they are Kings they injoyn the things that are good and inhibit those things that are evil and that Non solum in iis quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem sed etiam ad divinam Religionem and again he saith Idem Epist 48. that Kings do serve Christ here on earth when they do make good laws for Christ and
Athanasius said unto the Emperour Jovinian Conveniens est pro principe studium amor rerum divinarum It is meet and convenient for a good Prince to study and love Heavenly things because that in so doing his heart shall be alwaies Theodoret l. 4. c. 3. as Solomon saith in manu Dei in the hand of God and Saint Cyrill tells the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian that Ab ea quae erga Deum est pietate Prov. 21.1 reipublicae vestrae status pendet the state and condition of their Common-wealth doth wholly depend according to that piety and Religion which they bear towards God Cardanus de sapientia lib. 3. Because as Cardan truely saith Summum praesidium Regni est justitia ob apertos tumultus Religio ob occultos Justice is the best defence of a Kingdom and the suppressor of open tumults because righteousness exalteth a Nation and Religion is the only Protector and safely against all secret and privy Machinations Minut. Fael in Oâ—tav because as Minutius Foelix saith What the Civil Magistrate doth with the sword of justice to suppress the nefarious doers and actours of wickedness Religion rooteth out and suppresseth the very thought of evil The want of the fear of God the only thing that maketh Rebells which a Godly and a Religious man feareth as much and more then a wicked and prophane man doth dread the punishment of his offence and so Religion Piety and the fear of God keepeth the very hearts and souls of the subjects from swelling against their Soveraign and from the least evil thought of Rebellion and it is the want of the fear of God and true Religion whatsoever men pretend that makes Rebels and Traytors in every place because the true Religion tels us plainly Rom. 13.1 that every soul that is every man unfainedly from his heart should be subject to the â—â—gher Powers And the true Religion teacheth us as Tertull Tertul. ad Scapul saith Colere Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem To acknowledge and to serve the Emperour and so our King and our Prince as the next person to God and inferior to none but to God When as he is Omnibus major solo Deo minor above all men and below none but only God How requisite it is for Kings to have a care to preserve Religion And therefore it is most requisite that all Kings and Princes should have care of the true Religion and the service of God and with the Prophet David to build Temples and Churches for him that hath given their Crowns and Thrones unto them and to provide maintenance for those servants of God that serve at his Temple as they do for those that serve themselves and so both to be Religious themselves and to see that their subjects so far as it lieth in them should be so likewise and this their own piety and goodness in the service of God will make them famous amongst all posterities and their names to shine as the Sun when as Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius Epist 32. Nihil honorificentius quà m ut Imperator filius Dei dicatur nothing can be more honorable then that the Emperour or King should be named and called the Son of God The fruits and benefits of maintaining true Religion in a kingdom which is a more glorious Eulogie then Homer could give to the best Heroes of all Greece or that Alexander Julius Caesar or the like could atchieve by all their military exploits or the best domestick actions that they have done and their making provision for the Teachers of the true Religion and the promoters of Gods service the Bishops and Ministers of Christ his Church which makes their subjects both Loyall and obedient unto them and also Religious towards God will preserve the peace and procure the happiness of their Kingdoms How many former kings were very zealous to uphold Religion And according as God hath given this Authority and laid this charge upon all Kings and Princes to have a care of his Religion and the Ministers of his Church so we find very very many both in former times and also of latter years and so both of Gentiles Jews and Christians that were exceeding zealous for the Honor of God and the upholding of them that served at his Altar 1. Gentile kings as 1. The Gentile Kings as Pharaoh King of Egypt that in the extremity of that dearth which swallowed the whole Land he made provision for Gods Priests The great bounty of king Croesus to the god Apollo and to his Priests so that they neither wanted means nor were driven to sell their Lands And so Croesus King of Lydia was so wounderfull zealous of the Honor and the worship of the god of Delphos and so bountifull to Apollo's Priests that Herodotus saith that he made oblation of three thousand choice Cattel such as might lawfully be offered and caused a great stack of wood to be made wherein he burnt Bedsteads of Silver and Gold and Golden Maysors with purple rayment and Coats of exceeding value and he laid the like charge upon the Lydians that every man should consecrate those Jewels which he possessed most costly and pretious from which their Sacrifice when as the streams of liquid and molten Gold distrained in great abundance he caused thereof to be framed half flates or sheards the longer sort as he intituled them of six handfull the shorter of three and a hand breadth in thickness amounting to the number of an hundred and seventeen Whereof four were of fined Gold weighing two Talents and a half and the rest of whiter Gold that weighed two Talents likewise he gave also the similitude of a Lion in tried and purged Gold and two Books very fair and stately to see to the one framed of Gold weighing eight Talents and a half with the additionall of twenty four pounds and the other of Silver And he presented likewise four silver Tunns two drinking Cups the one of Gold and the other of Silver and silver Rings with the shape and form of a woman three Cubits high and withall he offered the Chains Girdles and Wastbands of the Queen his wife and to the Priests of Amphiaraus he gave a shield and a speare of solid Gold and a quiver of the same metall all which saith mine Author he offered in hope to purchase thereby unto himself the gracious favour and good-will of that god and Herodotus l. 1 clio if he was so magnificent and bountifull to the Priests and Temple of that god which was no god how Royall think you would he have been if he had known the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ So Cyrus and Darius KingS of Persia and of Babylon made such royall decrees for the re-edifying of the Temple at Jerusalem Ezra 1.7 c. 6.5 c. 8.9 and the Worshipping of the God of Daniel and his three
King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the â—assâ—ls of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as those pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings hath not wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. and King Canutus the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Câ—mmon-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth Speed quo supra pag. 384. are most excellent for the execution of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that able honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be punished and removed if they amend not for their negligence and transgressions 3. To provide by their good Laws such maintenance revenues and means for the Reverend and godly Bishops and the rest of the worthy Clergy whereby they may be inabled with joy and comfort to discharge their duties in God's Service to his glory and the good of his people 4. To put a bar and to hinder by their Regal power and authority all the sacrilegious violaters of holy things to rob the Church of Christ and his servants and to commit the horrible sin of Sacriledge which is so transcendently abominable in the sight of God and so infinitely destructive to the souls of men 1. The necessity of Cathedral-Churches and other Parochial Chappels for the Sâ—rvice of God These things ought to be done as I conceive by all good and godly Kings and Princes and whoso doth these things shall never fail And. 1. In defence of Cathedral-Churches we have to alleadge that till the time of Euaristus and Dionysius Popes of Rome no other kind of ministerial Church was ever heard of from the beginning of the World for from Adam unto Moses men did call upon the Name of the Lord and offered Sacrifices but without any ministerial Church at all And in Moses time Platina de vitis Pontif. Carrion annal Monarch Exod. 25.46 Acts 7.44 2 Sam. 7.6 Acts 7.47 God commanded him to erect a Tabernacle which stood instead of a Church for all the Land of Judea and that was Templum portatile as Josephus calls it to be carried up and
Ascension into Heaven met and worshipped God in the Temple And when the Christians began to be multâ—plied they presently erected Oratories and Churches and consecrated them as Solomon did the Temple for God's Service as you may see in 1 Cor. 11.22 and from the 14. Chapter of the said Epistle where the Apostle bids the women to be silent in the Church for that must not be understood of any other private house or meetings of men where the women may as lawfully speak as men or the Apostle had laid too great a burden upon them and such as they neither could nor would have born but his meaning is that the women should be silent in the Congregation that publickly meeteth in Gods 〈◊〉 for the service of God And because That material house was erected and set a part from 〈◊〉 Prophane uses for to pray to God to Preach unto the people and to do all other exercises of Religion as Administring the Sacraments Catecâ—ising the Youths Collecting the Alms for the Poor and the like services of the Lord and was hallowed and Santified by the prayers and Consecration of the Bishop â— Chron. 6 to be used only for that end and that God hath promised his more speciall presence for our help and assistance in a most speciall manner in that House Matth 18.10 more and rather then in any other place as you may see by Solomons prayer and by the words of Christ therefore the true Saints and servants of God that understood the difference betwixt Holy and Prophane things did ever Honor and shew a great deal of respect and Reverence to this very place of Gods Worship more then to any Chamber of presence of the greatest Monarch of the World And why not For if we must be Bare-headed in the Kings Chamber or the Lord Lieftenants Chamber of Presence why should not Gods Chamber of Presence have the like Reverence Surely none but prophane Atheists wicked Hereticks and the members of the beast that is the Great Anti-Christ that are worse then the worst of worldlings have ever denied it or abused prophaned or blasphemed these or any of these material Churches whereof the Prophet saith sal 93.6 Holiness becometh thy House for ever For Though as I said before originally and in respect of their own nature there is no inherent or innate Sanctity in one place more then in another In what sense all things are aâ—ike Holy but all places are alike Holy and so are all daies and all meats and all other things that are ejusdem speciei of the same kind they are all alike Holy and there is no difference nor any more Sanctity in any one than in the other Gen. 1.31 they being all alike created Holily by God who beheld All the things that he made and behold they were all exceeding good In what sense some things are more Holy then other things Yet if we consider Gods designation of any of these things and the Sanctification of the same by Gods own appointment for such and such ends and uses in the service of God then you shall find a great deal of difference betwixt the one and the other and a great deal of a relative and accidental Holiness in and belonging to the one more then to the other otherwise And for the further clearing of this point you may look into Mr. Medes learned discourse De Sanctitate relativa and his answer to Dr. Twisse p. 660. and in Levit. 19.30 what difference will you make betwixt the common bread that we ear of the finest Wheat-flower and the most Holy and blessed bread of the Holy Eucharist or the Lords Supper But the Sanctifying of this bread by our prayers to this end and for this use to be the body and blood of Christ makes all the difference so that now after the words of Consecration of it which are the words of Christ Hoc est corpus meum this is my body we cannot without prophaneness and a mighty offence give the same to dogs or unbelieving Jews or to any other whom we do know to be altogether unworthy of it as we can give the other bread that is made of the same lump to either of these without any fault or offence at all Or what difference is there betwixt one day and another but because the Lord hath designed the seventh day to be set apart for his service and hallowed it for that end therefore it is more Holy then the other six daies and so are the daies and feasts that are appointed by the Church to Honor God in them as the commemoration of Christ's Nativity Circumcision Resurrection Ascention and other daies of Thanks-giving for some speciall blessings and extraordinary favours which as on those daies we have received from God which daies none will prophane but the neglecters of Gods Honor and the prophaneners of his service So what difference or what holiness is there naturally in one man more then in another none or little at all but when the Lord calleth and chooseth one man before another to be his servant and to be sent and his Embassadour to Preach his Word to Administer his Sacraments and causeth him to be Consecrated by prayers and imposition of hands for that purpose as he called Simon Peter before Simon Magus then there is a great deal of difference betwixt them and much relative and additionall Holiness in the one more then in the other insomuch that our Saviour saith of these men which he saith not of all other men Luk. 10.16 He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and the Lord saith of them which he saith not of all other men Zach. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye And you may see this d fference in the Embassadours and other Officers of Kings Princes and Potentates whom we Honor and Reverence more then others because they are deputed and Authorized to be our Judges Sheriffes or other Officers of the Kingdom where they are designed so to be And so likewise what difference or what Holiness is there in one place more then in another In a Stone-Church ground more than in a Thatchbarn floor Surely not any at all originally in respect of themselves simply considered but when such a piece of ground is designed and dedicated for the Worship of God and Consecrated by prayers for that purpose and God promiseth his presence and favour to be more especially shewed there for our Instruction and Consolation than in any other ordinary place whatsoever Then certainly there is a great deal of difference and a great deal of Holiness in that place and much more Reverence ought to be shewed to it and in it than in any other place or common ground though it were the Kings Pallace And I say this is but a sign and a point of true Religion and no branch of Superstition Therefore Jacob that was no waies
Tythes and so they bring a spiritual dearth and a famine of Gods Word unto the rest of the poor parishioners when for want of sufficient maintenance they shall want a sufficient Minister that is able to give them any Instruction because as the Poet saith Nulla illis captetur gloria Ovid. trist lib. 5. quaeque Ingenii stimulos subdere fama solet And the benefit that these worldlings reap by this lawless impious and wicked Custome to pay no Tythes for their dry Bullocks nor any thing to God for the fruits of their ground is one main reason why the Minister's part of six or seven Parishes doth scarce amount to twenty pounds per annum as I have formerly shewed in my Remonstrance to his Majesty and I conceive it likewise to be a special Reason why the poor simple Irish Papists have so many Popish Priests amongst them for want of Protestant Priests for that want of sufficient maintenance doth cause them to leave their Parishes and charge unlooked unto and their flock untaught and then the superstitious mendicant Friar cometh to instruct and lead the silly ignorant Irish as he pleaseth And truly to say what I think though I am far enough from Popery and from all Popish errors and superstitions as I hope all the Sermons that I have Preached and the Books that I have Printed can bear witness unto the World yet as Alexander Severus told an unruly Victualler that would not suffer the Christians to erect a Church in a place which he thought more convenient and fit for him to sell Ale in it That it was better God should be served in any place and in any way then that he should have his way and God not served in any place nor any way as I shewed to you before so I conceive it better to be Superstitious then Prophane better to be a Papist then an Atheist and better to have a Popish Priest to give some light to them that sit in darkness and some knowledge of Christ to them that otherwise would know nothing then not to have any Priest at all And therefore if you would abandon Popery and suppress all popish Priests out of Ireland which is my heart's desire then I desire withal that this and all other lewd and wicked customes be taken away the lands houses and possessions of the Church be restored and all impropriations reduced to their first institution that so a sufficient Ministery may be maintained here in Ireland as they are in England and that the poor ignorant Irish may have honest and able Protestant Ministers And to that end the natives according to the institution of the Colledge should be placed in the Colledge at Dublin the which thing hitherto they say hath been too much neglected and as many as may be of their own Nation to live amongst them and to instruct them and then God will blesse this Nation and the true Protestant Religion will prosper and flourish and both we and they shall live happily together which otherwise will very hardly if ever come to pass Because that now we have not our knowledge by inspiration we cannot in an instant understand and speak all Tongues and we cannot work miracles but we must buy many Books to learn Languages and to get knowledge which the Apostles had without any Book and we must spend our time in reading writing studying and praying to God to assist us and to inable us to instruct our people and all this cannot be done without maintenance and means to do it And therefore where there is no sufficient maintenance there can be no sufficient Ministery no instructing of the people no true serving of God as it ought to be And what a heap of unspeakable mischiefs and miseries do these evil customes impropriations and taking away the land houses and possessions of the Church bring amongst us And therefore seeing the Souldiers Captains and others of the Military rank that have gotten the lands of the Irish Rebels which for their service they have justly deserved have likewise unjustly seized upon Gods part and the lands houses and possessions of the Church and are as fast wedded to these evils as to their wives so that we can more easily overcome Golias or pull the club out of Hercules hands than our lands out of these mens fingers It is high time and I hope no good man will be offended with us for it to implore and most humbly to beg and beseech the help and assistance of our Most gracious King to redress these intolerable abuses and to drive away this three-headed Cerberus or rather this many-headed Hidra the manifold Sacriledge and the great oppression of the Church of Christ that is used in these dayes and especially in this Kingdom of Ireland at this time For I call Heaven and Earth to witness that ever since the monstrous undutiful and unnatural murder of that Most glorious Martyr your Majestie 's most dear Father my Most gracious Master Charles the First until the happy Arrival of your gracious Majesty I lived more quietly and contentedly when all my Ecclesiastical Preferments were taken from me and not 20 pound per annum left me in all the world to maintain me than now I do when by your gracious goodnesse all the Church Rights and Inheritances are commanded unresistably to be yielded unto us for your Majesty may be well assured that they which neither for love of Gods favour nor fear of his vengeance will observe Gods Commandments will never regard to obey your commandments And therefore many of our Military men Colonels Captains and others that fought for the Long-Parliament and Crumwell do with some of your Commanders that herein imitate them divide and teare the Revenues and Garment of the Church the Spouse of Christ worse than the Souldiers of Pilate did with the Coat of Christ And therefore now in mine old age well-nigh 80. years I am forced to bestow all my labour and take pains and many journeys which an old man can hardly do and spend all my means in Law which were better bestowed upon the poor to wring the Church-means out of their hands or suffer the same through my remisness to be swallowed down into the belly of Hell and leave my self to be liable to that great account which I must render for my neglect of doing mine uttermost endeavour to recover it at the last Day the which wonderful streight that I am put to doth wonderfully discontent and trouble me continually which makes me oftentimes to think that I were better to resign my Bishoprick if I knew it were no offence to God to some younger man that could better combate with these Golias's than for me to agonize as I do to recover my right who may well cry out with the Poet Impar congressus Achilli But the nearness of the time that I must render mine account of my Stewardship unto God hath strengthned me to write this Treatise against
Country-men should be such as rather to spend our selves to relieve them then by lewd practices to destroy them when by our dissolute debauchment we have destroyed our selves 2. Of the same Tribe 2. These Rebels were of their own Tribe of the Tribe of Levi and so knit together indissolubili vinculo with the indissoluble bond of blood and fraternity and therefore they should have remembred the saying of Abraham their Father unto his Nephew Lot Let there be no dissention betwixt thee and me for we be brethren a good Uncle that would never drive his Nephew out of his house and home And we read that affinity among the Heathens could not only keep away the force and suppresse the malice of deadly foes but also retain pignora juncti sanguinis as Julia did Caesar and Pompey and as the Poet saith Lucan Pharsal l. 1. Vt generos soceris mediae junxere Sabinae And therefore why should not consanguinity and the bond of flesh and blood suppresse the envy of friends and retain the love of brethren But these prove true the old saying that Fratrum irae inter se inimicissimae the wrath of brethren is most deadly as it appeared not only in Cain against Abel Romulus against Remus and all his brethren against Joseph but especially in Caracalla that slew his brother Geta in his mothers armes and therefore Solomon saith A brother offended is harder to winne then a strong City Prov. 28.19 and their contentions are like the barrs of a Pallace not easily broken Nam ut aqua calefacta cum ad frigiditatem reducitur frigidissima est For as water that hath been hot being cold again is colder then ever it was before and as the Adamant if it be once broken is shivered into a thousand pieces so love being turned into hatred and the bond of friendship being once dissolved there accreweth nothing but a swift increase of deadly hatred So it happened now in the Camp of Israel that the saying of Saint Bernard is found true Omnes amici Bern. in Cant. Serm. 33. omnes inimici All of a house and yet none at peace all of a kindred and yet in mortal hatred And as Corah and his companions were so nearly allyed unto Moses of the Tribe of Levâ— so Dathan and Abiram were men famous in the Congregation noble Peers and very popular men heads of their families of the Tribe of Reuben A subtle practice of that pestiferous Serpent to joyn Simeon and Levi Clergy and Laity in this wicked faction of Rebellion the one under colour of dissembled sanctity the other with their power and usurped authority to seduce the more to make the greater breach of obedience And so it hath been always that we scarse read of any Rebellion but some base Priests the Chaplains of the Devill have begot it and then the Nobles of the people arripientes ansam taking hold of this their desired opportunity do foster that which they would have willingly fathered as besides this Rebellion of Corah that of Jack Cade in the reign of Henry the sixth and that of Perkin Warbeck in the time of Henry the seventh and many more that you may find at home in the lives of our own Kings may make this point plain enough But they should have thought on what our Saviour tells us that Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not stand What a mischief then was it for these men to make such a division among their own Tribe and in their own Camp Nondum tibi defuit hostis had they not the Egyptians and the Canaanites and the Amalekites and enow besides to fight against but they must raise a civil discord in their own house Could not their thoughts be as devout as the Heathen Poet 's which saith Omnibus hostes Reddite nos populis civile avertite bellum Lucan Pharsal lib. 1. And therefore this makes the sin of home-bred Rebels the more intolerable because they bring such an Ilias malorum so many sorts of unusual calamities and grievous iniquities upon their own brethren 3. These Rebels were of their own Religion 3. Of the same Religion professing the same faith that the others did Et religio dicitur à religando saith Lactantius and therefore this bond should have tyed them together firmer then the former For if equal manners do most of all bind affections Et similitudo morum parit amicitiam as the Orator teacheth then hoc magnum est hoc mirum that men should not love those of the same Religion And if the profession of the same trades and actions is so forcible not onely to maintain peace but also to increase love and amity JACOB REX in Ep. to all Christian Monarchs as we see in all Societies and Corporations of any mechanick craft or handle work they do inviolably observe that Maxim of the Civill Law to give an interest unto those qui fovent consimilem causam so that as birds of the same feather they will cluster all in one and be zealous for the preservation of them that are of the same craft or society why then should not the profession of the same Religion if not increase affection yet at least detain men from dissention For though diversities of Religion non bene conveniunt can seldom contain themselves for any while in the same Kingdom without Civil distractions especially if each party be of a near equall power which should move all Governours to do herein as Hannibal did with his army that was a mixture of all Nations to keep the most s spected under and rank them so that they durst not kick against his Carthaginians or as Henry the fourth did with the Brittains to make such Laws that they were never able to rebell so should the discreet Magistrate not root out a people that they be no more a Nation but so subordinate the furthâ—st from truth to the best professors that they shall never be able any wayes to endanger the true Religion yet where the same Religion is universally profâ—ssâ—d excepting small differences in adiaphoral things quae non diversificant species as the Schoâ—â—s speak it is more then unnatural for any one to make a Schism and much more transcendently heynous to rebell against his Governours But indeed no sin is so unnatural no offence so heynous but that swelling pride and discontented natures will soon perpetrate no bonds nor bounds can keep them in and therefore Corah must rebell And ever since in all Societies even among the Levites and among the Priests the d sordered spirits have rebelled against their Governours fecerunt unitatem contra unitatem and erecting Altars against Altars as the Fathers speak they have made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many multitudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no
I acknowledge none other my superiour on earth besides thee alone and I have no Judge besides thee which can call me to examination or inflict any punishment on me for my transgression And so the Poet saith Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Object But you will object against S. Cyril If it be impiety to say unto the King Thou dost amissâ— how shall we excuse Samuel that told King Saul he did foolishly and Nathan that reproved King David and Elias that said to King Achab it was he and his fathers house that made Israel to sin and John Baptist that told Herod It was not lawful for him to have his brothers wife Sol. What the Priest or Prophet may do private men may not do I answer 1. That by the mouth of these men God himself reproved them because these men were no private persons but extraordinarily inspired with the spirit of of God to perform the extraordinary messages of God 2. I say as I said before that as Moses may correct and punish Aaron if he doth amisse so Aaron the Priest in regard of his calling may reprove and admonish Moses the chief Magistrate when he doâ—h offend but so that he do it wisely and with that love and reverence which he oweth unto Moses as to his God not publiquely to disgrace and vilifie his Prince unto his people but modestly and privately to amend his fault and reconcile him to God and this is the work of his office which he ought to do as he is a Priest and not of his person which ought not to do it as he is his subject 3. By humane reason 3. Reason it self confirmeth this truth because the King is the head of the body politique and the members can neither judge the head because they are subject unto it nor cut it off because then they kill themselves and cease to be the members of that head and therefore the subjects with no reason can either judge or depose their King 4. From the welfare of every Common-wealth The event of every warre is doubtful 4. The publique safety and welfare of any Common-wealth requireth that the subjects should never rebell against their King 1. Because the event of a rebellious warre is both dubious and dangerous for who can divine in whose ruine it shall end or which party can assure themselves of victory It is true that the justest cause hath best reason to be most confident yet it succeeds not always when God for secret causes best known unto himself suffereth many times especially for a time as in the case of the Tribe of Benjamin the Rebels to prevail against the true subjects And as the event is doubtful so it must needs be mournful what side soever proveth victor for who can expresse the sorrows and sadnesse of those faithful subjects that shall see the light of their sun any wayes eclipsed the lamp of Israel and the breath of their nostrils to be darkned or extinguished and also to see the learned Clergy and the grave Fathers of the Church discountenanced and destroyed On the other side it will not be much less mournful to see so many of our illustrious Nobles ancient Gentry and others of the ablest Commonalty brought to ruine and to pay for their folly not only their dearest lives but also the desolation of their houses and decay of their posterities Quis talia sando Temperet à lachrymis When the Kings victory shall be but like that of David after the death of Absolon the Nobles victory but as the two victories of the Benjamites over their own brethren the Israelites Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos Lucan l. 1. and the best triumph that can succeed on either side shall be but as the espousal of a virgin on the day of her parents funeral or as the laying of the foundation of the second Temple when the shout of joy could not be discerned from the noyse of weeping And therefore a learned Preacher of Gods Word saith most truly Mr. Warmstry in Ramo Olivae p. 23. that it is a hard matter to find out a mischief of so destructive a nature that wâ— would exchange it for this civil warre for Tyranny Slavery Penury or any thing almost may be better born with peace and unity then a civill warre with the greatest liberty and plenty seeing the comfort of such associates would quickly be swallowed up like Pharaohs fat kine by such a monster feeding with them Had we a Tyrant like Rehoboam that would whip us with Scorpions which the Devil dares not be so impudent as to alledge we have yet better it were to be under one Tyrant then many which we are sure to have in civil broyls when every wicked man becomes a Tyrant when he seeth the reines of government cut in pieces Were we under the yoke of an Aegyptian slavery to make bricks without straw yet better it were for us to be in bondage then that fury and violence should be set free and malice suffered to have her will because there is more safety in being shut up from a Tyger then to be let loose before him to be chased by him or were we wasted and oppressed in our estates yet the wisest of men tells us that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Prov. 15.15 17. then great treasure and trouble therewith And therefore seeing civill warre is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction full of all calamity and one of the greatest punishments that God useth to send upon a Nation it is apparent that the welfare of any State calleth upon every subject to be obedient unto his King yea though he were never so vile an Idolater or so cruel a Tyrant for though a King could be proved and should be condemned to be cruell and tyrannous unjust and impious towards God and men yet hereby that King will not yield what he doth hold from God but though the confederate conspirators should have a thousand times more men and strength then he yet he will call his servants and friends his kinsmen allies and other circumjacent Kings and Princes unto his aid and he would hire mercenary Souldiers to revenge the injury offered unto him and to suppress the Rebels both with fire and sword and if he should happen to have the worse and to lose both his Crown and Kingdom and his life and all yet all this would be but a miserable comfort and a lamentable victory a to ruined Common-wealth whose winnings can no ways countervail her losses The miseries that follow the disturbance or deposing of any king are unspeakable for we never read of any King that either was disturbed expelled or killed but there succeeded infinite losses to that Kingdom and therefore Writers say that the death of Caesar was no benefit unto the Romans because it brought upon them farre greater calamities then ever they
Aegyptians or Abraham of murder if he had killed Isaac but without this special command he could not have done this extraordinary work without sin and therefore that which he could not do then without the warrant of the heavenly Oracle cannot be done now by any other Jehu's example not to be imitated without the contempt of the Deity the reproach of Majesty and abundance of dammage to the Common-wealth And so not onely I but also Peter Martyr commenteth upon the place where he saith God stirred up and armed one onely Jehu against his Lord which fact as it is peculiar and singular so it is not to be drawn for any example for certainly if it might be lawfull for the people upon any pretence to expell their Kings and Governours though never so wicked and unjust from their Kingdomes and government no Kings or Princes could be safe in any place Petrus Martyr loc com class 4. loc 20. for though they should raign never so justly and holily yet they should never satisfie the people but they would still accuse them of injustice and impiety that they might depose them And Bodinus in his Policy differeth not at all from this Divinity for he saith If the Prince be an absolute Soveraign as are the Kings of France Spain England Scotland Aethiopia Turkie Persia Muscovie and the like true Monarchs whose authority cannot be doubted and their chief rule and government cannot be imparted with their subjects in this case it is not lawful for any one apart nor for all together to conspire and attempt any thing either of fact or under the colour of right against the life or the honour of his Prince or Monarch yea though his Prince should commit all kind of impiety and cruelty which the tongue of any man could expresse For as concerning the order of right the subject hath no kind of jurisdiction against his Prince from whom dependeth and proceedeth all the power and authority of commanding as they that rise against their King do notwithstanding send out their Warrants and Commands in the Kings name and who not onely can recall all the faculty of judging and governing from his inferiour Magistrates Johan Bodinus de repub l 2. l. 5 whensoever he please but also being present all the power and jurisdiction of all his under-Magistrates Corporations Colledges Orders and Societies do cease and are even then reduced into him from whom before they were derived But we find it many times that not the fault of the Prince nor the good of the Common-wealth The true causes that move many men to disturb the State and to rebell but either the hiding of their own shame or the hope of some private gain induceth many men to kindle and blow up the flames of civil discord for as Paterculus saith Ita se res habet ut publicâ ruinâ quisque malit quà m suâ proteri It so falls out that men of desperate conditions that with Catiline have out-run their fortunes and quite spent their estates had rather perish in a common calamity which may hide the blemish of their sinking then to be exposed to the shame of a private misery and we know that many men are of such base behaviour that they care not what losse or calamity befalls others so they may inrich themselves Paterculus in Histor Roman so it was in the eivil warres of Rome Bella non causis inita sed prout merces eorum fuit they undertook the same not upon the goodnesse of the cause but upon the hope of prey and so it is in most warres that avarice and desire of gain makes way for all kind of cruelty and oppression and then it is as it was among the Romans a fault enough to be wealthy and they shall be plundered that is in plain English robbed of their goods and possessions without any shew of legal proceedings But they that build their own houses out of the ruine of the State and make themselves rich by the impoverishing of their neighbours are like to have but small profit and lesse comfort in such rapine because there is a hidden curse that lurketh in it and their account shall be great which they must render for it Therefore I conclude this point that for no cause and upon no pretext it is lawful for any subject to rebell against his Soveraign governour for Moses had a cause of justice and a seeming equity to defend and revenge his brother upon the Aegyptian And Saint Peter had the zeal of true religion and as a man might think as great a reason as could be to defend his Master that was most innocent from most vile and base indignities and to free him from the hands of his most cruell persecutors and yet as Saint Augustine saith Vterque justitiae regulam excessit August contra Faustum Man l. 27. c. 70. ille Fraterno iste Dominico amore peccavit both of them exceeded the rule of justice and Moses out of his love to his brother and S. Peter out of his respect to his Master have transgressed the commandement of God And therefore I hope all men will yield that what Moses could not do for his brother nor Saint Peter for his Master and the religion of his Master Christ that is to strike any one without lawful authority ought not to be done by any other man for what cause or religion soever it be especially to make insurrection against his King contrary to all divine authority for the true Religion hath been always humble patient and the preserver of peace and quietnesse Pro temporali salute non pugnavit sed potius ut obtineret aeternam non repugnavit Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 6. and as Saint Augustine saith the City of God though it wandred never so much on earth and had many troopes of mighty people yet for their temporal safety they would not fight against their impious persecutors but rather suffered without resistance that they might attain unto eternal health And so I end this first part of the objection with that Decree of the Councell of Eliberis If any man shall break the Idols to pieces and shall be there killed for the doing of it because it is not written in the Gospel and the like fact is not found to be done at any time by the Apostles Concil Eliber Can. 60. it pleased the Councel that he shall not be received into the number of Martyrs because contrary to the practice of our dayes when every base mechanick runs to the Church to break down not Heathen Idols but the Pictures of the blessed Saints out of the windows they conceived it unlawful for any man to pull down Idolatry except he had a lawful authority CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates nor the greatest Peers of the Kingdom may take arms 2. Part of the objection answered No kind of men ought to rebell 1. Not private
which never hoped for any glory in the Kingdome of Heaven but by suffering patiently in the Kingdom of the Earth and when they could did faithfully discharge the duties of their places and when they could not did willingly undergo the bitternesse of death and were alwayes faithfull both to their good God and their evil Kings to God rather by suffering Martyrdom then offend his Majesty and to their Kings not in committing that evil which they commanded but in suffering that punishment which they inflicted upon them 2. Not the Nobility or Peers Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza in confess c. 5. p. 171. Autor vindic q. 3 pag. â—03 Alchus de polit c. 14 pag. 142. 161. Danaeus de polit Christiana l. 6. c. 3. p. 413. 2. As no private men of what rank or condition soever they be so neither Magistratus populares the peoples Magistrates as some term them nor Junius Brutus his Optimates regni the prime Noble-men of the Kigdom nor Althusius his Ephori the Kings assistants in the government of the people nor his great Councel of Estate nor any other kind calling or degree of men may any wayes resist or at any time rebell for any cause or colour whatsoever against their lawful Kings and supreme Governours 1. Because they are not as Althusius doth most falsely suggest Magistratus summo Superiores but they are inferiours to the supreme and chief Magistrate otherwise how can he be Summus if he be not Supremus or how can Saint Peter call the King supereminent 1 Pet 2.13 if the inferiour Magistrates be superiour unto him and it is Reason 1 contra ordinem justitiae contrary to the rules of justice as I told you before out of Aquinas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the inferiours should rise up against their superiours which hath the rule and command over them The Inferiour should never rise against his Superiour Optat. de schis Donat. l. 3. p. 85 as the husband hath over the wife the father over the sonne the Lord over his servants and the King over his subjects and therefore Jezabel might truly say Had Zimri peace which slew his Master And I may as truly say of these men as Optatus saith of the Donatists when as none is above the King or the Emperour but onely God which made him Emperour while the inferiour Magistrates do extoll themselves above him they have now exceeded the bounds of men that they might esteem themselves as God Non verendo eum qui post Deum ab hominibus timebatur in not fearing him which men ought to fear next to God But the words of Saint Peter are plain enough 1 Pet. 2.15 Submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Wherein you may see not onely the subordination which God hath placed betwixt the King and his Subjects but also that different station which is betwixt the Supreme and the inferiour powers for the words sent of him do most clearly conclude that the inferiour Magistrates have no power to command but by the vertue power and force which they receive from the supreme and that the inferiour Magistrates opposed to the supreme power are but as private men and therefore that as they are rulers of the people so being but instruments unto the King they are subjects unto him to be moved and ruled by him which is inferiour to none but God and their authority which they have received from him Inferiour Magistrates in respect of the king are but private men can have no power upon him or to manage the sword without him and especially against him upon any pretence whatsoever how then can any or all these Magistrates make a just war against their King when as none of them can make any just warre without him 2. Because as Bodinus saith most truly the best and greatest not onely Reason 2 of the inferiour Magistrates but also of all these Peers Nobles Counsellors or what you please to call them have neither honour power nor authority but what they have given them from him which is the King or supreme Magistrate as you see God made Moses the chief Governour and Moses made whom he pleased his Peers and his inferiour Magistrates and as they have all their power derived from him that is the chief so he that is the King or chief can draw it away from them that are his inferiours when he pleaseth and as he made them so he can unmake them when he will and none can unmake him but he that made him that is God himself and therefore David that was ex Optimatibus regni the greatest Peer in Israel being powerful in warre famous in peace the Kings Son-in-law and divinely destinated unto the Kingdome yet would he not lay his hand upon his King when he was delivered into his hands And this Buchanan cannot deny but confesseth that the Kings of the Jews were not to be punished or resisted by their subjects because that from the beginning they were not created by the people but given to them by God Buchanan's absurdity and therefore saith he jure optimo qui fuit honoris autor idem fuit poenarum exactor it is great reason that he which gives the honour should impose the punishment But for the Kings of Scotland Buchan de jure Regni apud Scotos they were saith Buchanan not given them of God but created by the people which gave them all the right that they can challenge Ideoque jus idem habere in reges Multitudinem quod illi in singulos è multitudine habent which is most false for Moses tells us that immediately after the deluge God the Creatour of all the world ordained the revenging sword of blood-shed and the slavish servitude of paternal derision wherein all the parts of civil jurisdiction and regal power are Synecdochically set down and Job saith that there is one God which looseneth the bond of Kings Job 12.18 and girdeth about their reines which must be understood of the Gentile-Kings because that in his time the Commong-wealth of Israel was not in being and God himself universally saith By me Kings do reign that is all Kings not onely of the Jews but also of the Gentiles and Christ doth positively affirm that the power of Pilate was given him from Heaven and Saint Paul saith There is no power but what is appointed of God And Tertullian saith Inde Imperator unde homo iude illi potestas unde spiritus he that made him a man made him Emperour and he that gave him his spirit gave him his power And Irenaeus saith God ordained earthly Kingdomes for the benefit of the Gentiles Et cujus jussu homines nascuntur That God is the ordainer of
and the chief hâ—ads of all the people which are flos medulla regni are therefore added unto the superiour Magistrate 1. By Reason both to be his helpers in the government and also to refrain his licentiousnesse and to hinder his impieties if he degenerate to be an Idolater or a Tyrant 2. By Examples And to confirm this Tenet they produce many examples both out of the sacred and prophane Histories as the Judges that rose up against their neighbour-Tyrants Ezechias against the King of Assyria the people withstanding Saul that he should not slay Jonathan Ahikam defending the Prophet Jeremy against King Jehoiakim the revolâ—ing of the ten Tribes in the time of Rehoboam Jerem. 26.24 the Priests and Princes of Juda taking away Athalia the Macchabees arming themselves against Antiochus and others of the Macedonian Tyrants Thrasibulus driving the thirty Tyrants out of Athens the Romans expelling their flagitious Kings Consuls and other Tyrants that behaved themselves most wickedly out of Rome and so many Peers and Potentates of other Kingdomes that in the like cases did the like To all which I answer Sol. 1. Their Reasons answered 1. That it is most false that any Peer or inferiour Potentate Magistrate or other is appointed by God to be the Associate of the King or supreme Governour for the government of the people for as God and not the people appointed Moses Joshua Gideon and the other supreme Judges of Israel so Moses and not God immediately as he did the others appointed the Rulers of tens To what end kings do choose their inferiour Magistrates fifties hundreds and thousands which alwayes acknowledged themselves his subjects and not his associates in the government of the people And so other Kings and Princes have alwayes chosen whom they pleased to be their Peers Counsellors and inferiour Magistrates as well to bear some part of their burthen as Jethro saith unto Moses and to lessen their care as also to afford them their best assistance and counsel in the discussion and determination of great and difficult affaires but not for them to prescribe and set down Lawes Orders and Ordinances that should either moderate their royal liberty or bridle and revenge what they conceive to be Idolatry or Tyranny I am sure no King that did intend to be a Tyrant would choose Counsellours or make Magistrates to that end but they make choyce of them as I said to further them and not to hinder them to effect those things which they conceive to be most fit and just for the Magistrates that are over the people are under the King and do all All the inferiour Magistrates must do all in the name of the Superiour as you see in the name of the King from whom they derive all the power that they have whereby it followeth that neither the people can resist the Magistrates whom the King appointeth nor those Magistrates resist their King without apparent sacriledge against God because the greater can never be judged nor condemned by the lesser but as the Apostle saith of Abraham and Melchisedech Heb. 7.7 that without contradiction the lesse is blessed of the better so I say that without all controversie the inferiour must be alwayes judged of the superiour and therfore if these Peers Nobles or inferiour Magistrates have any wayes any power or authority over their Kings we must conclude against Saint Peter that these are above the King and so they and not the King are the supereminent power But we find no such power nor commandement that they have from God to refrain Kings in all the holy Scriptures Et si mandatum non est praesumptio est ad poenam proficiet non ad praemium and if there be no commandement for it it is presumption to do it which deserveth punishment and not praise because it is to the reproach of the Creator that contemning the Lord we should worship the Servant and neglecting the Emperour we should adore or magnifie his Peers as S. Augustine saith And therefore both the learned and religious Fathers And the Homily of the Church of England against wilful Rebellion and the best of our later Writers are flat against this Doctrine that any sort of men have any power over Kings but he that is the King of Kings as you may see what would be too teadious for me to set down in Johan Bodinus Apol. pro Regibus c. 27. de repub l. 2. c. 5. Barclaius contra Monarchom l. 3. c. 6. Berchetus in explicat controvers Gallicar c. 2. Saravia de Imperator autorit l. 2. c. 36. Sigon de repub Hebraeor l. 7. c. 3. Bilson de perpet Eccles gubernat c. 7. Pet. Gregor Tholos de republ l. 5. c. 3. num 14 15 16. and many more 2. For the examples that are produced 2. Their examples answered to countenance Rebels against their Kings I answer that they are unlike or of some peculiar fact or unjust and therefore no warrant for any other to do the like when as we are to live by the lawes and precepts of God and not by the examples of men which many times contrary to equity do induce us to transgresse the divine verity But to run over the particulars of their examples as brief as I can 1. I say that to conclude an ordinary rule from the doings of the Judges 1. Example answered which were extraordinarily commanded by God to be done is no more lawful for us to do then it is for us to rob our neighbours August in Jud. c. 20. because the Israelites robbed the Egyptians as Saint Augustine sheweth And therefore Aquinas if Aquinas be the Authour of that book Thom. de Regimine Princip l 1. c. 6. De Regimine Princip saith excellently well Quibusdam visum est it seems to some men that it pertaineth to the honour of valiant and heroical men to take away a Tyrant and to expose themselves to the perill and danger of death for the liberty and freedom of the Multitude whereof they have an example in the Old Testament where Ehud killed Eglon Judg. 3.21 But this agreeth not with the Apostolical Doctrine for Saint Peter teacheth us to be subject not onely to the good but also to the froward because this is thank-worthy with God if for conscience sake we patiently suffer wrongs therefore when many of the Roman Emperours did most tyrannically persecute the faith of Christ and a great and mighty multitude both of the Nobility Gentry and Commons were converted unto Christianity they are praised not for resisting but for suffering death Besides A great deal of difference betwixt a lawful King and an Usurper Eglon was not the lawful King of Israel but an alien an usurper and a scourge to them for their sinne and therefore no pattern for others to rebell against their lawful King 2. For the example of Ezechias rebelling against the King of Assyria 2.
Example answered it is most impertinently alledged for Ezechias was the lawful King of Juda and the King of Assyria had no right at all in his Dominions An impertinent example but being greedily desirous to enlarge his territories he incroached upon the others right and for his injustice was overcome by the sword in a just battell and therefore to conclude from hence that because the King of Juda refused to obey the King of Assyria therefore the inferiour Magistrates or Peers of any Kingdome may resist and remove their lawful Prince for his tyranny or impiety surely this deserves rather fustibus retundi quà m rationibus refelli to be beaten with rods then confuted with reasons as Saint Bernard speaketh of the like Argument And whereas they reply that it skilleth not whether the Tyrant be forreign as Eglon and the King of Assyria were or domestique as Saul Achab and Manasses were The ubsurdity of their replication because the domestique is worse then the forreign and therefore the rather to be suppressed I will shew you the validity of this argument by the like The seditious Preachers are the generation of vipers nay farre worse then vipers because they hurt but the body onely and these are pernicious both to body and soul therefore as a man may lawfully kill a viper so he may more lawfully kill any seditious Preacher Quia Dare absurdum non est solvere argumentum But to omit their absurdity let us look into the comparison betwixt domestique and extranean Tyrants and we shall find that domestique Tyrants are lawfully placed over us by God who commandeth us to obey them and forbiddeth us to resist them in every place for the Scripture makes no distinction betwixt a good Prince and a Tyrant in respect of the honour reverence and obedience that we owe unto our superiours as you see the Lord doth not say Touch not a good King and Obey righteous Princes but as God saith Honour thy father and thy mother be they good or bad so he saith Touch not the King resist not your Governours speak not evil of the Rulers be they good or be they bad and therefore Saint Paul when he was strict y charged for reviling the wicked high-Priest answered wisely I wist not brethren that he was Gods High-Priest for if I had known him to be the true High-Priest I would not have spoken what I did because I know the Law of God obligeth me to be obedient to him that God hath placed over me Bad kings to be obeyed as well as the good be he good or bad for it is Gods institution and not the Governours condition that tyeth me to mine obedience So you see the mind of the Apostle he knew the Priest-hood was abolished and that he was not the lawful High-Priest therefore he saith God shall smite thee thou whited wall But if he had known and believed him to be the true and lawful High-Priest which God had placed over him he would never have said so had the Priest been never so wicked because the Law saith Thou shalt not revile thy Ruler But for private robbers or forreign Tyrants God hath not placed them over us nor commanded us to obey them neither have they any right by any Law but the Law of strength to exact any thing from us and therefore we are obliged by no law to yield obedience unto them neither are we hindred by any necessity either of rule or subjection but that we may lawfully repell all the injuries that they offer unto us Example answered 3 3. For the peoples hindring of King Saul to put his son Jonathan to death I say that they freed him from his fathers vow non armis sed precibus not with their weapons Saul was contented to be perswaded to spare his son but by their prayers when they appealed unto himself and his own conscience before the living God and perswaded him that setting aside his rash vow he would have regard unto justice and consider whether it was right that he should suffer the least damage who following God had wrought so great a deliverance unto the peohle as Tremelius and Junius in their Annotations do observe Gregor in 1 Reg. 4. And Saint Gregory saith The people freed Jonathan that he should not die when the King overcome by the instance of the people spared his life which no doubt he was not very earnest to take away from so good a son Example answered 4 4. Touching Ahikam that was a prime Magistrate under King Jehoiakim I say that he defended the Prophet not from the Tyranny of the King but from the fury of the people for so the Text saith The hand of Ahikam Jerem. 26.24 that is saith Tremelius the authority and the help of Ahikam was with Jeremy that They that is his enemies should not give him into the hands of the people which sought his life to put him to death because Ahikam had been a long while Counsellour unto the King and was therefore very powerful in credit and authority with him The act of Ahikam no colour for Rebellion And you know there is a great deal of difference betwixt the refraining of a tumultuous people by the authority of the King and a tumultuous insurrection against the King That was the part of a good man and a faithful Magistrate as Ahâ—kam did this of an enemy and a false Traytor as the opposer of Kings use to do 5. For the defection and revolting of the ten Tribes from Rehoboam Example answered 5 their own natural lawful King unto a fugitive and a man of a servile condition and for the Edomites Lybnites and others that revolted against King Joram 2 Chron. 21. 2 Reg. 14.19 and that Conspiracy which was made in Jerusalem against Amazia I answer briefly That the Scriptures do herein as they do in many other places set down rei gestae veritatem non facti aequitem the truth of things how they were done not the equity of the things that they were rightly done and therefore Actions commanded to be done are not to be imitated by us unl sse we be suâ—e of the like commandement Non ideò quia factum legimus faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptum dum sectamur exemplum We must not believe it ought to be done because we read that it was done lest we violate the Commandement of God by following the example of men as Saint Augustine speaketh for though Joseph sware by the life of Pharaoh the Midwives lyed unto the King and the Israelites robbed the Aegyptians and sinned not therein yet we have no warrant without sinne to follow their examples Besides God himself had foretold the defection of the ten Tribes for the sinne of Solomon and he being Lord proprietary of all his donation transferreth a full right to him God is the right owner of all things and therefore may justly dispose any Kingdom on
whom he bestowes it and this made Shemaiah the man of God to warn Rehoboam not to fight against his brethren for as when God commanded Abraham to kill his sonne it was a laudable obedience and no murther to have done it and when he commanded the Israelites to rob the Aegyptians it was no breach of the eighth Commandement so this revolt of these Tribes if done in obedience unto God could be no offence against the Law of God but because they regarded not so much the fulfilling of Gods will as their not being eased of their grievances and the fear of the weight of Rehoboam's finger which moved them to this Rebellion I can no ways justifie their action and though God by this Rent did most justly revenge the sinne of Solomon and paid for the folly of Rehoboam yet this doth no wayes excuse them for this rebellion because they revolted not with any right aspect and therefore it is worth our observation that the consequences which attended this defection was a present falling away from the true God into Idolatry and not long after to be led into an endlesse Captivity Which is a fearful example to see how suddenly men do fall away from God and from their true religion after they have rebelled against their lawful King and how to avoid imaginary grievance they do often fall into a real bondage and so leap out of the Frying-pan into the fire And for the Edomites they were not Israelites that led their lives by the law of God neither can any man excuse the conspirators against Amazia from the transgression of the Law of God 6. For Vzziah that was taken with a grievous sicknesse so that he Example answered 6 could not be present at the publique affaires of the Kingdom I say that according to the law by reason of the contagion of his disease he was rightly removed from the Court and concourse of people and his sonne in the mean time placed in his fathers stead to administer and dispose the Common-wealth but he in all that while like a good sonne did neither affect the name nor assume the title of a King 7. For the deposing of Athalia I see nothing contrary to equity because Example answered 7 she was not the right Prince but an unjust Vsurper of the Crown and therefore Jehoida the chief Priest having gathered together the principal Peers of the Kingdome and the Centurions and the rest of the people shewed them the Kings sonne whom for six yeares space he had preserved alive from the rage and fury of Athalia which had slain all the rest of the Kings seed and when they saw him they did all acknowledge him for the Kings sonne they crowned him King and he being crowned they joyfully cryed God save the King and then by the authority of the new crowned King that was the right heir unto the Kingdom they put to death the cruel Queen that had so tyrannically slain the Kings children and so unjustly usurped the Crown all that while And therefore to alledge this example so justly done to justifie an insurrection contrary to justice doth carry but a little shew of reason And I say the like of the Macchabees and Antiochus that neither he nor any other Macedonian Tyrant had any right over them but they were unjust Vsurpers that held the Jewes under them in ore gladii with the edge of their swords and were not their lawful Kings whom they ought to obey and therefore no reason but that they might justly free themselves with their swords that were kept in bondage by no other right then the strength of the sword Example answered 8 8. For the example of Thrasibulus Juniuâ— Brutus and other Romans or whosoever that for their faults have deposed their Kings I answer with Saint Augustine Examples not to be imitated that Exempla paucorum non sunt trahenda in legem universorum we have no warrant to imitate these examples for though these things were done yet we say they were done by Heathens that knew not God and unjustly done contrary to the law of God and therefore with no blessing from God with no good successe unto themselves and with lesse happinesse unto others but it happened to them as to all others that do the like to expell a mischief and to admit a greater as besides what I have shewed you before this one most memorable example out of our own Histories doth make it plain The ill successâ— of resisting our superiours In the time of Richard the second the Nobility and Gentry murmured much against his government in brief they deposed him and set the Crown upon the head of the Duke of Lancaster whom they created King Henry the fourth The good Bishop of Carlile made a bold and excellent Speech to prove that they could not by any law of God or man depose and dispossesse their lawful King or if they deposed him that they had no right to make the Duke of Lancaster to succeed him but he good man for his pains was served as Saint Paul and others were many times for speaking the truth committed to prison and there was an end of him but not an end of the story for the many battels and blood-shed the miseries and mischiefs that this one unjust and unfaithful act produced had never any period never an end till that well nigh a hundred thousand English men were slain in civil warres whereof two were Kings one Prince ten Dukes two Marquesses 21. Trussel in his supplement to Daniel's History Earles 27. Lords two Viscounts one Lord Prior one Judge 139. Knights 421. Esquires and Gentlemen of great and ancient Families a farre greater number a just revenge for an unjust extrusion of their lawful King whose greatest misery came from his great mildnesse And therefore these things being well weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary All the pressures that we have suffered since the first year of our king are not comparable to the miseries that one years civil warre hath brought upon us in the scales of true wisdom it had been better for them as it will be for us and all others patiently to suffer the crosse that shall be laid upon us untill that by our prayers we can prevail with God that for our sinnes hath sent it in mercy to remove it then for our selves to pluck our necks out of the coller and in a froward disobedience to pull the house as Sampson did upon our own heads and like impatient fishes to leap out of the Frying-pan into the fire from hard usage that we impatiently conceived to most base cruel bondage that we have deservedly merited or at the best to bring many men to many miseries before we can attain unto any happinesse and so as the Poet saith in this very case among the Romans when for their liberty and priviledges as they termed it in Pompey's time Excessit medicina modum The remedy that they procured hath proved
and strongest fort that although all others should want sufficient right to crosse the commands and resist the violence of an unjust and tyrannical Prince yet the Parliament that is the representative body of all his Kingdom and are intrusted with the goods estates and lives of all his people may lawfully resist and when necessity requireth take arms and subdue their most lawful King and this they labour to confirm by many arguments I answer that for the Parliament of England it is beyond my sphere and I being a transmarine member of this Parliament of Ireland And whatsoever I â—pâ—ak of Parliaments in all this Discourse I mean of Parliaments disjâ—yned from their King and understand only the prevalent faction that ingrosseth and captivateth the Votes of many of the plain honest minded party which hath been often seen both in general Councels and the greatest Parl aments I will only direct my speech to that whereof I am a Peer and I hope I may the more boldly speak my mind to them whereof I am a member and I dare maintain it that it shall be a benefit and no prejudice both to King and Kingdome that the Spiritual Lords have their Votes in this our Parliament For besides the equity of our sitting in Parliament and our indubitable right to vote therein and his Majesty as I conceive under favour be it spoken is obliged by the very first act in Magna Charta to preserve that right unto us when as in the Summons of Edw. 1. it is inserted in the Writ that * Claus 7. m. 3. dors Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari or tractari debet whatsoever affair is of publique concernment ought to receive publique approbation and therefore with what equity can so considerable a party of this Kingdom as are the Clergy who certainly cannot deserve to forfeit the priviledge of the meanest subjects and of Common men because they are more immediately the servants of the living God be denied the benefit of that which in all mens judgements is so reasonable a law and they onely be excluded from that interest which is common unto all I cannot see yet I say that besides this our right while we sit in Parliament this fruit shall alwayes follow that our knowledge and conscience shall never suffer us to vote such things against the truth as to allow that power or priviledge to our Parliament as to make Orders and Ordinances without the consent and contrary to the will of our King much lesse to leavie moneys and raise armes against our King Priviledges of Parliament what they are for I conceive the Priviledges of Parliament to be Privatae leges Parliamenti a proceeding according to certain rules and private customes and lawes of Parliament which no member of the Houses ought to transcend whereas the other is Privatio legum a proceeding without Law contrary to all rules as if our Parliament had an omnipotent power and were more infallible than the Pope to make all their Votes just and their sayings truth I but to make this assertion good that the Parliament in some cases may justly take arms and make warre upon their justest King if they conceive him to be unjust it is alledged that although the King be Singulis major greater then any one yet he is Vniversis minor lesse then all therefore all may oppose him if he refuse to consent unto them I answer that the weaknesse of this argument Pag. 11. 38 39 40. is singularly well shewed in the Answer to the Observations upon some of his Majesties late Answers and Expresses and I will briefly contract the Answer to say the King is better than any one doth not prove him to be better then two and if his Supremacy be no more then many others may challenge as much for the Prince is Singulis major a Lord above all Knights and a Knight above all Esquires he is singulis major though universis minor And if the King be universis minor then the people have placed a King not over but under them And Saint Peter doth much mistake in calling the King Supreme 2 Pet. 2.13 and they do ill to petition when they might command and I am confident that no records except of such Parliaments as have most unjustly deposed their Kings can shew us one example that the Parliament should have a power As Edw. Carnarvan and Richard the second which must of necessity over-rule the King or make their Votes Law without and against the will of the King for if their Votes be Law without his consent what need they seek and sollicit his consent But the clause in the Law made 2. Hen 5. cited by his Majesty that it is of the Kings regality to grant or deny such of their Petitions as pleaseth himself That the King is universis major greater then all proved and the power which the Law gives the King to dissolve the Parliament and especially the words in the Preface of cap. 12. Vices to Hen. 8. where the Kings Supremacy not over single persons but over all the body politique is clearly delivered doth sufficiently shew the simplicity of this Sophistry God having given and the people having yielded their power to th it King they can never challenge any power but what they have derived from their king 2. Reason Sol. and prove that the King being invested with all the powâ—â— of the people which is due to him as their King he is the onely fountain of all power and justice so that now they can justly claim no power but what is derived from him and therefore it is the more intolerable that any man should usurp the power of the King to destroy the King 2. They will say that Salus populi est suprema a lex The good of the people is the chiefest thing that is aymed at in all government and the Parliament is the representative body of all the people therefore if any thing be intended contrary to the good of the people they may and ought lawfully to resist the same I answer and confesse that there is no wise King but will carefully provide for the safety of his people because his honour is included therein and his ruine is involved in their destruction but it is certain that this principle hath been used as one of our Irish mantles to hide the rebellion of many Traytors and so abused to the confusion of many Nations for there is not scarce any thing more facile 2 Sam. 15.4 then to perswade a people that they are not well governed as you may see in the example of Absolon who by abusing this very Axiome hath stollen away the hearts of many of his fathers subj cts How easie it is to perswade the people to rebell for as Lipsius saith Proprium est aegri nihil diu pati It is incident to sick men and so to distempered minds to indure nothing long but foolishly to
think every change to be a remedy therefore the people that are soon perswaded to believe the lightest burthen to be too heavie are easily led away by every seducing Absolon who promise them deliverance from all their evils so they may have their assistance to effect their ends and then the people swelled up with hopes cry up those men as the reformers of the State and so the craft and subtilty of the one prevailing over the weaknesse and simplicity of the other every Peer and Officer that they like not must with Teramines be condemned and themselves must have all preferments or the King and Kingdom must be lyable to be ruined Repl. But you will say the whole Parliament cannot be thought to be thus envious against the Officers of State or thus carelesse of the common good as for any sinister end to destroy the happinesse of the whole Sol. I answer that Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit but as Generall Councels so whole Parliaments have been repealed and declared null by succeeding Parliaments How a Faction many times prevaileth to sway whole Councels and Parliaments as 21. Rich. 2. c. 12. all the Statutes made 11 Rich. 2. are disanulled and this in the 21 Rich. 2. is totally repealed in 1 Hen. 4. c. 3. And 39 Hen. 6. we find a total repeal of a Parliament held at Coventry the year before and the like and the reason is because many times by the hypocritical craft of some Faction working upon the weaknesse of some and the discontent of others the worse part procuring most unto their party prevaileth against the better The original of Parliaments why they were at first ordained Besides all this I conceive the Original of Parliaments was as it is expressed in the Kings Writ to consult with the King De quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis regni they being collected from all the parts of the Kingdom can best inform His Majesty what grievances are sprung and what reparations may be made and what other things may be concluded for the good of His Subjects in every part and His Majesty to inform them of his occasions and necessities which by their free and voluntary Subsidies they are to supply both for his honour and their own defence In all this they have no power to command their King See Jo. Bodin de repub l. 1. c. 8. pag 95. in English and the place is worth the noting no power to make Lawes without their King no right to meet without his Writ no liberty to stay any longer then he gives leave how then can you meet as you do now in my Episcopal See at Kilkenny and continue your Parliament there to make warre against your lawful King What colour of reason have you to do the same you cannot pretend to be above your King you have with lyes and falshoods most wickedly seduced the whole Kingdom and involved the same in a most unnatural civil warre you are the actives the King is passive you make the offensive He the defensive warre for you began and when He like a Gracious King still cryed for peace you still made ready for battel And I doubt not but your selves know all this to be true for you know that all Parliament men must have their elections warranted by the Kings especial Writ You will say that so you were well The letter sent from a Gentleman to his friend and you were chosen but by subjects and intrusted by them to represent the affections and to act the duties of subjects and subjects cannot impose a rule upon their Soveraign nor make any ordinance against their King and therefore if the representative body of subjects transcend the limits of their trust and do in the name of the subjects that which all subjects cannot do and assume that power which the subjects neither have nor can conferre upon them I see no reason that any subject in the world should any wayes approve of their actions For how can your priviledge of being Parliament men That men intrusted should not go beyond their trust priviledge you from being Murderers Thieves or Traytors if you do those things that the Law adjudgeth to be murders thefts and treasons Your elections cannot quit you and your places cannot excuse you because he that is intrusted cannot do more then all they that do intrust him and therefore all subjects should desert them that exceed the conditions and falsifie the trust which their fellow-subjects have reposed in them Besides The King must needs be a part of every Parliament you know the King must needs be reputed part of every Parliament when as the selected company of Knights and Burgesses together with the Spiritual and Temporal Peers are the representative body and the King is the real head of the whole Kingdom and therefore if the body separates it self from the head it can be but an uselesse trunk that can produce no act which pertaineth to the good of the body because the spirits that gave life and motion to the whole body are all derived from the head as the Philosopher teacheth And further you do all know that as the King hath a power to call The power of dissolving the Parliament greater then the power of denying any thing so he hath a power to dissolve all Parliaments and having a power of dissolving it when he will he must needs have a power of denying what he please because the other is farre greater then this And therefore all these premises well considered it is apparent that your sitting in Kilkenny without your King or his Lievtenant which is to the same purpose and your Votes without his assent are all invalid to exact obedience from any subject and for my part I deem them fooles that will obey them and rebels that will take arms against their King at your commands and if you persist in this your rebellious obstinacy I wish your judgements may light onely upon your own heads and that those which like the followers of Absolon are simply led by you may have the mist taken from their eyes that they may be able to discern the duty they owe unto their King that they be not involved and so perish in your sin For though you be never so many and think that all the Kingdom Towns and Cities be for you Psal 21.11 yet take heed lest you imagine such a mischievous device which you are not able to perform for the involving of well-meaning men into your bad businesses 1 Reg. 22.29 as Jehosaphat was misâ—led to war against Ramoth Gilead doth not only bring a punishment upon them that are seduced but a far greater plague upon you that do seduce them and God who hath at all times so exceeding graciously defended His Majesty and contrary to your hopes and expectation from almost nothing in the beginning of this rebellion hath increased his power to I hope an invincible
Army will be a rock of defence unto his annointed because it is well known to all the world For what causes the King suffereth that whatsoever this good King hath suffered at the hands of his subjects it is for the preservation of the true Protestant Religion of the established Lawes of his Kingdomes and of those Reverend Bishops Grave Doctors and all the rest of the Learned and Religious Clergy that have ever maintained and will to the spilling of the last drop of their blood defend this truth against all Papists and other Anabaptistical Brownists and Sectaries whatsoever What a shame it is to use the power we have received against him that gave it us And therefore if you that are his Parliament should like unthankeful vapours that cloud the Sun which raised them or like the Moon in her interposition that obscures the glorious lamp which enlightens her in the least manner imploy that strength which you have received from his Majesty when he called you together against His Majesty it will be an ugly spot and a foul blemish both for your selves and all your pâ—sterities And if not suddenly prevented you may raise such spirits that your selves cannot lay down and sow such seeds of discord and disconteâ—t between the King and his people as may derive through the whole Race of all succeeding Kings such a disaffection to Parliaments as may prove a plague and poyson to the whole Kingdom For if the King out of his favour and grace call you together and intrust you with a power either of continuing concluding or enacting such things as may be for the good of the Common wealth and you abuse that power against him that gave it you I must needs confesse that I am of his mind That it is lawful to recall a power given when it is abused who saith That the King were freed before God and man from all blame though he should use all possible lawful means to withdraw that power into his own hands which being but lent them hath been so misapplyed against him for if my servant desireth to hold my sword and when I intrust him with it he seeks to thrust the same into my breast Will not every man judge it lawful for me to gain my sword if it be possible out of his hand and with that sword to cut off his head that would have thrust it into my heart or as one saith If I convey my estate in trust to any friend to the use of me and mine and the person intrusted falsifie the faith reposed in him by conveying the profits of my estate to other ends to the prejudice of me and mine no man will think it unlawful for me to annihilate if I can possibly do it such a deed of trust And therefore Noble Peers and Gentlemen of this ancient Kingdom of Ireland that your Parliament may prove successeful to the benefit of the Common-wealth let me that have some interest and charge over all the Inhabitants and Sojourners of Kilkenny perswade you to think your selves no Parliament without your King and that your Votes and Ordinances carrying with them the power though not the name of Acts of Parliament to oblige both King and Subjects to obey them are the most absolute subversion of our Fundamental Lawes the destructive invasion of our rightful Liberties And that by an usurped power of an arbitrary rule to dispose of our estates or any part thereof as you please to make us Delinquents when you will and to punish us as Malignants at your pleasure and through your discontent to dispossesse your rightful King though it were to set the Crown upon the head of your greatest One al is such a priviledg that never any Parliament hath yet claimed Or if you still go on for the inlargement of your own usurped power under the title of the priviledge of Parliament to Vote diminution of the Kings just Prerogative that your Progenitors never denied to any of his Ancestors to exclude us Bishops out of your Assemblies without whom your determinations can never be so well concluded in the fear of God and to invade the Liberties of your fellow-subjects under the pretences of religion and the publique good I will say no more but turn my self to God and put it in my Liturgie From Parasites Puritanes Popes and such Parliaments Good Lord deliver us CHAP. IX Sheweth the unanimous consent and testimonies of many famous learned men and Martyrs both ancient and modern that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine ANd so you see that as for no cause so for no kind or degree of men be they what you will Peers Magistrates Heads of Families Darlings of the people or any other Patriots whom the Commons shall elect it is lawfull to rebell against or any wayes to resist our chief Princes and soveraign Governours This point is as clear as the Sunne and yet to make it still more clear unto them that will not believe that truth which they like not but as Tertullian saith Credunt Scripturis ut credant adversus Scripturas Testimonies of famous men do alledge Scriptures to justifie their own wilful opinions against all Scripture I will here adde a few testimonies of most famous men to confirm the same Henry de Bracton Lord chief Justice of the Kings Bench under Hen. 3. L. Elismer in orat habita in Camera Fiscali anno 1609. pag. 108. saith as he is quoted by the Lord Elismer That under the King there are free men and servants and every man is under him and he is under none but onely God If any thing be demanded of the King seeing no Writ can issue forth against the King there is a place for Petition that he would correct and amend his fact and if he shall refuse to do it he shall have punishment enough when the Lord shall come to be his revenger for otherwise touching the Charters and deeds of Kings neither private persons nor Justitiaries ought to dispute This was the Law of that time what new Lawes our young Lawyers have found since I know not I am not so good a Lawyer The Civil Lawyers do farre surpasse the Common Law herein for Corsetus Sic. tract de potestat reg part 5. num 66. Corsetus Siculus saith Rex in suo regno potest omnia imò de plenitudine potestatis And Marginista saith Qui disputat de potestate Principis utrum benè fecerit est infamis Hostiensis saith Princeps solutus est legibus id est quoad vim coactivam non quoad vim directivam Thom. 1. 2 ae q. 96. ar 5. ad 3. quia nulli subest nec ab aliis judicatur And to omit all the rest Marginista in Angelum Perusinum c. l. 9. tit 29. De crimine sacrilegii l. 2 Hostiens Sum. l 1. rubr 32. de effic legati Barclaius contra Monarchomach l. 3â— c. 14. Gulielmus Barclaius out of Bartolus Baldus Castrensis
would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King James of ever blessed memory for he saith The improbity or fault of the Governour ought not to subject the King to them over whom he is appointed Judge by God for if it be not lawful for a private man to prosecute the injury that is offered unto him against his private adversary when God hath committed the sword of vengeance onely to the Magistrate how much lesse lawful is it think you either for all the people or for some of them to usurp the sword whereof they have no right against the publique Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath been the Doctrine of all the Learned The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queen Mary of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ and therefore not onely they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that of late lived under Queen Mary and were compelled to undergoe most exquisite torments without number and beyond measure yet none of them either in his former life or when he was brought to his execution did either despise her cruell Majesty or yet curse this Tyrant-Queen that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent blood but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to be spoyled their liberties to be infringed and their bodies to be imprisoned abused and burned as oblations unto God rather then contrary to the command of their Master Christ they would give so much allowance unto their consciences as for the preservation of their lives to make any shew of resistance against their most bloody Persecutors whom they knew to have their authority from that bloody yet their lawful Queen And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open and will not with Balaam most wilfully deceive themselves Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noon-day that by the Law of God by the example of all Saints by the rule of honesty and by all other equitable considerations it is not lawfull for any man or any degree or sort of men Magistrates Peers Parliaments Popes The conclusion of the whole or whatsoever you please to call them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences and so farre to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawful King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our souls or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirm it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be believed by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudencie of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Modern Writers that do with invincible Arguments confirm this truth But the Anti Cavalier would perswade the world Anti-Cavalier p. 17 18 c. that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their own strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and R ssiâ— hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Julians army were Christians or befool themselves with the undue desire of over-valued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to inform them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawful authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth praiseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raign in Heaven but I hope the world will believe that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise arms against their Prince and to spill so much blood of the most faithful subjects But though the authority of the best Authours is of no authority with them that will believe none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homily of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but alwayes they came by the overthrow and to a shameful end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefs doth most destroy The Homily against rebellion p. 390. 301. or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of that Homily against wilful rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would work upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawful Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plain to pronounce them Traytors that take arms against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earl of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the
truth of this Doctrine do in all their Votes and Declarations conclude and protest and I must believe them that all the leavies moneys and other provision of horse and men that they raise and arm are for the safety of the Kings person and for the maintenance of his Crown and Dignity Nay more then this the very Rebels in this our Kingdom of Ireland knowing how odious it is before God and man for subjects to rebell and take armes against their lawful King do protest if you will believe them that they are the Kings souldiers and do fight and suffer for their King and in defence of his Prerogatives But you know the old saying Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen The Devil deceiveth us soonest when he comes like an Angel of light and you shall ever know the true subjects best by their actions farre better then by their Votes Declarations or Protestations for Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta When men do come in sheeps cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves when they come with honey in their mouths and gall in their hearts and like Joab with peace in their tongue and a sword in their hand a petition to intreat and a weapon to compell I am told by my Saviour that I shall know them by their works not their words And therefore as our Saviour saith Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven So I say not he that cryeth peace peace is the son of peace but he that doth obey his Prince and doth most willingly whatsoever he commandeth or suffereth most patiently for refusing to do what he commandeth amisse This is the true subject Well to draw towards the end of this point That is when the Commonalty guide the Nobility and the Subjects rule their King of our obedience to our Soveraign Governour I desire you to remember a double story The one of Plutarch which tells us how the tayle of the Serpent rebelled against the head because that did guide the whole body and drew the tayle after it whithersoever it would therefore the head yielded that the tayle should rule and then it being small and wanting eyes drew the whole body head and all through such narrow crevises clefts and thickets that it soon brought the Serpent to confusion The other is of Titus Livius Titus Livius Decad. 1. l. 2â— who tells us that when the people of Rome made a factious combination to rebell against their Governours Menenius Agrippa went unto them and said that on a time all the members conspired against the stomack and alledged that she devoured with ease and pleasure what they had purchased with great labour and pain therefore the feet would walk no more the hands would work no more the tongue would plead no more for it and so within a while the long fast of the stomack made weak knees feeble hands dimme eyes a faltering tongue and a heavie heart and then presently seeing their former folly they were glad to be reconciled to the Stomack again and this reconciled the people unto their Governours I need not make any other application but to wish and to advise us all with the people of Rome to submit our selves unto our Heads that are our Governours lest if we be guided by the tayle we shall bring our selves with the Serpent unto destruction And to remember that excellent speech of S. Basil The people through ambition are fallen into grievous Anarchie whence it happeneth that all the exhortations of their rulers do no good no man hath any list to obey but every man would reign being swelled up with pride that springeth out of his ignorance And a little after he saith Basilius de Spiritu Sancto c. ult scii 30. An argument of obedience drawn from the fifth Commandement that some sit no lesse implacable and bitter examiners of things amisse then unjust and malevolent Judges of things well done so that we are more brutish then the very beasts because they are quiet among themselves but we wage cruel and bloody warres against each other And let us never forget that the Lord saith Honour thy father and thy mother and I must tell you that by father in this precept you must not onely understand your natural father but also the King who is your political father and the father of all his subjects and the Priest your spiritual father 1 Chron. 2.24 and those likewise that in loco patris do breed and bring you up and though natural affection produceth more love and honour unto those fathers that begat us yet reason and religion oblige us more unto the King that is the common father of all and to the Priest that begat us unto Christ then unto him that begat us into the world for that without our new birth which is ordinarily done by the office of the Priest we were no Christians What we are and should be without King or Priest and as good unborn as unchristened that is unregenerated and without the King that is Custos utriusque tabulae the preserver both of the publick justice and of the pure religion our fathers can neither bring us up in peace nor teach us in the faith of Christ and therefore if my father should plot any treason against the King or prove a Rebel against him I am bound in all duty and conscience to preferre the publick before the private and if I cannot otherwise avert the same to reveal the plot to preserve the King though it were to the losse of my father's life and therefore certainly they that curse that is speak evil of their King are cursed and they that rebel against him shall never have their dayes long in the land but shall through their own rebellion be soon cut off from the land of the living Whether for the liberty of Subjects we can be warranted to rebell In the discourse of the differences betwixt King and Parliament For mine own part I have often admired why the subjects of King CHARLES should raise any civil warre and especially turn their spleen against him If any say it is for their liberties I answer that I am confident His Majesty never thought to bring any the meanest of his subjects into bondage nor by an arbitrary government to reduce them into the like condition as the Peasants of France or the Boores of Germany or the Pickroes of Spain are as some do most falsely suggest but that they should continue as they have been in the dayes of his Father of blessed memory and of all other his most noble Progenitors the freest subjects under Heaven And I hope they desire not to be such Libertines as those in the Primitive Church The Libertines of the Primitive Church what they thought who because Christian liberty freed us from all Jewish Ceremonies and all typical
Rites which were such a burthen that neither we nor our fathers could undergo and also from the curse and malediction of the moral law would under this pretence of Christian liberty be freed from the obligation of all lawes and give themselves the freedom to do what they pleased for this would prove to be not the liberty but the bondage and the base slavery of a people that are not governed by lawes but suffered to do what they please because that neither God nor good lawes confine us but for our own good and he that forbids us to obey impious commands bids us to obey all righteous lawes and rather to suffer then to resist the most unrighteous Governours But I fear that under the name of the liberty of the subjects What is often aimed at under the name of theâ— liberty of the â—ubjects the licentiousnesse of the flesh is aymed at because you may see by what is already come to passe our civil dissention hath procured to many men such a liberty that few men are sure either of their life or estate and God blesse me from such a liberty and send me rather to be the slave of Christ then such a libertine of the world Whether for the preservation of our Religion we can be warranted to rebell And if religion be the cause that moveth you here hereunto I confesse this should be dearer to us then our lives but this title is like a velvet mask that is often used to cover a deformed face decipimur specie recti for as that worthy and learned Knight Sir John Cheek that was Tutor to King Edward the sixth saith If you were offered Persecution for Religion you ought to flye and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth ye ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancie of Martyrs And a little after he demands why the people should not like that Religion which Gods Word established the Primitive Church hath authorized the greatest learned men of this Realm and the whole consent of the Parliament have confirmed and the Kings Majesty hath set forth is it not truly set out Sir John Cheek in The true subject to the rebell p. 4 6. Dare you Commons take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realm have This was the judgement of that judicious man And I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that Faith should be compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with blood Micah 3.18 and Hierusalem with iniquitie and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reform the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels and idolatrous True religion never rebelleth with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation And this truth is so solid that it hath the clear testimony of holy Writ the perpetual practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the orthodox Bishops and Catholick Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the world That Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with arms to withstand the authority of our lawful Kings If you say The Laws of our Land Whether the Laws of our Land do warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdom give us leave to stand upon our libertie and to withstand all tyrannie that shall be offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to be destroyed To this I say with Laelius that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinum Laelâ—â—s de privileg Eccles 112. Mans lawes can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore we must not so preferre them or relye upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our fear of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the world may believe that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were afraid where no fear was And Job tells you whom terrours shall make afraid on every side Job 18.11 12. and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels do from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of fear for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without fear they know that the heart of the King is not in his own hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov 21.1 Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. qu. 1. as the rivers of waters and he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God He ordereth the King how to rule the people And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Jesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causelesse fears and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it self become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that Rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuel's judgement as the sinne of witchcraft whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devil and above all The remembrance of his Oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every Rebel remember the oath that many of you have taken to be true and faithful unto your King and to reveal whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or hear to be contrived against his Person Crown or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So help you God Which Oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore return O Shulamite 〈◊〉 lay down thine arms submit thy self unto thy Soveraign and know that as the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 so is the King of England thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty â—est as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of
their nearest friends they had paid too dear for their quarrels so thou be driven to do the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdom I am confident The Authours confidence of the kings victory and am ready to hazard life and fortunes in this confidence that the goodnesse of our King the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithful Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victorie over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraign and all the world shall see that as Christ so in sensu modificato this Vicegerent of Christ shall rule in the midst of these his enemies and shall reign untill he puts them all under his feet A rebellion that the like was never seen And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here which of above six hundred thousand men had not many more then 250. Rebels nor that of Absolon against David who had all the Priests and Levites and the best Counsellors and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plain field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Arms invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though he was the first that intrenched upon their libertie and intended to exchange their Aristo-democracie into a Monarchie nor any other that I can remember except that Councel which condemned Christ to death that was grown to that height to be so absolute and so perfect a Rebellion in all respects as that a whole Parliament in a manner and the major part of the Plebeians of a whole Kingdom should make a Covenant with Hell it self yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdom of Ireland was the Commonalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirm their Votes till at last they must be compelled in all things to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now be subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend the weaknesse of the Nobility from that desert which they merited by their simplicity to be seduced to joyn with them to rebell against their King Therefore if any faction in any Parliament should thus combine against the Lord and against his annointed there is no question but their reducement to obedience will make that Majesty which shall effect it more glorious to posterity than were any of all his Predecessors And therefore I say again Return O Shulamite return and remember I pray thee remember lest my words shall accuse thy conscience in the day of judgement that we are often commanded in many places of the Scriptures to obey our Kings but in no place bidden nor permitted to rise up and assist any Parliament against our King If thou sayest Thou dost not do it against thy King but against such and such that do abuse the King I told you before that whosoever resisteth him that hath the Kings authority resisteth the King and therefore the whole world of intelligible men laugheth at this gullery and he that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh it to scorn when with such equivocation men shall think to justify their rebellion and I hope the people will not still remain so simple as to think that all the Canon and the Musket shot which the enemies of a King should make at him must be understood to be for the safety of his person And as neither private men nor any Senate nor Magistrate nor Peers That the Pope hath no power to licence any man to make war against the King nor Parliament can lawfully resist and take Arms against their King so neither Synod nor Councel nor Pope have any power to depose excommunicate or abdicate or to give immunities to Clergy or absolution to subjects thereby to free them from their duty and due allegiance and to give them any colour of allowance to rebell and make warre against their lawful King And this point I should the more largely prosecute because the natives of this Kingdome are more addicted to the Pope and his Decrees then any others of all the Kings Dominion Pareus in Rom. 13. Johan Bede in the Right and Prerogatives of Kings And the Treatise intituled God and the King But the bulk of this Treatise is already too much swelled and I hope I may have hereafter a fitter opportunity to inlarge this Chapter and therefore till then I will onely referre my Reader unto Pareus John Bede and abundance more that have most plentifully written of this Argument And so much for the persons against whom they rebelled Moses their King and Aaron their High-Priest or chief Bishop both these the prime Governours of Gods people whom they ought by all laws to have obeyed and for no cause to have rebelled against them CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten several steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 5. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the wayes to all Rebellions and the reason which moveth men to rebell 3. WE are to consider Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did 3. Part. What these Rebels did Cajetan saith Zelati sunt Tirinus saith Irritaverunt The vulgar Latin saith Aemulati sunt Our vulgar English saith They angred Moses and our last English saith They envied Moses And indeed the large extent of the original word and the diversity of the Translation of it sheweth the greatnesse of their iniquity and the multiformity or multiplicity of their sin And therefore that you may truly understand it you must look into the History * Numb 16. and there you shall see the whole matter the conception birth strength and progresse of their sin for 1. This sinne was begotten by the seed of Pride they conceived an opinion of their own excellency Excellency that bewitcheth men to rebell thinking that they are inferiour to none equall to the best if not superiour unto all and therefore they disdained to be governed and aspired to the government of Gods people And then Pride as the father Pride the beginning of rebellion begat Discontentment as his eldest sonne they liked not their own station but would fain be promoted to higher dignity and because Moses and Aaron were setled in the government before them and they knew not how either to be adjoyned with them or advanced above them therefore discontent begat Envy and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reads it They envied Moses 2. This
bow unto him And discontent may as well invade the highest as the lowest for as none is so bare but he hath some benefits so none is so full The commâ—n condition of man to be ever wanting something but he wanteth something as the Israelites had Manna but they wanted water and when they had water they wanted flesh and this want made them discontented so these Rebels had the dignity to be Levites and to be Peers of high places and heads of all their families which was more then they deserved but they wanted the honour to be Priests and to be Kings the chief Governours of Gods people which they desired and therefore were discontented because their conceit was unsatiable and their desires unsatisfied 3. As Pride makes men discontented to be inferiour unto any 3 Envy so Discontent makes them alwayes to envy their superiours and therefore Envy is the third head of this monster and the third step unto rebellion How monstrous a sin is Envy a most hateful vice before God and man That I should pine away with grief because God is gracious unto another and I must be angry with God because he will not be guided by me in the disposing of his favâ—urs and therefore Saint Augustine calleth this a devillish vice which caused Cain to kill Abel Gen 4.8 Acts 7.9 the Patriarchs to sell Joseph the Medes to molest Daniel and the Nobility of Jury to persecute good King David Cyprian in Serm. de Livors and to crucifie the sonne of David Christ himself Et ideo periêre quia malucrunt Christo invidere quà m credere And yet herein I must commend Envy that as the Poet saith Sit licèt injustus Livor Though it be unjust to others yet is it very just to destroy them first that would destroy others as the envy of these rebels did Sampson-like pull down the house upon their own heads and will most likely bring destruction unto those that follow them in rebellion 4. Murmuring 4. Murmuring is a secret discontented muttering one to another of things that we dislike or persons that we distaste and the very word in all languages seems as harsh unto our ears as the sinne is hateful unto our souls for in Greek it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Murmurare in English to Murmure in Brittish Grwgnach a sad word and a sowre sinne Exod. c. 15. c. 16. c. 17. therefore the wise man saith Beware of murmuring which is nothing worth and yet this sinne was frequent among the Israelites three times in three Chapters that they could never leave it till as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. they were destroyed of the destroyer 5. Hypocrisie 5. Hypocrisie is when a man seems to be what he is not for as Saint Hierom saith Qâ—i foris Cato intus Nero hypocrita est he that talks of peace and prepares for warre that protesteth loyalty and yet hates his King that in his words will advance the Church but in his actions will overthrow the Church-men that commends all piety but commits all iniquity that will not swear for a Kingdom but deceipe for a penny that pretends the safety of the Kings person but purloyneth away all his power that will bend his knee and say Hayle King but will spit in his face and crown him with thorns he is an hypocrite So these rebels say they are all holy they love all their brethren they hate usurpation and cannot endure the tyranny of these Governours but indeed though they cryed Templum Domini Templum Domini all for the King and all for the Church all for Moses and all for Aaron yet notwithstanding this voyce of Jacob they had the hands of Esau and they would have brought Moses and Aaron to confusion as they brought themselves to destruction This is the property of an Hypocrite and therefore Job speaking of an hypocrite saith and it is excedingly well worth the observing Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung they which have seen him that is they which came out to see his pomp and his greatnesse and have admired at the greatnesse of his glory shall say Where is he or How chance he doth not ride on with his honour Job 20.6 7 8 9. Job answereth The eye which saw him shall see him no more that is in the like Majesty neither shall his place any more behold him for He shall flee away as a dream and shall not be found yea he shall be chased away as a vision in the night And our Saviour knowing as well the cruelty as the subtlety of hypocrites biddeth us to beware of hypocrites Matth. 7.15 as the Poet saith ut atri limina Ditis Shun hypocrites as the gates of Hell Hypocrisie how odious it is and believe their actions rather then their protestations for as in the Old Testament Sodom and Gomorrah are the patterns of all beastlinesse so in the New Testament the greatest sinners are threatned to have their portion with the hypocrites 6. Lying 6. Lying must follow Hypocrisie at the heels for were it not for the heaps of lyes that hypocrites spread abroad the world could not possibly be so easily seduced by their hypocrisie and I read it in a Sermon of a learned Divine That now adayes some phanatique Sectaries of desperate opinions and despicable fortunes whom the Church and State find to be a malignant party having little else to do make it their trade to lye both by whole sale and retayle they invent lyes and vent lyes they tell lyes and write lyes and print lyes yea I may adde and more palpable lyes and more abominable then either Bourn or Butter ever published of the affairs of Germany and this they do as confidently and impudently as if they were informed by that lying spirit which entred as a Voluntier into Ahab's Prophets and by lying and raising false rumours they beget jealousies and feares in the people and by blowing the coales which themselves kindled and inlarging the difference betwixt King and Parliament they set all in a combustion and bring all into confusion and that which grieves me most he saith that they are Preachers which in the exuberancie of their mis-grounded and mis-guided zeal do both preach and pray against publique peace as inconsistent with the Independencie or rather Anarchie that they ayme at 7. Slandering may be coupled unto their Lying 7. Slandering because we can slander none with that which is truth therefore these Rebels say All the Congregation is holy and that is a lye when there can be no holinesse in the Rebels and The Lord is among them which is another lye for he will forsake all those that forsake him then they say Moses and Aaron take too much upon them which is an apparent slander and they adde that they lifted up themselves
but a little lesse For which application of Gods glorious name and abusing the holy Scriptures to such abominable transgression of Gods holy Precepts to instigate the subjects to warre against their Soveraign and to involve a whole Kingdom into a detestable distraction I do much admire that they are not apprehended and transferred to the Kings Bench Barre to be there arraigned and condemned to be punished according to their deserts 10. When these Rebels had proceeded thus far 10. Rebellion See the place Jâ—shua 1.16 17 18. then contrary to the loyal obedience which they owed unto their Prince and which the people promise unto Joshua they ascended to the height of that odious rebellion which may not unfitly be called Monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum and is as Thucydides saith All kind of evill Et qui facit peccatum non facit sed ipse totus est peccatum and therefore Samuel saith that Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft when men do confederate to give their souls unto the Devill for now these Rebels are ready to take arms against Moses and they had reduced all civill order to a confused paritie deposed and destroyed their Governours if the Governour of all the world by whom Kings do reign and who hath promised to defend them had not prevented the same from Heaven And the reason why they did all this The reason of their rebellion and proceeded thus farre against Moses and Aaron is intimated in the words of my Text Aemulati sunt because they would emulate or imitate Moses that is to play the Moses or play the King and play the part of the chief Priest themselves for this is certain that none will envy murmure at slander and disobey his King so farre as to make an open rebellion against him but they that in some sort would rule and be Kings themselves especially when they shall seek so farre to debilitate their Prince as that he shall be no wayes able to make resistance for they think If Treason prosper 't is no Treason what 's the reason if it prosper who dares call it Treason and none would disobey their Bishops or chief Priests but they that would and cannot be Bishops themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedience and rebellion But they that are bad servants will prove worse Masters they that will not learn how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tells us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250. Tyrants And the Homily of the Church tells us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellions for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyal pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefs and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdom in a civil warre that so they may fish in a troubled water let us never be so stupid as to secure them in these actions to produce our discredit for our simplicity and destruction for our disloyalty but rather let us leave them as Delinquents to the justice of our Lawes and the mercy of the King and this will be the readiest way to effect peace and happinesse to our Nation CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 4. Part. Where they did laâ— this 4. WE are to consider Vbi fecerunt where they did all this in castris non in templis that is in their own houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat down rebellion in every Kingdom this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabins and corners in private Coventicles they teach rebellion Our houses are our Castles which is the doctrine of those Schools And these Schools are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every man's house is his Castle or his Fort where he thinks himselfe sure enough so did these Rebels and they would not come out of them neither Moses the King could compell them nor Aaron the Priest could perswade them to come out of their Castles and forsake their strong holds which their guilty consciences would not permit them to do and so all other rebels will never be perswaded to forsake their places of strength untill God pulleth them as he did these Rebels out of their holes for were it not for these Castra the Cities and Castles that they possesse they could not so like subtle Foxes run out and in to nullifie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithful subjects as they do for though they do all this under those fair pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintenance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our Religion it is now amongst us as it was in the days of Saint Basil Basilius de Spiritu Sancto cap. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All the bounds of our forefathers are transgressed foundation of doctrine and fortification of discipline is rooted up and the innovators which never had any other imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves have matter enough to set forward their sedition And for the other pretences I dare procaim it to all the world that mine own experience believeth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Protestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath been by them that came in the name and for the service of the Parliament and therefore I would to God that all the oppressions injustice and imprisonments that have been made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a Book of remembrance that all the world might see and read the justice and equity of our Parliament and the iniquity oppression and rapine of them that to enrich themselves How the Parliament Rebeâ—s have inriched themselves in Ireland deprive us of our estates and liberties and that under the Parliaments name For I hear that as many have been impoverished so many both the Lords and Commons in this Kingdom of Ireland that before the conjunction of these malevolent martial Planets were very low at an ebbe and their names very deep in many Citizens books have now wiped off all scores paid all their debts and clad themselves in Silks and Scarlet but with the extorted moneys and the plundered goods of the loyal subjects I hope it is not so in England Yet as Platina tells us that when the Guelphes and the Gibilines Platina's story of the Guelphs and Gibelines in the City of Papia were at civil discord and the Gibilines promised to one Facinus Caius all
gracious King and I believe the best Protestant King that ever England or Ireland saw neither Popishly affected nor Schismatically led to disaffect but most constantly resolved to be a true Defender of that true Protestant Faith which is established by Law in the Church of England and he is such a King of so unblameable a life so spotlesse in all his actions so clement and so meek towards all men and so merciful towards his very enemies that the mouth of Envy cannot truly taxe him nor malice it self disprove him in any thing Yet we know that as Moses the meekest among men and David the best of Kings were sore afflicted slandered and persecuted not a little by many of their own obliged subjects yea and the best Kings have had the greatest troubles so this good King hath had for his trial a great part of the like usage I know not by whom neither do I intend here to accuse others but to instruct you and by what I shewed out of this Text to teach you above all to take heed of disobedience and Rebellion towards your King and to let you understand that what priviledges in the New Testament are acknowledged to be due to Heathen Princes and what prerogatives the spirit of God hath in the Old Testament warranted unto the Jewish Kings and what the universal Law of Nature hath established upon all the supreme Governours do all of them appertain by unquestionable right unto his most sacred Majesty and yet His Majesty out of His incomparable goodnesse insisteth not to challenge all these but vouchsafeth to accept of those Rights and Prerogatives which are undoubtedly afforded him by the Lawes of His own Lands and these come farre short scarce the moity of the other because we know if our Historians have not deceived me how many of them were obtained by little better then by force and violence compelling Kings to consent unto them whereas Lawes should be of a freer nature And therefore of all the Nations round about us besides that God hath intrusted Him with us all we have most reason to intrust him and to give credit unto his Majesties many Protestations too high to be forgotten by him or misdoubted by us for his resolution to maintain the Liberty of his Subjects the just Priviledges of Parliaments and the true established Religion in the Kingdome of England and likewise to rule over us according to our Laws in this Realm of Ireland And we have least reason to rebell and take arms against him and therefore let us not be perswaded by any means by any man to do it because God will preserve his annointed and will as you see plague the Rebels but let us pray for our King and praise God night and day that he which might have given us a bramble not only to tear our flesh but also to set us all on fire hath given us such a Cedar such a gracious and a pious King and if either forreign foes or domestique Rebels do presse him so that he hath need of us let us adde our help and hazard our lives to defend and protect him that protecteth us and suffereth all for the protection of Gods service as it was established in the purest time of Reformation and for the preservation of our Laws from any corrupt interpretation or arbitrary invasion upon them by those factious men that under fair yet false pretences have with wondrous subtilty and with most subtle hypocrisie seduced so many simple men to partake with them not onely to overthrow the true Religion to imbase the Church of Christ that hitherto hath continued glorious in this Nation and by trampling the most learned under feet to reduce Popery into this Kingdom and to bring in Atheism or Barbarism into our Pulpits when they make their Coach-men and Trades-men like Jeroboam's Priests the basest of the people to become their Trencher-Chaplains and the teachers of those poor sheep for whom the Son of God hath shed his precious blood but also to change the well-setled government and to subvert the whole fabrick of this famous Common-wealth either by their tyranny or bringing all into an Anarchie for if we have any regard of any of these things either true Religion or ancient Government a gracious King and a learned Clergy a glorious Church and a flourishing Kingdom we ought not to spare our goods or be niggards in our contributions to help his Majesty yea as Debora saith To help the Lord against the mighty Or if we be cold and carelesse herein penurious and tenacious of our worldly pelfe preferring our gold before our God or fearing gracelesse Rebels more then we love our gracious King It may fall out as Saint Augustine saith Quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus or as it did with the Carthaginians who because they would not assist Hanniball with some reasonable proportion of their estates they lost all unto the Romans and with the Constantinopolitans that for denying a little to Paleologus lost all unto the Turkes so we may be robbed and pillaged of all because we would not part with some and I had rather the King should have all I have then that the Rebels should have any part thereof Therefore I hope I shall perswade all good men to honour God with their riches and to assist His Majesty to the uttermost of their powers even to the hazard and to the losse both of liberty and life And doing this our God which is the King of Kings will blesse us and defend us from all evill and make us Kings and Priests to live with him for ever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all praise and glory and dominion from henceforth for evermore Amen Amen Hester 4.16 If I perish I perish Yet Esdras 4.41 The truth is great and will prevail Jehovae Liberatori TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yet the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te videre superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of
the Captain of the hoast of the Lord so I say to you that are his Lieftenant Ride on with your honor or ride prosperously Because of the word of truth of meekness and righteousness the people shall be subdued unto you and because the King putteth his trust in the Lord and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry especially while he fighteth as he doth the battail of the Lord in defence of the Church of Christ who hath promised to be his shield and buckler which is the daily faithful prayer of Your Majestie 's most loyally devoted Subject and most faithfully obliged servant Gryffith Ossory THE DISCOVERY OF MYSTERIES OR The Plots and practices of a prevailing Faction in this present Parliament to overthrow both Church and State CHAP. I. Sheweth the Introduction the greatness of this Rebellion the Original thereof the secret plots of our Brownistical faction and the two chifest things that they aymed at to effect their Plot. I Have long wandered in a region of Rebellion among seduced Subjects and discontented Peers and now at last after I had passed the raging Seas and very hardly escaped the storms and dangers of the surging waves I am arrived in my native soyle where I find my self incompassed with far greater storms and more violent winds then ever I thought could be on any Land for though that Grand Rebellion which you may find lately described was both magna mira very great and very grievous such as I supposed could not be exceeded by any humane malice yet now me thinks I hear the Spirit saying unto me as he did unto Ezâ—kiel Son of man stand up and I will show thee greater abominations and a Rebellion far greater and more odious then either Popish Irish or any other Sect or Nation of the World hath hitherto produced and therefore I may now say with the Poet Barbara Pyraemidum sileat miracula Memphis Let proud Babylon cease to boast Of her Pyramid's stately spires This Rebellion is more strange Surmounting all infernal fires No age the like hath ever bred Nor shall when these Rebels be dead The seed and original of this Rebellion The seed of it was unseasonably sown in the Northern storm and the Original of those Boreal blasts either why or by whom those spirits were raised is not so well known to me therefore how justly the King did undertake the quarrel I will not at this time determine or with what equity the Scots made their approach into England it is not my purpose to discuss yet I must needs say that our English Sectaries and Amsterdam Recusants which hated our Church and loved not our King justum quia justum only because he is so good too good for them did from hence arripere ansam take hold of this opportunity by procuring those to proceed that were coming on and discouraging the others of the Kings side that were Cowardly enough to say no worse of themselves to betray both King and Kingdom into the hands of the Invaders So the good King was now with King David brought into a strait either to take counsel and follow the advice of those secret Sectaries So now I fear more the secret enemies both of Church and State that may luâ—k in Court then those that lie in the Earl of Essex his Camp and the masked enemies both of the Church and State that as yet insensible unto him were such in the bosome of his Court and most slily aymed at a further mischief then his Majesty could have imagined as now it appeareth by the consequences of this Parliament or else to hazard the dangers that his then open foes were like to bring upon his people And I assure my self eyes of flesh that cannot pierce into the mysteries of the hearts and our secret thoughts could see no further nor make any better election then His Majesty did that is to call a Parliament which the hearts of all the Kingdom called and cryed for and which in former times by the wise institution and right prosecution thereof was found to be the Pancreston or as the Weapon salve an antidote to cure all the diseases and to heal all the bleeding wounds of this Kingdom though of late we have sensibly felt the unhappy ending of some of them which perhaps may be some accidental cause of some part of this unhappiness here was His Majesties fair mind and an act of special grace for which all His Subjects ought most thankfully to shew themselves Loyal unto Him when He preferred their safety before the prosecuting of his own resolutions But Decipimur specie recti we are many times deceived by the shadow of the truth and betrayed under the vizard of virtue for as God produceth light out of darkness and good out of evil so wicked men like the spiders do suck poyson from those flowers whence the Bees do extract honey and these subtle-headed Foxes whereof many of them had unduly got themselves elected into the House of Commons and there factiously combined themselves together to do their great exploit to overthrow the Government both of Church and Sate and minded to make the Parliament-House like Vulcans Forge where they intended to contrive their Iron-net that should be able to hold fast all sorts of people from him that sitteth upon the Throne to him that wallowed in dust and ashes turned the hopes of our redresses to our extream miseries when in stead of rectifying our abuses they intended principally to work our ruine in our just apprehension though perhaps our happiness in their own mistaken conception And as the Apostle saith Known unto God are all his works from the beginning and he hath eternally decreed how and by what means to bring them all unto perfection so the Devil being God's Ape and the wicked treading in his steps do first mold their designs and intentions in the Idea of their own brains and conclude the works they would have done in their own conceits and then they frame to themselves the means and wayes whereby they are resolved to produce and perfect all those mis-shapen embryoes that they conceived and so these factious men this brood of vipers that would gnaw through the bowels of their mother from the first convention of this Parliament had resolved upon their plot and contrived among themselves what great good work they would by such and such means bring to passe And that was as I hope this subsequent discourse will make it plain to all The design 〈◊〉 plot of the faction of Seâ—aries that will not be wilfully blind the subversion of the ancient government both of this Church and Kingdom and to introduce a new Ecclesiastical Discipline and to frame a new Common-wealth much like if not worse than that of our neighbours in the Low-Countries Gratum opus agricolis a brave exploit and a great work indeed beyond the adventure of Junius Brutus that expelled the Kings but left the Priests
his head was off this new manner of proceeding should end and be no Law for any other that came after And a Deâ—laration must be made That the course prosecuted for his punishment shall not afterward be drawn into an Example it must be produced for no Pattern but for him alone and none other lest perhaps Complaint to the House of Commons p. 6. if the same course should be still practised the contrivers of this Plot might have the like payment to fall ere long upon their own heads Therefore some say this may well draw a suspicion upon the justice of the Sentence though I will not censure any man for any injustice therein The Earle's words at his death But as the Earl said at his death which he undertook like a good Christian full of Charity and no less Piety it was an ill Omen to this Nation that they should write the Frontispiece of this Parliament with letters of Blood which if unjustly done or unduly prosecuted I fear may with Abels blood cry for vengeance in the ears of God against the Contrivers of this mischief to produce our miseries And the God of Heaven doth only know how much of the blood of this Kingdom must be squeezed out to expiate all the mis-proceedings and the fearfull projects of our people God Almighty turn his anger from us and let not the righteous perish with the wicked not the sins of some few be laid upon us all This was the first impediment that was to be removed before they could proceed any further in this Tragedy and thus it was most artificially acted And I say He was a great and a very great impediment of their design which made me the larger in the prosecution thereof because he was a person of that great ability and so great fidelity both to the Church and State and the taking off of his head made a very wide gap for our enemies to enter into the Vineyard of Christ and a large breach into the City of God to deface the Church and to destroy this Kingdom CHAP. III. Sheweth how they stopped the free judgment of the Judges procured the perpetuity of the Parliament the consequences thereof and the subtle device of Semiramis 2. THe next Let that might hinder their design was the great learning The second impediment of their design long experience and free judgment of the grave Judges to declare what is Truth and what is Law in every point for these men being skilful in the Laws and Statutes of our Land knew how contrary to the same and how repugnant to the fundamental Constitutions of our Government the erecting of a new Church and the framing of a new Common-Wealth would be and their judgment being to be inquired in any emergent Doubt might prove very prejudicial unto their plots and a hinderance of their Desin except it were diverted by some course Therefore to stop this stream to put a gagg in their mouthes How they stopped the free judgment of the Judges to imprison all truths that might make against them and to make these Judges yield to whatsoever they do or at least not to contradict any thing they say they get many of them to be accused of High-Treason and they do but accuse them and not proceed to any trial against them which was a pretty plot of their policy because that hereby they kept them and the rest of their fellow-Judges that had any finger in the mis-sentencing of the Ship money and were therefore in the same predicament and to be under the same Censure under the last and to be still silent for very fear of their proceeding against them for they saw by many presidents that those men which favoured their design or contradicted not their waies were winked at by this Faction though they were the greatest Delinquents and therefore redimere se captos to free themselves out of the hands of these men they might conceive it their safest course to gain-say none of their conclusions which was a Plot of no small value to further their design by this removal of this second impediment 3. The third impediment of their design The third Let that stood in their way to make stop of their impious design was the Royal power to dissolve the present Parliament as formerly to dissolve any other which they knew to be an inseparable flower of the Crown Timor undique nostris this brought them in fear on every side lest if they were too soon discovered they might suddenly be prevented and their plot might prove abortive Like the untimely fruit of a woman that perisheth before it seeth the Sun or as the apples of Sodome vanishing when they are touched into Nothing or at the best but to stinking blasts Therefore to escape this rock they sail about and like cunning Water-men they look towards you when they â—ow from you their eyes and mouthes are one way when their hearts and minds are another way for they tell the King that the discontinuance of Parliaments hath produced abundance of distempers in this State and a world of grievances both in the Church and Common-wealth besides they say what the King and every man else saw to be true That the Scots were entred into our Land The fair pretences for the continuance of the Parliament and setled in the bosom of this Kingdom and though perhaps if some things had been better looked into we mought at first most easily have kept them out yet now duriùs ejicitur quà m non admittitur hostis it was too late to shut the door and it is not so easy to expel and drive them out except we made them a bride of gold to pass over the river and so to go homewards again And this cannot be done without a great deal of money which moneys though the Parliament should grant them as we are most willing to do to free your Majesty from these guests and to prevent the dangers of an intestine war yet they cannot suddenly be levied and collected as the times and occasions now required therefore it must be borrowed to supply our present necessities and lenders we shall find none except we can shew them a way how they shall be repaid again and the expeperience we have lately had in these latter years of so many Parliaments so unhappily and suddenly dissolved puts us out of all hope to find any way to secure their debts except your Majesty will pass an Act for as yet they durst not say they needed not His assent to what they did that this Parliament shall not be dissolved until it be agreed upon by the consent of both houses How the King was seduced by their pretences This and the like were their fair pretences like the Syrens voyces very sweet and very good and the good King that ever spake as he thought could not think that His great Councel whom He trusted with all the Affairs of His Kingdom meant
Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope God made Kings our nursing Fathers and Queens our nursing Mothers and we putting our selves under their protection have been hitherto most graciously protected but now by this Act we are left naked of all defence and set under the very sword of our Adversaries and as the Psalmist saith They that hated us are made Lords over us to call us to assess us to undo us 3. Debarred of that right that none else are 3. Hereby they are made more slavish than the meanest Subject and deprived of that benefit and priviledge which the poorest Shoomaker Tailer or any other Tradesman or yeoman hath most justly left unto him for to be excluded debarred and altogether made uncapable of any benefit is such an insupportable burden that it is set upon no mans shoulders but upon the Clergy alone as if they alone were either unworthy to receive or unable to do any good 4. Made more contemptible than all others 4. Hereby they are made the unparalleled spectacle of all neglect and scorn to all forraign people for I can hardly believe the like Precedent can be shewed in any Age or any other Nation of the World no not among the very Infidels or Indians for in former times the Bishops and Clergy-men were thought the fittest instruments to be imployed in the best places of greatest truth and highest importance in the Common-Wealth and Kings made them their Embassadours as the Emperour Valentinian did Saint Ambrose And our own Chronicles relate how former times respected the Clergy and how our Kings made them both their Counsellours and their Treasurers Chancellours Keepers of the Great Seal and the like Officers of the chiefest concernment as Ethelbert in the year of Christ 605. Vt refert in tractatu suo de Episcopatu p. 61 62. M. Theyer Sir Henry Spelman p. 118. Idem p. 403. Idem p. 219. saith I Ethelbert King of Kent with the consent of the Reverend Arch Bishop Augustine and of my Princes do give and grant c. And the said Ethelbert with the Queen and his Son Eadbald and the most Reverend Prelate Augustine and with the rest of the Nobility of the Land solemnly kept his Christmass at Canterbury and there assembled a Common Councel tam cleri quà m populi as well of the Clergy as of the People And King Adelstan saith I Adelstan the King do signify unto all the Officers in my Kingdom that by the advice of Wolfelm my Arch-Bishop and of all my Bishops c. In the great Councel of King Ina An. 712. The Edicts were Enacted by the Common Councel and consent omnium Episcoporum Principum Procorum Câ—mitum omnium sapientum seniorum populorum totius regni per praeceptum regis Inae And in the second Charter of King Edward the Confessour How former times respected the Clergy granted to the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster it is said to be Cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque suorum Optimatum With the Counsel and Decree of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and other Potentates And so not only the Saxon Kings but the Norman also ever since the Conquest had the Bishops in the like or greater esteem that they never held Parliament or Councel without them And surely these Princes were no Babes that made this choice of them neither was the Common-Wealth neglected nor justice prejudiced by these Governours And whosoever shall read Mores gentium or the pilgrimage of Master Purchas Livy Plutarch Appian and the rest of the Greek and Latin Histories I dare assure him he shall find greater honour given and far less contempt cast upon the Priests and Flamins the Prophets of the Sybils than we find of this Faction left to the Servants of the Living God who are now dâ—it withall worse than Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites that took away their straw and yet required their full tale of Bricks For these men would rob us of all our means and take away all our Lands and all our Rights and yet require not only the full tale of Sermons and Services as was used by our Predecessours but to double our files to multiply our pains How the Clergy are now used and to treble the Sermons and Services that they used to have of our forefathers more than ever was done in any Age since the first Plantation of the Gospel And when we have done with John Baptist the utmost of our endeavours like a shining and a burning lamp that doth waste and consume it self to nothing while it giveth light to others they only deal with us as Carriers use to do with their pack-horses hang bels at their ears to make a melodious noise but with little provender lay heavy loads upon their backs and when they can bear no more burdens take away their Bells withdraw their praises call them Jades exclaim against their laziness and then at last turn them out to feed upon the Commons and to die in a ditch And thus we have now made the Ministers of Christ to be the Emblems of all misery and in pretending to make them more glorious in the sight of God we have made them most base in the eyes of all men And therefore the consequence of this Act is like to prove most lamentable when the people considering how that hereby we are left naked of all comfort and subject to all kind of scorn and distresse and how that this being effected is but the Praeludium of a far greater mischief they will rather with no great cost make their children of some good Trade and their children will chuse so to be than with such great cost and more care and yet little hope to bring them up to worse condition than the meanest of all Trades or the lowest degree of all rusticks When as they can challenge and it shall not be denied them to have the priviledges of the Law The Clergy alone are deprived of Magna Charta and a property in their goods which without their own consent yielded in their persons or their representours cannot be taken from them And the Clergy only of all the people in this Kingdom shall be deprived of the right and benefit of our great Charter which so many famous Kings and pious Princes have confirmed unto us and when we have laboured all the dayes of our lives with great pains and more diligence to instruct our people and to attain to some competency of means to maintain
our selves and our families we shall be in the power of these men at their pleasure under the pretence of Religion contrary to all justice to be deprived of any part of our freehold when we shall have not one man of our own Calling to speak a word in our behalf on no Seat of Justice throughout the whole Kingdom O terque quaterque beati Queis ante or a patrum contigit oppetere O most miserable and lamentable condition of Gods Ministers I must needs speak it though I should die for it and if some did not speak it I think the stones would cry against it and proclaim it Better for the Clergy were their hope only in this world never to have been born or at least never to have seen a Book then to fall into the hands and to be put under the censure of these men that do thus love Christ by hating his Ministers This Act more prejudiciall to the future times than now who as I said before by this one Act are made liable to undergo all kind of evils which shall not only fall upon the present Clergy for were it so our patience should teach us to be silent but also to the increase of all prejudices to the Gospel more than my fore-sight can expresse in all succeeding Ages And therefore I may well say with Jeremy Jer. 5.9 29. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this And we need not wonder that such plagues calamities and distresses have so much increased in this Kingdom ever since the passing of this Act and yet the anger of the Lord is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and I fear his wrath will not be appeased till we have blotted this and wiped away all other our great sins and transgressions with the truest tears of unfained repentance These are like to be the consequences of this Act And yet our good King who we know loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue and was as I assure my self most unwilling to passe it was notwithstanding over-perswaded considering where thirteen of the Bishops were even in prison and in what condition all the rest of them stood in question whether all they should stand or be cut down root and branch to yield His assent unto the Act though if the case in truth were rightly weighed not much lesse prejudicial to his Majesty than injurious to us to be thus deprived of our right and exposed to all miseries by excluding us from all Civil Judicature And I would to God the King and all the Kingdom did continually consider how his Majesty was used ever since the confirmation of this Act How the King hath been used ever since this Act passed for they no sooner had excluded the Bishops and Clergy out of their right but presently they proceeded and prosecuted the Design ever since to thrust out the King from all those just Rights and Prerogatives which God and Nature and the Laws of our Land have put into his hands for the Government of this Kingdom neither was it likely to succeed any otherwise as I have fully shewed and I would all Kings would read it in the Grand Rebellion That the Act should be annulled But I see no reason why it may not and why it should not be retracted and annulled when the Houses shall be purged of that Anabaptistical and Rebellious Faction that contrived and procured the same to Passe for these three special Reasons Reason 1 1. Because that contrary to all former Precedents that Bill for their exclusion was as it is reported at the first refused and after a full hearing among the Lords it was by most Votes by more than a dozen voices rejected And yet to shew unto the World that the Faction's malice against the Bishops had no end and their rage was still implacable at the same Session and which is very considerable immediately assoon as ever they understood it was rejected the House of Commons revived it and so pressed it unto the Lords that if I may have leave to speak the truth contrary to all right * For I conceive this to be an approved Maxim That no Right not proved forfited by some offence can be taken away without wrong it must be again received and while the Bishops were in prison it was with what honour I know not strangely confirmed 2. Because this Bill had the Royall assent after that a most riotous tumult and many thousands of men with all sorts of Warlike weapons both on land and water most disloyally had driven His Majesty to flie from London that most Rebellious City not without fear for his own safety even for the safety of his life as himself professeth And when they had so cunningly Reason 2 contrived their Plot as to get some of the Kings servants and friends that were about him In his Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. of July p. 8. and imployed in the Queens affairs to perswade Her Majesty to use all her power with the King for the passing of this Bill or else Her journey should be stayed as formerly they had altered Her resolution for the Spaw and at Rochester she should understand the sense of the House to stop Her passage unto Holland whereas the passing of this Bill might make way for Her passage over And many other such frights and fears they put both upon the King and Queen to inforce Him full sore against his will as we believe to passe this harsh Bill for the exclusion of the spiritual Lords out of the House of Peers and of all the Clergy from all Secular Judicature But Master Pym will tell us as he did that it was the opinion of both Houses There was no occasion given by any tumults that might justly cause His Majesties departure To whom I answer with the words of Alderman Garraway Ald. Gar. speech at Guild-hall If the Houses had declared that it had been lawful to beat the King out of Town I must have sate still with wonder though I should never believe it but when they declare matters of Fact which is equally within our own knowledge and wherein we cannot be deceived as in the things we have seen with our eyes if they dissent from truth they must give me leave to differ from them As if they should declare They have paid all the money that they owe unto the City or that there * For now I understand it is pulled down was no Crosse standing in Cheapside we shall hardly believe them And therefore seeing we all remember when the Alarm was given that there was an attempt from Whitehall upon the City how hardly it was appeased and how no Babies thought the Design of those subtile heads that gave that false Alarm was no lesse than to have caused Whitehall to be pulled down and they that loved the King and saw the Army both by land and
yet blameing them for any thing But for any Subject of England to enterchange Messages and to keep private intelligence with any that seem to be in Arms against their King and the invaders of his Dominions to animate them to come and advance forward to refuse their Soveraigns Service and the Oath of their fidelity which was tendered unto them and to hinder the Kings Souldiers to do their duties either by denying to go with him or refusing to fight for him when they went which if some men were brought to their Legal tryal I believe would be more than sufficiently proved against them can be no lesse than heynous Crimes perhaps within the compasse of high Treason Or were these things but our jealousies and fears which do wear the garments of Truth yet their proceedings in Parliament do add more fuell unto the fire of our suspicion as for our men whom we have chosen to plead for us and to treat with them to respect them more than us to enrich them by impoverishing us How they behaved themselves towards the Scots giving them no lesse than 300000. l. who had entered into our Land and brought upon us such fears of I know not how many mischiefs that might succeed and not only so but also to shew what love they bare to them and how little regard they had of us their Native Brethren that put such trust and confidence in their fidelity as to commit all our fortunes and liberties into their hands paying weekly such a Pension for their provision besides the maintenance of our own Army which were forced to carry them their monies when themselves were unpaid as in a short time was able to exhaust all the wealth of this Kingdom and yet for all his Majesties continual calling upon them to dispatch their discharge and to finish the Treaty for the good of both Kingdoms keeping them here so exceeding long and making so very much of them which in truth we envyed not but admired what it meant when we saw with what continual feastings they were entertained in London and their lodgings frequented as the Kings Court till all the people began to murmur and to wax weary of so great a charge and such a burden as they knew must at last light upon their shoulders which must needs be matters worthy of our best examinations But as yet the common people that seeth no further than the present tense Why they detained them here so long and the outside of things did little know what many wise men did then foresee that these men aimed further than they seemed to do and delayed the businesse purposely till they had attained many of their desires and had fully endeared themselves into the affections of the Scots that if need required that they could not effect all the residue of their design as they intended which now could not so suddenly be brought unto perfection they might recall them here again to assist them to do that by force which by their craft and subtilty they should fail to do as now by their sending for them going unto them and alleadging the Act of Pacification for their assistance to withstand their King and to overthrow our Church it is apparent to all the World how perfidiously they dealt with God and man and how treacherous their thoughts were from the beginning both to the King and Kingdom Yet As we found our Brethren of Scotland howsoever these men behaved themselves in their secret intentions to have carried themselves none otherwise than as wise rational and religious men in all the Treaty So I assure my self they will hereafter still continue both faithful unto God and loyal unto their King and as they perceived not their intentions at the first so they will not now joyn with them in any Association of Rebellion to withstand their own Liege Lord and to change the established Laws and Religion of our Kingdom but will rather live in peace and happiness in their own Land than by forsaking their enjoyed quietness to involve themselves in the unhappiness of a desperate War in another Country 2. The compelling of all people to take their new framed Protestation 2. After they had thus endeared themselves unto their Brethren of Scotland they framed a Protestation to maintain and defend as far as lawfully they might with their lives powers and estates the True Reformed Protestant Religion his Majesties Royal Person Honour and Estate the power and priviledge of Parliament the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and every person that should make the Protestation in whatsoever he should do in the lawful pursuance of the same and to their power and as far as lawfully they might to oppose and by all good means endeavour to bring to condign punishment all such as shall either by force practice counsels plots conspiracies or otherwise * Which word is like the c. in the Canonical Oath do any thing to the contrary of any thing in the said Protestation contained and neither for fear hope nor other respect to relinquish this Promise Vow and Protestation In which Protestation though no man can espy the least shadow of ill prima facie at the first reading thereof yet if you look further and search narrowly into the intentions of the composers the frame of the Protestation and the practice of these Protestors ever since the framing of it you shall find that Desinit in piscem mulier formosa supernè these men are no Changelings but as like themselves as ever they were For 1. To terrifie the Papists to raise a Rebellion in Ireland 1. As it was intended so it succeeded it terrified the Papists and made them so desperate as almost to despair of their very Being as concerning the place where or the manner how they should live Which thing together with many other harsh and hard proceedings against many of them and the small countenance which they shewed unto a very moderate Petition that the Papists exhibited unto them hath driven abundance of them into Ireland whom I saw my self and there consulting with the Irish which were then also threatened by the Agents of this Faction there that ere long they should be severely handled and brought to the Church whether they would or no or pay such a Mulct as should make them poor what course they should take in such a desperate condition wherein they were all like to be ruined or to be rooted out of all the Kings Dominions they concluded what they would do To defend themselves by a plain Rebellion So this course against them hath been the leading-card as some of them confessed of that great Rebellion which being kindled as some Sectaries in England expected they thought they would so much the more weaken the King by how much the more combustion should be raised in each one of his Dominions And therefore notwithstanding all the Kings gracious Messages and wishes unto the House of
Commons which I wish all men would remember how affectionately he desired it to hasten to relieve that bleeding Kingdom yet still they protracted and neglected their redresse and at last passed such Votes made such Orders and procured such Acts as rather respected themselves and their posterity to get all the land and goods of the Rebels to themselves that were the Adventurers than the relieving of us that were distressed and would as I told some of the House of Commons rather increase the Rebellion than any wayes quench that destroying flame And this was as it succeeded and as you see hereby most likely intended a most detestable Plot for the kindling of that Rebellion and continuing of that bloody War in Ireland without which they knew this Rebellion in England could never have gained so much strength as it hath 2. By their large expression of what Religion they protested to defend 2. To gain all Sectaries to their side not the Protestant Religion as it is established by Law and expressed in the 39. Articles of the Church of England but as it is repugnant to Popery and taught perhaps by Burton Burges Goodwin Burrows or the like Amsterdamian Schismaticks they opened the gap so wide and made Heaven-gate so broad that all Brownists Anabaptists Socinians Familists Adamites and all other New-England-brood and Out-landish Sectaries whatsoever that opposed Popery might return home and joyn with them as they have done since to overthrow our established Church and State And this Plot to increase their own strength was as craftily done and is as Detestable as the other which to weaken the King in England caused a Rebellion in Ireland 3. By their illegall compelling 3. To descry their own strength and forcible inducing of all the people in the Kingdom to take the same or to be adjudged ill-affected and popish and after the Lords had rejected the imposing of it they by their Declaration which shewed That what person soever would not take it was unfit to bear Office either in Church or Common-wealth prevailed in this Plot so that they descryed the number of their own Party they understood their own strength and they perceived thereby many things which they knew not before for now they had with David numbred Israel and so far as the wit and policy of the Devil had instructed them they had searched into the secrets of all hearts 4. Having compelled the people to take it 4. To insnare all the simpler sort to adhere unto them they have hereby insnared all the simpler sort and tender consciences to stick unto them when they tell them and presse it upon their souls That they have made a Protestation to maintain the Priviledges of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subject and therefore they are bound to adhere to the Parliament to the uttermost of their power and so by this equivocall Protestati n they have seduced thousands into their Rebellion and led them blindfold unto destruction But to let you see not the sincerity of their hearts The mystery of their iniquity but the mystery of their iniquity by this their Protestation you shall never find them urge it unto others or remembring it themselves For the defence of the Kings Person Crown or Dignity or for the liberty of any Subject but only such Subjects as will be Rebels with them For how can they be said to defend any of these when they do their very best to destroy His Person and deprive him of all his Royal Dignities and to plunder and imprison all true Subjects for being true Subjects unto their King Whereby you see how these Rebels are likewise perjured and have weaved this Protestation like a Spiders web That the rebels are all perjured through which themselves might passe when they pleased and like Vulcans Net to catch the simpler sort to adhere most eagerly to their Designs and so it is but a circle of all subtilties and not unwittily questioned An protestatio Parliamentaria deterior sit juramento cum c. For if there be any thing injoyned to be done by that Protestation which was unlawful to be done before the Protestation was taken it is no more to be justified by that Act than any other unlawful thing is by a rash and wicked vow and it ought not to be urged to do mischief and if there be nothing to be injoyned thereby but what was every mans duty before there was but small need to draw any argument from any Protestation but if they intended to draw men from the duty of alleageance to which they were legally sworn all men understood to do somewhat which the ignorant did not understand then such a voluntary Protestation might do the deed for they have protested to maintain the Priviledges of Parliament And yet the wisest of us now may justly protest we cannot tell what those Priviledges are or how far they should extend in the judgement of the House of Commons for they are multiplied like the Rats of Egypt And as Pharaohs lean Kine did eat up all his fat Cows Priviledges of Parl. multiplyed and are like Pharaohs kine so these meager Priviledges have eaten up all our goodly Laws And therefore the unlimited universality of these Priviledges in the Protestation extending it self as far as the caetera in the Canonical Oath was but a mischievous plot in the Contrivers to catch the simple to adhere unto them And it is a madness in any man that hath legally sworn to defend the King's Person Crown and Dignity which he knoweth and hath irregularly protested to maintain the Priviledges of Parliament which he knoweth not immediately to draw his sword against his known Soveraign or to Rebel against his well-known lawful Authority in the behalf of some thing he knoweth not what but is told by these men It is a Priviledge of Parliament O ye unwise among the people When will you understand Who hath bewitched you that you should not believe the truth CHAP. VII Sheweth how the Faction was inraged against our last Canons What manner of men they chose in their new Synod And of six special Acts of great prejudice unto the Church of Christ which under false pretences they have already done 3. The condemning of our last Canons 3. FOr the Canons that were last made I must confess my self and many others of my Brethren were very averse unto our sitting to make any at that time yet many Reasons were shewed us that we might sit and we had the Judges of the Common-Laws opinion under their hands shewed us for the legality of our sitting and conclude such Canons as might be for the glory of God and the good of his Church but of those that are made though I assure my self the worst of them is not so ill as they alleadge nor near so bad as most I might say the best of their illegall Orders yet there were many of us that never gave our votes
in the blood of so many faithful Christians do sing with the Psalmist Psal 58 9. The righteous rejoyce when they see this vengeance they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly for as Solomon saith The tender mercies of the wicked are meer cruelty Prov. 12.10 And I believe the first inventers of that Design to root out all the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Col. 3.11 every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of State yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings power so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth. 6.11 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10.11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5.16 for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20.34 1 Thes 2.9 1 Cor. 1.12 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of
all these points are taught by every one of their Teachers but that all these and many more are taught and maintained by some one or other of them as I could easily expresse it if it were not too tedious for my Reader but the bulk of my Book swells too big and their fancies are but Dreams fit for laughter and I brought these onely as Vinegar to be tasted and then to be spit out again CHAP. X. Sheweth the great Bug-bears that affrighted this Faction the four speciall means they used to secure themselves the manifold lyes they raised against the King and the two speciall Questions that are discussed about Papists 5. The setling of the Militia 5. FOr the setling of the Militia and putting the whole Kingdom in a posture of Defence as they termed it 1. They dreamed of a desperate Disease 2. They devised an Emperical way to cure it and 1. The disease 1. The Disease was a monstrous fear of Popery and the re-establishment of abolished superstitions in our Church to invade their consciences and of the Papists with fire and sword to waste their estates and to take away their lives and liberties and through that groundlesse fear they looked on the innocent Ceremonies that were established in the Church as dangerous Innovations and introductions to Idolatry And in the State they feared the practised wayes and endeavours to produce an arbitrary government by our advancing of a boundlesse Prerogative even to the dispoyling of the Subject of his property and robbing him of the benefit of the laws these were their fears And the grounds of these fears were lying fictions and most scandalous detractions and defamations for their invented Letters that should come from Holland and from Denmark and some other places beyond the Seas where we were better believe them then go try whether they were true which informed them sometimes of a Fleet of Danes sometimes of another Nation that should come to assist the King for the setting up of Popery and the securing of himself in a tyrannical and arbitrary government over them What terrible things frighted them and every day almost produced a discovery of new treacheries against the Parliament what terrible things frighted them as the stable of Horses under ground for indeed they were invisible Horses such as Elisha's servant saw terrifying their guilty consciences and that of the Taylors in Moor-fields and the like horrid machinations that were to come against them I know not from whom and God knowes from whence which things how false they were time which is the mother of truth hath long agone made manifest and ridiculous to any man that is not bewitched with these lying fancies therefore lest these dreams of their distempered brains should be too soon descryed and so prove defective to produce their intended project they alledge The Queen is a Papist and I would to God they were so truly religious and void of hypocrisie in their profession as she most gracious Queen is in her religion then they say The Bishops are all Papists Deans and Prebends are of the same stamp and all the Kings Chapleins that were preferred by the Arch-Bishop were either close Papists or profest Arminians which are but Cosen-germans unto the other Arminianism being but a Bridge to passe over unto Popery And with these and the like false slanders against the King Queen and Clergy they so bewitched most of their well meaning brethren of the same house and amazed all the simpler sort of people of this Kingdom with these fears and filled them with such jealousies with those Pamphlets that they caused to be printed and dispersed every where that they were at their wits end for fear of this lamentable alteration of their religion and deprivation of their liberties 2. The disease being thus spread like a Gangrene 2. The Cure over all the parts of the body of this Kingdom they like skilful Physitians devise the cure and that is the preparation of a Militia and this Militia they would have put into such hands as they pleased such as they might confide in and I wish the whole Kingdom knew who those men were and who they are that they do confide in for I know 1. Some of them are poor men of most desperate fortunes if Bank-rupters may be termed such 2. Others to be most factious and schismatical men addicted to Anabaptism and Brownism and other worser Sects as amongst the London Commanders Ven Manwaring Fowke Nâ—rington Bradly Best and the rest whereof there are twice as many schismatical and as it is conceived beggarly Sectaries as are right honest men among them and if we looked among their Lords and all the rest of their nomination throughout the Kingdom I doubt we shall find some of them to be just of the same condition And because the King to whose care and trust God had committed all the people of this Kingdom and not to them that are called by the King and chosen onely by men and that onely for this time and of whom he will require an account of the laws and religion whereof he made him keeper and defender and not of them thought most rightly that this Militia should be committed rather to such men as he might confide in as it was in the raign of Queen Elizabeth and His Father of ever blessed memory rather than to any that they should name which was to dis-robe himself of all his regal power of the chiefest garland of his royal Prerogatives without which he could hold his Crown by no better a tenure then durante beneplacito and to put the sword out of his own hand into the hands of them that could not love him because they could not trust him as they alledged and what reason had he to trust them that were causelesly so distrustful of him they startled at this deniall And because the King of heaven had by this time opened the Kings eys God openeth the Kings eyes to let him see what hitherto he could hardly imagine that these men to whom he had granted for the good of his kingdom so many Acts of grace and favour as never any King of England did before and had very graciously offered to commit to the hands of their own choosing so large a share of the Militia as might have rendred the whole kingdom most secure if security in a just and legall way had been all that they sought for had their intentions far otherwise then they pretended and that not onely the government of the Church was intended to be altered and the Governours thereof destroyed but himself also was hereby dis-robed of those rights which God and the Lawes of the Land had put into his hands and the Kingdom brought either into a base Tyranny or confused Anarchy when all things shall be done according to the arbitrary power of these factious and schismatical men therefore he utterly refused to grant their desires and most wisely withstood their
design How they strengthened themselves to make their orders fi m without the King Whereupon these men put their heads together to consult how they might strengthen themselves and make their ordinances firm and binding without the King and to that purpose having by their former doings gotten too great an interest as well in the faith as in the affections of the people in confidence of their own strength they came roundly to the businesse and what they knew was not their right as their former Petitions can sufficiently witnesse they resolve to effect the same by force but as insensibly as they can devise as 1. To seize upon the Kings Navie to secure the Seas 2. To lay hold upon all the Kings Magazine Forts Towns and Castles 3. To with-hold his moneys and revenues and all other means from the King 4. To withdraw the affections and to poyson the loyalty of all his Majesties Subjects from him And hereby they thought and it must have been so indeed except the Lord had been on his side they had made their hill so strong that it could not be moved and the King so weak and destitute of all means that he could no wayes subsist or relieve himself as a member of their own House did tell me for 1. Earl of Warwick made Vice-Admiral 1. They get the Earl of Warwick to be appointed Vice-Admiral of the Sea and to commit all the Kings Navie into his hand and to take away that charge from Sir John Pennington whom most men believed to be far the better Sea-man but more faithful to his King and the other purer to the Parliament 2. Sir John Hotham put into Hull for the Magazine 2. They send Sir John Hotham a most insolent man that most uncivilly contemned the King to his face to seize upon the Kings Magazine that he bought with his own money when they might as well take away my horse that I paid for and to keep the King out of Hull which was his own proper Town and therefore might as well have kept him out of White-Hall and was an Act so full of injustice as that I scarce know a greater 3. They detained the Kings moneys Esay 1.23 3. Because moneys are great means to effect any worldly affaire and the sinews of every warre when as men and arms and all other necessaries may be had for money some of them and their followers shew themselves to be just as the Peers of Israel companions of thieves meer robbers which forcibly take away a mans mony from him they take all the Kings treasure they intercept detain and convert all the Kings revenues and customes to strengthen themselves against the King 4. They labour to render the King odious by lyes 4. Because their former Remonstrances framed by this faction of the ill government of this kingdom though in some things true which the King ingenuously acknowledgeth and most graciously promiseth to redresse them yet in all things full of gall and bitternesse against the King could not so fully poyson the love and loyalty of the Kings Subjects as they desired especially the love of those that knew his Majesty who the better they knew him did the more affectionately love him and the more faithfully serve him they thought to do it another and a surer way with apparent lyes palpable slanders and abominable accusations invented printed and scattered over all the parts of this kingdom by their Trencher Chaplains and parasitical Preachers and other Pamphleters some busie Lawyers and Pettifoggers to bring the King into an odium disliked and deserted of all his loving Subjects And what created power under heaven was able to dissolve that wickednesse which subtilty and malice had thus treacherously combined to bring to passe Hereupon after many threatning votes 1. Lye that he intended to war against the Parliament and actual hostility exercised against his Royall person the King is forced to raise a guard for the defence of himself and those his good Subjects that attended him then presently that small guard that consisted but of the chief gentry of the Countrey was declared to be an Army raised for the subversion of the Parliament and the destruction of our native liberties an invincible Army is voted to be raised the Earl of Essex is chosen to be their Generall with whom they promise both to live and die the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse moneys are provided and all things are prepared to fetch the King and all delinquents or to be the death of all withstanders and that nothing might hinder this design though the King in many gracious Messages attested by the subscription of many noble Lords that were upon the place assured them he never intended any warre against his Parliament yet they proceed with all eagernesse and declare all those that shall assist the King either with Horse money or men to be malignants and enemies unto the King and Kingdome and such delinquents as shall be sure to receive condigne punishment by the Parliament Hoc mirum est hoc magnum And among the rest of their impudent slanders this was their Master-piece which they ever harped upon that he countenanced Papists and intended to bring Popery into this Kingdgm and to that end had an Army of Papists to assist him But to satisfie any sensible man in this point I would crave the resolution of these two Questions 1. Whether every Papist that is subject to his Majesty Two questions to be resolved is not bound to assist and defend his King in all his dangers 2. Whether the King should not protect his Subjects that are Papists in all their dangers so far as by the Law he ought to do it and accept of their service when he himself is invironed with dangers For first 1. All Papists bound to assist their King I believe there is no Law that inhibiteth a Papist to serve his King against a Rebellion or to ride Post to tell the King of a Design to murder Him or any other intended Treason against Him or being present to take away a weapon from that man that attempted to kill the King because his not coming to Church doth not exempt him from his Allegiance or discharge him of his duty and service unto the King and therefore if a Fleet from France or Spain or any other forreign part should invade us or any Rebellion at home should rise against his Soveraign and seek to destroy those Lawes and Liberties whereof himself and his Posterity hath as good an interest to as any other Subject I say he is bound by all Laws to assist his King and to do his best endeavour both with his purse and in his person not only to oppose that external Invasion but also to subdue as well that home-bred Rebellion as the forreign Invasion 2. If a Papist should be injured his estate seized upon 2. The King bound to protect dutiful Papists his house
the whole Kingdome in an unnatural civill War and to maintain the same against the will and contrary to the desires both of the King and Kingdom and it is almost incredible what wicked courses and how unjust and insufferable Orders and Ordinances you shall find recorded that they have made 1. Against the King 2. Against the Subjects 3. Against the Law Which are all said to be exceedingly abused by them for 1. Against the King it is registred to Posterity that they have proceeded besides many other things in all these particulars 1. They possesse all the Kings Houses Towns and Castles 1. Their proceedings against the King 1. Wrong Matth. 8 20. but what he gets by the strength of his sword and detain them from him so that we may say with our Saviour The Foxes have holes and the fowles of the air have nests but the King of England hath not an house allowed him by the Houses of Parliament wherein to put his head and they take not onely his Houses but also his rents and revenues and as I understood when I was in Oxford his very clothes and provision for his Table that seeing they could not take away his life by the sword they might murder him with cold or famin when he should not have the subsistence if they could hinder him to maintain life and soul together which is the shame of all shame and able to make any other men odious to all the world The complaint to the House of Commons Pag. 19. thus maliciously and barbarously to deal with their own most gracious King neither doth their malice here end but they with-hold the Rents of the Queen and seize upon the Revenues of our Prince which I assure them my Countrey-men takes in great scorn and I believe will right it with their lives or this Parliament-Faction shall redeem their errours with no small repentance when as we find no Prince of Wales was ever suffered by his Subjects to have such indignities offered him by the greatest Peers of England And here I cannot omit what Alderman Garraway saith of the reproach of Master Pym touching the maintaining of the Kings other Children which he professeth made his heart to rise and hoped it did so to many more Alderman Garraway his Speech Is our good King fallen so low that his Children must be kept for him It is worth our inquiry Who brought him to that condition We hear him complain that all his own Revenue is seized and taken from him Is not his Exchequer Court of Wards and Mint here his Customes too are worth somewhat and are his Children kept upon Alms How shall We and our Children prosper if this be not remedied And I pray God these things rise not up in judgement against them and this Nation but hereby they intended to verifie that disloyal Speech which One of them uttered in a Tavern and God will avert it from his Servant Sober Sadnesse pag. 22. 2. Wrong That they would make the King as poor as Job unlesse he did comply with them 2. If any man which they like not attends the Kings Person though he be his sworn servant or assist him in his just defence which he is bound to do by the Law of God and man yet he is presently voted and condemned for a Malignant Popish dis-affected evill Counsellour and an enemy to the State and that is enough if he be catched to have him spoyled and imprisoned at their pleasure nay my self was told by some of that Faction that because I went to see the King I should be plundered and imprisoned if I were taken 3 Wrong 3. Though they do solemnly professe that his Majesties personal safety and his royal honour and greatnesse are much dearer unto them then their own lives and fortunes The Petition to his Majesty the 16. of July 1642. which they do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof yet for all this hearty Protestation they had at that very time as the King most accurately observeth in his Answer directed the Earl of Warwick to assist Sir John Hotham against him Non turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere est nefas neque ei inhonestè aliquem submitti quem Deus super omnes extulit Dictum Armenii Pompeii appointed their Generals and as Alderman Garraway testifieth raised ten thousand armed men out of London and the Neighbour-Countries before the King had seven hundred and afterwards though the King sent from Nottingham a gracious Message and sollicitation for Peace yet they supposing this proceeded from a diffidence of his own strength or being too confident of their own force sleighted the Kings Grace and most barbarously proceeded in the most hostile manner waged warre and gave battail against the Kings Army where they knew he was in his own Person and as one of their Preachers taught the Sunday before the Battail that they might with a good conscience as well kill the King horresco dicere as any other man so according to Captain Blagues directions as Judas taught the High-Priests servants we know what Troops and Regiments were most aimed at whereas they do most ridiculously say they have for the defence of his person sent many a Cannon-bullet about his eares which he did with that Kingly courage and Heroick magnanimity yea and that Christian resolution and dependance on Gods assistance pass through that it shall be recorded to his everlasting honour and their indelible shame and reproach so long as the world endureth 4. 4 Wrong They have most Disloyally and Traiterously spoken both privately and publickly such things against his Majesty as would make the very Heathens tear them in pieces that should say the like of their Tyrannous Kings and such as I could not believe they proceeded from the mouth of a Christian against so Christian a King but that I find most of them were publickly uttered made known unto his Majesty and related by himself and those that were Ear-witnesses thereof Sober sadness p. 3. The Viewer p. 4. His Majesties Declaration Trussel in the supplement to Daniels History as Horresco referens that he was not worthy to be our King not fit to live that he was The Traitor that the Prince would govern better and that they dealt fairly with him they did not depose him as their fore-fathers had deposed Richard the second whom all the World knoweth to be most Traiterously Murdered and the whole progress of that Act whereby he was deposed is nothing else but the Scandal of that Parliament and an horrid treason upon the fairest relation of any Chronicle and the good Bishop of Carlile was not then affraid in open house to tell the Lords so to their faces and I would our Parliament men would read his Speech 5. They command their own Orders Ordinances 5. Wrong and Declarations to be Printed Cum privilegio and to be published
devised here and damnation hereafter yet these men contrary to all Laws do injoyn us and compell us as much against our Consciences as if they should compell us with the Pagan Tyrants to offer sacrifice unto Idols to war against our most gracious Soveraign whom we from our hearts do both love and honour and they proscribe us as malignants and as enemies to the Common-Wealth Ps 50.22 Augu. contra Faust l. 22. c. 75. 76. if we contribute not Money Horse and Arms to maintain this ungodly War and so become deadly enemies unto our own souls O consider this yee that forget God lest for tearing us He tear you in pieces while there is none to help you for considering what the Apostle saith Rom. 13.1 2. and what Saint Augustine saith Ordo naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli Autoritas atque consilium penes principem sit and lest men should think they ought by force of Armes to resist their King for Religion he answereth that objection by the example of the Apostles Isti non resistendo interfecti sunt ut potiorem esse docerent victoriam pro fide veritatis occidi We conceive this to be so execrable an Act and so odious to God and man that we are made thus miserable and abused beyond measure to have our Religion which is most glorious our Laws The miserable consequences of their wicked doings that in their own nature are most excellent and our Liberties that make us as free as any Subjects in the World under false pretences and the shadows of Religion Laws and Liberties to be eradicated and fundamentally destroyed whereby Mischief 1 1. We are made a spectacle of scorn and the object of derision to our neighbour-Nations that formerly have envied at our happiness and we are become the Subject of all pitty and lamentation to all them that love us Mischief 2 2. As in the Roman Civil-Wars in the time of Metellus the Son did kill his own Father so now by the subtilty of this faction we are cast into such a War as is 1. A most unnatural War the Son against the Father and the Father against the Son The Earl of Warwick fighteth for the Parliament and my Lord Rich his Son with the King The Earl of Dover is with the King and my Lord Rochford his Son with the Parliament So one brother against another as the Earl of Northumberland with the Parliament and his brother with the King The Earl of Bedford with the Parliament and his brother with the King Master Perpoint with the Parliament and the Earl of Newark with the King Devoreux Farmer with the Parliament and his bâ—other Richard Farmer together with his brother in law my Lord Cokain with the King and the like and of Cosens without number the one part with the King and the other with the Parliament And if they do this in subtilty to preserve their Estates I say it is a wicked policy to undo the Kingdom which all wise men should consider 2. A most irreligious War when one Christian of the same professed Religion shall bathe his Sword and wash his Hands in the blood of his fellow Christian and his fellow Protestant that shall be coheir with him of the same Kingdom 3. A most unnatural irreligious and barbarous War when the Subject shall take Arms to destroy or unthrone their own Liege a Religious and most gracious King 3. The Service of God in most Churches is neglected when almost all Mischief 3 the ablest gravest and most Orthodox Divines and Preachers are persecuted plundered imprisoned and driven to flie as in the time of the Arian or Donatist which was worse than the Heathen perfection from City to City and to wander in Desarts from place to place to save themselves from the hands of these Rebels against the King and Persecuters of Gods Church which is a most grievous and a most cruel persecution far more general than that of the Anabaptists in Germany or of Queen Mary here in England The Lord of Heaven make us constant and give us patience to indure it 4. The whole Kingdom is and shall be yet more by the continuance Mischief 4 hereof unspeakably impoverished and plunged into all kind of miseries when the travailer cannot pass without fear nec hospes ab hospite tutus the Carrier cannot transport his commodity but it shall be intercepted the Husbandman cannot till his ground but his Horses as my self saw it shall be taken from the Plough and his Corn shall be destroyed when it is ready for the Sickle which must be the fore-runner of a Famine that is ever the Usher to introduce the Plague and Pestilence and all other kind of grievous diseases and these things put together do set wide our Gates and open our Ports to bring forraign foes into our Coasts to possess that good Land whereof we are unworthy because with the Israelites we loathed Manna we were weary of our peace and happiness we would buy Arms and be Voluntiers and every Town being too wanton would needs train and put themselves into a posture of defence as they termed it to be secured from their own shadows and though the King told them often there was no cause of their Jealousies and therefore forbade these disloyalties yet just like the Jews they were willing to be deceived by this miserable faction that contrived that Act whereby they have perfidiously over-reached both our good King and the rest of our wel-meaning brethren either to perfect their Design or else to make themselves perpetual Dictators and to betray the felicity of all our people under the name of Parliament which though as I said before I honour and love as much as any of the truest Patriots of either House both in the institution and the right prosecution thereof that is as it was constituted to be the great Council of the Kingdom graciously called by his Majesties-writ confidently to present the grievances of the people and humbly to offer their advice and counsels for their Reformation yet I do abhor those men that would abuse the word Parliament only as a Stalking-Horse to destroy all Acts of Parliament and I hate to see men calling the Fanatick actions of a few desperate seditious persons the proceedings of Parliament and others making an Idol of it as if their power were omnipotent or unlimitted and more than any Regal Power their judgment infallible their Orders irreprehensible and themselves unaccountable for their proceedings to be so besotted with the name of it that this bare shadow without the substance for it is no Parliament without the King and the Major part of both Houses is either banished or imprisoned or compelled to reside with his Majesty should so bewitch us as Master Smyth blushed not to say Nothing could free us from our dangers but the Divinity of a Parliament out of our own happiness to become more miserable Ingeniosus ad
fixt on him to be as God hath promised their nursing Father 2. To assure those that would suffer the Church to fall or perhaps sell the same out of a by-respect unto themselves That taking their rise from the fall of the Church or laying the foundation of their houses in the ruine of the Clergy they do but build upon the sands whence they shall fall and their fall shall be great when the successe thereof shalâ— be as the success of the City of Jericho that was built by Hiel who laid the foundation of it in Abiram his first-born and set up the gates thereof in Segub his youngest son and had her destiny described by Joshua and all the Poss ssions that they shall get shall prove Acheldama's fields of blood and we hope God will raise deliverance to his Church from some better men when as they and their Fathers House shall all perish and shall stink in the nostrils of all good men for their perfidiousness in Gods cause But if any man should demand why we suspect any Traytors or false Counsellours to be in Kings Courts I answer because Saint Paul saith Oportet esse hareses and I believe the purest Court hath no more Priviledge to be free from Traytors then the Church from Hereticks And you know there was one of eight in Noahs Ark and another of twelve in Christ his Court and he that was so near him as to dip his hand with him in the dish was the first that flew in his face and yet with a Hayl Master and with a Kiss two fair testimonies of true love Therefore let no King in Christendom think it strange that his Court should have Flatterers Traytors or evil Counsellours let not us be blamed for saying this and let not Pym so foolishly charge our King for evil Counsellours for certainly did he know them I make no question but he would discard them or could I or any other inform his Majesty who they are and that it were an easy matter dicâ—er Hic est we would not be affraid to pull off their veils and to say as Christ did to Judas Thou art the man but their Maeandrian windings their Syrens voyces and their Judas kisses are as a fair mantle to conceal and cover Joabs Treason even perhaps to betray some of the wisest in the Parliament as well as some of them have betrayed the King In such a case all I can say is this Memento diffidere was Epicarmus his Motto The honest plain dealing man that doth things for Religion not for ends is the unlikest man to betray his Master and few Counsellours are not so apt to breed so many Traytors as a multitude It was the indiscretion of Rehoboam that lost him ten parts of twelve to prefer young Counsellours before the ancient †Seldom discretion in youth attendeth great and suddain fortunes In vita Hen 3. and if we may believe that either paupertas or necessitas cogit ad turpia or the fable of the ulcerated Travailer They that are to make their fortunes are apter to sell Church and State and to betray King and Kingdom rather then those that have sufficiently replenished their coffers and inlarged their possessions But I assure my self the mouth of malice cannot deny but that our King hath been as wary and as wise in the choice of his Servants Officers and Counsellors so far as eyes of flesh can see Their design to change the Government of th State shewed in all respects as any Prince in Christendom and more by man cannot be done And for the second that is their Design to change the Government of the State and to work the subversion of the Monarchy he evinceth it Way 1 1. By that Declaration upon the Earl of Straffords suffering that this Example might not be drawn to a President for the future because they thought that themselves intending to do the like and to become guilty of the same Crimes might by virtue of this Declaration be secured from the punishment if things should succeed otherwise then they hoped Way 2. By the pulling down of so many Courts of Justice which may perhaps Relieve the Subjects from some pressures but incourage many more in licentiousness and prove the Prodroms to the ruine of our Monarchy Way 3. By those 19. Propositions whereby the King was in very deed demanded to lay down his Crown The Letter p. 11. and to compound with them for the same because as another saith therein there was presented to him a perfect Platform of a total change of Government by which the Counsellours indeed were to have been Kings and the King in name to have become scarce a Counsellour and nothing of the present State to have remained but the very Names and Titles of our Governours Way 4 4. By that expression so little understood by many men and yet so much talked of in many of their papers of a power of re-assuming the trust which is falsly pretended to be derived unto his Majesty by the meer human pactions and agreement of the Politick body of the people which I shewed unto you to be a most false and a meer invented suggestion Way 5 5. By their pretending to and according to this Doctrine their Vsurping of the power of the Militia both by Sea and Land Way 6 6. By their Actual exercising of this power in disposing of Offices Generals Colonels Captains and the like Places of Command in War and appointing their Speaker Master of the Rowls and other Officers of Peace Way 7 7. By the expression of one of them to Sir Edward Deering while he was yet of their Cabinet-Council that if they could bring down the Lords to the House of Commons and make the King as one of the Lords then the whole work were done that is to make the Government of this Kingdom popular Way 8 8. I may add to these as another unanswerable Argument of this Design the licencing of Master Pryn's Book of The Soveraign Authority of Parliaments and suffering the same to pass unquestioned to this very day because that book devesteth the King of all his Soveraignty and maketh our Government Aristocratical And this subversion of our Monarchical Government was the last Design if not the grand Design of this Faction not that all the Members which have voted all or most of those things that tended to this change or be still remaining in either House did intend any ill either to Church or State for I know many especially my ever honoured Lord the Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery who I dare avouch it in Truth and honesty did ever and as I believe doth still bear a most upright heart and as sincere intentions howsoever perhaps by a mis-understanding his Lordship and the rest of those well meaning men may be mis-guided as were those honest men that followed Absolon both to Gods Service the Kings Honour and the happiness both of Church and Common-Wealth as any man in the
Kingdom but that a Faction it may be very few at first have insensibly seduced the rest to effect their own Design and thia Faction is all that I mean by the name of Parliament throughut this whole Treatise because their subtilty hath prevailed over the plain Integrity of the other well-minded men to make up the major part of the House both of the Lords and Commons which thing hath often happened both in General Councils and great Parliaments as in the Council of Constans and Trent and many others and that Parliament which was branded with the name of Parliamentum insanum and the other somewhat like this in quo jugulum ecclesiae atrocius petebatur and the like Tempore Hen. 3. for otherwise I do both honour and reverence this Parliament rightly understood and every Member of the same as much as any discreet Member can desire And therefore having thus discovered and displayed the Plots and practices of these infernal instruments to insinuate their assistance unto the Scots and their allurements of them to invade our Kings Dominions to ensnare the Irish and to provoke the Papists to such a Rebellion as hath been the utter ruine and destruction of many millions of men to obscure the Glory of this noble Kingdom to alter the Discipline and corrupt the Doctrine of the most glorious and the purest Church that professeth the name of Christ and to bring us all and all our Posterity to extream miseries to suffer yet more than we have endured or that can be hitherto imagined And considering those bloody Treasons that have been publickly uttered and openly practised against the Sacred Person of our Soveraign I may justly say that as the sins of the Israelites and their impetuous calling for a King moved the Lord to send them a King in his anger so our sins and our impatient crying for a Parliament made our God to send us a Parliament in his Wrath that will never turn for our Blessing till we return to God from our sinnes for when I consider on the one side the Piety and goodness of our King the justness of his cause and the most ready and cordial valour as well in the Common Souldiers as the Commanders of a full and sufficient Army and on the other side the multitude of disloyal and seduced Subjects the vigilancy and subtilty of their Commanders with their unlimited waies to get Monies and on both sides the desire of too many not for the honour of the King nor the Peace of the Kingdom to end the War but to continue the same for their own advantage until the wealth of Lawyers Clergy and Gentry be transplanted to the possession of other Masters I am affraid it will prove an heavy Judgment And therefore lest our obstinacy in our sins should procure the continuance of Gods anger which being removed will soon remove all our miseries let me perswade all conscientious men especially the Gentry and all other understanding men howsoever the Citizens that deceive the Kingdom of their Wealth delight to be deceived in their Faith that would not be cheated of their Religion by these factious Mountebanks and that would not provoke God to say I have no pleasure in them to turn from their Rebellious courses to listen no longer to those furious fire brands that out of their new Divinity contrary to the Doctrine of all the ancient Fathers and all the Orthodox and grave Preachers of this Kingdom do incite the People unto this unnatural bloody War and to slander the footsteps of Gods Anointed because they know him not and to remember the Oathes of their Allegeance and Supremacy together with their late Protestation whereby they stand obliged to their uttermost power to maintain his Majesties Royal Person Crown and Dignity against all treacherous practices that may any waies dishonour or impair them and then I presume their consciences will disavow the proceedings of these Projectours protest against all their Ordinances that are made against or without the Kings consent advise all the Knights and Burgesses to Vote no more against their Soveraign and to make no further use of the trust they reposed in them to Murder us and our fellow Subjects under the pretence of shedding the blood of the ungodly or if they still go on to abuse that trust to make us yet more miserable to withdraw themselves and their trust and power of the representation from them and to joyn their uttermost assistance unto his Majesty to Protect him that he may be enabled to protect us and to overwhelm these Rebels into the same pit which they have made for us And this may be by dissolving the knot of factious members wherein we see our miseries involved and to make elections of new members into their places who with the rest of the Lords and Commons which were faithful both to the Church King and Kingdom shall call them to a strict account for betraying our Trust interrupting our Peace opposing his Majesty and violating all our ancient liberties Or if a better way may be found let us follow the same to God's glory and to produce the peace and happinesse of this Kingdom lest if we persist obstinately in this wilfull Rebellion to withstand God's Ordinance to oppose his Anointed and to shed so much innocent blood we shall thus fighting against Heaven so far provoke the wrath of the God of Heaven as that the Glory of Israel shall be darkned the Honour of this Nation shall be troden under-foot and be made the scorn of all other Nations round about us and the light of our Candlestick shall be extinguished and we shall all become most miserable because we would not hearken to the voice of the Lord our God Which I hope we will do and do most earnestly pray that we may do it to the Glory of God the Honour of our King and the Happinesse of this whole Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be Praise and Dominion both now and for ever Amen Jehovae Liberatori AN APPENDIX THe man of God speaking of transcendent wickednesse saith Their Vine is of the Vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah Deut. 32.32 their grapes are grapes of gall their clusters are bitter their wine is the poison of Dragons and the cruel vemon of Aspes And I believe never any wickednesse deserved better to be clad with this elegant expression than that threefold iniquity 1. The unparallel'd Vote 2. The intolerable Ordinance 3. The damnable Covenant which the rebellious Faction in Parliament have most impiously contrived to make up the full measure of their impiety since the writing of my Discoveries For 1. Omitting that horrible practice of those rebellious blood thirsty Souldiers that did their best to murder their own most gracious Queen this Faction seeing how God prevented that plot voted this most loving and most loyal Wife to be impeached of High Treason for being faithful to do her uttermost endeavour which will be
her everlasting praise to assist her most dear and Royal Husband their own Liege Lord and Soveraign King in his greatest extremities against a virulent mighty Faction of most malicious Traytors The strangest Treason that ever the World heard of 2. They made an Ordinance for the composing and convocating of such a Synod whereof I said somewhat before of Lay-men ignorant men factious men trayterous men and such concretion of heterogeneall parts like Nebuchadnezzars Image Gold Brass and Clay all mixed together and all so ordered limited and bridled as it is expressed in the 5. and 6. page of their Ordinance by the power of both Houses where there are such abundance of Schismaticall and seditious Members that I should scarce put the worst sensitive soul to professe that erratical faith or any brute beast to be guided by that Ecclesiastical Discipline that such factious Traytors as some of them are like to be proved should compose or cause to be composed 3. They composed a form of a sacred Vow or Covenant as they term it or as it is indeed the Covenant of Hell a Covenant against God to overthrow the Gospel of Christ under the name of Christ which Covenant is the oil that swimmeth uppermost upon the waters that is the oil of Scorpions or as Moses saith The poison of Dragons so lately wringed and diffused far and near to defile and destroy millions of souls when forgetting their faith to God and the oathes of their allegeance so often and so solemnly taken by many or most of them to be faithful unto their King they shall be compelled which is one degree worse than the vow of them that bound themselves with a curse neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul so hypocritically so perjuredly so rebelliously so horribly and so bloodily to make such a fearful Vow and such an abominable Covenant so wickedly contrived that without great and serious repentance spitteth forth nothing but fire and brimstone and can produce nothing else but Hell and Damnation to all that take it especially to them that will compell men to be thus transcendently wicked as if they would send them with Corah quick to Hell All which triplicity of evil I shall leave to some abler and more eloquent Pen to be set forth more fully in the right colours that being sufficiently displayed they may be throughly detested of all good men Amen O Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep thy Laws THE CONTENTS Of the severall Chapters in the Plots of the Parliament Chap. I. SHeweth the Introduction the greatness of this Rebellion the originall thereof the secret plots of the Brownisticall Faction and the two cheifest things they aimed at to effect their plot Page 251. Chap. II. Sheweth the eager prosecution of our Sectaries to take off the Earl of Strafford's head How he answered for himself The Bishops right of voting in his cause His excellent virtues and his death p. 254. Chap. III. Sheweth how they stopped the free judgement of the Judges procured the perpetuity of the Parliament the consequences thereof And the subtile device of Semiramis p. 259. Chap. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature p. 262. Chap. V. Sheweth the evil consequences of this Act How former times respected the Clergy How the King hath been used ever since this Act passed and how for three speciall Reasons it ought to be annulled p. 265. Chap. VI. Sheweth the plots of the Faction to gain unto themselves the friendship and assistance of the Scots To what end they framed their new Protestation How they provoked the Irish to rebell And what other things they gained thereby p. 270. Chap. VII Sheweth how the Faction was inraged against our last Canons What manner of men they chose in their new Synod And of six speciall Acts of great prejudice unto the Church of Christ which under false pretences they have already done p. 274. Chap. VIII Sheweth what Discipline or Church-government our factious Schismaticks like best Twelve Principal points of their Doctrines which they hold as 12. Articles of their faith and we must all believe the same or suffer if this Faction should prevail p. 270. Chap. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach p. 274 Chap. X. Sheweth the great Bug-bears that affrighted this Faction The four speciall means they used to secure themselves The manifold lyes they raised against the King And the two special Questions that are discussed about Papists p. 278. Chap. XI Sheweth the unjust proceedings of these factious Sectaries against the King Eight special wrongs and injuries that they have offered him Which are the three States And that our Kings are not Kings by Election or Covenants with the people p. 283. Chap. XII Sheweth the unjust proceedings of this Faction against their fellow Subjects set down in four particular things p. 289. Chap. XIII Sheweth the proceedings of this Faction against the Laws of the Land The Priviledges of Parliament transgressed eleven special wayes p. 292. Chap. XIV Sheweth how they have transgressed the publike Laws of the Land three wayes and of four miserable Consequences of their wicked doings p. 295. Chap. XV. Sheweth a particular recapitulation of the Reasons whereby their Design to alter the Government both of Church and State is evinced And a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion p. 301. TO THE KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY Most gracious Soveraign WITH no smal paines and the more for want of my books and of any setled place being multum terris jactatus alto frighted out of mine house and tost betwixt two distracted Kingdoms I have collected out of the sacred Scripture explained by the ancient Fathers and the best Writers of God's Church these few Rights out of many that God and Nature and Nations and the Lawes of this Land have fully and undeniably granted unto our Soveraign Kings My witness is in Heaven that as my conscience directed me without any squint aspect so I have with all sincerity and freely traced and expressed the truth as I shall answer to the contrary at the dreadful judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore with all fervency I humbly supplicate the divine Majesty still to assist Your Highness that as in Your lowest ebb You have put on Righteousness as a breast plate and with an heroick Resolution withstood the proudest waves of the raging Seas and the violent Attempts of so many imaginary Kings so now in Your acquired strength You may still ride on with Your honour and for the glory of God the preservation of Christ his Church and the happiness of this Kingdom not for the greatest storm that can be threatned suffer these Rights to be snatched away nor Your Crown to be thrown to the dust nor the Sword that God hath given
You to be wrested out of Your hand by these uncircumcised Philistines these ungracious Rebels and the Vessels of God's wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse they do most speedily repent for if the unrighteous will be unrighteous still and our wickednesse provoke God to bring our Land to Desolation Your Majesty standing in the truth and for the right for the honour of God and the Church of his Son is absolved from all blame and all the bloud that shall be spilt and the oppressions insolencies and abhominations that are perpetrated shall be required at the hands and revenged upon the heads of these detested Rebels You are and ought in the truth of cases of conscience to be informed by Your Divines and I am confident that herein they will all subscribe that God will undoubtedly assist You and arise in his good time to maintain his own cause and by this war that is so undutifully so unjustly made against Your Majesty so Giant-like fought against Heaven to overthrow the true Church You shall be glorious like King David that was a man of War whose dear son raised a dangerous rebellion against him and in whose reign so much bloud was spilt and yet notwithstanding these distempers in his Dominion he was a man according to God's own heart especially because that from α to ω * As in the beginning by reducing the Ark from the Philistins throughout the midst by setling the service of the Tabernacle in the ending by his resolution to build leaving such a treasure for the erecting of the Temple the beginning of his reign to the end of his life his chiefest endeavour was to promote the service and protect the servants of the Tabernacle the Ministers of God's Church God Almighty so continue Your Majesty bless You and protect You in all Your wayes Your vertuous pious Queen and all Your royal Progeny Which is the dayly prayer of The most faithful to Your Majesty GRYFFITH OSSORY THE RIGHTS OF KINGS Both in CHURCH STATE And The Wickednesses of this Pretended PARLIAMENT Manifested and Proved CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1 Pet. ii 17. in fine How Kings honoured the Clergie the fair but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly aime at and their malice to Episcopacie and Royaltie IT was not unwisely said by Ocham that great Scholeman to a great Emperour which M. Luther said also to the Duke of Saxonie Tu protege me gladio Guliel Ocham Ludov. 4. ego defendam te calamo do you defend me with your Sword and I will maintain your Right with my Pen for God hath committed the Sword into the hand of the King and His hand which beareth not the Sword in vain Rom. 13. v. 4 knoweth how to use the Sword better than the Preacher and the King may better make good His Rights by the Sword then by the Pen which having once blotted His papers with mistakes and concessions more then due though they should be never so small if granted further than the truth would permit as I fear some have done in some particulars yet they cannot so easily be scraped away by the sharpest sword and God ordered the divine tongue and learned Scribe to be the pens of a ready Writer and thereby to display the duties and to justifie the Rights of Kings and if they fail in either part The Divine best to set down the Rights of kings the King needeth neither to performe what undue Offices they impose upon him nor to let pass those just honours they omit to yield unto him but he may justly claime his due Rights and either retain them or regain them by his Sword which the Scribe either wilfully omitted or ignorantly neglected to ascribe unto him or else maliciously endeavoured as the most impudent and rebellious Sectaries of our time have most virulently done to abstract them from him And seeing the Crown is set upon the head of every Christian King and the Scepter of Government is put into his hand by a threefold Law 1. Of Nature that is common to all 2. Of the Nation that he ruleth over 3. Of God that is over all As Every Christian king established by a threefold Law Psal 119. 1. Nature teaching every King to governe his People according to the common rules of honesty and justice 2. The politique constitution of every several State and particular Kingdom shewing how they would have their government to be administred 3. The Law of God which is an undefiled Law and doth infallibly set down what duties are to be performed and what Rights are to be yielded to every King To what end the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah were written Rom. 15.4 for whatsoever things are written of the Kings of Israel and Judah in the holy Scriptures are not onely written for those Kings and the Government of that one Nation but as the Apostle saith They are written for our learning that all Kings and Princes might know thereby how to govern and all Subjects might in like manner by this impartial and most perfect rule understand how to behave themselves in all obedience and loyalty towards their Kings and Governours for he that made man knew he had been better unmade than left without a Government therefore as he ordained those Laws whereby we should live and set down those truths that we should beleive so he settled The ordination of our government as beneficial as our creation and ordained that Government whereby all men in all Nations should be guided and governed as knowing full well that we neither would or could do any of these things right unless he himselfe did set down the same for us therefore though the frowardness of our Nature will neither yield to live according to that Law nor beleive according to that rule nor be governed according to that divine Ordinance which God hath prescribed for us in his Word yet it is most certain that he left us not without a perfect rule and direction for each one of these our faith our life and our government without which government we could neither enjoy the benefits of our life nor scarce reap the fruits of our faith and because it were as good to leave us without Rules Unwritten things most uncertain and without Laws as to live by unwritten Laws which in the vastness of this world would be soon altered corrupted and obliterated therefore God hath written down all these things in the holy Scriptures which though they were delivered to the People of the Jews for the government both of their Church and Kingdom yet were they left with them to be communicated for the use and benefit of all other Nations God being not the God of the Jews onely Rom. 3 29. but of the Gentiles also
because the Scripture in all morall and perpetual precepts that are not meerly judicialia Judaica or secundae classis which the Royal Government was not because this was ordained from the beginning of the world to be observed among all Nations and to be continued to the end of the world nor the types and shadows that were to vanish when the true substance approached was left as a perfect patern and platforme for all Kings and People Pastours and Flocks Churches and Kingdoms throughout the whole world to be directed how to live to govern and to be governed thereby Such was the love and care of God for the Government of them that love and care as little to be governed by his government And therefore the dim and dusky light of bleare-ey'd Nature Every Government the better by how much nearer it is to the Government of the Scripture kings and the dark distracted inventions of the subtillest politicks must stoop and yield place in all things wherein they swerve from that strict rule of justice and the right order of government which is expressed necessarily to be observed in the holy Scripture either of the Kings part towards his People or of the Peoples duty towards their King And though each one of these faculties or the understanding of each one of these three Laws requireth more than the whole man our life being too short to make us perfect in any one yet seeing that of all three the Law of God is abyssus magna like the bottomless sea and the supreme Lady to whom all other Laws and Sciences are but as Penelopes handmaids to attend her service the Divine may far better and much sooner understand what is naturall right and what ought to be a just nationall Law and thereby what is the Right of Kings The Divine is better able to understand Law then the Lawyer to understand Divinity Psal 1.2 and what the duty of Subjects than any either Philosopher or Lawyer can finde the same by any other art especially to understand the same so fully by the Law of God as the Divine that exerciseth himselfe therein day and night may do it unless you think as our Enthusiasts dream that every illiterate Tradesman or at least a Lawyers Latine I speak of the generality when I know many of them of much worth in all learning may easily wade with the reading of our English Bibles into the depth of all Divinty and that the greatest Doctour that spent all his days in studies can hardly understand the mysteries of these Camelion-like Laws which may change sense as often as the Case shall be changed either by the subtlety of the Pleader or the ignorance or corruption of the Judges But we know their deepest Laws discreetest Statutes and subtillest Cases cannot exceed the reach of sound reason and therefore no Reason can be shewed but that a rational man meanly understanding Languages may sooner understand them and with less danger mistake them than that Law which as the Psalmist saith is exceeding broad and exceedeth all humane sense Psal 119.96 1 Cor. 2.14 and the most exquisite natural understanding when as the Apostle saith The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and being not discerned or misunderstood they make all such mistakers liable to no small punishment if God should be extreme to marke what is done amiss and this not understanding of God's Law is the errour of other Laws and the cause of much mischief for if men understood not the Law of God What causeth many men to rebell The Scriptures say more for the right of kings then any book in the world Downing in his discourse of the Ecclesiasticall State p. 91. or would beleive us that do understand it I assure my self many of the Rebels such as rebell not out of pride disobedience or discontent are so conscientious that they would not so rebell as they do being seduced through their ignorance by the subtletie of the most crafty children of disobedience And therefore letting the usuall impatience of the furious fire-brands of sedition and the malicious incendiaries of Rebellion together with those treaecherous Judasses that insensibly lurke in the King's Court and are more dangerous both to the Church and State than those open Rebels that are in the Parliament House to lay on me what reproach they please as some of them being galled and now gone have already done Ego in bona conscientia teneo quisquis volens detrahit famae meae nolens addit mercedi meae August I shall beleive it in a good conscience that whosoever shall wittingly detract from my repute and unjustly load me with undue disgrace shall unwillingly add to my reward neither shall I ever think Plus ponderis esse in alieno convicio Ambrose quà m in testimonio meo that there is more account to be had in the foule slander of another mans malice then in the spotless testimony of mine own conscience but considering as Saint Hierome saith that Apud Christianos non qui patitur sed qui facit contumeliam miser est among Christians not he that suffereth but he that offereth injuries and reproaches is wretched Osor in Epist Reginae Eliz. pag. 7. though as Osorius faith Multae insidiae principibus à suis domesticis intenduntur multae fraudes in aula Regia quaestus compendii gratiâ suscipiuntur multa partim adulatione perfidiâ partim offensionis periculosà formidine dissimulantur ità ut rarò inveniantur qui Regibus liberè loqui audeant many snares are laid for Princes by their own domestique servants many deceitfull tricks and cunning plots are undertaken in the King's Court for gain and honours sake and many things partly for fear of offending How kings are deluded by their own Courtiers and the truth concealed from them The Authours Resolution with God's Assistance and partly through a persidious and false flattery are dissembled and the truth of things is imprisoned from the sight of the King so that he that seeth with these Courtiers eyes and heareth with their ears can hardly know the certain state of his own affairs especially when their flattering Parasites shall bear so heavy a hand over the faithfull servants that few of them shall dare freely to declare the Truth yet I am resolved to set down the plain face of Truth without either flattering of my Royal Master or fear either of the Court flatterers hatred or the Parliamentary Factions cruelty And though my eldest Brethren that are abler than my self should reprove me 1 Sam. 17.28 and say unto me as Eliab said unto David yet I will take my staff in my hand mine own integrity to uphold me and my fidelity to my King and to the King of kings to protect me and I will gather a few stones out of the Brook of living
waters out of the Book of holy Scriptures and I hope with one of them to smite the Philistine The Adversaries of regal Right the three-headed Gerion the Anabaptist Brownist and Puritan Rebel in the forehead that he fall to the earth his head shall be cut off with his own sword and the whole army of the uncircumcised Philistines that is all the rest of the wilfully seduced Rebels that refuse to be un-deceived and to accept of his Majesties grace and pardon shall flie away and be destroyed And The first stone that comes into my hand which I believe will hit the Bird in the eye and be abundantly sufficient to do the deed is a stone taken out of the Rock that appears highest in the Brook that is Saint Peter which our Saviour in the judgement of some Fathers which I quoted in my true Church calleth a Rock and in the judgement of most of the Fathers and the sober Protestants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.17 is the Prince of Apostles for he saith Honour the King and this one short sentence truly understood though I confess many other may seem more full is absolutely sufficient to overthrow all the Anti-Royalists and to silence all the Basileu-Mastices all the opposers of their own Kings throughout all the world especially if we consider 1. Who saith this S. Peter 2. What is said Honour the King 3. To whom he saith thus to every Soul 1. The Author of these words First The words are the words of Saint Peter the first in order the chiefest for authority and the greatest for resolution of all the Apostles of Christ and he spake them as he was inspired by the holy Ghost therefore we may believe them 2 Pet. 1.21 and we should obey them or we should fear the judgements of God for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape Hebr 12.27 if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven 2. The Substance of the Precept Secondly The Substance of this precept containeth as many parts as there be words 1. Who is to be honoured the King 2. What is that Honour that is due unto him Which two Points rightly understood and duely observed as they are enjoined would make a peaceable Common-wealth and a most flourishing Kingdom without any civil Broiles or intestine Rebellion which is the greatest Plague and heaviest Curse that God hath ever laid upon any Nation Lucan l. 1. Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos I have therefore resolved to preuent this evil and to diswade us from this miserable mischief to say something of these two Points as may best heal the bleeding Wounds of these unhappy and distracted times First It is the most Gratious Promise of our good God to all them that will faithfully serve him I will honour them that honour me 1 Sam. 2.30 and Saint Augustine saith that Sicut verax est in punitione malorum ità in retributione honorum as he is most certain in his threatnings for the punishment of the wicked so he is most faithful in his Promises for rewarding of the Godly and that not onely for the future but also in these present times 1 Tim. 4.8 because Godliness hath the Promise both of the life that now is and of that which is to come Therefore pious Princes that are God's Vicegerents here on earth How kings have honoured those that honoured God 1. With Dignities and his Deputies to discharge his Promise have accordingly honoured them that have by their upright life and indefatigable pains honoured God in his Church with double honour 1. With titular Dignities honourable Places and considerable Eminencies in the Common-wealth as conceiving it not unworthy to make the greater lights of the Church to be not of least esteem in the Civil State but judging it most convenient that they whom God had intrusted with the Soules of men should with all confidence be intrusted with their personal Actions and with the Imployments of the greatest trust 2. With competent means 2. With Maintenance in some sort answerable to support their Dignities without which means as the Poët saith Virtus nisi cum re vilior algâ so honourable Titles without any subsistence is more contemptible then plain Beggery therefore out of their piety to God and bounty to the Church they have conferred many faire Lordships and other large Endowments upon the best deserving Members of Christ's Ministers But as the good Husbandman had no sooner sown his pure Wheat Matth. 13.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but immediately Inimicus homo the evil and envious man superseminavit zizania sowed his poysonous Tares amongst them so God had no sooner thus honoured his Servants but presently the Devil which is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4.4 the God of this World began to throw dirt in their faces and to deprive them of both these honours for 1. He stirred up ignorant men of small learning but of great spirits of no fidelity but of much hypocrisie that as Pope Leo wrote unto Theodosius Leo Papa Epist 23. What the factious Preachers pretended Privatas causas pietatis agunt obtentu and under a faire pretext did play the part of Aesop's Fox who being ashamed that his taile was cut off began to inveigh against the unseemly burthensome tailes of all the other Foxes and to perswade them to cut theirs off that so by the common calamity he might be the better excused for his obscenity for so they cryed down all Learning as prophane they railed at the Scholemen they scorned the Fathers and esteemed nothing but that nothing which they had themselves and although they professed to the Vulgar that they aimed at no end but the purity of the Gospel they desired nothing but the amendment of life and reformation of Ecclesiastical Discipline and hated nothing but the pride and covetousness of the Bishops and the other dignified Prelates which stopped their mouthes and imprisoned the liberty of their Conscience yet the truth is that because their worth was not answerable to their ambition to enable them to climbe up to some height of honour their envy was so great that they would fain pull down all those that had ascended and exceeded them And therefore with open mouthes that would not be silenced they exclaimed against Episcopacy and as the Apostle saith spake evil of Dignities imploying all their strength like wicked birds to defile their own nests to disrobe us of all honour and to leave us naked yea and as much as in them lay What the Factious aim at to make us odious and to stinke as the Israelites said to Moses in the eyes of the people Then 2. As Plutarch tells us that a certain Sicilian Gnatho Plutarch in lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Philoxenus the son of Erixis that were slaves unto their gutts and make a
God of their bellies to cause all the other guests to leath their meat that they alone might devour all the dainties did use Narium mucum in catinis emungere so do these men spit all their poyson against the Revenues of the Bishops and that little maintenance that is left unto the Ministers and are as greedy to devour the same themselves as the dogs that gape after every bit they see us put into our mouths for so I heard a whelp of that litter making a bitter invective in the House of Commons against Bishops Deans and Chapters and the greatness of their Revenue Doctor Burges and concluding that all they should be degraded their means should be sequestred and distributed all without any diminution of what they now possessed but with the restitution of all Impropriations unto himselfe and the rest of his factious fellow Preachers which speech as it pleased but few in the latter clause so no doubt it had fauters enough in the former part when we see this little remnant of our fore-fathers bounty this testimony of our Princes piety is the onely mote that sticks in their eye the undigested morsell in their stomacks and the onely bait that they gape after for did our King yeild this garment of Christ to be parted among their Souldiers and this revenue of the Church to be disposed of by the Parliament I doubt not but all quarrels about the Church would soon end and all oâ—her strife about Religion would be soon composed What many men would willingly undergo to procure peace But would this end all our civil Wars would the unbishoping of our Prelates bring rest unto our Prince and the taking away of their estates settle the State of the Common-wealth and bring peace and tranquillity unto this Kingdom If so we could be well contented for our own parts to be sacrificed for the safety of the people for though we dare not say with Saint Paul that we could wish our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separated from Christ for our Country-men yet I can say with a syncere heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.6 that I believe many of us could be well contented our fortunes should be confiscated and our lives ended so that could procure the peace of the Church which is infinitely troubled redeeme His Majesties honour which is so deeply wounded and preserve this our native Country from that destruction The abolishing of Episcopacy would not satisfie the Factious which this unparallel'd Rebellion doth so infallibly threaten but the truth is that the abolishing of Episcopacy root and branch the reducing of the best to the lowest rank and the bringing of the Clergy to the basest condition of servility to be such as should not be worthy to eate with the dogs of their flock as Job speaketh will not do the deed because as the Satyrist saith nemo repentè fit turpissimus but as virtues so vices have their encrease by use and progression Juven Sat. 2. primum quodque flagitium gradus est ad proximum and every heynous offence is as iron chain to draw on another For as Seneca saith nunquam usque adeò temperatae cupiditates sunt Seneca de Clem lib. 1. ut in eo quod contigit desinant sed gradus à magnis ad majora fit spes improbissimas complectuntur insperata assecuti our desires are never so far temperated that they end in that which is obtained but the gaining of one thing is a step to seek another And therefore cùm publicum jus omne positum sit in sacris as Plato saith how can it be that they which have prophaned all sacred things Plato de legibus lib. 12. and have degraded their Ministers should not also proceed to depose their Magistrates if you be diffident to believe the same let the Annals of France Germany England and Scotland be revised and you shall find that Charles the fifth was then troubled with War when the Bishops were turmoyled and tumbled out of their Seas Scoti uno eodémque momento numinis principis jugum excusserunt nec justum magistratum agnoverunt ullum ex quo primùm tempore sacris sacerdotibus bellum indixerunt and the Scots at one and the self-same moment did shake off the yoke of their obedience both unto their God and to their King neither did they acknowledg any for their just Magistrate after they had once warred against Religion and religious men Blacvod Apolog pro regibus pag. â—3 which were their Priests and Bishops saith Blacvodaeus and in Fran e saith he the same men were enemies unto the King that were adversaries unto the Priests quia politicam dominationem nunquam ferent qui principatum Ecclesiae sustulerunt nec mirum si Regibus obloquantur qui sacerdotes flammâ ferro persequuntur because as I have shewed at large in my Grand Rebellion they will never endure the Political Magistrate to have any rule The haters of the Bishops ever enemies unto kings when they have shaken off the Ecclesiastical government neither is it any wonder that they should slander rage against and reject their King when they persecute their Bishops with fire and sword And I think the sad aspect of this distracted Kingdom at this time makes this point so clear that I need not add any more proof to beget faith in any sober man for doth not all the World see that as soon as the seditious and trayterous faction in this unhappy Parliament had cast most of the Bishops How soon the Faction fell upon the King after they had cast off their Bishops the gravest and the greatest of all with Joseph into the dungeon a thing that no story can shew the like president in any age and had voted them all contrary to all right out of their indubitable right to sit in the House of Peers an act indeed so full of incivility as hath no small affinity with that of the Gergesites who for love of their swine drave not out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 8.34 but desired Christ to depart out of their coasts they presently began to pluck the sword out of the Kings hand and endeâ—voured to make their Soveraign in many things more servile then any of his own Subjects so that he should be gloriosissimè servilis as Saint Augustine saith that Homer was suavissimè vanus and to effect this you see how they have torn in peices all his Rights they have trampled his Prerogatives under foot they have as much as they could laid his honour in the dust and they have with violent warr and virulent malice sought to vanquish and subdue their own most gracious Soveraign which cannot chuse but make any Christian heart to bleed to see such unchristian and such horrid unheard of things attempted to be done by any that would take upon him the name of a Christian Therefore to manifest my duty to
God and my fidelity to my King I have undertaken this hard and to the Rebels unpleasant labour The Rebels for the punishment of our sins may prosper for a time but at last they shall be most surely destroyed Prov. 8.15 Psal 68.30 Joshua 9 16. Psal 91.16 to set down the Rights of Kings wherein I shall not be afraid of the Rebels power neither would I have any man to fear them for however Victores victique cadunt here may be a vicissitude of good success many times on both sides to prolong the war for our sins and they may prosper in some places yet that is but nubecula quaedam a transient cloud or summer storm that will soon pass away for we may assure our selves they shall not prevaile because God hath said it By me Kings do raigne and He will give strength unto his King and exalt the horn of his Annointed He will scatter the people that delight in war and make the hearts of the cursed Canaanites to melt and their joynts to tremble but He will satisfie the King with long life and shew him his salvation CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to Kingdoms the best of the three rights how Kings came to be electted and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracie and Democracie issued out of Monarchie TO proceed then you see the person that by Saint Peters precept is to be honoured to be the King and what King was that but as you may see in the beginning of this epistle the King of Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bythinia and what manner of Kings were they I pray you I presume you will confess they were no Christians but it may be as bad as Nero who was then their Emperour and most cruelly tyrannizing over the Saints of God What Kings are to be honoured gave a very bad example to all other his substitute Kings and Princes to do the like and yet these holy Christians are commanded to honour them And therefore 1. Heathen Pagan wicked and tyrannical Kings are to be truely honoured by God's precept 2. Religious just and Christian Kings are to have a double honour because there is a double charge imposed upon them as The double charge of all Christian Kings 1. To preserve peace 1. To execute justice and judgement among their people to preserve equity and peace both from intestine broyles and foreign Foes which careful government bringeth plenty and prosperity in all external affaires unto the whole Kingdom and this they do as Kings which is the common duty of all the Kings of the earth 2. To protect the Church 2. To maintaine true Religion to promote the faith of Christ and to be the guardians and foster-fathers unto the Church and Church-men which tye their people unto God to make them spiritually and everlastingly happy and this duty is laid upon them as they are Christian Kings and therefore in regard of this accession of charge they ought to have an accession of honour more then all other Kings whatsoever 1. Then I say that the Heathen Pagan wicked and tyrannical Kings such as were Nero Dioclesian and Julian among the Christians or Ahab and Manasses among the Jews or Antiochus Dionysius and the rest of the Sicilian Tyrants among the Gentiles are to be honoured served and obeyed of all their Subjects and that in three especial respects 1. All Kings to be honoured in three respects 1. Of their institution which is the immediate ordinance of God 2. Of God's precept which enjoineth us to honour them 3. Of all good mens practice whether they be 1. Jewes 2. Gentiles 3. Christians 1. The institution of Kings is immediately from God Justin lib. 1. Herodot lib. 1. Clio. 1. Justin tells us that Principio rerum gentium nationúmque imperium penes reges erat from the beginning of things that is the beginning of the world the rule and government of the people of all Nations was in the hands of Kings Quos ad honoris fastigium non ambitio popularis sed spectata inter bonos moderatio provehebat And Herodotus setteth down how Deioces the first King of the Medes had his beginning And Homer also nameth the Kings that were in and before the wars of Troy But the choice of Deioces and some others about that time and after Cicero in Officiis whereof Cicero speaketh may give some colour unto our rebellious Sectaries to make the royal Dignity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a humane ordinance therefore I must go before Herodotus and look further then blind Homer could see and from the first King that ever was I will truly lay down the first institution and succession of Kings and how times have wrought by corruption the alteration of their right and diminution of their power which both God and nature had first granted unto them God the first King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1.17 Apoc. 19.16 And I hope no Basileu-mastix no hater of Kings nor opposer of the royal government can deny but that God himself was the first King that ever the world saw that was the King of ages before all worlds and the King of Kings ever since there were any created Kings The next King that I read of was Adam whom Cedrenus stiles the Catholique Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mighty King of a large Territory of great Dominion and of unquestionable right unto his Kingdom which was the whole World the Earth the Seas and all that were therein For the great King of all Kings said unto him Gen. 1.28 Adam the first King of all men Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Which is a very large Commission when dominare is more then regere and therefore his royalty is so plain that none but wilful ignorants will deny it to be divinum institutum a divine institution and affirm it as they do to be humanum inventum a humane ordination when you know there were no men to chuse him and you see God himself doth appoint him and after the flood the Empire of Noah was divided betwixt his three sons Japheth reigned in Europe Johan Beda de jure Regum p. 4. Sem in Asia and Cham in Africa Yet I must confess the first Kingdom that is spoken of by that name is the Kingdom of Nimrod who notwithstanding is not himself termed King Gen. 10.9 but in the Scripture phrase a mighty hunter because he was not onely a great King but also a mighty Tyrant or oppressour of his people in all his Kingdom or as I rather conceive it because he was the first usurper that incroached upon his neighbours rights to enlarge his own dominions
People for Nimrod got his kingdom by his strength Ninus enlarged the same by his sword and left the same unto his heirs from the Assyrians the Monarchy was translated to the Medes and Persians and I pray you how by the consent of the people or by the edg of the sword From the Persians it was conferred to Alexander but the same way and it continued among his successours by the same right and Romulus Ad sua qui domitos deduxit stagra Quirites Did not obtain his power by the suffrage of his people and if you look over the States of Grece we shall finde one Timondas which obtained the Scepter of the Corinthians and Pittacus the Government of the Mytilenians by the suffrage of the people but for the Athenians Laecedemonians Sicyoni Thebanes Epirots and Macedons among whom the Regal Dignity flourished a far longer time then the popular rule Idem pag. 63. Non optione populi sed nascendi conditione regnatum est their kings reigned not by the election of the people but by the condition of their birth and what shall we say of the Parthians Indians Africans Tartars Arabians Aethiopians Numidians Muscovites Celtans Spaniards French English and of many other kingdoms that were obtained either by gift Quintus Curtius as Abdolonimus received his kingdom of Alexander Juba the kingdom of Numidia from Augustus and the French king got the kingdoms of the Naples and Sicily or by will as the Romans had the kingdoms of Aegypt Bithinia Pergamus and Asia or by Arms Claud. de 4. cons Honorii as many of the aforesaid kingdoms were first gotten and were always transmitted afterwards to posterity by the hereditary right of bloud And the Poet could say terrae dominos pelagique futuros Immenso decuit rerum de principe nasci It behoved the Kings of the earth to be born of Kings Besides we must all confess that the King is the Father of people the Husband of the Common-wealth and the Master of all his subjects and can you shew me that God ever appointed that the Children should make choice of their fathers Children and servants not allowed to choose what fathers and masters they please then surely all would be the sons of Princes but though fathers may adopt their sons as the King may make a Turke or any other stranger a free Denizon yet Children may not choose whom they please for their Fathers but they are bound to honour those fathers that God hath appointed or suffered to beget them though the same should be never so poor never so wicked so the wives though while they are free they may have the power to refuse whom they dislike yet they have no such prerogative to choose what husbands they please or if they had I am sure no woman would be less then a Lady and the like may be said of all servants Therefore the election of Kings by the People seemes to me no prime Ordinance of God but as our sectaries say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A humane Ordination indeed and the corruption of our Nature a meere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and an imitation of what the Poet saith Optat Ephippia bos niger optat arare caballus Just as if the women would fain have that Law of liberty to choose what husbands they please and the servants to make choice of what Masters they like best so the People never contented with whom God sendeth never satisfied with his Ordinance would fain pull their necks out of God's yoke and become their own chosers both of their Kings and of their Priests and indeed of all things else when as nothing doth please them but what they do and none can content them The People are in all things greedy to have their own wllls but whom themselves will choose and their choice cannot long satisfie their mindes but as the Jews received Christ into Jerusalem with the joyfull acclamation of Hosanna and yet the next day had the malicious cry of Crucifige so the least distaste makes them greedy of a new change such is the nature of the People But though I said before the election of our chiefe Governours may for many respects be approved of God among some States yet I hope by this that I have set down it is most apparent unto all men contrary to the tenet of our Anabaptisticall Sectaries that the hereditary succession of Kings to govern God's People is their indubitable right and the immediate prime principal Ordinance of God therefore it concerns every man as much as his soul is worth to examine seriously whether to fight against their own King be not to resist the Ordinance of God for which God threatneth no less punishment then damnation from which Machiavel cannot preserve us nor any policy of State procure a dispensation CHAP. IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themselves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel and how our Kings are of the like institution with the Kings of Israel proved in the chiefest respects at large and therefore to have the like honour and obedience 2. AS every lawfull King is to be truly honoured in regard of God's Ordinance so likewise in respect of God's precept 2. All kings are to be honoured in respect of God's precept considered two wayes 1. What we should not do which commandeth us to honour the King and this duty is so often inculcated and so fully laid upon us in the holy Scripture that I scarce know any duty towards man so much pressed and so plainly expressed as this is 1. Negatively what we should not do to deprive him of his Honour 2. Affirmatively what we should do to manifest and magnifie this Honour towards him for 1. Our very thoughts words and works are imprisoned and chained up in the linkes of God's strictest prohibition that they should no wayes peeep forth to produce the least dishonour unto our King for 1. The Spirit of God by the mouth of the wisest of men commands us to think no ill of the King let the King be what he will 1. To think no ill of the King Curse not the King no not in thy thought Eccles 10.30 the precept is without restriction you must think no ill that is you must not intend or purpose in your thoughts to do the least ill office or disparagement to the King that ruleth over you be the same King virtuous or vitious milde or cruell good or bad this is the sense of the Holy Ghost For as the childe with Cham shall become accursed if he doth but dishonour and despise his wicked father or his father in his wickedness whom in all duty he ought to reverence so the Subject shall be liable to Gods vengeance if his heart shall intend the least ill to his most
tyrannicall King 2. The same Spirit saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods that is 2. To say no ill of the King Exod. 22.28 Act 23.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. To do no hurt to the King Psal 10â— 15 1 Sam. 24 4 5. the Judges of the Land nor curse that is in Saint Pauls phrase speak evill of the Ruler of the people and what can be more evill then to bely his Religion to traduce his Government and to make so faithfull a Christian King as faithless as a Cretan which is commonly broached by the Rebels and Preached by their seditious Teachers 3. The great Jehovah gives this peremptory charge to all Subjects saying Touch not mine Anointed which is the least indignity that may be and therefore Davids heart smote him when he did but cut off the lap of Sauls garment What then can be said for them that draw their swords and shoot their Cannons to take away the life of Gods Anointed which is the greatest mischiefe they can do I beleive no distinction can blinde the judgment of Almighty God but his revengefull hand will finde them out 2. What we should do to honour the King Eccles 8.2 1. To observe the kings commands that so maliâ—iously transgress his precepts and think by their subtilty to escape his punishments 2. The Scriptures do positively and plainly command us to shew all honour unto our King For 1. Solomon saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandment or as the phrase imports to observe the mouth of the King that is not onely his written law but also his verball commands and that in regard of the oath of God that is in respect of thy Religion or the solemne vow which thou madest at thine initiation and incorporation into Gods Church to obey all the precepts of God Et si religio tollitur nulla no bis cum coelo ratio est Lactant Iust l. 3. c. 10. whereof this is one to honour and obey the King or else that oath of allegiance and fidelity which thou hast sworn unto thy King in the presence and with the approbation of thy God which certainly will plague all perjurers and take revenge on them that take his name in vain which is the infallible and therefore most miserable condition of all the perjured Rebels of this Kingdom For if moral honesty teacheth us to keep our promises yea though it were to our own hindrance then much more should Christianity teach us to observe our deliberate and solemn oathes whose violation can bear none other fruit then the heavy censure of God's fearful indignation But when the prevalent faction took a solemn Oath and Protestation to defend all the Privileges of Parliament and the Rights of the Subjects and then presently forgetting their oath and forsaking their faith by throwing the Bishops out of the House of Peers which all men knew to be a singular Priviledge How the prevalent Faction of the Parliament forswore themselves 2. To obey the kings commandements Josh 1.18 and the House of Lords acknowledged to be the indubitable right of the Bishops and their doctrine being to dispence with all oaths for the furtherance of the cause it is no wonder they falsifie all oaths that they have made unto the King 2. The people said unto Joshua Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment and will not hearken to the words of thy mouth in all that thou commandest he shall be put to death surely this was an absolute government and though martial yet most excellent to keep the people within the bounds of their obedience for they knew that where rebellion is permitted there can be no good performance of any duty and it may be a good lesson for all the higher powers not to be too clement which is the incouragement of Rebels to most obstinate trayterous and rebellious Subjects who daring not to stir under rigid Tyrants do kick with their heeles against the most pious Princes and therefore my soul wisheth not out of any desire of bloud but from my love to peace that this rule were well observed Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment he shall be put to death * Quia in talibus non obedientes mortaliter peccant nisi foret illud quod praecipitur contra praeceptum Dei vel in salutis dispendiâ—m Angel summa verb. obedientia 3 To give the king no just cause of anger Prov. 2.2 The Rebels have given him cause enough to be provoked 4. To speak reverently to the king and of the king Eccles 8.4 3. The wisest of all Kings but the King of Kings saith The fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul And I believe that the taking up of Armes by the Subjects against their own King that never wronged them and the seeking to take away his life and the life of his most faithful servants is cause enough to provoke any King to anger if he be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too Stoically given to abandon all passions and that anger should be like the roaring of a Lion to them that would pull out the Lions eyes and take away the Lions life 4. The King of Heaven saith of these earthly Kings That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou And Elihu demands Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked or to Princes you are ungodly Truely if Elihu were now here he might hear many unfitter things said to our King by his own people and which is more strange by some Preachers for some of them have said but most maliciously and more falsely that he is a Papist he is the Traytor unworthy to reign unfit to live good God! do these men think God saith truth Where the word of a King is there is power that is to blast the conspiracies and to confound the spirits of all Rebels who shall one day finde it because the wrath of God at last will be awaked against their treachery Jerem. 27.8 and to revenge their perjury by inabling the King to accomplish the same upon all that resist him as he promised to doe in the like case 5. To pray for the king Ezra 6.10 1 Tim. 2.1 2. 5. The Israelites being in captivity under the King of Babylon were commanded to pray for the life of that Heathen King and for the life of his sons And Saint Paul exhorteth Timothy to make supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for Kings and for all that are in authority and how do our men pray for our King in many Pulpits not at all and in some places for his overthrow for the shortning of his life and the finishing of his dayes nullum sit in omine pondus and they give thanks indeed not for his good but for their own supposed good success against him thus they praevaricate and pervert the words of the
though approved by God for the welfare of the Common-wealth 1 Sam. 8 4 20. but as the Israelites desired a King to judge them like all the Nations that is such a King as Aristotle describeth such as the Nations had intrusted with an absolute and full regal power as Sigonius sheweth so the Kings of the Nations if they be not like the Spartan Kings were and are like the Kings of Israel both in respect of their ordination from God by whom all Kings as wel of other Nations as of Israel do reign and of their full power and inviolable authority over the people which have no more dispensation to resist their Kings then the Jews had to resist theirs And therefore Valentinian though an elected Emperour yet when he was requested by his Electours to admit of an associate Sozom. histor l 6. c. 6. Niceph hist l. 11. c 1. answered it was in your power to chuse me to be an Emperour but now after you have chosen me what you require is in my power not in you Vòbis tanquam subditis competit parere mihi verò quae facienda sunt cogitare it becomes you to obey as Subjects and I am to consider what is fittest to be done And when the wife takes an husband there is a compact agreement and a solemn vow past in the presence of God that he shall love cherish and maintain her The wife may not forsake her husband though he break his vow and neglect his duty yet if he breaks this vow and neglects both to love and to cherish her she cannot renounce him she must not forsake him she may not follow after another and there is a greater marriage betwixt the King and his people therefore though as a wife they might have power to chuse him and in their choice to tye him to some conditions yet though he breaks them they have no more power to abdicate their King then the wife hath to renounce her husband nor so much because she may complain and call her husband before a competent Judge and produce witnesses against him whereas there can be no Judge betwixt the King and his people but onely God and no witnesses can be found on earth because it is against all Lawes and against all Reason that they which rise against their king should be both the witnesses against him and the Judges to condemn him or were it so that all other Kings have not the like constitution which the Scripture setteth down for the Kings of Israel yet I say that excepting some circumstantial Ceremonies in all real points the Laws of our Land are so far as men could make them in all things agreeable to the Scriptures in the constituting of our Kings according to the livelyest pattern of the Kings of Israel as it is well observed by the Authour of the Appeal to thy conscience An Appeal to thy conscience pag 30. Our Kings of the like Institution to the kings of Israel in these four special respects 1. In his Right to the Crown 2. In his Power and Authority 3. In his Charge and Duty 4. In the rendring of his Account For 1. As the Kings of Israel were hereditary by succession and not elective Respect 1 unless there were an extraordinary and divine designation as in David Kings of England are kings by birth Proved Salomon Jehu so do the Kings of England obtain their Kingdoms by birth or hereditary succession as it appeareth 1. By the Oath of Allegiance used in every Leete that you shall be true Reason 1 and faithful to our Soveraign Lord King Charles and to his Heires 2. Because we owe our legeance to the King in his natural capacity that is Reason 2 as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King James when as homage cannot be done to any King in his politique capacity Coke l. 7. Calvin's case the body of the King being invisible in that sence 3. Because in that case it is expresly affirmed that the King holds the Kingdom Reason 3 of England by birth-right inherent by descent from the bloud-royal therefore to shew how inseperable this right is from the next in bloud Hen. the 4. though he was of the bloud-royal being first cozen unto the King and had the Crown resigned unto him by Rich. the 2. and confirmed unto him by Act of Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto Speed l. 9. c. 16. as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment of Watson Reason 4 and Clerke 1. Jacobi that immediately by descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and outward Solemnization of the descent And it is illustrated by Hen. 6. that was not crowned till the ninth year of his Reign Speed l. 9. c. 16. and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have been done had he not been King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings The right heir to the Kingdom is King before he is crowned Why the peoples consent is asked his Successor is immediately proclaimed King to shew that he hath his Kingdom by descent and not by the people at his Coronation whose consent is then asked not because they have any power to deny their consent or refuse him for their King but that the King having their assent may with greater security and confidence rely upon their loyalty 2 As the Kings of Israel had full power and authority to make war and Respect 2 conclude peace to call the greatest Assemblies as Moses Joshua David Jehosaphat and the rest of the Kings did to place and displace the greatest Officers of State as Solomon placed Abiathar in Sadoc's room and Jehosaphat appointed Amariah and Zebaediah rulers of the greatest Affaires 2 Chron. 19.11 The absolute authority of the kings of England Coke 7 rep fol. 25. 6. Polyd. Virgil. lib 11. Speed Stow c. and had all the Militia of the Kingdom in their hands so the Kings of England have the like for 1. He onely can lawfully proclaim war as I shewed before and he onely can conclude peace 2. There is no Assembly that can lawfully meet but by his Authority and as the Parliament was first devised and instituted by the king as all our Historians write in the life of Henry the first so they cannot meet but by the king's Writ 3. All Laws Customs and Franchises are granted and confirmed unto the people by the King Rot. Claus 1. R. 2. n. 44. 4. All the Officers of the Realm whether Spiritual or Temporal Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. are chosen and established by him as the highest immediately by himself and the inferiour by an authority derived from him The absurdiâ—ies of them that deny the Militia to the King 5. He hath the
parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onley among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pope's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation a flock of violent and seditious men How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation that pretending a great deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's Foxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For Opinion 2 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites do most stâ—fly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said Of the Anabaptists and Puritans may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possesion of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them which have neither right to own it nor discretion to use it and that is Where the Puritans place the authority to maintain religion 1 In the Presbytery either 1. A Consistory of Presbyters 2. A Parliament of Lay men For 1. These new Adversaries of this Truth that would most impudently take away from Christian Princes the supreame and immediate authority under Christ in all Ecclesiastical Callings and Causes will needs place the same in themselves and a Consistorian company of their own Faction a whole Volume would not contain their absurdities falsities and blasphemies that they have uttered about this point I will onely give you a taste of what some of the chief of them have belched forth against the Divine Truth of God's Word and the sacred Majesty of Kings Master Calvin a man otherwise of much worth Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and worthy to be honoured yet in this point transported with his own passion calleth those Blasphemers that did call King Henry the eight the supreme Head of this Church of England and Stapleton saith that he handled the King himself with such villany and with so spiteful words Stapl. cont Horn. l. 1. p. 22. as he never handled the Pope more spitefully and all for this Title of Supremacy in Church causes and in his fifty fourth Epistle to Myconius he termed them prophane spirits and mad men that perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva not to deprive themselves of that authority which God hath given them Viretus is more virulent How Viretus would prove the temporal Pope as he calleth the King worse then the spiritual Pope for he resembleth them not to mad men as Calvin did but to white Devils because they stand in defence of the Kings authority and he saith they are false Christians though they cover themselves with the cloke of the Gospel affirming that the putting of all authority and power into the Civil Magistrates hands and making them masters of the Church is nothing else but the changing of the Popedome from the Spiritual Pope into a Temporal Pope who as it is to be feared will prove worss and more tyrannous then the Spirituall Pope which he laboureth to confirme by these three reasons Reason 1 1. Because the Spiritual Pope had not the Sword in his own hand to punish men with death but was fain to crave the aid of the Secular power which the Temporal Pope needs not do Reason 2 2. Because the old spiritual Popes had some regard in their dealings of Councils Synods and ancient Canons but the new Secular Popes will do what they list without respect of any Ecclesiastical Order be it right or wrong Reason 3 3. Because the Romish Popes were most commonly very learned but it happeneth oftentimes that the Regal Popes have neither learning nor knowledg in divine matters and yet these shall be they that shall command Ministers and and Preachers what they list and to make this assertion good he affirmeth that he saw in some places some Christian Princes under the title of Reformation to have in ten or twenty years usurped more tyranny over the Churches in their Dominions then ever the Pope and his adherents did in six hundred years All which reasons are but meere fopperies blown up by the black Devil to blast the beauty of this truth for we speak not of the abuse of any Prince
Viretus his scandalous reasons answered to justifie the same against any one but of his right that cannot be the cause of any wrong and it cannot be denyed but an illiterate Prince may prove a singular advancer of all learning as Bishop Wickham was no great Scholler yet was he a most excellent instrument to produce abundance of famous Clerks in this Church and the King ruleth his Church by those Laws which through his royal authority are made with the advice of his greatest Divines as hereafter I shall shew unto you yet these spurious and specious pretexts may serve like clouds to hide the light from the eyes of the simple T. C. l. 2. p. 411. So Cartwright also that was our English firebrand and his Disciples teach as Harding had done before that Kings and Princes do hold their Kingdoms and Dominions under Christ as he is the Son of God onely before all Worlds coequal with the Father and not as he is Mediator and Governour of the Church and therefore the Christian Kings have no more to do with the Church government then the Heathen Princes so Travers saith that the Heathen Princes being converted to the faith receive no more nor any further encrease of their power whereby they may deale in Church causes then they had before so the whole pack of the Disciplinarians are all of the same minde and do hold that all Kings as well Heathen as Christian receiving but one Commission and equal Authority immediately from God have no more to do with Church causes the one sort then the other And I am ashamed to set down the railing and the scurrilous speeches of Anthony Gilby against Hen. 8. and of Knox Gilby in his admonition p. 69 Knox in his exhortation to the Nobility of Scotland fol. 77. Whittingham and others against the truth of the King 's lawful right and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes For were it so as Cartwright Travers and the rest of that crew do avouch that Kings by being Christians receive no more authority over Christ his Church then they had before * Which is most false yet this will appear most evident to all understanding men that all Kings as well the Heathens as the Christians are in the first place to see that their people do religiously observe the worship of that God which they adore and therefore much more should Christian Princes have a care to preserve the religion of Jesus Christ The Gentilee Kings preservers of religion For it cannot be denyed but that all Kings ought to preserve their Kingdoms and all Kingdoms are preserved by the same means by which they were first established and they are established by obedience and good manners neither shall you finde any thing that can beget obedience and good manners but Lawes and Religion and Religion doth naturally beget obedience unto the Lawes therefore most of those Kings that gave Lawes were originally Priests and as Synesius saith Synes ep 126. Vide Arnis part 2. pag. 14. Ad magnas reipubl utilitates retinetur religio in civitatibus Cicero de divin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priest and a Prince was all one with them when the Kings to preserve their Laws inviolable and to keep their people in obedience that they might be happy became Priests and exercised the duties of Religion offering sacrifices unto their Gods and discha ging the other offices of the Priestly Function as our factious Priests could willingly take upon them the offices of the King or if some of them were not Priests as all were not Law-makers yet all of them preserved Religion as the onely preservation of their Lawes and the happinesse of their Kingdomes which thye saw could not continue without Religion But 2. The wisedom of our grave Prelates and the learning of our religious Clergie having stopped the course of this violent stream 2. In the Parliament and hindred the translation of this right of Kings unto their new-born Presbytery and late erected Synods There sprang up another generation out of the dregs of the former that because they would be sure to be bad enough out of their envy unto Kings and malice unto the Church that the one doth not advance their unworthyness and the other doth not bear with undutifullness will needs transfer this right of ruling God's Church unto a Parliament of Lay-men the King shall be denuded of what God hath given him and the people shall be endued with what God and all good men have ever denyed them I deny not but the Parliament men as they are most noble and worthy Gentlemen so many of them may be very learned and not a few of them most religious and I honour the Parliament rightly discharging their duties as much as their modesty can desire or their merit deserve neither do I gain-say but as they are pious men and the greatest Council of our King so they may propose things and request such and such Lawes to be enacted such abuses to be redressed and such a reformation to be effected as they think befitting for Gods Church but for Aaron's feed and the Tribe of Levi Hugo de Sancto Vict. l b 2. de sacr fid par 2. cap 3. Laicis Christianis fidelibus terrena possidere conceditur clericis verò tantum spiritualia committuntur quae aâ—tem illa spiritualia sunt subjicit c. 5. dicens omnis ecclesiastica administratio in tribus consistit in sacramentis in ordinibus in praeceptis Ergo Laici nihil juris habent in legibus praeceptis condendis ecclesiastâ—cis to be directed and commanded out of the Parliament chair how to perform the service of the Tabernacle and for Lay men to determine the Articles of faith to make Canons for Church-men to condemn heresies and define verities and to have the chief power for the government of Gods Church as our Faction now challengeth and their Preachers ascribe unto them is such a violation of the right of Kings such a derogation to the Clergy and so prejudicial to the Church of Christ as I never found the like usurpation of this right to the eradication of the true Religion in any age for seeing that as the Proverb goeth Quod medicorum est promittunt medici practant fabrilia fabri what Papist or Atheist will be ever converted to profess that religion which shall be truly what now they alleadge falsly unto us a Parliamentary religion or a religion made by Lay-men with the advice of a few that they choose è faece Cleri I must seriously profess what I have often bewayled to see Nadab and Abihu offering strange fires upon God's Altar to see the sacred offices of the Priests so presumptuously usurped by the Laity and to see the children of the Church nay the servants of the Church to prescribe Lawes unto their Masters and I did ever fear it to be an argument not onely of a corrupted but also of a
decaying State when Moses chaire should be set in the Parliament House and the Doctours of the Church should never sit thereon therefore I wish that the Ark may be brought back from the Philistines and restored to the Priests to be placed in Shilo where it should be and that the care of the Ark which king David undertook may not be taken out of his hands by his people but that he may have the honour of that service which God hath imposed upon him For Opinion 3 3. As nothing is dearer to understanding righteous and religious Kings then the encrease and maintenance of true religion Of the Orthodox Quia religio est ex potioribus reipublicae partibus ut ait Aristot Polit. l. 7. c. 8. ipsa sola custodit hominum inter se societates ut ait Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 12. Peritura Troja perdidit primùm Deos. Therefore the Tyrians chayned their gods lest if they fled they should be destroyed and the inlargement of the Church of Christ throughout all their Dominions so they have at all times imployed their studies to this end because it is an infallible maxime even among the Politicians that the prosperity of any Kingdome flourisheth for no longer time then the care of Religion and the prosperity of the Church is maintained by them among their people as we see Troy was soon lost when they lost their Palladium so it is the truest sign of a declining and a decaying State to see the Clergy despised and religion disgraced and therefore the provision for the safety of the Church the publick injoying of the word of God the form of Service the manner of Government and the honour and maintenance of the Clergy are all the duties of a most Christian King which the King of Heaven hath imposed upon him for the happiness and prosperity of his Kingdom and whosoever derive the authority of this charge either in a blinde obedience to the See of Rome as the Jesuites do or out of their too much zeal and affection to a new Consistory as the late Presbyterians did or to a Lay Parliament as our upstart Anabaptists aad Brownists do are most unjust usurpers of the Kings Right which is not onely ascribed unto him and warranted by the Word of God but is also confirmed to the Princes of this Land by several Acts of Parliament to have the supremacy in all causes and over all persons as well in the Ecclesiastical as in the Civil government which being so they are exempted thereby from all inforcement of any domestical or forraign power and freed from the penalties of all those Laws both Ecclesiastical and civil whereunto all their Subjects Clergy and Laity Q. Curtius de rebus Alexand. Joh. Beda p. 22 23. and all inferiour persons and the superiour Nobility within their Kingdomes are obliged by our Laws and Statutes as hereafter I shall more fully declare Therefore it behoveth all Kings and especially our King at this time seriously to consider what prejudice they shall create unto themselves and their just authority if they should yeild themselves inferiour to their Subjects aggregativè or repraesentativè or how you will or liable to the penal Laws for so they may be soon dethroned by the unstable affection and weak judgment of discontented people or subject to the jurisdiction of Lay Elders and the excommunication of a tyrannous Consistory who denouncing him Matth. 18.17 tanquam Ethnicum may soon add Deut. 17.15 a stranger shall not raign over thee and so depose him from all government For seeing all attempts are most violent that have their beginning and strength from zeal unto Religion be the same true or false and from the false most of all and those are ever the most dangerous whose ringleaders are most base as the servile War under Spartacus was most pernicious unto the Romans there can be nothing of greater use How necessary it is for Kings to retain their just rights in their hands or more profitable either for the safety of the King the peace of the Church and the quiet state of the Kingdome then for the Prince the King to retain the Militia and to keep that power and authority which the Laws of God and of our Land have granted to and intailed upon him in his own hands unclipped and unshaken for when the multitude shall be unbridled and the rights of the Kings are brandished in their hands we shall assuredly taste and I fear in too great a measure as experience now sheweth of those miserable evils which uncontrouled ignorance furious zeal false hypocricy and the merciless cruelty of the giddy-headed people and discontented Peeres shall bring upon us and our Prince But to make it manifest unto the World what power and authority God hath granted unto Kings for the government of the Church and the preservation of his true Religion we finde them the worst men at all times and in all places that mislike their Government and reject their authority and we see those Churches most happy The Kings that maintain true religion make their Kingdoms happy and those Kingdoms most flourishing which God hath blessed with religious Kings as the State of the Church of Judaea makes it plain when David Ezechias Josias and the other virtuous Kings restored the Religion and purified that Service which the idolatry of others their predecessours had corrupted and we know that as Moses * Exod. 14 31 Num. 12.7 8 Deut. 34.5 Josh 1.1 2. so kings are called the servants of God in a more special manner then all others are that is not onely because they serve the Lord in the Government of the Common wealth but especially because he vouchsafeth to use their service for the advancement of his Church and the honour of his Son Christ here on earth or to distribute their duties more particularly we know the Lord exspecteth and so requireth a double service from every Christian king 1. The one common with all others to serve him as they are his creatures and Christians The double service of all Christian kings and therefore to serve him as all other Christians are bound to do 2. The other proper and peculiar to them alone to serve him as they are Kings and Princes 1. As they are Christians In the first respect they are no more priviledged to offend then other men but they are tyed to the same obedience of Gods Laws and are obliged to performe as many virtuous actions and to abstain from all vices as well as any other of their Subjects and if they fail in either point they shall be called to the same account and shall be judged with the same severity as the meanest of their people and therefore Be wise O ye Kings be learned ye that are Judges of the earth Psal 2.10 Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverence for with God there is no respect of persons but
ought to reprove and punish them as we read the good Kings of the Jewish Church and the godly Emperours * As Martian apud Binium l. 2. p. 178. Iustinian novel 10. tit 6. Theodos jun. Evagr. l. 1. c. 12. Basil in Council Constant 8. act 1. Binius tom 8. p. 880. Reason confirmeth that Kings should take care of religion of the Christian Church have ever done and the Bishops themselves in sundry Councils have acknowledged the same power and Authority to be due and of right belonging unto them as at Mentz Anno 814. and Anno 847. apud Binium tom 3. p. 462. 631. At Emerita in Portugall Anno 705. Bin. tom 2. p. 1183. and therefore it is an ill consequent to say Princes have no Authority to preach Ergo they have no authority to punish those that will not preach or that do preach false Doctrine This truth is likewise apparent not only by the the testimony of Scripture and Fathers but also by the evidence of plain reason because the prosperity of that Land which any King doth govern without a principal care of Religion decayeth and degenerateth into Wars Dearths Plagues and Pestilence and abundance of other miseries that are the lamentable effects and consequences of the neglect of Religion and contempt of the Ministers of Gods Church which I beleive is no small cause of these great troubles which we now suffer because our God Psal 35.27 that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure that either his service should be neglected or his servants abused CHAP VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of things that pertain to Religion by his Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods the unlawfulness of the new Synod the Kings power and authority to govern the Church and how both the old and new Disciplinarians and Sectaries rob the King of this power THerefore seeing this should be the greatest care that brings the greatest honour to a Christian Prince to promote the true Religion it is requisite that we should consider those things that are most necessary to a Christian King for the Religious performance of this duty And they are Three things necessary for a king to preferre the Church and the Religion 1. A will to performe it 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. Our knowledge and our power without a willing minde doth want motion 2. Our will and power without knowledge shall never be able to move right And 3. Our will and knowledge without ability can never prevaile to produce any effect Therefore Kings and Princes ought to labour to be furnished with these three special graces The first is a good will to preserve the purity of Gods service 1. A willing minde to do it not onely in his House but also througout all his Kingdom and this as all other graces are must be acquired by our faithfull prayers and that in a more speciall manner for Kings and Princes then for any other and it is wrought in them by outward instruction and the often predication of God's Word and the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit The second is knowledge which is not much less necessaâ—y then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is no better then not to run at all and men were as good to do nothing as to do amiss and therefore true knowledge is most requisite for that King that will maintain true religion and this should be not onely in generall and by others but as much as possible he can in particulars and of himselfe that himselfe might be assured what were fit to be reformed and what warranted to be maintained in Gods service for so Moses commandeth the chiefe Princes to be exercised in Gods Law day and night because this would be a special means to beatifie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth and ruine to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affairs or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect do rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindness will over-spread the Church and pride covetousness and ambition will replenish the Common-Wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all virtue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learn and finde out the true state of things and because it is far unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affairs will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their books as if they were such critiques How kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to govern the same 1. To call able Clergy-men about them as intended to exceed all others in the theâ—rick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing forth his Mathematicall figures when the City was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares therefore it is wisdome in them to imitate the discreet examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the means that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attain unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their own greatest study and that is 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to inform him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his prime Orators Poets and Historians to instruct him in all affairs so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of Government of Gods Church and these Chaplains should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to do evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique loss How they should be qualified or an advantage to themselves by the detriment of the Church
and to be honest without knowledge or to have knowledge without experience especially in such places of eminency and for the affaires of importance may be as dangerous when their want of skill may counsel to do matters of much hurt but when both are met together in one person that man is a fit Subject to do good service both to God and the King and the King may be assured there cannot be a better furtherance to assist him for the well ordering of God's Church then the grave advice and directions of such instruments as it appeareth by that memorable example of King Ioas left to be remembred by all Kings who whilst the wise and religious Priest Jehoiada assisted and directed him had all things successefull and happy to his whole Kingdome 2 Reg. 12.2 but after Jehoiada's death the King destitute of such a Chaplain to attend and such a Priest to counsel him all things came speedily to great ruine Therefore I dare boldly avouch it they are enemies unto Kings and the underminers of God's Church and such instruments as I am not able to express their wickedness that would exclude such Jehoiada's from the Kings counsel for was not Saul a wicked King and Ahab little better yet Saul would have Samuel to direct him though he followed not his direction and Ahab would ask counsel of Micaiah though he rejected the same to his own destruction and King David 1 Reg. 22.16 though never so wise and so great a Prophet and Josias and Ezechias and all the rest of the good Kings had always the Priests and the men of God to be their Counsellors and followed their directions especially in Church causes Mar. 6.20 as the oracles of God so wicked Herod disdained not to hear John the Baptist and to be reformed by him in many things and happy had he been had he done it in all things And if you read Eusebius which is called Pamphilus for the great love he bare to that his noble Patron and Socrates and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Historians or the Histories of our own I and you shall finde that the best Kings and greatest Emperours had the best Divines and the most reverend Bishops to be their chiefest Counsellors and to be imployed by them in their weightiest affairs How then hath the Devil now prevailed to exclude them from all Counsels and as much as in him lyeth from the sight of Princes when he makes it a suspicion of much evil if they do but talk togethe How hath he bewitched the Nobility to yield to be deprived of their Chaplains Is it not to keep them that have not time to study and to finde out truth themselves still in the ignorance of things and to none other end then to overthrow the true religion and to bring Kings and Princes to confusion 2 To call Synods to discuss and conclude the harder things 2. When the King seeth cause God hath given him power and authority to call Synods and Councils and to assemble the best men the most moderate and most learned to determine of those things together which a fewer number could not so well or at least not so authoritatively conclude upon for so Constantine the Great called the great Council of Nice to suppress the Heresie of Arius Theodosius called the Council of Ephesus in the case of Nestorius Valentinian and Martian called the Council of Calcedon against Eutyches Justinian called the Council of Constantinople against Severus that renewed the Heresie of Eutyches Constantine the Fifth called the sixth Synod against the Monothelites and so did many others in the like cases God having fully granted this right and authority unto them for their better information in any point of religion and the goverment of the Church And therefore they that deny this power unto Kings or assume this authority unto themselves whether Popes or Parliament out of the Kings hand they may as well take his eyes out of his head because this is one of the best helps that God hath left unto Kings The unparallel'd presumption of the Faction to call a Synod without the king to assist and direct them in the chiefest part of their royal government how presumptuous then and injurious unto our King and prejudicial to the Church of Christ was the faction of this Parliament without the Kings leave and contrary to his command to undertake the nomination of such a pack of Schismatical Divines for such a Synod as might finally determine such points of faith and discipline as themselves best liked of let all the Christian world that as yet never saw the like president be the Judge and tell us what shall be the religion of that Church where the Devil shall have the power to prompt worldlings to nominate his prime Chaplains Socinians Brownists Anabaptists and the refuse of all the refractory Clergy The quality of the Synodical men that seem learned in nothing but in the contradiction of learning and justifying Rebellion against their King and the Church to compose the Articles of our faith and to frame a new government of our Church I am even ashamed that so glorious a Kingdom should ever breed so base a Faction that durst ever presume to be so audacious and I am sorry that I should be so unhappy to live to see such an unparallel'd boldness in any Clergy that the like cannot be found in any Ecclesiastical History from the first birth of Christ's Church to this very day unless our Sectaries can produce it from some of the Vtopian Kingdoms that are so far South ward In terra incognita beyond the Torrid Zone that we whose zeal is not so fiery but are of the colder spirits could not yet perfectly learn the true method of their Anarchical government or if our Lawyers can shew us the like president that ever Parliament called a Synod contrary to the King's Proclamation I shall rest beholding to them produce it if they can Credat Judaeus appella non ego The third thing requisite to a King for the preservation of true religion 3. An authority and power to guide the Church and to uphold the true religion and the government of God's Church is power and authority to defend it for though the Prince should be never so religious never so desirous to defend the faith and never so well able in his understanding and so well furnished with knowledge to set down what Service and Ceremonies should be used yet if he hath not power and ability which do arise from his right and just authority to do it and to put the same in execution all the rest are but fruitless embryoes like those potentials that are never reduced into actions Ps 129.6 or like the grass upon the house top that withereth before it be plucked up But to let you see that Kings and Princes should have this power and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes and over all Ecclesiastical persons we
true religion and to suppress all Heresies and Schismes And so accordingly we finde the good Emperours and Kings have ever done The good Emperours have made Laws for the government of the Church Euseb in vita Constant l. 2. 3. for Constantine caused the idolatrous religions to be suppressed and the true knowledge of Christ to be preached and planted amongst his people and made many wholsome Lawes and godly Constitutions to restrain the sacrificing unto Idols and all other devillish and superstitious south-sayings and to cause the true service of God to be rightly administred in every place saith Eusebius And in another place he saith that the same Constantine gave injunctions to the chiefe Ministers of the Churches that they should make speciall supplication to God for him and he enjoyned all his Subjects that they should keep holy certain dayes dedicated to Christ and the Sabboth or Saturday which was then wont to be kept holy and as yet not abrogated by any Law among the Christians he gave a Law to the Ruler of every Nation that they should celebrate the Sunday or the Lords day in like sort Idem de vita Constant l. 1. 3. 4. c. 18. and so for the dayes that were dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs and other festival times and all such things were done according to the ordinance of the Emperour Nicephorus writing of the excellent virtues of Andronicus son to Immanuel Palaeologus and comparing him to Constantine the Great saith Niceph. in prafation Eccles hist thou hast restored the Catholique Church being troubled with new opinions to the old State thou hast banished all unlawfull and impure doctrine thou hast established the truth and hast made Lawes and Constitutions for the same Sozomen speaking of Constantines sons saith Sozomenus l 3. c. 17. the Princes also concurred to the increase of these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewing their good affections to the Churches no less then their father did and honouring the Clergy their servants with singular promotions and immunities both confirming their fathers Lawes and making also new Lawes of their own against such as went about to sacrifice and to worship Idols or by any other means fell to the Greekish or Heathenish superstitions Theodoret tells us that Valentinian at the Synod in Illirico did not onely confirme the true faith by his Royall assent but made also many godly and sharpe Lawes as well for the maintenance of the truth of Christ his doctrine as also touching many other causes Ecclesiastical and as ratifying those things that were done by the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. l. c. 5 6 7. he sent abroad to them that doubted thereof Honorius at the request of Boniface the first made a Law whereby it might appear what was to be done Distinct 79. siduo when two Popes were chosen at once by the indiscretion of the Electors Martianus also made a Statute to cut off and put away all manner of contention about the true faith and Religion in the Councell of Calcedon The Emperour Justinus made a Law that the Churches of Heretiques should be consecrated to the Catholique Religion saith Martinus Poenitentiarius And who knowes not of the many Laws and Decrees that Justinian made in Ecclesiasticall causes for the furtherance of the true Religion for in the beginning of the Constitutions collected in the Code of Iustinian the first 13 titles are all filled with Laws for to rule the Church where it forbiddeth the Bishops to reiterate baptisme to paint L. 1. tit 5. L. 1. tit 7. Novel 123. c. 10. Novel 58. Novel 137. c. 6. or grave on earth the Image of our Saviour And in the Novels the Emperour ordaineth Lawes of the creation and consecration of Bishops that Synods should be annually held that the holy mysteries should not be celebrated in private houses that the Bishops should speak alond when they celebrate the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue and the like And not onely these and the rest of the godly Emperours that succeeded them but also Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaigne who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a book against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himself in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Johannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a book called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Popin his predecessour had done in the City of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councils in divers places of his Kingdoms as at Mayns at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himself was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our own Kingdom of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of God's Church The saying of Dioclesian But as Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civil government that there was nothing haraer th n to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to govern the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisdome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Council to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no less desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advisers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings chuse for this business but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Lawes as having the supremacy and the chieâ—est câ—re of God's religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could read with the advice counsel or direction of any of their Peers or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and God The good Kings Emperours made their Lawes for the government of the Church onely by the adv ce of their Clergy A good Law of Instinian Constit 123. Nâ—buâ—hadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Chr stian Kings and Princes took their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and
admit them of their counsel and to undertake secular authority and civil jurisdiction 2. To allow dispensations of Pluralities and Non-residency which they may most justly and most wisely do without any transgression of the Law of God 3. To give tolerations where they see cause of many things prohibited by their Law to dispence with the transgressions and to remit the fault of the transgressours For 1 Point 1. Though the world relapsed from the true light and declined from the sincere Religion to most detestable superstition yet there remained in the people certain impressions of the divine truth The great respect of the Clergy in former ages Saravia l. 2. c. 2. p. 103. 1. Among the Gentiles Osor p. 231. De tota Syria Paâ—estina refert Dion l. 37. quòd rex summi Pontificis nomen habeat Strâ—bo lib. 12 Apud Tertul. advers Valent. Hermetem legimus appellari Max. sacerdotem maximum regem Cicero l. 2. de legibus Diotogenes apud Stob. d cit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aethiopes reges suos del gebant ex numerâ— sacâ—rdotum Di odor l 3. c. 1. Titus Vespas Pontification maximum ideo sele prosessusest accipere ut puras servaret manus Sution i't Tito cap. 9. In Aricia regnum erat concretum cuâ— sacerdotio Danae ut iunuit Ovid De arte amandi lib. 1. Ecce suburbanae templum nemorade Dianae Paraiáque per gladios regna nocente manu Strabo lib. 5. that there was a GOD and that this God was religiously to be worshipped and those men that taught the worship of that God how fowly soever they did mistake it were had in singular account and supereminent authority among all Nations and as Saravia saith they were compeers with Kings in their Government so that nothing was done without their counsel and consent and as Theseus was the first that Cives Atticos è pagis in â—rbem compulit and put the difference betwixt Nobles Husbandmen and Artificers so the Priests were always selected out of the noblest families and were ever in all their publick counsels as the Divines sate among the Athenians and the South-sayers sate with the King among the Lacedemonians in all their weightiest consultations and Strabo tells us that the Priests of Bellona which were in Pontus and Cappadocia for that Goddess was honoured in both places were regarded with the greatest honour next to the King himself and the Romans that were both wealthy warlike and wise did almost nothing without the advice and counsel of their Priests I will omit what Valerius Maximus setteth down of their care of Religion and their great respect unto their Priests and religious persons and I will refer you onely to what Tully writeth of this point where he saith that the greatest and worthiest thing in their Common-wealth was the priviledge and preheminence of the Divines which was joyned with the greatest authority for they dismissed the companies and the Councels of the chiefest Empires and the greatest Potentates when they were proposed they restrayned them when they were concluded they ceased from the affaires which they had in hand if but one Divine did say the contrary they appointed that the Consuls should depose themselves from their Magistracy and it was in their intire power either to give leave or not to give leave to deale with the people or not to deal to repeal Laws not lawfully made and to suffer nothing to be done by the Magistrate in peace or war without their leave or authority this was their Law though I beleive it was not always observed by their proud Consuls and unruly Magistrates Cicero de nat deorum l. 2. In like manner Caesar writeth of the Gaules and Britons that they had two sorts of men in singular honour the one was their Druides or Divines the other was their Souldiers or men of war and he saith that their Druides determined of all controversies in a manner both private and publick and if there were any crime committed any murther attempted if any controversy about inheritance or the bounds of lands did arise they also did set down their Decree and appointed the penalty and whosoever rejected their order or refused their judgement they excommunicated him from all society and he was then deemed of all men as an ungodly and a most graceless person Thus did they that had but the twilight of corrupted Nature to direct them judge those that were most conversant with the minde and will of the gods to be the fittest Counsellors and Judges of the actions of men and I fear these children of nature will rise in judgement to condemne many of them that profess themselves to be the sons of grace for comming so short of them in this point 2. The Jewes also which received the oracles of God 2. Among the Jewes were injoyned by God to yeild unto their Priests the dispensation both of dâ—vine and humane Lawes and the Lord enacted it by an irrevocable Law that the judgement of the High Priest should be observed as sacred Deut. 17. and inviolable in all controversies and if any man refused to submit himselfe unâ—o it his death must make recompence for his contumacy And Josephus saith Si judices nesciunt de rebus ad se delatis pronunciare integram causam in urbem sanctam mittent convenientes Pontifex Propheta Senatus quod visum sit Joseph contra Appi. lib. 2. pronuntient and in his second book against Appian he saith Sacerdotes inspectores omnium judices controversiarum punitores damnatorum constituti sunt à Moyse The Priests were appointed by Moses to be the lookers into all things the Judges of controversies and the punishers of the condemned And they were of that high esteem amongst the Jewes that the royall blood disdained not to match in marriages with the Priests as Jehojada married the daughter of King Jehoram 2 Chron. 22.11 and in the vacancie of Kings they had all the affaires of the Kingdome in their administration and when they became tributaries unto the Romans after Aristobulus the royall government was often annexed to the Priesthood and S. Paul argueth from hence 2 Cor. 3.7 8 9. that if the administration of death was glorious how shall not the administration of the spirit be rather glorious for if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory or otherwise it were very strange that the Ministers of the Gospel should be deemed more base and contemptible because their calling is far more glorious and excellent yea so excellent that to all good Christians the Prophet demandeth quà m speciosi pedes eorum Esay 52.7 Priests imployed in secular affaires 1 Among the Jewes Psal 99.6 Priests and Prophets among the Jewes exercised secular jurisdiction And for the discharging of secular imployments we have not onely the example of the Priests and Prophets of the Old Testament but we have also
the testimony and the practice of many godly Bishops and Fathers of the Church of Christ under the New Testament to justifie this truth For 1. Not onely Moses and Aaron that were both the Priests of the most high God and the chiefe Judges in all secular causes but also Joseph had his jurisdiction over the Aegyptians Daniel had his Lieutenancie over the Babylonians and Nehemias was a great Courtier among the Persians and yet these secular imployments were no hinderance to them in the divine worship and service of God So Ely and Samuel both were both Judges and Priests together and the most religious Princes David Solomon Jehosaephat and others used the Priests and Levites at their command in the civill government of their Dominions for when David caused all the Levites to be numbered from 30 years old and upward and that they were found to be 38 thousand he appointed 24 thousand of them to he over-seers of the works of the house of the Lord and he ordained the other six thousand to be Judges and Rulers in all Israel 1 Chron. 23.4 and so did Jehosaphat likewise * 2 Chron. 19.11 The place explained for though the last verse of the said chapter seems to put a difference betwixt the Civil matters and the Ecclesiastical affaires yet it is rightly answered by Saravia that this errour riseth from a misconceived opinion of their government as if it were the same with the government of some of our reformed Churches which was nothing less for if you compare this place with the 26. chap. Sigonius legit super opera quae ad regis officia pertinent l. 6. p. 315. 1 Sam. c. 8. of the 1. Chron vers the 29 30 and 32. you may easily finde that the Kings service or the affairs of the King doth not signifie the civil matters or the politique affairs of the Kingdom over which Amarias here and Hashabia and his brethren there 1 Chron. 26.30 were appointed the chief Rulers but it signifieth those things which pertained to the King 's right betwixt him and his subjects as those things that were described by Samuel and were retained and perhaps augmented either by the consent of the people or the incroachment of the succeeding Kings as the special rights of the Kings over which Zebadias the son of Ismael was appointed by Jehosaphat to be the Ruler and the business of the Lord is fully set down vers 10. to be not onely the Church affairs but all the affairs of the Kingdom between bloud and bloud Versu 10. between Law and Commandment Statutes and Judgements over which the Priests and Levites were appointed the ordinary Judges and the Interpreters of the Law as well Civil as Ecclesiastical for the Lord saith plainly Ezech 44 23. Vide locum Sigon ait circa judicium sanguinis ipsi insistent 2. In the Primitive Church Salmer tract 18. in parabol hominis divitis lo. 16. num 1. that every question and controversie shall be determined according to the censure of the Priests which certainly he would never have so prescribed nor these holy men have thus executed them if these two Functions had been so averse and contrary the one to the other that they could never be exercised together by the same man 2. In the Primitive times under the Gospel Salmeron saith that in the time of S. Augustine as himself teacheth Episcopi litibus Christianorum vacare solebant the Bishops had so much leisure that they were wont to judge of the quarrels of Christians yet they did not so spend their time in judging their contentions that they neglected their Preaching and Episcopal function and now that they do judge in civil causes consuetudine Ecclesiae introductum est ut peccata caverentur Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 9. And Bellarmine saith Non pugnat cum verbo Dei ut unus homo sit Princeps Ecclesiasticus politicus simul it is not against the Word of God that the same man should be an Ecclesiastical and a Secular Prince together when as the same man may both govern his Episcopacy and his Principality And therefore we read of divers men Theod. l. 2. c. 30. that were both the Princes and the Bishops of the same Cities as the Archbishop of Collen Mentz Triers and other German Princes Henr. of Huntingson Hist Angl. that are both Ecclesiastical Pastours and great secular Princes And Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was for a long while Viceroy of this Kingdom And so Leo. 9. Julius 2. Philip Archbishop of York Adelboldus Innocâ—nt 2. Collenutius and Blondus and many others famous and most worthy Bishops both of this Island and of other Kingdoms have undertaken and exercised both the Functions And Saint Paul recommendeth secular businesses and judgements unto the Pastours of the Church Aug. tom 3. de aâ—erib Menach c. 29. as S. Augustine testifieth at large where he saith I call the Lord Jesus a witness to my soul that for so much as concerneth my commodity I had rather work every day with my hands and to reserve the other houres free to read pray and exercise my self in Scriptures then to sustain the tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes in determining secular Controveâ—sies by judgement or taking them up by arbitrement to which troubles the Apostle hath appointed us not of his own will but of his that spake in him And as this excellent Father that wrote so many worthy volumes did notwithstanding imploy no small part of his time in these troublesome affairs so S. Ambrose twice undertook an honourable Embassie so Valentinian the Emperour unto the Tyrant Maximus Socrat. Eccl hist lib 7. And Marutha Bishop of Mesopotamia was sent by the Romane Emperour an Ambassadour to the King of Persia in which imployment he hath abundantly benefitted both the Church and the Emperour and we read of divers famous men that undertook divers Functions and yet neither confounded their offices nor neglected their duties for Spiridion was an husbandman and a Bishop of the Church a Pastour of sheep and a feeder of soules and yet none of the ancient Fathers that we read of either envyed his Farm or blamed his neglect in his Bishoprick but they admired his simplicity and commended his sanctity they were not of the spirit of our hypocritical Saints And Theodoret writeth Theodor. lib. 4. c. 13. that one James Bishop of Nisib was both a Bishop and a Captain of the same City which by the help of his God he manfully preserved against Sapor King of Persia And Ensebius Bishop of Samosis managing himself with all warlike habiliments ranged along throughout all Syria Phaenicia and Palaestina and as he passed erected Churches and ordained Priests and Deacons and peâ—formed such other Ecclesiastical pensions as pertained to his office in all places and I fear me the iniquity of our time will now call upon all Bishops that are able to do the like to preach unto
then any one man can rule and would quickly despise Heaven and destroy the earth if their consciences were not awed with Religion or would you damme up the channels of those benefits that should flow from them to the Common-wealth for it is not the addition of any honour to the calling of a Bishop but the King's interest and the peoples good that is aimed at when we assert the capacity of the Clergy to discharge the offices of the most publique affaires Petrus Blesensis ep 84. because as Petrus Blesensis saith it is the office of the Bishops to instruct the King to righteousness to be a rule of Sanctity and sobriety unto the Court to mix the influencies of Religion with the designes of State and to restrain the malignity of the ill-disposed people and all histories do relate unto us that when pious Bishops were imployed in the King's Counsels the rigour of the Lawes was abated equity introduced the cry of the poor respected their necessities relieved the liberties of the Church preserved pride depressed religion increased the devotion of the Laity multiplied the peace of the Kingdom flourished and the tribunals were made more just and merciful then now they be And therefore the sacred histories do record of purpose how the people of God never adventured upon any action of weight and moment before they had well consulted with the Priests and Prophets as you see in the example of Ahab No Nation attempted any great matter without the advice of their Priests that was none of the best Kings yet would not omit this good duty and such was the custom of all other Countries wheresoever there was any religion or reverence of God Quae enim est respub ubi ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in comitiis publicis de salute reipub deliberationibus for which is that Common-wealth where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings and publique consultations about the welfare of the Common-wealth as in Germany the three spiritual Electours are the first in France the three Ecclesiastical persons were the first of all the Peers in England till this unhappy time the two Archbishops and in Poland as many were wont to have the chiefest place and not unworthily quia aequum est Apud Euseb Pamphilam l. 11. Strabo l. 4. Caesar de bello Gallico lib. 6. antestent in concilio qui antestant prudentiâ nec videtur novisse res humanas nisi qui divinas cognitas habet as the Indian said unto Socrates and therefore the Chaldaans the Aegyptians the Graecians the Romanes the French and the Britons thought it alwayes ominous to attempt any notable thing in the Common-wealth without the sad and sage advice of their Priests and Prophets for they knew the neglect of God was never left without due revenge and though their false gods were no gods yet the true God was found to have been a sharp revenger of the contempt of the false gods because that to them they were proposed for the true gods and they believed them so to be as Lactantius sheweth and therefore all antiquity that bare any reverence to any Deity shewed all reverence and respect unto the teachers of his religion but now men desire to throw learning over the Bar because it should not discover the ignorance of the Bench or rather piety is excluded because it should not reprove their iniquity And the Clergy must not sit on the seat of judgement that the Laity may do injustice without controul or perhaps revenge themselves upon their Ministers on the Bench for reproving their vices in the Church so the Devil gaineth whatsoever piety loseth by their depression 2. As the Clergy-men are as able 2. The desire of the Clergy to do good to the State so they are as willing and as careful to provide for the good of the State as any other for themselves are members of the Common-wealth and they are appointed by God to be watchmen and overseers to foretel what mischiefes or felicities are like to ensue and to admonish as well the Prince as the people of such things as are to be avoided and to be performed which they cannot do if they be strangers from the conscience and excluded from the conference of such things that are to be done in the Common wealth Therefore seeing the good of the Common-wealth is their own good The Church of Christ and a Christian common-wealth sail together and the good of the Church is the good of the Common-wealth when a Christian Common-wealth and the Church of Christ are imbarked in the same Vessel and do sayle together with the same successe aiming both at the same Port and God hath commanded his Ministers to be no lesse solicitous for the one then the other it is incredible to think that a godly Minister should have lesse care of the Common-wealth then the best of our common Burgo-Masters and it is impossible to conceive any true reason why the Bishops and Pastours above all others should be excommunicated out of their assemblies and excluded from their Parliaments and other civil Courts when it doth most chiefly concern them to see unto the wellfare of their flock not onely in such things as concern the safety of their souls A miserable thing that the Ministers of the Gospel should be made more slaves then the basest calling in the World but also in all other things that may pertain either to the security of their bodies or the quietness of their estates because this is a thing utterly against the equal right of all Subjects that the Ministers of the Gospel being Subjects unto the king and Citizens of the Commonwealth should have nothing to do in the Government thereof but must be governed not as strangers that may have admission but as slaves with an impossibility to be received into the civil administration af any matter and their exclusion is as prejudicial to the king and kingdome as it is injurious unto the Clergy when they must be deprived of the grave advice and faithful service of so learned and religious assistants for the government of the people as the reverend Bishops and devout Doctors have ever been Ob. 3. Act. 15. S. Cyprian punished Geminius Faustinus for undertaking the Executor ship of Geminius Victor ep 66. Sol. 3. If you say the sixth Canon of the Apostles the seventh Canon of the Council of Calcedon and Saint Cyprian in his Epistle to the Priests of Furnam do forbid these things in Ecclesiastical persons and so many Fathers have accordingly refused these civil imployments and jurisdictions I answer briefly that while the Emperours were Heathens and neither the Kings nor their Kingdoms Christian but their counsels were often held for wicked ends private gain or privy deceit for bloudy murthers or horrid treason◠the Clergy were inhibited and the godly Bishops were ashamed to sit in such ungodly assemblies that would neither be converted to
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes as where the Psalmist saith instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in all lands which the best interpreters do expound of the Apostles and Bishops that are called the Princes of God's Church Origen ho. 19. in Matth. Hier. in Psal 45.16 but also giveth and alloweth this very title of Lord unâ—o them as I shewed before so the fathers of the Primitive Church did usually ascribe the same one to another as Saint Hierom writing to Saint Augustine saith Domine verè sancte and the Letters sent to Julius Bishop of Rome had their superscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To our most blessed Lord. Sozom. lib. 3. c. 23. Nazian in ep ad gr Nyssen Theodor l. 1. c. 4. 5. l. c. 9. And Nazianzen saith Let no man speak any untruth of me nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lords the Bishops and in all antiquity as Theodoret sheweth this title of Lord is most frequently ascribed unto the Bishops Saint Chrysostom in Psal 13. as he is cited by Baronius Anno 58. n. 2. saith that Hereticks have learned of the Devil to deny the due titles of honour unto their Bishops neither is it strange that he which would have no Bishops should deny all honour unto the Bishops but they can be contented to transfer this honour though to cover their hypocrisie in another title that shall be as Emperour instead of King from the Episcopacy to the Presbytery so that indeed it is not the honour which they hate but the Persons of the Bishops that are honoured Therefore though for mine own particular I do so much under value the vanity of all titles that we e it not the duty of the people to give it more then the desire of the Bishops to have it I should have spared all this Discourse yet seeing it is the right of Kings to bestow honours and it is an argument of their love to Christ to honour them that honour God to magnifie the order of their Religion and to account the chief Ministers of the Gospel among the chief States of the Land I could not pass it over in silence but shew you how it belongs to him to give this honour to whom he will and because this dignity cannot be given to all that are in the same order it is wisely provided by the King that the whole order or Ministry should be honoured in those few The whole order honoured in few whose learning and wisdome he hath had most use and experience of or is otherwise well informed thereof and it is no small wonder unto me that any learned man should be so blinded with this errour as any wayes to oppose this truth or that any Christian should be like the sons of Jacob so transported with envy when they see any of their brethren made more honourable then themselves for they ought to thinke themselves honoured in the honour of their brethren when the lord Bishops are down the Lords Temporal shall not continue long for as Geneva put away their Bishop their Prince so the Cantons and Switzers put away all Lords A just judgement of God that they which will have no spiritual Lords should not be any temporall Lords but should be as little regarded by their creatures as they regard the servants of their Creator Six special reasons why the King should confer his savours and honours upon the Bishops 1 Reason but that pride is such a beast that thinketh himself the most worthy and envy is such a monster that cannot endure any happiness to any other And that which makes me wonder most of all is to see those Lords whose honours scarce saw the age of a man and some pretending great loyalty to His Majesty and wishing happiness to His posterity so far yeilding to the mis-guided Faction to darken the glory of Gods Church and 10 undervalue Christs Ministers as to obliterate that dignity and rase out those titles which are inherent to the Ministry from the foundation of the Church and are ascribed unto the Bishops by the same Majesly that honoured them and for some by-respect and private ends to perswade the King to desert the Church to leave the Prelates in the suds their honour to be laied and buried in the dust and their revenues to be devoured by the enemies of all Godliness But do these men thinke that blessings come from God or that this is the way for God to bless the King or themselves or this Kingdome to vilifie those that honour God and of whom Christ directly saith He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me for alas who were more favoured protected and blessed by God then Constantine Theodosius and the rest of those good Emperours and Kings that gave most immunities and conferred most dignities upon the Bishops and Prelates of Gods Church because that hereby they testified their love to Christ himself and did not God withdraw his favour and protection from those kings and Potentates that neglected to protect his servants therefore they cannot wish well unto the king that wish him to give way to denude the Church and to desert the defence of the Bishops For besides many other reasons we finde six special arguments proving that our king rather then any king in Europe should uphold his Clergy and confer his favours and honours upon them I say not more then upon his nobility for that would procure hatred unto the king envy unto them and ruine unto all but as well as upon any other state in this kingdome As 1. Not onely the relation betwixt them and their Prince as they are his faithful Subjects and he their Soveraigne King but as he is the Lords Anointed and the Defender of that faith which they teach and publish unto his people for this anointing of him by God for this end superinduceth a brother-hood betwixt the king and the Bishops and makes him quasi unus ex nobis and the chief guide and guardian of the Clergy because that thereby he is mixta persona more then a meere Lay-man Rex inunctus non est merus Laicus Guimerus tit 12. sect 9.33 Edw. 3. tit Aide le Roy 2. Reason â— and hath an Ecclesiastical supreme Government as well as the civil and ùt oleo sancto uncti sunt spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces sunt and as it was said in the time of Edward the third and therefore as in relation to the temporalty the king is supremus justiciarius totius Angliae so in respect to the spiritualty he is as Constantine stiled himself in the Councel of Nice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the chief Christian Bishop among his Bishops 2. Our Bishops and Clergy are truer and faithfuller Subjects to their Prince then any other Clergy in Christendome because the Clergy of France and Spain and other Popish States and Dominions are
may change the condition of things they may do as by their counsel they shall be advised either the one or the other to receive them or reject them without offence because we finde no special precept or direction in Gods Word either to banish or to cherish them in any kingdome 2. For the Turks the reasons are not much unlike 2 Turkes though something different and in my judgement no less tolerable then the other because somewhat nearer to the Christian faith therefore I leave them to the Laws of each kingdome to do as the wisedome of the Prince shall think fit 3 Papists 3. For the Papists the case is far otherwise with them then either with the Turks or Jews because 1. They profess the same faith quoad essentialia the same Creeds the same Gospel and the same Christ as we do 2. It is not denyed by the best of our Divines but that they together with us do constitute the same Catholick Church of Christ though they be sick and corrupted yet not dead and we strong and sound yet not unspotted members of the same as I have more fully shewed in my book of the true Church 3. It is not agreed upon by all our Divines that they are Idolaters though they be in great errours and implunged in many superstitions because every Church in errour though never so dangerous is not so desperate as that Church which is Idolatrous or be it granted which some of our Protestants will not admit that they were Idolaters Carol. Sigon l. 5. c. 11. p. 274. yet seeing not onely seaven speciall sorts of heresies as 1. the Sadducees 2. the Scribes 3. the Pharisees The Hemero-baptists such as baptized themselves every day 5. The Esseni which Josephus calleth Essaei 6. The Nazarites And 7. the Herodians whereof some denied the resurrection and the being of Angels and spirits but also Idolaters and heathens that knew not God but worshipped the Devill instead of God were not inhibited to dwell and inhabit among the Jewes of whose Religion notwithstanding God was as carefull to preserve the purity of it and as jealous to keep them from Idolatry as of any Nation that then or ever after lived upon the earth it is no question but if it please the King permission may be granted them to exercise their own Religion not publickely and authoritativè equally with the Protestant Grand Rebell c. 1. p. 5. 6. but quietly and so as I have shewed in my Grand Rebellion for I am not of their faith which hold it more safe and less dangerous to be conversant with the Turkes or Jewes and to have more neerness with them then with an Idolatrous Church that professeth Christ because that where the greater distance is from the true Religion there the lesser familiarity and neerenesse should be in conversation and the greater distance in communion therefore as the wrath of God was kindled against the Israelites because they had the Jewes their own brethren in greater detestation then the Idumeans or the Egyptians The least familiarity in conversation where there is greatest distance from truth whose idolatry must needs be far greater and their Religion far worse in their own judgement then that of the Jewes so we may feare the like anger from God if we will be so partiall in our judgement and so transported with disaffection as to prefer a blasphemous Turke or an impious Jew before those men though ignorantly idolatrous that do with all feare and reverence worship the same God and adore the name of Christ as we doe And we read that the Emperour Justinus a right Catholique Prince as Bishop Horne calleth him Bishop Horne against Fâ—kenham Justinus gave a toleration to the Arians at the request of Theodoricke King of Italy granted licence that the Arians which denied the Deity of our Saviour Christ and were the worst of Heretiques and therefore worse then any Papist should be restored and suffered to live after their own orders and Pope John for the peace and quietness of the Catholique Church requested him most humbly so to do which he did for feare of Theodoricke that otherwise threatned the Catholiques should not live Ob. But you will say the fatall success that befell to King Davids house for Solomons permission of divers religions to be divided into two parts and the best ten Tribes for two to be given unto a stranger Deut. 17 17 19. and the principall care of a pious Prince being to preserve pure Religion which is soon infected by Idolatrous neighbours do rather disprove all toleration then any wayes connive with them that are of a different Religion and if we read the Oration of the league to the King of France wherein that Orator numbereth their victories and innumerable successes whilest they had but one Religion and their miseries and ill fortunes when they fostered two Religions it will appeare how far they were from allowing a toleration of any more then one Religion in one Kingdome Sol. The true cause of renting Solomons Kingdome Ps 106.35 Yet to this it may be easily answered that Solomons Kingdom was not rent from his posterity for his permission of idolaters to dwell in his Kingdome which the Law of God did not forbid but for that fault which his father taxed the Jewes with they were mingled among the heathen and learned their works for his commixtion of alliances with strangers and the corruption of true Religion by his marrying of so many idolatrous wives and so becomming idolatrous himself and thereby inducing his subjects the Israelites to be the like and for the Oration of the league there is in that brave Orator want of Logick ignoratio â—lenchi non causae ùt causae for you know what the Poêt saith Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putaet and we must not judge of true causes by the various success of things and I may say it was not the professing of one religion but the sincere serving of God in that true religion which brought to them and will bring to others prosperous success against the infidels neither was it the permitting of two religions or to speak more properly the diversity of opinions in the same religion but their emulation and hatred one against another their pride and ambition and many other consequences of private discords might be the just causes of their misfortunes 4. For the Puritans Brownists Anabaptists Heretiques and Schismatiques that are deemed neither Infidels nor Idolaters 4. Puritans but do obstinately erre in some points of faith as the Arians that denyed the Divinity of Christ and the Nestorians to them which sinned after baptisme and the like pernicious heresies though not all alike dangerous or do make a Schisme or a rent in the Church of Christ as the Donatists did in Saint Augustin's time and the Anabaptists and Puritans do in our dayes I say these are not to be
were many times swayed by the heads of the most powerfull faction The case of our affairs p. 17. How powerfull factions have procured Parliaments to doe most unjust things Turba tremens sequitur fortunam ut semper odit damnatos Juven Satyra 10. When Kings were most powerfull they could get the Parliaments to yeeld to what Statutes they thought best when the Lords or faction were most powerful they forced their Kings to make what Statutes they liked best which are instances rather of their unsteady weaknesse then of their just power when forsaking the guidance of their lawfull head they suffered themselves to be led by popular pretenders as when Canutus prevailed by his armes he could have a Parliament to resolve that his title to the Crown was the best when Hen. 4. had an army of 60000 men he could have a Parliament to depose Rich. 2. and confer the Crown upon himself when Edw. Duke of Yorke grew powerfull he could have a Parliament to determine the reigne of Hen. 6. and leave him only the name of king for his life but give the very Kingdome unto the Duke under the names of Protector and Regent and then he could procure the Parliament to declare that Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6 were but kings de facto non de jure so Rich. the 3. as meere an Usurper as any could notwithstanding procure a Parliament to declare him a lawfull king and Hen. 7. could procure the forementioned acts that were made in favour of Edw. 4. and Rich. 3. to be annulled and Hen. 8. could have a Parliament to justifie and authorize his divorces and Queen Elizab. could have a Parliament to make it high treason for any man to say that the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the rights and titles which any person whatsoever might have unto the Crown when as we know it was adjudged in Hen. 7. that no Act of Parliament nor yet an Attainder by Parliament can disable the right heire to the Crown because the descent of the Crown upon him purges all disabilityes whatsoever and makes him every way capable thereof Thus as the Parliaments when they were most prevalent caused their kings unwillingly to yeeld many things against right so the kings growing most powerfull prevailed to work the Parliament to consent to very unjust conclusions and therefore it is inconsequent to say this exclusion must be just because it is past by an Act of Parliament The case of our affaires p. 20. And therefore as in the 15 yeare of Edw. 3. the king being unwillingly drawn to consent to certain Articles prejudiciall to the Crown and to promise to seale the Statute thereupon made lest otherwise his affairs in hand might have been ruinated which we conceive to be just in like manner now the king very unwillingly drawn to passe this Act for the exclusion of the Clergy which is most prejudiciall both to the Crown and the Church and a mighty dishonour unto God himself lest otherwise more mischiefe might have followed when he hoped that this would have appeased the fury of that prevalent faction which now the kingdome seeth it did not Another Statute was made the same year reciting the former matter Statutes unwillingly procured from the king repealed that was enacted in these words It seemed to the said Earls Barons and otherwise men that since the Statute did not of our free will proceed the same to be void and ought not to have the name nor strength of a Statute and therefore by their counsell and assent we have decreed the said Statute to be void c. So I hope our Earles and Baron and the rest will be so wise and so just both to the king and to the Church that seeing this Statute proceeded not of the kings free will as I beleeve their own conscience knoweth and do presume His Majesty will acknowledge they likewise will consent that the king may make it void again §. Certaine Quaeres discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the prayse of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly AND here I must further craue leave to be resolved in certain Quaeres and doubts wherein I would very gladly be satisfied for seeing as I told you before there are some rights of royalty which are inseperabilia à majestate which the king ought not and which indeed he cannot grant away as there be some things which he may forgoe though he need not I demand Quaere 1 1. Whether any positive Act Statute or Law that is either ex diametro or ex obliquo either directly or by consequent or any other way contradictory or transgressive to the Law of God ought to be kept and observed wherein I beleive and constantly maintain that it ought not and I say further that by the Word of God not any Lay men be they never so noble never so learned and never so many but the Clergy be they never so poore and never so much dis-esteemed ought to be the resolvers of this point what is repugnant and what consonant to the Law of God Malach. 2.7 because the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and the people must seek the Law at his month therefore it may be conceived no Statute can be rightly made that is not assented to and approved as all our former Statutes were by the Bishops that are the chiefest of the Clergy to be no wayes contrary to the Law of God Quaere 2 2. Whether the king that is an absolute Monarch to whom God hath committed the charge and government of his people can without offence to God change this forme of government from a Monarchicall to an Aristocraticall or a Democraticall forme of government which may be beleived he cannot because though as I shewed out of Saint Augustine the worser forme invented by man may lawfully be changed into a better yet the best which is onely and primarily ordained by God cannot be changed into a worser without offence Quaere 3 3. Whether the king can passe away that power authority and right which God hath given him and without which he cannot govern and protect his people that God hath committed under his charge wherein it may be conceived he cannot because God must discharge him from the charge that he imposed upon him before he can be freed and excused from it but as the Bishop on whom the Lord hath laid the charge of soules cannot lay aside this charge when he pleaseth so no more can the King lay aside the charge of the Government nor paâ—t with that power and right * Otherwise then by substitution Rege absente durante beneplacito or quamdiu se benè gesserint substituti whereby he is inabled to govern them and without which he cannot governe them untill God that laid this charge
upon him and gave him full power and authority to do it by some undeniable dispensation gives him his Writ of ease to discha ge him Quaere 4 4. Whether such an Act or Statute which disinableth any King to dissolve his Dyet Councill Assembly or Parliament and inableth some subtle faction of his Subjects in some sort to countermand their King be not derogatory to the inseperable right of Majesty destructive to the power of government and prejudicial to all the loyall Subjects and therefore void of it selfe and not to be observed because such an act ought not to have been concluded The Act for the indissolubility of any Parliament beleived by many to be of it selfe void wherein I leave the resolution to be dete mined by the Judges and Bishops of this Land and I will onely crave leave to set down what may be thought herein viz. that such an Act or Statute is clearly and absolutely void Reason 1 1. Because that hereby the King may be said after a sort and in some kinde to change the fundamentall constitution and Government of his Kingdome from an absolute Monarchy to another species and forme of Government either Aristocraticall or Democraticall or some other forme emergent out of all these such as we know not how to terme it and such as was never known from the beginning of the world a mixture indeed which I told you before no absolute King can be thought to do without offence unless he can prove his licence from God to do the same Reason 2 2. Because that hereby he may be said to denude himselfe of his Right and by depriving himselfe of this power to disinable himselfe to discharge that duty which God doth necessarily require at his hands that is to govern his people by protecting the innocent and punishing the wrong doer and when God shall call the King to an account why he did not thus governe his people and defend those poore Subjects that were loyal and faithful both to God and their King according to the charge that he laid upon him and the right and power which he gave him to discharge it It may be feared it will be no sufficient answer for any King to say but I have so laid away that power and parted with that right unto my Lords and Commons that I could not do it for it may be asked where doth God require him or when did he authorize him to devest himselfe of that authority wherewith he indued him how then can he do it to the undoing of many people without an assured leave from God therefore as that Act which was made unrepealable was adjudged no Act but immediately void because it was destructive to the very power of Parliament * Which may repeale their owne Acts but not destroy their just power not themselves as it seemes the Act of excluding the Bishops doth and takes away as it were the soule of the Parliament and if any act should be made to destroy common right or to hinder the publique service of God or to disinable the right heire to injoy the Crowne or the like those Acts are void of themselves so any Statute that disinableth the Kings Government must needs be void ipso facto as I have partly shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries p. 32. Reason 3 3. Because it may be beleived no King would ever grant such an act unless he were either subtilly deceived and seduced or forcibly compelled thereunto for feare of some inavoidable extremity which according to all outward appearance could not otherwise be prevented without the concessions of such unspeakable disadvantages as a man gives away his sword when he seeth his life in danger if he deliver it not Therefore the premises considered Quaere 5 5. The Quaere is whether any King should be bound and obliged to observe such grants and make good such Acts In all these Quaeries I conclude nothing whatsoever I beleive as are thus fraudulently obtained or forcibly wrested from him and are thus contradictory to Gods will thus prejudiciall to the power of Government and thus destructive to his Subjects which for the fore said reasons is by many men beleived he is not but that this right was unduly procured from him so when God inableth him he may justly acquire it and re-assume it without any offence to God or the least reluctancy to his own conscience And if this Act that hath passed in our Parliament makes it immediately to be no Parliament * As I know not whether it doth or not neither will I determine it as being now another forme of government which the Divines hold ought not to be effected then certainly all Acts that passed since are no Acts but are void and invalid of themselves Or be it granted that the Act for the perpetuity of Parliament doth not annul the Parliament yet it is doubted by many whether the Parliament may not themselves without the kings pronouncing it void or dissolved make it no Parliament Quid prodest tibi nomen usurpare alienum vocari quod non es when of Counsellors for the King they become Traytors unto the King and of Patriots that should protect the Common-wealth they become Parricides and Catilines unto the same because these duties being as the soul the life and the end of Parliaments when these are changed to be the bane and death of King and Kingdome it is doubted how it can be a Parliament any more then a dead carkase that is deprived of his soul can be said to be a man for the circumstances and ceremonies of times places and the like are not essentialia Parliamenti but as accidentia quae possunt adesse abesse sine interita subjecti and may be ad benè esse but are as Punctilio's in respect of the end and essence of a Parliament And therefore as God promiseth infallibly to do a thing for example that He will not fail David Psal 89.34 1 Sam. 2.30 his seed shall endure for ever and of Eli he said indeed that his house and the house of his father should walke before him for ever yet this unchangeable God when the change is wrought in David or his seed or in Eli his house David doth immediately say Thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed Psal 89.37 1 Sam. 2.30 and art displeased at him and of his promise to Eli God saith in the same place now be it far from me so it may be conceived that when any Parliament changeth its nature I should never acknowledge Judas after he betrayed his master and resolved to persist in his wickednesse to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ no more then I should take the Temple of Jerusalem to be the house of God so long as it continued the den of theeves faileth in its very being and of a preservative becomes a poyson both to the King and Kingdome the King and Kingdome may then without any
change in themselves or failing of their former promises justly say they are no Parliament but as the Romans said unto a worthy Patriot that had formerly saved them from the Senones and at last became an enemy to the State We did honour thee as our deliverer when thou didst save us from the Senones sed jam nobis es quasi unus ex Senonibus so may we say of any Parliament that turnes to be the destruction of a Common-wealth that it is but a shadow and no substance a den of theeves and no Parliament of Counsellours And I assure my selfe much more may be spoken and many inanswerable arguments may be produced to confirm this to be most true so I have set down what I conceive to be true about the Kings grants and concessions unto his people and his obligations to observe them And if His Majesty whom I unfainedly love and heartily honour and in whose service as I have most willingly spent my slender fortunes so I shall as readily hazard my dearest life be offended with me for setting down any of these things that my conscience tells me to be true and needful to be known and my duty to declare them I must answer in all humility and with all reverence that remembring what Lucian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many men shunning the smoake fell into the fire and that Job saith Timentes pruinam opprimentur à nive which Saint Gregory moralizeth of them that fearing the frost of mans anger which they may tread under foot shall be overwhelmed with the snow of Gods vengeance that fals from Heaven and cannot be avoided I had rather suffer the anger of any mortal man then endure the wrath of the great God and now I have freed my soule let what will come of my body I will fear God and honour my King 5 The end for which God ordained Kings 5. We are to consider the end for which God ordained the King to rule and govern his people and that is to preserve justice and to maintain peace through out all the parts of his Dominions for as the Subjects may neither murmur nor resist heir Soveraign at any time for any cause so the King must not do any wrong or injustice to his meanest Subject neither do we presse the obedience of the Subject to give licence unto the King to use them as he listeth but we tell Kings their duties as well as we do to the Subjects and that is to doe justice unto the afflicted and to execute true judgement among all his people for as Plato saith Psal 82.3 Zachar. 7 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all men cry out with one mouth how beautiful a thing is temperance and righteousnesse Cicero calleth her the Lady and Mistresse of all virtues and Pindarus saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cice o offic l. 3. a golden eye and a golden countenance are always to be seene in the face of justice and that Jupiter Soter dwelleth together with Themis whereby he would give us to understand regem servatorem esse justum Pindar apud Athen Cl. Alex. and Sirom l. 5 that a King must preserve his people by justice as Clemens Alexand. expoundeth it because as Theognis pag. 431. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justice is that virtue which comprehends all virtues in it self and therefore Solomon saith that the Kings throne is established by righteousnesse and justice exalteth a Nation Prov. 16.12 c. 14 34. injustice destroyeth Kingdomes making it to flourish and famous and justice destroyeth the people when a Kingdome is translated from nation to Nation because of unrighteousnesse the same being as it was said of Carthage fuller of sins then of people as you see the Monarchy of the Assyrians was translated unto the Medes and Persians and the most famous repub of the Romanes was spoiled when forgetting their pristine honesty they became unjust Lucan l. 1. Mensuráque juris Vis erat And the Law was measured by strength and he had the best right which was most powerful and so the ancient nation of the Britons came to utter ruine and destruction propter avaritiam principum injustitiam judicum negligentiam Episcoporum luxuriam populi saith Gildas Ezechiel 33.11 and 18.22 Judges 17.6 Dan. 2.21.37 1 Chron. 2 84. 1 Sam. 10.1 1 Reg. 19 15. Romans 13.4 Tertul. ad Scap. c. 21. Optat. cont Parmen l. 3. p. 8. 5. Auson in Monosyll Et id possumus quod jure possumus Chrysost ad Pop. Antioch hom 2. Ambros apol pro Davide c. 4. c. 10. Aug. de civit l. 4. c. 33. Greg. epis l. 2. ep 110. Autor libelli cui inscriptio brevis narratio quomodo Hen. 4. c. Bellar. de laic c. 5. Rhem. anno 1 Pet. 2.23 Dela Cerda in Virgil. l. 11. p. 560. c. Herod l. 2. And therefore God that desireth not the death of a sinner much lesse the ruine of any Nation would have us to seeke for justice and to live uprightly one among another but as the sheepe that are without a shepheard wander where they list so as you read often in the booke of Judges when the people were without a King there was no justice amongst them but every man did that which was right in his own eyes therefore to prevent oppressions and wrongs God out of his infinite love and favour unto mankind from the beginning of the World called and appointed Kings to be his Vicegerents to judge the earth and to see that the poore and the fatherlesse have right for besides many other places that might be alleadged the Spirit of God saith directly ego dixi Dii estis and by me Kings do reign that is by my appointment by my direction and by my protection they do and shall rule and reign over my people as Tertull. Optat. Saint Chrysost St Ambrose St Aug. Saint Gregory and the rest of the most Orthodox Fathers have ever taught and maintained and therefore this is not inventum humanum as the Puritans have dreamed and the Popes flatterers have maintained but it is an ordination of God that we have Kings given unto us not to domineere and to satisfy their untamed wills and sensual appetites but to administer justice and judgement unto their people and so to guide them to live in all peace and tranquillity for as Auson saith Qui rectè faciet non qui dominatur erit Rex And therefore Plinius Secundus in his panegyricks saith ut foelicitatis est posse quantum velis sic magnitudinis est velle quantum possis bonitatis facere quantum justum as it is a great felicity to be able to do what we will so it is a most heroick resolution to will no more but what we should and to do nothing but what is just Claudian saith to Honorius Nec tibi quid liccat sed quid fecisse decebit Occurrat mentémque domet respectus honesti and so Homer saith that Sarpedon
voluntary and not extorted obedience is that which is better then sacrifice 2. Blinde obedience 2. The second is a blinde obedience such as the young youths that being commanded by their Abbat to carry a basket of figs and other Juncates unto a solitary Monke or Hermite that lived in his cave and loosing their way in that unfrequented wilderness chose rather to dye in the desert then taste of those acates that they had in their Basket and such obedience is most frequent in the proselites of Rome who will do whatsoever they are commanded by their superiors though both they and their superiors do thereby commit never so great a wickednesse where notwithstanding I must confesse that this blinde obedience is far better both for Church and State then a proud resistance when as the one produceth nothing but some particular inconveniencies and the other proceedeth to an universall destruction 3. Hypocriticall obedience 3. The third is an hypocriticall and dissembled obedience that is an obedience for a time till they see their time to do mischiefe which is the worst of all obedience and therefore most hatefull both to God and Man because it is but catenus usque dum vires suppetunt untill they have the opportunity and have gotten sufficient strength to shake off their subjection and to maintain their Rebellion The obedience of our Rebells and this was the obedience of all our Rebells our Sectaries and Puritans here in England who would also face us down but most falsely that it was the obedience of the Primitive Christians for so the grand impostor John Goodwin in his Anticavalierisme saith they were onely obedient to those persecuting Tyrants because as yet they wanted strength and were not able to resist them but O thou enemy of all goodness that so hatest to become a Martyr for thy God that was martyred for thee is it not enough for thee to play the dissembling hypocrite thy selfe but thou must taxe those holy Martyrs those true Saints The Authour more out of patience for the wrong offered to the Martyrs then for his own abuse that raigne with Christ in Heaven of hypocrisie and disobedience in their hearts to the Ordinance of God I could willingly beare with any aspersion thou shouldest cast in my face but I am out of patience though sorry that I am so transported to see such false and scandalous imputations so unjustly laid upon such holy Saints yet this you must do to countenance your Rebellion to get the Rhetorick of the Divell to bely Heaven it selfe and therefore what wonder is it that you should bely your King on earth when you dare thus bely the martyrs that are in Heaven 4. The obedience of the Saints two-fold 4. The fourth is a voluntary hearty and well ordered obedience which is the obedience of the Saints and is also Two-fold 1. Active 2. Passive For 1. The Saints knowing the will of God that they should obey their King 1. Active obedience and those that are sent ot him they do willingly yield obedience to their superiours and no marvel because there cannot be a surer argument of an evil man then in a Church reformed and a Kingdom lawfully governed to resist authority and to disobey them that should rule over us especially him whom God immediately hath appointed to be his vice-gerent his substitute and the supreme Monarch of his Dominions here on earth for all other things both in heaven and earth do obsere that Law which their maker hath appointed for them when as the Psalmist saith he hath given them a Law which shall not be broken therefore this must needs be a great reproof and a mighty shame to those men that being Subjects unto their King and to be ruled by his Lawes will notwithstanding disobey the King and transgresse those Lawes that are made for their safety and resist that authority which they are bound to obey onely because their weak heads or false hearts do account the commandment of the King to be against right and what themselves doe to be most holy and just But our City Prophets will say Ob. Diverse kinds of Monarchie◠that although the King be the supreme Monarch whom we are commanded to obey yet there are diverse kinds of Monarchies or Regal governments as usurped lawful by conquest by inheritance by election and these are either absolute as were the Eastern Kings and the Roman Emperours or limited and mixed which they term a Political Monarchy where the King or Monarch can do nothing alone but with the assistance and direction of his Nobility and Parliament or if he doth attempt to bring any exorbitancies to the Common-wealth or deny those things that are necessary for the preservation thereof they may lawfully resist him in the one and compel him to the other to which I answer 1. As God himself which is most absolute liberrimum agens Sol. Absolute Monarchs may limit themselves may notwithstanding limit himself and his own power as he doth when he promiseth and sweareth that he will not fail David and that the unrepentant Rebels should never enter into his rest so the Monarch may limit himself in some points of his administration and yet this limitation neither transferreth any power of Soveraignty unto the Parliament nor denieth the Monarch to be absolute nor admitteth of any resistance against him for 1. This is a meer gull to seduce the people I cannot devise words to expresse this new devised government that cannot distinguish the point of a needle just like the Papist that saith he is a Roman Catholick that is a particular universal a black white a polumonarcha a many one governor when we say he is a Monarch joined in his government with the Parliament for he can be no Monarch or supreme King and Soveraign that hath any sharers with him or above him in the government 2. There is no Monarch that can be said to be simply absolute but onely God yet where there is no superiour but the soveraignty residing in the King he may he said to be an absolute Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Because there is none on earth that can controul him 2. Because he is free and absolute in all such things wherein he is not expresly limited and therefore 3. Seeing no Monarch or Soveraign is so absolute No Monarch so absolute but someway limited but that he is some way limited either by the Law of God or by the Rules of nature or of his own concessions and grants unto his people or else by the compact that he maketh with them if he be an elective King and so admitted unto his Kingdom there is no reason they should resist their King for transgressing the limitations of one kind more then the other or if any no doubt but he that transcendeth the limits of God's Law or goeth against the common rules of nature ought rather to be resisted then he
Magistrate doth binde more then the conscience of the inferiour Subject can do for though the conscience rightly guided by reason is the Judge of those things which are either directly forbidden or commanded yet in the other things that are indifferent the Magistrate is the more immediate Judge under God The Magistrate the immediate judge of indifferent which hath given him power either to command them to be done or to forbid them and therefore the Subject having the command of his King whom God commandeth us to obey for his warrant in things of this nature either to do such things or to leave such things undone his duty is not to examine the reason of the command but to performe what he seeth commanded for so S. Augustine saith that although Julian was an Idolater an Apostata an Infidell yet milites fideles servierunt imperatori infideli but when it came to the cause of Christ they acknowledged none but him that was in Heaven when he would have them to worship Idolls they preferred God before him when he said August in Psal 124. C. imperator 11. q. 1. lead forth your Armies and go against such a Nation they presently obeyed him they distinguished betwixt their eternall and their temporall Lord tamen subditi erant propter aeternum etiam domino temporali and they never examined the Justnesse of the war because in all such cases mandatum imperantis tollit culpam servientis Our reason judgement misguided seven wayes How our conscience may be reformed the fault must onely rest upon the commander And therefore as our reason and Judgement may be blinded in all actions either with ignorance negligence pride inordinate affection faintness perplexity or self-love so may our conscience too when it erroniously concludeth upon what our reason falsly assumeth and then as I said before our conscience is rather to be reformed then obeyed and if we be desirous we may thus redress it 1. From ignorance 2 Chron 20.12 1. If it be of ignorance let us say with Jehosophat we know not what to do but our eyes are towards thee and let us seek to them that can inform us the Orthodox not the Sectaries which will rather corrupt us then direct us 2. From negligence John 3.1 2. If it be of negligence let us come without partiality or prejudice as Nicodemus did to Christ to those that for knowledge are well able and for honesty are most willing to instruct us 3. From pride 2 Cor. 10.18 3. If it be of pride let us pray to God for humility and submit our selves one to another especially to them that have more learning then our selves and have that charge over us for he that praiseth himself is not allowed but he whom the Lord praiseth and singularity hath been the original of all heresies and not the least occasion of the troubles of these times and the rebellion of our Sectaries 4 From in ordinate affection 4. If it be from inordinate affection quùm id sanctum quod volumus when every one makes what he loves to be lawful and his own wayes to be just let us hearken to sound reason and prefer truth before our own affections or otherwise perit omne judicium Seneca cùm res transit in affectum there can be no true judgement of things when we are transported with our partial affections 5. From saintnesse 5. If it be from faintnesse let us be scrupulous where we have cause lest we should think it lawfull to swallow a Camel because we are able to straine a gnat and let us not be afraid where no feare is and think those things sinfull that are most lawfull A heavy judgment upon this Nation by mistaking sins which is a heavy judgment of God upon the wicked and hath now lighted very sore upon many of the Inhabitants of this Land who think it Popery to say God blesse you and judge it Idolatry to see a Crosse in Cheap-side 6. From perplexity 6. If it be of perplexity when a man is close as he conceives betwixt two sins where he seeth himself unable though never so willing to avoid both let him peccare in tutiorem partem which though it takes not away the sin yet it will make the fault to be the lesse sin as the casting away of the Corne which is the gift of God and the sustenance of mans life is an unthankfull abuse of Gods creature Act. 27.38 yet as S. Paul caused the same to be cast into the Sea for the safegard of their lives so must we do the like when occasion makes it necessary as now rather to kill our enemies the Rebels though we should think it to be ill then suffer them to wrong our King and to destroy both Church and Kingdome When things are to be judged inevitable because that of two things which we conceive evill and are not both evitable the choice of the lesser to avoid the greater is not evil but they are then to be judged inevitable when there is no apparent ordinary way to avoid them because that where counsell and advice do beare rule we may not presume of Gods extraordinary power without extraordinary warrant saith judicious Mr. Hooker Hooker Eccles pol. l. 5. p. 15. 7. From too much humility Multos in summa pericula misit venturi timor ipse mali Lucan l. 7. 7. If it be of too much humility which is an error of lesse danger yet by no meanes to be fostered lest by gathering strength it proves most pernitious they should pray to God to preserve them from too much fear for though as Saint Gregory saith bonarum mentium est ibi culpas agnoscere ubi culpa non est ye as I said before it is a heavy Judgement and a want of God's grace to be afraid where no fear is and it makes men to commit many sins many times for fear of sin And thus having rectified our conscience in the understanding of all these things we are bound by the commandment of God to be obedient unto the commands of our King Act. 15.20 for it is a paradox to say Christians are free from the Lawes of men because it was a humane law touching things strangled and bloud and the Apostles do exact our obedience unto humane Lawes Rom. 13.1 2. 1 Peter 2 13. even the Laws of Heathen and Idolatrous Emperours and therefore being bound to obey them they cannot be freed in conscience from the Religion of them and so Dr. Whitaker saith that as the Lawes of God must be simply obeyed without any difference of time place and circumstance so must the Lawes of men be obeyed as the circumstances do require for example he that is a Roman and liveth at Rome must obey the Roman Lawes and he saith that the authority of the Magistrate which is sacred and holy cannot with any good conscience be contemned because it is
the commandment of God that we should obey them Whitaker contra Camp p. 258. and this saith he doth binde the conscience when as the Apostle saith he is to be obeyed for conscience sake But you will say what if the King forbids me to do what God commandeth Ob. as the high Priest did to the Apostles or commandeth me to do what God forbiddeth as Julian did unto the Christians and Nebuchadnezzar to the three children We have often answered that in such a case it is better to obey God then man Sol. Act. 5.25 for it is sometimes lawfull not to obey but it is never lawfull to resist What if he compells us by force and violence to do what God forbids us to do if he playes the Tyrant violates our Laws Ob. and corrupts the true Religion with dolatry and superstition may we not then as our fore-fathers did heretofore unto Chilperick King of France and to Richard the second of this Kingdome and others bridle them and depose them too if they will not be ruled by their Great Counsell the Parliament I answer first Non spectandum quid factum sit sed quid fieri debuerit Sol. Heningus Arnisaeus de author princi in Pop. we are not so much to regard what hath been done as what ought to have been done as Arnisaeus proveth at large and sheweth most excellently with a full answer to all the Articles that were alleadged against those Kings how unjustly they were handled and deposed contrary to all right and I wish that book were translated into English 2. I say 2. Of our passive bedience that when our active obedience cannot be yeilded our passive obedience must be used for were our King as Tyrannicall as Nero as Idolatrous as Manasses as wicked as Achab and as prophane as Julian yet we may not resist when as Arnisaeus proveth by many examples Idem cap. 3. p. 68. that the Rebellion of Subjects against their King doth overthrow the order of nature and Justinian saith quis est tantae autoritatis ut nolentem principem possit coactare but in such a case we must do as all the Saints did before us not as the Heathens which thought them worthy of divine honour Cicero pro Milone which did kill a Tyrant and said with Seneca victima haud ulla amplior Potest Seneca in Hercul sur magisque opima mactari Jovi Quà m Rex iniquus But as Christ himselfe suffered under Pontius Pilate a most wicked Magistrate Christ and his Apostles suffered but never resisted the lawfull Magistrate and registred in the breviary of our Faith that we might never forget our duty rather to suffer then to resist the authority that is from Heaven and as Saint Ambrose answered the Emperour that would have his Church delivered to the Arians I shall never be willing to leave it coactus repugnare non novi if I be compelled I have not learned to resist I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the Armes and Gotish Souldiers my teares are my weapons for those are the Bulwarkes of the Priest who in any other manner neither can neither ought he to resist so must all Christians rather by suffering death then by resisting our King to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven But 't is objected by our Sectaries that His Majesty confesseth Ob. The Author of the Treatise of Monarchy p. 31. there is a power Legally placed in the two houses more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny Sol. The law provides that the king should not be circumvented and â—â—ronged I answer first when it pleased the King of His grace to restrain His own power of making Laws to the consent of Peeres and Commons that by this Regulating of the same it might be purged from all destructive exorbitanâ—es the very Law it self being tender of the legitimate rights of the King and considering the Person of the Soveraign to be single and his power counterpoysed by the opposite wisdome of the two Houses allowed him to swear unto himself a body of Council of State and Counsellors at Law and the Judges also to advise him and informe him so that as he should not do any wrong by reason of the restrayning Votes of the Houses so he might not receive any wrong by the incroachment of the Parliament upon his right The Kings concessions very large and the King being driven away from his learned Counsel and forced to make the defence of his rights by writing it is no wonder if his concessions and promises as well in this point as in other things especially in that concerning the Act of excluding the Clergy were more then was due to them or then he needed to grant or then he ought to observe being to the dishonour of God and the prejudice of his Church when as nothing in Parliament where the wrong may be perpetual should be extracted from him but what he should well consider of with the advice of his Counsel and what he should freely grant and whatsoever is otherwise done is ill done to the great disadvantage of the King and his Posterity and the unjust inlarging of their power more then is due unto them yet 2. I say if these words of His Majesties be rightly weighed they give no colour of resisting Tyranny by any forcible armes but aâ— Doctor Ferne saith most truly of a Legal D Ferne in his reply to sever treat p. 32. Moral and Parliamentary restraint for the woâ—ds are there is a power legally placed in the Houses that is the Law hath placed a power in them but you shall never find any Law that any King hath granted whereby himself might be resisted and subdued by open force and violence for as Roffensis saith Roffensis de potest Papae 291. Eâ—phanta Pythag l. De Regno apud Stobaeum fol. 335. Reges suo solius judicio reservavit Deus qui stans in Synagoga deorum dijudicat eos God hath reserved Kings to his own judgement and the Heathen man could say as Stobaeus testifieth primùm Dei deinde Regis est ut nulli subriciatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first it is the priviledge of God next of the King to be subject unto none because the Regal power properly is unaccountable to any man as Suidas saith and Josephus saith that the holiest men that ever were among the Hebrews called essaei or esseni that is the true practisers of the Law of God maintained that soveraigne Princes whatsoever they were ought to be inviolable to their Subjects A principle tenet of the Essaei And some think that the Common-wealth is happier under a Tyrant that will keep them in awe then under too mild a Prince upon whose clemency they will presume to Rebel Jer. 27.5 6. A memorable place against resisting Tyrants for they saw there was scarce any thing more usual in holy Scripture then the prohibition of resistance
or refusal of obedience to the Prince whether he were Jew or Pagan milde or tyrannical good or bad as to instance one place for all where the Lord saith I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me and now I have given all those Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my servant and he was both a Heathen an Idolater and a mighty Tyrant and all Nations shall serve him and his son and his sons son and it shall come to passe that the Nation and Kingdome which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon and that will not put their necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with the Famine and with the Pestilence until I have consumed them by his hands therefore hearken not ye unto your Prophets nor to your Diviners whiâ—h speak unto you saying you shall not serve the King of Babylon for they prophesy a lye unto you which he repeateth again and again they prophesy a lye unto you that you should perish and may not I apply these words to our very time God saith I have given this Kingdome unto King Charles which is a mild just and most pious king and they that will say nolumus hunc regnare super nos I will destroy them by his hand therefore o ye seduced Londoners beleive not your false Prophets nay hearken not to your diuiners your Anabaptists and Brownists that preach lies and lies upon lies unto you that you should perish for God hath not sent them though they multiply their lyes in his name therefore why will you dye why will you destroy your selves and your Posterity by refusing to submit your selves to mine ordinance and what should God say more unto you to hinder your destruction and it was concluded by a whole Council that si quis potestati regia Concil Meldens apud Roffen l. 2. c. 5. de potest papa quae non est teste Apostolo nisi a Deo contumaci afflato spiritu obtemperare irrefragabiliter nolnerit anathematizetur Whosoever resisteth the Kings Power and with a proud spirit will not obey him let him be accursed But then you will say this is strange doctrine that wholly takes away the liberty of the Subject if they may not resist regal tyranny Ob. I thinke there is no good Subject Sol. that loves his Soveraigne that will speake against a just and lawful liberty when it is a far greater honour unto any king to rule over free and gentile Subjects then over base and turkish slaves but as under the shadow and pretence of Christian liberty many carnal men have rooted out of their hearts all Christianity Many evils do lurk under fair shewes so many Rebellious and aspiring mindes have under these colourable titles of the liberty of the Subjects and suppressing tyranny shaked of the yoke of all true Obedience and dashed the rights of government all to pieces therefore as the law of God and the rules of his own conscience should keep every Christian King from exercising any unjust tyranny over his Subjects so if men will transcend the rules of true obedience the Kings Power and authority should keep them from transgressing the limits of their just liberty but this unlawfulnesse of resisting our lawful King I have fully proved in my Grand Rebellion and it is so excellently well done by many others that I shall but acta agere to say any more of it CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the King for six special reasons to be paid the condition of a lawful tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the King that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and Pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our King 4. TRibute is another right and part of that honour which we owe unto our King Negotia enim infinita sustinet The great charge of Princes equabile jus omnibus administrat periculum à republica cùm necessitas postulat armis virtute propulsat bonis praemia pro dignitate constituit improbos suppliciorum acerbitate coercet patriam denique universam ab externis hostibus ab intestinis fraudibus tutam vigilantia sua praestat haec quidem munera aut opere tuetur aut quoties opus fuerit tuenda suscipit qui autem existimat haec tam multa munera sint maximis sumptibus sustineri posse mentis expers est atque vitae communis ignarus idcirco hoc quod communi more receptum est ut reges populi sumptibus alantur non est humano tantùm jure sed etiam diuino vallatum Osorius de rebus Emanuel lib. 12 p. 386. saith eloquent Osorius For he undergoeth infinite affaires he administreth equal right to all his people he expelleth and keepeth away from the Common-wealth all dangers when necessity requireth both with armes and prowesse he appointeth rewards to the good and faithful according to their deserts he restraineth the wiâ—ked with the sharpnesse and severity of punishments and he preserveth his Country and Kingdome safe by his care and watchfulnesse both from Forraigne foes and intestine frauds and these offices he dischargeth indeed and undertaketh taketh to discharge them as often as any need requireth And he that thinketh that all these things so many and so great affaires can be discharged without g eat cest and charge is void of understanding and ignorant of the common course of life and therefore this thing which is received by a common custom that Kings should be assisted and their royalty maintained by the publick charge of the people is not onely allowed by humane law but is also confirmed by the divine right Men should therefore consider that the occasions of Kings are very great abroad for intelligence and correspondency with Foreign States that we may reap the fruit of other Nations vent our own commodities to our best advantage and be guarded secured and preserved from all our outward enemies and at home to support a due State answerable to his place to maintain the publique justice and judgements of the whole Kingdom and an hundred such like occasions that every private man cannot perceive and think you that these things can be done without meanes without money If you still pour out and not pour in your bottle will be soon empty and the Ocean sea would be soon dried up if the Rivers did not still supply the same and therefore not onely Deioces that I speak of before when he was elected King of the Medes caused them to build him a most stately Palace and the famous City of Ecbatana and to give him a goodly band of select men for the safeguard of his Person and to provide all other
taxes that whatsoever the stomach received either from the hand or mouth it was all for the benefit of the whole body so whatsoever the King receiveth from the People it is for the benefit of the people and it is like the waters that the Sea receiveth from the Rivers which is visibly seen passing into the Ocean but invisibly runneth through the veines of the earth into the Rivers again so doth all that the King receiveth from the People return some way or other unto the People again And there be six speciall reasons why or to what end we should pay these dues unto the King Six reasons for which we pay Tribute unto the king 1. For the Honour of his Majesty 2. For the security of his Person 3. For the protection of his Kingdome 4. For the succour of his confederates 5. For the securing of our 1. Goods 2. Estates 3. Lives 6. For the propagating of the Gospel and defence of our Religion But for the further clearing of this point you must know that every just and Lawfull tribute must have these three essential conditions that are proprietates constitutivae Three conditions of every lawfull Tribute 1. Legitima potestas that is the Kings power to require it 2. Justa causa an urgent necessity or need of it 3. Debita portio a due proportion according to the Kings necessities and the peoples abilities that he be not left in need nor the people over-charged For As the Subjects are thus bound to supply the necessities of their King so the King is not to over-charge his Subjects for the King should be the Shepheard of his People as David calls himself and Homer tearmeth all good Kings and not the devourer of his people Kings should not over-charge their Subjects as Achilles calleth Agamemnon for the unreasonable taxes that he laid upon them therefore good Kings have been very sparing in this point for Darius inquiring of the Governours of his Provinces whether the tributes imposed upon them were not too excessive and they answering that they thought them very moderate he commanded that they should raise but the one half thereof A worthy speech of Lewis 9. which had Rehoboam bin so wise to do he had not lost ten parts of his Kingdome and Lewis the ninth of France which they say was the first that raised a tax in that Kingdome directing his speech to his Son Philip and causing the words to be left in his Testament which is yet to be sound Registred in the chamber of accounts said be devout in the service of God have a pittifull heart towards the poore and comfort them with thy good deeds observe the good Lawes of thy Kingdome take no taxes nor benevolences of thy Subjects unlesse urgent necessity and evident commodity force thee to it and then upon a just cause and not usually if thou doest otherwise thou shalt not be accounted a king King James his golden apothegme Basilicon doron l. 2. p. 99. but a Tyrant and it is one of the gracious apothegmes of our late noble and never to be forgotten Soveraigne worthy to be written in in letters of gold where speaking to his son he saith inrich not your self with exactions from your Subjects but think the riches of your Subjects your best Treasures and Artaxerxes said it was a great deale more seemlier for the Majesty of a King to give then to take by polling to cloath then to uncloath which belongeth to Theeves not to Princes unlesse they will stain their names for as Apollonius saith that gold which is taken by Tyranny is far baser then any iron because it is wetted with the teares of the poor Subjects and therefore Peter de la Primauday saith they are unworthy of the title of Prince that lending their eares to such as invent new wayes to get monyes from their Subjects and having against all humanity Pet. de la Primauday cap. 60. p. 670. spoyled them of their goods do either miserably consume them upon their pleasures or prodigally bestow them upon undeserving flatterers that fat themselves by the overthrow of others And therefore it behoveth all kings to consider that all mens goods are theirs only quoad tuitionem defensionem and their Subjects quoad possessionem proprietatem as you may see where Joseph bought all the Land of the Egyptians for king Pharaoh Gen. 47.46 and then let it them againe in Fee-farme to give the King the fifth part of the fruit of it and as you may conclude it from the eighth Commandment which saith as well to the King as to the subject thou shalt not steale for if all be his he cannot be said to steale it and if this precept concerns not kings then have they but nine Commandments and therefore be wise O ye Kings and remember what Saint Augustine saith remotâ justitiâ quid sunt Regna nisi Latrocinia for though you may justly demand Tribute and Taxes yet you must have just occasions to use them and you must take but a just proportion or else they may come unjustly unto you But who shall be the Judges of the Kings just occasions in many kingdomes his conscience as the Roman Consuls imposed what taxes they thought meet upon the Provinces they subdued so Marcus Antonius being in Asia doubled their Tax and laid a second charge upon the People which was very unreasonable as Hebreas told him saying The saying of Hebreas to M. Antonius if thou wilt have power to lay upon us two taxes in one year thou must have also power to give us two summers and Autumns two Harvests and two Vintages and yet if our king do thus unreasonably tax us with more then we are able to beare we may reason with him as Hebreas did with Marke Antony refel his arguments Kings herein not to be resisted and repel his oppressions according to the course of Law but we may not in any case with the Sword make any resistance either actual or habitual against him Reason 1 1 Because God hath not made us Judges of the Kings occasions and we know not his necessities and therefore we cannot determine what is just and unjust Reason 2 2. Were it granted that the superior demanded without right yet the inferior not onely may rightly render it without offence unto his conscience but also ought to pay it without resistance unto the Magistrate for if the Jews were not free and the Romans had no right to demand Tribute of them yet by our Saviours question unto Saint Peter and his replication unto the Apostles answer it is apparent that our Saviour was most free and was no way bound to pay any thing unto the Romans not onely quâ Deus as Hesselius saith Hesselius in Matth. 18. Barrad to 2. l. 19. c. 32. but also as he was a man as Barradius more truely proveth yet lest he should offend them as he saith tributum solvit quia voluit he
doth most willingly discharge it to teach us that we may and ought justly and without any scruple of conscience pay that which may be unjustly demanded and the best Authors that I have read are of the same judgement we have no other remedy but to cry to God who can judge them for their injustice non caret modis Greg. Tholos l. 26. de repub c. 5. n. 25. quibus possit quando voluerit hujusmodi principes tollere vel emendare But though in most of the Eastern Countries the Kings imposed upon their Subjects what taxes and tributes pleased themselves as Augustus taxed all the world as much as he would at his own pleasure and Charles the fifth saith Osorius praeter pecunias quibus illum Hispani juverant immania tributae populis imperavit besides those monyes wherewith the Spaniard assisted him Osor de rebus Emanuel l. 12. p. 386. What the Kings of England promised to their Subjects laid most heavy taxes upon the people which is indeed a branch of the absolute right of Kings and was originally practised by most of them yet here with us our Kings out of grace and favour unto their people granted such a priviledge unto their Subjects and devested themselves of this right to lay no impositions or taxes upon their Subjects without the consent of their three States convened in the two Houses of Parliament and this Princely concession being truely observed may procure a great deale of love and peace unto the king and as much tranquility and happinesse unto the people Neither do I thinke that he loves his King but am sure that he hates his Country that would perswade him for all the wealth of the kingdome to violate his own grant and faith herein That we should not be niggards to assist our king but as our king granted this favour to impose no taxes without the consent of his Parliament so his Parliament in all duty ought alwayes with all thankfulness to acknowledge this special grace and in requital thereof most fully to supply his wants and support his necessities whensoever he acquaints them therewith And therefore we ought not to be like those hide-bound Sectaries and close-fisted Puritans and Brownists that are so miserably covetous and extream niggards that when the king makes known his wants and demands his due for it is still his due though he granted not to cesse it without their consent for his royal supportation and the safety of his kingdome they will finde a hundred excuses to deny him but never a penny to give him out of all their wealth and this is the cause of our misery and may prove as fatal to us as it hath been to the Constantinopolitans whose churlishnesse and niggardlinesse towards their Emperour was the chiefest cause of the losse of that great Empire and to make the Turk sit in Christ his Chaire to have Mahomet adored where the Gospel was formerly published by as many famous Fathers as now England hath Preachers How Constant was lost and what the Turk then said for the Emperour foreseeing the Siege made many motions for contributions towards the repairing of the Walls and continue the military charge but the Subjects drew back and pleaded want until it was too late and the City lost for though the enemy having a long time besieged it was intended to give over the Siege and to be gone yet tydings and intelligence being given him that the Souldiers within the Town were grown very thin and discontented for want of their pay the enemy returned and in a short space took the City and there found in private mens hands such infinite store of gold and all manner of treasure the hundred part whereof would have paid all the Souldiers kept out the enemy and preserved them all that the Turk seeing the basenesse of the Citizens so foolishly hiding their wealth and denying just aid unto their Emperour stood amazed and lifting up his hands to heaven lamented their folly and asked what they meant that having such a store of wealth they would suffer themselves to be thus destroyed onely for want of wit or of grace to use it and thence grew the Proverb among the Turkes unto this day when one becommeth very rich you have been at the Siege of Constantinople And I p ay God it may not so fall out with us for our covetousnesse that we prove not Lucans speech to be true omnia dat qui iust a negat to lose all unjustly unto strangers unto rebels because we deny what is just unto our King But I will conclude this point with the Poët Astra Deo nâ—l majus habent nil Caesare terra Sic Caesar terras ùt Deus astra regit Imperium regis Caesar Deus astra gubernat Caesar honore suo dignus amore Deus Dignus amore Deus dignus quoque Caesar honore est Alter enim terras alter astra regit Cum Deus in caelis Caesar regat omnia terris Censum Caesaribus solvite vota Deo 5. Defence of the kings person 5. Defence of his Person is another princâ—pal part of that honour which we owe unto our King And the very heathens did think their lives well bestowed for their Gods their family and the father of the Country how much more willing should the Christians be to hazard their lives in defence of their King 2 Sam. 21.17 Lament 2.4 Ps 78.71.72 vide Hos 3.4 c. 10.3 and Lament 2.9 which is quasi unus è decem millibus worth ten thousands of us being as the Scripture termes him the Light of Israel and the breath of our nostrils the head of his Subjects the shepheard and Pastor of the people and as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the people without which they must all fall unto the ground for where there is no governour all must perish and there will be no Priest no Prince no Religion no Nobility no good 1 Joh. 3.16 but anarchy and confusion and the destruction of all things And if we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren as S. John saith how much rather ought we to do it for our King it is recorded in our annals to his eternal praise Nulla gent ità sollicita est circa regem suum sicut apes unde rege incolumi omnibus mens una est quando nequit volare seri ipsum turba apum si moritur moriuntur ipsae that Sir Hubert Syncler at the Seige of Bridge-north seeing an arrow that was shot at his Master King Henry the second stepped betwixt the shaft and his Soveraign and receiving the arrow into his body was therewith shot through to death that he might preserve the life of his King which otherwise had been slain in his stead So Turnbull had his name for killing a Bull that had otherwise slain one of the Kings of Scotland and we
hath given him 3. They have with Nadab and Abihu adventured to offer strange fire upon Gods Altar and with Vzza to lay their prophane hands upon Gods holy Arke they have rejected the Lawes that the King with the advice and consultation of all his learned Clergy hath made * Though now I reckon not this among their wickednesses and they themselves sit in Moses chaire and have undertaken to reforme the Church to make Lawes and compose Articles of our faith with the advice of a few factious men that were never esteemed otherwise then faex Cleri not woâ—â—hy to be the Curates of those worthy Divines whose feet they hurt in the stocks 〈…〉 the iron into their soules How they persecute the Bishops and the best of the Clergy 4. They have cast out all the Bâ—shops and all the faithfull Ministers of Christ out of all offices that might further the Gospell and administer justice unto the people they do rob them of their meâ—nes and count sacriledge to be no sin and in very deed they have persecuted the worthiest Clergy in many particulars far worse then ever Julian that wicked Apostata did the Lord of Heaven give us patience to indure it and suffer us not for feare of any villanie or calamity to be dejected and so fall away from his truth 5. They have called and continued an Assembly which the Pope would not do without the Emperours leave contrary to the Kings command which is a meere and mighty usurpation of the Regall right 6. They have seized upon the Kings Revenues Castles Forts Townes Ships and all that they could lay hand on and do in a hostile manner with all violence detaine them from him but what he gaines by his sword to this very day 7. They have fought against him shot at His sacred Person and sought most Barbarously to kill him under the colour to preserve him which is the finest piece of Logicke that ever was read 8. They have rayled at him slandered him and most apparently and falsly belyed him and laid to his charge the things which we his Majesties Subjects and Servants that attend Him do know that He neither did nor knew 9. They incouraged and countenanced their ignorant brazen-faced Chaplains most uncivilâ—y to rayle at Gods Anointed in the Pulpit and so they brought the abomination not of desolation but of most horrible transgression into the holy place and made Moses chaire the seat of railers 10. They taxe the Subjects at their pleasure and have raised infinite summes of money and no man but themselves knowes how they have disposed or what they have done therewith 11. They discharged Apprentices they send out their Warrants and their Edicts without and against the Kings authority which are but nugae and the minims of their doings 12. They averre that the King hath no negative voice in making Lawes but they may conclude them and make them obligatory without the Kings approbation or ratification and that they may do any thing conducible to the good of the Church and Common-wealth any Law Statute or provision made to the contrary notwithstanding What they say of their Covenants 13. They are not ashamed to teach as they do practice that it is lawfull for them to make Covenants Combinations and Confederacies of mutuall defence and offence against any person whatsoever whom themselves judge malignant not excepting the King himselfe and they say that it were better for them to renounce their Baptisme then to forsake their Covenant which they believe will be more advantageous to the Kingdome then all the Priviledges that are granted in Magna Charta or the Statutes that have been made ever since 14. They jeered at the Kings Proclamations trampled his Declarations under feet and incountred the same with rebellious Protestations To what they liken the kings pardons 15. They perswade the people to give no eare to any discourse of Accommodation or conclusion for any peace and say that the King is not to be trusted that he will performe no promise that he maketh either in his Proclamations or Declarations and therefore that the Kings Pardons may be likened to a buckler of glasse or a staffe of reede on which there is no trust no committing themselves to the defence of any such pardon So we may say with the Poet Nos juvat alma quies gens haec fera bella minatur Et quoties pacem poscimus arma crepat Whence they learned their Divinity 16. They teach the Doctrine of coercion dedignifying degrading and decapitating of Kings when they deeme them unworthy of that dignity and their arguments and reasons they collect and produce out of Dolman Bellarm. Suarez and the Magazine of the most rigid Jesuites 17. They have so barbarously and so irreverently and so prophanely abused our Service-Book that it would â—â—ath your eares to heare transcend modesty to tell you how they have dealt with it and they threatned that if the Ministers would read it they should never read book again 18. They do agree with the worst of Papists the Jesuites in a great many of the worst points of doctrine that they teach and yet being not well able to understand their tenets they hate Papists so much How contrary to Christs doctrine Matth. 13.29 they would root out all Papists that they would root them out of their very being they would destroy all the Irish that are Papists and drive all Papists out of England out of the world that the name of Papists should be no more in remembrance and contrary to all reason divinity and humanity they would force and compell every man to profess the Religion that they are of though some of them as their independents are far on the other side would have every man to have liberty to profess what Religion himselfe liketh best 19. They have most ingratefully and disloyally injured a most loving wife and their owne most gracious Queen for shewing Her love How they have wronged the Queen the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Commons of this Land and discharging Her duty to Her husband They have imprisoned and barbarously used some of the Nobility most of the Clergy and abundance of the Gentry and others of the best account of the common Subjects of this Kingdom they have plundered and robbed many thousands of men they have killed and murdered as many they have made our Cities dens of theeves our Churches prisons and all the Land Acheldama's fields of blood they multiplyed the number of Widowes Orphanes and Theeves without number throughout the Land and they filled the whole Kingdome with miseries lamentations and woes and they have done so many mischiefes as if I should set them all down would fill up another volume And 20. As if all this were not enough to fill up the measure of their iniquity they spared neither pains nor cost to call in the Scots to assist them How they laboured to call in the Scots to
it is most lamentable to consider how many thousands they have murdered 7. How they loosened the reins to all lust hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam populumque fluxit Horat. car l. 3. 8 How they are like Argivi fares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ps 94.12 9. How they belyed all sorts of good men Quomodo Deus pater genuis filium veritatem nempe sic diabolus lapsus genuit quasi filium mendacium Aug. super Ioh. Habac. 2.9 Gildas de exci dio Britan. and how they are thought worthy of the greatest honour and the best reward that have killed most of God's faithfull servants and the King 's loyal Subjects 7. For adulteries Fornications and all Uncleannesse they may now freely do it lust may flow like the river whose bankes are broken down when they have overthrown those courts of Justice and were never at rest till they had most violently suppressed the power and execution of all Ecclesiastical censures that were the chiefest bars and hindrances of these unlawful lusts 8. For stealing they have changed the name but not the nature of it for under the pretence of preserving to us the propriety of our goods they have not stolne but plundered away that is robbed us of all our goods and carried them into those Rebellious Townes that are now the dens of these thieves and are stronger in their wickednesse then the hils of the robbers and that which makes this sin most sinful is that it is established by a Law 9. They have justified the Cretans and proved themselves the right bastard sons of the father of lyes filling all and every corner of this Kingdome with palpable intolerable and incredible lyes slanders and false witnesse-bearing against God against his Anointed against the Church and against all the reverend governours of the Church all religious Protestants all the loyal Subjects of this Nation that the Angels do now blush and the Devils do laugh and rejoyce to see they are so fruitful in begetting so many Children so perfectly formed and so compleately perfected in their own image and likenesse and if ever the saying of Gildas was true they have proved it now Moris continui gentis erat sicut nunc est ut infirma esset ad retundenda hostium tela fortis ad civilia bella infirma inquam ad exequenda pacis ac veritatis insignia fortis ad scelera mendacia 10. They have coveted an evil covetousnesse 10. The extent of their covetousnesse when they coveted all evil unto themselves not onely their neighbours houses goods and lands and all that are theirs but also the patrimony of the Church the revenues of the Clergy and all the rights and prerogatives of the King to be entayled upon themselves and their faction that so they and theirs might be both Kings and Priests and all not to God but to themselves and their fellow Rebels in the government of this Kingdome And as they have thus transgressed all the old Commandments of the Law How they transgressed the new commandment of the Gospel Gen. 4.9 so they come no wayes short in transgressing the new Commandment of the Gospel for their love to their brethren is now turned to perfect hatred when they say not with Cain am I my brothers keeper but with Apollyon I will be the destroyer of my brethren neither will I sell them as the brethren of Joseph did him unto the Egyptians but I will send them if I can possibly quick to hell let those Lâ—yal subjects that have been unexspectedly murdered and those many thousands that have beene plundered of all their Estates testifie to the World the love of these men unto their brethren who have felt more cruelty and barbarity and less charity from these holy Saints then could be expected from Jews Turkes and Pagans 23. Though every sin deserves the wrath of God How they have committed the 7 deadly sins Rom. 6.23 as the Apostle saith in general the reward of sin is death be it little or be it great yet because some sins do more provoke the wrath of God and do sooner produce this deadly fruit then other sins the Divines have observed seaven special sins which they terme the seaven deadly sins and these also you may finde committed in the highest degree by these factious Rebels For 1. Pride which is an high conceit of a mans own worth 1 Their Pride Quid juvat O homines tanto turgescere fastu Nam ut ait Comicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 far beyond his just deserts and therefore believing himself to be inferiour to none scorns to be subject unto any is the Father that produceth and the nurse that cherisheth all rebellion and our Parliamentary faction together with the Assembly of their Divines thinking themselves holyer then the Saints and wiser then their Brethren have therefore made this unnatural war to destroy us all because we will not subscribe with them to destroy both Church and State this is the fruit of pride but the punishment is to be resisted by God who throweth damnation upon their heads because they resist the ordinance of God 2. Pride cannot subsist without meanes therefore covetousnesse must support it and I shewed you before how covetous these Rebels are not of any good 2. Their Covetousnesse Sacrilegia minuta puniuntur magna jam in triumphis feruntur Senec. ep 87. 3. Their luxury Certa quidem tantis causa est manifesta ruinit Luxuriae nimium libera facta via est Propert. eleg 11. l. 3. 4. Their envy but of our goods and of our lives that they may enjoy our lands even the lands of the Church that they may take the houses of God in possession which may prove to them like Aurum Tholosanum or as Midas gold that was the destruction of that covetous wretch 3. Their luxury and lust must needs proceede from fulnesse and pride and I beleive it is not unknown to many how these Rebels spend their time in revelling and feasting chambering and wantonnesse which though never so secretly done by them in the night yet are they publickly seene in the day and seene to their shame if they could be ashamed of any thing 4. How envy hath possest their souls it is almost beyond all sence to consider it they envy that any man should be king and themselves subjects that any man should be a Bishop and themseves Priests or that any man should be rich and themselves not so wealthy therefore they will needs pull down what themselves cannot reach unto 5. If Epicurus were now living or Sardanapalus came to these mens feasts 5. Their Gluttony and drunkennesse they might think themselves the teachers of sobriety and the masters of abstinency in comparison of these new gulists who make a God of their bellies and fare deliciously every day that they can get it more deliciously then Dives it is incredible to consider what they
be heartily sorry that these unjust Acts and Ordinances were ever done and more sorry that they were not sooner undone and then God will turne his face towards us he will heale the bleeding wounds of our Land and he will powre down his benefits upon us but till we do these things I do assure my selfe and I beleive you shall finde it that his wrath shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still and still untill we either do these things or be destroyed for not doing them King James his speech made true by the Rebells Thus it is manifest to all the World that as it was often spoken by our sharpe and eagle-sighted Soveraigne King James of ever blessed memory no Bishop no King so now I hope the dull-ey'd owle that lodgeth in the desart seeth it verifyed by this Parliament for they had no sooner got out the Bishops but presently they laid violent hands upon the Crowne seized upon the Kings Castles How the Rebells have unking'd our King shut him out of all his Townes dispossest him of his owne houses took away all his sâ—ips detained all his revenues vilified all his Declarations nullified his Proclamations hindered his Commissions imprisoned his faithfull Subjects killed his servants and at Edge-hill and Newbury did all that ever they could to take away his life and now by their last great ordinance for their counterfeit Seale they pronounce all honours pardons grants commissions and whatsoever else His Majesty passeth under his Seale to be invalid void and of none effect and if this be not to make King Charles no King I know not what it is to be a King Hos 8.4 so they have unking'd him sine strepitu and as the Prophet saith they have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not What kings they would have to rule us but whom have they made Kings even themselves who in one word do and have now exercised all or most of the regall power and their Ordinances shall be as firm as any Statutes and what are they that have thus dis-robed King Charles and exalted themselves like the Pope as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Antichrist above all that are called Gods truly none other then king Pym king Say king Faction or to say the truth most truly and to call a spade a spade king perjurers king murderers king traytors * Whâ—ch S. Peter never bade us honour The Rebells brave exchange Psal 146.20 and I am sorry that I should joyne so high an office so sacred a thing as King to such wicked persons as I have shewed them to be And what a royal exchange would the Rebels of this Kingdome make just such as the Israelites made when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that cateth hay and said these be thy Gods Psal 146.20 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawful King for unlawful Tyrants and taken Jothams bramble for the cedar of Lebanon the Devils instruments for Gods Anointed Judg. 9.15 they may justly say these be thy Kings O Londoners O Rebels that brought thee out of a Land that flowed with milke and hony out of those houses that were filled with all manner of store into a land of misery into houses of sorrow that are filled with wailings lamentations and woes when we see the faithful City is become an harlot our gold drosse and our happinesse turned to continual heavinesse But as the Rutilians considering what fruit they should reape by that miserable war wherein they were so far ingaged cried out at last Virgil Aeneid l. 12. Scilicet ut Turno contingat regiae conjux Nos animae viles inhumata infletáque turba Sternamur campis We undo our selves our wives and our children to gain a wife for Turnus so our seduced men may say we ingage our selves to dye like doggs that these rebels may live like Kings who themselves sit at ease while others endure all woes and do grow rich by making all the Kingdome poore and therefore O England quae tanta est licentia ferri lugebit patria multos when as the Apostle saith evill men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived for God is not mocked but whatsoever a man soweth 2 Tim. 3.13 Gal. 6.7 that shall he also reape for though we for our sins may justly suffer these and many other more miseries we do confesse it yet the whole world may be assured that these Rebels the generation of vipers being but the Rod of Gods fury The Rebels sure to be destroyed Contemptrix superûm sevaeque avidissima caedis violenta fuit scires è sanguine natam 2 Sam. 7.1 to correct the offences of his children such seeds of wickedness as they sow can produce none other harvest then ruine and destruction to all these usurping Kings and Traytors who thinke to please God by doing good service unto the Devil and to go to Heaven for their good intention after they are carried into Hell for their horrid Rebellion God Almighty grant them more grace and our King more care to beware of them and when God doth grant him rest with David on every side round about him to restore his Bishops and Clergy to their pristine station that when these bramble rods are burnt and these rebels fallen the King and the Bishops may still stand like Moses and Aaron to guide and gouerne Gods people committed to their charge And thus I have shewed thee O man some of the sacred rights of royal Majesty granted by God in his holy Scriptures practised by Kings from the beginning of the world yeilded by all nations that had none other guide but the light of nature to direct them I have also shewed thee how the people greedy of liberty and licentiousnesse have like the true children of old Adam that could not long endure the sweet yoke of his Creator strived and strugled to withdraw their necks from that subjection which their condition required and their frowardnesse necessitated to be imposed upon them and thereby have either graciously gained such love and fauour from many pious and most clement Princes as for the sweetning of their well merited subjection to grant them many immunities and priviledges or have most rebelliously incroached upon these rights of Kings wresting many liberties out of the hands of Government and forcibly retaining them to their own advantage sometimes to the overthrow of the royal government as Junius Brutus and his associates did the Kings of Rome sometimes to the diminution of the dimidium if not more then halfe his right as the Ephori did to the kings of Lacedemon but alwayes to the great prejudice of the king and the greater mischief to the Common-wealth because both reason and experience hath found it alwayes true that the regal
Government or Monarchical State though it might sometimes happen to prove tyrannical is far more acceptable unto God as being his own prime and proper ordinance most agreeable unto nature and more profitable unto all men then either the Aristocratical or Popular Government either hath or possibly can be for as it is most true that praestat sub malo principe esse quà m sub nullo it is better to live under an ill Governour then where there is no Gove nment so praestat sub uno tyranno vivere quà m sub mille it is better to be under the command of one tyrant then of a thousand as we are now under these Rebels who being not faex Romuli the worst of the Nobilty but faex populi the dregs of the people indigent Mechanicks and their Wives captivated Citizens together with the rabble of seduced Sectaries have so disloyally incroached upon the rights of our King and so rebelliously usurped the same to the utter subversion both of Church and Kingdom if God himself who hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand and turneth the same wheresoever he pleaseth had not most graciously strengthned his Majesty with a most singular and heroick resolution assisted with perfect health from the beginning of their insurrection to this very day to the admiration of his enemies and the exceeding joy and comfort of his faithfull Subjects and with the best aide and furtherance of his chiefest Nobility of all his learned and religious Clergy his grave and honest Lawyers and the truly worthy Gentry of his whole Kingdom to withstand their most treacherous impious barbarous and I know not how to expresse the wickednesse of their most horrid attempts so thou hast before thee life and death fire and water good and evil And therefore I hope that this will move us which have our eyes open to behold the great blessings and the many almost miraculous deliverances and favours of God unto his Majesty and to consider the most horrible destruction that this war hath brought upon us to fear God and to honour our King to hate the Rebels and to love all loyal Subjects to do our uttermost endeavour to quench this devouring flame and to that end with hand and heart and with our fortunes and with the hazard of our lives which as our Saviour saith shall be saved if they be lost to assist his Majesty to subdue these Rebels Luk. 9.24 to reduce the Kingdom to its pristine government and the Church to her former dignity that so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity faith and true religion and all other happinesse remaining with us to the comfort of our King and the glory of our God through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with his Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour thanks prayse and dominion for ever and ever Amen Amen Jehovae liberatori FINIS Errata PAge â— lin 3.5 dele not p. 5. l. 50. for make r. made p. 9. l. 23. for hand r. had p. 27. l. 53. dele can p. 39. l. 25. r. right to be p. 51. l. 54. r. this day p. 54 l. 37. dele and p. 61. l. 21. r. that denyed repentance p. 62. l. â—â— r. the same hope p. 95. l. 18. for justice r. injustice p. 100. l. 49. for ye r. yet The Contents of the severall Chapters contained in the RIGHTS of KINGS CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1 Pet. 2.17 in fine How Kings honoured the Clergy the faire but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly ayme at and their malice to Episcopacy and Royalty Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to kingdoms the best of the three Rights how Kings came to be elected and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracy and Democracy issued out of Monarchy Pag. 7 CHAP. III. Sheweth the Monarchicall Government to be the best forme the first Government that ever was agreeable to Nature wherein God founded it consonant to Gods own Government the most universally received throughout the world the immediate and proper Ordinance of God c. Pag. 11 CHAP. IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themseves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel c. Pag. 17 CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto Heathen and wicked Kings how he carried himself before Pilate and how all the good Primitive Christians behaved themselves towards their Heathen Persecuting Emperours Pag. 23 CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three several opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion Pag. 27 CHAP. VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of this that pertain to Religion by His Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods c. Pag. 34 CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiasticall Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Lawes by the advice of of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay-Counsellors how our late Canons came to be annulled c. Pag. 40 CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to four speciall Objections that are made against the Civill jurisdictions of Ecclesiasticall persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councels inhibited these Offices unto Bishops c. Pag. 47 CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensations is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure speciall sorts of false Professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses c. Pag. 64 CHAP. XII Sheweth the assistants of Kings in their Government to
whom the choice of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peeres nor Parliament can have Supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King Pag. 70 § The two chiefest parts of the Regall Government the foure properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary Faction transgress in every property Pag. 74 CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Gouernment of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deut. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Gouernment came up Pag. 78 § The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people Pag. 83 CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto His People to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at His Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed Pag. 88 § Certain quaeries discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the praise of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly Pag. 92 CHAP. XV. Sheweth the honour due to the king 1. Feare 2. An high esteem of our king how highly the Heathens esteemed of their kings the Marriage of obedience and authority the Rebellion of the Nobility how haynous 3. Obedience foure-fold divers kindes of Monarchs and how an absolute Monarch may limit himselfe Pag. 98 CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraigne Magistrate all actions of three kindes how our consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the kings concessions how to be taken CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the king for six speciall reasons to be paid the condition of a lawfull tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the king that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our king Pag. 116 CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the king and the recapitulation of 21 wickednesses of the Rebells and the faction of the pretended Parliament Pag. 121 CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandments of the Law and the new Commandement of the Gospell how they have committed the seaven deadly sins and the foure crying sins and the three most destructive sins to the soul of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience Pag. 213 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have un-king'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole Pag. 127 PSAL. 39.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily every man living or in his best estate is altogether Vanity Sela. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour saith the night cometh John 9.4 when no man can work therefore I must work the Works of him that sent me whilst it is day and S. Paul tels us the time will come when men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves Teachers that is 2 Tim. 4.3 Teachers enough in every place and every time so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth but what kind of Teachers shall they heap unto themselves the Apostle tels you they shall be teachers after their own lusts that is such Tub-teachers of the new Order as will study rather to satisfie their lusts and to preach what they please best than to edifie their soules And I believe all wise men see that time is now and not till now fully come therefore it behoves all the true Teachers to bestir themselves to work the works of him that sent them while it is day while they have any time and while there is any true Light yet remaining before the sad night and darksom clouds of Errours and Heresies be grown so far and to prevail so much against the Truth that you shall scarce find any place or person where or by whom the new lights may be confronted and the old Truth confirmed unto us So it behoveth me and it is my duty to employ my Talent to the uttermost of my power against these false Prophets of the Great Antichrist that is now come into the world and by these heaps of his Emissaries laboureth quite to overthrow the Church of Christ And as Clement recordeth that when Barnabas came to Rome to preach the Gospel of Christ and divers rejected it he briefly said In vestra potestate est vel recipere quae annuntiamus vel speruere It is in your choice either to receive what we teach or to reject it but we may not be silent and not speak quod vobis expedire novimus what we know to be expedient and necessary for you quia nobis si taceamus damnum est vobis quae dicimus si non recipiatis pernicies est Ciem Recog l. 1. p. 6. so say I. And therefore that you may be somthing and so happy I beseech you listen to these words that testifie that in your selves you are nothing but Vanity For verily every man And the nearest way to exchange this Vanity for Eternity and so to make us happy that are in misery is to know our own vanity and to understand our own misery For Knowledge saith Hugo Card. is the way to God and understanding saith the Prophet David Psal 49.12 20. is that which distinguisheth and differenceth man from beast for man though he be never so great in honour never so powerful in place and never so rich in wealth yet if he hath no understanding he is compared to the beasts that perish And the two chiefest parts which are like the Body and Soul of all the Knowledge that makes us happy are these two Precepts so much commended and so often urged unto us even by the Heathens themselves that yet notwithstanding were destitute of all true Knowledge that could make them happy because they knew rightly neither of those two things that they so much commended which were 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self For John 17.3.1 to know God the only way to make us happy 1. Our Saviour tels us this is eternal Life to know God i.e. to know the Father to be the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ For the Heathens knew that God alone is the summum bonum and the only true
is the best form of Government 2. As the hereditary Monarch is the first kinde of Government so it is the principal and best government because it is the immediate Ordinance of God that he set down for the Government of his People for this was ordained by God himself and so continued among his people even in an hereditary way unless the same God designed another person by those Prophets that he inspired for that purpose as it was in the case of David Solomon and Jehu and it is certain that the wisests of men cannot devise a better Form of Government then God ordained therefore the choice of one or more made by the People to be their King or Governour cannot be if not without sin yet I am sure without folly but seeing as our Saviour saith a Sparrow cannot light upon the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father so I must confess Matth. 10.29 haec non sine numine divûm Eveniunt This election of Kings and change of the first Ordinance happend not without God's providence either for the Tyranny of the evil Kings or the punishment of the rebellious people and therefore as Moses for the hardness of those mens hearts that hated their Wives to prevent a greater mischief either continual fighting or secret murdering one another suffered them to give their Wives a bill of divorcement Deut. 24.1 Matth. 19.8 but as our Saviour saith Non erat sic ab initio it was not any primary Ordinance of God but a permissive toleration of the lesser evil so when the people out of their froward disposition to God's first Institution of the Regal right How God allowed the Aristocratical and Democratical Government and why and presuming to like better of their own choice do alter this hereditary Right and divine Ordinance into the election of one or more Governours either annual as among the ancient Romans or vital as it is in the present state of the Venetians God out of his infinite lenity to our humane frailty rather then his people should be without Government and so many heynous sins should go unpunished doth permit and it may be allow and approve the same though sometimes not without great anger and indignation for our contempt and distaste of his heavenly institution Deut. 33 5 as when the Israelites weary of the Judges that succeeded Moses who was a king in Jesurun and that God raised still to rule as Kings amongst them to make War against their enemies and to judge them according to the Law in the time of peace which are the two chiefest Offices of all kings 1 Sam. 8 5. desired to have a king to judg them like all the Nations not a king simply for so they had indeed though not in name but a king like all the Nations that is a king of a more absolute power then the Judges had as Samuel sheweth and they seem contented therewith God sent them a King in his wrath because they had rejected him that he should not reign over them that is vers 7. they had refused to submit themselves to his Ordinance and to obey the Kings that he appointed over them but they must needs be their own Carvers and have a King of their own election or such a king invested with a more absolute power as they desired though notwithstanding they did most hypocritically seem to desire none but whom God appointed over them and therefore perceiving their own errour and seeing their own offence by the anger that God shewed they confessed their fault and did always thereafter accept of their kings by succession The lamentable success of the first elective kings but onely when their Prophets by the sacred Ointment had ordained another by God's special designation But I cannot finde it in all the Scripture or in any other Writings authentical where God appointed or commanded any people to be the â—hâ—esers of their kings but rather to accept of him and submit themselves to him whom the Lord had placed over them For I would very fain know as Roffensis speaketh Roffen de potest Papae 282 An potestas Adami in filios ac nepotes adeóque omnes ubique homines ex consensu filior um ac nepotum dependet an à solo Deo ac naturâ— prostuitâ— And if this Authority of the Father be from God without the consent of his Children then certainly the authority of Kings is both natural and divine immediately from God and not from any consent or allowance of men and Pineda saith Pineda de rebus Solo l. 2. c. 2 Nusquam invenio Regem aliquem Judaeorum populi suffragiis creatum quin si primus ille erat qui designaretur à Deo vel à Propheta eâ—t Dei jussus vel sorte vel aliâ ratione quà m Deus indicâsset Neither do I remember any one that was chosen king by the Children of Israel but onely Abimelâ—â—h the bastard son of Gedeon and as some say Jeroboam that made Israel to sin and the Scripture tells you how unjustly they entered how wickedly they reigned Strange that the People should bestow the greatest favour or dignity on earth Esay 42.8 and how lamentably the first that was without question the Creature of the people ended both his life and his reign to teach us how unsuccesful it is to have other makers of kings then he that is the King of kings and saith He will not give his glory unto another nor hold them guiltless that intrude into his Throne to bestow Soveraignty and create kings at their pleasures when as he professeth it belongeth unto him not to the People to say Yee are Gods and to place his own Viceroy to govern his own People And therefore though I do not wonder to finde Aristotel of that opinion Vt reges populi suffragio constarent That Kings should be elected by the People Arâ—st pol l. 3. and that it was the manner of the Barbarians to accept of their kings by succession Quales sors tulerit non virtutis opinione probatos The nature of the people Blaovod p. 61. and as T. Liv. saith Aut servit humiliter aut dominatur superbè such as nature gave them and not those which were approved by the people for their virtues because he was ignorant of the divine Oracles yet me thinkes it is very strange that men continually versed in God's Word and knowing the nature of the people which as one saith Semper ager est semper insanus semper furore intemperiis agitur and specially reading the story of times should be transported with such dreames and fopperies that the people should have any hand in the election of their kings for if you briefly run over most of the kings of this World you shall scare finde one of a thousand to be made by the suffrage of the people Of all the kings of the world very few made by the suffrage of the