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 aswell to the mediate as to the immediate agent as Samuels anointing of Saul and David Kings denyeth not but that God was the immediate giver of their Kingdomes and the Author of that Regall power for God anointing Saul Captain over his inheritance 1 Sam. 10. and by the mouth of Nathan he telleth David 2 Sam. 12. that he anointed him King over Israel and Solomon acknowledgeth 1 Reg. 2. that the Lord had set him on the seat of his father David 1 Reg. 11. and Abija in the person of God saith unto Ieroboam I will give the Kingdome unto thee and yet it is said that all the people went to Gilgal 1 Sam. 11.15 and made Saul King before the Lord and the men of Iuda annointed David King of Iuda 2 Sam. 5. and Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet annointed Solomon King that is God annointed them as Master of the substance and gave unto them Regall power in whom is all power primario perse and the Prophets anointing them as Masters of the Ceremony and declared that God had given them that power Constituere regem est facere ut regiam potestatem exerceret Pineda de reb Solom c. 2. And therefore the power and authority of Kings is originally and primarily as S. Paul saith the ordinance of God and secondarily or demonstratively it is as S. 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 Kingdoms but by receiving them into the possession of their right and admitting them to exercise their royall 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 Laws 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 soule should be subject to the higher powers Or if this will not satisfie him because the Greeke word is not so plaine for this as the English yet let him looke into Pareus that was no friend to Monarchie Pareus in Rom. c. 13. p. 1327. and he shall find that he doth by seven speciall reasons prove that the authority of Kings is primarily the ordinance of God and he quoteth these places of Scripture to confirme it Prov. 8.15 2 Chron. 19.6 Psal 81.6 Ioh. 10.34 Gen. 9.6 1 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 12. 2 King 9. Dan. 2.21 Iob 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 borne 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 Creator of them as Aaron though he was ordained the high Priest by Moses yet the Apostle tels us None taketh this office upon him but he that is called of God as Aaron was Yet I doe admire that Buchanan or any other man of learning to satisfie the people or his owne peevish opinion will so absurdly deny so divine and so well known 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 the examples that are alleadged to justifie Rebellion and a full answer to each of them God the immediate Author of Monarchie inferiour Magistrats have no power but what is derived from the superiour and the ill successe of all rebellious resisting of our Kings BUt to prove their absurdities they still alledge The allegation to justifie Rebellion That the inferiour Magistrates as the Peeres and Counsellors of Kings and the chiefe heads of all the people which are flos medulla regni 1. By reason are therefore added unto the superiour Magistrate both to be his helpers in the Government and also to refraine his licentiousnesse and to hinder his impieties if he degenerate to be an Idolater or a Tyrant And to confirme this tenet 2. By examples they produce many examples both out of the Sacred and Profane Histories as the Iudges that that rose up against their neighbour Tyrants Ezechias against the King of Assyria the people withstanding Saul that he should not slay Ionathan Ahikam defending the Prophet Ieremy against King Iehoiakim Jer. 26.24 the revolting of the ten Tribes in the time of Rehoboam the Priests and Princes of Iuda 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 Peeres and Potentates of other Kingdomes that in the like cases did the like To all which I answer 1. That it is most false that any Peere Sol. or inferiour Potentate Magistrate or other 1. Their reasons answered is appointed by God to be the Associate of the King or supreame Governour for the government of the people for as God and not the people appointed Moses Ioshua Gideon and the other supreame Judges of Israel so Moses and not God immediately as he did the others appointed the Rulers of tens To what end Kings doe 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 Peeres Counsellors and inferiour Magistrates as well to beare some part of their burthen as Iethro saith unto Moses and to lessen their care as also to afford them their best assistance and counsell 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 royall 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
Magistrates doe extoll themselves above him they have now exceeded the bounds of men that they might esteeme themselves as God Non verendo eum qui post Deum ab hominibus timebatur in not fearing him which men ought to feare next to God But the words of Saint Peter are plaine enough Submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 2.13 whether it be unto the King as supreame or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evill doers and for the prayse of them that doe 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 supreame and the inferiour powers for the words sent of him doe most clearely conclude that the inferiour Magistrates have no power to command but by the vertue power and force which they receive from the supreame and that the inferiour Magistrates opposed to the supreame 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 mannage the sword without him and especially against him upon any pretence whatsoever how then can any or all these Magistrates make a just warre against their King when as none of them can make any just warre without him 2. Reason 2 Because as Bodinus saith most truly the best and greatest not onely of the inferiour Magistrates but also of all these Peeres 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 supreame Magistrate as you see God made Moses the chiefe 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 chiefe so he that is the King or chiefe 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 himselfe and therefore David that was Ex optimatibus regni the greatest Peere in Israel being powerfull in war famous in peace the Kings sonne in law and divinely destinated unto the Kingdom 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 Iews 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 Buchanans absurdity and therefore saith he jureoptimo 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 tels us that immediately after the deluge God the Creator of all the world ordained the revenging sword of bloudshed and the slavish servitude of paternall derision wherein all the parts of civill jurisdiction and regall power are Synecdochically set downe and Iob 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 Common-wealth of Israel was not in being and God himselfe universally saith By me Kings doe reigne that is all Kings not onely of the Iewes but also of the Gentiles and Christ doth positively affirme 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 inde illi potestas unde spiritus he that made him a man made him Emperour and he that gave him his spirit gave him his power That God is the ordainer of all Kings And Ireneus saith God ordained earthly Kingdomes for the benefit of the Gentiles Et cujus jussu homines nascuntur illius jussu Reges constituuntur and by whose command men are borne by his command Kings are made And S. Augustine more plainly and more fully saith Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 33. God alone is the giver of all earthly Kingdomes which hee 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 knowne unto himselfe and whosoever looketh back to the originall of all Governments God the immediate author of Monarchie he shall find that God was the immediate Author of the Regall power and but the allower and confirmer of the Aristocraeticall 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer odyss α And Aristotle tels us Arist Pol. l. 1. c. 8. that the Regall power belonged to the father of the family who in the infancie of the world was so grandevous and long-lived that he begat such a numerous posterity as might well people a whole Nation as Cain for his owne Colonie built a Citie and was aswell the King as the father of all the Inhabitants and therefore Iustin saith very wel that Principio rerum gentium nationumque imperium penes reges erat Justin l. 1. the rule of all 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 appeare unto all Nations that not onely the Kings of Israel but all other Heathen Kings are acknowledged by God himselfe to be of divine institution Jer. 43.10 Esay 45.1 he calleth Nebuchadnezzar his servant and Cyrus his anointed And therefore though I doe not wonder that ignorant fellowes should be so impudent Jo. Good win in his Pamphlet of Anti-Cavalierisme p. 5. as to affirme 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
you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And as he said unto Saul when he persecuted the servants of Christ Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when as hee was then in Heaven farre above the reach of Saul yet because there is such a mysticall 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 Lieutenant Deputy or any other Magistrate or Officer that he sendeth with Commission to execute his commands resisteth the King himselfe and all the indignities that are offered to the Kings Embassador or servant that he thus sendeth 2 Sam. 10. are deemed as indignities offered to the King himselfe as we see the base usage of Davids servants by King Hanun David revenged as an abuse offered unto himselfe because the Kings person cannot be in all places where justice and judgement Whatsoever is done to any Messenger is deemed as dont to him that sent him and many other offices and actions are necessarily to be done throughout the latitude of his Dominions but his power and his authority 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 himselfe as our Saviour when but the Tole-gatherer came for the Tribute money saith Give unto Caesar what belongeth unto Caesar And therefore it is but an idle simple and most foolish frivolous distinction of men to deceive children and fooles 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 doe those things that they doe 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 * S. Paul saith God sendeth them strong delusions 2 Thess 2.11 But what God sendeth justly as the punisher of their sin the Devill sendeth maliciously as the guider of them to Hell which knoweth how neare their destruction hangeth over their heads sends them strong delusions that they should so easily and so sillyly believe such palpable lyes as to make them thinke they love him dearely whom they murder most barbarously Barnesius Barnesius in tract de humanis constitut 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 evill 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 saith Master Dod upō the Commandements that where the Prince commandeth a lawfull act the subjects must obey and if he injoynes unlawfull commands we must not rebell but we must be content to beare 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 expounding the words of S. Peter Master Byfield upon 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreame saith this should confirme every good subject to acknowledge and maintaine the Kings supremacy and willingly to binde himselfe 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 binde 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 feare God and not dare to offend the King ordained of God I might fill a volume if I would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King Iames 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 Serenissimus Rex Jacobus de vera lege liberae Monarchiae for if it be not lawfull 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 lawfull is it thinke you either for all the people or for some of them to usurpe the sword whereof they have no right against the publike Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath beene the Doctrine of all the Learned of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queene Mary and therefore not only they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that now of late lived under Queene 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 Queene that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent bloud but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to he 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 bloudy Persecuters whom they knew to have their authority from that bloudy yet their lawfull Queene And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 and will not with Baalam most wilfully deceive themselves or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noone 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
families of the Tribe of Reuben A subtle practise 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 alwaies that we scarce read of any Rebellion but some base Priests the Chaplaines 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 Jacke Cade in the reigne of Henry the sixth and that of Perkin Warbeck in the time of Henry the seventh and many more that you may finde at home in the lives of our owne Kings may make this point plaine enough But they should have thought on what our Saviour tells us that Every Kingdome divided against it selfe is brought to desolatiou and every Citie or House devided against it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not stand What a mischiefe then was it for these men to make such a division among their owne Tribe and in their owne Campe Nondum tibi defuit hostiis had they not the Egyptians and the Canaanites and the Amalckites and enough besides to fight against but they must raise a civill discord in their owne house could not their thoughts be as devout as the heathen Poets which saith Lucan Pharsal lib. 1. Omnibus hostes Reddite nos populis civile avertite bellum And therefore this makes the sinne of home-bred Rebells the more intollerable because they bring such an Ilias malorum so many sorts of unusuall calamities and grievous miquities upon their owne brethren 3. These Rebels were of their owne 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 equall manners do most of all binde affections Es similitudo morum parit amiciciam 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 maintaine 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 handy-work they do inviolably observe that maxime 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 detaine men from dissention For though diversities of Religion non bene conveniunt can seldome containe themselves for any while in the same Kingdome without civill distractions especially if each party be of a neer equall power which should move all Governours to doe herein as Haniball did with his army that was a mixture of all Nations to keepe the most suspected under and ranke them so that they durst not kicke against his Carthaginians or is Henry the fourth did with the Brittaines 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 furthest 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 professed excepting small differences in adiaphorall things Quae non diversificant species as the Schooles speake it is more then unnaturall for any one to make a Schisme and much more transcendently heynous to rebell against his Governours But indeed no sinne is so unnaturall 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 disordered spirits have rebelled against their Governours fecerunt unitatem contra unitatem erecting Altars against Altars as the Fathers speak they have made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawne after them many multitudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no new thing but a true saying and therefore our Saviour biddeth us to Take heed of false Prophets and of rebellious spirits that as Saint John saith went from us but were not of us but are indeed the poyson and incendiaries both of Church and Common-wealth 4 These Rebells had received many favours and great benefits from their Governours 4 Much obliged for many favours that Governour for they were delivered è lutulentis manuum operibus as St. Augustine speaketh and as the Prophet saith They had eased their shoulders from their burthens and their hands from making of pots they had broken the Rod of their oppressors and as Moses tells them they had separated them from the rest of the multitude of Israel Numb 16.9 and set them neer to God himselfe to doe the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and therefore the light of nature tells us that they were most ungratefull and as inhumane as the brood of Serpents that would sting him to death which to preserve his life would bring him home in his bosome And it seems this was the transcendencie of Judas his sinne and that which grieved our Saviour most of al that he whom he had called to be one of the 12. Apostles whom he had made his Steward and Treasurer of all his wealth for whom he had done more then for thousands of others should betray him into the hands of sinners for if it had been another saith the Psalmist that had done me this dishonour I could well have bornc it but seeing it was thou my familiar friend which didst eat and drinke at my table it must needes trouble me for though in others it might be pardonable yet in thee it is intolerable and therefore of all others he saith of Judas vae illi homini woe be unto that man by whom the Sonne of man is betrayed it had beene better for him he had never been borne as if his sin were greater then the sinnes of Ananias Caiphas of Pilate But the old saying is most true Improbus à nullo flectitur obsequio no service can satisfie a froward soule no favour no benefit no preferment can appease the rebellious thoughts of discontented spirits And therefore notwithstanding Moses had done all this for Corah yet Corah must rebell against Moses So many times though Kings have given great honours unto their subjects made them their Peeres their
party can assure themselves of victory It is true that the justest cause hath best reason to be most confident yet it succeeds not alwayes 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 prevaile against the true Subjects And as the event is doubtfull so it must needs be mournfull what side soever proveth victor for who can expresse the sorrows and sadnesse of those faithfull subjects that shall see the light of their sunne any wayes eclipsed the lampe 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 lesse mournfull 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 onely their dearest lives but also the desolation of their houses and decay of their posterities Quis talia fando temperet à lachrymis When the Kings victory shall be but like that of David after the death of Absolon Bella geri placuit nullos babitura triumphos Luca. l. 1. and the Nobles victory but as the two victories of the Benjamites over their own brethren the Israelites and the best triumph that can succeed on either side shall be but as the espousall of a virgin on the day of her parents funerall or as the laying of the foundation of the second Temple when the shout of joy could not be discerned from the noise 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 we would exchange it for this civill warre for Tyranny Slavery Penury or any thing almost may be better born with peace and unity then a civill war with the greatest libertie 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 Devill 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 civill broyles when every wicked man becomes a Tyrant when he seeth the reines of government cut in pieces Were we under the yoke of an Egyptian 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 states yet the wisest of men tels us that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Pro. 15.16 17. then great treasure and trouble therewith And therefore seeing civill warre is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction full of calamitie 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 cruell 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 yeeld what hee 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 aide and he would hire mercenary Souldiers to revenge the injury offered unto him and to suppresse the Rebels both with fire and sword and if he should happen to have the worse and to loose both his Crowne and Kingdome and his Life and all yet all this would be but a miserable comfort and a lamentable victory to a ruined Common Wealth whose winnings can no wayes countervaile her losses The miseries that follow the disturbance or deposing of any King are unspeakable For wee never read of any King that either was disturbed expelled or killed but there succeeded infinite losses to that Kingdome 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 felt before as you may find in Appian those infinite miseries that succeeded in severall fields and battels which could never end untill the overthrow of Anthony by Augustus Caesar and when Nero perished it fell out with no good successe but the next yeare that followed after his death felt more Oppression and spilt more Bloud then was spilt in all those * His first Quinquennium was good nine yeares wherein he had so Tyrannically reigned So when the Athenians had expelled one Tyrant they brought in Thirty and when the Romans had abandoned their Kings they did not put away the tyrannie but changed the Tyrants for wicked Kings they chose more wicked Consuls which is nothing else but as the Proverbe goeth Antigononum effodere to go out of Gods blessing into the warme Sunne or rather to change a bad Master for a worse And this is contrary to the judgement of that ulcerated wretch in the fable A fable worth the observing who when the traveller saw him full of flies swarming in his sores and pitying his miseries would have swept them off prayed him to let them alone for that these being now well filled would suck the lesse but if these were gone more hungry flies would come which would most miserably suck his blood And so Histories tell us of many other Kings that by Heathens and rebellious subjects were for their injustice cruelty and tyrannie either expelled or murdered but very seldome or never with any publique benefit when the chiefest plotters of any rebellion do most chiefly ayme at their own private revenge or profit Why do many times rebell and why Yea many times those very Parasiticall Lords that have most perswaded the King to do things which he knew not to be illegall and made benefit of those Monopolies and exactions to their own advantage to fill their own purses and then upon either discontent with the King or to content the people and to escape their own due deserved punishment will be the chiefest upbraiders of their King the greatest sticklers of rebellion and the head leaders of all the disloyall Faction What fools then are the people upon the false pretence of publique good to take up armes to destroy themselves when this name of publique good is nothing else but a vain shadow to hide their private ends Or were it granted that it might happen for
the publique good yet it is not good to do it because it can never stand with a good conscience because it is contrarie to the Commandement of God A threefold power in every Tyrant for in every Tyrant there is a threefold power and authority that doth concurre 1. Paternall 2 Conjugall 3 Herile and you know the law of God doth not permit the children to renounce their father nor which is lesse to laugh at their fathers nakednesse nor doth it suffer the wife to forsake her husband nor the servant to chastise his Lord and Master and therefore much lesse may the Subjects deprive their King from his Dominion and take from him what God hath given him or any wayes chastise him for his ill government whereof he is accomptable to God and not to them or if they might depose him or reduce him by their correction when he doth degenerate into a Tyrant yet seeing there are many kinds of Tyrannies I demand if the same reason shall serve to proceed against all kinds of tyrannie Punishment should be proportionable to the fault to the like condemnation of all tyrannous Kings and this every Sophister will deny for where the punishment is not preportionable to the fault the sentence is most unjust and the suppressours of the Tyrant doe shew the signes of a worse tyrannie and if there must be an adaequation of the punishment to the sinne I would know how they would distinguish to impose the just measure that is due to each kinde of tyranny But to leave the Rebels in this Labyrinth till they be better able to evade I say 3. Kindes or tyrannies that there are three speciall kindes of tyrannies 1. 1. Kinde Is against all humane right for his owne private commoditie to the publique losse and dammage of his Subjects as was the tyranny of Achab when he tooke away Naboths vineyard 1 Sam. 8. and of those Kings which Samuel doth describe 2. Violateth the divine Law 2. Kinde to the contumelie of the Creator as was the tyranny of Nebuchadnezzar when he would have forced the three children to adore his golden Image and of Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat that made Israel to sinne because he compelled them to goe to Dan and Bethel to adore his Calves and hindred them to goe to Hierusalem for to worship the true God 3. 3. Kinde Treadeth and trampleth under-foot both the divine and humane right to the utter overthrow of all pietie and justice as was the tyranny of Manasses Julian and others that regarded neither the worship of God nor the good of men And I doe confidently affirme that each one of these tyrannies apart or all of them coupled in one tyrant as well that which offereth violence unto God as that which bringeth calamitie and cruelty unto man ought to be suffered and not abolished antill he doth abrogate the same which alone looseth the belts of Kings and girdeth about their loynes as Job speaketh for you know the forenamed Tyrants and many more as bad or worse then they as Solomon himselfe that by his Oppression Polygamie and Idolatry had most grievously sinned both against God and man and yet all of them went on without either the diminution of their glory or the losse of their dominions These should be our patterns uulesse we have some new Revelations And Achab did most tyrannically kill Naboth and tooke away his Inheritance without Law as David did before kill Vrias a most innocent man and tooke away his Wife contrary to all Law which was death by their law to any other man and he exiled the Prophets was the death of many of them and he trampled downe the true Religion under his feete and by publique authority established the Idolatrous worship of Baal in every place and yet neither the inferiour Magistrates nor the greatest Peeres nor the consent of all the people durst presume contrary to the ordinance of God to depose or suppresse any of these tyrannous men If you alleadge Jehu Ob. I confesse indeed he did it when he conspired against Joram 2 Reg. 9. his own Lord and Master But how did he this Sol. By a power extraordinarily given him from Heaven as you may see in the 6. and 7. verses of that Chapter when the same was not permitted him by any lawes as Iezabell her self could tell him Had Zimripeace which slew his Master To whom he might have answered He breakes no Law that obeyeth the Commands of the Law-maker no more then the Israelites could be accused of Theft when they did rob the Aegyptians or Abraham of Murder if hee had killed Isaac but without this speciall command hee could not have done this extraordinary worke without sinne and therefore that which He could not doe then without the warrant of the heavenly Oracle cannot be done now by any other without the contempt of the Deitie Jebu's example not to be imitated the reproach of Majestie and aboundance 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 drawne for any example for certainly if it might bee Lawsull 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 Pettus Martyr loc com class 4. loc 20. for though they should reigne never so justly and holily yet they should never satisfie the people but they would still accuse them of injustice and impietie that they might depose them And Bodinus in his Policie differeth not at all from this Divinity for he saith If the Prince be an absolute Soveraigne as are the Kings of France Spaine England Scotland Ethiopia Turkie Persia Muscovie and the like true Monarchs whose authoritie cannot be doubted and their chiese rule and governement cannot be imparted with their Subjects in this case it is not lawfull 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 kinde of impietie and crueltie which the tongue of any man could expresse For as concerning the order of right the Subject hath no kinde of jurisdiction against his Prince from whom dependeth and proceedeth all the power and authoritie of commanding as they that rise against their King doe notwithstanding send out their warrants and commands in the Kings name and who not onely can recall all the facultie of judging and governing from his inferiour Magistrates whensoever he please Iohan Bodinus de repub l. 2. c. 5 but also being present all the power and jurisdiction of all his under Magistrates Corporations Colledges Orders
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 doe all as you see in the name of the King All the inferiour Magistrates must doe all in the name of the superiour 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 therefore if these Peeres Nobles or inferiour Magistrates have any wayes any power or authority over their Kings we must conclude against S. Peter that these are above the King and so they and not the King are the supereminent power But we finde no such power nor commandement that they have frow God to refraine Kings in all the holy Scriptures Et si mandatum non est presumptio est ad poenam proficiet non ad praemium and if there be no commandment for it it is presumption to doe 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 Peeres as Saint Augustine saith And therefore both the learned and religious Fathers And the Homilie of the Church of England against wilfull 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 tedious for me to set down in Iohan. 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. 2. Their examples answered For the examples that are produced 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 doe the like when as we are to live by the lawes and precept 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 runne over the particulars of their examples as briefe as I can 1. I say 1. Example answered that to conclude an ordinary rule from the doings of the Judges which were extraordinarily commanded by God to be done is no more lawfull for us to doe then it is for us to rob our neighbours because the Israelite robbed the Egyptians August in Jud c. 20. as Saint Augustine sheweth And therefore Aquinas if Aquinas be the Author of that booke De Regimine Princip saith excellent well Quibusdam visum est it seemes to some men that it pertaineth to the honour of valiant and heroicall men to take away a Tyrant and to expose themselves to the perill and danger of death for the liberty and freedome 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 Apostolicall Doctrine for Saint Peter teacheth us to be subject not onely to the good but also to the froward because this is thanke worthy with God if for conscience sake we patiently suffer wrongs therefore when many of the Romane Emperours did most tyrannically persecute the faith of Christ Thom. de Regiminae Princip la. 1. c. 6. 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 A great deale of disterence betwixt a lawfull King and an Usurper Besides Eglon was not the lawfull King of Israel but an alien an usurper and a scourge to punish them for their sin and therefore no patterne for others to rebell against their lawfull King 2. 2. Example answered For the example of Ezechias rebelling against the King of Assyria it is most impertinently alleadged for Ezechias was the lawfull King of Iudah 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 Iudah trefused to obey the King of Assyria therefore the inferiour Magistrates or Peeres of any Kingdome may resist and remove their lawfull Prince for his tyranny or impiety surely this deserves rather Fustibus tutundi quà m rationibus refellt 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 forreine as Eglon and the King of Assyria wero or domestique Saul Achab and Manasses were because the domestique is worse then the forreigne The absurdity of their replication and there fore 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 far worse then vipers because they hurt but the body onely and these are pernitious both to body and soule therefore as a man may lawfully kill a viper so he may more lawfully kill a seditious Preacher But to omit their absurdity let us looke into the comparison betwixt domestique and extranean Tyrants Quia dare absurdam non est solvere argumentum and we shall finde that domestique Tyrants are lawfully placed over us by God who cōmandeth us to obey them forbiddeth us to refist them in every place for the Scripture makes no distinction betwixt a good Prince and a Tyrant in respect of the honour reverence and obediecce that we owe unto our superiors 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 speake not evill of the Rulers be they good or be they bad and therefore Saint Paul when he was strictly charged for reviling the wicked high Priest answered wisely I wist not brethren that he was Gods high Priest for if I had knowne him
Crown and therefore Jehoida the chiefe Priest having gathered together the principall Peers of the Kingdome and the Centurions and the rest of the people shewed them the Kings son 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 son 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 heire unto the Kingdome they put to death the cruell Queen that had so tyrannically slain the Kings children and so unjustly usurped the Crowne 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 usurpers that held the Jewes under them in ore gladii with the edge of their swords and were not their lawfull 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 8. 8. Example answered For the example of Thrasibulus Junius Brutus and other Romans or whosoever that for their faults have deposed their Kings Examples not to be imitated I answer with Saint Augustine that Exemplo paucorum not 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 expelle mischiefe and to admit a greater as besides what I have shewed you before this one most memorable example out of our owne Histories doth make it plaine In the time of Richard the second the Nobility and Gentry murmured much against his government in brief they deposed him The ill successe of resisting our superiours and set the Crown upon the head of the Duke of Lancasher 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 or dispossesse their lawfull 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 paines was served as S. 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 bloodshed the miseries and mischiefes that this one unjust and unfaithfull act produced had never any period never an end till that well nigh an hundred thousand English men were slaine in civill warres Trussel in his supplement to Damels History whereof 2 were Kings 1 Prince 10 Dukes 2 Marquesses 21 Earles 27 Lords 2 Viscounts 1 Lord Prior 1 Judge 139 Knights 421 Esquires and Gentlemen of great and ancient Families a far greater number a just revenge for an unjust extrusion of their lawfull King whose greatest misery came from his great mildnesse And therefore these things being well weighed in the the ballance of the Sanctuary in the scales of true wisedome it had been better for them as it wil be for us 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 sins 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 All the pressures that wee have suffered since the first yeare of our King are not comparable to the miseries that this one yeares civill warre hath brought upon us from hard usage that we impatiently conceived to most base and cruell 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 Romanes when for their liberty and priviledges as they termed it in Pompeyes time Excessit medicina modum the remedy that they procured hath proved farre worse then the disease they suffered and I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdome will feelingly confesse this to bee too true when they shal more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soone he was removed and how happily it came to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Richard the third was not only a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the crown and not the right King of England and that there is a great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawfull Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himselfe into the royall throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously finde both in the Greek and Romane stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will plague it whensoever it is attempted Object After I had answered these objections I lighted upon one more which is taken out of 2 King 6.32 where the Objector saith when Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha open his doore for him sit still til he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himselfe for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him and a little after he saith surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got into him before the doore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer Sol. that who this Goodwin is I know not I could wish he were none of the Tribe of Levi The Ministers of Chist should not be incendiaries of waite 1. Because I finde him such an
incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Quam speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lords and therefore I can hardly beleeve these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head The first mistake in the front of his speech when as Ahab was dead long before it was his ghost therfore and not he but it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the door and desired the Elders to handle the Messenger roughly or hold him fast at the doore Thus saith the text 2 Kings 6 32. and the Prophet in my judgment doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to doe If any thing more not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the doore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one Citie to flie into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector telleth us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand what inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure Iohn Baptish would not do so nor S. Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret counsell and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not doe except hee bee sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by word as he did to Abraham to kill his sonne or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to doe it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those paternes that are confirmed by knowne and generall rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure commentaries of humane wisedome upon the cleare Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully doe to keep the messenger out of doors so long as he could and yet this man would infer hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawfull Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the Schoole of Christ He makes some other objections which I have already answered in this treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six severall answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must bee Arcana imperii and there must be privie Counsellors every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not only be examined but also disobeyed as the three children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the high Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resist them and to take armes against them I would he understood there is a great deale of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no meanes we may doe CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two maine Objections answered The originall of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth BUt when all that hath been spoken cannot satisfie their indignation against true obedience and allay the heat of their rebellious spirits they come to their ultimum resugium best strength and strongest fort that although all others should want sufficient right to crosse the commands and resist the violence of an unjust and tyrannicall Prince yet the Parliament that is the representative body of all his Kingdom are intrusted with the goods estates and lives of all his people may lawfully resist and when necessity requireth take armes and subdue their most lawfull King and this they labour to confirme 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 speak of Parliament in all this Discourse I mean of Parliaments disjoyned froÌ„ their King understand only the prevâ—lent factâ—â—n that ingrosseth and captivateth the Votes of many of the plain honest minded party which hath been often seen both in generall counsells and the greatest Parliaments I wil only direct my speech to that whereof I am a Peer 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 Kingdom that the spirituall Lords have 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 Ed. 1. it is inserted in the writ * Claus 7. m. 3. dort that Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari or tractari debet whatsoever affair is of publick concernment ought to receive publicke approbation and therefore with what equity can so considerable a party of this Kingdome 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 denyed the benefit of that which in all mens judgement is so reasonable a law and they only be excluded from that interest which is common unto al I cannot see yet I say that besides this our right while we sit in Parliament this fruit shall alwaies follow that our knowledge 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 ordinanees without the consent and contrary to the will of our King much lesse to leavy monies and raise armes against our King for I conceive the Priviledges of Parliament to be Privatae leges Parliamenti Priviledges of Parliament what they are a proceeding according to certain rules and private customes and laws 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 were more infallible then 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 armes 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 is singularly well shewed in the Answer to the Observations upon some of his Majesties late answers and expresses Pag. 11. 38 39 40. and I will briefly contract the answer to say the King is better then 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 1 Pet. 2.23 but under them And Saint Peter doth much mistake in calling the King Supreme and they doe 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 As Ed. Carnarvon and Richard the second that the Parliament should have a power 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 sollicite 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 himselfe That the King is universe 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 clearely delivered God having given and the people having yeelded their power to their King they can never challenge any power but what they have derived from their King doth sufficiently shew the simplicity of this Sophistry and prove that the King being invested with all the power of the people which is due to him as their King he is the onely fountaine of all power and justice so that now they can justly claime no power but what is derived from him and therefore it is the more intolerable that any man should usurpe the power of the King to destroy the King 2. They will say that Salus populi est suprema lex the good of the people is the chiefest thing that is aymed at in all government Reason 2 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 Sol. 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 certaine 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 How easie it is to perswade the people to rebell hath stollen away the hearts of many of his fathers subjects 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 thinke every change to be a remedy therefore the people that are soon perswaded to beleeve the lightest burthen to be too heavy 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 Peere and Officer that they like not must with Teramines be condemned and themselves must have all preferments or the King and Kingdome must be lyable to be ruined But you will say Repl. 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 I answer Sol. that Parliaments are not alwaies 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 totall repeale of a Parliament held at Coventry the yeare before and the like and the reason is because many times by the hypocritical craft of some faction working upon the weakenesse of some and the discontent of others the worse part procuring most unto their party prevaileth against the better Besides all this The originall of Parliaments why they were at first ordained I conceive the originall 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 Kingdome can best informe 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 informe them of his occasions and necessities which by their free and voluntary Subsidies they are to supply both for his honour and their owne defence In all this they have no power to command their King So Io. 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 doe now in my Episcopall See at Kilkenny and continue your Parliament there to make warre against your lawfull King What colour of reason have you to doe the same you cannot pretend to be above your King you have with lies and falshoods most wickedly seduced the whole Kingdome and involved the same in a most unnaturall civill warre you are the actives the King is passive you make the offensive He the defensive war for you began and when he like a gracious King still cried for peace you still made ready for battell 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 especiall Writ you will say The letter sent from a Gentleman to his friend that so you were well 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 Soveraigne nor make any ordinance against their King and therefore if the representative body of subjects transcend the limits of their trust and doe in the name of the Subjects that which all subjects cannot doe That men intrusted should not go beyond their trust 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 priviledge you from being Murderers Theeves or Traytors if you doe 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 doe more then all they that doe 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 Spirituall and Temporall Peeres are the representative body and the King is the reall head of the whole Kingdome and therefore if the body separates it selfe from the head it can be but an uselesse trunke that can produce no act which pertaineth to the good of the body because the spirits that give life and motion to the whole body are all derived from the head as the Philosopher teacheth And further you doe all know The power of dissolving the Parliament greater then the power of denying any thing that as the King hath a power to call so he hath a power to dissolve all Parliaments and having a power of dissolving it when he will he must needs haue a power of denying what he pleaseth 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 Lieutenant 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 deeme them fooles that will obey them and rebels that will take armes against their King at your commands and if you persist in this your rebellious obstinacy I wish your judgements may light onely upon your owne 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 discerne 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 thinke that all the Kingdome Townes and Cities be for you yet take heed lest you imagine such a mischievous device which you are not able to performe Psal 21.11 for the involving of well-mearing men into your bad businesses 1. Reg. 22.29 as Jehoshaphat was misled to warre against Ramoth Gilead doth not onely bring a punishment upon them that are seduced but a farre greater plague upon you that doe 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 anointed For what causes the King suffereth because it is well known to all the world 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 Kingdoms 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 Anabaptisticall Brownists and Sectaries whatsoever And therefore if you that are his Parliament What a shame it is to use the power we have received against him that gave it us should like unthankefull vapours that cloud the Sunne which raised them or like the Moone in her interposition that obscures the glorious ' lampe 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 foule blemish both for your selves and all your posterities and if not suddenly prevented you may raise such spirits that your selves cannot lay downe and sow such deeds of discord and discontent betwixt 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 Kingdome 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 Commonwealth you abuse that power against him that gave it you I must needs confesse that I am of his mind who saith That it is lawfull to recall a power given when it is abused that the King were freed before God and man from all blame though he should use all possible lawfull means to withdraw that power into his owne hands which being but lent them hath bin so misapplyed against him for if my servant desireth to hold my sword and when I intrust him with it he seekes to thrust the same into my breast will not every man judge it lawfull for me to gaine my sword if it be possible out of his hand and with that sword to cut off his head that would
Magistrates Peeres The Conclusion of the whol Parliaments Popes or whatsoever you please to cal them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences so far 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 lawfull 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 soules 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 affirme 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 beleeved by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency 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 Lawes we may resist our Kings and a patheticall disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Moderne Writers that doe with invincible Arguments confirme this truth Anti-Cavalier p. 17.18 c. but the Anti-Cavalier would perswade the world 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 owne strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and Ruffin 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 Iulians army were Christians or befoole themselves with the undue desire of overvalued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to informe them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawfull 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 prayseth 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 raigne in Heaven but I hope the world will beleeve 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 armes against their Prince and to spill so much bloud of the most faithfull Subjects But though the authority of the best authors is of no authority with them that will beleeve none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homilie 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 allwaies they came by the overthrow and to a shamefull end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefes doth most destroy or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth The Homily against rebellion p. 300 301. 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 the Homilie against willfull rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would worke upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawfull Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plaine to pronounce them Traytors that take armes 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 Earle 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 doe in all their Votes and Declarations conlude and protest and I must believe them that all the leavies monies 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 Crowne and Dignity Nay more then this the very Rebels in this our Kingdome of Ireland knowing how odious it is before God and man for subjects to rebell and take armes against their lawfull King do protest if you will believe them that they are the Kings Souldiers and doe fight and suffer for their King and in the defence of his Prerogatives But you know the old saying Tuta frequensque via est sub amici fallere nomen the Devill 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 doe come in sheepes cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves when they come with honey in their mouthes 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 sonne of peace but he that doth obey his Prince and doth most willingly whatsoever hee commandeth or suffereth most patiently for refusing to doe what hee 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 Soveraigne Governour I desire you to remember a double story the one of Plutarch which tels 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 yeelded 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
take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realme 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 bee compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with bloud Micah 3.10 and Hierusalem with iniquity and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reforme 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 True religion never rebelleth and idolatrous 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 cleare testimony of holy Writ the perpetuall practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the Orthodox Bishops and Catholique Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the World that Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with armes to withstand the authority of our lawfull Kings If you say the Lawes of our Land Whether the Lawes of our Land doe warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdome doe give us leave to stand upon our liberty and to withstand all tyranny that shall bee offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to bee destroyed To this I say with Laelius Laelius de privileg Eccl. 112. that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinam mans laws can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore wee must not so prefer them or rely upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our feare 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 beleeve 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 affraid where no feare was And Iob tels you whom terrours shall make affraid on every side Iob 18.11 12 and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels doe from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of feare for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without feare they know that the heart of the King is not in his owne hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as the rivers of waters he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God hee ordereth the King how to rule the people Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. q. 1. And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Iesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causles feares and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it selfe 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 Samuels judgement as the sin of witchcraft The remembrance of his oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every rebell whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devill and above all remember the oath that many of you have taken to bee true and faithfull unto your King and to reveale whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or heare to bee contrived against his Person Crowne or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So helpe 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 returne O Shulamite returne lay downe thine armes submit thy selfe unto thy Soveraigne and know that as the Kings of Israel were mercifull Kings so is the King of England 1 King 20.32 thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty lest 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 deare for their quarrels so thou be driven to doe the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdome I am confident and am ready to hazard life and fortunes in this confidence that the goodnesse of our King The Authors confidence of the Kings victory the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithfull Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victory over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraigne 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 raigne untill hee puts them all under his feet And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here A rebellion that the like was never seen 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 Counsellours and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plaine field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Armes invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though hee was the first that intrenched upon their liberty and intended to exchange their Aristodemocracy into a Monarchy nor any other that I can remember except that Councell which condemned Christ to death that was growne to that height to bee 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 Kingdome should make a Covenant with Hell it selfe yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdome of Ireland was the Commenalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirme their Votes till at last they must bee compelled in all thhings to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now bee subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend
the weakenesse of the Nobility from that desert which they merited by their simplicity to bee seduced to joyne 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 then were any of all his Predecessours And therefore I say againe Returne O Shulamite returne and remember I pray thee remember lest my words shall accuse thy conscience in the day of judgement that wee 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 doe it against thy King but against such and such that doe 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 hee that dwelleth in the Heavens shall laugh it to scorne when with such aequivocation men shall thinke to justifie their rebellion and I hope the people will not still remaine so simple as to thinke that all the Canon and the Musket shot which the enemies of a King should make at him must bee understood to bee for the safety of his person And as neither private men nor any Senate nor Magistrate That the Pope hath no power to licence any man to make warre against the King nor Peeres nor Parliament can lawfully resist and take armes against their King so neither Synod nor Counsell 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 allegeance and to give them any colour of allowance to rebell and make warre against their lawfull 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. Iohan. Bede in the right and prerogatives of Kings and the Treatise intituled God and the King but the bulke 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 Argumenh And so much for the persons against whom they rebelled Mosec their King and Aaron their High Priest or chiefe Bishop and both these the prime Governours of Gods people whom they ought by all lawes to have obeyed and for no cause to have rebelled against them CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by tenue severall steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. 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 moved men to Rebell VVEe are to consider Quid fecerunt 3. Part. What these Rebels did what these Rebels did Cajetan saith Zelati sunt Tirinus saith Irritaverunt The vulgar Latine saith Aemulati sunt Our vulgar English saith They angred Moses and our last English saith They envyed Moses And indeed the large extent of the Originall word and the diversity of the Translation of it sheweth the greatnesse of their iniquity and the multi-formity or multiplicity of their sinne And therefore that you may truly understand it you must looke into the History * Numb 16. and there you shall see the whole matter the conception birth strength and progresse of their sinne for 1. This sinne was begotten by the seed of Pride they conceived an opinion of their owne excellency excellency that bewitched men to rebell thinking that they are inferiour to none equall to the best if not superiour unto all and therefore they disdained to bee governed and aspired to the government of Gods people Pride the beginning of rebellion And then Pride as the father begat Discontentment as his eldest Sonne they liked not their owne station but would faine bee 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 Envie and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reades it They envied Moses 2. Private meetings do often produce mischiefes This sinne being thus conceived in the wombe of the heart at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mutter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say we are all good 2 Sam. 15.3 4. we are all holy and they are no better than we and as Absalon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountaines unto the people if he were King so doe they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happie if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of the Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the sonne of Pride and Discontentment is borne into the world and spreads it selfe from the inward thought to open words Then Moses heares the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himselfe and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bade these Rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treate and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisedome and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen And here I doe observe the care and wisedome of the Prophet that at the first appearance of their designe The wisdome of Moses would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had beene so weakened that he had never beene able afterwards to defend himselfe to teach all Kings to beware that they yeeld not their Bishops and Priests
English to Murmure in Brittish Grwgnach a sad word and a sowre sinne therefore the wise man saith Beware of murmuring Exod. c. 15. c. 16. c. 17. 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 is when a man seemes to be what he is not 5. Hypocrisie for as Saint Hierome saith Qui intus Cato foris Nero hypocrita est he that talkes of peace and prepares for warre that protesteth loyaltie 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 pietie but commits all iniquity that will not sweare for a Kingdome but deceive for a penny that pretends the safety of the Kings Person but purloineth away all his power that will bend his knee and say Hayle King but will spit in his face and crowne him with thornes 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 indeede 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 Iacob 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 exceedingly well worth the observing Though his excellencie mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clounds yet he shall perish for ever like his owne dung they which have seene him that is they which came out to see his pompe and his greatnesse and have admired at the greatnesse of his glory shall say where is be or how chance he doth not ride on with his honour Iob answereth The eye which saw him shall see him no more that is Iob 20.6 7 8 9. in the like majestie neither shall his place any more behold him for He shall flee away as a dreame and shall not be found yea hee shall be chased away as a vision in the night And our Saviour knowing aswell the cruelty as the subtilty of hypocrites biddeth us to beware of hypocrites Mat. 7.15 as the Poet saith Hypocritas fugito sicut atri limina ditis Shun hypocrites as the gates of Hell Hypocrisie how odions it is and beleeve their actions rather then their protestations for as in the Old Testament Sodome and Gomorrah are the patternes of all beastlinesse so in the New Testament the greatest sinners are threatned to have their portion with the hypocrites 6. 6. Lying Lying must follow Hypocrisie at the heeles for were it not for the heapes of lyes that kypocrites 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 dispicable fortunes Master Griffith in his patheticall perswasion to peace p. 28. whom the Church and State finde to be a malignant party having little else to doe 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 Bourne or Butter ever published of the affaires of Germany and this they doe as confidently and impudently as if they were informed by that lying spirit which entred as a Voluntier into Ahabs Prophets and by lying and raising false rumours they beget jelousies 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 cumbustion and bring all into confusion and that which grieves me most he saith that they are Preachers which in the exuberancie of their misgrounded and misguided zeale doe both preach and pray against publique peace as inconsistent with the independencie or rather Anarchie that they ayme at 7. 7. Slandering Slandering may be coupled unto their lying because wee can slander none with that which is truth therefore these Rebells 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 forfake 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 above the Congregation of the Lord which is another slander as false as the fathers of lyes could lay upon them for I shewed unto you before how truely they were called and how justly they behaved themselves in their places but as Absolon knew well enough that to traduce his fathers Government was the readiest way to insinuate and to winde himselfe into a good opinion among the people and to make the King odius unto his subjects so these and all other Rebells will be sure to lay load enough of lyes and slanders upon their Governours Goodwin in his Anti. Caval Burroughs in his Sermon upon the glorious name of the Lord of Hosts and so the namelesse Author of the Soveraigne Antidote Goodwin Borroughes and abundance more such scandalous impudent lying libels have not blushed which a man would thinke the brazen face of Satan could not chuse but doe so maliciously and reproachfully to lay to His Majesties charge the things which as the Prophet saith he never knew and which all they that know the King doe know to be apparent lyes and most abominable slanders against the Lords Vicegerent but Quid domini facient audeant cum talia fures You know the meaning of the Poet and you may know the reason why these grand lyers these impudent slanderers doe so impudently belye so good a King so pious and so gracious a Majestie for lay on enough Et aliquid adbaerebit and throw dust enough in their faces and let the Governours be never so good the King as milde and as unreproveable as Moses and the Bishops like Aaron the Saints of the Lord yet some thing will slicke in the opinion of the simple that are not able to discerne the subtilty of those distractors And as they diminish and undermine the credit and reputation of the best Governours by no other engine then a lying tongue and a false pen so with the same instruments they doe magnifie their owne repute and further their unjust proceedings by deceiving the most simple with such equivacall lyes Astrange equivocation as any sensible man might well wonder that they should be so insensibly swallowed downe as when they say they fight for him whom they shoot at and they are for
themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedienee and rebellion But they that are ill servants will prove worse masters they that will not learne how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tels us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250 Tyrants And the Humilie of the Church tels us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellion for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyall pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefes and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdome in a civill war 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 rediest 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. WE are to consider Vbi facerunt 4. Part. Where they did all this where they did all this in castris non in templis that is in their owne houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat downe rebellion in every Kingdome this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabines and corners in private conventicles they teach rebellion which is the Doctrine of those Schoolcs Our houses are our castles And these Schooles are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every mans house is his castle or his fort where he thinkes himselfe sure enough so did those 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 doe 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 Citties and Castles that they possede they could not so like subtle Foxes runne out and in to nullisie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithfull subjects as they doe for though they doe all this under those faire pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintainance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our religion it is now amongst us as it was in the dayes of S. Basil Basilius de Spiritus Sancto c. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. all the bounds of our fore-fathers are transgressed the foundation of doctrine and fortification of disciplin was 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 proclaime it to all the world that mine owne experience beleeveth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Procestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath beene 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 beene made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a booke 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 themseves deprive us of our estates and liberties How the Paliament Rebels have inriched themselves in Ireland and that under the Parliaments name for I heare that as many have beene impoverished so many both of the Lords and Commons in this Kingdome of Ireland that before the Conjunction of these malevolent martiall 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 Silkes and Scarlet but with the extorted moneys and the plundered goods of the loyall subjects I hope it is not so in England Yet as Platina tels us Platinas story of the Guelphes and Gibilines that when the Guelphes and the Gibilines in the Citie of Papia were at civill discord and the Gibilines promised to one Fecinus Caius all the goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphes he seized upon the goods of both and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his Covenant to pillage their goods Catus answered that themselves were Gibilines but their goods were Guelphs and so belonged unto him So both in England and Ireland I see the Parliament Forces and the Kebels I hope contrary to the will of the Parliament make little difference betwixt Papist and Protestant the well affected and disaffected for they cannot judge of their affections but they can discerne their estates and that is the thing which they thirst after Haud ignota cano But you will say these are miseries unavoidable accidents common to all warre when neither side can excuse all their followers I answer Woe be to them therefore that were the first suggesters and procurers of this warre and cursed be they that are still the incendiaries and blow the coales for the continuance of these miserable distractions I am sure his Majesty was neither the cause nor doth he desire the prolonging thereof for the least moment but as his royall father was a most peaceable Prince so hath he shewed himselfe in all his life to follow him passibus aequis and to be a Prince of peace though as the God of peace is likewise a man of warre and the Lord of Hosts so this peaceable Prince when his patience is too much provoked can as you see change his pen for a sword and turne the mildenesse of a Lambe into the stoutnesse of a Lyon and you know what Solomon saith that The wrath of a King is the messenger of death especially when he is so justly moved to wrath And so much for the particulars of this Text. 2 Having fully seene the uglinesse of this sinne 2. The punishment of these rebels you may a little view the greatnesse of the punishment for Although I must confesse we should be slow to anger slow to wrath yet when the Magistrate is disobeyed the Minister despised and God himselfe disclaimed it makes our hearts to bleed and our spirits angry within us yea though the King were as gentle and as meek
maintaine 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 Lawes in this Realme of Ireland And we have least reason to rebell and take armes against him and therfore let us not be perswaded by any meanes by any man to doe 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 onely to teare 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 forreigne foes or domestique Rebels doe presse him so that he hath need of us let us adde our helpe 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 Lawes from any corrupt interpretation or arbitrary invasion upon them by those factious men that under faire yet false pretences have with wondrous subtilty and with most subtile hypocrisie seduced so many simple men to pertake 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 Kingdome and to bring in Atheisme or Barbarisme into our Pulpits when they make their Coach-men and Tradesmen like Jeroboams Priests the basest of the people to become their trencher Chaplaines and the teachers of those poore sheep for whom the Son of God hath shed his precious bloud but also to change the well-setled government and to subvert the whole fabricke 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 Kingdome we ought not to spare our goods or be niggards in our contributions to helpe his Majestie yea as Debora saith To helpe the Lord against the mighty Or if we be cold and carelesse herein pinurious 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 vapit 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 prevaile Iehovae liberatori FINIS O Eternall and Almighty God thou Lord of Hoasts that givest victory unto Kings and deliverest David thy Servant from the perill of the sword save and defend our King from all dangers strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies and be with us O Lord that are thy faithfull servants and for thy sake his Loyall Subjects to preserve us from the gathering together of the froward and from the insurrection of the wicked doers that are confederate against thee and against thine Anointed for Iesus Christ his sake in whom we have ever trusted through whom we shall never be confounded and to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen
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 be he good or bad for it is Gods institution Bad Kings to be obeyed as well as the good and not the Governours condition that tyeth me to mine obedience so you see the minde of the Apostle he knew the Priesthood was abolished and that he was not the lawfull high Priest therefore he saith God shall smite thee thou whited wall But if hee had knowne and beleeved him to be the true and lawfull high Priest which God had placed over him he would never have said so had the Priest beene never so wicked because the Law saith Thou shalt not revile thy Ruler but for private robbers or forreigne 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 yeeld 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 3. 3. Example answered For the peoples hindering of King Saul to put his sonne Ionathan to death I say that they freed him from his fathers vow non armis sed precibus not with their weapons but by their prayers Saul was contented to bee perswaded to spare his sonne when they appealed unto himselfe and his own conscience before the living God and perswaded him that setting aside his rash vow he would have regnard unto justice and consider whether it was right that hee should suffer the least dammage who following God had wrought so great a deliverance unto the people as Tremelius and Iunius in their Annotations doe observe And Saint Gregory saith Gregor in 1 Reg. 4. The people freed Ionathan that he should not die when the King overcome by the instance of the people spared his life which no doubt hee was not very earnest to take away from so good a sonne 4. 4. Example answered Touching Ahikam that was a prime Magistrate under King Iehoiakim I say that he defended the Prophet not from the tyrannie of the King but from the fury of the people for so the Text saith Jer. 26.4 The hand of Ahikam that is saith Tremelius the authority and the helpe of Ahikam was with Ieremy 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 beene a long while Councellour unto the King and was therefore very powerfull in credit 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 faithfull Magistrate as Ahikam did this of an enemy and a false Traytor as the opposers of Kings use to doe 5. 5. Example answered For the defection and revolting of the ten Tribes from Rehoboam their own naturall lawfull King unto a fugitive and a man of servile condition and for the Edomites Libnites and others 2 Chron. 21. that revolted against King Ioram and that conspiracie which was made in Ierusalem against Amazia 2 Reg. 14.19 I answer briefely that the Scriptures doe herein as they doe in many other places set downe Rei geste veritatem non facti aequitatem the truth of things how they were done not the equity of things that they were rightly done Actions commanded to bee done are not to bee imitated by us unlesse wee bee sure of the like commandement and therefore Non ideo quia factum legimus faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptam dum sectamur exemplum we must not beleeve it ought to be done because we reade that it was done lest we violate the commandement of God by following the example of men as Saint Augustine speaketh for though Ioseph sware by the life of Pharaoh the Midwives lyed unto the King and the Israelites robbed the Egyptians and sinned not therein yet we have no warrant without sinne to follow their examples Besides God himselfe had fore-told 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 on whom he bestowes it and this made Shemaiah the man of God God is the right owner of all things and therefore may justly dispose any Kingdom 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 murder to have done it and when he commanded the Israelites to rob the Egyptians it was no breach of the eight Commandment 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 Rohoboams finger which moved them to this rebellion I can no waies justifie their action and though God by this rent did most justly revenge the sinne of Salomon and paid for the folly of Rehoboam yet this doth no waies excuse them from 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 a way from the true God into Idolatry and not long after to be led into an endlesse captivity which is a fearfull example to see how suddenly men do fall away from God and from their true Religion after they have rebelled against their lawfull King and how to avoid imaginary grievance they do often fall into a reall 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 tranlgression of the law of God 6. For Vzziah that was taken with a grievous sicknesse 6. Example answered so that he could not be present at the publick affaires of the Kingdome 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 son 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 son did neither affect the name nor assume the title of a King 7. For the deposing of Athalia 7. Example answered I see nothing contrary to equity because she was not the right Prince but an unjust Vsurper of the