I shall proceed now to the objections And the first is this say some have we not taken an oath of obedience to the late K. how then could it stand with our oath to disobey him to which I shal adde because both of a nature that of another party viz. Have not we covenanted to maintaine and defend and preserve the honour safety and happines of the late Kings person how then hath it consisted with our Covenant in taking away his life To both which I shall answer but a little because I refer the Reader to be more fully and amply satisfied herein by a Booke which I shall suddenly publish entituled Illumination to Sion Colledge by a moderate reply to their Letter delivered to the Generall January 18. last But to the first of the precedent objections I answer that our oath of obedienee to superiour Magistrates is not was not absolute or without conditions for then as I said before to what purpose should wee take an oath of him or them and if our oath was absolute we swore our selves slaves and therefore not a good oath because taken in ignorance but how irrationall it is to think that we swore obedience universally I need not demonstrate therfore it being cleare that our oath was conditionally to yeeld obedience unto superiour Magistrates in the execution of judgement and righteousnesse which is the very end and cause of their authority and our obedience and which if they omit we are as disingaged from subjection to them as to a private person because that in this their duty the become as and more incapable of power because offenders then private persons And therefore like to this was the Covenant that David made with Israel when he was made King 2 Sam. 5.3 Where it is said that all the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron and King David made a Covenant with them before the Lord a Covenant that he must keep if he would continue in his office and then after hee had Covenanted with them to make things sure for the people they anoynted David King over Israel Now the very substance which he accordingly performed of his Covenant to them is manifest in the 1 Chron. 18.14 So David reigned over all Israel and executed judgement and justice to all his people there is a great deale of emphasis in that particle so So David reigned over all Israel in the execution of Judgement and Justice as that the very being of his authority depended upon the keeping of that his Covenant to all his people his people how Why not that they were at his pleasure but he at theirs as in 2 Sam. 18.3 4. Where the people not seeing it best for themselves told David he should not goe forth in the Battell to whom hee answered in the 4. Verse What seemeth you best that will I doe and David remained in the City not for his owne safety but for the peoples in that they saw it good but they were his people while he performed his Covenant after he had executed Judgement and Justice unto them I have been longer in this answer then I thought for satisfaction sake I shall very briefly answer that Objection of the other party in reference to the Covenant that they say we made to preserve the late Kings person c. To this therefore I reply that this clause in the Covenant is qualified with the subsequent end thereof which they willingly slip over is in the preservation of our Religion and Liberties the safety whereof is the end of our Covenant and which we have sworne to endeavour in opposition to all the enemies thereof now if the Parliament should or as the late King did notwithstanding our Covenant to preserve them which was no otherwise then they should comply with us in endeavouring that end turne enemies to what wee have Covenanted solely to endeavour we are ingaged by our Covenant to oppose them as enemies and impediments of attaining our end but for more ample satisfaction herein I refer the Reader to that prenomitated Book and proceed to answer two or three objections more and then conclude Object 2 Doth not God generally throughout the Scripture injoyne obedience to Magistrates as his Ordinance I answer That though God doth frequently in Scripture injoyne obedience to Magistrates yet it is not to all Magistrates or to good Magistrates in all cases First not to all Magistrates for then Gods immediate command to Jehu 2 Kings 9.6 7 8. to doe what hee did to his Master Jehoram the King would directly contradict his owne Word if he should injoyne us obedience to all and command disobedience in him Againe God injoynes not obedience to unlawfull Magistrates such as come not duely to their Office and therefore the Apostle Peter 1.2 13. injoynes obedience to Magistrates as being the ordinance of man For saith he Submit your selves unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as unto the superiour Superiour what not as the Monarch none to contradict him but as the superiour Ordinance of man or unto Governours as unto them that are sent of him for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that doe well here is likewise a limitation to our subjection it is not to obey in all cases but when they execute justice in the punishment of evill doers and the praise of them that doe well for this is their place and if they doe not discharge this duty they cease to be Magistrates and this I conceive to be the meaning of that place because it agrees with other Texts 2. Samuel 5.3 Thus David was ordained Deut. 1â— 18 and Deut. 17.15 And Officers shalt thou make thee in all the Cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee c. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgement Now then it is cleare that the Lord injoynes obedience to none but lawfull Magistrates and that in the just execution of their Office I proceeed now to the Last Objection and that is this If Magistrates Object 3 offend where is there any power to punish them this objection hath in effect been cleared already but I shall answer it now more formally in case a Magistrate though the superiour transgresse there is a power above himselfe from whence he receives his Commission to which he is accountable he being as it were but the peoples Factor for God commands a people to execute Justice and Judgement among themselves no man to wrong his neighbour and many other civill Lawes to be observed of which to ease themselves and avoyde confusion they commit their trust to Magistrates and herein they promise particularly to obey them while they righteously discharge their Office but now when to advance selfe they begin to respect persons in judgement they become accountable to the people or those whom they shall choose to represent themselves in this judgement and therefore wee often read that the avenger of blood appointed on purpose thereunto was to slay the murtherer whoever he was and when ever he met him Deut. 35.21 Levit. 24.17 In other cases likewise we finde that the Congregation it selfe was to give judgement as when a man had accidentally not voluntarily committed murther he was to remaine in the City of refuge till he did stand before the Congregation in Judgement that is before such as they should appoint thereunto Joshua 20.6 And therefore when GOD so often commands the people to execute Judgement and Justice without respect of persons it lyes upon their score though God will likewise reckon with those whom they intrust to doe it for them if they omit it Levit. 20.2 Whosoever hee be of the Children of Israel or of the strangers that dwelleth in Israel that giveth his Children unto Molech he shall dye the death Now here comes in the objection What if a Ruler give his Children to Molech Who shall kill him Why the close of the Verse answereth it The people of the Land shall stone him to death But in the 4. Verse What if the people of the Land hide their eyes and wink at that man c. and kill him not why in the 5. Verse Then saith God will I set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off c. But how sad a thing is it when God shall finde none in a Land to make up the hedge to worke righteousnesse and thereby prevent God from taking the Sword himselfe to execute judgement the Lord will power forth his indignation upon them and consume them with the fire of his wrath their owne wayes will he render upon their heads Ezek. 22.30 31. Now then the result of all will be this That Kings if lawfull under which title I comprehend all Magistrates are freely elected by the people and accountable to them for their trust But the late KING was not freely elected by neither would be accountable to the people Therefore he was not a lawfull King and his dispossession was just Againe Gods Law injoynes the execution of Justice and Judgement The Parliament in their late Transactions have executed Justice and Judgement Therefore they have obeyed Gods Law For how absurd is that opinion in some that have complyed with the Parliament in punishing of Delinquents and yet they would leave the cause of them all unpunished For how unjust would that be in any Authority to punish the Servant for ill doing and yet leave the Master at whose command he was and whom hee obeyed therein unpunished I could multiply examples of the like kinde but to rationall men the premises will be sufficient but as for that particuler way of Government by a King it is not injoyned in Scripture as a necessary way of Government in that the Prophet Samuel 1.11 to the 18. so much dehorted the Prophet from it and so highly discovered the evill of it and that it was a sinne in the people so immoderately to desire it therefore it is left to a people to establish what way of civill Government they see safest for themselves and in which Judgement may run downe as Waters and righteousnesse as a mighty River FINIS
THE Execution of the late KING JUSTIFIED And the Parliament and Army therein VINDICATED Published for Satisfaction to the Kingdome By a Wel-wisher to the safety and freedom thereof Deut. 16.18 Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all the Cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee c. Deut. 1.17 Yee shall have no respect of person in judgement ye shall not feare the face of man for the judgement is Gods Amos 5.24 And let judgement run downe as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty River Jer. 22.17 But thy eyes and thy heart are but onely for thy covetousnesse and to shed innocent blood and for oppression and destruction even to doe this Levit. 23.17 He that killeth any man shall be put to death Numb 35.31 33. Moreover yee shall take no recompence for the life of the murtherer which is worthy to dye but hee shall be put to death So yee shall not pollute the Land wherein yee shall dwell for blood defileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it Jer. 22.18 Therefore thus saith the Lord against Jehoiakim the Son of Josiah King of Judah they shall not lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Sister neither shall they mourne for him saying Ah Lord or ah his glory LONDON Printed by M. Simmons in Aldersgate Street 1649. To the Reader Judicious Reader I Thought good in times of so great and voluntary distraction and dissatisfaction about our civil rights to testifie my integrity to the good of this my native Countrey according to my ability by some following Propositions and resolutions of doubts thereupon in reference to the late transactions of Parliament and Army in justice upon the late King and the rather though many more rationall and so should have been more satisfactory discourses hereupon hath been published because some men notwithstanding remaine obstinate and perverse under a cleere light therefore as by many witnesses a truth is the more confirmed so by the multiplicity diversity and distinction of arguments and reasons as for ought I know these are from other mens a just cause may be more cleerly manifested and the spirits of these men being satisfied reduced to an acknowledgement of the past equall proceedings of though the minor part the Parliament and Army and the present perseverance of both in them therefore when thou readest it doe it not obstinately but be willing to bee convicted by the truth which is the maine end for which I offer up these my first Fruits to thee and the Kingdome which to attaine is the onely desire of him who is thine unknowne friend in the peoples service c. THE Execution of the late KING JUSTIFIED And the Parliament and Army therein VINDICATED AS wise Men before they build lay a good foundation so for a right procession in this discourse wee must consider the constitution of Government from which not being rightly weighed springs all our differences and contradictions in this Kingdome I shall therefore state the constitution of Government two wayes viz. Legall and Illegal constitutions or ordination of Government to explaine the tearmes Lawfull ordination of Government is that which as near as possible is according to Gods prescription Unlawfull is that which is contrary to or diverse from Gods prescription in that way of Government which the people shall choose which hath beene according to the then immoderate importunity of the people since Saul almost hitherto Kingly Government and that in three lawfull respects viz. By unction the peoples approbation or election and lawfull succession so that whosoever is qualified with these three particulars must be according to the constitution of that Government a lawfull King but it being cleare that the first of these particulars viz. immediate unction or unction by commandement is withdrawne so that in that sense no King now can be called the Lords Anoynted from us it remaines that he that is King by the peoples election or approbation and lawfull succession is according to the institution of that Government a warranted King But on the contrary he that is not so elected lawfull succession to one freely chosen and not that usurpt authority and forced submission being onely beneficiall to a man for preferment in choyce if he as well qualified come in competition with others his authority is usurped and illegall For let him plead succession though lawful never so much yet if the people forbeare to choose him because defective in his qualifications hee is in a degree as incapable as a Foole for the Office so then lawfull succession depending upon the peoples election hence will arise this undenyable Proposition that that man that assumes the Kingly office onely by vertue of though lawfull succession is a Usurper and doth presume upon the peoples rights now this was the onely plea that our late King had or could have to his Office seeing he could pretend no right to it from unction because as before said it is withdrawne neither from the people it is cleare in that they have made so much opposition against him that hee continued in it neither was it from the peoples free election that hee reigned so long in that he never acknowledged such a power to be in them 't was onely then through an ignorant submission by them or if they were convicted of their right yet through their impotency that our late King first assumed and since so long continued in the Office now therefore the title that he on his part claimed to it and thereupon entred was by a pretended right through though illegall because originally from conquest succession So that the premises considered there needs no other proofe to demonstrate that his title was usurpt yet for further conviction and not to lay any more burthen upon him or prejudice him in the thoughts of people he having enough already where ever he be and satisfaction to mens spirits concerning his Execution and that wee may with more ease and contentednesse of minde in respect of the flesh forget him from whom wee had received and could expect so little good though his impenitency should better us let us consider and review in our selves his actions since his reigne even to his very death which should sadden us to thinke of and they have cleerly demonstrated that hee took it upon no other tearmes then to rule according to his will which though it lay in his heart from his first possession was not evaporated till these his latter and last yeares wherein the people claiming their rights he hath most manifestly and audaciously though contrary to all reason declared himselfe inaccountable to men though from them as a people and so his Master he had received if it were Legall his power and authority for his actions then which nothing can more nullifie and frustrate the Law of God which upon a breath thereof doth include all whatsoever without exception of persons
under the penalty of it as to instance severall universall injunctions of God in Scripture Sine aliqua exceptione quae ad universos pertinent without any exception but belong to all alike as men as in particular that in Levit. 20.2 The Lord there speaking unto Moses said Thou shalt say also to the Children of Israel whosoever he be of the Children of Israel or of the strangers that dwell in Israel that giveth his Children to Molech he shall dye the death c. Moses and all the head Officers of the people being included in if in this transgression the punishment thereof in as much as they were among the Children of Israel and in the 10. verse of the same Chapter God saith The man that committeth adultery with another mans Wife c. shall dye the death Now we know that the Office of any though never so high doth not or at least should not elevate him above his being he is a man still though in Office a King and though in respect thereof God saith I said yee are Gods that is in respect of your Office be it high or low which is to manage your power in the execution of justice and judgement in which you beare my image yee are gods in being like God though I have said so yet yee shall dye like men which in the generall sense of it may have respect to a temporall death common to all men whose nature you Magistrates beare yet may very well beare this interpretation likewise Yee shall dye like men That is all sorts of men if alike qualified if murtherers ye shall dye like men that is those men that are murtherers if adulterers yee shall suffer like adulterers the rigor in reference to many sinnes not the punishment of the Law being taken away by Christ Now then the former interpretation agreeing with the precited Text shewes clearly that the Law of God exempts none neither high or low rich or poore Magistrates or Subjects from the punishment in case of transgression thereof now for any man to plead freedom because in the highest authority which notwithstanding is derived is to contradict the Word of God which saith Numb 35.30 Whosoever killeth any person the Judge shall slay the murtherer through witnesses c. And yet such would bee outlawes will plead exemption I speake not onely in reference to this opinion in the late King but to such that are of his spirit that connived at and still approve of such an opinion in him at least at the impunity of it whether they be Magistrates or others yee looke more at the priviledge and the honour then the care of the Office and therefore he was and you are far from Solomons spirit that discerned it to bee the hardest matter to governe the people in righteousnesse and therefore made it his prayer to God to begge wisedome and that not for his owne ends but to rule the people in equity he made their good the center of his endeavours you the late Kings prerogative his riches greatnesse and long life the centers of yours Solomon rejected all these in competition with the peoples good and how acceptable it was to God will appeare in 1 Kings 3.11 An example we have of the same spirit in Christ himselfe towards the good of his Sheep John 10.11 Where he saith I am that good Shepheard that good Shepheard layeth downe his life for his Sheepe But how distant was the spirit of the late King from such a temper that for a little selfe accommodation and forcible preservation of a few usurpt Priviledges to himselfe sought to destroy if hee were as Shepheard his Sheep The same example wee have of Nehemiah 5.14 that would not burthen the people to pleasure himselfe By this therefore it is evident that Kings have some earthly power above them which they serve and whose good must bee the end of their power to which then as their superiour they must be accountable without which their power is usurpt and by which they are deposed prevented or punished according to the demerit of their fault Now then to confirme this there is the example of Solomon who was so farre from pleading any title of his owne to the Office that in the former part of his prayer he saith Lord thou hast made thy servant King speaking of himselfe in stead of David my Father now that it is a righteous act upon just grounds to prevent a successor it is manifest by this Gods owne example because that Adonijah by right of succession was heyre to the Crowne yet notwithstanding was prevented by God who foresaw that the peoples good would not bee so much aimed at by him as by Solomon So that here will sitly intervene this observation that the Authority of all Magistrates depends upon their good behaviour and that it is lawfull in case of misdemeanour either to prevent or disposesse them of their power The proofe whereof I shall further amplifie in discussing particularly the kingly Office in the quality of it what it is which I shall briefly resolve in two particulers First It is a trust Secondly An Office or Duty A trust in that it is committed not from God by injunction by which onely trust is imposed but by his permission to a man from men so then it cannot bee from succession which if lawfull hath onely in case of good behaviour a preference to the trust that is a man lawfully succeeding if as well qualified as others is to be prefer'd in choice to the trust before them therefore as it is a trust so secondly it is a duty in that hee is injoyned to performe that trust as by God that would have every man like himselfe faithfull so by men from whom hee receives his charge and therefore they must needs be his intrusters in that likewise the end of his trust is for their owne good and welfare to whom then he must without question be accountable and therefore a King to a people is as an accountant to a Company a Cash-keeper to his Master Now if a King or any other Magistrate shall act quite contrary to the end of their trust viz. the peoples good which was the conditions of their authority and in stead thereof make it as a mantle that thereunder they may more securely preadvance their owne private interest though directly prejudiciall to the end of their Office let the meanest capacity judge whether such a Magistrate or Magistrates have not forfeited their trust upon which the intrusters may justly cease as to render to the person or persons so offending according to his or their deserts therein so to institute that trust that way the see best to discharge it seeing the end thereof is their owne welfare it is reason it selfe therefore that the Servant should bee accountable to his Master for how ridiculous would it be for any Servant a King being so to a people because long intrusted without examination to refuse accounting when by