Happiness Nevertheless such was the merciful and bountiful dispensation of God in this cloudy and dark Oeconomy that sometimes thorow the thick and dark cloud of his Flesh and Infirmity some little rayes of his immense Majesty did appear as in his miraculous Operations even so in the same manner at many times and by many acts his Sovereignty was manifested and that he was truly King it was evidenced At his Birth The Wise men who came from the East worshipped him in his Swadling-clouts They are in Scripture and by the constant not interrupted course of the Church to this day commended for it In his Ministry he entred Ierusalem in Royal Pomp His Disciples and a great multitude did him obeysance gave him Royal Honour and when the Iews grumbled at it he told them that it was not onely just but necessary That if they and the People did hold their Peace the Stones would proclaim him King and do him Royal Homage In his Arraignment when he is to lay down his Soul for his Sheep he avouched himself before Pilate a King Pilate demands the Question Art thou a King Pilate understood not any Kingdom in his Question but a temporal one a Spiritual Kingdom in his conception was a meer Notion Fancy Chimaera Christ without dissimulation equivocation or mental reservation ad mentem interrogantis answereth he was a King Matth. 27. 11. Mark 15. 2. He had it written upon his Cross. Buried He had his Grave sealed as a King These things thus premised we come to prove that Kings are Christs Vicegerents and Lieutenants upon the face of the Earth 1. Our first proof is the place we insisted much in before Prov. 8. 15. by what is said it is more than apparent that By me Kings reign hath this Sense By me Wisdom the Son of God the Word that was made Flesh Kings reign you may find many Reasons by reviewing the most learned and most pious Bishops Sermons Dr. Andrews whose Memory shall ever be in everlasting Benediction 1. First Prov. 30. 4. This Wisdom is called the Son of God 2. Next this preposition Per By it is the proper and peculiar preposition of Christ. 3. Thirdly it is not very congruous that as by Christ we have all Blessings spiritual in heavenly things so by him we have Kings his Derivatives constituted the best and most eminent of temporal Blessings 4. Fourthly Christ he is Wisdom and by him all Blessings issuing from Mercy Kingdoms subsist more by Wisdom than by Power why shall we not then from this Wisdom establish Kings and their Sovereignty The proper Work of Wisdom is ordinare to order and to establish Order Why then shall not all Monarchy refer its Origine to this Wisdom 5. Lastly the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bi is both in me per me in me and by me to intimate as we said before that Kings are first in him and so come forth from him and yet come so forth from him that they are in him Christ in them as his Deputies They in him as their Author and Authorisâ—r He by their Persons They by his Power 2. Our second Proof we bring from that Scripture averreth that Christ is not only King of his Church but in Order to his Church King over all the Kings and Kingdoms of the Earth Christs Kingdom over his Church Psal. 11. 6. 15. in these words expressed I have set my King upon my holy Hill Sion Over the whole World in these Words v. 8. I shall give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession which is not to be scantled by conceiving it only of the calling of the Gentiles to the Communion of his Church but also of his Sovereignty over all the Earth and Kings of the Earth This Ordinance is by Appointment and a decree irrepealable v. 7. I will declare the Decree The words I shall give thee demonstrate that this potestas is not aeterna interna that eternal Power which is inseparable from him as God but data externa a given and bestowed Power which is not conceivable in Christ but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as man or God-man our Saviour and Redeemer 3. A third Proof may be this that as this was foretold by Prophecy so in the Fullness of time it was really effected and accomplished Matth. 28. 18. Our Saviour saith All Power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth The word Given sheweth this Power is fixed in that Capacity by which he is our Saviour all Power in Heaven and Earth universally is expressed all Power and by Distribution exegetically amplified all Power in Heaven and Earth which will not admit nor permit that we exclude Sovereignty in Kings Vbi Lex non distinguit nemo distinguere debet Let our Adversaries shew where Kings and their Crowns are exempted or excepted from this all Power in Earth 4. Fourthly the Apostle St. Paul Heb. 1. 5. telleth us that God hath appointed the Son by whom he hath spoken to us in the last days Heir of all things If this Inheritance be not over Kings we are infinitely mistaken and if Kings refer not their Right to him as Donor they have no just Title 5. Fifthly The Scripture to take away all Cavils hath given us this Truth in terminis terminantibus in plain and express Terms Revel 1. 2. Jesus Christ the faithful Witness the first begotten of the dead is The Prince of the Kings of the Earth that again cap. 11. 27. He ruleth them with a Rod of Iron That this is meant appliable at least to Kings see and read it Psal. 11. 9. Revel 19. 12. On his head you have many Crowns an Embleme of his Sovereignty over all Kings and that all are his Deputies his Substitutes To what is said add that of St. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 15. He is the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords That The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a note of Excellency Revel 17. 14. The Lamb he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Revel 19. 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his Thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords Observe the words attentively How characteristically this Power is given to the Lamb to Iesus to the faithful Witness That it is written on his Thigh on his Vesture which qualifie this Power as his Due as he is the Head and Saviour of his Church It is worth your notice taking that this name is written upon his Thigh that we may learn two things the one is That this Power is fixed in Christ-man The other is That all Kings are De femore Christi from him by Generation Reason pleadeth for this Truth 1. First what is more suitable and convenient than that all Kings of all Ages should issue from him who is Rex saeculorum A King whose Kingdom endureth throughout all Ages It is the highest Dignity of Crowns to hold of this Crown
will read their Distinction in answering the very same Objection that Zacharias the Pope both in the Deposition of the one and Constitution of the other had a hand consensivè not authoritativè by â—a naked Assent not by authoritative interposing or Right in this Act. To shut up all this I refer you to one place by viewing of which you shall have explicitly three Iacobus Almayn Iohannes de Parisiis and Ockam all of them Doctors of Paris and breathing the same thing with the Patavin Doctor Marsilius Almayn hath it who writ for Ockam and in the words alledgeth Iohannes de Paris verbatim de Supr Pot. Eccles. Laic q. 2. c. 5. where with Ockam he grants that the Pope for Heresie may depose a King and the people for transgressing against the Commonwealth But that you may conceive all aright he saith Non licet Papae nec propter civile nec propter spirituale crimen deponere nisi de per accidens Et non pertinet ad Papam sententÃaliter deponere Imperatorem licet spectet sententialiter excommunicare finaliter per censuram Excommunicationis eos qui habent Authoritatem deponendi cogere ut illum deponant Et sic de per accidens deponit solummodo non directè The Sense is It is not proper nor lawful to a Pope to depose an Emperour either for any civil or spiritual Crime for Errors in Policy or Religion but only accidentally The Pope may sentence the Emperour with Excommunication but not with Deposition and so upon the bye may move the people or the multitude who have Authority over him to dethrone him And this is done by the Pope not properly but improperly not effectively but consecutively The like he subjoyns concerning the Emperours power over the Pope that if the Pope abuse the power he hath to the Disturbance and Hurt of the civil State the Emperour may forfeit his State confiscate his Goods and so indirectly make move and force those who have power above the Pope which in their Opinion is the whole Church or the Representative which is an oecumenical Council to depose the Pope and institute another To these I might add Gerson and others I refer you to Gerson's Considerations and amongst these that you will read the seventh I have insisted on this especially for two Reasons the one is that you may see these Tenets came not into the World with Luther and Calvin but were long before there was any Word of a Reformer Ioannes de Parisiis lived and taught at Paris in King Philip sirnamed Pulcher and Boniface the eighth's time about the year of our Lord 1296. Willielme Ockam an English born and Regius Professor in Paris who writ his Dialogue at the Request of King Philip and after his Death fled to the Emperour Lewis the fourth died as some think about 1320. Gerson Chancellor of the University of Paris lived in the time of the Council of Constance and died about 1420. And Almayn the first and chief Professor in Sorbon who took upon him the Defence of Willielme Ockam if you will believe Flaccius Illyricus wrote Anno 1512. a book against Cajetan for the Power of a Council above the Pope which was printed Coloniae 1514. All these were prior to Luther or Calvin Our Rabbies then have drawn these Doctrines out of their polluted Cisterns The other Reason is because some too charitably and to the prejudice of Verity interpret the Authors above cited and their Kinsmen If any man will take and hold them to the better Sense I will not be contentious though I profess I cannot see it yet will it appear otherwise that those are not the Tenets of the reformed Catholick Church but the Foppery of Popery See Thomas Aquinas 1. de regim princ c. 6. where he saith Si ad jus multitudinis pertineat sibi providere de rege non injustè ab eadem Rex institutus potest destitui si potestate regni tyrannicè abutatur in which Passage you have that people may make Kings unmake them in case of Tyranny This Book is suspected and for many just and pregnant Reasons not to be Thomas Aquinas's and therefore I refer you to the genuine Thomas 1 2. q. 90. art 3. q. 97. art 3. 22 ae q. 10. art 10. And if I be mistaken of his Sense blame one of his acutest Scholars who avers it Suarez l. 3. defens orth fid adv Sect. Angliae ca. 2. And long before Thomas Aquinà s Pope Zachary taught the French this Doctrine as you may read Avent l. 3. Annal. Boiariae Princeps saith he Populo cujus beneficio possidet obnoxius est Quaecunque n. habet potentiam honorem divitias gloriam dignit aâ—em à populo accipit plebi accepta referat necesse est Regem plebs constituit eundem destituere potest He practised this about the middle of the eighth Age and for ought I know is the first Divine or Pope of Rome either that said so or writ so Some charitably plead for him and shew how averse he was from giving his Consent that at first he writ to disswade them from wronging Childerick who had his Right from God and writ thus to wash his hands in Innocency I will not take pains to vindicate him I leave that Labour to the Popes parasites yet it is worth our noting that when Pipin and his Complices were about this Treason to rob Childerick of his Crown although all things were in him that might perswade to such a Course Childerick being but a weak King a silly man drowned and buried in ease and pleasures childless nor any near to him yet at this time notwithstanding of all those Circumstances the like whereof never I think occurred before so odious a Crime it was to depose and set a King by his Throne though alâ—o all France had almost conspired with him yet fearing that the whole Christian World would cry fie upon them for such an Impiety they had Recourse to the Pope that by a specious shew of his Holiness and the Authority of that holy Church this great Impiety and Treason might be countenanced and go current This President was made a leading case in after Ages both for popish and popular Usurpation to intrude nay to invade upon the Sacred Right of Sacred Kings Nay our Puritans have from hence learned to colour and lustre their ugly Treasons and Seditions with the Cloak of Religion and Righteousness With the intimating of another Opinion of some who make regal Power resident in the People and from thence derived to the King I will close this Chapter Some do hold that all Sovereign power is primarily and naturally in the universitate civium multitude from it derived to the King immediately and mediately from God Who intending the Good Peace and Safety of Mankind which cannot be obtained without preservation of Order hath commanded and by an inviolable Ordinance and Institution appointed all to submit and subject themselves to
to be powerful Intercessors with God to remove his Plagues to say Quid meruere oves what have the poor sheep done smite me and my Fathers house 2 Sam. 24. Like to the good shepherd to lay down his life for his sheep Ioh. 10. And this will work â—in the People such zeal and affection to their Sovereign that they will be ready to lose Lands Riches Honour Life before their King suffer in Honour in his Sacred Power Sacred Right and Sacred Person If the Head â—e well the Body fareth the better and when the Body is in good health and constitution the Head is the better less trouble no pain For proof of this I refer you to that noble passage of Iustin Martyr cited before quaest respons ad Orthod q. 138. Read the whole passage it is an expression in de propria in a convenient and proper place In Sum the Result of all is that from this truth that Kings are immediately from God and Christ independent from all others there issueth a great many excellent and useful Corollaries as first That the excellency of their Dignity is not a motive if it be well weighed to make them swell Lucifer-like in Pride for the weight of their great and difficult Charge will force them of all men to be most humble Officiis quis idoneus istis Their Crowns are dependent from Christ and his Crown and truly considered are onely Crowns of thorns such as Dionysius said an understanding man would not take up if it were lying at his feet Secondly as Kings are nearer to God than any Creatures in the low Universe so are they tied to approach nearest to him in Holiness and all Humane and Christian Perfection Thirdly they are bound to all care endeavour and zeal for Christ's Glory his Truth the Sincerity and Solemnity of his Worship and that not onely as men and Christians but as Kings and Fathers of the State and Nurse-fathers of the Church Fourthly howsoever exempted from Humane Law and coercion yet they are to live and reign according to the Law and Prescript of God and Christ which if they transgress they shall receive Punishment proportionable to their high Dignity and according to their Demerit for betraying the high Trust put upon them Fifthly Although the Royal Right be not founded in saving holiness and sanctity but is sacred in another respect by a delegate Power and Trust yet the way to secure their Crowns their Posterity in the Right transmissible from them and to make their Kingdoms happy is to live piously in Private and Publick Devotions and to intend at first and do it most in their Sacred Government Sixthly next to Almighty God the highest Honour Reverence and Obedience is due to him Seventhly and Maintenance from their Subjects proportioned to their high Dignity and to inable them to act and do what is necessary and expedient for God's Glory the good of the Church and Peace Plenty and Protection of the Subject Eighthly to resist him oppose him in thought word or deed is Rebellion against God himself Ninthly it is high Sacrilege and not onely Royal but Divine Usurpation to trench upon the Kings Sacred Right To shut up all that concerneth this first Question I humbly beg pardon to intreat in all reverence my Lord the King to look upon a Speech of St. Augustine worthy of the reading and meditation of all and the best of Christian Kings he will find it Tom. 5. lib. 5. de Civ Dei cap. 24. which verbatim is thus Reges foelices eos dicimus si justè imperant siâ—inter linguas sublimiter honorantium obsequia nimis humiliter salutantium non extollantur sed se homines esse meminerint suam potestatenm ad Dei cultum maxime dilatandum Majestati ejus famulam faciant si Deum timent diligunt colunt si plus amant illud regnum ubi non timent habere consortes si tardiùs vindicant si facilè ignoscunt si eandem vindictam pro necessitate regendae tuendae Reip. non pro saturandis inimicitiarum odiis exerunt si eandem veniam non ad impunitatem iniquitatis sed ad spem correctionis indulgent si quos asperè aliquando coguntur decernere misericordiae lenitate beneficiorum largitate compensant si luxuria tantâ— eis est castigatior quanto possit esse liberior si malunt cupiditatibus pravis quam quibuslibet gentibus imperare si haec omnia faciant non propter ardorem inanis gloriae sed propter charitatem foelicitatis aeternae si pro suis peccatis humilitatis miserationis orationis sacrificium Deo suo vero immolare non negligunt Tales Christianos principes dicimus esse foelices interim spe postea re ipsa futuros cùm id quod expectamus evenerit O golden expressions worthy to be set in Letters of Gold with most precious Stones and Diamonds and then put upon all Royal Crowns It is a short but a thousand-fold better expression of what we have said Plato Aristotle Cicero Xenophon in his fancied Cyropaedia had never the like it is worth all they have said all they have written on this subject in this kind Let me add a word or two to our selves who are Subjects Let us learn to give to the Lord 's Anointed his due if we will approve our selves good Christians like to our Master the Lord Iesus Christ like to his Apostles like to the ancient and holy Fathers and Martyrs of the Church Let us never deceive our selves like to the Iews who claimed to be the Sons of Abraham when they wrought the Works of their Father the Devil Ioh. 8. Let us not shame our selves and Reformed Catholick Religion by turning Religion into Rebellion and Faith into Faction and deter all Kings in the Christian World to come to the Profession of Reformed Truth and Communion of our Church And that this may be done the more successfully Let us all pray LOrd hear our King in the day of trouble The Name of the God of Jacob defend him Send him help out of the Sanctuary and strengthen him from Sion Remember all his Offerings and accept his burnt Sacrifices Give him according to his own Heart and fulfil all his Councel that we may rejoyce in thy Salvation Teach us his Subjects to fear thee and the King and not to meddle with them are given to change Continue the Loyal in Revâ—rence Obedience and Subjection Reduce the Sons of Belial to their Obedience make thy Spirit fall upon all that we may say thine are we O King and on thy side that the Peace and Beauty of thy Sion may be restored thine Anointed with his Sacred Right re-seated upon his Throne the bleeding wounds of the Land may be bound up the Peace of the Kingdom re-established 〈…〉 soever else is disjoynted may be set aright Do it do it good Lord not for us or for our merits but for thy Names sake the All-sufficient merits of thy Son and 〈…〉 of our Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST And let everâ— good Christian all loyal-hearted Subjects who pray for the Peace of Sion and building up of the walls of Ierusalem say Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS Eurypides in Bacch Idem ibidem Plutarch Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 1. Rom. 13. Plutarch Xenophon in Cyropoedia lib. 8. l. 16. in qualibet de Episc. Cleric C. Theod. Iustinian Novel 42. Trismegistus apud Lactantium l. 2. Instit c. 16. Gr. Naz. Orat. de mod in disp servanda Plutarch in Probl. Prob. 72. Cassiod l. 8. Var. c. 19. 1 de nat anim c. 1.
power from below from the People by Contract are ordained of men and only established by God and consequently we must change the Phrase The People have said you are Gods your Power is from below and Saint Paul's ordained of God is no better than confirmed or approved of God Nor is the Title or Right of a King better as related to God than the Title of what any man possesseth titulo humano orcato by humane Right by Contract or otherwise in Rents Moneys Revenues or what else is ordinary in the Commerce and Society civil of men In brief our Sense is The Royal Power and Sovereignty of the King is from God primarily formally immediately The Designation or Deputation of the Person is by Election Succession Conquest c. as Matthias was designed by the Apostles setting of him apart and the falling of the Lord upon him but the Apostolical Power and Preeminence was immediately and solely from Christ. The power of the High-priest-hood in Zadok was from God the Designation of the Person was from Solomon a pregnant proof and Illustration of this appeareth in Iephtah Judg. 4. 5 6 7. The Elders of Gilead and people by Covenant and Contract bring him home agree he be Judge and Governour and yet notwithstanding 1 Sam. 12. 11. The sending of Iephtah is no less given to God solely than the immediate and extraordinary sending of Ierubbaal Bedan and Samuel A Father begetteth the Child but God infuseth the Soul A Woman by her Choice and Consent designeth her Husband but the marital Power and Dominion is only from God for how can she confer or transfer that power which was never fixed in her nay by God and Nature she is to be ruled by her Husband It is more then than manifest that an humane Act may design the Person of a King and that the Power is conferred by God alone There is in true Judgement a main Difference betwixt Potestas deputativa designativa personae Regiae and Potestas collative potestatis Regiae betwixt Applicativum personae ad authoritatem potestatem and applicativum authoritatis ad personam Regis The first may be done by an humane Act as a mans hand may apply a Faggot to the fire but the other in our case is proper to God as the Fire only can make the Faggot burn It appeareth then clearly that Power may and doth come from God alone and immediately without extraordinary Revelation by the Voice of God of Angel or Prophet The Sense and Terms of our Tenet thus cleared we come in the next place to our Proofs from the Holy Scriptures in the first place God in Scripture by frequent pregnant and multivarious Expressions hath so vindicated to himself the making and constituting of Kings that he declareth fully that he will have none to share with him in this Work for he hath told us that Kings and their Sovereignty are by God of God from God that they are Gods The Children of the most High His Servants His Ministers His publick Ministers and Deputies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their Throne their Crown their Sword their Scepter their Iudgment are Gods c. and hath expressed it in abstracto abstractly of their Royalty their Power and in concreto of themselves with a Connotation of their Persons to intimate that they and all in them their Power their Function their Charge their Person are of divine extract a Constitution of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and consequently to teach us that the Sovereign Authority of the King and the Person of the King both of them are sacred inviolable God in his Omniscience and Prescience did foresee that the Sons of Adam would be like to their Father in Transgression that nothing will content them but to be like God and before they fail they will justle him out of his Right run upon the Guiltiness of divine Vsurpation challenging to themselves the Prerogative of the Almighty Pope and People Anti-christ-like exalting themselves above all that is called God The Iesuit this day pleased for the Pope the Puritan for the People that he or they have underived Majesty by which they may enthrone or dethrone make or unmake Kings at their pleasure We begin first with the Law In which as God by himself prescribed the Essentials Substantials and Ceremonials of Piety and his Worship gave order for Justice and Piety so he commanded the appointing and constituting of the King to be reserved as a priviledged case a proper Prerogative for himself Deut. 17. 14 15. c. When thou shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse A Law sufficient to prove our Conclusion that the King and his Power are originally and immediately from God dependent from him alone and independent from all others The Power and Sovereignty is expressed in the words Set over thee This Thee is collective and includeth all and every one so Scripture knew not this new state-devised principle That Rex est singulis major universis minor above every one severally but subordinate to all joyntly The person is expressed in concreto in the Words Whom the Lord thy God shall chuse Neither is it to be slightly passed by that so peremptorily emphatically and authoritatively it is right-down said Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee c. Which peremptory Precepts dischargeth the People all and every one diffusively collectively representatively or in what capacity else is imaginable in them to intend attempt or practise the appointing of a King but to leave it entirely and totally to Almighty God Here we must take off some shifts which Iesuits Puritans and others make to elude this and other Texts of this kind 1. The first is That this was a priviledged case of the Iewish King So Suarez lib. 3. c. 2. defens orthod Fid. cont Sect. Angl. So Soto l. 4. de Instit. q. 2. art 1. So Navarrus cap. Novit Notab 3. num 33. 147. and many more as Abulensis and others The Sectary averreth the same Both of them strengthen their Argument by these Maxims Exempla specialia non valent ad inferendum regulam universalem imo solent esse exceptiones à Regula To the same purpose they adduce that Maxim of the Iurists Valet Argumentum à speciali ad inferendam regulam universalem or Exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis The Sum and Sense is that extraordinary singular special and priviledged cases are not firm and valid antecedents to infer a general ordinary and ruled case that if we cannot make it appear that all Kings are from God by immediate Constitution the priviledged case of the Iews will infer no necessary Conclusion Suarez in the place above cited goeth a little further affirming that God amongst the Jews did reserve as peculiar to himself the election onely of the King but
that His Constitution or the collation of Royal Power was from the People properly immediately and that because the words run in the Text Deut. 17. 14 15. that the People shall set him King over them and him only whom the Lord they God shall chuse Bellarmine saith just the same To remove this first shift we deny both the one and the other We deny first that it was a proper case for the Jews to have their Kings immediately constituted and appointed by God The Scripture is for us that all Kings all Sovereign Powers are immediately from God Prov. 8. 15. By me Kings reign saith a King and the wisest of Kings and a King who had good reason to say so for if the People had right to constitute or make a King it had not been King Solomon but King Adonijah Adonijah durst say to King Solomon's Mother Thou knowest that the Kingdome was mine and that all Israel set their faces on me that I should reign 1 Kin. 2. 15. Solomon saith not of himself singularly That he reigned by God but indefinitely universally By me Kings that is all Kings reign The first two words Per me By me contain in them the Donor the Author the Efficient the Constituent of Kings and Sovereignty Possibly you will say this By me is spoken of Wisdom it is true but that Wisdom is to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for an Accident or Quality but for something subsistent personally And this Solomon's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chochmach in the sense of the most Learned both Ancient and Modern is St. Iohn's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 1. 1. Saint Iohn's Word Christ the Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1. 2. The Text demonstrateth it for his Wisdom by which Kings reign is that Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the right reading for the Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kanan possedit nor will the Greek reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring home the Arrains conclusion which the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way before his Works of old vers 22. Which was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was v. 3. The Wisdom by which Kings reign is the same that was created of all things Kings are from God the Father but by the Son as from the Father by the Son all Spiritual blessing in heavenly things come to us so the greatest of Temporal Blessings By him we have Kings the best Blessing here for without them neither Godliness nor Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. This Per is Christ's Preposition It is worth your notice taking that Solomon saith not By the People Kings reign had it been so you know who had been King and not Solomon Nor he saith not By the High-Priest Kings reign you know he was engaged in Adonijah's Treason no He saith not By Israel nor by Abiathar nor by Zadoc nor by David nor by Nathan Kings reign But there is a Per me which is exclusive of all and to whom onely it is proper and peculiar to make Kings and to make Kings reign Solomon excludes Pope and People State and Presbytery He vindicates the creation of Kings no less to Christ than the creation of things This â—er me by me imparts not a naked Permission as if Kings by importunity of People were given way to as some blasphemous mouths and Pens have said and written and that Monarchy of all Governments is the least acceptable to God and to People most inconvenient Ignorants or malicious or both they are who dare to say so Monarchy was the first Government God ordained in the World and is yet founded in paterno Why if it be otherwise was it promised to Ahraham as the highest pitch and reach of Temporal Blessings that Kings should come of him Why doth God Ezech. 16. upbraiding the multitude of the People reckon in the last place as the highest of his Favours Temporal That they prospered into a Kingdom Why doth St. Peter urge obedience to the King because that is the Will of God 2 Pet. 11. 15. Why doth St. Paul say that he is tibi in bonum for thy good and for my good and for the good of all Saint Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Higher Power is nothing else but St. Peter's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King that is Supreme So Chrysostom Ambrose Haymo and others interpret it and the Government then when Saint Paul writ that Epistle was Monarchical They be a cursed brood who do maintain that this per me Reges regnant This By me Kings reign is a per me iratum by me in anger to punish a stiff-necked and rebellious People The Queen of Sheba knew it was per me propitium By me in Mercy and was better taught and sounder in this point of Divinity than the great Gamaliels amongst our Sectaries for she saith to Solomon Because the Lord thy God Loved Israel to establish them for ever therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice 1 Chron. 9. 8. This per me implieth then that they are of Gods making and in mercy Kings are given to us This per me by me implieth Kings are God's and Christ's Derivatives and that God and Christ are their Institutives from God the Father by the Son their Commission their Power their Sovereignty for this cause St. Paul calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is very pregnant and signifieth an Ordinance by high Authority not revocable nor repealable In which sense it is usually read in classical Authors Sacred and Prophane So Sinesius useth the word in Epist. ad Theoph. So Aristotle in his Problems Sect. 28. 50. Lucilius Epigr. 2. So Appian in 2. and Plutarch in Marcello useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for established Decrees of Sovereignty The word from which it is derived is so used Acts 28. Stephanus a Learned Graecian is of that mind that in this very place Rom. 13. 2. it signifieth so much The Emphasis of this per me is not yet fully explained That wonder of Piety and Learning Doctor Andrews Late Bishop of Winchester hath well observed that the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bi in me and yet beareth well in me and per me the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth signifying both So that the meaning is Kings are first in him and so come forth from him as that they are in him He parallels it a little with that passage in the Gospel My Father in me and I in him Christ in them as his Deputies They in Christ as their Author and Authoriser he by their Persons then by his Power The other two words of the Text Kings Reign contain in them the Charter the Donation Kings is in the number of many in the plural number Solomon although the wisest of men and Kings and King of Israel knew not this time what our new Doctors know that it was a priviledged
Sovereign Power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is by God from God under God and God's Appointment irrevocable ordinance irrepealable The three last are the Apostles the first is Solomon's for the Septuagint read the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This variety and plurality of Expressions how Sovereignty is of God and Gods the Spirit of God hath used that none presume sacrilegiously to usurp upon God his Prerogative who hath reserved this peculiarly for himself that all Kings upon Earth should be his immediate Creatures and Deputies by his own Letters Patent authorized Our Adversaries have been much puzled with this Text if they give us a new Bible it is like enough either this Text will be left out or we will have a Gloss upon it to destroy the original Text. It hath so tortured them that I cannot tell you how many ways they have coyned to themselves to elude it I have observed five main ones which I purpose by by Gods Grace to examine and refute quaests 5. now I content my self to take off one in which they please themselves much They say the Apostle speaketh abstractly not concretely of the power it felf not of the person cloathed and invested with the Power it is an ignorant shift Barcley in his Book de Regno who hath deserved well of all Christian Monarchs hath learnedly and truly observed that Saint Paul writing to the Romans did keep the Roman usual Diction in this with whom it was customable and ordinary by Potestates powers in the Abstract to express the persons authorized with this power He refers his Reader to classical and good Authors as to Pliny lib. 29. c. 4. Iuvenal Suet. in Claudio c. 21. Modest. lib. 27. de Pignorib Vlpian lib. 17. SS penult de Aedil edict Tertullian contr gent. I content my self with the Dialect of Canaan in Scripture in which frequently Expressions in the Abstract express existents in the Concrete Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers By Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers uncontrovertedly Angels are meant that the Expressions are abstract is clear as the Sun-shine To say Angels were created in abstracto is to send us to search after Platonick Idea's This instance it may be is too sublime let us see then if we can hit upon one nearer us and more fitting for the Purpose in hand I pray them to cast their Eyes upon St. Peter 2. Epist. 2. 10. where giving a Character of the man with whom we have to do he saith That they despise Government are presumptuous self-willed and not afraid to speak ill of Dignities The fellow of this you have Iud. 8. These filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak ill of Dignities In which Passages the words in abstracto Government Dominion Dignities without any Doubt do express the persons of Governours Lords and Kings It is worth your notice taking to consider how zealous St. Peter and St. Iude were for the honour and due of Sovereignty the ray of Divine Majesty upon Earth that they speak so passionately and bitterly against such as professed themselves Christians and did speak Evil of Cajus Caligula Nero monsters of men O with what a zeal would they be inflamed if living now a days they did see what we see and hear what we hear the pretended Levites expressing their Zeal to God Religion Church and State by railing against the Lords anointed the best of Kings in the World The Fathers do use the word so too St. Austin epist. 48. saith Potestas humana saepe est divinae potestati inimica humane power is too often contrary to the Power of God Almighty The holy Father was not so bad a Divine as to think that Potestas in abstracto that Government which is Gods own Ordinance can be in Opposition or Enmity with God St. Austin then infallibly by the word Potestas Power meant him or them who are authorized with power from above If this doth not content our Adversaries I would entreat them to look upon St. Paul's Text and I hope they will find that St. Paul meant by being subject to higher powers to be subject to him who is invested with the Power Doth not he term them v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Higher Powers then and Rulers are with saint Paul equivalent terms Doth he not after call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers immediate and peculiar Servants of God v. 6. and even Nero himself is Gods Minister for thy Good Doth he not say v. 4. That he beareth not the Sword in vain which is non-sense if you conceive it of higher Powers in abstracto The like may be said of paying Tribute c. God did fore-see by his eternal Omniscience how apt man was to coin Distinctions to deceive himself and to wrong Gods Ordinance that mercifully to us he hath expressed in Scripture that both Sovereignty and the person cloathed with Sovereignty are of him by him and from him immediately and this that both the one and the other may be reverenced by us as sacred and inviolable The Apostle speaketh in abstracto Be subject to the Higher Powers The Powers that are are ordained of God He that resisteth c. Again the Spirit of God by Solomon saith In concreto with the Connotation of the Subject By me Kings reign I have said you are Gods c. What shall we judge then of this new-coyned Distinction to make a Difference betwixt the King and his Authority betwixt his personal Will and his Royal and Authoritative Will to pursue his Person with a Cannon-bullet at Edge-hill and to preserve his Authority at London or elsewhere These Fig-tree Leaves will not cover our Rebellion and Treason in the day of our Accounts before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Remember his strait Charge Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophet no harm CHAP. III. The same Truth is proved by more Arguments from Holy Scripture THE Scripture hath not delivered any truth more purposely more apertly more frequently than this The Spirit of God knew well that if the Sacred Sovereignty of Kings be not preserved Religion Justice and Peace cannot be maintained This is the reason St. Paul gives to perswade us to pray for Kings That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. It is observable that Solomon Prov. 8. speaketh first of the establishment of Government before he speaks of the Works of Creation to intimate it is better not to be at all than to be without Government For the same reason God fixed Government in the Person of Adam before Evah or any else came into the World and how Government shall be and we enjoy the happy fruits of it it is not conceivable except we preserve
Kings in what proportion they please by a fiduciary trust View the fourth Chapter of Daniel's Prophecy and there you will find it in four-squared Letters Nebuchadnezzar for a time is un-kinged how I pray you By the Watcher by the Holy One one sent by him from Heaven commanded by him to hew down the tree to cut off his branches shake off his leaves scatter his fruit vers 13. 14. And to what purpose is this That Nebuchadnezzar and all living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men vers 17. All this is the Decree of the most High vers 24. And Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men to live and eat with beasts till he should know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will vers 25. It was told to the proud King swelling in Pride in his Palace that the Kingdom was departed from him the Messenger was a Voice from Heaven vers 31. After his Repentance and acknowledging this Truth that Dominus dat aufert regna that God giveth and taketh away Kingdoms his Kingdom was established unto him his Counsellors and Lords sought unto him and excellent Majesty was added unto him Whosoever is not over-ruled with the Spirit of Errour and readeth and considereth these Passages aright must confess the Truth we maintain God open our eyes to see it and give us hearts to believe 〈◊〉 that Loyalty Royalty may have their Place and Right The same Truth is delivered to us again Dan. 5. 5. A hand from Heaven a miracle it is to confirm this Truth writeth upon the Plaster of the Wall that Belshazzar the King and his Nobles may inquire after it That God had taken the Câ—own from him He did not acknowledge that he did hold his Crown of the King of Heaven to this Ingratitude he added Sacriledge and prophaned the Golden and Silver Vessels of the Temple For these sins his Crown was taken from him So horrible a Sin is Sacriledge and in Kings especially that it will throw them into Contempt cast their Crowns into the dust and bring greater Judgments in the world to come if they repent not Nor can this Repentance be sound and saving without Restitution Here that rule of the Holy Father holds good Non dimittetur peccatum ni restituatur ablatum Daniel reading and interpreting this miraculous Writ recalleth to Belshazzar's Memory Gods dealing with his Father v. 18. O thou King the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour what more can any conceive in a King than is here expressed And for the Majesty he gave him c. v. 19. mark it well it is not said that the People gave it he swelled in Pride was unkinged for a time till he acknowledged that the most high God ruleth in the Kingdom of men and that he appointed over it whomsoever he will v. 21. After this Daniel bringeth home his Application to Belshazzar prudently checking him that he had not made right use of that befell before his Father but had trode in the same way of Pride and added to his Fathers Sin the prophaning of Sacred things that for this cause he and his are extirpated Root and Branch The writing was Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin The Sense is he was found Light in Gods-Ballance his Kingdom was numbred and finished and divided or given to the Medes and Persians Who in executing this Vengeance against an ingrate and sacrilegious King were nothing else but the Instruments the Axe and Rod of God as you may read Isaiah 45. and 44. 28. and Ier. 51. 11. Isaiah 13. 17. In the Passages adduced consider First who is the Author I mean not the Principal for without controversie it is the holy Spirit Daniel a man eminent and excellent in Court Credit and Preferment But this is not so considerable consider him therefore as one of the Prophets of most rare Endowments for Wisdom and extraordinary Revelations Secondly Next reflect your Thoughts a little how this Truth is manifested It is from Heaven but how I pray you By Dreams By Voice by a crying Voice by Writ from whom from the most high God from the holy one from the Watcher from the God of Heaven to whom To Nebuchadnezzar the Emperour of the Assyrians and Babylonians to Belshazzar his Son and all the way miraculous The Dream is forgotten to Daniel it is miraculously revealed with no less wonder interpreted It is written miraculously Interpreted and read as wonderfully and all this in the wise Dispensation of God that Kings and all may acknowledge that Kings and Kingdoms are of God Before this Truth be not known to Kings and all he will reveal it extraordinarily miraculously by Dreams by Voices by Cries by Writings from Heaven and that all may take notice of it the Dream is forgotten Magicians are sought to because they cannot find it out Death is decreed against them yet God will not have it to go unknown to his Servant he reveals it all the Empire take notice of it all admire it To confirm it yet more the King must live like a Beast till he believe he confess he profess this Truth This Truth is not once spoken but twice it is seen it is heard The Babylonians had forgotten it Belshazzar had slighted it neglected it When he his Counsellors his Lords are feasting carrowsing a finger from Heaven writes it None can read it Daniel is sought he reads it interprets it that all may take Notice of it The Father for not acknowledging this Truth but sacrificing to himself of a King is made a Beast but Repentance restores him The Son hath harder measure He is dethroned rooted out for ever And a way is made that Cyrus in his succeeding to the Empire may acknowledge that his Kingdom was of God which he did truly as we told before Where can you shew any Truth of this kind in Scripture so revealed so manifested by such miraculous extraordinary and admirable ways I think it is hard to hit upon a parallel to it God knew well before How apt we are to rob Kings of their due Right and Honour nay rather how prone corrupt man is to intrude upon God and invade his Right If any will be pleased to consider seriously Daniel's Prophecies What are they but Predictions that all Empires Kingdoms Majesty Royalty and Sovereignty are of Gods immediate Donation They are not disposed of by the composed Contracts of men but by the immediate hand and work of God All Ancients and Moderns for the most part acknowledge here in Daniel to be the clearest the most distinct Prophecies Predictions of the four great Empires If you will cast your Eyes upon the historical part of Daniel's Book there is no Truth which is so much treated spoken of as this Truth as that Kings and Kingdoms are dependent
synecdochical and tropical Speech it is so usually spoken Nor is it unusual to the Spirit of God in Scripture to speak this way for it is said 1 Cor. 6. The Saints judge the World Now it is certain that the Judgment of the Saints is only by approving or consenting to Christs Judgment which is his only authoritativ◠properly and their act in that great Judgment at the last day is only to approve or consent rather to the righteous Judgment of their Lord yet Scripture standeth not to say The Saints shall judge the World To judge by Authority is only proper to God the Father by the Son to whom the Father hath given all Judgment and this leaveth no place no Power to the Saints to dissent The like holdeth in the Instance proposed That this is to be conceived so which is our sixth Argument to confirm that Kings and their Sovereignty are immediately from God is more than apparent that Almighty God in Scripture vindicateth to himsel◠all the Acts real and imaginable which are necessary for the making of Kings If the Iesuit make much of the Letter of the Text Deut. 17. where it 's said The Lord should chuse the King and the People set the King over them Let us consider how the Practice interprets the Letter of the Law it is an infallible Maxim with Jurists Praxis optimus Legis interpres Practice is the best Commentary of Law and it is no less a ruled case that the first president is a ruling case to all following in that kind Come then take the first Instance in Saul the first elected and constituted King by the Tenor of this Law In the practice the Phrase is varied and turned over the Election is given to the People the Constitution to God 1 Sam. 12. 13. Behold the King saith Samuel whom you have chosen and desired and behold the Lord hath set a King over you This Election of the People can be no other but their Admittance or Acceptance of the King whom God had chosen and constituted as the words Whom you have desired imply Scripture telleth us that Saul's Election and Constitution was 1 Sam. 9. 17. when God said to Samuel Behold the man whom I spake to thee of the same shall reign over my people and when Samuel took a Viol of Oyl powred it upon his head kissed him and said Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance 1. Sam. 10. 1. Where you have Samuel as Priest and Prophet anointing doing Reverence and Obeisance to him and ascribing to God that he did appoint him Supreme and Sovereign over his Inheritance The same again is totally given to God 1 Sam 12. 13. The Lord hath set a King over you The Expression and Phrase is the same with that you have of Christ and his Kingdom Psal. 2. 6. I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion I am confident none will be so sacrilegiously impudent as to give to Church to man or Angel Creature or Creatures any share in any act of constituting Christ King over his Church and for his Church and in order to it over all the Kingdoms of the World By what is said of this first practice it is more than evident that God in that Law of making Kings Deut. 17. did vindicate as proper and peculiar to himself the Designation of the person of the King and the investing of him in royal Power and Sovereignty The People then were only to admit and accept of their King by God so designed and constituted and to yield all Reverence Obedience and maintenance necessary It was not arbitrary to them to admit or reject Saul so designed so constituted by God himself immediately reject him they could not Yet God in his wise prudent Dispensation of all things judged it expedient to complete and consummmate this Work by the Acceptation Consent and Approbation of the people Vt suaviori modo that by the smoother way he might thus encourage Saul to the undergoing of this hard Charge and make his People the more heartily without grumbling or scruple Reverence and obey him As by his Providence he doth all things powerfully so he disposeth of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the good of man in a sweet and mild way This Admittance possibly added something to the Solemnity of Saul's investing but nothing to the essential or real Constitution as the Intimation of a Law which in Laws I think hath more Interest than this Admittance here it hath no Influence upon a Law made by supreme Power yet it is useful it Puts the Subjects in mala fide makes them inexcusable if they contravene Or this Admittance was and is as the Imperialists say truly of the Popes Confirmation of the elected Emperour good ad pompam but not requisite ad necessitatem Or if you will speak with the Romanists that the confirmation is of the Pope once elected is ad solennitatem not ad necessitatem for the Solemnity not simply necessary Or to come more near and with more certainty and truth it is like the Coronation of an hereditary King which is only for solemnity not for Necessity for before that Ceremony and Solemnity his Title is as good as after it and any act of royal Power and Jurisdiction done before his Coronation is as valid as any done as after his Coronation Or if you will it is like the Enthronization of a Bishop or installing of a Canon o◠Prebend in a Cathedral Church Scripture maketh this Good plentifully elsewhere for it punctually ascribeth all Acts essentially constitutive of Kings immediately to God In one full word the making of a King is given to God 1 Kings 3. 7. And now O Lord my God thou hast made thy Servant King instead of David my Father The providing of a King is given to God 1 Sam. 16. 1. I have provided me a King The King in a proper and peculiar way is called Gods King Psal. 18. 50. Great deliverance giveth he to his King God exalteth them Psal. 89. 19. I have exalted one chosen out of the People Not the People but God findeth Kings out ibid. vers 20. I have found David my Servant Neither Priest nor Prophet nor People really anoin◠Kings God anointeth them ibid. vers 20. With mine holy Oyl have I anointed him That we conceive them not to have their Prerogative from Pope or People Priest or Prophet not they but God adopteth them ibid. vers 27. I will make him my first-born That he may cry unto him Thou art my Father my God vers 26. To shew their nearer and straiter Alliance they are taken in societatem nominis numinis potestatis into a communion of his Majesty his Name Power it is said Psal. 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods To shew their Generation their Procreation their Derivation there is a dixi to this too I have said ye are all of you the Children of the most High
and Mary than of Christ and that they out of their Fear and Weakness not able to do better did flee Herod and his malicious intent If any think so let him consider that he hath not learned as yet that all Christ's Actions and Passions are full of Mysteries and nothing acted or suffered by him in which there was not an over-ruling wonderful Providence of God in Mercy and Wisdom and withal let him consider that all his Acts and Sufferings are our Instructions But leaving this Did he not in his Ministry teach and practise it Teach it when he commanded to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars when he convinced the Iews who would gladly have shaken off Caesar and his Right arguing that they were by God's Law bound to pay Caesar Tribute because he was their King and this he proved by their Coin which with all sound knowing Politicians is inter jura Majestatis which was printed with Caesar's Face and Superscription Again in his Death Did not our Saviour Christ acknowledge Pilate's Power that is the Roman of which he was Deputy to be from above Did he not rebuke Peter who with his Sword would have in a Defensive way saved him from those bloudy Persecutors Did he not tell him He that killeth by the Sword shall perish by the Sword that is Peter although thou think thou hast a good cause that thou wilt defend me and by resisting open force preserve me thy Master thy Saviour deceive not thy self it is not lawful by Arms in the best Cause for my Cause for my Life to resist Lawful Authority if thou kill in my Defence thou art worthy to suffer Death by the Sword by him that beareth the Sword not in vain When Peter over-reached himself in this distempered zeal cut off Malchus his Ear Christ before that Offence should have been done by any of his in his company for his Cause will be at the pains to cure this wound miraculously Would God Pope and Papeling Jesuit and Sectary Puritan and Presbyterian would fix their hearts upon these Practices of Christ by a singular Wisdom of God so clearly and fully recorded practised in Christ's Nativity Childhood practised and taught in his Ministry practised and taught when he was a dying when he was looking Death in the face at which time the most sinful man will neither dissemble nor temporize I doubt much if in any act of Christ during his coming into the World and his going home again to his Father you can instance any to parallel this to exceed it sure I am you cannot And what I pray you can the Pope challenge more than to be Minister Evangelii a Minister of the Gospel as our Lord was Circumcisionis of the Circumcision He shall never be accounted with me the true Vicar of Christ who teacheth contrary to Christ and practiseth contrary to his Practices Me thinketh he looketh more like and hath nearer alliance with the man mentioned 2 Thes. 2. Who exalteth himself above every thing is called God It is very considerable likewise that in the Apostolical Creed which is so full so brief and nothing in it but what is necessary to be believed to Salvation that I say in this short Creed Pontius Pilate whose memory is accursed by the Spirit of God which ruled his Church in setting this down is recorded It is not for his Honour certainly but for our good and edification that there it is said Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate that we may learn if we expect Salvation by Faith in Christ we must submit to Authority by obedience to what they command if it be lawful and submitting humbly and suffering if Authority urge that which is unlawful and against God And that this we are bound to although the Magistrate be as opposite to Christianity as a Heathen and the Cause for which we suffer be for Christ and his Church We will never help Christ nor his Church by Arms against Authority or Religion by Rebellion If our Sectaries give us a new Creed it will concern them near with the expunging of Christs descent to Hell and the Communion of Saints to raze out this He suffered under Pontius Pilate If their Practices be so contradictory to Christ's they cannot but consequutivè by consequence be destructory of the Christian Faith where the Reward of those are to be expected you know too well It were better for you not only to expunge Christ's Descent into Hell but to annihilate Hell it self which by a close Committee you may resolve upon if your omnipotent power can be able to do it I mean your fansied coordinate power which you have of late erected against Sovereignty fixed in the Lord 's Anointed as in the Church you have erected Altar against Altar God open your Eyes to see your monstrous Sins and Errours and to give to you and to us all true Repentance that the fearful vengeance of God overtake us not and in the World to come be forced by sensible eternal and horrible pains to acknowledge the Truths which now we reject although plainly in Scripture declared in the most Authentick Apostolical Creed determined and by the current and not interrupted suffrage of the Fathers above seven hundred years believed Lord have mercy upon us and turn his Wrath and fearful Indignation from us I dare not to express what I fear when I look upon these outrages committed against Sacred Truth How God and his Word are abused His Sanctuary defiled His Ordinances repealed Mischief framed by the Law Sacred Persons violated and the Lords Anointed fearfully rebelled against My resolution is to dissolve unto Tears and Prayers and with my Master say daily say hourly Lord forgive them for they know not what they do The weakness of this Assertion that Kings are not Christ's Vicegerents we have as we hope sufficiently proved It is high time now to discover the wickedness of it The purpose they have by this and the like Assertions is to reserve the managing of all Religious Affairs in their largest latitude to themselves vindicating it as peculiar and proper quarto modo to their Conventicles Presbyteries and Assemblies This Sovereignty they make so Sovereign and Independent that all Kings and Sovereigns whatsoever must submit to it This Sovereignty Ecclesiastical may restrain and constrain the King at pleasure It may repeal his Laws correct his Statutes reverse his Judgments It may establish its own urge Obedience Cite Convent and Censure in case of Disobedience And if they be not of Power to execute what they decree they may call for or command the help and assistance of the People in whom is that underived Majesty and to this purpose may promise covenant swear to stand to the maintenance of their Fancies against all whatsoever and to defend each another contra omnes mortales with their Goods Lands Fortunes Honours Lives to admit no divisive motion which is real and to be such if the Authority of this Church declare it
externum hominem by coactive Power or externam gubernationem Ecclesiae the external Government of the Church in appointing the use of things arbitrary and indifferent and what else is of this strain are so due to the Prerogative of the Crown as that we must not rob him of it nor may the Priest without highest Rebellion against God intrench or usurp upon the King A King in the State and Church is a mixed Person not simply Civil but Sacred too They are not only Professores fidei Professors of the Truth that they have in the Capacity of a Christian but they are also Propugnatores fidei Defenders of the Faith which is proper to them in the Capacity of a King What is the meaning of that that in Scripture they are honoured with more than the Stile of a Son of the Church they are called by Isaiah or rather God himself The Nurse-fathers of the Church This is not to be so scantled as if there were no more Influence from Kings upon the Church but by Honour and Riches other great men may and have done the like it is meant by some Influence from their Crown their Sword their Scepter What meaneth that Charge Psal. 2. 10 11 12. Be wise O ye Kings serve the Lord with Fear kiss the Son left he be angry and ye perish from the way When his Wrath is kindled but a little I will believe Saint Austin more than all the glorious pretended Reformers of this happy Reformation or Deformation rather writing to Boniface Quomodo enim saith he Reges Domino serviunt nisi ea quae contra jussa Domini fiunt religiosâ severitate prohibendo atque plectendo Aliter n. servit quà homo est aliter quà etiam Rex est Quia homo est ei servit fideliter vivendo quia vero etiam Rex est servit leges justa praecipientes contraria prohibentes convenienti vigâ—re sanciendo Sicut servivit Ezechias Lucos templa idolorum excelsa quae contra praecepta Dei fuerunt constructa destruendo Sicut servivit Iosias talia ipse faciendo Sicut servivit Rex Ninivitarum universam civitatem ad placandum Dominum compellando Sicut servivit Darius idolum frangendum in potestatem Danieli dando inimicos ejus Leonibus inferendo Sicut servivit Nebuchadnezzar de quo jam diximus omnes in regno suo positos à Blasphemando Deo legi terribili prohibende In hoc ergo serviunt Domino Reges in quantum Reges cum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi Reges The Passage is plain and hath more for the Right of Kings than Iesuit or Puritan will allow them who will have them to be Ministri and Executores their Servants to put in Execution what they ordain and command To make Pope or Presbytery as the immediate Vicegerents of Christ and to authorize them with a coactive or a coercive Power to confirm their Orders to force him to repeal his own Laws and in case of Defailance or Refusal after Remonstrance is made or Supplication as they call it although possibly presented on the point of a Sword or Pike to stir up people against the Lords anointed to Sedition to Rebellion howsoever they deceive the simpler sort to make them believe they dye Martyrs is truly the Disgrace of Religion the highest of Treasons against God and man and to make poor People die Traytors to both If you make two Sovereigns in one Kingdom Independent one from another there is no more Peace or Quiet to be expected than was in Rebecca's Womb whilst Iacob and Esau did strive for the Prerogative of the first born Nay if you make the Sovereign and Supreme managing of Religion and religious Affairs to depend upon and properly belong either to any foreign power without the Kingdom as to the Pope or to any Power domestick within it as to the Presbytery or Assembly you commit and entrust to their managing the greatest and highest Affairs of Kingdom and State and if you take from the King the Regiment in Religion you take from him that which in its own nature is the mainest the chiefest and most excellent thing in Government as may appear by what is subjoyned Religion is the Base and Bottom on which all the Steadiness and Happiness of King and Kingdom are seated Religio Timor Dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se societatem It is Religion and the Fear of God alone which preserveth all Society and consequently King and Kingdom Lactant. de Ira Dei c. 12. Religion is the Base and it is the Cement too of all other Societies besides this Plutarch saith that Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which bindeth all Societies together and giveth Strength to all Laws Religion it hath a mighty Influence upon Laws it worketh hearty sincere and compleat Obedience Religion rightly ordered maketh the Prince rule well and people yield true real and perfect Obedience This made Aristotle say Polit. l. 7. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first care in Policy should be that of Religion and things divine Religion rightly ordered is the Preserver Nurse and Defence of the Quiet of King and State I say Religion rightly order'd for Superstition is a mad and madding thing Seneca ep 24. Superstitio error insanus est Trismegistus saith apud Lactant. Institut lib. 11. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piety and the fear of God is the safety and only Defence of all things Religion in Sum is the only thing to make private and publick Affairs to prosper Which thing being infallibly true it must necessarily follow that Religion is the most important of all Affairs of State and Kingdom How can it then subsist and consist with Reason that the King shall have no more hand or Power in Religion than to execute at the Command of Pope or Presbytery To do it or do worse Christ did never institute such a Sovereignty in Ecclesiastical persons either Pope or Sectaries Independent from King and Sovereign with which they are invested with Power from Christ from above immediately If it were so the Pope or Presbytery were in better Condition than the King The Ecclesiastical Sovereignty hath the Souls in subjection under no less Sanction than with Assurance of Salvation eternal in case of Obedience and Damnation eternal in case of Disobedience and both of them to be extended both to Soul and Body Religion is seated in the Soul and is a mighty Ruler there the civil Sovereignty holdeth only a dead Dominion over the Bodies That Sovereignty which hath the Soul in Subjection the Conscience at his Devotion must over-rule Royal Civil Sovereignty and shall be able at any time so to limit weaken lessen yea disable it that it shall be no more fearful abroad nor glorious and powerful at home with it's Subjects than the spiritual Sovereignty shall permit It is most true and consonant to our
Kingdom Power Strength Glory and Majesty More absurd is that that they with brazen-face affirm this Majesty in a King is derived onely cumulativè communicativè so that the People are not devested of it but that in certis casibus in some cases which if they be not real People shall fansie them at pleasure this same Sovereignty and Majesty is resumable An old Philosopher would laugh at him who would presume to say that a matter passive actuated and perfected by Union with a Form could at pleasure shake off that specifick and individual Form and marry it self to another they may with as good reason say that a Husband hath Marital Power from his Wife and to gratifie that Sex with which they are very prevalent they may endow every Wife with that Power to resume her Freedom and to marry to another at pleasure A third reason against this Paradox in State and Divinity is this there is no warrant in Scripture nor doth Nature teach that God hath fixed all Government Sovereignty and Majesty in the Community as in its prime and proper subject The fittest opportunity to evidence this Right and Prerogative of the People was certainly when Saul was anointed and appointed the first King of Israel Till this time God did retain the Government in his own hands and actuated it by the hands of Moses Ioshua c. as his Viceroyes and Deputies the Text of Scripture is plain in this 1 Sam. 8. 7. God saith to Samuel They have not rejected thee but me Again 1 Sam. 10. 18. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel I brought Israel out of Egypt and delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians and of them that oppressed you Verse 19. And you have this day rejected your God who himself saved you out of your adversities and tribulations and ye have said unto him nay but set a King over us Again 1 Sam. 12. 12. And when you saw that Nahash the King of the Children of Ammon came against you ye said unto me nay but a King shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your King To these passages joyn Gideon's words Iudges 8. 23. When they offered the Kingdom hereditary to him and his Posterity he replied I will not rule over you neither shall my Son rule over you The Lord shall rule over you These places prove clearly a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's ruling of this People by his substituted Deputies When this extraordinary way and peculiar to this People onely was to cease and a King to be established over them like to the Kings of other Nations it was most opportune and high time to declare this Native inherent right of the People in whom is this National and fancied underived Majesty and to leave them by their right to transfer their right upon him whom they judged most fitting and able to be King But here Ne mu Lucilianum not one syllable for it not the least insinuation Nay you have point blank the contrary a virtual destructory of this imagined and conceited Right as at large before we have expressed and cleared for Scripture vindicateth to God as proper and peculiar to himself the Designation of the Person of Saul and the collation and bestowing of Royal Sovereignty It is worth your notice that Scripture recordeth that after he was designed and declared King The Spirit of God came upon him which without wronging the letter of the Text may be interpreted of God's Grace enabling him for the charge The very Heathen did acknowledge that in Kings there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something from above bestowed above the ordinary stream of Endowments incident to man which how it may subsist with a derivation of all their Majesty and Power from the multitude let them judge who have not made a Divorce betwixt themselves and sound Reason and Judgement By no means let us neglect to observe that God when he designed Saul to be King collated upon him Royalty he left no other act to his People but to admit him which was not left to their voluntary determination to admit or reject him at pleasure Nor is that to be over-leap't that God would not allow them by compact and contract to make their own conditions to limit and enlarge their King at pleasure but gave himself to the subject jus Regis the Law of the King to which the Subjects were to submit in the hardest case He prescribed Lex imperandi a Law and Rule to Kings to rule and reign by Deut. 17. But at the admittance of Saul he giveth Legem parendi the Subject a Law of Obedience and Patience 1 Sam. 8. which is so peremptory in the extremest acts of Tyranny and Oppression that no other Remedy is left but Prayers and Tears Patience and crying to the Lord in the day of Trouble and Oppression Of this by God's Grace more hereafter qq 3 4 5. A fourth Argument against this popular Errour and Deceit is this if all Sovereignty and Supreme Power were originally inherent in the People and from thence derived to the King then undoubtedly Democracie were the best of all Governments The reason is pregnant that spece and kind of Government which cometh nearest to its original must be sounder and more perfect but Democracie which is the Government of many cometh nearer to the multitude than Aristocracie where some few of the better sort or than Monarchy where one hath the Supremacy and Government The nearer to the Fountain the Stream runneth more pure and clear This Argument cannot well be taken off and it is a strong Argument changing the terms in the assumption for Monarchy it proyeth the excellency of Monarchy above all Governments because it approacheth nearest to the Government of God and God himself who is the Author of all Government as the Argument before is made the Conclusion is most false because howsoever all Writers of Politicks in many things concerning Policy differ as much amongst themselves as Clocks or our Sectaries yet all unanimously accord and agree in this that of all Government Democracie and popular Government is the worst and do prefer Aristocracie to it by many stages which likewise enforceth our Argument for the excellency of Monarchy for the farther you recede from Monarchy as in Democracie the worse the Government is and the nearer you approach to it as in Aristocracy the Government is the better Some have a nearer approach to one than many and many are at a greater distance with one than some few which things duely considered and rightly pressed will bring home the Conclusion that Formalis completa gubernandi ratio est in Monarchia the proper specifick formal and complete essence of Government is in the Sovereignty of one Review and consider all Politicians whom you will they will grant that Suprema potestas est in indivisibili posua â—upremacy and Sovereignty is an indivisible and undivided Entity How can you share it then amongst more or many Nay
cannot repeal it By Scripture then and Antiquity it is clear that the interposed act humane whatsoever it be whether Election Succession Conquest or any other lawful way doth not collate the Power but design or declare the person and letteth not the Power to be of immediate Collation from Almighty God as when the Church designeth or declareth a man for a sacred Function it is God only who bestoweth the supernatural Power Faculty and Ability Or it is in some case like to that when our King sendeth the honourable Order of the Garter to a Duke or Prince abroad by the hand of a Gentleman the Gentleman intimateth it to the person honoured but the bestowing or collating of the honour is from the power of the King the sole and proper Fountain of that Honour Let this suffice to remove their first scruple we come next to examine that which both Jesuit and Puritan make much of that is A private and individual Person may make away his own native and proper Liberty and enslave himself to a Lord and Master from hence they conclude Ergo a Community or Multitude may surrender their own native Liberty to one or more to rule over them See Bellarmine pressing this Argument lib. de Laicis cap. 6. and Suarez lib. 3. defens Doctr. Orthod cont Sect. Anglic. If we would grant all this yet this much we will gain that as a singular Person when he hath made away his Liberty to another he cannot resume it no although he hath made his bargain in a hard condition disadvantageous to himself then although we give that their consequence is good which we will never grant it will by as necessary consequence follow that when the People have devested themselves of that Power naturally inherent in them and invested one or more with it they cannot resume it no not though they have made it to their own disadvantage It may be they will tell us Argumentum à simili in dissimili non concludit that an Argument built upon a Similitude concludeth not in the point of Dissimilitude We will yield to them this with both our hands and upon the same ground we rejoyn that there is a wide disparity and difference betwixt the two 1. First because it is certain Nemo nascitur naturâ servus None by Nature cometh in the World in the condition of a Slave Nature in this is equally Indulgent to all But on the other side it is as true Nemo nascitur liber ab Imperio No man is born in that condition to be free from Government but with his natural Being cometh into the World subject to some Every man is born subject to his Father of whom immediately he hath his Existence in Nature and if his Father be the subject of another he is born a Subject to his Father's Superiour 2. Next there is another great difference Every man by Nature hath an immunity and liberty from despotical and herile Empire and in this may say Possum facere de meo quod volo I have this privilege by the Law of God and Nature that I am enslaved to none and consequently without his own voluntary act making away this native and natural liberty he cannot be devested of it and in his bargain and covenant may more and less enslave himself but on the other side God and Nature have laid a necessity upon all men coming into the World subesse imperio to be subject to Government Again because this Government this Empire this Sovereignty cannot protect us sufficiently to make us enjoy the sweet fruits of happy Government Peace Righteousness Plenty Godliness and Honesty except it be entirely endowed with Sovereign Power to act its Duties preserve it self protect us Almighty God as he investeth the Sovereign with entire Sovereignty so hath he set the bounds of it defined it otherwise such is the corruption and natural repugnancy of every one to it that forthwith it should be rent in pieces It is accidental to any to render himself a Slave it is occasioned either by Force as when one is taken by an Enemy he is Mancipium Servus or otherwise some extreme necessity and indigency forceth one to enslave himself to sell his Liberty to redeem him from Debt Death or any ignominious and intolerable condition to state himself in a more tolerable one In brief it is some supervenient necessity that forceth man to make away his native and natural Liberty à servitute but subesse imperio to submit and subject to lawful Government congruous to the condition of man and necessary and convenient for the happy Being of man is natural is necessary by the inviolable Ordinance of God and Nature This answer to their second Sophism cleareth the sense of their Maxim so much cryed up and so much abused Quisque nascitur liber every one is born a free man that we need not insist much upon it yet to make the general sense of the Maxim appear and to discover their adulterate and bastard sense we say it is most true that Quisque nascitur liber à servitute Every man is born a free man from slavery but Nullus nascitur liber ab imperio none is born exempted from the subjection of lawful Government without a subordination and subjection to a Superiour Christ as man was not exempted from this It is recorded in Scripture Luke 11. 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did subject himself to Ioseph his putative Father and Mary his true Mother the word in the original is the same which the Apostle useth Rom. 13. 1. commanding obedience and subjection to Higher Powers It were very fit our opposites would consider what Power the Father had over the Children by the Law of God and Nature that to redeem himself from Debt from any distressed state and condition he might have enslaved his Children begotten of his Body If this Power was not by the right of Nature by the warrant of God I can see no other for it could not be by a mutual and voluntary act of Father and Children To shut up all in few words give me leave to put you in mind that the Stoicks observe three Notions of servitus of Service and Subjection 1. The one is when a man contrary to native and natural Liberty is made a Slave to a Lord or Master this they call servitutem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a man hath power to command use dispose another man's Person as his other Goods at pleasure for this cause the Scripture standeth not to call a Servant his Master's Money 2. The other is when a man's Person is confined or committed that he is deprived of living at liberty as he lists as Criminals or Debtors this kind of servitude they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the liberty of going where we will or doing what is lawful at pleasure is taken from us 3. The third is a Servitude as they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consisting in Subordination in
of every individual and particular Person singly for our good from God they are sent for our good to us they come If Kings were not we should be as the Fishes of the Sea the greater destroying the smaller or as the Beasts of the Forest the strong destroying the weaker Hab. 1. 14. Saint Chrysostom explaining these words 1 Tim. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Apostle saith that we may live a quiet and peaceable life that is to say saith the holy Father Our Security subsists in their Safety It is worthy your notice taking that in the Book of Iudges where it is recorded that all disorder was in the Church and State the reason is so often given and repeated Because in those dayes there was no King in Israel you read it cap. 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. 21. 25. Which words import not simply that there was no Government in those dayes none can be so stupid to imagine it but the Spirit of God intimateth two things to us 1. The one is that they wanted Monarchy the most excellent of Governments 2. The other is that the Government then Aristocratical was so weakened that in Church and State nothing was sound the grossest Enormities did abound and there was no strength in Authority to right it Review the story There was no King this time and consequently there was all mischief this time and therefore a fit time to shake off the old and bring in a new Religion Micah and his old doting Mother will have a Religion of their own an Idol of their own a trencher-Chaplain of their own there is nothing to let it No matter for sacred Orders if a Levite may be had it is better otherwise it skilleth not much The reason is given in the Text In diebus illis c. in those ill dayes there was no King in Israel I wish we were so happy that these Times of ours had no resemblance with that time Well but it is no great matter for Religion if every man can enjoy his Liberty his Honour his Peace live in Safety what is Religion to us If this be Religion these Times want not Professours too too many It will not rest here although every man have liberty or licence rather in Anarchy to have and to profess what Religion he will the same Scripture telleth us where no King is Rapine and Spoil will be where no King is plundering will be good Justice every man's Lands Revenues and Chattels may be fortiter occupantis the stronger may disseize the weaker you shall have the Tribe of Dan to spoil too Nor is this all The men of Gibeah will abuse the Levite's Wife nay do it avowedly abuse her to death it is no great danger to act and do what mischief you will where no King is No man's Soul Wife Life or Goods can be secured where no King is Idols may be erected Murder may be acted and allowed Men robbed of their Goods and all this good Service for the glory of God and the good Cause Consider again how universal these Mischiefs are you have a Micah a private man Gibeah a City Dan a Tribe all out of order and course Religion is defaced Justice is abused Honesty and Civil moral Conversation is shaken off Dishonesty Impiety Uncleanness are avowed Again consider Micah was at Mount Ephraim in the midst of the Land Gibeah was at one end of the Countrey and Dan at the other so that these Mischiefs were not confined to one corner but were spred over all the Land And seeing Scripture repeats it let us repeat it too all these Disorders all these Mischiefs were because in those dayes there was no King in Israel Turn it over again No better way to keep Religion sincere and incorrupt mens Lives and Wives Honour Goods and Possessions in Safety to secure them from Murder Abuse Oppression than by Kings No doubt Priests there were then but either they would not serve at all or then the Priests were over-awed by the disorderly and sinful multitude Hos. 4. or did prescribe their Text give them Commentaries taught them what to say what to preach No doubt in those dayes Judges they had but Justice was not done or if done at pleasure otherwise Judges were posted and signed with a nigrum theta marked to be stoned by a rascally multitude Though Priests be in the Church and Judges be in the Land they are not able to guard the Publick or Private from wrong wherefore it is most consonant with Scripture to say Salus Regis suprema Populi salus the Safety of the King and his Divine Royal Prerogative is the safest Sanctuary for the People Vbi non est gubernator populus corruet so readeth St. Hierom Solomon's words I refer my self in this to the Consciences and Experience of the King's Subjects what hath been the security or comfort they have had in Person State or Goods since the Lords Anointed the best of Kings hath been wronged O if they durst speak O if they would speak The Prophet Hoseah cap. 3. 4. threatneth as the greatest of Judgments in this world That the children of Israel shall be many dayes without a King Listen I pray you to what followeth and without a Prince that is there shall be no Nobility and what more and without a Sacrifice that is there shall be no Religion no true Priest The same Prophet cap. 10. 3. sheweth they shall have no King because they feared not the Lord. The Prophet Ieremy Lam. 11. 9. lamenteth first that their Kings were captives then that they had no Nobility for their Princes were captives too then the Law is no more Justice is gone with the King and then the Prophets find no Vision from the Lord Religion is gone too Will not all this lead us to better thoughts a better esteem of Salus Regis of the Safety of the King the preferring of his Divine Right and Royal Prerogative It may be our Zealots account those Prophets no better than Court Parasites Cyprian or some other ancient Author masked under his Name summeth up shortly but pithily the happiness of People in a King de 12 abusionib Saeculi cap. 9. in fine Est pax populorum tutamen patriae immâ—nitas plebis munimentum gentis cura languorum gaudium hominum temperies aeris serenitas maris terrae foeâ—unditas solatium pauperum c. The words are plain enough they need no interpretation What mean they then who magnifie this Maxim Salus Populi suprema Lex esto Let the Safety of the People be the Supreme Law to call it in a narrow sense abstracting à salute Râ—gis from the safety of the King The transcendent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Politicks the Paramont Law that giveth Law to all Laws whatsoever that the Law of Prerogative it self is subservient to this Law and were it not conducing thereunto it were not necessary nor expedient Some more superlatively excessive commendations the
God and do not from this fear preserve the Right of God and his Church protect and promote the Ordinances of God and advance the Worship and its Solermity Nor will bad Counsellors excuse them in the Day of their Accounts nor will the Counsellors escape just Judgment and it is like God will make the same People a Rod to scourge them whom they have followed and given way to with the loss of a good conscience and offence against God As Princes the Sons of the most High and Vicegerents of Christ upon Earth are bound to Piety in their personal carriage above other and to procure and protect it in their publick Government so they are bound in their private and publick Conversation and Government to be excellently righteous The Derivative naturally resembleth its Primitive God from whom they are by immediate Derivation hath no pleasure in wickedness neither doth evil dwell with him Psal. 5. 4. Kings hold their Scepters from Christ The Scepter of Christ's Kingdom is a right Scepter He loveth righteousness and hateth wickedness Psal. 45. 6 7. They are by generation from the Father Psal. 89. They issue from the thigh of Christ Rev. 17. 14. 19. 14. They degenerate then if they be not righteous If Kings live and govern piously and justly their Thrones shall be established their Crowns secured and their Posterity be blessed Prov. 25. 5. By righteousness the Throne is established The good of this will redound to the whole Kingdom Prov. 29. 4. The King by Iudgment establisheth the Land but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it Foelix Respublica in qua qui imperat timet Deum See God's charge to Kings Ier. 22. 1 2 3. Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the oppressed c. vers 4. For if ye do this thing indeed then shall there enter in by the gates of this House Kings sitting upon the Throne of David riding in chariots and on horses he and his servants and his people vers 5. But if you will not hear these words c. vers 7. I will prepare destroyers against thee c. David the King knew this Psal. 33. 16. There is no King saved by the multitude of an host How then vers 18. The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy He practised it Psal. 61. 4. I will abide in thy Tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy wings The meaning is his constant purpose and practice should be holy and just and to advance Piety and Righteousness from this issueth that confidence he subjoyneth vers 6. Thou wilt prolong the King's life and his years as many Generations vers 7. He shall abide before God for ever O prepare Mercy and Truth which may preserve him See Psal. 72. wholly Prov. 20. 8. 29. 4 14. 16. 12 13. This Truth believed by Kings that they are immediately sent from God and Vicegerents upon Earth is a ground of great Confidence in God in their greatest Troubles which usually are great and frequent for as the tallest Cedars they are exposed to the Violence of greatest Tempests their only way is to run to God for Protection and Deliverance They may lay claim to it more than any God is the Principal they only Lieutenants and subordinate more favour is allowed to them greater Protection promised to them Psal. 89. 26. He that is the King shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my Salvation Also I will make him my first born David Psal. 44. 4. approacheth to God in this Confidence Thou art my King O God command Deliverance for Jacob. A Subject claimeth Protection from the King as his Due so may the King from his Lord and Master Solomon upon this ground that God had set him upon the Throne of David begged Government and Judgment to go out and in before his People 1 King 3. The Lord did not refuse it but in his Bounty supererogated what was fit for his more Magnificence God hath a secret and unknown way in directing and guiding Princes and no less admirable a way in guarding their Persons and delivering them out of all their Troubles Prov. 21. 1. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters He turneth it whithersoever he will Psal. 18. vers ult Great Deliverances giveth he to his King and sheweth Mercy to his Anointed c. The Heathen have acknowledged in Kings some Heroici impetus some strange and extraordinary Inspirations and Directions seconded with as admirable Successes and Protection that a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them something extraordinary above that God in his ordinary Providence by Direction or Protection vouchsafeth upon others I refer you to read and meditate what you have written 2 Kings 19. 25 27. and Isai. 42. 1 27. and you will doubt no more of this Truth This day is this Truth fulfilled in our Ears we have before our Eyes such a wonderful over-ruling Direction and Protection of our Sovereign in this Rebellion that we must acknowledge it is the Lords work and marvellous in our Eyes Psal. 118. This Truth is a strong Motive to perswade Subjects to all Duty First to honour reverence and obey the King next to God and above all others The Fear of God and the King are immediately conjoyned and enjoyned together in Scripture Prov. 24. 21 22 23. My Son fear God and the King c. 1 Pet. 11. 17. Fear God honour the King See Tertullian to this purpose in the places we cited before and Gregory Nazianzen Orat. 20. which is a funeral Oration for Basil the great The Moral Law hath mixt to the duty we owe to God in the first Table placed in the first place Honora patrem Honour the King What Divinity then can it be which this miserable unhappy Age hath invented and vented that the Fear of God and the King are inconsistent and the best Badge of a Christian is to oppose the just and lawful Demands and Commands of Kings This is none of Christs his Apostles nor ancient Christians and Martyrs Doctrine What Christian heart can be so hard as not to mourn for this and cry out with that holy Martyr Polycarp Good Lord for what times hast thou reserved me Again this Truth that Kings are Gods Vicegerents sent by immediate Commission from him tyed us to maintain our Kings in Honour Wealth and Power proportioned to so high a Calling This the word Honora patrem honour thy Father naturally in the Diction and Dialect of the Scripture imports 1 Tim. 5. 17 21. Almighty God although his Immensity be attended with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an able sufficiency and all Felicity yet hath he sequestrated and set a-part some persons peculiarly for his sacred Service some place for his publick Worship and some Quota of our Revenues and Industry that all men may acknowledge