as true that they hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in specie that the specification of the Government or restraint to Monarchy Aristocracie Democracie or a mixed Government of these if it be imaginable or possible is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by humane constitution Some in these distempered Times have gone a little more wide in Errour than the Jesuit averring that a difference of Superiour and Inferiour is an Herauldry unknown to Nature and the Gospel solely and simply introduced by the constitution and composition of man We will therefore by God's Grace prove that Government is de jure Naturae necessary by God's established Ordinance in debate of which we are confident it will appear that Sovereign Authority whether it be fixed in one as in Monarchy or some few of the better sort as in Aristocracy or in many as in Democracy is derived from God immediately and referreth to him as its proper efficient and constituent That God is the Author of all Government amongst his Creatures and especially of the Government of mankind appeareth by reason 1. The same who is the Author of all Creatures in their Being and Existence must be the Author of their Subsistence and Preservation in that Being and Existence It is an infallible Maxim in the Schools in Nature in Scripture Qui dat esse dat conservare He that giveth Being is the same that preserveth the Being Creation 〈◊〉 begun Conservation and Conservation is a continued Creation we assume Things made existent by Creation cannot subsist and have continuance but by Order by Government from whence naturally it followeth God must be the Author of this Order and Government and consequently hath not left it arbitrary to man by composition and consent to do it Authority strengtheneth this reason Saint Augustine writing against Faustus saith Aeternâ lege juberi ut ordo naturalis conservetur It is not arbitrary in St. Austin's mind to man whether Government or not for what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Humane Constitution if we will believe the Prince of Philosophers is arbitrary but in his judgment jubetur it is jussum a commanded a necessary thing and that aeternâ lege by an inevitable irrepealable Ordinance which nothing temporary can make void But what is this I pray you the holy Father telleth you Vt ordo natuâ—alis conservetur that the Order God in nature hath established be preserved and conserved If this come not home enough take it with a full Commentary from Anselme who lived long after him and in whose days this Tenet lived in Vigor upon 1 Cor. 15. he saith Omnibus notum sit nullum principum nullámque potestatem virtutem sive coelestium sive terrestrium per se habuisse aliquid principatus vel potestatis aut virtutis sed ab illo à quo sunt omnia non solâ—m ut sint sed etiam ut ordinata sint Be it known to all men saith the holy man that none invested with Sovereignty Dominion or Power hath either Principality or Dominion or Power by himself but solely from him by whom they have not only their Being in Nature but also to be so order'd for their better Being and Preservation by Order If Saint Austin's first Passage above cited be not clear enough full enough hear him speak for himself Lib. 3. Confess cap. 8. Generale pactum est societatis humanae obedire regibus suis It is a natural a general a universal Compact Covenant of humane Society to obey their Kings In the Fathers Dialect Generale pactum is the dictate of Nature and he that disclaimeth Ius naturae the dictate of Nature to be Ius divinum the Law and Ordinance of God hath made a Divorceâ—betwixt himself and Nature and Reason and sound Divinity It is observable that he saith this Generale pactum this Ordinance of Nature is obedire Regibus suis to obey their Kings I beg the Favour that our Sectaries will shew as much for Aristocracy or Democracy or any other imaginable Spece of Government The Strength of this Argument is more seen if you consider this If God Almighty be not as much the Author of the order of the Government of mankind as he is the Creator of man and mankind then Almighty God hath not perfected his good Work entirely to or towards man and mankind and hath left man in a worse Condition than all other his Creatures in the Vniverse besides The Consequence is necessary for it was not sufficient nor conformable to the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make man the little World the Abridgment of the Perfections of all Creatures except he provided by his Wisdom Power and Goodness how he should be continued and preserved in Being and Happiness but this without Order and Government is neither imaginable nor really possible These two are indivisibly inseparably given to God in Scripture He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Creator of all things and Vpholder of all things Heb. 1. 2 3. As all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him so all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by him Rom. 11. vers ult Gen. 2. 1. Thus the Heaven and the Earth were perfected and all the host of them Perfecti sunt coeli terra omnes exercitus eorum saith the old Interpreter This that all the Creatures were very good Gen. 1. 31. and that all were perfected Gen. 2. 1. importeth not only that all in the Bounty of God were created in their specific and individual Natures good in themselves but also that by the Decree and Ordinance of God were established to continue and to be preserved thus But no Subsistence no Continuance without Order and Government reason Sense Experience evidence it confirm it Nor is Authority wanting Greg. Nazianzen Orat. de moderat◠〈◊〉 disput serv. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order Government is the Mother the Nurse the Establisher of all things Saint Paul Philip 2. 5. â—ntimateth that without order the Stedâ—astness of Faith cannot be He rejoyced to behold their order and the Stedfastness of Faith First order then Stedfastness of Faith without order then no Stedfastness in Faith and consequently no Faith To return to our point that the Establishment of Order and Government is no less the immediate Work of God than the Creation of all See Psal. 148. where the Psalmist exhorting or exciting all the Creatures to serve God giveth the Reason vers 6 7. For he commanded and they were created He hath also established them for ever He hath made a Decree that shall not pass Do we not see all the Creatures established in a Subordination one to another See we not in the lifeless and senseless Creatures that the inferiour giveth a Tacite Reverence and silent Obedience to the Superiour See we not upon the other part that the superiour Creature hath a powerful and effectual Influence upon the Inferiour to its Good and Being without which it could neither
yet meet in a strange Land or some Territory not inhabited this case presupposed I demand Whether or not this Populus inconditus would not condescend presently and necessarily to some Sovereign Power to govern and protect them who can deny it Again if all these were descended from one or sprung up from one root and their common Father were with them would Nature Equity and Humanity necessitate them to submit to him and that from him it should be hereditarily transmitted to his first-born and so forward who doubteth of this Well I change the case take them not onely as inconditus populus a disordered People which is conceivable where a Head is but as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without one common Ruler that is when they are a farrago Naetionum and diversarum familiarum a confused mixture of more Nations more Families when they have not one common Father If they condescend that one shall have Sovereign Power over all and so by consent shall be surrogated in the place of the common Father and that this Sovereignty shall be transmitted to his eldest Son and so forth From whence is this Power Necessity forceth them to a Government without it they can have neither Society nor Safety nor Peace nor Happiness but all their part is onely to design or declare the man which is onely potestas designativa potestas deputativa but the Power is onely from Almighty God the potestas collativa the Authority the Sovereignty is of God from God God's The reason is evident the Substitute must have it by the same hand by the same means he had it in whose place he was substituted By what is said he cometh in the place of a common Father and the Father's right is immediately from God and of God I am ashamed to resume again that the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eminent Powers that be are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ordinances the authoritative Establishments of God no less than the Authority of a Father above his Son or of a Wife above her Husband is of God and from God immediately and do not refer to the Wife or Children as their immediate Donor and Author God hath spoken once twice have I heard it that Power belongeth to the Lord Psal. 62. 11. If you love to hear St. Chrysostom speak read his words in a proper place upon Rom. 13. where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sum and sense of all is this Because paritie in Honour and Power always worketh War and Contention God to prevent this Mischief hath ordained many kinds of Powers and as many kinds of Subjections as the man to have Power over his Wife a Father to have Power over the Son a King to rule and Subjects to obey And this is not only apparent amongst men but also in the very body of every man where some members are superiour to other in Worth and Power to command the Inferiour This established Order hath place amongst irrational Creatures as Bees and Cranes do follow one Flocks and Herds do the same In the Sea this is to be seen where many Fishes do follow one as King war with him against others and go following him to places far distant from home Anarchy the want of Order and Government is altogether and always evil the Mother and Cause of all Confusion and Mischief The Result of all is Government is necessary as for the Subsistence of all Creatures so especially for the good and comfortable Society of men This is not left arbitrary to men but is by the inviolable Ordinance of God established Now if it fall forth so that a multitude disordered dispersed by any unavoidable Necessity be without Government nature over-ruled by Gods inviolable Ordinance forceth them to submit and subject to some to govern them and to have Sovereignty over them whether they resolve upon one upon some few or many The Designation of the person or persons is from this disordered rout but it is God who investeth them with the Sovereign Power We clear it thus as Posito generationis fundamento when a Father begetteth a Child consequitur ex ordinatione divina institutione vel naturali vel morali subjectio filii ad patrem it is necessary by the inevitable Ordinance of Almighty God that the Son begotten be subject to the Father So it is by moral divine Institution that when any People have deputed and designed the Person or Persons of the Government or Governours the Collation and Donation of this Power and Sovereignty is from God effectivè effectually and from the Community but consecutivè because consequitur ad electionem populi ex divina ordinatione collatione it followeth and is inseparably conjoyned by God and his Appointment Take the like A woman marriageable in her own Power maketh choice of a man to be her Husband her Choice and Consent giveth not to him marital Power but this Right and Prerogative of the Husband is from Almighty God for who dare say that in the woman is primarily and radically marital Power Consider yet a little more the King elected to be a Sovereign to such a headless a disordered Multitude as we presuppose is surrogated in the place of a common Father to the whole Community over which he is to bear rule The Scripture expresseth him so Exod. 20. Command 5. Honora patrem Honour thy Father The Heathen conceived it so See Aristotel Ethic. lib. 8. c. 10. and Polit. lib. 1. c. 2. Homer Odys 1. from which two Consequents unavoidable are deduced 1. First as the natural Father suppose that Adam were living had he not just Title to the Monarchy of the World receiveth not any paternal Right Power or Authority from his Posterity or those are come of his Loyns but hath this from God and the ordinance of Nature which is jus divinum as we have said no more can the Father surrogated in the place and power of the natural Father he said to receive his Right his Power his Sovereignty from the Community 2. The second Consequent and Consequence is that according to the maxim of the Law Surrogatus gaudet privilegiis ejus cui surrogatur and Qu◠succedit in locum succedit in jus the Person surrogated hath all the Power the Priviledge the Person had Right to in whose place he is surrogated When a man hath no Son by Nature or Issue of his own a Son adopted is entituled to all the Right Power Revenue was transmissible to a Son begotten of his own Body A base born Son legitimated is invested with all the Right Title Honour Inheritance was due to a lawful begotten Son The reason is evident is pregnant both the one and the other the adopted Son and the base Son legitimated are surrogated into the place of the lawful and natural begotten Son Why then I pray you shall not should not the surrogated Father by Election enjoy the Priviledges and
Nostrils The second Corollary which the Observator deduceth out of this Principle Salus populi suprema lex esto is that it were strange if the people subjecting themselves to command should aim at any thing but their own Good in the first and last place This Consequence presupposeth two Errors the one is that the people are the immediate Authors and Donors of Sovereignty which we have already refuted the other is that the Conveyance of Sovereignty is by Trust and that in that Portion and proportion the people please the error of which we will by God's grace discover in our third Question To take this off briefly I ask of the Observator that seeing God hath ordained Rule and Subjection and directeth mankind to their greatest Convenience by Government and seeing God and Nature teach and all do acknowledge that the Good Plenty Peace and Safety of the people cannot be effected or attained to except the King be proportioned to so high a degree of Honour Wealth and Power that as Father he may protect all administrate Iustice secure from Oppression and Sedition at home and from Invasion abroad and have Main tenance proportionable to these ends whether or not in Order of Nature in the first place it is necessary that this Power Honour and Maintenance be secured to the King without which we cannot expect Safety Peace or Good to the Subject Except we have made a Divorce betwixt our selves and Reason we must grant this Truth If you will trust Saint Chrysostom hear him speak it upon Rom. 13. upon these words He is the Minister of God for good unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which words two things are expressed first that the King is immediately sent from God the other is that he is sent for our Good no Safety then for us without him and for both Respects we are to honour him for all Good which we have by our Industry is by Influence from his Government and he is a co-worker with us and auxiliary in it If this be not enough turn to him upon the words Not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake where he saith that the King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is the procurer of Peace and Base and bottom of all politick economy Innumerable good things come by Princes Government to the Society of men which if you take away there can be no Cities no Right to Lands or Revenues no House and Family can subsist no Commerce and Trade can be had all shall be overturned the stronger devouring the weaker To St. Chrysostom's Suffrage joyn St. Augustine tom 9. tract 6. in Ioh. Tolle jura Imperatorum quis audet dicere mea est illa villa aut meus est ille servus aut domus baec mea est and a little after Per jura Regum possidentur possessiones the result is this if you take away the Right of Kings none dare say the Lands are mine this Servant is mine or I have Right to this House It is by the right of Kings that all our Rights and Possessions are secured It is more than manifest then that the Right of King and Subject the Safety of King and Subject are naturally conjoyned and so intimately involved the one in the other that in the moral Notion they may be esteemed identically the same no less than Soul and Body make up one identical personal Subsistence or at least se mutuò ponunt tollunt destroy the Kings Right and Good and with the same Act the same blow you destroy the Subjects too If you provide not for the Safety of the King you cannot possibly secure the Safety of the People What God hath conjoyned let none put asunder Let it never then again be spoken or heard by Christians that the good of the Subject is the Alpha and Omega in Government and demandeth by right the first and last place The third Consequence is this That the King looking upon the whole State reflecting upon what Graces he hath granted or may grant to his People he cannot merit of it and what he hath granted if it be for the good of his People it hath proceeded but from his meer Duty Well by the Observator we see the King is placed in no better condition than a Servant nay an unprofitable Servant for when he has done all he can do he was onely done his Duty By these means Grace is not a fit compellation for Kings Acts of Iustice he may do but no Acts of Grace O misera Regum sors On the other part the People are stated in that sublime condition that they may supererogate with their Prince by doing many Acts of Bounty Favour and Grace By this Assertion a Prince is disabled from doing any courtesie to his Subjects Before this miserable distempered Age was it ever heard but that it was the greatest happiness of a King that he was able and his greatest glory to oblige his People by Acts of Grace Bounty and Courtesie But now the World is so turn'd topsie turvy that when he has done all he is able he hath onely discharged the duty of a faithful and trusty Servant Turn the Tables and then see what you will judge of the throw Do not all we Subjects owe Duty to the King Are we not tied to advance his Honour Yet upon extraordinary Services we believe we can deserve well both of King and Countrey Will you not Observator allow the King the like measure This Conceit is a popular Deceit and not virtually onely but also really destroys the ground of Beneficence in a King and the duty of Gratitude in a Subject By this it appeareth that it is a naked nay an hypocritical Complement when both Houses in Parliament after Graces granted present their humble thanks and heartily acknowledge His Majesties gracious Favours Must not the like hold betwixt a Father and his Family And shall we by these grounds be constrained to acknowledge all the Acts of a Father to his Family to be no better than Acts of meer Justice and Duty In the Dialect of Scripture and Heathen Writers Homer Odyss 9. Kings are Fathers And yet the Observator standeth not to say That the Father is more worthy than the Son in Nature and the Son is wholly a Debtor to the Father and can by no merit transcend his Duty nor challenge any thing as due from his Father for the Father doth all his Offices meritoriously freely and unexpectedly We will not be at pains now to examine this onely I demand if this hold according to his Judgment in a Father of a Family how comes it to pass that it holds not in Patre Patriae in the Father of the Kingdom The obligation to Pater Patriae to the Father of the Kingdom is stronger is straighter than to Pater Familiae to our natural Father And the School doth teach us and all Divines besides for ought I know that we are bound to love the King appreciativè by
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
Rights of the Father natural Methinks more for the warrant of the two latter cannot be raised to any higher Constitution than humane Appointment but the other of the surrogated Father floweth and followeth the inviolable and unrepealable Ordinance of Almighty God For my part a King designed in such case ought should enjoy his paternal Right no less than Melchisedeck or Abraham I am the more powerfully inclined to this Opinion that I see in holy Writ that it pleased God in his Wisdom and Justice to transfer the Right of the first born to the younger the surrogated was not one whit lessened in his Prerogative and Power but had fully entirely what was due to the first born in whose place he was surrogated Consider this in Iudah when Reubens Right of Primogeniture was forfeited and he with his Posterity invested with it and surrogated in his place See read and consider the Royal Prerogatives by the Spirit of Prophecy bestowed upon Iudah Gen. 49. of which by Gods Grace more largely Quaest. 4. The like may be seen in David whom God preferred to Eliab his elder Brother It is a ruled case in Law Modus acquirendi non tollit jus possidendi the way by which we come to have jus quaesitum as Jurists term it the Right to any thing provided it be lawful otherwise that Maxim is of undoubted Truth Quod ab initio non valuit progressis temporis convalescere non potest long Possession cannot secure an injust Title it is not my purpose now to enter upon Vsucapio or Ius proscriptionis is not prejudiced by the way by which we obtain it Iacob had no less Right to the Birth-right having it by a just Title than Esau. The Jurists give the reason of this Quomodocunque res est acquisita possessio est de jure gentium if a man come at any thing by a legal Title by the Law of Nations that is by the Law of common Equity the Possession or Apprehension is entire and valid Now apply all this when a People disordered are without Government and destitute of a Governour to whom by a Title and Right of Nature it is due condescend to design or chuse one for their Ruler why shall he not should he not enjoy inherit the Right of the deficient Proprietor and seeing the Right Proprietor had this Right by God by Nature how can it be but howsoever the Designation of the Person is from the disordered Community yet the Collation of the Power is from God immediately and from his sacred and inviolable Ordinance And what can be said against modus acquirendi the way by which such a one elected obtaineth this right for seeing God doth not now send Samuels or Elishas to anoint or declare Kings we are in his ordinary Providence to conceive the Designation or Election of the Person is the manifestation of God's Will voluntas signi as the School speaketh just so as when the Church designeth one to sacred Orders In few words take all with you God who made all things is the Author of Order by which all things are preserved without Order there can be no Being but all must either turn to Annihilation or to a confused Chaos God in Scripture is no less the God of Order than the Creator of all things In Heaven amongst the Angels we see it established Amongst all Creatures betwixt the cope of Heaven and the center of the Earth it is a sweet subordination a sweet harmony is seen the Inferiour giving a tacite reverence a due obedience to its Superiour the Superiour having an over-ruling Power with a benign influence upon all Inferiours to it Can we then dream to ourselves that God did leave man without this mean of subsistence that it was Arbitrary to him to appoint and specifie either no Government at all or what kind or spece of Government he pleased Plato in his Republick can tell such a man that he that can think he may subsist without a Governour must either be God or something worse than nothing Hath God provided so for all Creatures in Heaven and Earth that he hath established a Government amongst all and that conform to every one's nature and hath he left man in some respects the most excellent and perfect of all Creatures the Abridgment of the whole World the Microcosme without this established order Do we not see that before the Woman came into the World or a Child was born God fixed Government in the person of Adam Did he not secure it that it should be transmitted to the first born that Government amongst mortal men should be immortal and seeing Sin with much more Misery and Mischief hath brought into the World that men should sometimes be driven from their natural and proper Father King and Sovereign that for their Subsistence in Happiness and plenty and Protection from Evil and Mischief they are forced to chuse one or more and to surrogate him or them in his place to whom by God and Nature it was due to bear rule over them that he or they coming in the place and power of the natural Father or King have his or their Sovereignty not by a voluntary Consent but by a necessary act and that the Power is not by Derivation from the Community but by immediate Donation from Almighty God CHAP. VIII That Sovereignty is not by Derivation from the Community is proved by more Reasons IF there were no more to disprove this popular Tenet That Sovereignty in a King is by Derivation from the Community this is more than enough that it is built upon a false Ground for it presupposeth and taketh as granted that in the Community whether collective of all Individuals or virtual and representative by some in place of all there is inherent a Potestas activa rectiva a ruling active Power which is most false If we will trust Philosophy Natura nalli dat virtutem sine actu cujus est potentia ejus est actus Aristot. de sornn vigil Potentia sine actu otiosa est inutilis And the Light of Nature teacheth that Deus natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature hath not bestowed upon any thing in the Universe a Power which is idle and to no purpose as certainly that Power must be which is never actuated But now this Power of actual ruling was never acted by the Community it was never seen nor exercised by them The collective or diâ—â—usive body comprehends with 〈◊〉 its Verge all and every individual Now how is it imaginable that in all the People in gross in commune this Potestus activa regâ—minis or Potestas activi regiâ—ninis this power of actuating Government is seaâ—ed as in its prime principal and most proper Seat and Subject Government intrinsecally essentially includes in it a specifick Distinction of regentes and recti some to be Governours and some to be governed If all and every one hath this Power above-mentioned where then are those that
grounded upon a good cause for proof see Bellarmin de translat Imper. and Suarez in his Book which we have often cited in this little Treatise It is easie to bring a great many more Arguments to destroy this erroneous Tenet pernicious to mankind it self onely because we are weary of it give me leave in the Close to shew you that it is morbus complicatus a Disease a Distemper made up of the confluence of many together and that it hath involved within or adherent to and coherent with it a great many Absurdities contrary to Truth in Sacred Scripture revealed to sound Reason and Policy I shall onely point at them and leave the enlarging of them to the judicious Reader 1. First it is absurd to say and maintain in true Philosophy that the Community is primum subjectum the first Seat and Subject in which Sovereignty is immediately fixed How can it be said so seeing in them it was never found never actuated never exercised Vana est potentia quae nunquam reducitur in actum 2. Next this Principle presupposeth the most excellent of Creatures Men to be like Cadmus off-spring de terrâ nati sprung out of the Earth Iuvenes aquilone creati or which is worse in origine like to the most imperfect of living Creatures Animalia de putredine orta Creatures coming from Corruption it self which Paradoxes how well they sute with the Excellency of humane Condition and which is more with the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the Creation of all and lastly how consonant to sacred Truth in Scripture revealed if these be well considered then I am hopeful our new Statists will forsake their Errour 3. Thirdly this Tenet of our Sectaries presupposeth that all men coming into the World are Iure or privilegio naturae by the Right and Priviledge of Nature originally born equal independent one from another without desparity or Difference one from another This is contradictory to the word of God that teacheth God did fix Government in Adam before the Woman was made or Children begotten by him Is not every one that cometh into the World begotten of a Father Is he not thus by the Law of God and Nature to submit and subject himself in Reverence and Obedience to his Father Is he not then so far from having original Power inherent in himself that he hath not his own Original being in the Capacity of Nature but from his Father How then can he be freed from Subjection to his Father And if his Father be subject to another is he not by the same Law subject to his Father's Superiour Who can make this Subordination void except he will ranverse the Ordinance of God and Nature Where then is the Truth of this deceiving Maxim which worketh so much mischief Quisque nascitur liber every man is born a free-man in the Forrest Are they not subordinate subject to their pre-existent Father and to his Superiour too if he have any Is not the Female Sex by the Ordinance of God and Nature inferiour and subordinate to the male Doth not Nature teach that the Wife by the Law of Nature is subject to the Husband If you will believe Aristotle in his Politicks he telleth you that a man of weak Understanding is subject to him who is more intelligent and prudent and if I forget not that he is naturâ servus 4. Fourthly this ground presupposeth Anarchy to be de facto pre-existent really and actually before Order and Government Christians must believe that as God created all things in numero pondere mensurâ in a compleat Perfection of all things every Creature having its own intrinsecal Weight and Worth not only in it's own due Proportion and measure but in a measure orderly disposed for it's Accord and Being with the Universe and must believe accordingly that he hath disposed of all things in that Order which establisheth an unrepealable Government by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Universe and every spece and individual in the Universe is preserved and continued in it's happy natural Being Who then can be so stupid to think that God Almighty sends man in the World destitute of this Order and Government which is necessary for the happy Being of the Abridgment of the World for whom it was made in a secondary respect If the whole world without this Order could not but return to a confused Chaos and Mass and from thence to an Annihilation what other can be the Condition of Mankind without order established to preserve it See Chrysostom's Testimony upon Rom. 13. cited above If they will speak philosophically they must confess Habitus est naturâ prior privatione the Habit in nature is presupposed to be existent before the Privation How come we then from our new-state-Philosophers to hear that Anarchy was in Nature was in the world before Government 6. Fifthly by the same Ground by Consequence it will as necessarily follow that Ius paternum jus maritale the lawful Authority of a Father over his Children and a Husband over his Wife are derived from the Children and Wife and that Children and Wife in some cases may resume their Power derived from them and their native Liberty If any aver so he is Flagris dignus to be cudgelled not to be answered 6. Sixthly this Tenet if it be not blasphemous it is certainly sacrilegious for to say that Power is radically originally fundamentally inherent in the Community or as the observator saith that in the people is an underived Majesty robbeth God and Christ of his Glory Scripture declareth them to be the immediate Authors of all Sovereignty Glory and Majesty as we proved above Doth not Scripture express the immense Sovereignty of God and Christ over the World and Church by the Compellation of King If you will have Kings then to be the Derivatives of the People take heed you make not God and Christ the Derivatives of Derivatives which any pious mind will be loth to think 7. Seventhly when the King 's Right is made to be such that the same Sovereign Power is habitually retained in the People and the Power in some cases is resumable How can you make the King's Title complete Law is against it when the Donor is dans retinens as Jurists speak giving a right yet retaining it he maketh not over a full and entire Right nor can the Donee lay just claim to it It is a maxim without Exception among them Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae à voluntate promittentis statum accipit the Donor is not tyed to make his Bond and Gift good if at pleasure he may resume it as we spoke before 8. Lastly leaving many Absurdities more untouched in the last place we place it which in our Judgment moveth us most to abhor it that you which believe this Tenet must either give us new Bibles or find out new Commentaries to the Bible for what you say is right down opposite and contradictory to
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
Observator and others gives unto this Maxim which how they cohere with what we have brought from Scripture and said by its warrant I humbly submit to the intelligent to the impartial Reader and come to consider the no less lame than extravagant consequences the Observator deduceth from this mis-understood and abused Maxim They be four which when we look upon them inwardly are such as never Saint of God nor sound Politician thought of before we shall follow him in his order The first Consequence that he knits with this Antecedent The Safety of the People is the Supreme Law is an Ergo The King is bound in duty to promote all and every one of his Subjects to all happiness Certainly there is more in the Conclusion than is vertually included in the Premisses for when Salus Populi the Safety of the People to which the King is tied to conclude omnis foelicitas populi all happiness of the People and with that large extent to all and every one may well be answered with a non sequitur that the Consequence is lame the reason is clear Salus populi may subsist without Foelicitas Populi Foelicitas dicit quid majus the Safety of the People may subsist without the Felicity of the People for Felicity of the People is the Safety of the People and somewhat more I demand of the Observator and his Complices who ever heard that either by the Law of God Nature or common Equity the King is bound to promote all and every of his Subjects to all Happiness God is not so rigorous a Task-master nor is the notion of the word protect either in it's native or used Sense to which the King is bound so large as to tye him to promote all and every Subject to all happiness It is not imaginable the tenderest-hearted Father or Mother can do this to their best beloved Child nor doth God or Nature require it Doth the Observator by such Consequences intend to make a Kings charge intolerable God injust to impose it a King unable to do it and resolves to condemn all Kings who do not so provide for the Happiness of all and every one of his Subjects in the highest measure Who will deny but every King is bound to level all his Actions Intentions and Endeavours for the Peace Plenty and Safety of his Subjects in common But to put this Burthen on the King which neither he nor his Fathers were able to bear is too hard a measure We may expect this from his Goodness and Bounty we cannot charge it upon him as necessary and incumbent to him of Duty Are not all and every one of Subjects by Duty and Oath tyed to Salus Regis to provide for his Safety Honour Wealth and Power Are not we sworn to it in the Oath of Allegiance to assist and defend all Priviledges Preeminences and Rights belonging to His Highness his Heirs and Successors or annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm If all have not taken this Oath all born in his Majesties Dominions are bound to it of all it may be actually exacted and the Statute 5. Eliz. cap. 1. ordains that all Barons Knights Citizens Burgesses elected for the Parliament who shall not take the Oath of Allegiance made 1. Eliz. at their Entry in the Parliament House shall have no Voice in Parliament but be construed as if they had never been elected and suffer such Pains and Penalties as if they had presumed to sit in Parliament without Election Return or Authority By this Oath mentioned in the Statute they are bound to bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Queens Highness her Heirs and lawful Successors and to their Power assist and defend all Iurisdictions Priviledges Preeminences and Authorities belongging to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the imperial Crown of this Realm or likewise by their Oath 3. Iac. being bound to defend him and his lawful Successors to the uttermost of their Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his Person Crown and Dignity by reason of any Sentence or Declaration flowing from the Pope or otherwise and to their best Endeavour to discover and make known to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and trayterous Conspiracies which they shall know or hear to be against him or any of them Here you see all Subjects and every one to the uttermost of their Power are bound to assist and defend the Kings Right and Prerogative and that none can enter the Houses of Parliament till actually they swear it will it therefore from hence follow that all and every one of his Majesties Subjects at least such as have entered the Houses of Parliament all and every one of them are for-sworn who have intended or attempted any thing besides or who intending or doing it hath not raised him to the highest degree and pitch of Honour Glory and Power In this case I am hopeful the Observator like Iudah will be more favourable to himself and his Patrons than he is in the other to his Sovereign Who before these new Statists that ever wrote the Charge of a King bound him to promote all and every one of his Subjects to all kind and highest Degree of political and temporal Happiness Is it in the Power of the most puissant Monarch upon Earth to advance all his Subjects capable and deserving men to the highest pitch of Happiness and Honour Parcius ista viris c. To shut up all that concerneth this first absurd Consequence drawn from this abused Maxim I intreat the Observator to remember that Almighty God did never judge it fit to entrust the People with their own Safety but in a subordinate way hath committed this Trust to his Anointed his Vicegerent upon Earth from whence issueth this Consequence that Salus Regis est salus populi The Safety of the King is the Safety of the People as Salus Animae is salus Corporis the Safety of the Soul is the Safety of the Body The Fathers judged it so see Iustin Martyr quaest resp ad Orthod q. 138. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This holy Father knew no other case of a Kingdom than that the King is the Soul and the Subjects the Body Let the Observator judge then where the Safety is most considerable and learn from Salust Animi imperio corporis servitio utimur or from Tacitus Nempe iis that is Imperatoribus dii Imperium dedere nobis obsequii gloria relicta est And the Heathen will learn him to acknowledge that the Honour and Safety of the King his Glory and entire Prerogative is the Transcendent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Politicks the paramont Law that giveth Law to all Laws concerning private men their Lives Estate and Honour and that all Subjects are to promote the Sovereign Right and Prerogative to the utmost of their Power as the publick Soul of the Kingdom and the Breath of their