Natures Dowrie OR THE PEOPLES NATIVE LIBERTY ASSERTED Art thou called being a servant care not for it but if thou mayest be made free use it rather 1 Cor. 7.21 Ovis non est propter pastorem sed pastor ovi inservit Warneri Proverb Pers 16. Quin et mortalem summum fortuna repentè Reddidit è summo ut regno famul optumus essit Fortune the low soon lifts to th' high'st degree That made great Kings they should good servants be Ennius VIII Annali By L. S. LONDON Printed for W. R. at the signe of the Vnicorn in Pauls Church-yard 1652. To the Reader Gentle Reader THis Treatise I assure thee is no more dipp'd in passion then the Sunne is drowned in the clouds which are so far below him The Author of it desired whilst he asserted other mens liberty himself to be ruled by reason bearing in mind that sentence Reges alios si ratio te rexerit Thou shalt govern others if reason guide thee It was occasioned by a question which a worthy Member both of the Parliament and Committee of State above three years since propounded to me Within short time after I provided this answer and at my first opportunity presented it unto him He judged that it deserved to be made of publick use and offered it to the Press yet Lucina was not so propitious as to bring it to light the Printer not daring to undertake it unles the Author had been present to superintend the work I publish this discourse after I have so long suppressed it because the usefulnesse thereof is still in date in that it explaneth many Scriptures which are still by many wrested into false senses and because there is now a more convenient opportunity then formerly Farewell L. S. Natures Dowrie OR The Peoples Native Liberty asserted c. CHAP. 1. Certain Theses concerning the freedom and authority of any Nation WHereas some have concluded that an absolute Monarchie is the best of Governments because it imitateth that by which God ruleth the Universe I conceive their reason is feeble and impotent and that they considered not that men may abuse their authority and power which liberty is impossible to God All authority unless God determine otherwise by chusing out one or more to rule over the rest which now a dayes we have no reason to expect is fundamentally and radically in the people A conquered people unless they be obliged to the Conquerour by consenting formerly to be subject to him in their own persons or in their Fore-fathers or after the conquest voluntarily took upon them his yoke without conditions or else upon stipulation are warranted by the light of naturall reason to endeavour the recovery of their liberty and likewise after a composition when the Conquerour in his own person or in his posterity neglecteth the terms upon which they submitted to him That Kings should be ex se uati as Tiberius said of Curtius Rufus That nature or conquest should be a sufficient title to dominion and that an illegall force may not by force be lawfully removed are opinions which the clear light of reason never smiled upon Should any one with * Tacitus Annal lib. 3. Tiberius be sine miseratione sine irâ obstinatus claususque ne quo adfectu perumperetur by a reserv'd and merciless obstinacy shut up and baracado'd against the lawes counsell and prayers I see not but a people may warrantably goe about to break such an one seeing he will not be bended by reason CHAP. 2. Monarchy is not by Divine right I Shall in the first place shew that Monarchicall Government is not of absolute necessity ' The Peravians have thus much notice of the generall deluge that the Country was overwhelmed with waters all men perished except seven The chief of these seven was Mangocaga whose posterity governed themselves for some time in Aristocr at icall state See Heylyn in his Description of Peruana I cannot assent to Diodorus Siculus telling us Biblioth Hist l. 2. that there were Kings in Asia long before Ninus especially if as some Authors conceive his Ninus be the same with Nimrod I mean not here a physicall necessity for to such a Monarchy cannot pretend nor a necessity of coaction seeing that excludeth choice but a morall necessity hinged upon the Law of God Most clear it is that neither the Law of Nature which is written upon the tables of mens minds by the finger of God nor yet any positive Law which God superadded to the Law of Nature determineth any Nation to that form of Government Turn over the Scripture which hath omitted none of Gods commandements that are now in force and shew me a precept for it None will be so impudent as to affirm that there is any expresse commandement for Monarchy in the written word of God neither is there so much as a shadow of any Virtuall or Consequentiall injunction thereof unless it be clear by natural reason that Monarchy is the best of Governments for all Nations at all times howsoever their circumstances varie It is clear I acknowledge both by the light of Naturall reason and by the Scripture that men are bound in Conscience to prefer that form of Government which they know to be the best for them but that Monarchy should by the light of naturall reason be discovered to be the best of Governments and that for all Nations and at all times I cannot consent because the world after the flood till Nimrods days * Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10.9 For the understanding of that phrase compare with this Scripture Ier. 16.16 Lament 4.18 Mich. 7.2 Pro. 1.17 That of Arist. in the first of his Politicks is a good comment likewise upon Nimrod's hunting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. had no Monarch neither oeccumenicall nor provinciall and because Monarchy then came into the World not by choice * Diodorus Siculus informeth us that the Kings of Aegypt were in all their actions confined by their Lawes and particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Biblioth Histor l. 1. The same Historiographer speaking of the K. of the Aethiopians saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Biblioth Hist l. 3. but by intrusion usurpation by force conquest because the Israelites had a mixt Government and the most flourishing States amongst the Papists and all reformed Churches together with such Heathenish Commonwealths as have most abounded in perspicacitie and wisdom have ever preferred other forms of Government before it Aristotle likewise determineth Polit. 3. that a King ought to have power to protect the Lawes but not such power as may render him more potent than the Kingdom Obj. The main argument which opposeth what I have delivered in this Chapter is bottomed upon part of the 7th comma of the 4. Chapter of Gen. which in our translation saith Anà unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him The Argument propounded in full dimensions hath this
time before the Flood passed a sentence of death upon any appertaining to his Family cannot be proved out of any monuments of antiquity now extant Neither doth it appear whether Iudah pronounced sentence of death upon Thamar by virtue of any authority which he had over her as belonging to his Family or by virtue of some Law consented to by his Fore-fathers or according to the Law and manner of the Countrey in which he lived or out of rashness Some of the Hebrew Doctors affirm that Iudah intended not that Thamar should be burned to death but only stigmatized in the forehead for an harlot What authority soever a Master of a Family may challenge by the Law of nature over his children and servants and those who by mariage are ingrafted into his Family whilst he is a sojourner among a Nation into which he is not incorporated clear it is that those who have their share in any Country and a setled abode among others have no title to such authority in that they are tempted to partiality and may expose their neighbors to divine justice by neglecting judgments or by giving unjust sentence of death and the same wayes weaken the Country in which they live and expose it to a common enemy Homer in the Iota of his Odyss maketh it a badge of rude and uncivill people to live together in the same Countrey and not to imbodie themselves into a Society nor have any publick jurisdiction saying of the Cyclopes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They give lawes every one of them to his Wives and children neither regard one another Most agreable it is to the light of Nature that those who inhabite the same Countrey and so nigh together that they are without inconveniencie capable of a common government so combine and associate the strengths of their minds and estates as that they may be * Herodotus saith of the Thracions who by some are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because every man wâ—â— a Law to himself that if they had either been all of one mind or under one K. they had been invincible in a positure of defence against a common Enemy and home-bred disturbances which cannot be effected without common lawes and publick execution of justice * Plato de Legibus l. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men must of necessity establish lawes and observe them or not at all differ from the most savage beasts CHAP. 7. Magistracy standeth by divine right IT remaineth doubtfull whether people who live together may lawfully retain an Isocracie among them having all of them suffrages of equall value in the censuring of Delinquents and the managing of such affairs as conduce to their publick safety or be bound by the law of Nature or any of Gods positive lawes to set Governors and Magistrates over them We inquire not now of Magistracy fettered in the circumstances of hic and nunc determined to time and place for there is no doubt but among the Israelites not only Magistracy but also certain forms of Magistracy were by divine right moreover that certain persons also bare rule among them by divine right and that without the mediation of any humane choice nor yet of Magistracy during the time for which it is established by men that is of Magistracy with a presupposition of humane consent by which in some form or other it was erected and is for some time to be continued seeing that Gods Law requireth that men stand to their agreements and the Scripture saith * Rom. 13.1 The powers that be are ordained of God and * 1 Pet. 2.13 Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake but whether God hath commanded all Nations at all times to have Magistrates Judges or State-Officers The question is that I may further explain the state of it whether Isoâ—rasie be lawfull or men be bound by the Law of God to set up a Magistracy to preferre some to bear rule over the rest The Scripture doth not extricate us in this controversie by any generall precept Nor yet if we search the History of the World before the Flood shall we find any foot-step of Magistracy or of humane censures We have much wickednesse mentioned in the gross Gen. 6.5 and some sins specified elsewhere but no intimation of any punishment inflicted by any humane judicature * The murdering of Abel Gen. 4.8 and according to some Interpreters murder committed by Lamech Gen. 4.23 and idolatry according to some of the Hebrew Doctors Gen. 4.26 I should otherwise interpret the two places last quoted but Lamech's rash speech deserved a censure We have Polygamie likewise mentioned v. 19. of the same chap. but which some deny to have been a sin in Lamech That of Cain It shall come to pass every one that findeth me shall slay me importeth not that he feared any judiciary sentence but only a rude and boystrous inflicting of punishment that it was permittted to every one to punish so hainous a delinquent and that he expected not any regular proceedings of justice against him But I take notice that in regard of the present he feared where no fear was departing from the presence of his Parents neither was likely to prophecie after what manner punishments should afterwards be dispenced I conceive he expressed a fear of men onely and not of beasts His speech was rash and inconsiderate having a tincture from his guilty conscience If we consult with the light of reason it will inform us that in large countryes Magistracie is necessary because in such the Inhabitants though all who are servile and indigent be excluded cannot convene so oft as virtue is to be rewarded and encouraged or as disorders are to be repressed and vice to be punished nor yet so oft as the preservation of their common safetie requireth It is clear also from the written word of God that all publick affairs ought to be managed in such a way as may conduce most to Gods glory and the publick good Moreover God appointed a few in his own peculiar people to govern the rest Such likewise at all times hath been the custom almost of all Nations CHAP. 8. The qualifications of those who ought to vote in the dispencing of Authority The major part of suffrages is equivalently the whole number Those who are uncapable of Voting are tied to subjection ARistotle well observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polic. 3. that all are not Citizens who inhabit the City seeing Strangers and Servants have their share in habitation He frequently excludeth those who are indigent from bearing sway in a Commonwealth Vnequall it is that Helots and those who have no estates should have equall authority with those who are wealthy in making Laws which concern mens estates in that by their private condition they are much tempted to favour theft and encroachment Seeing men are by an innate and hereditary distemper biased towards wicked practices indigent people who
are not restrained from injustice by any self interest but on the contrary tempted to rapine and perfidiousness are altogether unfit to manage the publick affairs of a Nation If they have power in their hands they are fit to squeese their neighbours or if they want power themselves through envy and hope of sharing in the prey ready to betray them to foreiners if an opportunity be offered Good nature excepteth some and Religion others in Christian Common-wealths from this rude and barbarous disposition but the Character which I have given fitteth the most of those who are indigent in every nation It necessarily followeth that they are unfit to be trusted with a Legislative power or offices of judicature and government or to Vote in the choice of those to whom such authority and power shall be committed It remaineth that only such as have an ingenuous subsistence in the Country to be governed have a title to vote in the dispencing of authority whether for the preserving of the whole body from forein invasions and homebred tumults or for the restraining of vice and encouraging of virtue Neither ought any so qualified to be debaried from that privilege unless they have discovered themselves to be malignantly affected towards the publick good Whereas those who choose State-officers and such also as by their votes immediately order the publick affairs of a City or Country are apt to be divided among themselves in that they differ in their judgments and in their ends the light of reason telleth us that the major part of the suffrages is equivalently the whole number It cannot be expected that all the members of a Societie should agree about the means which are most effectuall to the promoting of their publick welfare Neither can the lesser number of those who have equall authority be of more value than or of equall with the greater That strife may be avoided the number of those who suffrage must be odde or else some one of them have a casting voice granted him in case the numbers of those who are divided be equall and the major part of the suffrages must bear sway as if the rest concurred with them That Maxim Quod ad omnes spectat ab omnibus debet approbari What concerneth all ought to be approved by all is satisfied by a consent of the greater part which is equivalently the whole number If a lesser part of those who vote forcibly resist a greater unlesse that which is concluded by the prevailing number of votes be repugnant to the Law of God they infringe the Law of Nature and likewise the positive Law of God and so have no reason to expect that God should goe along with them in their enterprises More doubtfull it is whether those Inhabitants of a Citie which are upon due grounds debarred from bearing Office and from the choice of Officers be bound in conscience to submit to those who are invested in lawfull authority and to the wholesom Laws which are enacted by those who according to the Law of nature have a Legislative power either fundamentally or else derivatively residing in them Whereas Gods Law leaveth men indifferent to severall courses which may be taken for the preservation of their lives and liberties and livelihoods when they have once consented that one certain course not repugnant to the word of God and convenient for the obtaining of any of these ends shall be used and have compromitted to any person or persons the executing of their Law God requireth that they submit to the person or persons to whom they have betrusted authority till their grant expire so he or they transgresse not the bounds of the Commission but execute the agreement But the Question is whether those who are hindered from voting in the molding and forming of the government of the City which they inhabite be obliged likewise to subjection The truth of the negative part being supposed those who did not agree to a Law enacted neither directly nor yet virtually as included in the major part of those who voted should not be determined by God's Commandements to submit to that Law as it is the Law of man though they be obliged to observe the matter of it when it is contained likewise in the Law of God Men by virtue of the 8. precept are warranted to defend their estates according to their abilities were there no humane Law superadded and should have no further advantage according to the former supposition by superadding an humane law against such as were not permitted to vote in the enacting thereof but only that they agree to preserve their livelihoods answerably to the Law of God against all who shall invade them They might without any former Law or agreement warrantably vindicate one another from injuries as Abraham did Lot but moreover are by an agreement mutually ingaged But I conceive that such of the people as have title to vote in the choice of a Representative or of other Governors or by themselves immediately to establish Lawes have another advantage against those who by the meanness of their condition or by their misdemeanors are debarred from those privileges Forasmuch as the meanest Inhabitants of a City reap some benefit from the well-tempered government thereof most equall it is that they should submit unto those Laws which conduce to the preservation of publick safety And forasmuch as God hath exempted none who offend from humane censures Some are bound to be accomptable for their demeanors to the Magistrate who by divine providence or by their own delinquency were rendered unfit to have an influence into the choice of him God requireth that evill doers be punished but hath left unto men the specifying of the punishment whether it be capitall or more gentle Such then as are justly hindered from voting about the kinds of penalties that are used in the City which they inhabit when they offend must suffer in such a way as is agreed upon by others The will of God is that those who have done evill submit to lawfull punishment rather than resist lawfull authority CHAP. 9. All Civill Authority unless God determin other wise by choosing out one or more to Rule over the rest which now a days we have no reason to expect is fundamentally and radically in the People WHereas some tell us of an absolute Monarchie before the Deluge I conceive with the best Historians that none can prove that there was any such Government in the World before Nimrods incroachment and usurpation We have no shadow thereof intimated in the written word of God nor in any humane writing of approved credit Had any one before Nimrod used Monarchicall authority it is probable the Scripture should have given us notice thereof as it doth of Nimrods Tyranny But clear enough it is that although there should have been Kings otherwise than as every man is a Prince over his own family to wit such as reign now a dayes before the deluge yea so soon as
make choice of others sufficiently accomplished 2 Because when the Monarch is wicked the Government of the State must needs be evill in that he is not divided against himself because he will not act against himself but when Authority is betrusted with many the good though fewer sometimes out-wit the rest Plato in his 9 de legibus perceived the weight and moment of this and the preceding reason telling us that it is necessary for men to appoynt Laws and to observe them unlesse they be mindid to differ nothing from the most savage Beasts And assigning this cause thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. No man is by Nature so accomplished as that he may be able to discern what things conduce most to the publick good and when he knoweth what is best alwaies be able and willing to perform it Plato pointeth these reasons in his ensuing discourse 3 Because there is more reason to fear that one man then that a whole multitude should be malignantly affected Aristatle telleth me Polit. 3. c. 11. that as much water cannot so soon be viciated as a lesser quantity so neither are a multitude so easily as one man corrupted in their judgment by anger or any other passion His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obj. Here it may be objected that we have more reason also to hope that one man then that a multitude will be well-affected Ans 1. I answer The more authority and power any one hath in his hands by so much he is more tempted to acts of violence An absolute Monarch who hath no law but his own will may more easily miscarry then those who have onely their portions in the Government of a Nation Ans 2. There is far more danger from an ill-affected Monarch then when onely part of those who are in authority are vitiated 4. Because no one will dare to say unto an absolute Monarch what doest thou When Cambyses inquired of his Lawyers whether there was any Law which permited a man being willing to marry his Sifler they answered That they found no Law which permitted a Brother to marrie a Sister but that they found another Law v.z. that it was lawfull for the King of the Persians to do what he pleased See Herodo'us in his Thalia And one who never heareth that question from another it is much to be feared will forget to propound it to himself He will be ready to conceive that with Iupiter he hath Therius perpetually placed by him so that whatsoever he doth must needs be right and just Iezebel thought it a question unbeseeming a Princely spirit She concluded that Ahab drooped below himself when he boggled at the taking away of Naboth's vineyard Memento mihi omnia in omnes licere Thus Caius in Suet mius I may adde That a Monarchy set led in any one for term of life is more dangerous then if the time were limited Those who expect that their authority should expire before their lives will be restrained in some measure by a fear of their successors who may call them to an accompt in case they manage not their trust as it becometh them Those who are to give an accompt only to God are tempted to licentiousness in that men are not wont to be much awed by an invisible Magistrate Plato telleth us that when any one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not bound to give an accompt of his actions and omissions but governeth a City as he lifleth without any controller he cannot persist in such a mind throughout his life as to preferre the publick good before his private advantage * Plato 9. de leg CHAP. 4. That One man should have a larger share in the Government of a State then all the rest who are interested therein is not enjoyned by the Word of God A King is not a necessary ingredient of the Government of a State Were a true and visible King of absolute necessity the Israelites had sinned in that throughout so many ages after they came into the Promised-Land they set not a King over them We must taxe many other well-ordered States of a sin of omission in point of civill government if we underprop the Scepter by divine right As a King is not necessary by virtue of any divine precept so neither in order to the well-managing of civil affairs as the flourishing condition of many States which are without Kings assureth us CHAP. 5. The necessity of Tribunals is evinced I Shall in this Chapter that I may make way for my ensuing discourse explain the necessitie of Judges and Tribunals The Babylonian Gemara of the Tractate called Sanhedrin in the 7 Chapter telleth us That as God injoyned the Israelites to set up judiciary Courts in all their villages and cities so likewise he commanded the Sons of Noah to erect Tribunals in all their villages and cities The place is quoted by learned Selden in that incomparable work De jure Natural Gent. l. 7. c. 5. This Law they must needs affirm to be given to those who lived before the deluge as well as to Neah's posterity seeing they make it part of the Law of Nature The eating of flesh with the life thereof was as unlawfull for Adam and the rest of the old world as for those who lived since the Flood but needed not to be forbidden to them explicitly viva voce as Gen. 9.4 in that they were not permitted at all to eat flesh The setting apart of some time for Gods worship is injoyned by he law of nature and was in some degreee put into practice by Gods children from the Creation * See Seder Olam Rabba c. 5. Philo de vâ— tà Mesis l. 1. Tertull. adversus Judaeos A haeâ—s in Synopsi sacr Scrip. upon Exod. Euseb Demonstrat Evangel c. 6. Justin Hist lib. 36. though the Sabbath was not observed till the Israelites came into the Wilderness That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Houses of Iudgments or Tribunals should be constituted for all people is clearly part of the Law of Nature For otherwise that punishment which the Law of Nature demandeth for certain offences as murder c. could not be regularly executed Plato in his 9. book of Lawes in severall cases appointeth those that are naturally allied to the person that is murdered to inflict death upon the murderer and so likewise some of the kindred of the partie ravished to kill the ravisher But these constitutions border upon the making a man a Judge in his own cause If any one be killed by chance-medley those whose affections Nature hath engaged to the person that is slain will be tempted to misconstrue it into murder Jacob cursed the wrath of Simeon and Levi who revenged the ravishing of their Sister Dinah upon the Sechemites Gen. 49.7 Suppose also those who susteined the greatest losse in the partie murdered to neglect the executing of punishment the city or Country in which it was committed is exposed to Gods wrath for
bloodshed which goeth unpunished We shall be more at a loss in the executing of penalties for the breach of some other of the precepts which are said to be given to Noah as idolatry and blasphemy and the eating of flesh with the life thereof unless tribunals be erected In these offences the wrong is not done especially to this or that man nor this or that Family but immediately to God the Lord of all and by way of reflexion in regard of Gods wrath and by bad examples to the whole people The main argument which seemeth to inferre that Tribunalls or the exercize of civil judicature is not inforced by the Law of Nature is that it was not so from the beginning In the Sacred Historie of the World before the deluge we have no instance of any humane censures And * Metam l. 1. Ovid telleth us that those who lived in the first or golden age erant sine judice tuti His meaning I conceive is that they were free from humane censures That which this Author in his description of the golden age delivereth to this purpose maketh me much suspect that for some considerable time after the Creation there were no Courts of justice established nor any humane censures whether by the eldest of a Family or by the multitude or any autorized to that purpose In his work now praysed we may often discern a truth recorded in the Scripture through the cloud of his Poetrie In the beginning of his first book we have the History of the Creation and in that man last of all created His Gygantomachia was occasioned by the building of the Tower of Babel He mentioneth also the deluge That piece of his Poetrie took its rise from Noahs Flood ☞ For it was not confined to this or that patch of ground but overwhelmed all mankind save Deucalion and Pyrrha-Lucian also telleth us that Deucalion with his Wife and Children were saved in a great Ark which he had and that two of every kind of living creatures came to him and were received into the Ark and preserved in it And Plutarch maketh mention of a Dove sent by Deucalion out of the Ark and bringing newes of the abatement of the waters In the beginning of his 8 book we have Samson's hair given to Nisus In the same book we have the destruction of Sodom and the change of the soyl thereabout and Let with his Wife under the names of Philemon and Baucis fetched out thence by Angels under the Poeticall vizard of Jupiter and Mercury We have Lots incest alluded to in Cynaras and Myrrha l. 10. In the beginning of the 12. book Iphigenia when she was fastened to the Altar and about to be sacrificed is changed for a Doe which shadoweth out unto us Isaac excused for a Ram. In the same book Cygnus slaying 7000. men and feigned to be impenetrable is a resemblance of Samson In that I find so much of divine storie in this Poet I conjecture that his Poem about the four ages hath some tincture from holy writ The Image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream is one ingredient of it and mans integrity before his fall another * See Salmas de U uâ—is c. 11. p. 303. and the condition of mankind for some time after our fall a third It was usuall with the Heathen as we may observe both from their Poets and * See Justine l. 36. Tacitus Histor lib. 5. Prosaicall writers and from those two excellent treatises written by a late Author which discover unto us the Banian Religion and the Religion of the Persees to mangle those truths which are contained in the Word of God and likewise to confound and blend them together which is very familiar likewise with the pen-men of the Alcoran But it is easie for the most part to perceive the Sun through their clouds I shall easily grant that men for some time after their fall in our first Parents lived after their own manner being restrained by no Courts of Justice but we cannot inferre from thence that such Courts are not necessary nor yet that they are not by divine right God might out of his secret counsell for some time connive at such an omission after what manner he permitted the Israelites writing a Bill of Divorce to put away their Wives * Those who lived in the former times of the World ought to have set out some time for God in which servants might have been exempted from such works as â—re not of necessity nor charity nor piety or as he connived at the setting of no certain time apart for his worship till himself made choice of a day when the Israelites were brought into the Wilderness or as for a long time he connived at Polygamie CHAP. 6. Other jurisdiction is necessary now a dayes besides that wherein the Law of Nature hath invested Masters of Families THe next question to be discussed is whether the exercise of jurisdiction be confined by a birth-privilege to certain persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Polit. l. 1. Every house is governed by the Eldest as also the colonies which are propagated from it in regard of their cognation or kindred But clear it is that now a dayes authority cannot be dispenced according to this principle We have no records by which we can be informed who by way of inheritance and birthright as all are reckoned from Noah should have a preeminence above the rest Neither can one man though Firmicus telleth us that a certain positure of the Starres designeth a man to an universall Monarchie be so Atlantick as to bear upon his shoulders the government of the Universe Nor yet can it be known who in this or that Country in regard of a descent from Noah should have advantage of the rest in order to jurisdiction and government Neither are the Eldest alwayes the wisest * Diodorus Siculus Bâ—blict Hist lib. 3. speaking of the Inhabitants of an Iland in the Southern Ocean saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The eldest in every company beareth rule over it as a King and all the rest obey Though there be a vast difference between bearing ruse over a certain company of men whether their associating of themselves together take its rise meetly from the harmonie of their minds or from their occupation and the goverment of a Nation yet no wise man will conceive that their practise is perpetually to be imitated Those who manage the publick affairs of any people ought to be such as have animi vires strict as pondere mentes That sentence of Aristotle before praised is to be understood of a Family living apart from the rest of mankind as * See Tulliein Oâ—aâ— pro P. Sextio Juvenal Salyr 15. did some in the first Ages of the World and for some generations after the Deluge and perhaps upon some extraordinary occasions in later times But that any Master of a Family at any
perhaps may not encroach upon the conditions for which the People promised subjection to him 1 I Answer That no People ought to ingage their subjection to another unless he condescend to be regulated by those Laws to which he shall give his consent and in case they accept of any one for their King upon other terms their posterity are not bound to stand to so imprudent a compact 2 That should a people be guilty of such an omission in their stipulation with a Conquerour or any whom they should prefer to bear rule over them his consenting to a Law which is for their advantage is an act of grace and favour by which he devesteth himself of some part of his prerogative which was setled upon him by his first agreement with the people and addeth it unto their privileges so that a Law may be called an additionall stipulation And were it otherwise it would scarce be worth his subjects labour to meet for the enacting of Laws sith their Prince should be left free to dispence with them at his pleasure 3 A Law which is beneficiall to the subject giveth him an interest in some privilege for which he may contend as lawfully as for any thing else which is his own And it seemeth clear to the light of reason that any one who hath power may defend his own by the ruine of an incroacher when otherwise he cannot be secure The controversie touching resistance to be made against a Prince who opposeth Religion when it is not established by an humane Law is more perplexed Suppose a Prince to make it his study to give a check-mate to Religion or though he affect not an utter extirpation thereof yet by his good will to allow it no existence but with subordination to his own designes Suppose him to prefer his carnall interests when they stand in competition with Religion and to assay the jumbling together and blending of heaven and earth rather than he will not attain his self-ends Suppose also that there is no humane Law to controule him I doubt not but in this case the Law of God warranteth the taking up of Arms against him My reasons are these which follow 1 Because God hath no where throughout the scripture forbidden us to resist such rulers as are a terror to good works There is no sin which is not prohibited in the scripture 2 Because every believer hath and every man ought to have a propriety in true Religion Who will dare to deny that the great Senate-house of heaven can give a propriety as effectually as any Parliament upon earth The Israelites had nothing besides the great Seal of heaven to justifie their driving out of the Cananites from the Land which they had in possession and that was sufficient Iud. 11.24 Every man hath as firm a Commission to dispossess his spirituall enemies and to worship God in sincerity truth And all who have effected this have a propriety in true Religion and the exercise thereof and may Lawfully resist all those who go about to restrain them from the free use of it The sixt word in the Decalogue taketh care for the preservation of mans life is an hedge about his bodie to restrain the incursions of the Sons of violence which none can break thorough but he shall get a prick in his Conscience and that I may allude to what the Apostle speaketh in another sence pierce thorough his soul with many sorrowes It forbiddeth men to take away the life to hinder the health and strength and to hasten the death of themselves or other men unless for the executing of a judiciarie sentence and requireth all men to preserve other mens lives but their own in the first place unless they can lay them out with advantage to Gods honor as by fighting his Battels and helping him against his Enemies or by suffering for a good cause when they are not at all likely to defend themselves by action or by way of exchange if an opportuniy be offered for the life or lives of some other who can do God better service By virtue of this precept a man is bound in conscience to defend his life if he be able against all malicious plots by which it is undermined and unjust practices by which it is assaulted and if he fail herein he is in the conspiracie against himself accessory to his own death guilty of self-murder In like manner by the 8th Commandement we are not only forbidden to invade that to which we have no right but enjoyned also to preserve and defend our own livelyhoods from Harpies from all who would unjustly snatch them from us Every man is an Iland or a little world and hath somewhat which he may call his own and which he not only lawfully may but also out of duty to God ought to defend from acts of violence according to his abilities against all other men in the Vniverse * We are autorised by the Law or Nature to oppose force against violence See Isidore Oâ—â—g l. 5. Cicero in orat pro Milone Iuven Satyr 15. Livie lib. 42. That War is just as a politick writer saith well though in some other points he miscary that is necessary and those arms are religious when there is no hope left elsewhere but in them Object Some will here Object that I open a gap to sedition and tumults many being apt without due occasion to pick quarrels against those whom God hath placed in lawfull authority over them Ans Such a determination as I have given of the question which is the subject of this chapter cannot smile upon sedition and encourage it as permitting men to make forcible resistance against superiours only upon just occasions and when they cannot obtain a redress by ordinary proceedings That in this sentence I am orthodox a learned and juditious author * Camero in his Myrothec Evang. upon Rom. 10.15 will bear me witness in these words which follow Hoc non est seditioni in urbe vel castris favere quod civis ultra injussus in rebellem proditorem Magistratum miles in perduellem Centurionem vel Decurionem suum insurgit si nulla alia via ratione occurrit malo potest tum duntaxat pervertitur ordo regnat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quum extra hujusmodi casum tantum quis sibi permittit licere putat I so far expressed the sence of these words in what I have already answered to the objection that I shall not need to construe them But moreover if any shall suck poyson from those truthes whence they might gather honey were they of well tempred spirits they will be somewhat restrained by the disadvantage upon which they should engage against those who are possessed of authority and by their want of divine assistance in an unlawfull enterprise And if any shall be so fool-hardy and fondly resolute as to engage against God and man against Law and Religion and against their own safety let
years saith Abarbinel could not begin at Sauls inauguration for that was above 50 years past He reckoneth that David had reigned al most 40 years and that Absolom was born at Hebron in the beginning of Davids Kingdom 40 years and because they were disaffected towards Solomon both by reason of Davids Adultery with Bathsheba and his killing of Vriah and likewise that he was but a Child about 9 years old that is because they thought him unfit to govern and feared a curse upon his Government in regard of the sins of his Parents Ahithophel according to the same commentator conjectured * Not much unlike to this is the deliberation of Ioab in the Author now praysed who suspected should Absolom be suffered to escape with life his Father might perhaps make him being his eldest Son his successor in the Kingdom and himself should be the Butt for his enmlty and hatted that David to buy his peace would consent that Absolom his eldest Son should succeed him in the Kingdom and that he would retain an enmity and hatred against himself and therefore suggested such Counsels as might debar a reconciliation and cut off David His advice in 2 Sam. 26.21 tended to the preventing of all thoughts touching a reconciliation but moreover to inmind the people of Davids sin with Bathsheba and to beget in them an expectation of divine revenge to be executed upon David wherein they should be much confirmed by Nathans prophecie 2 Sam. 12.11 12. and that other part of his Counsell in the 2 Sam. 17.1 2. to the taking away of Davids life Absolom saith the same Author consented to the former part of Ahithophel's advice which was that he should go in unto his Fathers Concubines lest the Israelites should revolt from him before he perfected an agreement with his father but the other part of his Counsell which was to kill David he abhorred and therefore consulted with Hushai and preferred his advice The same Doctour saith upon 2 Sam. 17.4 that it pleased Absolom and the elders of Israel that Anithophel and the young men should go after David but Absolom did not acquiesce in Ahithophel's advising him to smite David and therefore inquired the judgement of Hushai But the Scripture affordeth no hint for Absoloms disliking of any part of Ahithophel's counsell before he had consulted with Hushai Were Abarbinel right in his conjecture yet the Israelites thought it lawfull to translate by violence the exercise of Royall authority from David to Absolom wherefore scarce any Prince though of Methuselah's years would desire to be disburthened and to appoint their King a successor against his mind though he were a Prophet and therefore likely to have received punctuall instructions from God touching the propagation of the Kingdom The ten tribes rebelled against Rehoboam because he would not abate somewhat of the grievous servitude which his Father had imposed upon them 2 Chron. 10. Their revolting is not resolved into Ahijahs prophecie but the harsh answer which Rehoboam returned to them Libnah revolted from Jehoram because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers 2 Chron. 21.10 But see especially the instances before produced in the tenth Chapter To be inserted in Chapter 9. after those words From violence Whilst people are Malignant they are not to be permitted to suffrage in state affairs neither indeed would it become them or prove for their welfare for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servilis pravitas as Plato in Alcibade primo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caeterùm antequam virtus adsit Conducit viro non solùm puero regià meliore quam regere Plato ibid. But as soon as they are reformed they ought to be trusted with their votes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liberalis virtus ibid. This to be inserted in Chap. 9. after these Words can give no better a title to authority than thest to another mans Goods Mem. That what I have out Elias Levita and Broughton who undoubtedly followed him in Chap. 17. p. l. to be contradicted as it fastneth upon Ezra the collecting of the Scripture into one body That probably was needless I cannot consent to Arist telling us Polit. l. 1. c. 8. that a War undertaken to compell men to subjection who being more fit to obey then to command are unwilling to submit themselves to such as are more able to govern is agreeable to the Law of Nature and putting no difference in point of justice between the subduing of these and the hunting of Wild beasts FINIS Behold the Wonder of this Age. If thou observ'st these Rules and tak'st my Physick 'T will keep thee from the Pox Plague Cough or Tysick Consumptions Dropsies nay the truth to tell ye From all griefes either i'th'head back or belly