Lord. So in the 20. verse againe it is said That Tilgath Pilnezer King of Assyria came unto him and distressed him but strengthned him not for Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the house of the King and of the Princes and gave it unto the King of Assyria but he helped him not There you see was also so much of the treasure of the land lost Again it is said that in the time of his distresse he did trespasse yet more against the Lord. This is that King Ahaz for he sacrificed unto the Gods of Damascus which smote him and he said because the Gods of the Kings of Syria helpe them therfore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me but they were the ruine of him and of all Israel To this lamentable condition was Israel now brought through the wickednesse of this man How much better had it bin for them to have executed the judgement of the Lord upon him who in his most just and righteous Law required that all Idolaters without respect of persons should be destroyed and had given more then an ordinary charge concerning this particular then by the neglect of the execution of justice to have brought themselvs to that miserable condition wherin they were both in respect of their soules and bodies And who knows whether God might not lay the heavier load upon them for this their contempt in not obeying his Commandement whereas if so be they had done this they might still have continued in the favour of God and bin a blessed and renowned people as their predecessours were But if it shall be said Why did they not execute justice in this kind upon him and other their Idolatrous Kings it seems there was somwhat more then ordinary in it in that it was omitted I answer It was no marvaile they did neglect the execution of justice in this regard upon their Kings when as they were so carelesse to doe it upon common and private persons for we never read that ever there was so much as any one person after they were come into the promised possession of the Land of Canaan that they did put to death for their Idolatry of what kind or condition soever they were and if this were thus omitted upon persons of ordinary and mean ranke and qualitie how should it be expected that it should be executed upon their Kings Yet besides all this that hath bin said to shew the unreasonablenesse and falsenesse of this Deposition that Kings are unaccountable for their actions and may not be resisted though they doe those things that are never so dishonourable to God and prejudiciall and hurtfull to their Subjects there may somwhat more be said with reference to the Wisdome of God For how is it possible to be imagined that He who is so infinitely wise having in His unsearchable understanding appointed Government as the only meanes for his peoples happy and well being here on earth should leave His people in such a condition that if so be the meanes and instruments which he hath ordained for their good should rise up against them to their destruction they should have no power lest them to help themselvs nor meanes to provide for their own safety but must be faine to submit themselvs to their wills and pleasures How doth this exceedingly reflect upon the Wisdome and Providence of God and is it not manifest and apparent that Gods ends and intentions in Government are hereby quite frustrated and void so as that that which he hath appointed for his peoples greatest benefit and security should turn to their greatest hurt and mischief And this were the next way instead of making God the authour of peace 1 Cor. 14 33. to make him the chiefest authour of all disorder and confusion For let any man judge that hath but the ordinary understanding of a man if this be not occasion sufficient to make even the best of Kings if God doe not give them more then an ordinary measure of his Grace to become Tyrants and to live as they list when they are perswaded that they may doe what they list and none may controule them Therfore for the more full clearing of that which hath bin already said it will not be amisse to search a little narrowly into the meaning of that place Rom 13.1 c. and so to acquaint our selves what that power is which the Apostle there calls the ordinance of God Let every soule be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordain'd of God They are Magistrates that are here meant by these powers and these powers the Apostle saith are of God Now I aske did ever God give a power unto any for the destruction of his people and of those that are committed to their charge is this the Ordinance of God for Kings and Rulers to seek the undoing and ruine of their people Surely no. God did appoint them for his peoples good as before was shewed and thus much also the Apostle declares to us here in the words following verse 3. Rulers are not a terrour to good works but to the evill Wilt thou not be afraid of the power doe that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to thee for good c. Here by the way this shews unto us that the acts of Kings for the good of their people are not acts of Grace as some flatterers would make them but they are acts of Dutie which God requires from them towards their people And besides let us have a respect unto Kings and Governours too as they are a humane ordinance as the Apostle calls them as you heard before 1 Pet. 2.13 c. Did ever the people who elected them give them any such power as to rule them according to their wills and pleasures If they have what made they those good Laws for according to which they Covenanted for to govern them And therfore as the Apostle before saith they are the ordinance of God with respect to their peoples good so here the Apostle saith they are the ordinance of man with respect to the same For so he saith Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether unto the King as supreme or unto Governours as they that are sent by him What for Or to what end surely not for their destruction but to be instruments of their well being for so it followes for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that doe well Therfore hence I say If Kings who are Ordained by God and Chosen by Men for this end to be instruments of good to their People doe contrarily abuse their Authority wherewithall they are intrusted both by God and Man to the hurt and destruction of their People if in this case the People to preserve themselvs doe stand upon their own Defence and take
The unlimited PREROGATIVE OF KINGS subverted Or a Short Treatise grounded upon Scripture and Reason to prove that Kings ought as well as others to bee accountable for their Actions MATTHEW 22.21 Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods By a well wisher to the Church of God His King and Countrey And dedicated to all such as love the Truth THere will be times saith the Apostle wherein men will not indure sound doctrine 2 Tim. 1.3 but will give heed to seduceing spirits and doctrines of devils 1 Tim. 4.1 And certainly if ever these times shall come to be fullfilled now they are when as Court Parasites and ambitious flatterers Divines as well as others whose chiefest Policy now it is to have mens persons in admiration for advantage sake Iude 16. and to please those by whom they may be dignified or rewarded care not what falsities they speak nor what untruths they doe maintain and which is worst of all are not asham'd to father their lies even upon the very Scriptures of truth themselves wresting the same as S. Peter saith 2 Pet. 3.16 through their willingly wilfull Ignorance to their own destruction Among which this is none of the least which they say That Kings are not responsall to any save God for their actions And for this they bring the saying of the Preacher Eccles 8.4 where he saith thus Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what doest thou Which words if they be throughly scan'd and examined you shall find they yeeld no such construction but rather the contrary For in the 2d verse before going the Wise man gives us this charge to keep the Kings Commandement I suppose if they understand themselvs they will not say that by vertue therof we are bound to do whatsoever the King injoynes us whether it be right or wrong but that it hath respect to those things that are either agreeable or at least not contrary to the Commandement of God and the reason therof is given in the words following in regard of the Oath of God Now there are none I think will say if Kings come lawfully in with the choice and consent of their People as all lawfull Kings doe that his Oath hath only respect unto the People as if it did bind only on their part but also on the part of the King who Sweares to rule and govern them according to the Laws of God and of the Land and upon this condition they Sweare Obedience unto him This we may see sufficiently proved by the Covenant of David made with his people 1 Chron. 11.1 where it is said All the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron and David made a Covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord and then it followes they anointed him King over Israel And then again wee see this proved by the mutuall Oath between Ioash and his people 2 Chron. 23.11 where it is said they brought out the Kings Son and put upon him the Crown and gave him the Testimonie that is to say they made him enter into this Covenant to keep the Law of God and to Govern them according thereunto and then it followes they made him King and Iehojada and his Sons anointed him and said God save the King And so again in the 16. v. of the same chapter By this you see here was an Oath aswell on the Kings part as on the peoples and thus the people are bound to keep the Kings commandement when he walks according to this rule And such is the Oath of the Kings of England when they come to their Crowns and Kingdomes Then he saith further in the 3d verse Be not hastie to gâ—e out of his sight stand not in an evill thing for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth I hope there are none that dare be so Sacrilegiously bold as from these words to attribute unto Kings an Almighty power as the words seem to import which is an Attribute only proper unto God to be Almighty as the Psalmist shews Psal 115.3 Our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased And Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth c. This were in an high measure to rob God of his glory and to give that to the creature that is only due to the Creatour Yet I know no reason why they may not say from these words The King doth whatsoever he pleaseth that Kings have an Almighty power as well as to say from the other words who may say unto him what dost thou that therfore Kings are accountable to none save God for their actions For you see how the words follow one another and what may be said of Kings in one respect may be said of them in the other But we may if we will at least take notice that these words are brought in as having relation to good or evill and that this is a phrase applyed unto Kings only to shew that their Power is great and of a large extent For the good of those that doe well and for the punishment of those that doe evill and that in respect thereof we should have an awfull and reverentiall regard of them for so the words run Stand not in an evill thing for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth Then for the words following which are quoted by those that stand for the unlimited Prerogative they have respect also to the same And so it is most true That where the word of a King is there is power If speaking as a King should performing the Office of a King having respect to his Oath and Covenant between God and his people in commanding those things that are good and punishing those things that are evill then indeed who may say unto him what dost thou no man may call him to Question for asmuch as God the King of Kings hath put this power into his hands And what is that indeed that makes Kings many times so slighted and so little feared of their people but this that they take no care at all to govern them according to their Laws and what is it on the other side that addes majestie and magnificence unto them but this that they make the Laws of God and of the Land the rules of Magistracie and government Herein consists the power of Kings which the Wise mâ—n here so much speaks of But now that this place is not so to be understood as the Royalists of our times for their own ends would have it that Kings are nâ—t accountable unto men for their actions may easilie appeare by comparing this place with that in Dan. 4 35. where Nebucadnezzar after that he was restored again to his sences and to his Kingdom makes this acknowledgement concerning the power of God Who may say unto him what dost thou Implying thus much that howsoever Kings may be great and their power may reach very farre as he
Power Magistracie and Government is the ordinance of God and by divine institution but so are not Kings nor this nor that nor any other kind of government they are of man and through his appointment So that I say Kings for their kind of government are the ordinance of man For God hath not tied any people in his Word that they shall be governed by Kings or by Dukes or by Judges or Estates or the like but referres that unto themselvs for their choice according as they shall see most convenient for their good and prosperity but when this or that kind of government is ordained and established by generall consent of the people this is the ordinance of God which the Apostle gives a charge that every one be subject unto according to the old saying Vox Populi vox Dei The voice of the people is Gods voice which they that resist shall receive to themselvs damnation So that still you see there is a power on earth above Kings as I said before which lies in the generallity of the people from whence they doe receive as from their Fountain head their Soveraignty and Kingly dignitie Now then from what hath bin said followes this consequence of necessitie that if there be a greater power on earth then Kings are Then Kings are accountable for their actions therunto and ought to be subject as well as others as appeares by that in Rom 13 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God c. Whosoever therfore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation In which words we see the Apostle gives a generall charge to all inferiours to submit themselves to their superiours therfore if Kings be inferiour to their Kingdomes and so consequently to the representative bodies therof then Kings ought by vertue of this charge to be subject thereunto as well as others But how ought they to submit what in doing only and in matter of obedience are they discharged there so as though they abuse their power never so exorbitantly to spoile oppresse and destroy their people censure may not passe upon them nor punishment be inflicted surely I find no such distinction in all the word of God Nay we are commanded the contrary and the law of nature teacheth us as much that if there be a festred and a gangreen'd member in the body that would destroy the whole to cut it off for the preservation of the whose I it is true will they say if there be any festred or corrupted member in the body that would destroy the whole we ought to cut it off rather then to suffer all the body to perish the Law of God and nature teacheth us thus much but in case the head should have any Gangreene in it and you cut that off you doe immediatly destroy the body the life can not be preserved when the Head is gone So in like manner the King he is the Head of the State and in that respect he hath such an influence upon the State that if you cut Him off you destroy the whole State together with Him as you destroy the body when you take away the head therof therfore be he never so wicked He is to be suffered and borne withall Answ This similitude or resemblance here doth not hold good therfore we must distinguish between a naturall head and a civill head for if the naturall head of the body of man be taken away the body dies but it is not so with the civill Head of the State as experience doth sufficiently shew by the death of Kings But if it were possible in the body of man when one head is taken away to find another to put in his place and so to preserve the life as it may be done in the State surely Heads would oftentimes be changed and cut off as well as other members So that if we will thus reason that the Head of the State should be in respect of His body as the head of man in respect of the body of man then it doth necessarily follow that the Head being dead the body should die also as is manifest in the body of man But it doth not hold so in the head of the State as it doth in the head of the body of man that if the head of the State be cut off the State dies as doth the body of man therfore the King who is the Head of the State if a corrupted and a festred Member that may indanger the destruction of the body of the State ought to be cut off for the preservation of the whole for Salus populi suprena lex nothing ought to be so much regarded as the Peoples safety which is the end of all Law and government whatsoever This similitude though it hold not good as it is above proposed yet it doth in the contrary that if a King by his wicked and Tyrannicall courses doth destroy his Kingdome he doth destroy himselfe as when the naturall body is destroyed the head of necessity must perish with it I but will some say this is strange Where in all the Scripture doe you find that the people have with Gods likeing and approbation so much as resisted their Kings how much lesse censured them or brought them to tryall or punishment for any actions that ever they have done For the first of these I Answer that Kings in their wicked and ungodly courses have bin resisted by their people the Spirit of God speaking by way of commendation of them for it or at least wise not disapproving the same This is evident by divers places of Scripture As first of all we have an example hereof in Ionathans case 1 Sam. 14 44. where because that lonathan had eaten a little Honey contrary to the Commandement of his Father Saul who was then King of Israel he would have put him to death thereupon the people stand up in his just defence against Saul his Father saying Shall Ionathan die who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel God forbid as the Lord lives there shall not one haire of his head fall to the ground for he hath wrought with God this day Then it followes the people rescued Ionathan that he died not Did they not think you resist Saul when the people rescued him out of his hand whether he would or no and contrary to the Oath that he had sworne Secondly we have the example of David in Keilah 1 Sam. 23.7 c. where David being at Keilah and Saul hearing of it thought he had got now his oportunity to take him that he might kill him as oftentimes he had before indeavoured but it so pleased God that this came to Davids eares that Saul secretly practised mischief against him to come and take away his life Hereupon David inquires of God First to know whether it were so or no as
Actively or passively If not then surely they that would attribute thus much unto them doe exalt and set them above the Laws and Commandements of God for you must understand that the judiciall Laws in those times whereby God would have his people to bee governed were immediately ordained of God as well as any other Laws whatsoever which therfore for my own part I conceive to be no lesse then blasphemy at least I am sure it is a high contempt of Gods ordinance Wherfore now with submission to better judgements wheras it is said Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guitlesse I suppose this to be the meaning of it That this is a thing not to be rashly or unadvisedly done by any and that it belongs to none but to the Magistrates only and that in a legall way having herein an awfull and reverentiall regard of the Commandement of God Yet further I will not deny but that it may probably be that there may be somwhat extraordinary in the case of these 5 Kings before mentioned their persons being of Gods immediate choice and by his especiall appointment inducted into that Function as the rather it seems so to be because this term of the Lords anointed I find it applyed in Scripture to no King else that was anointed with Oyle but only these though we read of divers Kings else besides these that were anointed with Oyle Then for the other in that Kings are called Gods anointed with respect to the authority which by their people they are elected unto whereby they become Gods Deputies and Vicegerents here on earth in ruling and governing of his people Thus and no otherwise then thus are our Kings call'd the Anointed of the Lord Now as much as this is proper and belonging to other Rulers as well as to Kings to be called Gods Deputies and Vicegerents and therefore it is that they as I shewed before are cal'd Gods as well as Kings which little is applyed unto them in this regard because they represent the place of God and have his Image stamped upon them in a more especiall manner by meanes of that authority that God by the consent of his people hath conferred upon them for their good From hence therefore neither doe I see any ground why Kings should not be accountable for their actions For if so be that they are not accountable in this regard because they are Gods Deputies and Vicegerents why then I say nor any other Rulers nor Magistrates besides because they are Gods Vicegerents as well as Kings The which I thinke there are none will be so simple as to affirme So now by what hath been said we see that even Kings in a legall way may bee resisted neither do we want examples among our selves of this kind and yet it is thought no grievance or unlawfull thing or unbeseeming the profession of good Christians as some doe say For it is not manifest that the King himselfe is impleaded by his owne Subjects and hath many times tryalls at Law with them at the Kings bench and is divers times too overthrowne And if this be done in slighter matters then certainely much more it ought to be done in matters of farre greater weight and consequence as in cases of oppression Tyranny or Destruction of his People But here againe say they should wee grant you this that other Kings may be resisted as you have declared and may Legally bee accountable for their actions yet the case is not alike betweene other Kings and ours of England for as much as they have their right to the Crown by Conquest as is evident by William the Conquerour whose Successors they are and therefore there is no other way for us now but either to obey what they command us or else to submit our selves to suffer Answ It goes beyond my apprehension to coneive how this kind of arguing can hold good and I do admire upon what ground it should be built But besides it is not here amisse to take notice of the basenesse and servility of the spirits of these men who can be so well content to argue themselves into a very vassalage and slavery Therfore for satisfaction in this point as well as in the rest wee must take notice that there is a two fold conquest one is Absolute and the other is Conditionall For the first of these will they affirme it that we are absolutely conquered and so overcom by an altogether over-ruling and Tyrannicall power that our Lives Persons and Estates lie at the mercy of the Conqueror all that ever we have being at his will and pleasure that hee may make a prey of them how he list and when he list without any bonds or ties at all on his part towards his people but that by vertue of the Conquest we are wholly become his Vassalls and slaves I say in this case a people may by force of Armes nay they are bound to doe it for as much as all people ought both by the Law of God and nature to provide for their owne welfare and salvation when they have a fit and convenient opportunity and strength sufficient to rescue themselves from under the power of such a Tyranny and free themselves from such a Yoake though it should bee even with the personall destruction of those Kings that should usurpe such a power over them And I prove it clearely by the examples of the people of God in the times of the Iudges approved by the Spirit of God as Iudg. 3 8. Israel there rebelled against the Lord by turning unto Idolls whereupon it is said the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them into the hands of Cushan Rishathaim King of Mesopotamia and the Children of Israel served Cushon Rishathaim eight yeeres that is to say they served him in a servile slavish way then it followes that the Children of Israell cryed unto the Lord and the Lord raysed up a deliverer unto the Children of Israel who delivered them even Othniel the brother of Kenaz Kalebs younger brother and the spirit of the Lord came upâ—n him and he judged Israel and went out to warre and the Lord delivered Cushan Rishathaim into his hand and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim and so the Land had rest 40 Yeeres By which words you see that the people of God by force of Armes were violently overcome and kept powerfully under a Tyranny for the space of eight yeeres but see when God had raised up unto them a deliverer that is to say one that would stand up in defence of them against the King of Mesopotamia who had them under and they now had a convenient opportunity to redeeme themselves from under this Tyranny they take it and by force of Armes recover their liberty againe It is needlesse to instance in any more particulars at large I will therefore onely point out the severall places that for your better satisfaction you may read them