houses congregative conjunctive are in the making or repealing of them And thus and no otherwise is Supreme Power to be regulated though there are a Rebellious People Which say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not unto us right things speak smooth things and Prophesie Deceits c. and Cause the Holy One of Israel to be forgotten before us b Isa 30.9 10 11. And therefore I shall proceed to the third part and speak a word of resistance in the Subject against the Soveraign Power CHAP. III. That Resistance in the Subject by force against his Lawful Magistrate is in no Case Lawful AS the great World even the whole frame of Nature stands by a wise and apt combination of several Beings so contempered by Divine Providence as all agree in a subordinate Obedience to make up one entire Body without any Reluctancy Strife or Rebellion against the superiour and first Mover though they are sometimes obstructed even to the Interruption of the whole course of things and unhinging of many goodly pieces of it as it were involuntarily as at the time of Our Saviour's Sufferings when all the whole Creation seemed to have Compassion of him except Man for whom only he suffered the glorious Sun withdrawing its light to put on blacks and the dull Earth trembling under the weight of our Sins So likewise Man as a Rational and the noblest of all God's Creatures should much more observe the Law of his Maker even the whole Oeconomy or Model of Government so deeply imprinted in his Soul where Reason is enthroned for Soveraign as a Beam or Lineament of God himself who is the only King of Kings upon Earth to suppress and not suffer any exorbitant and tumultuous rising of the lower Passions and Affections to carry it to any exorbitancy nor to indulge it to them which still ought to observe a regular motion in their own Sphere and leave the superior one to God's ordering in all their Irregularities In that it is he alone that is the first Mover in and sole Orderer of all Humane Affairs upon Earth for though the Obliquity of all ill Actions be from us the Natural Power of doing any thing is from him by it to shew us as by a clear light the absolute submission which is our Passive Obedience we owe our Lawful Soveraign though Wicked with the active in lawful Commands yet not for themselves but the Lord's sake and as his Ordinance c Rom. 13.2 1 Pet. 2.13.14 15. for we are not to revile them no not in upbraiding words d Ecc. 8.4 Ex. 22 28. Act. 23.5 2 Pet. 2. 2 Tim. 3. Jud. Epist And if we must not speak evil of the Rulers of the people a majore we may much less bind our Kings with Chains and our Nobles with Links of Iron which only is God's Prerogative though they be Heathenish and Tyrannous which made David always Loyal to Saul in all his Persecutions though e 1 Sam. 24. a Tyrant by the abuse of Power not Usurpation even when he himself was anointed of God and chosen to succeed the other f 1 Sam 16. And this he performed as an Obedience to God for The Lord forbid that I should do this thing saith he g 1 Sam. 24.6 to whom only his appeal lay against Saul though he was guilty of Murder Sacriledge Oppression Witchcraft and the greatest Crimes because that by his Holy Oyl which is ever uppermost amongst all Liquors God did design his Soveraignty and Superiority above all others and made him capable of reserving a charge only at the Divine Tribunal h 1 Sam. 24.12 And St. Paul in his time commanded no less Obedience to Claudius in whose Reign he lived as Baronius conjectures i 1 Tom. 11. An. 45. knowing that a Claudius a Nero or a Cyrus k Isa 45.1 because of the odour of that Oyntment of Inauguration are to be loved never to be rejected by their Subjects For God's Commissions to Kings are durante beneplacito during his pleasure who can by millions of ways take away their Aiery Beings the only difference between Sleep and Death without an unnatural Parricide or the rising of their People if he think fit to ease them of such a servile condition as cruel Tyrants bring upon them and not quamdiu se bene gesserint by it to make their Subjects Judges of their Actions who are only lyable to the Directive not Coactive and Coercive Power of Laws For as the Moral Law to the lively and true Members of Christ they are only a Rule to order and guide not to condemn Kings though as an Ashur the Rod of God's Wrath the King should ly heavy upon his People in himself or by inferiour Powers Much more therefore ought we to bear the Yoak of Christian Princes esspecially in such a mixed Government as ours wherein the King de facto may invade our Liberties but cannot without consent of both his Houses de jure change the Laws and much better indure Transient Acts than a Model of Man's framing which will be always subject to Arbitrary Changes And thus Calvin understands m Inst 4.20 Nu. 27. what was imposed upon the Jews n 1 Sam. 8. Jer. 27. not to be peculiare mandatum to them but general cuicunque delatum est Regnum ei serviendum when he says Ex quibus apparet subditos Regibus nec posse nec debere adversus ipsos quicquam movere licet tyrannidem exerceant So as by his sence the higher Power o Rom. 13. is the Power above Subjects and only below the highest Power of all even God which St. Paul there expresses in the singular number often to declare this Regal and Supreme Power to be in the King and all others derivative from him if St. Peter's be a good Comment upon it p 1 Pet. 2.13.15 where he styles the King as Supreme For Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo Lege the one for direction the other for punishment Under the Law as a Rule under God as Judge of his Actions q Eccle. 8. which made David be put in Ballance with all the People r 2 Sam. 18.3 for their telling him he was worth ten thousand was to be understood of all As in Jude s vers 14. where God's coming at the last Judgment is said to be with ten thousand of his Saints instead of all as is expressed by the Prophet Zachary t c. 14. v. 5 And therefore that now received but much abused Maxime That the King is major singulis universis minor can in its just latitude be meant only of the Original and Fundamental Right the People had in the first Election of the Person to the Power where God did not immediately appoint him not of giving the Power to the Person for that is only from God who claims the Sword as his own Right and will not
of Charity in the doing or not doing it as in the Instance before of eating or not eating of Flesh at any time to the scandal of my weak Brother b 1 Cor. 8. when free in the aequilibrium of choice Yet if any necessity of nature or other great prejudice to my Person or Fortune depends upon my not eating I ought to eat Flesh though to the scandal of another rather than impair my health or bring any great mischief upon my self by the Omission of it For there though the thing be indifferent in it self it is not so to me such Natural or Moral Necessity interposing From whence I conceive I may safely conclude against the former Objection That no conscientious Obedience is due to such an exercise of Power as is there proposed no nor submission in indifferent things if done with scandal to others because not imposed by a lawful Power to determine my choice yet where my personal freedom self-preservation or any great prejudice to my Estate in which my Posterity is concerned be put into the Scale to weigh against an unwilling scandal I may submit for that alters the case in relation to Conscience though not the nature of the thing for there I owe a prudent submission when by the rule of Charity which is but to love my Neighbour as my self I am to prefer the well being of my self and mine to an offence taken by not willingly given to another where a compulsory Injunction and Power inforceth my submission to an indifferent thing it being agreeable to the Law of God Nature and Nations to preserve my self by all lawful ways OBJECTION III. Object 3. If it be so that honest and well-meaning men may not be in any case voluntarily instrumental under an usurped and unlawful Power to the executing the known Laws by which distributive Justice between Party and Party Religion Peace and Propriety may be maintained and perhaps some advantages gained by which they may much improve the Interest of their lawful Soveraign which they prefer in their wishes to their own Being and that if they decline a making use of such opportunities and that all men should walk by the same Rule there must necessarily follow Oppression Atheism and Anarchy the Womb of all Confusion that would reduce all things into the first Chaos so as nothing but darkness and disorder would cover the Earth which their Omissions may contract the guilt of when in acting with the present Power for these ends they do but choose the least of Evils and have no thought of doing the least Evil and so may act Answ As I said The least Evil is not to be committed nor allowed to produce the greatest good c Rom. 3.8 and that there the choice is not between Evils of Punishments where the least may be chosen but between an Evil of Sin which I have proved an outward Compliance in an Unjust Cause or with an Usurped or unlawful Power especially against a just claim to be and no Sin being as the Schools determine in the number of things eligible Malum non est in numero eligibilium propter aliud bonum in that actus peccati non est ordinabilis in bonum finem So Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. And upon the Egyptian Midwives and Rachels Pious Ly it is concluded by St Augustine e sup Ps 5. Peter Lombard f Lib. 3. dist 38. and Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. That no man ought to tell a Ly to preserve a Life nor for any Spiritual Good Though St. Augustine saith wittily g Tract 5. Tom. 9. super Joan. Nemo habet de suo nisi mendacium peccatum when all truth comes from the Fountain of it God h Eccles 7. Jam. 1. And St. Ambrose i Tom. 4. upon those words Quis ex vobis arguit me de peccato Omne mendacium fugiendum est tam in verbis quam in operibus c. all outward dissimulation is to be avoided when Opus exterius naturaliter significat intentionem k Aquin. 2. 2. Qu. 111. Art 11. Qu. 111. Art 2. And we should be the more careful not to make Hell the way to Heaven Vice to introduce Vertue when even lawful Actions become sins if done with scandal to others and that some higher end or duty determine not my choice in them as I have determined in another case of Conscience concerning Actions in themselves indifferent For the least defect or excess makes a lawful Action become sinful and a willing countenancing of any sin draws on the toleration of all and like the Spirits in the Blood will soon run through the whole Body of sin For with Aquinas l 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 2. veritas aequalis est cui per se opponitur magis minus So as in doubtful Cases Gerson's rule is good m Par. 2. Reg. mor. Ab omni actu cui non est necessario astrictus teneatur desistere where scandal may be given OBJECTION IV. Object 4 Ay but Salus Populi est Suprema Lex So as I may act voluntarily with and under an usurped Power though against legal settlements and known Laws for the preservation of the Common-wealth and that by a Law of necessity which gives the Law to all Laws and warrants the doing of that which otherwise is unlawful for by this our Saviour seems to justifie his Disciples gathering Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day and urges the Authority of David's Example for it n Mat. 12. Answ 1. It is true that Salus Populi est Suprema Lex in reference to Humane and Municipal Laws for so Kings in whom the Supreme and Legislative Power resides may for the good of their People in great Exigents act besides nay against the known National Laws of their Kingdom but not contrary to any Divine Sanction Answ 2. I acknowledg that necessity is a very powerful Argument both before God and man to excuse not justifie an ill Action For so God himself the Supreme Law-giver hath sometimes been pleased in a Gracious Condescention to man's infirm condition to dispence with his own Laws as well as Kings with theirs in Cases of great necessity as may be instanced But this hath been ever in things only mala quia prohibita evil because forbidden as in Ceremonial and Judicial Laws never in any thing that is malum in se prohibitum quia malum evil in it self and forbidden because specifically so Such as are Schisms Heresies Idolatry Rebellion Usurpation Oppression Murder Sacriledg and the like for in these God never leaves his Servants without a just way of extricating themselves from any such necessity of acting by enabling them to dare to dye rather than do any thing that in its nature is evil and by suffering according to the Will of God to commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator o 1 Pet.
or any other Form When instead of a Mushroom the growth of one night that springs perhaps out of the basest Excrements and of such a lazy despondency of Mind as sinks him into the next degree to a Beast making him to have no designs generous and noble to carry him beyond his own felicity we shall have one whose blood is derived to him through the Veins of many Noble Heroick and Vertuous Progenitors who becomes all Spirits refined from those marish and terrene parts which weigh down or raise Vapours to eclipse others of a more base Extraction when they aspire to great and generous actions Nay this makes Princes live in their Posterities when dead and brings reverence to the very Swadling-Cloaths and Cradles of their Successors as if they might Command Obedience before they could speak as Barclay observes Nor can it be imagined but that their high and vertuous Educations should infuse a Gallantry into them above Pride saith the same Author having been always used to the greatest outward Observances and by being so placed above all Contempt so as it cannot but nourish in them higher thoughts than either Hatred Emulation or Avarice produces and free them from those self-reflections private Families are subject to as I have touched before because they are secured against the fears of Competitors in rule and have setled supplies for their wants enjoying in the Stream what others have but in the Cistern and conveying it to their posterity as their Patrimony and Inheritance making them many times Heirs of the Goods of their minds as well as Bodies and to reap the Harvest and crop of all their noble and growing Designs which as Seed sown by them will not perhaps ripen into Fruit in many years after For it is probable such will manure and nurse up with Industry and Care what their Predecessors planted Nor can the Infancy and weakness of a Prince be of so bad a Consequence as a Popular State because he is then in Guardian to the most able and faithful Great Ones or the great Council of the Kingdom it self which the wisest and best of Kings do always make use of to steer their Actions by Nay if that Government should for a time degenerate it is more likely soon to recover and unite again in one when broken into many Interests equally tainted with malignant Influences and self-seeking designs But not with the Mole to lose my self upon the face and superficies of things when I may make my Habitation safe by digging deeper the best Foundations being lowest laid I shall return to my first design and go to the Root of all endeavouring to show that Regal Power was a Plant of Paradise of God's own setting and so of Divine Right and that the Sword which contends with the Scepter and raises it self upon the ruines of just Power cannot be free from all the fore-mentioned sad Effects which must eclipse the Glory of every Nation and leave it no Trophies but such as Pyrrhus once said of his Victories as would undoe the Conquerour and appear best when shrouded under the Vail of true Repentance and offered up again by a holy Restitution to the Altar from which they were sacrilegiously taken Such successes being our greatest vanquishments and leaving us no just Title to make other use of our unjust acquisitions Though Abishai would have preached David into a Murder and Rebellion at once upon no better grounds than Gods delivering Saul into his power o 1 Sam. 26.9.10.24.12 had he not learnt a better Divinity measuring his Actions by Gods revealed Will not outward Events knowing he there writes in Characters shewing us his hand only but not letting us at all read his meaning in them p Deut. 9. 2 Chron. 13.8 But to be a little more plain and perspicuous in so necessary a Truth I shall endeavour as in an Epitome or Index to those many large and learned Discourses that have been written upon this subject to sum up the best Collections I can and to digest them into this Method First To shew that Kings are the Ordinance of and hold their Supreme Power from God not Man and that they are only accountable to him for the use of it Secondly What that Power is and how limited Thirdly That resistance in the Subject against that Power is in no Case warrantable Fourthly What Duties Kings owe to their Subjects Fifthly What the Subject's Allegiance consists in to them First That Kings are the Ordinance of God contrary to that of the Romanists and our new Statists Reges coronas sceptra ab hominibus recipiunt ad eorum placita tenent q Bellarm. lib. 5. de Rom. Pon. cap. 7. So Buchanan r De Jure Reg. apud Scotos Populus Rege praestantior etiam major Rex igitur cum ad Populi Judicium vocatur minor ad majorem in jus vocatur For they are called God's by Institution and Appropriation from God For By me Kings reign saith he s Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Jo. 14.30 Hos 13.11 Wis 6.13 and with my holy Oyl have I anointed him t Ps 89.20 not only to rule by but for God too as the most express Character of him upon Earth Which made him lead his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron one Chief in Civil matters the other in things concerning the Priest's Office though with subordination Not one People by many Rulers much less the Ruler by the People but by one in Chief under the conduct of God himself and by his Authority as may appear in that and all other Instances of Regal Power So as Kings are to be reverenced and distinguished from others in regard of that Natural and Paternal Power God planted in Adam and caused immediately after to derive from many Heads into one Chief in one place a cause of the division of the Nations amongst the Sons of Noah as Monarch of the whole Earth after the Flood u Gen. 10.32 So as Kings are Gods and to be obeyed First In regard of their Attribute of Power For where the word of a King is there is Power w Eccles 8.4 that he might be feared x Pro. 24.21 and who may say unto him what dost thou Secondly In that of Mercy For there is Mercy with him that he may be feared in that he beareth not the Sword in vain y Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. but doth whatsoever pleaseth him z Eccle. 8.3 1 Sam. 8. in giving gracious Indulgences Thirdly In regard of Majesty and Soveraignty For God expresseth them by those highest Titles saith Calvin a Inst 4. l. cap. 20. to affect us with the awful sence of the Divinity it self and our Duty to them in putting the Glory of his own name upon them For b Ps 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and not only so but decreed and ordained it it shall be so even Gods before Men though Men before God 1st
By Analogy 2dly Deputation 3dly By Participation Thus Tertullian c Lib. ad Scapalum Cyrillus d Ep. ad Thro. prefix lib. advers Julian Chrysostom e Hom. ad Pop. Antioch Gregory f L 9. Decret 1 Tit. 3.3 which is the reason of those high Titles of Prerogative the sacred Word styles them with after the Israelites rejection of Samuel as that of God in regard of the immediate rule they were to exercise over them after their desire of a King for before the Power was not vested in the Person of any but ministerially only in regard of Exercise which still proceeded from immediate and Divine Directions But after he placed the Power in the person of the King g 1 Sam. 8. to be accounted for only to God h Psal 51. as a punishment of the Peoples Rebellion against him and desire of innovating their Form of Government Nay he then dignified the person of the King with all the Attributes of Majesty to show that he left the power of ordering all things to the conduct of Man though with an over-ruling Providence which before derived immediately from himself so establishing Monarchy but no other Form of Government by any Divine Commission And then he styles them First Children of the most high i Psal 82. to show from whom the Inheritance of their Crowns descends and that they are a middle thing as it were between Heaven and Earth like a Cloud in the Air above Man and below God Secondly The Lords Anointed k 1 Chr. 4.18 1 Sam. 24.16 and so Sacred by Consecration Thirdly The Angels of God l 2 Sam. 14.20 in regard of Wisdom Fourthly The Light of Israel m 2 Sam. 21.17 in regard of comfort and influence Fifthly The Kings of Nations n Luk. 12.25 in regard of their vast Empire Sixthly Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers o Isa 49.23 in regard of their tender Care and Affections to their People and to sit in the Throne of God p 2 Sam 3.1 1 Chron. 29.23 2 Sam. 12.7 Isa 62.3 in regard of protection as the Spring and Fountain from whence all Justice doth flow And therefore the Queen of Sheba acknowledged of Solomon That he was King as hath been said not only from but for God to do Justice and Judgment q 2 Chron. 9.8 for ever r Job 36.7 Custos moderator utriusque Tabulae And not only so neither though these are great Prerogatives but even as God two Constellations in one Hemisphere God and Man neither eclipsing the light of the other For so said Jacob to his Lord Esau s Gen. 33.10 vidi faciem ut faciem Dei that is saith the Chaldee as a Reverend Divine observes God in him as he was the Prince For Rex est animata Imago Dei saith St. Augustine And for this Cause it was said of Moses who with the Patriarchs and Judges had the exercise of Regal Power successively before Saul's Inauguration the Scepter he held was God's not his own virga Dei in manu t Exod. 17.9 God and Caesar u Mat. 22.21 Prov. 24.21 being to be obeyed tanquam conjunctae Personae Nor is it St. Peter's calling all Magistracy an Humane Creature and St. Paul's styling it God's Ordinance contradictory one to the other For one speaks of the Authority w Rom. 13. the other of the Laws or Ordinances made by such as he hath impowered to it whether it be the King or those Commissioned by him which St. Peter calls Humane Ordinances most properly because made by Men but intends not the King himself as if he were made by the People x 1 Pet. 2. nor his Power but the exercise of it which in regard of Circumstance as Time Place Actings c. is by Custome or Municipal Laws become Humane And now after so great Light hath shined into the World is it not strange that Men should seal up their Eyes and choose to walk in darkness of Errour should trace the Paths of Disobedience and Rebellion and by a daring Impiety heaping of one sin upon another as the Gyants of old did Pelion upon Ossa should mount this Throne of God by force and violence y 1 Chron. 29.23 to overthrow and divest him of all his Regalia and Soveraign Power on Earth pulling the Crown from his Head the Scepter and Sword from his Hand in the Person of our Sacred King who as the sum and recapitulation of the Virtues of all his Predecessors or as so many Lights in one Constellation shows the Glory and Lustre of all when a Heathen by the Light of Nature even Aristotle z 1 Eth. c. 2. as well as Calvin a 4 Inst 20. Sect. 33. did see something Divine in the Officers of Governours who are called b Sap. 6 4. The Officers of God's Kingdom From whence the Schools conclude That any the least Irreverence to a King as to question our Obedience to him may justly be called Sacriledge And since Sacriledge is a violation or taking away of something that is Holy it is evident that the Office and Person of a King is Sacred so as one observes Those Men that are most Sacrilegious against God and his Church are most likely always to offer Violence to the Honour and Persons of their Princes as too late experience hath taught us and to deny themselves the greatest Blessing c Jer. 22.34 Num. 23.21 Isa 49 22 23. to introduce the greatest Curse Licentiousness and Confusion d Prov. 28.2 Isa 3.5 All which sad Effects are but the airy Off-spring of a Platonick Speculation a wild and untaimed seemingly wise Folly in affirming that the People are in their Representative above the King contrary to St. Peter's Doctrine e 1 Pet. â— 13. our known Laws as may be seen in Bracton and all our ancient Sages the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which they have sworn and his just Title being ever acknowledged by all Carolus but Dei Gratia Charles by the Grace of God not Election nor Suffrages of the People Though were it admitted that in some places as in Elective Kingdoms or here in case of Escheat if there were none living that by lawful descent were right Heir of the Crown the choice of their King were in the People they can only hold forth the Person to the Power if God have so in his Providence ordained it f Deut. 17.15 not give the Power to the Person which is not habitually in them though by them mediately not immediately conveyed but in God's Unction and Approbation of the person For Power like the Soul in the Body when reduced to its first Element returns to God that gave it And as in the Ordination of Bishops though the choice sometimes was perhaps in the People God was the Author and other Bishops by laying on of hands and Prayer the immediate Instruments only of conveying the Power of
their Ministerial Function to them as an indelible Character which their first Electors could not efface nor any unless it derived from the Supreme Civil Magistrate under whom they lived justly suspend in the Exercise in that the Power doth ever derive from God and by them But for further illustration we will consider it in the more familiar Instances of free Elections And first in Corporations as in a Model or hand contracted which is but expanded and the more stretched out in the highest Governments where the Commons propound the Person for the succeeding Governour the Representatives choose and the Kings Power invests without which Act the rest are but Cyphers without a Figure but having once Caesar's stamp and Image upon it it becomes legitimate current and of value so as none can clip or efface it to lessen his Authority much less displace the Magistrate but orderly by the Power that set him up without much Crime Rebellion and hazard of damnation g Rom. 3. 1 Pet. 2. A second illustration is That the People by free Votes choose their Representatives in our Parliaments yet the Power by which they Elect and that of the Elected is derived from the Kings Writ so as they cannot for any miscarriage or breach of trust in the Person recal their choice or make a new Election in any case without a new Warrant from the Crown but do become instrumental in conferring that which is not at all inherent in them as may more fully appear in the application of those similitudes to Kings where they are Elected in that Almighty God how tyrannous soever they prove uses them but as he did Ashur for the Rod of his Anger h Isa 10.5 when he gives a King in his Wrath i Hos 3. like Saul to scourge the Rebellions of a people not leaving them any just Power to depose him or any remedy or other appeal than to him in Prayer k 1 Sam. 8.18 In that his Providence orders all Actions and Events and suffers no evil of punishment without intitling himself to it For there is no Evil in the Land but I have done it saith he And therefore he accounts repining as impatience resistance by force Rebellion against himself For as the Apostles were Christs Kings are Gods Ministers upon Earth in as near a Relation Nay himself as it were showes that all such Arrows are shot at them wound him when Christ says Saul Saul why persecutest thou me l Act. 9.4 And thus God expresses it both in Moses his case m Num. 16. where he made the dull and patient Earth the common Hackney to all injurious trampling the severe Avenger of his dishonour and so in Samuel's n 1 Sam. 8. though even then by the fore-designation of God o Deut. 7.15 the Peoples free Election was confined to Saul the man that he did choose p 1 Sam 9.15 16 17. For till then God did rule by immediate direction and revelation those he appointed to be their Governours and would not totally cast them off for their revolt but still continued his goodness to them even in his Indulgence of Anger not leaving them to a factious and tumultuous Election but ordered it by immediate command to the person he had fore-appointed till he had settled the succession in David and his Seed q 1 Sam. 16. By it shewing his dis-allowance of all popular and disorderly Elections for even there where he permitted their concurrence in choosing the person in whom all Power should habitually reside and from whom its Actual Administrations should derive he suffered them only to assist Samuel in holding forth the Wax which he had appointed to set his Seal and Image upon but not to give any Impression Nor can it rationally be imagined by any man that is a Christian and acknowledgeth the Sword to be Gods and that he that sheds Man's Blood without his Commission is guilty of Murder how a power of Life and Death should be collated by any Community of Men to one or more when neither divisim nor conjunctim they have power over their own or one anothers lives Nor could ever any pretend to it unless Parents and Heads of Families by Divine Natural and Paternal Right but when derived from God the other way and by his Commission exercised Yet the People may in some sence be said to be the Pipe by which not at all the Spring from which the Power is derived the Hand that holds the Burning-Glass to the Sun no cause of those Rayes of Power that shine upon it and are contracted in it or as the Men that lay out the dry Bones as the Prophet did whilest God breaths the Spirit of Government and animates them for Action In which we must next consider CHAP. II. What Power Kings have and how limited AS I have endeavoured to make it appear by what hath been said that all Power is Originally Fundamentally and Vertually flowing from God and abiding in the King only as its Cistern and Receptacle from whence it is conveyed to us by many Pipes of several sizes Our inquiry must be how it is limited in it Self or Execution For resolution wherein we must go to the Standard of the Sanctuary the Holy Scriptures and there we shall see That when God first gave a King in his Wrath r 1 Sam. 8. the cause of it was the Peoples being not satisfied with the Regal Power God did exercise over them in his Vice-Royes and Deputies before but distrusting God Almighty when they saw Nahash King of the Children of Ammon come against them that he would not suddenly provide for their deliverance they would have one in readiness always to go up and fight for them Which distrust or despair of theirs who had found so many miraculous Deliverances under God's Government was that which so highly displeased God and not simply the desire of a King yet they neither desired to cast off God's Laws nor his choosing the Person as in Saul nor is it said that the Kingdom of God is cast off at the Election of Saul but they desired more sensible Evidences of Majesty and Glory because Samuel held not forth the outward Pomp Splendour and Majesty of Heathen Kings but as a Type of Christ whose Kingdom was not of this World with Humility as well as Power Upon which God gave them a King after the manner of other Nations r 1 Sam. 8. Dan. 5.18.19 but withal commanded Samuel to let them know what kind of King they desired even Jus Regis and that he should rule by absolute and unlimited Power in regard of Man however he may want the immediate direction and over-ruling Grace of God though not for want of a Rule for direction s Deut 17.2 2 Sam. 23.3 in that t 2 Sam. 22.3 he that ruleth over men must rule as in the fear of God u Ezek. 46.16 17 18. and not oppress the
As Sapiens semper incipit a fine saith the Philosopher in that the end sets all a-working let us consider how God in the conveying it out of himself for Administrations in the Political and Civil World did primarily intend the due ordering of things by it according to the rules of Justice Piety and Religion that all might concenter in Gods Glory and Mans Good Order Truth and Justice being the only Foundations and Pillars of Government For as in the lesser World of mixed Bodies due temper and moderation of parts and in the rational World Tranquillity of Soul by the subordination of inferiour Faculties and Passions to the Soveraignty of Reason preserves them so in the great World propriety and enjoyment of our just and native Rights with punishment of Offences which the mind of the Law rule of Justice and Right the measure of all things according to Equity and Reason under the Supreme Head is that which preserves a happy Harmony and sweet Society amongst men And for this end God gave his first Commission to Moses only even Regal Power which before was Natural and Paternal in Adam both for expedition in Affairs of State which could not be acted by many and the prevention of Factions and Schisms that Popular States are always subject unto but this under certain Fundamental Rules though he had immediate Revelation to shape himself by yet with an absolute Power where Gods Law did not restrain him to be derived to all Kings for ever who still are or ought to be the Depositories of that Supreme Authority as to make War and Peace to call and dissolve Assemblies both in State and Church Affairs which as the greatest Essentials of Regality p Num. 10.1 2 8. and 29.1 were only Originally in God himself but since exercised and practised by all succeeding Kings as may appear by multitudes of Scriptures q Jos 1.17 and 34.18 1 Chro. 15. 23.3.6 2 Chro. 15.14 20.21 25.5 34.31.32.33 and the Stories of all Ages so as none durst in former times have refused to come when called by them r Num. 20.13 though for matters of Conscience or a Diana unless some Demetrius or Crafts-man led on the Rout as one observes upon the Text. s Acts 19.4 23 36. Nor is this only of Divine Institution but founded in Nature as hath been shewed in that all the Conjugations of Sinews and Strength meet in the Head the Fountain of Motion from whence all the Members derive their Operations and practised among the Heathen by the Light of that Law only as in Pharaoh t Gen. 41.44 and the Character God gave the Jews of their Kings when they asked one after the manner of the Nations u 1 Sam. 8. From whence we may conclude That Moses had all Monarchical and Absolute Power in respect of the Jews radically in him even Jus Regale w Deut. 33.3 and was in Rectitudine Rex as well in Name as Power x vers 4.5 which afterwards was transferred upon Saul as a Punishment to the People for rejecting it in those God had appointed to conduct them by the immediate assistance of his Holy Spirit But that he ever left or gave Commission for the exercise of this Power to a Community can never be shewed Yet here God leaves not Tyrants to their own unbridled range and rapine as the Wild Beasts of the Forests without a rule both of Direction and Obligation as hath been shewed which ought to be the measure of all just Power y Deut. 17. Gen. 17.6.49.10 though he did foretel what did or should follow for he no sooner establishes the Throne upon David and his Seed but does it under a Covenant of Obedience z 2 Chro. 6.16.7.17 2 Kin. 11.6 Ezech. 37.12 by the fail of which his Crown was forfeited to God only not Men upon any Compact or Condition betwixt him and the People a 2 Sam. 5. Yet had there been a stipulation between them the violation thereof could not have evacuated his Power no more than a Fathers severity b 1 Tim. 6. 1 Pet. 2.18 can cancel a Child's Obedience it being only a peculiar of God's by whom Kings reign c Prov. 8.15 16. to remove and set them up d Dan. 2.21 which made Nazianzen in his first Oration against Julian condemn those that would not depend upon God's Providence and expect the execution of his Counsels upon Wicked Princes whose hearts are in his hands and He turneth them whithersoever he listeth e Prov. 21.1 but would be their own Gods and Deliverers when Tyrants are God's hand upon us for our Sins So Peter Martyr upon Rom. 13. out of Dan. 4. Nay Calvin saith It is our fault if so great a Blessing be turned into our Punishment it being but a just retaliation for our disobedience to God For Secundum merita populi disponuntur corda Rectorum according to the Deserts of a people the hearts of Governours are disposed and the just Judge punisheth the faults of the Prince many times upon them that had caused him to offend saith St. Gregory f Ep. l. 2. Ep. 6. So as we may justly invert that of David a King to his People and say as Wicked Subjects of a pious Prince Let thy Judgments O Lord fall upon us but that innocent Lamb what hath he done that he should become a Sacrifice for us who ought to sacrifice our selves for him since it is our Rebellions against Thee that have occasioned in us this Rebellion against so good a Prince g 2 Sam. 21.1 that by them thou mightest take occasion to be the more severe in thy Judgments upon our Nation However let us consider there is something good in the highest Tyranny and ever to be preferred to Anarchy For when there was no King in Israel every one did oppress his brother and act after the Lust of his own heart not only rejecting their Civil but Spiritual Obedience to God h Jud. 17.2.17.6.18 whereas the Oppression of a Tyrant most commonly extends but to some so as the good or evil Estate of Israel seemed to depend upon the having or not having a King And having thus shewed how the Power of Kings is absolute without dependency upon their Subjects though limited in regard of their Soveraign God I shall proceed to the exercise of it and shew how that may be bounded and moderated by Compact the Indulgence of good Princes and municipal Laws What that Power is and how limited 2. I say as God is Goodness and Power and every perfection in himself so he communicates of them in some degree to all though most to Kings his moving Statues upon Earth especially of those Attributes which most concerns the dispensation of Mercy Justice and Judgment to the World For Kings are maxime proxime seconds to God as Tertullian saith above all others and as it were his immediate Deputies upon Earth to
Exercise and sometimes by National and Municipal Laws through the Indulgence of good Princes yet Kings are never subject to the Coactive but Directive Power of them and answerable unto God only as David was e Psal 51. not to man for their violation from whom they hold their Commission f Prov. 8.25 Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Hos 13.11 And therefore by Precept they are exempt in their Persons from all other Powers g Prov. 21.3 8.15 Eccles 8. 1 Pet. 2. Rom. 13. as immediately designed by God in their individual persons to be obeyed h Deut. 17.15 Job 3.6 7. 34.30 Hos 13.11 Wisd 6.3 with a brand and desert of punishment upon all those that resist or rebel against them i 1 Sam. 8. Num. 16. 2 Sam. 1.4 15.15 as if done against God k Rom. 13. when our Prayers Tribute Reverence Assistance and Obedience are an Homage we owe them though Wicked and Tyrants where the Divine Providence concurs with other just mediate instrumental ways for the making their Titles lawful l 1 Tim. 2.2 Jer. 25.9 29.7 Dan. 3.21 Gen. 20.27 Mat. 22.21 1 Sam. 8. 24. 1 Pet. 2.27 as they are God's breathing Images the Mortal Pictures of the Immortal God saith Optatus even Gods before men m Ps 82.6 though men before God First By Analogie Secondly Deputation Thirdly Participation So Tertullian n Lib. de Scapul Cyrill o Epist ad Theod. prefix lib. advers Julian Hierom p Ad Pap. Anâ—i Greg. l. 9. decret 1 Tim 3.3 c. Nay this truth hath been derived to us from all Antiquity as well as Scripture and was never contradicted till the Romanists and Schismaticks like Simeon and Levi Brethren in Iniquity as Samson's Foxes concurred though looking contrary wayes to the setting all Cristendom on Fire by it and broached the contrary Doctrine As Buchanan q De Jure Regis apud Scotos and Bellarmine r De Rom. Pont. l. 5. though all antiquity be against them as Calvin acknowledgeth s Inst l. 4. c. 20. and as appears by multitudes of Authors both ancient and Modern t Glos Incog in Ps 50. R.P. dedicated to Tho. de Trugil Loranus in Ps 50. Hieron Ep. 22. 46. So St. Chrysost in Ps 50. as cited by Cyril So Cyprian ad Novatian Ambros Serm. 16. in Ps 118. Clemens Alex. l. 4. c. 6. Turrecre 1 Sum. de Ec. 1. Q 92 Which ought to convince our late Statists the Corahs Dathans and Abirams of these times of their Errours and satisfie all men that the person in whom the Supreme Power is placed cannot by any Tyrannical Act or Introducing Heresie forfeit his Right and that none ought nor can Conscientiously obey it in another that assumes or accepts it from an unjust Collation though for the best ends imaginable Yet if the Objection be still framed and pressed as I suppose it is by the Actors in our present troubles the sad effects whereof are but the Airy Off-spring of their Platonick Speculations a wild and wise folly they may receive a further satisfaction from our known Laws as may be seen in Bracton and all our ancient Sages the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and our King 's just Title acknowledged by all Carolus Dei Gratia not by the Peoples Suffrage his Coronation not making but declaring him King only Nor ought it to be otherwise in Popular States where by Universal Suffrage and consent the People have lawfully placed the exercise of the Supreme Power in many retaining the esse perhaps not bene esse of Government there being no rising up or opposition lawful against the Supreme Power or those we conceive lawful Magistrates u Rom. 13. Now upon these grounds that the Supreme Power is not Originally Fundamentally and radically in the People but in that single Person God hath by Prescription Succession and Inheritance or other Humane Rights commissioned for it there is no just means of assuming it into the People and their transferring it upon any nor can any such act be lawful whether by the Pomp and Artifice of a pretended Justice or the Power of the Sword both which do but heighten the Crime according to the weight of Circumstances in either the one clothing the Devil in the Robes of Justice and Majesty the other making the Sword the unjust Arbitrator over the Lives Liberties and Fortunes of many innocent persons without any lawful Power w Mat. 26. Joh. 10.10 and against all our known Municipal Laws when in such a case no Title of Conquest can ly for that must be ever grounded upon a just War which is alwayes constituted of these essential parts 1. A Just Power 2. A Just Cause 3. Just means to prosecute it None of which can concur in Subjects taking up Arms against their lawful Soveraign or Warrant Obedience to any other without countenancing Injustice Violence Oppression c. x Mat. 26. 22 24. Joh. 19.10 which is in no case lawful no dispensation being lawful to any Action that partakes of the nature of sin For with the Hypocrite to do a seeming good to let in or countenance any evil for the most pious ends is but to bring in Religion upon the Devil's Shoulders and follow a seeming Triumph to Hell So as all that can be done under such a Government is but a prudent submission to the Power in things indifferent without giving any countenance to the Authority that imposes it or just scandal to our weak Brethren For then even lawful and indifferent things in their nature are not at all times expedient to be done saith St. Paul y 1 Corin. 6.12 as in the Instances of eating or not eating z 1 Corin. 8.13 but we may or may not according to several Circumstances For 1. A thing indifferent may become ineligible unto me in regard of use or exercise where a lawful Power interposeing determines my choice either way if the thing be equally indifferent and stand like the Pin in the Ballance in an even poyse all Obedience to the Supreme Magistrate depending in its just latitude upon things indifferent to be done or omitted upon which ground as a learned man observes God made choice of a Fruit in Paradice indifferent in its own nature to be eaten or refused for the tryal of man's Obedience in the State of Innocency to teach us that the interposing of a Command from a just Authority ought in all things indifferent to determine our choice and by making it a duty takes off all just cause of scandal to others for in this way scandal is taken not given in the other I am guilty of Disobedience to my Superiour a Rom. 13. as my Magistrate of scandal to him as my Brother and of ill example to all if I do the contrary Though my choice may nay ought to be determined in the use of an indifferent thing rather than break a rule