yet they compell us to obey their Orders in a stricter manner than usually we are injoyned by Law and this course to make such binding Ordinances as they do to carry the force though not the name of an Act of Parliament or a Law is a mighty abuse of our Laws and Liberties for Sir Edward Cook tells us plainly That as the constitution of our Government now standeth neither the House of Commons and King L. Cook in the Preface of the Stat. of Westminster the second Lamberts Archeion 271. can make any binding Law when the Peers dissent nor the Lords and King when the Commonalty dissenteth nor yet both Houses without the Kings consent but all three King Peers and Commons must agree before any coactive Law can be composed Nay more it is sufficiently proved that Dare jus populo or the legislative power being one principall end of Regall Authority was in Kings by the Law of Nature while they governed the people by naturall equity long before municipall Laws or Parliaments had any beeing For as the Poet saith Remo cum fratre Quirinus Jura dabat populo Hoc Priami gestamen erat cum jura vocatis More daret populis Because this was the custom of the Kings of Scythia Assyria Aegypt c. long before Moses and Pharonaeus when Municipall Laws first began to give Laws unto their people according to the Rules of Naturall equity which by the Law of Nature they were all bound to observe And though some Kings did graciously yield and by their voluntary oathes for themselves and their successors bind themselves may times to stricter limits than were absolutely requisite as William Rufus King Stephen Henry the fourth Richard the third and the like granted many Priviledges perhaps to gain the favour of their Subjects against those which likely had a better Title to the Crown than themselves or it may be to satisfie their people as the guerdon or compensation for the sufferance of some fore-passed grievances as Henry the first Edward the second Richard the second and the like yet these limitations being agreeable to equity and consistent with Royalty and not forcibly extracted ought in all truth and reason to be observed by them And hence it is that the Kings of this Realm according to the oathes and promises which they made at their Coronation can never give nor repeal any Law but with the assent of the Peers and People But though they have thus yielded to make no Laws nor to repeal any Laws without them yet this voluntary concession of so much grace unto the people doth no waies translate the legislative power from the King unto his assistants but that it is formaliter and subjectivè still in the King and not in them else would the government of this Kingdom be an Aristocracy or Democracy and not a Monarchy because the Supreme power of making and repealing Laws and Governing or judging decisively according to those Laws are two of those three things that give being to each one of these three sorts of Government Therefore the King of England Cassan in cata◠gloria mundi 2 2 Ed. 3. 3. pl. 25. Vid. The view of a Printed book intituled Observations c. Where this point is proved at large p. 18 19 21 22. being an absolute Monarch in his own Kingdom as Cassaneus saith and no man can deny it the Legislative power must needs reside solely in the King ut in subjecto proprio and the consent of the Lords and Commons is no sharing of that power but only a condition yielded to be observed by the King in the use of that power and so both the Oath of Supremacy and the form of all our ancient Statutes wherein the King speaks as the Law-maker do most evidently prove the same unto us Le Roy voit Neither durst any Subjects in former times either assume such a power unto themselves or deny the same unto their King for you may find how the House of Commons denying to pass the Bill for the Pardon of the Clergy which Henry the 8th granted them when they were all charged to be in a Premunire unless themselves also might be included within the pardon received this answer from the King that He was their Soveraign Lord and would not be compelled to shew his mercy nor indeed could they compel him to any thing else but seeing they went about to restrain him of his Liberty he would grant a pardon unto his Clergy by his great Seal without them though afterwards of his own accord he signed their pardon also which brought great commendation to his judgment Sir Rich. Baker in vita Hen. 8. to deny it at first when it was demanded as a right and to grant it afterward when it was received as of grace And yet the denyal of their assent unto the King is more equitable to them and less derogatory to him then to make orders without him And this manner of compulsion to shew grace unto themselves is more tolerable than to force him to disgrace and displace his most faithful servants only because others cannot confide in them when no criminal charge is laid against them And therefore for the Lords and Commons to make Orders and Ordinances without the King and in opposition to the King is a meer usurpation of the Regal power a nullifying of the Kings power and a making of the Royal assent which heretofore gave life to every Law to be an empty piece of formality which is indeed an intolerable arrogancy in the contrivers of these Orders and the makers of these Ordinances a monstrous abuse of the Subjects and a plain making of our good King to be somewhat like him in the Comedy A King and no King And whereas no Subject yea under favour be it spoken nor the King himself after he hath taken his Oath at his Coronation is free from the observation of the established Laws yet they make themselves so far above the reach of Law that they freed him which the Lord chief Justice Bramston had committed to Newgate for felony in stealing the Countess of Rivers goods they hindered all men as we found in their journal from proceeding against Sir Thomas Dawes they injoyned the Judges by their Orders to forbear to proceed in their ordinary courses in the Courts of Justice contrary to the Oathes of those Judges and some Parliament-men came to the Bench to forbid the Judges to grant Habeas Corpus's which is as great an iniquity and as apparent an injustice as ever was done by any Parliament The most abominable wickedness of these factious Rebels And that which is a Note above Ela above all that could be spoken whereas the Law of God and man the bonds and obligations of Civility and Christianity tye us all to be dutiful and obedient unto our King in all things either Actively or Passively and no wayes for no cause violently to resist him under the greatest penalties that can be
some respect that in other respects may be allowed and many things lawfull in some wayes which otherwayes may be most sinfull as it is most lawfull to drink ad satietatem but not ad obrietatem and many other the like things so it is lawfull for the king to do all that Samuel saith ad supplendam reipubl necessitatem supportandam regiam majestatem but not ad satisfaciendum suo fastui luxui lucro vanitati aut carnali voluptati which is the thing that Moses forbiddeth So that in briefe the meaning is if the Subjects should be unwilling to do what Samuel saith then the king when just necessity requireth may for these lawfull ends lawfully assume them And if he takes them any other way or for any other end then so habet Deum judicem conscientiae ultorem injustitiae But then it may be said Ob. Ahab did not offend in taking away Naboths vineyard if Samuel did properly describe the right of kings I cannot say that Ahab sinned in desiring Naboths vineyard Ans neither do I finde that the Prophet blames him for that desire there is not a word of that in the text but for killing Naboth and then taking possession for this he might not do the other he might do so he do it to a right end and in the right manner wherein he failed Ahâ—bs sin 1. In being so discontented for his denyal because his conscience telling him that he had no such urgent necessity whereby he could take it and Naboth being unwilling to sell it he should have beene satisfied 2. In suffering his wife whom he knew to be so wicked to proceed in her unjust course against Naboth Naboths fault 3. In going down to take possession when he knew that by his Wifes wicked practice the poore man was unjustly murdered when he should have rather questioned the fact and have punished the murderers Lex posterior derogat priori specialis generali ceremonialia atque forensia cedunt moralibus And yet Ahabs sin doth not excuse Naboths fault both in the denyal of the Kings right if the king had a just necessity to use it and also for his uncivil answer unto the King far unlike the answer of Arauna to King David but nearer like the answer of Nabal which the Holy Ghost seemes to take notice of when after he had said The LORD forbid it me which was rather a prayer and postulation that God would forbid it as we say absit when we hear of any displeasing likelyhood then any declaration of any inhibition of God to sell it who never denyed them leave to sell it until the yeare of redemption the Prophet tells us in the next verse that Naboth said 1 Reg 21.4 Whâ—ch very answer seemes to be the cause why Ahab was so much displeased I will not give thee the inheritance of my father But whether this speech of Samuel sheweth the just right of a King what he might do or his power what he would do what belongs to him of equity or what his practice would be by tyranny I will not determine but I say that although it should not be a just rule for him to command yet it is a certain rule for them to obey and though it should not excuse the king from sin yet it wholly disables and disavowes the peoples resisting their king because in all this the Prophet allowes them none other remedy but to cry unto the Lord for seeing God hath given him directum dominium The kings absolute power not given him to inable him for oppression but to retaine his Subjects from rebellion absolutum imperium though he should fail of his duty which God requireth and do that wrong unto the people which God forbiddeth yet he is solutus legibus free from all Laws quoad coactionem in respect of any coaction from the people but not quoad obligationem in respect of obedience to God by his obligation for though Kings had this plenitudinem potestatis to rule and govern their people as the father of the family rules his houshold or the Pilot directs his Ship secundum liberum arbitrium according to his own arbitrary will yet that will was to rule and to guide all his actions according to the strict Law of common equity and justice as I have often shewed unto you Diodor. Siculus l. 2. c. 3. Boemus Aubanus tamen asserit voluntatem regum Aegypti pro lege esse But though this arbitrary rule continued long and very general for Diodorus Siculus saith that excepting the Kings of Egypt that were indeed very strictly tied to live according to Law all other Kings infinit â licentiâ ac voluntate suâ pro lege regnabant ruled as they listed themselves Yet at last corruption so prevailed that either the Kings abusing their power or the people refusing to yeild their obedience caused this arbitrary rule to be abridged and limited within the bounds of lawes whereby the Kings promised and obliged themselves to govern their people according to the rules of those established lawes for though the supreme Majesty be free from all Lawes spontè tamen iis accomodare potest the king may of his own accord yeild to observe the same and as the German Poet saith German vates de rebus Frid. l. 8. Nihil ut verum fatear magis esse decorum Aut regalt puto quà m legis jure solutum Sponte tamen legisese supponere regem and according to the diversities of those Laws How diversities of government came up so are the diversities of government among the several kingdoms of the earth for I speake not of any Popular or Aristocratical state therefore as some kings are more restrained by their Lawes then some others so are their powers the lesse absolute and yet all of them being absolute Kings and free Monarchs are excepted from any account of their actions to any inferiour jurisdiction because then they had not been Monarchs but of Kings had made themselves Subjects Thus you see that rule which formerly was arbitrary is now become limited but limited by their own lawes and with their own wills and none otherwise for I shewed you else-where that the Legislative power resided alwayes in the King even as Virgil saith Virgil Aeneid l. Gaudet regno Trojanus Acestes Indicitque forum patribus dare jura vocatis And as that mirror of all learned Kings saith Rex Jacobus in the true Law of free Monarchs p. 201. King Fergus came to Scotland before any Statutes or Parliament or Lawes were made and you may easily finde it that Kings were the makers of the Laws and not the Lawes the makers of Kings for the Lawes are but craved by the Subjects and made onely by him at their rogation and with their advice so he gives the Law to them but takes none from them and by their own Lawes Kings have limited and abridged their own Right and Power which
of our Parliaments but as a man that yeildeth himself to be bound by some others hath the use of his strength taken from him but none of his naturall strength it self is lessened and much lesse is any part of it transferred to them that bound him but that whensoever his bonds are loosened he can work again by vertue of his own naturall strength and not by any received strength from his loosers so the naturall right and interest of the Soveraignty being solely in the King and the Peeres and Commons by the Kings voluntary concession being onely interessed in the office of restraining his power for the more regular working of the true legitimate Soveraignty it cannot be denyed but in whatsoever the Peeres and Commons do remit the restraint by yeilding their consent to the point proposed the King worketh and acteth therein absolutely by the power of his own inherent Soveraignty and all acts and lawes so passing doe virtually proceed from the King How the same acts may be said to be the acts of the King and of the Parliament as from the true and proper efficient author thereof and may notwithstanding be said to be the acts of the whole Court because the three estates contribute their power of remitting the restraint and yeilding their assent as well as the King useth his unrestrained power And therefore Suarez saith that as condere legem unus est ex pracipuis actibus gubernationis reipublicae ita praecipuam superiorem requirit potestatem to make Lawes is one of the chiefest acts of the government of a Common-wealth Suarez l. 1. c 8 n. 8. so it requireth the cheifest and supremest power and authority quae quidem potestas legislativa primariò in Deo est which legislative power is primarily in God and is communicated unto Kings saith he per quandam participationem according to the saying of the wise man Heare O ye Kings because power is given unto you of the Lord. Sap. 6. And Saint Augustine calleth Jura humana jura imperatorum quia ipsa jura humana per imperatores Aug. in Joan tract 6. all humane lawes are the lawes of Emperors or Kings because they are made by them and the Holy Ghost speaking of the Kings of Judah saith The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet to teach us Gen. 49.10 that whosoever swayeth the Scepter hath the right to be the Law-maker which is one of the prime prerogatives of Soveraignty 2. Jus nobilitandi the right of appointing the principall Officers of State 2. Ius nobilitandi to cry up any of all his Subjects whom the King will honour as Pharaoh did Joseph and Ahasuerus did Haman and Mordecai and to give them titles of honour per codicillos honorarios aut per diplomata sua as to make Dukes Marquesses Barons Knights c. doth belong onely unto the King that hath onely the supreme Majesty But if the Dukes Earles and Barons be so plyable to the Puritan faction It is the Doctrine of the Anabaptists and Puritans that there should be no Degrees of Schooles nor titles of honour among men to put down the spiritual Lords I doubt that e're long the King shall have but few Nobility when not onely the Mechanicks and Rusticks will all cry out against this Lordlinesse and say as they did in the rebellion of Jack Cade and Wat Tyler When Adam delv'd and Eve span Who was then the Gentleman And why should we now indure so many titles of vanity and so many vain honours to vapour it over us but the Puritan Clergy also seeing themselves deprived of their due honour and made all equall all as base as Jeroboams Priests will be apt enough to blow up this conceit and to put it into the Creed of all the vulgar that God made us all equall and to be Lords is but to be tyrants over their Brethren and the Presbytery whose pride could not obey the authority of their Bishops will not abide the superiority of any Lords but if they cannot Lord it themselves will be sure to take away the Lordship from all others And therefore if the Nobility be not wiser then to lay our honours in the dust as I see some about his Majesty that would faine be the Priests to bury it which meere policy though they wanted piety should prohibit they shall find that Virgil. Aeneid l. 1. Jam tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet When our Cottages are burnt their next Palaces shall not escape the fire but through our sides their Honours shall be killed and buried without honour 3. Jus legitimandi 3. Jus legitimandi the right of legitimation belongs unto the King without which legitimation the Lawyers tell us that as the world now standeth a mighty emolument would happen unto the Crown if the King granted not this grace to them that want it 4. Ius appellationes recipiendi Act. 25.11 4. Jus appellationes recipiendi the right of taking notice of causes and of judging the same by the last appeale definitively doth alwayes belong to the supreme Majesty because that as Saint Paul appealed unto Caesar so the last appeale is to the highest Soveraigne from whom there lyeth none appeale but onely to him that shall judge all the Judges of the earth 5. Honores restituendi 5. Jus restituendi in integrum the right to restore men attainted or banished or condemned to death unto their Country wealth and honour is likewise a part of the royall right Osorius de rebus Imman p. 6. So Osorius saith that Immanuel King of Portugall restored James son of Fernandus and his brother Dionysius and others unto their forfeited honours and so not onely the Scripture sheweth how David pardoned Absolon and Shimei 1 Reg. 2.26 two wicked Rebels and Solomon pardoned Abiathar that were all worthy of death Ventam crimiuosis indulgere but also Saint Augustine speaking of other Kings and Emperours saith judicibus statuendum est ne liceat in reum datam sententiam revocare the Judges may not pardon a man condemned to death numquid ipse Imperator sub hac lege erit but shall not the Emperour or King pardon him are they likewise under this Law of restraint by no meanes Nam ipsi soli licet revocare sententiam reum mortis absolvere ipsi ignoscere for he and he alone that is the Emperour or King may revoke the sentence and absolve him that is guilty of death And so our King according to this his undenyable right Our kings unparallel'd clemency and piety towards the Rebels hath most graciously and not seldome offered his pardon unto these intolerable Rebels a pardon not to be parallel'd in any History nor to be beleived unlesse we had seen it that a man could be so far inclined to clemency and mercy as to remit such transcendent impiety which will render
societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil not only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have reference to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands diâ—ections of their Kings civil Governours and submitt themselves in all obedience to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot Exod. 32.22 And I would the Pope would do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duties and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God Obj. the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitates praestantiores essâ— secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1.16 Rom. 13 1â— And though the light of the Church be the greater yet that proves nor but that the King should be the prime and chief Governor of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secular State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pillar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer Sol. 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth Isidorus in Glossa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiasticae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular Balsamon in Sexta Synodo Canone 7. you must not so understand it as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differences among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of the Roman Church Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regaâ— power is only corporal and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Which is most false Obj. 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples nihil
men Calv. Inst l. 4. c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza Confess c. 5. p. 171. J. Brutus q. 3. pag. 203. Dan. de Polit. Christ l. 6. c. 3. Bucan loc com 49. Sect. 76. The examples of obedience to kings and make Warre against their King Buchanan's mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 2. AS it is not lawful for any cause so no more is it lawful for any one or for any degree calling or kind of men to rebell against their lawful Governours For 1. Touching private men we find that Calvin Beza Jun. Brutus Danaeus Bucanus and most others yield that meer private men ought not to rebell at any hand and no wonder for the Scriptures forbid it flatly as Exod. 22.28 Revile not the Gods curse not the Ruler 1 Chron. 16.22 Touch not mine annoynted Prov. 30.31 Rise not up against the King that is to resist him Eccles 8.3 Let no man say to the King Why doest thou so Eccles 10.17 Curse not the King in thy thought And the examples of obedience in this kind are innumerable and most remarkable for David when he had Saul a wicked King guilty of all impiety and cruelty in his own hand yet would he not lay his hand upon the Lords annointed but was troubled in conscience when he did but cut the lap of his garment Elias could call for fire from Heaven to burn the two Captains and their men a hundred in number onely for desiring him to come down unto the King as you may see 2 Reg. 1.10 12. and yet he would not resist Achab his King that sought his life and was an enemy to all religion but he rather fled than desired any revenge or perswaded any man to rebell against him Esaias was sawed in pieces by Manasses Jeremy was cast into the dungeon Daniel exposed to the Lyons the Three Children thrown into the fiery Furnace Amos thrust thorough the temples Zacharias slain in the porch of the Temple James killed with the sword Peter fastened to the Crosse with his head downward Bartholomew beaten to death with clubs Matthew beheaded Paul slain with the sword and all the glorious company of the Martyrs which have ennobled the Church with their innocent life and inlarged the same by their precious death never resisted any of their Persecutors never perswaded any man to rebell against them Why the holy Saints obeyed the unjust Tyrant never cursed the Tyrants never implored the aid of the inferiour Magistrates or superiour Nobility either by force to escape their hands or by violence to resist their power for they thought it more honour unto God and farre better to themselves that the just should unjustly suffer for righteousnesse sake than under the colour of justice undutifully to resist and unjustly to rebell against these unjust Persecutors A strange Position And yet some men are not ashamed to averre that meer private men and inferiour subjects if their King as a Tyrant should invade them like a robber or ravisher may defend themselves and oppose the Tyrant as well and as violently as they may resist a private thief or a high-way robber But how untruly they do avouch this thing will plainly appear if you consider how disjunctive these things are and how unjustly they are alledged for this purpose Confuted for a Chirurgion launceth a man and draweth his blood and so doth the thief or a robber but he deserveth a reward this a rope The Tyrant hath a just power though he useth the same unjustly so hath not the thief or the robber So the Prince sometimes doth in some sort the same thing and it may be after the like manner as a thief or a robber doth as often as with a strong hand he taketh the goods of his subjects and forceth the rebellious unto obedience But will you say that both of them do it by the same right I hope not for God gave the power and the sword unto the Prince and he as the Judge of our actions useth the same ad vindictam for the punishment of our offence but the thief or the robber usurpeth the sword and abuseth the same ad rapinam to our destruction and therefore whosoever saith that a subject hath the same reason to rise against his Prince that punisheth him as a traveller hath against a robber that stealeth from him may well be ashamed of such doctrine that carrieth so little shew of any truth Object But you will say the Prince that is a Tyrant punisheth for no fault without any just cause nay altogether unjustly and against all truth as Saul persecuted David and put to death the harmlesse Priests and David did the like to Vrias Achab to Naboth Joash to Zachary Manasses to Esay Pilate to Christ Nero to Peter and perhaps Theodosius to the Thessalonians may they not resist in such a case when they are thus punished and persecuted without cause Sol. I answer that under Saul David Achab Joash and Manasses there lived many faithful Priests and Prophets that were both upright for life and excellent for knowledge How the Saints at all times suffered and never resisted their kings and in the days of Christ Zacheus Nicodemus and Gamaliel were inferiour Magistrates and were also pious men and skilful in the understanding as well of Politique as of Divine affairs and we are sure that no age brought forth either more learned Bishops or holyer Saints than the Apostles and Disciples of Christ that lived under Nero and those excellent Fathers that were in the time of Theodosius and yet never any of these not one of them all shewed us this resisting way to escape the force of tyranny but it hath been alwayes the doctrine of Christ and his Church that Kings and Princes offending the Lawes and transcending the bounds of their duties have onely God for their revenger and ought not to be resisted by any man or any kind of men though they should never so much abuse that power which they have received from God Christ and his Apostles perswade all men obediently to suffer And therefore Christ himself and all his Saints not onely suffered their greatest rage but also exhibited all honour and shewed all reverence unto their most cruel Persecutors and they perswaded all others both by their precepts and examples to do the like and that not onely for fear of wrath but also for conscience sake because the King is Gods Steward which Christ hath set over his whole family and if the Steward like the evil servant in the Gospel shall begin to despise his Master neglect his duty smite his fellows and dissolutely go on to eat and drink and be drunken yet not all the whole family not the Priests not the Nobles not the Commons nor yet all together have any power or right to displace that Steward which their Lord hath appointed over them but they with patience must expect and wait for the coming of their Master which onely hath
authority to call him to his account and to displace him and dispose of him at his pleasure Besides we know that among men every one is either superiour inferiour 3. Degrees of men or equal And 1. The Superiour is no way subject to his inferiour 2. The inferiour is every way subject to his Superiour But 3. An equal hath no power or authority against his equal As for example Exod. 18.21 In the Common-wealth of Israel there were Rulers of thousands and Rulers of hundreds Rulers of fifties and Rulers of tens Tostatus in Num. 25 9. and those of tens were over the people those of fifties were over the tens those of hundreds over the fifties those of thousands over the hundreds the 70. Elders over them and Moses as the King over all and he was subject neither to any of them apart nor to all of them together but onely unto God himself Ambros in Ps 50. and therefore as Saint Ambrose saith he was obliged by no lawes because Kings are free from the bonds of offences and cannot be called to their punishment by any Statute Tuti imperii potestate being safe from men by the power of their Dominion But then you will object If the Tyrant may thus do what he will Object without resistance then he may destroy the whole Society of men and especially the Church of Christ when the worse part that is the Tyrant and his Flatterers shall take and root away the better that is the true servants of God I answer that the society of men and the communion of Saints Sol. the Church of Christ and the Common wealth are continued and preserved not by any humane policy but by the divine providence which useth the power and policy of men to do it and yet contrary to their power and beyond all their policies God preserveth his Church suffereth not the same to be destroyed by the subtlety or cruelty of any Tyrant whom he can bridle when he will and either put a hook in his nostrils or cut him off at his pleasure and though this our God when he will and as long as he will suffereth wicked Kings and Tyrants to reign and rage over his people and disposeth the Ministerie of those evil Governours for the punishment of ungodlinesse or the trial of our faith yet he is no lesse merciful and good unto us when either for the proof our fidelity or the scourging of our sinnes by cruel Tyrants for the healing of our dying and perishing soules he punisheth us than when he heapeth his blessings upon us by most meek and clement Princes for the comfort and consolation of this present life Neither may we think that by this sufferance of God the worse part can take away the better or that the Devill by this means shall be able to overthrow the Church of Christ against which the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail because he doth not cast his vessel into the furnace of tribulation ut frangatur sed ut coquatur And as the Goldsmith doth not cast his gold into the fire to consume it but to purge it so God never did nor ever will in the greatest persecutions Why God punisheth his servants deliver up his inheritance as a prey unto the Tyrants teeth nor submit his people unto the hands of their adversaries that they might be oppressed to destruction but only that they might be pressed and reduced to amendment or delivered from their miseries to salvation And therefore The best meanes to escape our punishments when the Saints of God lye under the hands of a cruel Tyrant Christ hath prescribed them farre better means both for his glory and their own comfort to escape his tyranny than by resisting his power And these meanes I find to be amendment of life tears for our sinnes prayers to God flight from them and patience to suffer when we cannot escape For so Theodoret saith Theodor Orat. 8. de Providentia As often as Tyrants sit at the stern of the Common wealth or cruel masters do rule over us the wrath of God is to be pacified and the mitigation of these miseries is to be sought for by earnest prayers and serious amendment of our lives And Christ when he was sought to be murdered by Herod fled into Egypt and he adviseth us When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another and when by flight we cannot escape then as the Martyrs and godly Confessors did so must we do either mollifie the Tyrants by our humble prayers or offer up our souls to God by true patience For so Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius in Orat. contra Auxent tom 5. Ep 32. similia habet Basilius ut est apud â—â—nicerum in Theatro Historico pag. 154. I have not learned to resist but I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the weapons of the Souldiers and the Gothes my tears and my prayers are my weapons otherwise neither ought I neither can I resist And Saint Basil saith I will not betray my faith for fear of the losse of my goods or of banishment or of death it self for I have no wealth besides a torne garment and a few books I remain on earth as one that is alwayes going away and my feeble body shall overcome all sense of pain and torments unâ acceptâ plagâ when I shall receive but one stroke And Saint Chrysostome Chrysost in Epist ad Cyriacum when he was driven from Constantinople said unto himself If the Empresse will banish me let her banish me for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse of it If she cut me in pieces let her cut me Esayas suffered the same punishment If she will have me thrown into the Sea I will remember Jonas If she will throw me into the fiery furnace the three Children suffered the like doom If she will cast me to wild beasts let her do it I shall call to mind how Daniel was cast into the Lyons den If she will stone me to death let her stone me I have Steven the Proto-martyr my companion If she will take away my head let her take it I have John Baptist for my fellow If she will take away my goods and substance let her take it for I came naked out of my mothers womb Bernard Epist 22 1. and naked I shall return again And Saint Bernard saith whatsoever it pleaseth you to do concerning your Kingdome your Crown and your Soul we that are the children of the Church cannot any wayes dissemble the injuries and contempt of our mother and therefore truly we will stand and fight unto death if need be for our mother but with those weapons wherewith we may lawfully do it not with swords speares and shields but with our prayers and teares to God And it would be too tedious for me to set down all that I might collect of this kind most excellent sayings of those worthy men
all kings Ang. de Civit. Dei l. 4. c 33. illius jussu reges constituuntur And by whose command men are born by his command Kings are made And S. Augustine more plainly and more fully saith God alone is the giver of all earthly Kingdomes which he giveth both to the good and to the bad neither doth he the same rashly and as it were by chance because he is God but as he seeth good Pro rerum ordine ac tempore in respect of the order of things and times which are hid from us but best known unto himself and whosoever looketh back to the original of all governments he shall find that God was the immediate authour of the Regal power God the immediate authour of Monarchy and but the allower and confirmer of the Aristocratical and all other forms of government which the people erected and the Lord permitted lest the execution of judgement should become a transgression of justice for as Homer saith Hom. Odyss α. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Aristotle tells us Aristot Polit. l. 1. c. 8. that the Regal power belonged to the father of the family who in the infancy of the world was so grandevous and long-liv'd that he begat such a numerous posterity as might well people a whole Nation as Cain for his own Colony built a City and was as well the King as the father of all the Inhabitants and therefore Justin saith very well that Principio rerum Justin l. 1. Gentium nationúmque imperium penes reges erat The rule of Nations was in the hands of Kings from the beginning and the Kingly right pertaining to the father of the family the people had no more possibility in right to choose their Kings then to choose their Fathers and to make it appear unto all Nations that not onely the Kings of Israel but all other Heathen Kings are acknowledged by God himself to be of divine institution Jerem. 43.10 Esay 45.1 he calleth Nebuchadnezzar his servant and Cyrus his annointed And therefore though I do not wonder that ignorant fellows should be so impudent Jo. Goodwin in his Pamphlet of Anti-Cavalierism p. 5. as to affirm The King or kingly government to be the Ordinance or Creation or creature of man and to say that the Apostle supposeth the same because he saith Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King c. whereas he might well understand that the same act is oftentimes ascribed aswel to the mediate as to the immediate agent as Samuel's annointing of Saul and David Kings denieth not but that God was the immediate giver of their Kingdomes and the Authour of that regal power 1 Sam. 10. for God annointed Saul Captain over his inheritance and by the mouth of Nathan he telleth David that he annointed him King over Israel 2 Sam. 12. and Solomon acknowledgeth that the Lord had set him on the Seat of his Father David 1 Reg. 2. and Abijah in the person of God saith unto Jeroboam 1 Reg. 11. I will give the Kingdome unto thee 1 Sam. 11.15 and yet it is said that all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul King before the Lord and the men of Juda annointed David King of Juda 2 Sam. 5. and Zadock the Priest and Nathan the Prophet annointed Solomon King that is God annointed them as Master of the substance and gave unto them regal power in whom is all power primariò per se and the Prophets annointed them as Masters of the Ceremony and declared that God had given them that power And therefore the power and authority of Kings is originally Constituere regem est facere ut regiam potestatem exerceret Pinedas de reb Solom c. 2. and primarily as Saint Paul saith the Ordinance of God and secondarily or demonstratively it is as Saint Peter calleth it the ordinance of man when the people whose power is onely derivatively makes them Kings not by giving unto them the right of their Kingdomes but by receiving them into the possession of their right and admitting them to exercise their royal authority over them which is given them of God and therefore ought not to be withstood by any man And this Anti-Cavalier might further see that Saint Peter meaneth not that the King is the creature of man or his Office of mans Creation but that the Lawes and Commands of Kings though they be but the Commands and Ordinances of man yet are we to obey the same for the Lords sake because the Lord commandeth that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers Or if this will not satisfie him because the Greeks word is not so plain for this as the English yet let him look into Pareus that was no friend to Monarchy and he shall find that he doth by seven speciall reasons prove Pareus in Rom. c. 13. p. 13. 27. that the authority of Kings is primarily the Ordinance of God and he quoteth these places of Scripture to confirm it Proverbs 8.15 2 Chron. 19.6 Psalm 81.6 Joh. 10.34 Genes 9.6 1 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 12. 2 Kings 9. Dan. 2.21 Job 34.30 Eccles 10.8 And to this very objection he answereth that the Apostle calleth the Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane Ordination or Creation not causally because it is invented by man and brought up onely by the will of men but subjectively because it is born and executed by men and objectively because it is used about the government of humane society and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the end because it is ordained of God for the good and conservation of humane kind and he saith further that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellatio the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Deum primum autorem nos revocat sheweth plainly that God is the first author of it for though the Magistrate in some sense as I shewed may be said to be created that is ordained by men yet God alone is the first Creatour of them as Aaron though he was ordained the high-Priest by Moses yet the Apostle tells us None taketh this office upon him but he that is called of God as Aaron was Yet I do admire that Buchanan or any other man of learning to satisfie the people or his own peevish opinion will so absurdly deny so divine and so well known a verity and say that any Kings have their Kingdomes and not from God so flatly contrary to all Scripture CHAP. VII Sheweth the Reasons and Examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy Inferiour Magistrates have no power but what is derived from the superiour And the ill successe of all rebellious Resisting of our Kings The allegation to justifie Rebellion BUt to prove their absurdities they still alledge that the inferiour Magistrates as the Peers and Counsellours of Kings
and strongest fort that although all others should want sufficient right to crosse the commands and resist the violence of an unjust and tyrannical Prince yet the Parliament that is the representative body of all his Kingdom and are intrusted with the goods estates and lives of all his people may lawfully resist and when necessity requireth take arms and subdue their most lawful King and this they labour to confirm by many arguments I answer that for the Parliament of England it is beyond my sphere and I being a transmarine member of this Parliament of Ireland And whatsoever I â—pâ—ak of Parliaments in all this Discourse I mean of Parliaments disjâ—yned from their King and understand only the prevalent faction that ingrosseth and captivateth the Votes of many of the plain honest minded party which hath been often seen both in general Councels and the greatest Parl aments I will only direct my speech to that whereof I am a Peer and I hope I may the more boldly speak my mind to them whereof I am a member and I dare maintain it that it shall be a benefit and no prejudice both to King and Kingdome that the Spiritual Lords have their Votes in this our Parliament For besides the equity of our sitting in Parliament and our indubitable right to vote therein and his Majesty as I conceive under favour be it spoken is obliged by the very first act in Magna Charta to preserve that right unto us when as in the Summons of Edw. 1. it is inserted in the Writ that * Claus 7. m. 3. dors Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari or tractari debet whatsoever affair is of publique concernment ought to receive publique approbation and therefore with what equity can so considerable a party of this Kingdom as are the Clergy who certainly cannot deserve to forfeit the priviledge of the meanest subjects and of Common men because they are more immediately the servants of the living God be denied the benefit of that which in all mens judgements is so reasonable a law and they onely be excluded from that interest which is common unto all I cannot see yet I say that besides this our right while we sit in Parliament this fruit shall alwayes follow that our knowledge and conscience shall never suffer us to vote such things against the truth as to allow that power or priviledge to our Parliament as to make Orders and Ordinances without the consent and contrary to the will of our King much lesse to leavie moneys and raise armes against our King Priviledges of Parliament what they are for I conceive the Priviledges of Parliament to be Privatae leges Parliamenti a proceeding according to certain rules and private customes and lawes of Parliament which no member of the Houses ought to transcend whereas the other is Privatio legum a proceeding without Law contrary to all rules as if our Parliament had an omnipotent power and were more infallible than the Pope to make all their Votes just and their sayings truth I but to make this assertion good that the Parliament in some cases may justly take arms and make warre upon their justest King if they conceive him to be unjust it is alledged that although the King be Singulis major greater then any one yet he is Vniversis minor lesse then all therefore all may oppose him if he refuse to consent unto them I answer that the weaknesse of this argument Pag. 11. 38 39 40. is singularly well shewed in the Answer to the Observations upon some of his Majesties late Answers and Expresses and I will briefly contract the Answer to say the King is better than any one doth not prove him to be better then two and if his Supremacy be no more then many others may challenge as much for the Prince is Singulis major a Lord above all Knights and a Knight above all Esquires he is singulis major though universis minor And if the King be universis minor then the people have placed a King not over but under them And Saint Peter doth much mistake in calling the King Supreme 2 Pet. 2.13 and they do ill to petition when they might command and I am confident that no records except of such Parliaments as have most unjustly deposed their Kings can shew us one example that the Parliament should have a power As Edw. Carnarvan and Richard the second which must of necessity over-rule the King or make their Votes Law without and against the will of the King for if their Votes be Law without his consent what need they seek and sollicit his consent But the clause in the Law made 2. Hen 5. cited by his Majesty that it is of the Kings regality to grant or deny such of their Petitions as pleaseth himself That the King is universis major greater then all proved and the power which the Law gives the King to dissolve the Parliament and especially the words in the Preface of cap. 12. Vices to Hen. 8. where the Kings Supremacy not over single persons but over all the body politique is clearly delivered doth sufficiently shew the simplicity of this Sophistry God having given and the people having yielded their power to th it King they can never challenge any power but what they have derived from their king 2. Reason Sol. and prove that the King being invested with all the powâ—â— of the people which is due to him as their King he is the onely fountain of all power and justice so that now they can justly claim no power but what is derived from him and therefore it is the more intolerable that any man should usurp the power of the King to destroy the King 2. They will say that Salus populi est suprema a lex The good of the people is the chiefest thing that is aymed at in all government and the Parliament is the representative body of all the people therefore if any thing be intended contrary to the good of the people they may and ought lawfully to resist the same I answer and confesse that there is no wise King but will carefully provide for the safety of his people because his honour is included therein and his ruine is involved in their destruction but it is certain that this principle hath been used as one of our Irish mantles to hide the rebellion of many Traytors and so abused to the confusion of many Nations for there is not scarce any thing more facile 2 Sam. 15.4 then to perswade a people that they are not well governed as you may see in the example of Absolon who by abusing this very Axiome hath stollen away the hearts of many of his fathers subj cts How easie it is to perswade the people to rebell for as Lipsius saith Proprium est aegri nihil diu pati It is incident to sick men and so to distempered minds to indure nothing long but foolishly to
Army will be a rock of defence unto his annointed because it is well known to all the world For what causes the King suffereth that whatsoever this good King hath suffered at the hands of his subjects it is for the preservation of the true Protestant Religion of the established Lawes of his Kingdomes and of those Reverend Bishops Grave Doctors and all the rest of the Learned and Religious Clergy that have ever maintained and will to the spilling of the last drop of their blood defend this truth against all Papists and other Anabaptistical Brownists and Sectaries whatsoever What a shame it is to use the power we have received against him that gave it us And therefore if you that are his Parliament should like unthankeful vapours that cloud the Sun which raised them or like the Moon in her interposition that obscures the glorious lamp which enlightens her in the least manner imploy that strength which you have received from his Majesty when he called you together against His Majesty it will be an ugly spot and a foul blemish both for your selves and all your pâ—sterities And if not suddenly prevented you may raise such spirits that your selves cannot lay down and sow such seeds of discord and disconteâ—t between the King and his people as may derive through the whole Race of all succeeding Kings such a disaffection to Parliaments as may prove a plague and poyson to the whole Kingdom For if the King out of his favour and grace call you together and intrust you with a power either of continuing concluding or enacting such things as may be for the good of the Common wealth and you abuse that power against him that gave it you I must needs confesse that I am of his mind That it is lawful to recall a power given when it is abused who saith That the King were freed before God and man from all blame though he should use all possible lawful means to withdraw that power into his own hands which being but lent them hath been so misapplyed against him for if my servant desireth to hold my sword and when I intrust him with it he seeks to thrust the same into my breast Will not every man judge it lawful for me to gain my sword if it be possible out of his hand and with that sword to cut off his head that would have thrust it into my heart or as one saith If I convey my estate in trust to any friend to the use of me and mine and the person intrusted falsifie the faith reposed in him by conveying the profits of my estate to other ends to the prejudice of me and mine no man will think it unlawful for me to annihilate if I can possibly do it such a deed of trust And therefore Noble Peers and Gentlemen of this ancient Kingdom of Ireland that your Parliament may prove successeful to the benefit of the Common-wealth let me that have some interest and charge over all the Inhabitants and Sojourners of Kilkenny perswade you to think your selves no Parliament without your King and that your Votes and Ordinances carrying with them the power though not the name of Acts of Parliament to oblige both King and Subjects to obey them are the most absolute subversion of our Fundamental Lawes the destructive invasion of our rightful Liberties And that by an usurped power of an arbitrary rule to dispose of our estates or any part thereof as you please to make us Delinquents when you will and to punish us as Malignants at your pleasure and through your discontent to dispossesse your rightful King though it were to set the Crown upon the head of your greatest One al is such a priviledg that never any Parliament hath yet claimed Or if you still go on for the inlargement of your own usurped power under the title of the priviledge of Parliament to Vote diminution of the Kings just Prerogative that your Progenitors never denied to any of his Ancestors to exclude us Bishops out of your Assemblies without whom your determinations can never be so well concluded in the fear of God and to invade the Liberties of your fellow-subjects under the pretences of religion and the publique good I will say no more but turn my self to God and put it in my Liturgie From Parasites Puritanes Popes and such Parliaments Good Lord deliver us CHAP. IX Sheweth the unanimous consent and testimonies of many famous learned men and Martyrs both ancient and modern that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine ANd so you see that as for no cause so for no kind or degree of men be they what you will Peers Magistrates Heads of Families Darlings of the people or any other Patriots whom the Commons shall elect it is lawfull to rebell against or any wayes to resist our chief Princes and soveraign Governours This point is as clear as the Sunne and yet to make it still more clear unto them that will not believe that truth which they like not but as Tertullian saith Credunt Scripturis ut credant adversus Scripturas Testimonies of famous men do alledge Scriptures to justifie their own wilful opinions against all Scripture I will here adde a few testimonies of most famous men to confirm the same Henry de Bracton Lord chief Justice of the Kings Bench under Hen. 3. L. Elismer in orat habita in Camera Fiscali anno 1609. pag. 108. saith as he is quoted by the Lord Elismer That under the King there are free men and servants and every man is under him and he is under none but onely God If any thing be demanded of the King seeing no Writ can issue forth against the King there is a place for Petition that he would correct and amend his fact and if he shall refuse to do it he shall have punishment enough when the Lord shall come to be his revenger for otherwise touching the Charters and deeds of Kings neither private persons nor Justitiaries ought to dispute This was the Law of that time what new Lawes our young Lawyers have found since I know not I am not so good a Lawyer The Civil Lawyers do farre surpasse the Common Law herein for Corsetus Sic. tract de potestat reg part 5. num 66. Corsetus Siculus saith Rex in suo regno potest omnia imò de plenitudine potestatis And Marginista saith Qui disputat de potestate Principis utrum benè fecerit est infamis Hostiensis saith Princeps solutus est legibus id est quoad vim coactivam non quoad vim directivam Thom. 1. 2 ae q. 96. ar 5. ad 3. quia nulli subest nec ab aliis judicatur And to omit all the rest Marginista in Angelum Perusinum c. l. 9. tit 29. De crimine sacrilegii l. 2 Hostiens Sum. l 1. rubr 32. de effic legati Barclaius contra Monarchomach l. 3â— c. 14. Gulielmus Barclaius out of Bartolus Baldus Castrensis
in Publick throughout the whole Kingdom and they are not a little punished that neglect it and whatsoever Message Answer Declaration or Proclamation cometh from the King to inform his Subjects of the Truth of things and to undeceive his much seduced people they streightly forbid those to be Printed and imprison if they can catch them all that publish them as they did many worthy Ministers in the City of London and in many other places of this Kingdom 6. They have publickly voted in their House 6. Wrong and accordingly indeavoured by Messages to perswade our brethren of Scotland to joyn in their assistance with these grand Rebels to rebel against their Soveraign but I perswade my self as I said before that the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland are more Religious in themselves more Loyal to their liege Lord and indeed wiser in all their actions then while they may live quietly at home in a happy peace to undertake upon the perswasions of Rebellious Subjects such an unhappy war abroad 7. It is remonstrated and related publickly that 7. Wrong as if they had shaken off all subjection and were become already a State Independent they have Treated by their agents with forraign States and do still proceed in that course which if true is such an usurpation upon Soveraignty as was never before attempted in this Kingdom and such a Presumption as few men know the secret mischiefs that may lurk therein 8. They suffer and licence their Pamphleters Pryn Goodwin Burges 8. Wrong Marshal Sedgwick and other emissaries of wickedness to publish such Treasons and Blasphemies and abominable Aphorisms As that the negative vote of the King is no more then the dissent of one man the Affirmative vote of the King makes not a Law ergo the Negative cannot destroy it and the like absurd and sensless things that are in those Aphorisms and in Prins book of the Soveraign power of Parliament whereby they would deny the Kings power to hinder any Act that both the Houses shall conclude and so taking away those just prerogatives from him that are as Hereditary to him as his Kingdom compell him to assent to their conclusions for which things our Histories tell us that other Parliaments have banished and upon their returns they were hanged both the Spencers the Father and the Son for the like presumption Why the two Spencers died as among other Articles Per asperte vid. Elismere post-nati p. 99. for denying this Prerogative unto their King and affirming that if he neglected his duty and would not do what he ought for the good of the Kingdom he might be compelled by force to perform it which very thing divesteth the King of all Soveraignty overthroweth Monarchy and maketh our government a meer Aristocracy contrary to the constitution of our first Kings and the judgment of all ages for we know full well Pag. 48. from the Practise of all former Parliaments that seeing the three States are subordinate unto the King in making Laws wherein the chiefest power consisteth they may propound and consent but it is still in the Kings power to refuse or ratify and I never read that any Parliament man till now did ever say the contrary but that if there be no concurrence of the King in whom formally the power of making of any Law resideth ut in subjecto to make the Law the two Houses whose consent is but a requisite condition to compleat the Kings power are but a liveless convention like two Cyphers without a figure that of themselves are of no value or power but joyned unto their figures have the full strength of their places which is confirmed by the Viewer of the Observations out of 11. Pag. 19 20 21. Hen. 7.23 per Davers Polydore 185. Cowel inter verbo Praerog Sir Thomas Smyth de republ Angl. l. 2. c. 3. Bodin l. 1. c. 8. For if the Kings consent were not necessary for the perfecting of every Act The Letter to a Gentleman in Gloucestershire p. 3. then certainly as another saith all those Bils that heretofore have passed both Houses and for want of the Royal assent have slept and been buried all this while would now rise up as so many Laws and Statutes and would make as great confusion as these new orders and ordinances have done And as the Lawyers tell us that the necessity of the assent of all three States in Parliament is such as without any one of them the rest do but lose their labour Lamberts Archeion 271. Vid. the Viewer p. 21. so Le Roy est assentus ceo faict un Act de Parliament and as another saith Nihil ratum habetur nisi quod Rex comprobarit Nothing is perfected but what the King confirmeth But here in the naming of the three States I must tell you that I find in most of our Writers about this new-born question of the Kings power a very great omission that they are not particularly set down that the whole Kingdom might know which is every one of them and upon this omission I conceive as great mistake in them that say the three States are Which be the three States of England 1. The King 2. The House of Peers 3. The House of Commons For I am informed by no mean Lawyer that you may find it upon the Rowls of Henry the fifth Speed l. 9. c. 19. p. 712. Anno. 1 Ric. 3. as I remember and I am sure you may find it in the first year of Richard the third where the three States are particularly named and the King is none of them For it is said That at the request and by the assent of the three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and Commons of the Land Assembled it is declared that our said Soveraign Lord the King is the very undoubted King of this Realm Wherein you may plainly see the King that is acknowledged their Soveraign by all three can be none of the three but is the head of all three as the Dean is none of the Chapter but is Caput capituli and as in France and Spain so in England I conceive the three Estates to be 1. The Lords Spiritual that are if not representing yet in loco in the behalf of all the Clergy of England that till these Anabaptistical tares have almost choaked all the Wheat in Gods field were thought so considerable a party as might deserve as well a representation in Parliament as old Sarum or the like Borough of scarce twenty Houses 2. The Lords Temporal in the right of their Honor and their Posterity And to make the World believe how justly and sufficiently legal they could do this they made another Ordinance for the inhabitants of the Counties of Northampton Rutland Derby c. to pay the twentieth part and to be assessed by the Assessors that they name in imitation of the Statute lately made for the four hundred
contrary to the practice of all former Parliaments and contrary to the Honour of any Parliament things were herein debated and carried not by strength of argument but by the most voices and the greater number were so far from understanding the validity of the alleadged Reasons that after the Votes passed they scarce conceived the state of the Question but thought it enough to be Clerks to Master Pym and to say Amen to Master Hampden by an implicite faith 3. When they deny the Members of their House or any other imployed by them in this horrid Rebellion should be questioned for Felony Treason 3. Denying their Members to be legally tried for any capital Crime Vide Dyer p. 59. 60. Crompton 8. b. 9 10 11. Elism post-nati 20 21. The viewer p. 43. Murder or the like capital Crimes but only in Parliament or at least by the leave of that House whereof they are Members or which doth imploy them for by this means any Member of their House may be a Traitor or a Murderer or a Robber whensoever he please and may easily escape before the party wronged or complainant can obtain this leave of the House of Commons and therefore this is as unreasonable and as sensless a Priviledge as ever was challenged and was never heard of till this Parliament For why should any man refuse his Tryal or the House deny their Members to the justice of the Law when as the deniall of them to be tryed by the Law implyeth a doubt in us of the innocency of those whom we will not submit to justice and their Tryal would make them live gloriously hereafter if they were found innocent and move the King to deliver those men that had so wickedly conspired their destruction to the like censure of the Law But for them to cry out The King is mis-informed and we dare not trust our selves upon a Tryal may be a way to preserve their safety but with the losse of their reputation and perhaps the destruction of many thousands of people If they say They are contented to be tried but by their own House which in the time of Parliament is the highest Court of justice It may be answered said a plain Rustick with the old Proverb Ask my fellow if I be a Thief For mine own part I reverence the justice of a Parliament in all other judgements betwixt party and party yea betwixt the King and any other Subject yet when the party accused shall be judged by his own Society his Brethren and his own Faction I believe any indifferent Judge would see this to be too great partiality against the King that he shall not have those whom he accuseth to be tried by the Laws already established and the ordinary course of Justice and if the Judges offend in their Sentence the Parliament hath full power undenied them by his Majesty to question and to punish those Judges as they did for that too palpable in justice as they conceived in the case of the Ship money but they will be judged by themselves and all that dissent from them must be at their mercy or destruction And yet it is said to be evident That no Priviledge can have its ground or commencement unlesse it be by Statute Grant or Prescription And by the Stat. 26. Hen. 8. cap. 13. it is enacted That no offender in any kind of high Treason shall have the priviledge of any manner of Sanctuary So all the Grants of such a priviledge if any such should be made are meerly void 1 Hen. 7. Staffords case and not one Instance could hitherto be produced whereby such a Priviledge was either allowed or claimed but the contrary most clearly proved by his Majesty out of Wentworths case And therefore seeing your own Law-books tell us That the Priviledge of Parliament doth not extend to Treason the breach of the Peace and as some think against the Kings debt it is apparent how grossely they do abuse the People by this claim of the Priviledge of Parliament 4. 4. Conniving with their Faction for any fault When they connive with their own compeers for any breach of priviledge as with Master Whitakers for searching Master Hampdens pockets and taking away his papers immediately after the abrupt breaking up of the last unhappy Parliament and those that discovered the names of them that differed in opinion from the rest of the Faction in the business of the Earl of Straffords and specially with that rabble of Brownists and Anabaptists which with unheard-of impudency durst ask that question publickly at the Bar Who they were that opposed the well-affected party in that House as if they meant to be eeven with them whosoever they were And likewise that unruly multitude of zealous Sectaries that were sent as I find it by Captain Ven and Isaac Pennington to cry Justice Justice Justice and No Bishops no Bishops and this to terrifie some of the Lords from the House and to awe the rest that should remain in the House as they had formerly done in the case of the Earl of Strafford and when others that they like not are for the least breach of pretended Priviledge either imprisoned or expelled for I assure my self there cannot be higher breaches of Priviledges than these be nor greater stains to obscure the Honour and vilifie the repute of this Parliament 5. The ingaging one another in civil causes 5. When there is such siding and ingaging one another in civil causes that they may be conglutinated together for their great Design to do things not according unto Justice but for their own ends contrary to all right and their favour is scarce worth the charge of attendance to them that speed best by their Ordinances but the complaint is that m n have the greatest injuries done them in this that themselves call the highest Court of Justice which others say hath now justified all other inferiour Courts and made all unrighteous Judges most just 6. The surreptitious carrying of businesses 6. When as we have been informed a matter of the greatest importance hath been debated and put unto the question and upon the question determined and the Bill once and again rejected yet at another time even the third time when the Faction had prepared the House for their own purpose and knew they could carry it by most voices the same question hath been resumed and determined quite contrary to the former determination when the House was more orderly convened as it is said they did to passe the Ordinance for the Militia which many men dare avouch to their faces to be no Priviledge of Parliament but a great abuse of their fellow-Members and a greater injury unto all their fellow-Subjects 7. Their partiall questioning of some men and no questioning of some others 7. When the elections of some of their Members have been questioned and others have been accused for no lesse than capital Crimes as Master Griffith was yet if these men
incline and conspire with this Faction to confirm those Positions which they proposed to themselves to overthrow the Church and State and to uphold their usurped Government and tyrannical Ordinances they will pretend twenty excuses as The great Affairs of the State The multiplicity of their businesses The necessity of procuring monies The shortnesse of their time though they sate almost three years already that they have no leisure to determine these questions which in truth they do purposely put off lest they should leese such a friend unto their party but when any other which dissenteth from their humours doth but any thing contrary to the straitest Rules of the House they do presently notwithstanding all their greatest affairs call that matter into question The L Digby in his Apolog. and it must be examined and followed with that eagernesse as in my Lord Digby's case that he must be forthwith condemned and excluded for we say This cannot be any just Priuiledge but an unjust proceeding of this Parliament 8. The delegating of their power to particular men 8. When they delegate their power to some men to do some things of themselves without the rest as it seems they did unto Master Pym when an Order passed under his sole test for taking away the Rails from the Communion Table for this is a course we never heard of in former time 9. The multiplying of their Priviledges 9. When their Priviledges are so infinitely grown and inlarged more than ever they were in former Parliaments and so swelled that they have now swallowed up almost all the Priviledges of other men so that they alone must do what they please and where they will in all Cities and in all Courts because they have the Priviledge of Parliament 10. When according to the great liberty of language 10. Their speaking and sitting in other Courts which we deny them not within their own wall they take the Priviledge to speak what they list in other places and to govern other Courts as they please where as they did in Dublin and do commonly in London they sit as Assistants with them that are priviledged by their Charters to be freed from such Controllers 11. When above all that hath been or can be spoken 11. Their close Committee they have made a close Committee of Safety as they call it which in the apprehension of all wise and honest men is not only a course most absurd and illegall but also most destructive to all true Priviledges and contrary to the equitable practice of all publick meetings that any one should be excluded from that which concerneth him as well as any of the rest And this Committee only which consisteth of a very few of the most pragmatical Members of their House must have all intelligences and privy counsels received and reserved among themselves and what they conclude upon must be reported to the House which must take all that they deliver upon trust and with an implicite Roman faith believe all that they say and assent to all that they do only because these forsooth are men to be confided in upon their bare word The greatnesse of this abuse when their House hath no power to administer an Oath unto any man in the greatest affairs happiness or destruction of the whole Kingdom for this is in a manner to make these men Kings more than the Roman Consuls and so as great a breach of Priviledge and abuse of Parliament as derogatory to his Majesty that called them to consult together and as injurious to all the people as can be named or imagined CHAP. XIV Sheweth how they have transgressed the publike Laws of the Land three wayes and of four miserable Consequences of their wicked doings 2. FOr those publike written and better known Laws of this Land 2. Against the publick laws of the Land they have no lesse violated and transgressed the same than the other and that as well in their execution and exposition as in their composition For 1. When they had caused the Archbishop of Canterbury to be committed to the Tower Judge Berkeley to the Sheriff of London 1. In the execution of the old Laws Sir George Ratcliffe to the Gate-house for no lesse crimes than high Treason and many other men to some other prisons for some other faults yet all the World seeth how long most of them have been kept in prison some a year some two some almost three and God only knoweth when these men intend to bring them to their legal tryal which delay of justice is not only an intolerable abuse to the present Subjects of this Kingdom to be so long deprived of their liberty upon a bare surmise but also a far greater injury to all posterity when this President shall be produced to be imitated by the succeeding Parliaments and to justifie the delayes of all inferiour Judges 2. Whereas we believe what Judge Bracton saith and Judge Britton likewise which lived in the time of Edward the first 2. In expounding the Laws Si disputatio oriatur justiciarii non possunt eam interpretari sed in dubiis obscuris Domini regis erit expectanda interpretatio voluntas Citatur à Domino Elism in post-nati p. 108. cùm ejus sit interpretari cujus est condere If any Dispute doth arise the Judges canot interpret the same but in all obscure and doubtful questions the interpretation and the will of the King is to be expected when as he that makes the Law is to be the expounder and interpreter of the Law Yet they have challenged and assumed to themselves such a power that their bare Vote without any Act of Parliament may expound or alter a known Law which if it were so they might make the Law as Pighius saith of the Scripture hke a nose of wax that may be fashioned and bended as they pleased but we do constantly maintain That the House of Commons hath no power to adjudge of any point or matter but to inform the Lords what they conceive and the House of Peers hath the power of Judicature which they are bound to do according to the Rules of the known established Laws and to that end they have the Judges to inform them of those cases and to explain those Laws wherein themselves are not so well experienced though now they sit in the House for cyphers even as some Clergy did many times in the Convocation and if any former Statute be so intricate and obscure that the Judges cannot well agree upon the right interpretation thereof then as in explaining Poynings Act and the like either in England or Ireland the makers of the Act that is the King and the major part of both Houses must explain the same 3. In composeing and setting forth new laws 3. Whereas we never knew that the House had any power to make Orders and Ordinances to bind any besides their own Members to observe them as Laws
finde that all Ages and all Lawes have warranted them to do the same for Solomon displaced Abiathar and placed Sadoc in his room 1. Reg. 2.27 35. Jerem. 26. How all kings and Emperors exercised this power ouer the Church Jeremy's case was heard by the King of Israel Theodosius and Valentinian made a Decree that all those should be deposed which were infected with the impiety of Nestorius and Justinian deposed Sylverius and Vigilius and many other Kings and Emperours did the like and not onely the Law of God whereof the King is the prime keeper and the keeper of both Tables but also the Statutes of our Land do give unto our King the nomination of Bishops and some other elective dignities in the Church the custody of the Bishops Temporalties during the vacation the Patronage Paramount or right to present by the last lapse and many other furtherances and preservatives of religion are in terminis terminantibus deputed by our Lawes unto the King and for his care and charge thereof they have setled upon him our first Fruits Tenths Subsidies and all other contributions of the Ecclesiastical persons which the Pope received while he usurped the government of this Church these things being due to him that had the supreme power for the government And therefore seeing the examples of all good Kings in the Old Testament and of the Christian Kings and Emperours in the New Testament and all Lawes both of God and man excepting those Lawes of the Pontificials that are made against the Law of God and all Divines Cassian de Incarn l. 1. c. 6. excepting the Jesuites and their sworn Brethren the Presbyterians do most justly ascribe this right and power unto Kings I may truly say with Cassianus that there is no place of audience left for them by whom obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon nor any excuse for those Subjects that assist not their Soveraign to inable him to discharge this great charge that is laid upon him What then shall we say to them that pull this power and tear this prerogative out of the King's hand and place it in the hands of mad men as the Prophet epithets the madness of the people Psal 65.7 How the Disciplinarians rob the king of this right Knox to the Commonalty fol. 49. 50 55. For that furious Knox belched forth this unsavory Doctrine That the Commonalty may lawfully require of their King to have true Preachers and if he be negligent they themselves may justly provide them maintain them defend them against all that oppose them and detain the profits of the Church Livings from the other sort of Ministers a point fully practised by the English Scotizers of these dayes and as if this Doctrine were not seditious enough and abundantly sufficient to move Rebellion Goodman publisheth that horrible tenet unto the world that it is lawful to kill wicked Kings which most dangerous and more damnable Doctrine Dean Whittingham affirmeth to be the tenet of the best and most learned of them that were our Disciplinarians But when as true Religion doth command us to obey our Kings whatsoever their Religion is What true religion teacheth us aut agendo aut patiendo either in suffering with patience whatsoever they do impose or in doing with obedience whatsoever they do command Religion can be no warrant for those actions which must remain as the everlasting blemishes of that Religion which either commanded or approved of their doing I am sure all wise men wil detest these Doctrines of Devils and seeing it is an infallible rule that good deserveth then to be accounted evil when it ceaseth to be well done it is apparent that it is no more lawful for private and inferiour persons to usurp the princes power and violently to remove Idolatry or to cause any Reformation then it is for the Church of Rome by invasion or treason to establish the Doctrine of that See in this or any other forraign kingdome because both are performed by the like usurped authority The old Disciplinarians Yet these were the opinions and practises of former times when Buchanan Knox Cartwright Goodman Gilby Penry Fenner Martin Travers Throgmorton Philips Nichols and the rest of those introducers of Out landish and Genevian Discipline first broached these uncouth and unsufferable tenets in our Land in the Realm of England and Scotland and truely if their opinions had not dispersed themselves like poison throughout all the veines of this Kingdom and infected many of our Nobility and as many of the greatest Cities of this Kingdome as it appeareth by this late unparallel'd rebellion these and the rest of the trayterous authours of those unsavory books which they published and those damnable tenets which they most ignorantly held and maliciously taught unto the people should have slept in silence their hallowed and sanctified Treason should have remained untouched and their memorial should have perished with them But seeing as Saint Chrysostome saith of the Hereticks of his time that although in age they were younger yet in malice they were equal to the antient Hereticks Our rebellious Sectaries far worse then all the former Disciplinarians and as the brood of Serpents though they are of less stature yet in their poyson no less dangerous then their dammes so no more have our new Sectaries our upstart Anabaptists any less wickedness then their first begetters nay we finde it true that as the Poet saith Aetas parentum pejor avis Tulit nos nequiores These young cubbs prove worse then the old foxes for if you compare the Wheles with the wolves our latter Schismaticks with their former Masters I doubt not but you shall finde less learning and more villany less honesty and more subtilty hypocrisy and treachery in Doctor Burges Master Marshal Case Goodwin Burrowes Calamy Perne Hill Cheynel and the rest of our giddy-headed Incendiaries then can be found in all the seditious Pamphlets of the former Disciplinarians or of them that were hanged as Penry for their treasons for these men do not onely as Sidonius saith of the like apertè invidere S idon lib. epist abjectè fingere serviliter superbire openly envy the state of the Bishops basely forge lyes against them and servilely swel with the pride of their own conceited sanctity and apparent ignorance but they have also most impudently even in their pulpits slandered the footsteps of Gods Anointed and so brought the abomination of their transgression to stand in the holy place they haue with Achan troubled Israel and tormented the whole Land yea these three Kingdomes England Scotland and Ireland and for inciting provoking and incouraging simple ignorant poore For which their intolerable villanies If I be not deceived in my judgement they of all others above all the Rebels in the kingdom deserve the greatest and severest punishment God of Heaven give them the grace to repent discontented and seditions Sectaries to
be Rebels and Traytors against their own most gracious King they have not onely with Jerusalem justified Samaria Sodome and Gomorrah but they have justified all the Samaritanes all the Sodomites all the Schismaticks Hereticks Rebels and Traytors Papists and Atheists and all that went before them Judas himself in many circumstances not excepted and that which makes their doings the more evil and the more exceedingly wicked is that they make Religion to be the warrant for their evil doings the pack-horse to carry and the clokt to cover all their treacheries and thereby they drew the greater multitudes of poore Zelots to be their followers And therefore seeing it is not onely the honour but also the duty as of all other Kings so likewise of our King to be as the Princes of our Land are justly stiled the Defenders of the Faith and that not only in regard of enemies abroad but also in respect of those far worse enemies which desire alteration at home it behoves the King to looke to these home-bred enemies of the Church and seeing the king though never so willing for his piety and religion never so able for his knowledge and understanding What Gods faithful servants and the kings loyal Subjects must do in these times 1. To justifie the kings right yet without strength and power to effect what he desires cannot defend the faith and maintain the true Religion from the violence of Sectaries and Traytors within his kingdome it hehoves us all to do these two things 2. To justifie the kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his authority and right to the supreme Governour and defender of the Chuch and of Gods true religion and service both in respect of Doctrine and Discipline and that none else Pope or Parliament hath any power at all herein but what they have derivately from him which I hope we have sufficiently proved 2. To submit our selves unto our king and to add our strength force 2. To assist Him against the Rebels and power to inable his power to discharge this duty against all the Innovators of our Religion and the enemies of our peace for the honour of God and the happiness of this Church and Common-wealth for that power which is called the Kings power and is granted and given to him of God is not onely that Heroick virtue of fortitude which God planteth in the hearts of most noble Princes as he hath most grasiously done it in abundant measure in our most gracious king but it is the collected and united power and strength of all his Subjects which the Lord hath commanded us to joyn and submit it for the assistance of the kings power against all those that shall oppose it and if we refuse or neglect the same then questionless whatsoever mischief idolatry barbarity or superstition shall take root in the Church and whatsoeuer oppression and wickedness shall impair the Common-wealth Heaven will free His Majesty and the wrath of God in no smal measure must undoubtedly light upon us and our posterity even as Debora saith of them that refused to assist Barac against his enemies Curse ye Meroz curse bitterly the Inhabitants thereof Jud. 5.23 because they came not forth to helpe the Lord against the mighty CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiastical Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Laws by the advice of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay Counsellours how our late Canons came to be annulled that it is the Kings right to admit his Bishops and Prelates to be of his Council and to delegate secular authority or civil jurisdiction unto them proved by the examples of the Heathens Jewes and Christians OUt of all this that hath been spoken it is more then manifest that the king ought to have the supreme power over Gods Church and the Government thereof and the greatest care to preserve true Religion throughout all his Dominions this is his duty and this is his honour that God hath committed not a people but his people and the members of his Son under his charge For the performance of which charge it is requisite for us to know that God hath granted unto him among other rights these two special prerogatives Two special rights and prerogatives of the King for the government of the Church 1. To make Laws and Canons 1. That he may and ought to make Lawes Orders Canons and Decrees for the well governing of Gods Church 2. That he may when he seeth cause lawfully and justly grant tolerations and dispensations of his own Laws and Decrees as he pleaseth 1. Not onely Solomon and Jehosaphat gave commandment and prescribed unto the chief Priests and Levites what form and order they should observe in their Ecclesiastical causes and methode of serving God but also Constantine Theodosius Justinian and all the Christian Emperours that were careful of Gods service did the like and therefore when the Donatists alleadged that secular Princes had nothing to do to meddle in matters of Religion and in causes Ecclesiastical Aug. l. 2. c. 26. Saint Augustine in his second Epistle against Gaudentius saith I have already proved that it appertaineth to the Kings charge that the Ninivites should pacifie Gods wrath and therefore the Kings that are of Christs Church do judge most truely that it belongeth to their charge to see that men Rebel not Idom ep 48. ep 50. ad Bonifac without punishment against the same because God doth inspire it is to the mindes of Kings that they should procure the Commandments of the Lord to be performed in al their Kingdomes for they are commanded to serve the Lord in fear and how do they serve the Lord as Kings but in making Laws for Christ So they are called the kings Ecclesiastical Lawes as man he serveth him by living faithfully but as King he serveth him in making Laws that shal command just things and forbid the contrary which they could not do if they were not kings And by the example of the king of Ninive Darius Nebuchadnezzar and others which were but figures and prophesies that foreshewed the power duty and service that Christian kings should owe and performe in like sort to the furtherance of Christs Religion in the time of the New Testament when al kings shall fall down and Worship Christ Psal 72.11 Arg. cont lit Peul l. 2. c 92 and all Nations shall do him service he proveth that the Christian kings and Princes should make Laws and Decrees for the furtherance of Gods service even as Nebuchadnezzar had done in his time And upon the words of the Apostle Idem in l. de 12. abus grad grad 2. that the king beareth not the sword in vain he proveth against Petilian that the power and authority of the Princes which the Apostle treateth of in that place is given unto them to make sharpe penall Lawes to further
directors in all Church causes as it appeareth out of all the fore-cited Authors and all the Histories that do write thereof and Justinian published this Law that when any Ecclesiastical cause or matter was moved his Lay officers should not intermeddle with it but should suffer the Bishops to end the same according to the Canons the words are Si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles magistratus cum ea disceptatione sed religiosâ—ssimi Episcopi secundum sacros canones negotio finem imp nunto For the good Emperour knew full well that the Lay Senate neither understood what to determine in the points of faith and the government of Christ's Church nor was ever willing to do any great good or any special favour unto the Shepherds of Christ's flock and the teachers of the true religion because the Son of God had fore-told it that the world should hate us that secular men and Lay Senatours should commonly oppose John 15.19 cross and shew all the spite they can unto the Clergy Matth. 10.16 of whom our Saviour saith Behold I send you forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sheep in the midst of wolves Whence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great distance between their dispositions being observed it grew into a Proverb that Laici semper infesti sunt Clericis And Doctour Meriton In a Sermon before King James How the Laity love the Clergy A very memorable act Anno. â—9 Eliz. cap. 4. observed this as one of the good favours the Clergie of England found from our Parliaments since the reformation when many men first began to be translated from the seat of the scornefull to sit in Moses chaire and to prescribe Lawes for Christ his Spouse to make an Act that all wandering beggars after their correction by the Constable should be brought to the Minister of the Parish to have their names registred in a Book and the Constable used to give to the Minister 2d for his paines for every one so registred but if he refused or neglected to do it the Statute saith he should be punished five shillings for every one that should be so omitted where besides the honourable office I will not say to make the Minister of Christ a Bedle of the Beggars but a Register of the vagrants you see the punishment of one neglect amounteth to the reward of thirty labours therefore all the Christian Emperours and the wisest Kings considering this great charge that God had laid upon them to make wholesome Lawes and Constitutions for the government of his Church and seeing the inclinations of the Laity would never permit any of these Lay Elders and the Citizens of the world to usurp this authority to be the composers contrivers or assistants in concluding of any Ecclesiastical Law until the fences of God's vineyard were pulled down That the Laity should have no interest in making Laws for the Church and the wilde Boar out of the forrest the audacious presumption of the unruly Commonalty ventured either to govern the Church or to subdue their Prince since which incroachment upon the rights of Kings it hath never succeeded well with the Church of Christ and I dare boldly say it fidenter quia fideliter and the more boldly because most truly the more authority they shall gain herein the less glory shall Christ have from the service of his Church and therefore Be wise ô ye Kings And consider how any new Canons are to be made by our Statute 25 Hen. 8. Ob. But then it may be demanded if this be so Ob. that the Laity hath no right in making Lawes and Decrees for the government of God's Church but that it belongs wholly unto the King to do it with the advice of his Bishops and the rest of his Clergy then how came the Parliament to annul those Canons that were so made by the King and Clergy because they had no vote nor consent in confirming of them Sol. Truely I cannot answer to this Objection Sol. unless I should tell you what the Poet saith Dum furor incursu currenti cede furori Dâ—fficiles aditus impetus omnis habet They weâ—e furiously bent against them and you know furor arma ministrat dum regnant arma si lent leges all Lawes must sleep while Armes prevaile besides you may finde those Canons as if they had been prophetically made fore-saw the increasing strength of Anabaptisme Brownisme Puritanisme most likely to subvert true Protestantisme and therefore were as equally directed against these Sectaries of the left hand as against the Papists on the right hand and I think the whole Kingdom now findes and feels the strength of that virulent Faction and therefore what wonder that they should seek to break all those Canons to pieces and batter them down with their mighty Ordinances for seeking to subdue their invincible errours or else because as they say the Ecclesiastical State is not an independent society but a member of the whole the Parliament was not so to be excluded as that their advice and approbation should not be required to make them obligatory to the rest of the Subjects of the whole Kingdom which claim this priviledge to be tyed to the observation of no humane Lawes that themselves by their representatives have not consented unto 2. As the King is intrusted by God to make Lawes for the government of the Church of Christ so it is a rule without question 2. To grant dispensations of his own Lawes that ejus est dispensare absolvere cujus est condere he hath the like power to dispense with whom he pleaseth and to absolve him that transgresseth as he hath to oblige them therefore our Church being for reformation the most famous throughout all the parts of the Christian world and our King having so just an authority to do the same it is a most impudent scandal full of all malice and ignorance not to be endured by any well-affected Christian that the new brood of the old Anabaptists do lay upon our Church and State that they did very unreasonably and unconscionably by their Lawes grant Dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency The scandals of the malicious ignorants against the worthier clergy onely to further the corrupt desires of some few to the infinite wrong of the whole Clergy besides the hazard of many thousands of souls the intolerable dishonour of Gods truth and the exceeding disadvantage of Christ his Church for seeing God hath principally committed and primarily commended the care of his Church and service unto Kings who are therefore to make Laws and Orders for the well governing of the same iâ— shall make it most evident that they may as they have ever done most lawfully and more beneficially both for Gods Church and also for the Common-wealth do these three things Three special points handled 1. To grant that grace and favour unto their Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons as to
every ordinance of the higher power for the Lords sake so for the higher power to dispence with both Gods Law admitteth an interpretation not a dispensation of it is most agreeable to reason and Gods truth for all our Lawes are either divine or humane and in the divine Law though we allow of interpretation quia non sermoni res sed rei sermo debet esse subjectus because the words must be applyed to the matter else we may fall into the heresie of those that as Alfonsus de Castro saith held it unlawfull upon any occasion to sweare because our Saviour saith sweare not at all yet no man King nor Pope hath power to grant any dispensation for the least breach of the least precept of Gods Law he cannot dispence with the doing of that which God forbiddeth to be done nor with the omitting of that which God commandeth but in all humane Lawes Mans Law may be dispensed with so far as they are meerly positive and humane it is in the power of their makers to dispence with them and so quicquid fit dispensatione superioris non fit contra praeceptum superioris and he sinneth neither against the Law nor against his own conscience because he is delivered from the obligation of that Law by the same authority whereby he stood bound unto it And as he that is dispensed with is free from all sin so the King which is the dispenser is as free from all fault as having full right and power to grant His dispensations For seeing that all humane Lawes are the conclusions of the Law of nature or the evidences of humane reason shewing what things are most beneficiall to any society either the Church or Common-wealth and that experience teacheth us our reason groweth often from an imperfection to be more perfect when time produceth more light unto us we cannot in reason deny an abrogation and dispensation to all humane Lawes which therefore ought not to be like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians that might not be changed Aug. de libero arbit l. 1. and so Saint Augustine saith Lex humana quamvis justa sit commutari tamen pro tempore juste potest any humane Law though it be never so just yet for the time as occasion requireth may be justly changed dispensatio est juris communis relaxatio facta cum causâ— cognitione ab eo Dispensation what it is qui jus habet dispensandi and as the Civilians say a dispensation is the relaxation of common right granted upon the knowledge of the cause by him that hath the power of dispensing or as the etymologie of the word beareth dispensare est diversa pensare The reward of learning and vertue how to be rendered to dispense is to render different rewards and the reward of learning or of any other virtue either in the civill or the ecclesiasticall person being to be rendered as one saith not by an Arithmeticall but a Geometricall proportion and the division of Parishes being as I said before a positive humane Law it cannot be denyed but the giver of honour and the bestower of rewards which is the King hath the sole power and right to dispose how much shall be given to this or that particular person If you say the Law of the King Ob. which is made by the advice of his whole Parliament hath already determined what portion is fit for every one and what service is required from him I answer that the voice of equity and justice tells us Sol. that a generall Law doth never derogate from a speciall priviledge or that a priviledge is not opposite to the principles of common right and where the Law it selfe gives this priviledge as our Law doth it yet envy it selfe can never deny this right unto the King to grant his dispensation whensoever he seeth occasion and where the Law is tacite and faith nothing of any priviledge yet seeing in all Lawes The end of every Law is chiefly to be respected as in all other actions the end is the marke that is aimed at and this end is no other then the publique good of any society for which the Law is made if the King which is the sole Law-maker so as I shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries seeth this publique good better procured by granting dispensations to some particular men doth he not performe thereby what the Law intendeth and no wayes breake the Law of common right as if a mans absence from his proper Cure should be more beneficiall to the whole Church Reasons of dispensations then his residence upon his Charge could possibly be as when his absence may be either for the recovery of his health or to discharge the Kings Embassage or to do his best to confute Heretiques or to pacifie Schismes or to consult about the Church affaires or some other urgent cause that the Law never dreamt of when it was in making shall not the King whom the Lawes have intrusted with the examination of these things and to whom the principal care of Religion and the charge of all the People is committed by God himselfe and the power of executing his own Lawes have power to grant his dispensations for the same Certainly they that would perswade the world that all Lawes must have such force that all dispensations are transgressions of them as if generall rules should have no exceptions would manacle the Kings hands and binde his power in the chaines of their crooked wills that he should not be able to do that good which God and Right and Law it selfe do give him leave and their envy towards other mens grace How God doth diversly bestow his gifts Matth. 25.15 Gen. 43.34 is a great deale more then either the grace of humility or the love of truth in them for doth not God give five talents to some of his servants when he gives but one to some others and did not Joseph make Benjamins messe five times so much as any of his brethren's and have not some Lords six or eight or ten thousand pounds a year and some very good men in the Common-wealth and perhaps higher in God's favour not ten pounds a year and shall not the King double the reward of them that deserve it in the Church of God or shall he be so curbed and manacled that he shall neither alter nor dispense with his own Law though it be for the greater glory unto God and the greater benefit both to the Church and Common-wealth Besides who can deny but that some mens merits virtue paines and learning are more worthy of two Benefices then many others are of one and when in his younger time he is possessed of a small Benefice he may perchance afterwards when his years deserve better far easier obtain another little one to keep with it then get what I dare assure you he would desire much rather * For who would not rather chuse one Living of an
100 l. a year then two of 50 l. a piece one Living of equall value to them both and shall the unlearned zeal of an envious minde so far prejudice a worthy man that the King 's lawful right shall be censured and his power questioned and clipped or traduced by this ignorant Zelot I will blesse my self from them and maintain it before all the world that the King's dispensations for Pluralities Non-residency and the like Priviledges not repugnant to common right are not against Law nor the giving or taking of them upon just causes against conscience but what the violence of this viperous brood proclaimeth an intolerable offence we dare warrant both with good reason and true Divinity to be no sin no fault at all but an undoubted portion of the King 's right for the greater benefit both of the Church and State and the greater glory unto God himself The Author's Petition to His Majesty And therefore most gracious King we humbly desire your Majesty suffer not these children of Apollyon to pull this flower out of your Royal Crown to abridge you of your just right of granting dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency which the Lawes of your Land do yet allow you and which they labour to annul to darken the glory of God's Church and to bring your Clergy by depriving them of their meanes and honour into contempt lest that when by one and one they have robbed you of all your rights they will fairly salute you as the Jews did Christ Haile King of the Jewes when God knows they hated him and stript him of all power I speak not of his Divinity either to govern them or to save himself 3. The toleration of divers Sects and sorts of religions 3. As the King hath right and power to grant his dispensations both of grace and of justice of grace when it is merely of the King ' Princely favour as in legitimations and the like and of justice when the King findeth a just cause to grant it so likewise it is in the King's power and right to remit any offence that is the mulct or penalty and to absolve the offender from any or all the transgressions of his own Lawes from the transgression of God's Law neither King nor Pope nor Priest nor any other can formally remit the fault and absolve transgressors but as God is the Law-giver so God alone must be the forgiver of the offence Mar. 2.7 so the Jewes say who can forgive sins but God onely Yet as God which gives the Law can lawfully remit the sin and forgive the breach of the Law As David pardoned Absolon and Solomon Abiathar so the King which makes these positive Lawes cannot be denyed this power to pardon when he seeth cause or is so pleased the offenders of his Lawes as you see they do many times grant their pardons for the most haynous faults and capital crimes as treasons murders felonies and the like and if they may grant their pardons for the breach of the Law and remit the mulct imposed for the transgression thereof it is strange if they should not have right to dispense with whom they please when they see cause from the bond of the Law and therefore we are to discuss how far the King in these Lawes of the Church may give exemptions and tolerations unto them whose consciences cannot submit themselves to the observation of the established Laws Christ biddeth that the â—ares should grow Matth. 13.30 And the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there must be heresies therefore there must be a toleration of divers Sects 1 Cor. 11.19 Four special sorts of false Professors 1. Jewes Whitak against Campian translated by Master Stoke p. 311. With what cautions the Jewes are to be suffered for seeing all men are not of the same faith nor do profess the same Religion and it is the nature of all men to dislike that which themselves will not profess and if opportunity serve to root out that which they dislike it is requisite it should be shewed how far a prudent and a pious Prince may grant a toleration the Law in terminis not forbidding it unto any of these Sects that may be commorant within his Kingdomes Touching which I say that besides dissembling hypocrites and prophane worldlings that have no faith nor any other Religion but the shadow of that Religion whatsoever it is which is profest wheresoever they are there may be in any Kingdome Jewes Turkes Papists Puritans and the like or to call them otherwise Idolaters Hereticks Schismatickes c. And 1. For the Jewes though they have many things in their Religion which will ever alienate them from the Papists yet they have free leave to use their ancient Ceremonies in Rome saith Doctor Whitaker and it is well known that many pious Princes have permitted them to dwell and to exercise their own Religion in this kingdome the old Jury in London is so called because it was allotted for their abode and the Lawes of many Christian Emperours have in like sort permitted them to do the like in their Dominions but with those cautions and limitations that Moses prescribed unto the Jewes to be observed with the Heathens and Idolaters that dwelt amongst them that is neither to make marriages with them nor to communicate with them in their Religion And Saint Augustine is reported to be so favourable towards them that he alleadgeth several reasons for their toleration As 1. That above and before others they had the promise of salvation Deut. 7.3 Exod. 23.32 Doctor Covel c. 14. p. 199. 1 Reason for their toleration Rom. 11.24 25. 2 Reason Psal 59.11 and therefore though some of the branches be cut off and the case of the rest be most lamentable yet not altogether desperate and incurable if we consider what the Apostle setteth down of their conversion and re-unition unto the good right olive tree 2. That the Prophet David speaking of them made that prayer unto God Slay them not O Lord lest my people forget it but scatter them abroad among the Heathen and put them down O Lord our defence for many excellent ends as first that their being scattered among the Christians might shew both the clemency and severity of God towards us mercy and clemency and towards them justice and severity which may likewise happen unto us if we take not heed as the Apostle bids us Be not high minded but fear and secondly Rom. 11.20 We may not force the Jews to beleive that being among the Christians they might the sooner at all times by their charity and prayers be reduced the more willingly to imbrace the faith of Christ when as unwillingly we may neither compel them nor take their children to be baptized from them And therefore as the Princes of this Realm for divers causes hurtful to their State have banished them out of their Dominions so if they see good cause to permit them as time
Canonists and some Jesuites do constantly aver that summum imperium the primary supreme power of this Government is in the Pope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolutely and directly as he is the Vicar of Christ who hath all power given him both in Heaven and earth from whom it is immediately deriued unto his Vicar and from him to all Kings mediately by subordination unto him so Baronius Carerius and others But Bellarmine and the rest of the more moderate Jesuists say that this imperium in reges the Popes power over all Kings and States is but indirectum dominium a power by consequent and indirectly in ordine ad bonum spirituale as the civil State hath relation to Religion and this great Cardinal lest he should seeme fine ratione insanire doth as the Hereticks did in Tertullians time Caedem Scripturarum facere ad materiam suam alleadge two and twenty places of Scripture mis-interpreted to confirme his indirect Divinity and as Petiphars wife he produceth very honest apparel but to prove a very bad cause and therefore attributing to the Pope by the greatness of his learning and the excellency of his wit more then he could justifie with a good conscience he was so far from satisfying the then Pope that he was well nigh resolved to condemne all his works for this one opinion Carerius lib. 1. cap. 5. and Carerius undertooke his confutation ex professo and taxeth him so bitterly that he putteth him inter impios haereticos which he indeed needed not to have done because the difference is onely in the expression when the Pope by this indirect power may take occasion to king and unking whom he pleaseth and do what he will in all Christian States 3. The Anabaptists and Puritans either deny all government 3 Where the Puritans place the Soveraignty Majestas regia sita est magis in populo quam in persona regis Parsons in Dolman with the Fratricelli and all superiority by the title of Christianity as the Author of the Tract of Schisme and Schismaticks or do say that originally it proceedeth and habitually resideth in the people but is cumulatively and communicatively derived f om them unto the King and therefore the people not denuding themselves of their first interest but still retaining the same in the collective body that is in themselves suppletivè if the King in their judgement be defective in the administration or neglect the performance of his duty may question their King for his mis-government dethrone him if they see cause and resuming the collated power into their own hands again may transfer it to any other whom they please Which opinion if it were true would make miserable the condition of all Kings and I believe they first learned it from the Sorbonists The Sorbonists first taught the deposing of Kings and why who to subject the Pope to the community of the faithful say that the chief spiritual power was first committed by Christ unto them and they to preserve the unity of the Church remitted the same communicatively unto the Pope but suppletively not privatively or habitually devesting themselves thereof retaining the same still in themselves if the Pope failed in the faith of the Church and therefore he was not onely censureable but also deposable by the Council if he became an heretique or apostated from the religion of Christ and to make this both the more plausible and probable they alleadged how Kings were thus eligible and likewise deposable by the community of the people for out of this Buchanan saith Romani Pontifices longè regum omnium conditione superiores Buchan de jure regni p. 25 91. legum tamen poenis haud eximuntur sed eos quanquam sacrosanctos Christianis omnibus semper habitos Synodus Basiliensis communi ordinum consensu senatui sacerdotum obnoxios esse pronunciavit that is in brief the Popes are deprivable by the Council So are Kings by the community of the people and so both the Papist and the Puritan do agree to depose their Kings Claudian de 4. Consul Honorii and as the Poet saith Ausus utérque nâ—fas domini respersus utérque Insontis jugulo never a barrel better herring both alike friends to Kings But to this Blackvodaeus answereth most truely that although the Pope should be deprivable by the Council which I am sure neither Pope nor Jesuite will allow yet for divers different reasons betwixt the examples Kings are not deposable by their Subjects especially if you consider the great difference betwixt the Church of Christ that is guided by the Spirit of God and the representation thereof in the flower of her Clergy and a giddyheaded multitude Blac. cap. 23. p. 304. that is led by their unruly and unreasonable passions and are represented by those that either basely bought their Votes as the Consuls and other great men did the votes of the people of Rome or that their partial and most ignorant affection oftentimes without judgement have made choice of ex quo sequitur ut non sit eadem populi potestas in regem quâ— in pontificem est Ecclesiae So that the reason is far unlike But though the Sorbonists to justifie their former tenet The Puritans opinion worse then the Jesuites in two respects were the first broachers of this unjust opinion of the deposition of Kings by the people from whence the Jesuites to subject the King unto the Pope suck't it afterward Yet in two main Respects I finde this tenet as it is held by the Puritans far worse then the doctrine of the Jesuites Respect 1 1. Because some of them say that the people may not restrain the power which they have once transmitted unto the King when the Law of justice doth not permit that Covenants should be repealed or a donation granted shoud be revoked though it were never so prejudiciall to the donor and Bellarmine makes this good by the example of the souldiers that had power to accept or reject their Emperour before he was created Bellar. in tract cont Pat. Paul but being once elected they had no coactive power over him whereas all the Puritanes will make and unmake promise and breake doe and undoe at their pleasure Respect 2 Because the Jesuites permit not the people nor any Peers to depose their King untill the Pope as an indifferent judge deputed by Christ shall approve of the cause and our Sectaries depresse kings so far as to submit them to the weake judgment and extravagant power of the people who to day cry to Gideon raign thou and thy son over us for ever and to morrow joyne with the base son of Jerubbaal and the Sichemites to kill seventy of the Children of Gideon Judges 9. and to create Abimilech to be their king Our Opinion proved Anti-Cav in Os Ossor p. 25 But though the Anti-Cavalier takes it ill that I should affirm that the kings power and right unto his government
rarò eminentes viros non magnis adjutoribus ad gubernandam fortunam suam usus invenies saith Paterculus as great men of a wealthy and vast estate are seldome without great counsel to assist them to govern and to dispose of that great fortune so Kings having a great charge laid upon them are not onely permitted but advised and counselled by God to have 1. Wise Counsellors 1. Faithful and wise Counsellors to direct them in the government of the people 2. Subordinate Magistrates to assist them in the government of the people Tacit. annal lib. 2. 1. Tacitus as I said before saith There cannot be an argument of greater wisedome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise and religious Counsel because the most weighty labours of the Prince do stand in need of the greatest helpes therefore Agamemnon had his Nestor and Chaleas Dionys Halicar lib. 2. Augustus had Mecoenas and Agrippa two wise Counsellors to direct him in all his affairs David had Nathan Gad Achitophel and Hushai and Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel Shadrach Meshac and Abednego and so all other Kings in all Nations do chuse the wisest men that they conceive to be their Counsellors 1. Subordinate Magistrates 2. For subordinate Magistrates Jethro's counsel unto Moses and Moses hearkning unto him as to a wise and faithful Counsellor makes it plain how necessary it is for the supreme Magistrate to chuse such assistants as may bear with him some part of the great burthen of government Thus far it is agreed upon on all sides but the difference betwixt us and our new State-Divines consisteth in these two points 1. About the choice 2. About the power of these officers A twofold difference For 1. We say that by the Law of nature every master hath right to chuse his own servants this is Lex gentium ever practiced among all Nations 1. About the choice of inferiour Magistrates and Officers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4 5. Exod. 18.11 why then should not the King make choice of his own Counsellors and Servants they will say because he is the servant of the Common-wealth But how is that I hope none otherwise then the Minister is the servant of the Church for Christ his sake and shall he therefore that is your King lose the priviledges of a common Subject Besides hath not God committed the charge of his people into the Kings hand and will he not require an accompt of him of their government how then shall he give an account to God when the government is taken out of his hands and subordinate officers and servants put upon him I am sure when the 70 grand Senators of Israel the great Sanhedrim of the Jewes were to be chosen Jethro saith unto Moses Thou shalt provide out of the people able men mark I pray you thou and not the people shalt provide them neither shall you find it otherwise in any History Pharaoh and not his people Gen. 41.41 made Joseph ruler over all the Land of Egypt Nebuchadnezzar and not his people made Daniel ruler over the whole Province of Babylon Dan. 2.48 Cap. 6.1 2. and Darius set over his Kingdome a hundred and twenty Princes and made Daniel the first of the three Presidents that were over all these And what shall I say of Ahashuerus and all other kings All kings chuse their own Officers Heathens Jewes or Christians that ever kept this power to chuse their own servants Counsellors and Officers except they were infant Kings in their non-age and so not able to chuse them But you will say that our Histories tell you Ob. how Ric. 2. Edw. 2. and others of our Kings had their Officers appointed and themselves committed unto Guardians by the Parliament therefore why may not our Parliament do the like in case of male-administration I answer that I speak of the right of kings Sol. 2 Reg. 19.37 and not justifie the wrongs done to Kings Adramelech and Sharezer killed Sennacherib their own Father is it therefore lawfull for other children so to do Why should we therefore alleadge those things Quae insolentiâ populari quae vi quae furore non ad imitationem exemplo proponenda sed justo legum supplicio vindicanda sunt which should rather have been revenged by the just punishment of the Law then proposed to be imitated by the example Therefore I say that whosoever abridgeth the King of this power robbeth him of that right which God and nature hath allowed him whereby you may judge how justly the Parliamentary faction would have dealt herein with our King by forcing Counsellors and great Officers upon him but I hope you see it is the Kings right to chuse his Servants Officers and Counsellors what manner of men he should chuse Jethro setteth down True Church lib. 6. c. 4. c. And I have most fully described the qualities and conditions that they should be indued withall in my True Church 2. As our Sectaries differ much from the true Divines about the choyce 2. Difference about the power of the subordinate Magistrates so they differ much more about the power of these subordinate officers and inferiour Magistrates for we say they are alwayes to be obedient to the supreme power or otherwise ejus est deponere cujus est constituere he can displace them that hath appointed them or if you say no because I cited you a place out of Bellarmine where he saith the Souldiers had power to refuse their Emperour while he was in fieri to be elected but not when he was in facto fully chosen and made Emperour so the King hath power to chuse them but not to displace them I answer briefly that in creating or constituting our inferiours we may but our superiour we may not because inferiours in the judgment of all men None can depose him in whom the supreme Majesty resideth have no jurisdiction over their superiours And therefore elective Kings are not deposeable in a Monarchicall government where the supreme power resides in the Monarch though perhaps the Kings of Lacedemon might be justly deposed because by the constitution of their Kingdome the supreme power was not in their Kings but in their Ephori But our new Sectaries out of Junius Brutus Burcher Althusius Knox and Cartwright teach very devoutly but most falsely that in case of defailance to do his duty they may with the Tribunes of Rome or the Demarchi at Athens censure and depose him too if they see just cause for the same Blacvod c. 33. p. 285. Grand Rebellion c. 7. p. 52. To confute which blasphemous doctrine against God and so pernicious and dangerous to this State though others have done it very excellently well already and I have formerly shewed the absurdity of it in my Grand Rebellion yet because all books come not to every hand I will say somewhat
of it in this place If these Counsellours Magistrates Parliament call them what you will have any power and authority it must be either subordinate coordinate or supreme 1 Subordinate officers can have no power over their superiors 1. If subordinate I told you before they can have no power over their superiour because all inferiour Magistrates are Magistrates onely in respect of those that are under their jurisdiction because to them they represent the King and supply the office of the King but in reference to the King they are but private persons and Subjects that can challenge no jurisdiction over him 2. that neither Peers not Parliament can have the supremacy None above the king at any time 2. If they be supreme then Saint Peter is much mistaken to say the King is supreme and they do ill to disclaime this supremacy when in all their Petitions not disjunctively but as they are an united body they say Your Majesties humble Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament and besides they are perjur'd that deny it after they have taken the Oath of supremacy where every one saith I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highness is the onely supreme Governour of this Realme c. But this is further and so fully proved out of Bracton the nature of all the Subjects tenures and the constitution of this government by the Authour of The unlawfulness of Subjects taking up armes against their Soveraigne that more needs not be spoken to any rational man Yet because this point is of such great concernment and the chiefest argument they have out of Bracton is that he saith Rex habet superiorem The Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton fully answered legem curiam suam comites Barones quia comites dicuntur quasi socii Regis qui habet socium habet magistrum ideò si Rex fuerit sine frano id est sine lege debent ei fraenum ponere nisi ipsimet fuerint cum rege sine fraeno and all this makes just nothing in the World for them if they had the honesty or the learning to understand it right for what is above the King the Law and the Court of Earles and Barons but how are they above him as the Preacher is above the King when he preacheth unto him or the Physician when he gives him Physick or the Pilot when he sayleth by Sea that is quoad rationem consulendi How the Law and the Court of Barons is above the King non cogendi they have superioritatem directivam non coactivam for so the teacher is above him that is taught and the Counsellor above him that is counselled that is by way-of advice but not by way of command and to shew you that this is Bractons true meaning I pray you consider his words Comites dicuntur quasi socii they are as his fellows or Peeres not simply but quasi and if they were simply so yet they are but socii not superiours and what can socii do not command for par in parem non habet potestatem that is praecipiendi otherwise you must confesse habet potestatem consulendi therefore Bracton addes qui habet socium habet magistrum that is a teacher not a commander and to make this yet moâ—e plain he addes Si Rex fuerit sine fraeno id est lege if the King be without a bridle that is saith he lest you should mistake what he meanes by the bridle and thinke he meanes force and armes the Law they ought to put this bridle unto him that is to presse him with this Law and still to shew him his duty even as we do both to King and people saying this is the Law this should bridle you but here is not a word of commanding much lesse of forcing the King not a word of superiority nor yet simply of equality and therefore I must say hoc argumentum nihil ad rhombum these do abuse every author 3 That neither Peers nor Parliament are co-ordinate with the King If their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their natural strength and power but of their right and authority be coordinate and equal with the Kings authority then whether given by God which they cannot prove or by the people there must be duo summa imperia two supreme powers which the Philosophers say cannot be nam quod summum est unum est Ommesque Philosoph jurisconsulti ponunt summum in eo rerum genere quod dividi non possit Lactant. l. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. 3.14 from whence they prove the unity of the God-head that there can be but one God and if this supreme power be divided betwixt King and Parliament you know what the Poet saith Omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit Or you may remember what our Saviour saith If a Kingdome be divided against it selfe it cannot stand and therefore when Tiberius out of his wonted subtilty desired the Senate to appoint a colleague and partner with him for the better administration of the Empire Asinius Gallus that was desirous enough of their Pristine liberty yet understanding well with what minde the subtle fox spake onely to descry his ill willers after some jests answered seriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that government must not be divided because you can never have any happiness where the power is equally divided in two parts when according to the well known axiome to every one Par in parem non habet potestatem But to make the matter cleare The Case of our Affaires p. 19.20 The Lawes of our Land acknowledge all Soveraignty in the King and to shew that the Soveraignty is inseperably inherent in the person of His Majesty we have the whole current of our very Acts of Parliament acknowledging it in these very termes Our Soveraigne Lord the King and the Parliament 25. Hen. 8. saith This your Graces Realme recognizing no superiour under God but your Grace c. And the Parliament 16. Rich. 2.5 affirmeth the Crown of England to have been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately to God in all things touching the regality of the said Crown and to none other and in the 25. of Hen. 5. the Parliament declareth that it belongeth to the Kings regality to grant or deny what Petitions in Parliament he pleaseth and so indeed whatsoever authority is in the constant practice of the Kingdom or in the known and published Laws and Statutes it concludeth the Soveraignty to be fixed in the King and all the Subjects virtually united in the representative body of the Parliament to be obliged in obedience allegeance to the individual person of the King and I doubt not but our learned Lawyers can finde much more proofe then I do out of their Law to this purpose And therefore seeing divers supreme
powers are not compatible in one State nor allowable in our State the conceit of a mixed Monarchy is but a foppery to prove the distribution of the supreme power into two sorts of governours equally indued with the same power because the supreme power being but one must be placed in one sort of governours either in one numericall man as it is in Monarchy or in one specificall kinde of men as the optimates as it is in Aristocracie or in the people as in Democracie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if by a mixed Monarchy you meane that this supreme power is not simply absolute quoad omnia but a government limited and regulated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will not much quarrell with our Sectaries because His Majesty hath promised and we are sure he will performe it to govern his people according to the Lawes of this Land And therefore they that would rob the King of this right They deserve not to live in the Kingdom that diminish the supremacy of the King and give any part of his supreme power to the Parliament or to any of all his inferiour Magistrates deserve as well to be expelled the Kingdome as Plato would have Homer to be banished for bringing in the Gods fighting and disagreeing among themselves when as Ovid out of him saith Jupiter in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo Because as the Civilians say Naturale vitium est negligi quod communiter possidetur útque se nihil habere putet qui totum non habeat suam partem corrumpi patiatur dum invidet alienae and therefore the same Homer treating of our humane Government saith Nec multos regnare bonum rex unicus esto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Aristotle doth so infinitely commend Arist Metaph. lib. 1. Statius Thebaid lib. 1. where he disputeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth Plato and all the wise Philosophers that followed after because as the Poët saith Summo dulcius unum Stare loco sociÃsque comes discordia regnis And as our own most lamentable experience sheweth what abundance of miseries happened unto our selves by this renting of the King's power and placing it in the hands of the Parliament and his own inferiour officers and as those sad Tragedies of Etheocles and Polynices Numitor and Amulius Romulus and Remus Antoninus and Geta and almost infinite more do make it manifest to all the world §. The two chiefest parts of the regal Government the four properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary faction transgresse in every property 4. The chiefest parts of the Regal government which are two Exod. 2.14 4. HAving spoken of those assistants that should further and not hinder the King in the Common-wealth it resteth that I should now speak of the chiefest parts of this government when Moses killed the Aegyptian that wronged the Israelite and the next day said unto the Hebrew that did injure his fellow Wherefore smitest thou him the oppressor answered Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us 1 Sam. 8.20 2 Sam. 5.2 and the people say unto Samuel we will have a King over us that our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our battails Out of which two places we finde two special parts of the King's government Sigon l. 7. c. 1. 1. Principatum bellorum the charge of the wars in respect whereof the Kings were called Captains as the Lord said unto Samuel concerning Saul Vnges eum ducem 1 Sam. 9.16 thou shalt anoint him to be Captain over my people Israel 1 Reg. 3.9 Psal 72.2 Araisaeus de jure Majest l. 2. c. 1. p. 214. 2. Curam judiciorum the care of all judgments in respect whereof David and Solomon and the other Kings are said to judge the people So Arnisaeus saith Majestatis potestas omnis consistit vel in defendenda repub vel in regenda all the power of royalty consisteth either in defending or in governing the Common-wealth according as Homer describeth a perfect King Homer Iliad γ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so you see the two principal parts of the King's government are the Offices 1. Ducis in bello gerendo 2. Judicis in jure reddendo 1. Part. In the time of War Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli autoritas atque consilium apud principes sit Aug. cont Faust l. 22. Arnis l. 2. c. 5. p. 345. Plato de legib lib. 2. 1. Of a Captain in the time of War 2. Of a Judge in the time of Peace 1. Then it is the proper right of the King and of none but the King or he that hath the regal and supreme power to make war and to conclude peace for Plato in his Common-wealth ordained that Si quis pacem vel bellum fecerit cum aliquibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Julian Law adjudgeth him guilty of High Treason Qui injussu principis bellum gesserit delectúmve habuerit exercitum vel comparaverit that either maketh War or raiseth an Army without his Kings command And to this part of the regall government Luc. 14.31.32 Aristot Polit. l. 7. c. 8. which consisteth in the Militia in Armes for the defence of the Kingdome pertaineth 1. The proclaiming of War which our Saviour properly ascribeth unto the right of Kings when he saith not what State or Common-wealth Arnis l. 2. c. 1. but What King going to war with another King c. 2. The concluding of Peace which our Saviour ascribeth also unto the King in the same place 3. The making of leagues and confederacies with other forraigne States 4. The sending and receiving of Ambassadors 5. To raise Armes and the like which the Lawes of God and of all Nations justifie to be the proper right of Kings and to belong onely unto the supreame Majesty But then you will say did not the Judges Moses Joshua Gideon Jephta Judges 11.11 Barac Samson and the rest make war and yet they were no Kings Why then may not the Nobles make war as well as Kings I answer that they do indeed make war and a miserable wretched war but I speak of a just war and so I say that none but the King or he that hath the Kings power can do it for though the Judges assumed not the name of Kings nor Captains sed à potiore parte vocati sunt judices but from the sweetest part of the Royall government were termed Judges yet they had the full power ducendi judicandi populum both of war and peace saith Sigenius and so the men of Gilead said unto Jephthe veni esto princeps noster and they made him their head by an inviolable covenant And of Moses it was plainly said He was King in Jesurun Deut. 33.5 and when there was no Judge it is said there was no King in
as ridiculous the testimony of Justine which saith Populus nullis legibus tenebatur sed arbitria regum pro legibus erant the people were kept under by no Lawes but the will of their Kings was all the Law they had but as oportet mendacem esse memorem so it behoves him that opposeth the truth to be very subtile and very mindful of his own discourse otherwise a meaner Scholler having such advantage as the truth to assist him may easily get the victory for though he goeth about to confute the reason that some alleadge for the denyal of those times to be governed by any Law because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be found in all Homer but wheresoeuer he speakes of Justice Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hymnis ad Apoll. he expresseth the same by the word Themis and saith that this is false which he proveth from Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sheweth that there were Lawes before Homers time from Talus his Lawes that were written in brasse in the Isle of Crete yet all this may be answered and Justines opinion prove most true Joseph advers Appion l. 51 Plutarch in lib. de Hero for Talus his time must needs be uncertain and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer means the just measure of riming but never useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the set Law of living besides there were many ages and many Kings before Homers time and before Talus Minos Radamanthus or any other Law-maker that you read of Moses was the first that I finde either giving Lawes or inventing Letters and yet there were many Kings before Moses nine Kings named in one Chapter Gen. 14.1 2. and what Lawes had they to govern their people besides their own wils and therefore Master Selden vi veritatis victus confesseth that in the first times in the beginning of States there were no Lawes but the arbitrements of Princes as Pomponius speaketh Pompon de origine juris ff l. 1. sect 2. Josephus regnū appellat imperium summum unius hominis non ex lege sed ex arbitrio imperantis Antiquit l. 4. Saravia de imperand autor l. 2. c. 3. Barclaius l. 3. c. 16. Arnis l. 1. c. 3. p. 49. 50. Irvinus cap. 4. p. 64 65. and pag. 4. he saith the people seeing the inconveniences of popular rule chose one Monarch under whose arbitrary rule their happy quiet should be preserved where also you may observe his great mistake in making the Monarchy to spring out of the Democracy when as I have proved before the Monarchicall government was many hundred of years before we heare mention of any other forme of government but in any government Doctor Saravia saith and he saith most truly Quisquis summum obtinet imperium sive is sit unus rex sive pauci nobiles vel ipse populus universus supra omnes leges sunt ratio haec est quòd nemo sibi ferat legem sed subditis suis se legibus nemo adstringit huc accedit illa ratio quòd neque suis legibus teneri possit scil rex cum nemo sit seipso superior nemo à seipso cogi possit leges à superiore tantùm sciscantur dentúrque inferioribus And so Arnisaeus saith and proveth at large Majestatis essentiam consistere in summa absoluta potestate that the being of Majesty and Soveraignty consisteth in the highest and most absolute power And Irvinus alleadgeth many testimonies out of Aristotle Cicero Vlpian Dio Constant Harmenopolus and others to p ove that Rex legibus non subjicitur And to make it yet more cleare that the kings power to rule his people was arbitrary Sigonius saith most truly that the power of governing the people was given by God unto Moses before the Law was given and therefore he called the people to counsell and without either Judges or Magistrates jura eisdem reddidit he administred Justice and did right to every one of them So Joshua exercised the same right and the Judges after him Sigon de rep Heb. l. 7. c. 3. Hoc arbitrarium imperium expressit Deus 1 Sam. 8. David Ps 11. Reges eos in virga serrea Idem Ibidem and after the Judges succeeded the Kings quorum potestai atque autoritas multò major ut quae non tam à legibus quà m ab arbitrio voluntate regis profecta sit whose power and authority was far greater as proceeding not so much from the Lawes as from the arbitrement and the will of the King saith Sigonius for they understood the power of a King in Aristotles sence Qui solutus legibus plenissimo jure regnaret who being freed from the Lawes or not tyed to Lawes might governe with a plenary right And so Saul judged Israel and had altogether the arbitrary power both of life and death quodam modo superior legibus fuit and was after a sort above the Law undertaking and making Warr pro arbitratu suo according to his own will And in his sixth book he saith the Jewes had three great Courts or Assemblies 1. Their Councell which contained that company Cap. 2. that handled those things especially which concerned the State of the whole Common-wealth as warre peace provision institution of Lawes creation of Magistrates and the like 2. Their Synagogue or the meeting of the whole Congregation or people Cap. 3. which no man might convocate but he which had the chiefe rule as Moses Joshua the Judges and the Kings 3. Their standing Senate Cap. 4. Numb 15. Plenum regnum vocatur quo cuncta rex sua voluntate gerit Idem which was appointed of God to be of the seventy Elders whereof he saith that although this was alwayes standing for consultation yet we must understand that the kings which had the Common-wealth in their own power and were not obnoxious to the Lawes made Decrees of themselves without the authority of the Senate ut qui cum summo imperio essent as men that were indued with the chiefest rule and command And we find that the king judged the people two manner of wayes 1. Alone 2. Together with the Elders and Priests 2 Sam. 15 2 6. For it is said that Absolon when any man came to the king for judgment wished that he were made Judge in the Land and he did in this manner to all Israel that came to the king for judgement and when the people demanded a King instead of Samuel to reigne over them 1 Sam. 8,7 and God said They had cast him off from being their King he signifieth most plainly that while the Judges ruled which had their chiefest authority from the Law God reigned over them because his Law did rule them but the rule and government being translated unto Kings God reigned no longer over them Quia non penes legem Dei sed penes voluntatem unius
God and nature have conferred upon them some more some less according as their grants were unto their people §. The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people ANd here I would have you to consider these two points Two things considerable about the priviledged grants of Kings 1. The extent of the grants of kings Prov. 30.15 concerning these grants of Kings unto their Subjects 1. Of the extents of these grants 2. Of the Kings obligation to observe them for 1. It is certain that the people alwayes desirous of liberty though that liberty should produce their ruine are notwithstanding like the daughters of the Horse-leech still crying unto their Kings give give give us liberties and priviledges more and more and if they may have their wills they are never satisfied Till Kings by giving give themselves away And even that power which should deny betray For the concessions and giving away of their right to govern That it is to the prejudice of government to grant too many priviledges to the people is the weakning of their government and the more priviledges they give the less power they have to rule and then the more unruly will their Subjects be and therefore the people being herein like the horses the Poets faigne to be in Phaebus chariot proud and stomackfull Kings should remember the grave advice the Father gave unto Phaeton Parce puer stimulis sed fortiùs utere loris Sponte sua properant labor est inhibere volantes Ovid. Met. l. 1 They must be strongly bribled and restrained or they will soone destroy both horse and rider both themselves and their Governours Yet many Kings Constrained gifts not worthy of thanks either forcibly compelled by their unruly Subjects when they might think and therefore not yield that Who gives constrain'd but his own feare reviles Not thank't but scorn'd nor are they gifts but spoiles Or else as some intruding usurping Kings have done to retaine their unjustly gained crownes without opposition or as others out of their Princely clemency and facility What moved Kings to grant so many priviledges to their Subjects to gain the more love and affection and as they conceived the greater obligation from their Subjects have many times to the prejudice of themselves and their posterity to the diminution of the rights of government and often to the great damage of the Common-wealth given away and released the execution of many parts of that right which originally most justly belonged unto them and tyed themselves by promises and oaths to observe those Laws which they made for the exemption of their Subjects Majora jura inseperabilia à Majestue ne queunt indulgeri subditis ita cohaerent ossibus ab illo separari si ne illius destructione non possunt Paris de puteo Arnisaeus l. 2. c. 2. de jure ma. Blacvod c 7. pag. 75. things that the King cannot grant But there be some things which the King cannot grant as to transfer the right of succession to any other then the right heir to whom it doth justly belong quia non jam haereditas est sed proprium adeuntis patrimonium cujus ei pleno jure dominium acquiritur non à Patre non à populo sed à lege Because he hath this right unto the Crown not from his Father nor from the people but from the Law of the Land and from God himself which appointed him for the same saith the Civilian and therefore that vulgar saying is not absurd nunquam mori Regem That the King never dyeth for as soone as ever the one parteth with this life the other immediately without exspecting the consent either of Peeres or people doth by a just and plenary right succeed not onely as his fathers heir but as the lawful governour of the people and as the Lord of the whole kingdome not by any option of any men but by the condition of his birth and the donation of his God and therefore the resignation of the Crown by King John unto the Pope was but a fiction that could infer no diminution of the right of his successour because no King can give away this right from him whom God hath designed for it And there be some things which no Christian King should grant away as any of those things things that the King should not grant that being granted may prejudice the Church of God and depresse the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the giving way for the diminution of the just revenues of the Church the prophanation of things consecrated to Gods service and the suppression of any of the divine callings of the Gospel which are Bishops Priests and Deacons because all kings are bound to honour God and to hinder all those things whereby he is dishonoured either in respect of things persons or places Things that kings have not granted away And there be some things which the Kings of this realm have never granted away but have still retained them in their own hands as inviolable prerogatives and characteristical Symboles and Properties of their Supremacy and the relicks of their pristine right as in the time of peace those two special parts of the gouernment of the Common-wealth which do consist 1. About the Lawes 1. About the Laws 2. About the Magistrates The first whereof saith Arnisaeus containeth these particulars that is to make Lawes to create Nobility and give titles of dignity to legitimate the ill begotten to grant Priviledges to restore Offenders to their lost repute to pardon the transgressors and the like 1. Then it is the right of the King jura dare to give Laws unto his people for though as I said before the Subjects in Parliament may treat of Lawes 1. Jus Legislativum Johan Beda Pag. 25. The power of making Lawes is in the King and intreat the King to approve of them that they propose unto him yet they are no Laws and carry with them no binding force till the King gives his consent and therefore out of Parliament you see the Kings Proclamation hath vim vigorem legis the full force and strength of a Law to shew unto us that the power of making Lawes was never yeilded out of Kings hands nor can it indeed be parted with The case of our affaires pag. 11. except he part with His Majesty and Soveraignty for the limiting of his own power by his voluntary concession of such favours unto his people not to make any Lawes without their consent doth no way diminish his Soveraignty or lessen his own right and authority Stat. West 1. 3. E. 1. 3. 6. 42. Stat. of Merch. 13. E. 1. West 3. 18. E. 1. 1. Stat. of Waste 20. E. 1. of appeale 28. E. 1. 1. E. 2. 1. and all the titles and acts
them the more odious both to God and man and their names the more infamous to all posterity that after they had filled themselves with all kind of wickednesse with incredible transgressions they should be sound contemners of so favourable a pardon But though it be the Kings right to pardon faults and to restore offenders yet herein all Princes should take great heed especially when they have power to take revenge 2. Sam. 3.39 for sometimes the sinners may be like the sons of Zervia too strong for David how they pardon those great crimes that are committed to the dishonour of God and do so far provoke him to anger as to plague both the doers and the sufferers of them because that although they be soluti legibus suis not bound to their own Lawes Arnisaeus l. 1. c. 3. pag. 69. yet they are not soluti ratione praeceptis divinis but they are bound to observe Gods Lawes and to punish the transgressors of his Commandments or if they do not when they can do it they shall render a strict account to God for all their omissions as they may see it in the example of King Saul 1 Sam. 15.9 6. Jus convocandi Synodos Parliamenta c. 6. Jus convecandi the right of calling Synods Parliaments Dyets and the like were the rights of the kings of Israel and are the just Prerogatives of the kings of England howsoever this faction of the Parliament hath sought to wrest it as they do all other rights out of the kings hands by their presumption to call their Schismaticall Synod to which they have no more colour of right then to call a Parliament 7. Jus mone tas excudendi Matth. 22.20 7. Jus excudendi the right of coyning mony to give it value to stampe his armes or his image upon it as our Saviour saith Whose Image and superscription is this and they say to him Caesars is the proper right of Caesar the prerogative of the king The second sort of the King 's right is circa Magistratus 2. About the Magistrates and containeth jurisdiction rule creation of officers appointing of circuits provinces judgements censures institution of Scholes and Colledges collation of dignities receiving of sidelities and abundance more whereof I intend not to speak at this time but refer my Reader to Arnisaeus de jure Majestatis if he desires to be informed of these particulars Arn s l. 2. c. 2. And as these and the like are jura Regalia the rights of Majesty in the time of peace so when peace cannot continue it doth properly belong unto the King and to none else but to him that hath the Sovereignty whose right it is alone to make war either to succour his allyes or to revenge great injuries or for any the like just causes and as he seeth cause to conclude Peace to send Ambassadours to negotiate with foreign States and the like are the rights of Kings and the indeleble Characters of Soveraignty which whosoever violateth and endeavoureth to purloin them from the King doth with Prometheus steal fire from Heaven which the Gods would not suffer as the Poëts feign to go unrevenged And these things so far as I can finde the King never parted with them unto his Subjects and therefore whosoever pretendeth to an inderived power to do any of these and exempteth himself from the King 's right herein resisteth the ordinance of God and is guilty of High-Treason Ioh. Beda 26. what pretext soever he brings saith the Advocate of Paris And there be some things which our Kings have granted unto their Subjects Ita itiam Reges Aegypti quibus voluntas pro lege est legum tamen instituta in cogendis pecuniis quotidianoque victu sequebantur Aubanus What things Kings have granted and restrained themselves from their full right as the use of that power which makes new Lawes or repeals the old or layeth any tax or sums of monies upon his Subjects without the consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and it may be some other particulars which the Lawyers know better then I. And all these Priviledges of the Subjects are but limitations and restrictions of the King 's right made by themselves unto their people and therefore where the Law cannot be produced to confirm such and such Liberties and Priviledges granted unto them I say there the King's power is absolute and the Subject ought not in such cases to determine any thing to the disadvantage of the King because all these Liberties that we have are injoyed by vertue of the King's grant as you may see in the ratification of Magna Charta where the King saith We have granted and given all these Liberties But I could never see it produced 9 Hen. 3. where the King granted unto his Subjects that they might force him and compel him with a strong hand by an Army of Souldiers to do what they will or else to take away either his Crown or his Life this Priviledge was never granted because this deprives the King of his supremacy and puts him in the condition of a Subject and would ever prove an occasion of rebellion when the people upon every discontent would take Arms against their King And therefore this present resistance is a meer usurpation of the King 's right a rebellion against his Lawes an High Treason against his Person and a resistance of the ordinance of God which heap of deadly sins can bring none other fruit then damnation saith the Apostle CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto his people to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the King's Oath at his Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed 2. The Kings obligation to observe his grants Peter de la Primandas saith Laws annexed to the Crown the Prince cannot so abrogate them but his Successor may disannul whatsoever he hath done in prejudice of them p. 597. 2. WE are to consider how far the King is obliged to observe his promise and to make good these Liberties and Priviledges unto his Subjects where I speak not how far the father's grant may oblige the son or the predecessor his successor who cannot be deprived of his right dominion by any act of his predecessors but for the rights of his dominion how far precedent grants and the custom of their continuance with the desuetude and non-claim of his right may strengthen them unto the Subject and oblige the successors to observe them I leave it unto the Lawyers and Civilians to dispute but I am here to discusse how far the King that hath promised and taken his oath to observe his Lawes and make good all priviledges granted to his Subjects is bound in conscience to keep and observe them Touching which you must understand that these grants of immunities and favours are of three special kindes 1. Of
to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the rest of the Lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome Sol. His Majesties answer to the remonstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May 1642. To which I say that as His Majesty confesseth there are two speciall questions demanded of the king at His Coronation 1. Sir Will you grant and keep and by your oath confirm to the people of England the Lawes and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the king answereth I grant and promise to keep them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the king before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government And the king answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good king in His kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government The Kings Oath at His Coronation two-fold Then the king laying his hand upon the book saith the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keep so helpe me God and the contents of this Book Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two-fold promise and so a two-fold oath The first part of the Oath Populo Anglicano Vide D. p. 165. 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England Clergy and Laity and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus medis contrahitur contractus iisdem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium assensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the King and His Subjects Contracts wherein God is interessed cannot be dissolved without God which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gives his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principal party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists The second part of the oath Clericls Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so also with their consent some things I confess may perhaps be revoked but without their consent not any thing can be altered in my understanding without injustice for with what equity can the Laity vote away the rights of the Clergy when the Clergy do absolutely deny their assent just as if the Clergy should give away the lands of the Laity or as if I had lent the king ten thousand pounds upon the publique assurance of King and both Houses to be repaid again and they without mine assent shall vote the remission of this debt for some great benefit The party to whom the bond is made must release the bonds that they conceive redounding to the Common-Wealth by which vote I should beleive my selfe to be no better then meerely cheated or as if the Parliament without the assent of the Londoners should pass an act that all the money which they lent should be remitted for the releiving of the State I doubt not but they would conclude that act very unjust and so is this act against the Bishops because the Kings obligation to a particular body personall or politique cannot be dispensed with by the representative Kingdome without the releasement of that body to whom the King is obliged For I find that all the Casuists will tell you that juramentum promissorium ita obligat ut invito creditore non potest in melius commutari quia aliter justitia veritas non servarentur inter homines and it is their common tenet Suarez de juramento promiss l. 2. c. 12. n. 14. that it cannot be dispensed with quia per promissum acquiritur jus ei cui fit promissio utilitas unius non sufficit ut alter suo jure privetur the benefit of others must not deprive me of my right This point is so cleare that neither Scholer nor any man of reason or conscience will deny it Therefore to perswade the king that is bound by his oath to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Church and Clergy to cast out the Bishops out of their rights or to take away their Lands without their own consent whom the king by his oath hath obliged himself to protect I cannot see how they can do it without great iniquity or His Majesty consent to it and be innocent when he is fully informed of the Rights of his Clergy whereas otherwise the most religious Prince may be subject to mistakings and so nesciently admit that which willingly he would never have granted And if they can not perswade him to do this without iniquity how dare they goe about to force and compell him against conscience to commit this and such other horrible impiety but I assure my self that God who hath blessed our king and preserved him hitherto without blame as being forced to what he did or not throughly understanding what was our right the Bishops being imprisoned and not suffered to informe him nor to answer for themselves will still arme His Majesty with that resolution as shall never yeild to their impetuousnesse to transcend the limits of his own most upright conscience Yet still it is urged they were excluded by act of Parliament Ob. therefore their exclusion cannot be unjust as being done by the wisdome of the whole State and the king should not desire it to be altered I answer that all Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit Sol. but
the commandment of God that we should obey them Whitaker contra Camp p. 258. and this saith he doth binde the conscience when as the Apostle saith he is to be obeyed for conscience sake But you will say what if the King forbids me to do what God commandeth Ob. as the high Priest did to the Apostles or commandeth me to do what God forbiddeth as Julian did unto the Christians and Nebuchadnezzar to the three children We have often answered that in such a case it is better to obey God then man Sol. Act. 5.25 for it is sometimes lawfull not to obey but it is never lawfull to resist What if he compells us by force and violence to do what God forbids us to do if he playes the Tyrant violates our Laws Ob. and corrupts the true Religion with dolatry and superstition may we not then as our fore-fathers did heretofore unto Chilperick King of France and to Richard the second of this Kingdome and others bridle them and depose them too if they will not be ruled by their Great Counsell the Parliament I answer first Non spectandum quid factum sit sed quid fieri debuerit Sol. Heningus Arnisaeus de author princi in Pop. we are not so much to regard what hath been done as what ought to have been done as Arnisaeus proveth at large and sheweth most excellently with a full answer to all the Articles that were alleadged against those Kings how unjustly they were handled and deposed contrary to all right and I wish that book were translated into English 2. I say 2. Of our passive bedience that when our active obedience cannot be yeilded our passive obedience must be used for were our King as Tyrannicall as Nero as Idolatrous as Manasses as wicked as Achab and as prophane as Julian yet we may not resist when as Arnisaeus proveth by many examples Idem cap. 3. p. 68. that the Rebellion of Subjects against their King doth overthrow the order of nature and Justinian saith quis est tantae autoritatis ut nolentem principem possit coactare but in such a case we must do as all the Saints did before us not as the Heathens which thought them worthy of divine honour Cicero pro Milone which did kill a Tyrant and said with Seneca victima haud ulla amplior Potest Seneca in Hercul sur magisque opima mactari Jovi Quà m Rex iniquus But as Christ himselfe suffered under Pontius Pilate a most wicked Magistrate Christ and his Apostles suffered but never resisted the lawfull Magistrate and registred in the breviary of our Faith that we might never forget our duty rather to suffer then to resist the authority that is from Heaven and as Saint Ambrose answered the Emperour that would have his Church delivered to the Arians I shall never be willing to leave it coactus repugnare non novi if I be compelled I have not learned to resist I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the Armes and Gotish Souldiers my teares are my weapons for those are the Bulwarkes of the Priest who in any other manner neither can neither ought he to resist so must all Christians rather by suffering death then by resisting our King to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven But 't is objected by our Sectaries that His Majesty confesseth Ob. The Author of the Treatise of Monarchy p. 31. there is a power Legally placed in the two houses more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny Sol. The law provides that the king should not be circumvented and â—â—ronged I answer first when it pleased the King of His grace to restrain His own power of making Laws to the consent of Peeres and Commons that by this Regulating of the same it might be purged from all destructive exorbitanâ—es the very Law it self being tender of the legitimate rights of the King and considering the Person of the Soveraign to be single and his power counterpoysed by the opposite wisdome of the two Houses allowed him to swear unto himself a body of Council of State and Counsellors at Law and the Judges also to advise him and informe him so that as he should not do any wrong by reason of the restrayning Votes of the Houses so he might not receive any wrong by the incroachment of the Parliament upon his right The Kings concessions very large and the King being driven away from his learned Counsel and forced to make the defence of his rights by writing it is no wonder if his concessions and promises as well in this point as in other things especially in that concerning the Act of excluding the Clergy were more then was due to them or then he needed to grant or then he ought to observe being to the dishonour of God and the prejudice of his Church when as nothing in Parliament where the wrong may be perpetual should be extracted from him but what he should well consider of with the advice of his Counsel and what he should freely grant and whatsoever is otherwise done is ill done to the great disadvantage of the King and his Posterity and the unjust inlarging of their power more then is due unto them yet 2. I say if these words of His Majesties be rightly weighed they give no colour of resisting Tyranny by any forcible armes but aâ— Doctor Ferne saith most truly of a Legal D Ferne in his reply to sever treat p. 32. Moral and Parliamentary restraint for the woâ—ds are there is a power legally placed in the Houses that is the Law hath placed a power in them but you shall never find any Law that any King hath granted whereby himself might be resisted and subdued by open force and violence for as Roffensis saith Roffensis de potest Papae 291. Eâ—phanta Pythag l. De Regno apud Stobaeum fol. 335. Reges suo solius judicio reservavit Deus qui stans in Synagoga deorum dijudicat eos God hath reserved Kings to his own judgement and the Heathen man could say as Stobaeus testifieth primùm Dei deinde Regis est ut nulli subriciatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first it is the priviledge of God next of the King to be subject unto none because the Regal power properly is unaccountable to any man as Suidas saith and Josephus saith that the holiest men that ever were among the Hebrews called essaei or esseni that is the true practisers of the Law of God maintained that soveraigne Princes whatsoever they were ought to be inviolable to their Subjects A principle tenet of the Essaei And some think that the Common-wealth is happier under a Tyrant that will keep them in awe then under too mild a Prince upon whose clemency they will presume to Rebel Jer. 27.5 6. A memorable place against resisting Tyrants for they saw there was scarce any thing more usual in holy Scripture then the prohibition of resistance
or refusal of obedience to the Prince whether he were Jew or Pagan milde or tyrannical good or bad as to instance one place for all where the Lord saith I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me and now I have given all those Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my servant and he was both a Heathen an Idolater and a mighty Tyrant and all Nations shall serve him and his son and his sons son and it shall come to passe that the Nation and Kingdome which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon and that will not put their necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with the Famine and with the Pestilence until I have consumed them by his hands therefore hearken not ye unto your Prophets nor to your Diviners whiâ—h speak unto you saying you shall not serve the King of Babylon for they prophesy a lye unto you which he repeateth again and again they prophesy a lye unto you that you should perish and may not I apply these words to our very time God saith I have given this Kingdome unto King Charles which is a mild just and most pious king and they that will say nolumus hunc regnare super nos I will destroy them by his hand therefore o ye seduced Londoners beleive not your false Prophets nay hearken not to your diuiners your Anabaptists and Brownists that preach lies and lies upon lies unto you that you should perish for God hath not sent them though they multiply their lyes in his name therefore why will you dye why will you destroy your selves and your Posterity by refusing to submit your selves to mine ordinance and what should God say more unto you to hinder your destruction and it was concluded by a whole Council that si quis potestati regia Concil Meldens apud Roffen l. 2. c. 5. de potest papa quae non est teste Apostolo nisi a Deo contumaci afflato spiritu obtemperare irrefragabiliter nolnerit anathematizetur Whosoever resisteth the Kings Power and with a proud spirit will not obey him let him be accursed But then you will say this is strange doctrine that wholly takes away the liberty of the Subject if they may not resist regal tyranny Ob. I thinke there is no good Subject Sol. that loves his Soveraigne that will speake against a just and lawful liberty when it is a far greater honour unto any king to rule over free and gentile Subjects then over base and turkish slaves but as under the shadow and pretence of Christian liberty many carnal men have rooted out of their hearts all Christianity Many evils do lurk under fair shewes so many Rebellious and aspiring mindes have under these colourable titles of the liberty of the Subjects and suppressing tyranny shaked of the yoke of all true Obedience and dashed the rights of government all to pieces therefore as the law of God and the rules of his own conscience should keep every Christian King from exercising any unjust tyranny over his Subjects so if men will transcend the rules of true obedience the Kings Power and authority should keep them from transgressing the limits of their just liberty but this unlawfulnesse of resisting our lawful King I have fully proved in my Grand Rebellion and it is so excellently well done by many others that I shall but acta agere to say any more of it CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the King for six special reasons to be paid the condition of a lawful tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the King that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and Pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our King 4. TRibute is another right and part of that honour which we owe unto our King Negotia enim infinita sustinet The great charge of Princes equabile jus omnibus administrat periculum à republica cùm necessitas postulat armis virtute propulsat bonis praemia pro dignitate constituit improbos suppliciorum acerbitate coercet patriam denique universam ab externis hostibus ab intestinis fraudibus tutam vigilantia sua praestat haec quidem munera aut opere tuetur aut quoties opus fuerit tuenda suscipit qui autem existimat haec tam multa munera sint maximis sumptibus sustineri posse mentis expers est atque vitae communis ignarus idcirco hoc quod communi more receptum est ut reges populi sumptibus alantur non est humano tantùm jure sed etiam diuino vallatum Osorius de rebus Emanuel lib. 12 p. 386. saith eloquent Osorius For he undergoeth infinite affaires he administreth equal right to all his people he expelleth and keepeth away from the Common-wealth all dangers when necessity requireth both with armes and prowesse he appointeth rewards to the good and faithful according to their deserts he restraineth the wiâ—ked with the sharpnesse and severity of punishments and he preserveth his Country and Kingdome safe by his care and watchfulnesse both from Forraigne foes and intestine frauds and these offices he dischargeth indeed and undertaketh taketh to discharge them as often as any need requireth And he that thinketh that all these things so many and so great affaires can be discharged without g eat cest and charge is void of understanding and ignorant of the common course of life and therefore this thing which is received by a common custom that Kings should be assisted and their royalty maintained by the publick charge of the people is not onely allowed by humane law but is also confirmed by the divine right Men should therefore consider that the occasions of Kings are very great abroad for intelligence and correspondency with Foreign States that we may reap the fruit of other Nations vent our own commodities to our best advantage and be guarded secured and preserved from all our outward enemies and at home to support a due State answerable to his place to maintain the publique justice and judgements of the whole Kingdom and an hundred such like occasions that every private man cannot perceive and think you that these things can be done without meanes without money If you still pour out and not pour in your bottle will be soon empty and the Ocean sea would be soon dried up if the Rivers did not still supply the same and therefore not onely Deioces that I speak of before when he was elected King of the Medes caused them to build him a most stately Palace and the famous City of Ecbatana and to give him a goodly band of select men for the safeguard of his Person and to provide all other
to purge himself before Valentinian 2. q. 7. Nos si and Pope Leo the third before Charles the Great And it is registred that Pope Leo the 4th wrote unto the Emperour Lodouick saying Epist Eleuth inter leges Edovard Si incompetenter aliquid egimus justae legis tramitem non conservavimus admissorum nostrorum cuncta vestro judicio volumus emendare If we have done any thing unseemly and amiss and have not observed and walked in the right path of the just law we are most ready and willing to amend all our admissions or whatsoever we have done amiss according to your judgment Theodoretus l. 2. c. 1. and Pope Eleutherius saith to Edward the I. of England V s est is Vicarius Dei in Regno vestro that he and so every other King is Gods Vicar in his Kingdom This was the mind and sense of these Popes and many other Popes in former ages were of the same mind until pride avarice and ambition corrupted them to be as now they are How the Emperour and Kâ—nâ—â— executed the power that God had given thâ—m And as God hath given this power and required this duty of Kings and Princes to have a care of his Church and to reform Religion and the Fathers and Councels have confirmed this truth and divers of the very Popes themselves and Pâ—pists have yielded and submitted themselves unto their spiritual jurisdiction even in the Ecclesiastical causes so the Emperours and Kings omitted not to execute the same from time to time especially those that had the master power and ability to discharge their duties Idâ—m l. 1. c 7. for Theodoret writes that Constantine was wont to say Si episcopus tâ—rbas det mea manu coercebitur If any Bishop shall be turbulent and troublesome he shall be refrained and censured by my hands and both Theodoret and Eusebius tels us how he came in his own person unto the Councell of Nice Sozâ—m l. 4. c. 16. Et omnibus exsurgentibus ipse ingressus est medius tanquam aliquis Dei coelestis Angelus the whole company of the Bishops and all the rest arising he came into the midst amongst them as it were an Heavenly Angel of God And Sozomen writeth how that ten Bishops of the East and ten others of the West Conciliorum Tom 2. In vita Sylvani vigila were required by Constantine to be chosen out by the Convocation and to be sent to his Court to declare unto him the decrees and canons of the Councell that he might examine them and consider whether they were consonant to the Holy Scriptures And the Emperour Constantius deposed Pope Liberius of his Bishoprick and then again he deprived Pope Foelix and restored Liberius unto the Popedom and in the third Councell at Costantinople he did not only sit among the Bishops but also subscribed Concil Boni 3. c. 2. with the Bishops to such bills as passed in that Councell saying Vidimus Subscripsimus we have seen these canons and have subscribed our approbation of them And King Odoacer touching the Affairs of the Church saith Miramur quicquam tentatum fuisse sine nobis We do admire that you should attempt to do any thing without us for while our Bishop lived that is the Pope sine Nobis nihil tentari oportuit Nothing ought to be done without us much less ought it to be done now when he is dead And the Emperour Justinian doth very often in Ecclesiastical causes Authent Coliat 1 tit 6. use to say Definimus jubemus We determine and command and we will and require that none of the Bishops be absent from his Church Quomodo oportet Episcop above the space of a year and he saith further Nullum genus rerum est quod non sit penitus quaerendum Authoritate Imperatoris there is no kind of matter that may not or is not to be inquired into by the Authority of the Emperour Authent Collat. Tit. 133. because he hath received from the hands of God the common government and principality over all men And the same Emperour as Balsamon saith Balsamon de Peccat Tit. 9. Idem in Calced Concil c. 12. Idem de fide Tit. 1. gave power to the Bishop to absolve a Priest from pennance and to restore him to his Church And the same Author saith that the Emperours disposed of Patriarchal seats and that this power was given them from above and he saith further that the Emperour Michael that ruled in the East made a law against the order of the Church that no Monk should serve in the Ministry in any Church whatsoever And we read further how that divers of the Emperours have put down and deposed divers Popes as Otho deposed John 13. Evodius inter decreta Bonifacâ—â— Vâ—sâ—ergen anno 1045. Honorius deposed Boniface Theodoricus deposed Symmaâ—hus and Henry removed three Popes that had been all unlawfully chosen and in the Councel of Chalcedon the Supreme Civil Magistrate adjudged Dioscorus Juvenalis and Thalassus three Bishops of Heresie and therefore to be degraded and to be thrust out of the Church And so you see how the Emperours â—ings and Civil Magistrates behaved themselves in the Church of God and used their power and the Authority that God had given them as well in the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Church and points of Faith as in the Civil Government of the Common-wealth CHAP. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the function and to do the Offices of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a speciall care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge their duties of Gods service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time BUt as God hath given unto the Kings and Princes of this world a Power and Authority as well over his Church and Church-men be they Prophets Apostles Bishops Priests or what you will as over the Common wealth and all the lay persons of their Dominions So they ought and are bound to have a special care of Religion and to discharge their duties for the glory of God the good of his Church the promoting of the Christian Faith and the rooting up of all Sects and Heresies that defile and corrupt the same for as Saint Augustine saith and I shewed you before In hoc Reges Deo serviunt herein Kings and Princes do serve God if Aug. contra Crescon l. 3. c. 51. as they are Kings they injoyn the things that are good and inhibit those things that are evil and that Non solum in iis quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem sed etiam ad divinam Religionem and again he saith Idem Epist 48. that Kings do serve Christ here on earth when they do make good laws for Christ and
companions Sidrac Misach and Abednego which was the true God that they are registred in the Book for their perpetuall honour and praise to this very day and shall continue longer then the stately Piramides of Egypt even to the end of the World when as most others of their laws and actions are shut up in silence and buried in the grave of forgetfulness So Artaxerxes Mnemon the son of Darius Nothus formerly called Ochus or Achus that in the Persian language signifieth a Prince was very zealous for the building of Gods House and the inabling of the builders thereof with all things necessary for the work and as his father Darius said Let the work of this House of God alone and let the Governour of the Jews and the elders of them build this House of God in his place Moreover I make a decree and it was a most Royall decree what you shall do to the Elders of these Jews for the building of this House of God that of the Kings goods even of the tribute beyond the River forthwith expences be given to these men that they be not hindered and that which they have need of both young Bullocks and Rams and Lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of Heaven Wheat Here is a glorious zeal and a brave Resolution for the honour and service of God Salt Wine and Oyl according to the appointment of the Priests let it be given them day by day without faile that they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of Heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons that were four 1. Artaxerxes 2. Cyrus the younger 3. Atossa called also Arsacas 4. Oxendra And I have also made a decree that Whosoever shall alter this word Ezra 6.7 8 9 10 11. let Timber be pulled down from his house and being set up let him be hanged thereon and his house be made a dunghill for this So the son following the steps of his father as our Most gracious King doth in like manner made a Decree to all the Treasurers that were beyond the River That whatsoever Ezra the Priest shall require of you it be done speedily Also we certifie you that touching any of the Priests and Levites Singers Porters Nethinims or Ministers of the House of God Ezra c. 7. 21.24 it shall not be lawful to impose Tolle Tribute or Custom upon them a thing clean contrary to the practice of our times when the greatest Tolle Tax and Imposition is usually laid upon the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ to shew unto you how far short our Christians now are in piety and zeal of Gods Worship to these Heathens that knew not Christ and therefore no doubt but that they shall shall rise in judgement against us that profess to honour Christ and yet think we can never take enough from his Church nor lay Taxes and Loads enough upon his Ministers And how this will be answered before Christ at the last Day let the sacrilegious persons that labour so much and strive so eagerly to take our houses from us consider it for I know not how to do it 2. The Kings of Israel and Juda. 2. As these Heathen Kings and Monarchs were thus zealously affected to the House Service of God and thus religiously given to provide maintenance for the Priests and Ministers of the Temple So the Kings of Israel and Juda were no whit inferiour unto them but in a far righter way and to a truer God than most of the Heathens did For here you see King David adjudged it to be as needful to build a Temple for God as to erect an house for himself And so the Books of the Kings and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Juda do sufficiently set down how Solomon did most religâ—ously build God's House and offered Royal Sacrifices in that House and most orderly setled the Priests and Levites to do the Service of God in this Temple that he had built And so Jehosophat Ezechias Josias and all the rest of the good Kings of Juda did execute the power that God had given them in the setling and establishing of His Religion and the True Worship of God as you may most amply read in their lives And those Kings that did not care for the preservation of the True Religion and Gods Service and his Houses as Jeroboam Baasha Ahab and the like the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them that he rooted them and their posterity out of their own house because they neglected the Service and the House of God And so he will do to all those Kings and Princes that will imitate them in prophaning his House neglecting his Service and abusing his servants because that with Him there is no respect of persons but He will bind Kings in fetters Psalm 148. and their Nobles with links of iron 3. The Christian Kings 3. The Christian Emperours and Kings are not left un-Chronicled for their great zeal extraordinary care and Royal bounty towards the Bishops and Ministers of Christ to propagate and uphold the Christian Religion For it is Registred in the Writings of those times that Constantius the father of Constantine the Great was wont to say That he respected the Preachers of the Gospel more than the Treasures of his Exchequer And his son Constantine was called Great as well for his Piety that made him like John Baptist to be Magnus coram Domino Great in the sight of the Lord as for his Potency that made him Great among men And Eusebius that wrote the Life of Constantine and sets down his Piety saith The Court of the Emperour Valerian was so replenished with godly men and religious Christians that it seemed to be the Church of God rather than the Kings Court So great a care had he of Religion and the Service of God that as the Prophet David saith Psal 101.9 saith none should be his servants that served not God but whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant said this good Emperour as good King David said before him And the Emperour Jovinian that succeeded Julian the Apostate who withdrew very many from the Christian Religion to imbrace the idolatrous service and superstitions of the Heathens when he attained unto the Empire said to the people That he would be a King of Christians or he would be no King at all And Alphonsus King of Arragon is made Famous in all Chronicles for the great love he bare to Learning and especially for the great zeal he had to the Christian Religion and the great care he took to promote the Gospel of Christ and to provide for his servants and when some other King said unto him That it was too base an office for a King to trouble himself with such affairs Alphonsus answered Vox â—ovis ista est potius quam regis That voice seemed to him to be the voice of an Oxe rather than of a
King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the â—assâ—ls of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as those pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings hath not wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. and King Canutus the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Câ—mmon-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth Speed quo supra pag. 384. are most excellent for the execution of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that able honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be punished and removed if they amend not for their negligence and transgressions 3. To provide by their good Laws such maintenance revenues and means for the Reverend and godly Bishops and the rest of the worthy Clergy whereby they may be inabled with joy and comfort to discharge their duties in God's Service to his glory and the good of his people 4. To put a bar and to hinder by their Regal power and authority all the sacrilegious violaters of holy things to rob the Church of Christ and his servants and to commit the horrible sin of Sacriledge which is so transcendently abominable in the sight of God and so infinitely destructive to the souls of men 1. The necessity of Cathedral-Churches and other Parochial Chappels for the Sâ—rvice of God These things ought to be done as I conceive by all good and godly Kings and Princes and whoso doth these things shall never fail And. 1. In defence of Cathedral-Churches we have to alleadge that till the time of Euaristus and Dionysius Popes of Rome no other kind of ministerial Church was ever heard of from the beginning of the World for from Adam unto Moses men did call upon the Name of the Lord and offered Sacrifices but without any ministerial Church at all And in Moses time Platina de vitis Pontif. Carrion annal Monarch Exod. 25.46 Acts 7.44 2 Sam. 7.6 Acts 7.47 God commanded him to erect a Tabernacle which stood instead of a Church for all the Land of Judea and that was Templum portatile as Josephus calls it to be carried up and
House even three thousand Talents of Gold of the Gold of Ophir and seven thousand Talents of refined Silver to over-lay the walls of the house withall The Gold for things of Gold and the Silver for things of Silver and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of the Artificers And so the chief of the Fathers and Princes of the tribes and Captains also offered most willingly and gave for the service the building and beautifying of the House of God of Gold five thousand Talents and ten thousand drams and of Silver ten thousand Talents 1 Chron. 39 7 and of Brass eighteen thousand Talents and one hundred Talents of Iron And not only this good Kings heart and his people The Fathers before Davids time did the like were thus inlarged so freely to offer their goods for the building beautifying and adorning of Gods House but also all other faithfull servants of God that were zealous of Gods Worship both afore and after Davids time did the like for if you consider the building of the Tabernacle and the furniture that belong'd unto it in the time of Moses you shall find that although the people were but wanderers in the wilderness and therefore could not be very wealthy nor have any more riches but only what they brought out of Egypt yet this was the free and voluntary dedication of the Altar in the day when it was anointed by the Princes of Israel Twelve Chargers of silver twelve silver Bouls twelve Spoons of Gold each Charger of silver weighing one hundred and thirty shekels each Boul seventy cicles or shekels all the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred shekels after the shekel of the Sanctuary the golden Spoons were twelve full of incense weighing ten shekels a piece after the shekel of the Sanctuary Numb 7.84 85 86. All the Gold of the Spoons was one hundred and twenty shekels every shekel weighing half an ounce Whereby you may perceive what care they took in that infancy of the Church to have all the appurtenances of the House of God so fair and so specious as they could possibly make it even to the uttermost of their abilities And so after Davids time besides the foresaid moneys that David left for the use of Gods House which came to the rate of eight thousand Talents of Gold and of Silver seventeen thousand chikars and every chikar containing one thousand and eight hundred cicles and weighing nine hundred ounces King Solomon was so bountifull and his donation so exceeding large that it can very hardly be valued for besides the stuffes that he laid in of Timber Marble Stone Brass Iron Copes and Pretious-stones he overlayed the greater House which he sieled with Firr-trees with fine Gold and the garnishing of the House with Pretious-stones for beauty and the Gold was the Gold of Parvaim and he overlayed the House the beams the posts and the walls thereof and the doors thereof with Gold and graved Cherubims on the walls and he over-laid the most hoâ—y House with fine Gold amounting to six hundred Talents and the weight of the nailes was fifty Shekels of Gold and he over-laid the upper Chambers with Gold and the two Cherubims he over-laid with Gold and he made ten Candlesticks of Gold and a hundred Basins of Gold and the Flowers and the Lamps 2 Chron. 3. 4. and the Tongs made he of Gold and that perfect Gold and the Snâ—ffâ—rs and the Censers of pure Gold and the Entry of the House the Inner-doors and the doors of the House of the Temple were of Gold And when all these unvaluable Treasures and Furnitures of this House of God were ransacked and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and Cyrus after their 70. years Captivity gave the Jews leave to Return and gave them power and licence to re-edifie and to build the House of God again these captive Jews newly returned out of bondage beyond their ability were most bountiful in their contributions for the setting up of another Temple which though for Beauty and Majesty it was not correspondent to the former Temple yet was it very glorious and finished most readily and the free Donations of the people were so large that when all the work was finished the surplusage of their Gifts that remained to beautifie the same and provide ornaments for it and to defray other future reckonings amounted to 650. Chichars of Silver and a 100. Chichars of Gold And to this Nehemias the Tyrshatha gave to the Treasure a thousand drams of Gold Nehem. 7.70 fifty Basins and five hundred and thirty Priests Garments And so likewise some of the chief of the Fathers and Heads of houses were not behind Verse 71.72 to build and beautifie this House of God but gave to the Treasure of the work twentie thousand drams of God and two thousand and two hundred pound of Silver and that which the rest of the people gave was twentie thousand drams of Gold and two thousand pound of Silver and sixty seven Priests Garments Thus you see how the Jews both in the time of David and before David and after David and both in their prosperitie and in their adversitie when they were full in the dayes of Solomon and when they were emptie and weak after their return from Captivity were most zealously affected to build and beautifie the House of God and to spare neither Gold nor Silver to adorne the same as it ought to be And what do we Surely change the case instead of giving to build and beautifie the Church and the maintenance of the Service of God's House we take away the states and timber and all the Furniture of the Church and as the Psalmist prophesied of our times all the carved works thereof and the goodly Monuments of our pious forefathers we break down with axes and hammers and instead of providing the Priests Vestures for the Church-service we are more ready to take their garments from their backs and their bread out of their mouths Obj. But you will say they were Jews which so adorned their Temple as you shewed before and their Religion consisted in outward pomp and carnal Service whereas we are Christians and the Kings Daughter which is the Church of Christ is all glorious within and her service to God consisteth not either in carnal Ceremonies or external Glory but as Christ faith in spirit and in truth Sol. I answer That I confess the chiefest Glory of the Kings Daughter is within in a pure heart and a sanctified soul but her clothing is of wrought Gold and her outward rayment is of needle work and her vesture is of pure Gold wrought about with divers colours very fair and glorious to behold So our Religion and our zeal to God's Worship must not only rest and reside in the heart but it must bud forth and appear in all our outward actions and God will be served not only inwardly with our hearts but
most generally found that the Children of the precedent Bishops that have most wronged the Church and their Successors Why the sons of Bishops are most spitefull unto the Succeeding Bishops are in all things most contrariant and opposites I will not say spiteful or envious to the succeeding Bishops because as I conceive their hearts tell them what injuries their Fathers did them for their sakes and themselves continue therein and therefore do conceive that the present Bishops cannot think well nor love them that have so much wronged both them and the Church of God and to requite them according to their own thoughts with hate for hate they are of all others most spiteful crossing and prejudiciall unto them or else because they do imagine that the present and succeeding Bishops will be as wicked and as unjust as their Fathers and their predecessors were and therefore deserve neither love nor favour from them As Alexander the Copper-smith withstood S. Paul So the last Bishops son withstandeth me to recover the rights of the Church And I heard many Parliament men say that in the Long Anti-Christian Parliament none were more violent against the Bishops then the sons and posterity of Precedent Bishops I found it so And I have espied another fault in some of our former Bishops not a little prejudiciall to the Honor of God and the good of the Church of Christ and that is not only to give Orders to unworthy men but also to bestow livings upon unworthy Priests for as the old saying was Rector eris praesto de sanguine praesulis esto Or as another saith Quatuor ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Sed paucis solet quarta patere Dei So it was their practice to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other Preferments not on them that best deserved them but either upon their Children friends or servants or on them that could as the story goeth tell them And so to the lessor and to the lessee of the Church-Lands to the prejudice of the Church the like curse and Anathema is due who was Melchisedecks Father that is to say St. Peters lesson Aurum argentum non est mihi in the affirmative way which is a fault worthy to be punished by the Judges For as it is most truely said Qâ—icunque sacra vel sacros ordines vendunt aut emunt sacerdotes esse non possunt whosoever do buy or sell holy orders or any holy things cannot be Priests Vnde scriptum est Anathema danti Anathema accipienti whence it is written Let Gods curse be to the buyer and the curse of God to the receiver because this buying and selling of Holy things and things dedicated for the service of God is the Simoniacal Heresie or Heresie of Simon Mâ—gus Qâ—omodo ergo si Anathematizati sunt sancti non sunt sanctificare alios possunt Habetur 1. q. 1. Can. Quicunque How then if they be accursed and no Saints can they make others Saints or sanctify them Et cum in corpore Christi non sint quomodo Christi corpus tradere vel accipere possunt Et qui maledictus est benedicere quomodo potest And seeing such men are not in the body of Christ how can they deliver or receive the body of Christ and how can he that is accursed himself bless any other And therefore seeing the Word of God requireth the Bishops and Ministers of Christ should be so Holy in their lives and so qualified with knowledge and learning for the instruction of the people as I shewed to you before and is typified by those Golden Bels and the Pomegranats that were to be set in the skirts of Aarons robes round about the Bels signifying the teaching of the people and the Pomegranats the sweet smelling fruits of a good and godly life It behoves the Kings and Princes to whom God hath given the prime Soveraignty and commandeth them to have a care of his Honor and the service of his Church to see so far as they can that the Bishops and Prelates which they place over Gods people be so qualified as God requireth and to injoyn these their prime Substitutes to look that those Priests and Deacons which they make and place in the Church be likewise such as I have fore-shewed for this God requireth at their hands and this David Jehosaphat Ezechias Josias and all the good and godly Kings of Israel and Juda and all the pious Christian Kings and Emperors did and I do know how zealously and carefully our late most gracious King Charles the I. was to place Able Religious and Godly Bishops over Gods Church which is a special duty of every King And because also the Prelates and Bishops are not all or may not all be no more then the Apostles were all such as they should be but some of them may be such as I have shewed to you before either like Simon Magus selling what they should freely give or like Demas imbracing this present World or like Baalam loving the wages of unrighteousness or perhaps doing worse then those Apostatizing like Julian and starting aside like Ecebolius or devising wicked Heresies like Arius or renting the unity of the Church like Donatus then as Solomon deposed Abiathar and divers of the good Emperours deposed wicked Popes and the godly Kings have pull'd down ungodly Bishops as our late Queen Elizabeth did degrade Bishop Bonner and divers other Popish Prelates so should all good and godly Kings reprove and correct and if they amend not expel and remove all scandalous and ungodly Bishops and the Bishops do the like to all deboyst and dissolute Ministers that so the old and sowre leaven may be purged out of Gods Church and the builders of Gods Tabernacle be like Bezaliel and Aholiab such as can and will do the work of the Lord carefully and Religiously CHAP. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of Gods Church how large and liberal it ought to be THirdly When the Kings and Princes 3. To provide sufficient means for the Church-men which are the Supreme Magistrates and as Tertullian saith Homines à Deo secundi solo Deo minores are the men that are next to God in power and Authority and therefore ought to have the prime and chiefest care of Gods Honour and his worship in the Church of Christ have as I have formerly shewed with King David and Solomon Colimus imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum so lo Deâ— minorem Tertul. ad Scapulam provided that Temples and Churches be erected and beautified as fit houses of God for his people and servants to convene and meet in them to Worship God and have likewise taken care in the next place to see that good men and godly Bishops be appointed over those Churches as their substitutes to Rule Govern and Teach the people of God how to live and
of the Priests for his Service so he takes the Gifts and Donations and Oblations of the people unto himself saying Thou shalt give them me Exod. 22.30 So he calls the Church his House Matth. 21.13 and the Tythes his Tythes saying Will a man rob his God yet you have robbed me in Tythes and Offerings And for lands he saith You shall offer unto the Lord an holy portion Ezech. 45. 1. And the same Law S. Paul presseth under the Gospel as you may see in 1 Cor. 9.13 14. and 1 Tim. 5.17 18. For though we have some differences in the manner of God's Worship when as the Sacrifices and several Ceremonies are abolished yet there is the same substance for the Guides in God's Worship which is the reason of the Law as the Prophet Esay in the Name of the Lord hath foretold us when as prophesying of the state of Christ his Church and the Ministers thereof he saith And I will also take of them for Priests and Levites Esay 66.21 saith the Lord and not lay-men And therefore these things may not be sold away or alienated and impropriated from the Priests because that now God hath the best Interest therein and though before they were devoted given to him you might have told them alienated them or put them to what use you would yet now being God's proper goods even by your own Donation you may not without God's consent impropriate them from God and from his Service For As in the case of Marriage before the Marriage both the man and the woman are free to do what they please to marry or not to marry consensus partium and both their consents publickly attested by the Priest makes up the Marriage but after they are Marryed let them both consent as they will and as often as they will yet there desire and consent cannot dis-joyn them and dissolve the Marriage because that now God had a hand in the Marriage and whom God hath joyned together neither they themselves nor any man else may put assunder Even so it is in the case of devoted and consecrated things lands houses or what you will offered up as a Free-will-offering unto God Before you make your Oblation of them you may do with them what you please give them or not give them as the man might marry this woman or not marry her but when once they are offered and given unto God you must not make a mock of God and alienate or impropriate them from Him and his Service or if you do Solomon will tell you It is destruction and a snare to the man Prov. 20.25 which devoureth that which is sanctified or given to God and after vows to make inquiry and search for wayes to deprive God of them as now our men of War and many others do But if men gave 5 pound or 10 pound or other sum Obj. unto the Church for the furtherance of God's Service and to secure the same appointed lands worth 50 pound or a 100 pound to pay it unto the Bishop or other Ministers of the Church Will you have the lands and not rather still accept of the money that was to be paid out of those lands and was the true meaning of the Donor I answer God forbid that any man in such a case Sol. should desire to have any more than what was given and intended to be given for God accepteth of no unjust acquisitions and a just man requireth no unjust thing But when the whole is given to God no Bishop for love either to his wife or children or for any other gain should lett and lease that for 5 pound which is worth 50 pound or the like as I have shewed to you before But I know what our sacrilegious persons Obj. that take the Tythes of impropriations and the lands houses and possessions of the Church into their possessions will further object and say for themselves and against me That our Laws do allow them to do what they do and our Bishops that knew God's will as well or better than my self have formerly lett out the lands and houses belonging to the Church in fee-ferme and for a very small rent unto their Tenants and Fee-fermers and they do still lett out long leases of them unto their children and friends and therefore they are not to be blamed but if there be any fault herein it is in our selves and in our Predecessors To which Objection I shall answer but as I did before Sol. That tyrannical fierce and wilful Kings and Princes and wicked Governours See what I say in the Grand Rebellion c. 7. when they have once got power and authority into their hands as was King Henry the Eighth and the late Rebel and Usurper Crumwell will make what laws and force the people in their Parliament to give their consent to what Acts and â—â—tutes soever they please And do you think that such Laws can excuâ—â—â—ou for the breach of the Law of God And for our Bishops that do of have done such things to the prejudice of the Church and the great dishonour of our God I confess majus peccatum habent our sin is more than yours for we are but God's Stewards intrusted with the implements of his House and the revenues of his Church to be used and imployed not wastefully upon our selves in pride or upon our children to make them Knights or Lords and Ladies but for the best advantage and furtherance of God's Service and the honour of Jesus Christ as he hath commanded us to dispose of them and you know we must render an account of our Stewardship and how soon I know not and if we waste our Masters goods or take all or more than is due unto our selâ—â—â— â—hen we should dispose of it to other uses for the Service of our Masâ—â—r I know not how we shall answer it But I know that our greater sin in imbezelling and alienating our Masters goods and the Revenues of his Church will not quit and excuse you for your lesser sin in being copartners with us in this Sacriledge for as the receiver of any stollen goods is liable to the Law as well as the stealer of his neighbours goods so is the lessee as well as the lessor the detainer as well as the maker away of these unlawful Fee-ferms and long Leases of the Church-Revenues liable to the just judgement of God And therefore in this respect that the Donations and Free-will-offerings of religious and holy men were given not to men but to God and for the Honour and Service of God and the good of his Church the worthiest Bishops and best Prelates and Servants of Christ would rather suffer the greatest indignities and the heaviest wrath of the most powerful Commanders than they would yield to satisfie their desires that sought to take away or alienate the goods of God that were dedicated to him for the service of his Church For when at the instigation and
a greater than Solomon Christ himself not refusing the censure of Pilate though for no fault Saint Paul appealing unto Caesar Caecilian judged by the Delegates of Constantine Flavianus by Theodosius and all the Martyrs and godly Bishops never pleading exemption from their persecutors do make this point beyond all question 3. Governours well agreeing in their government 3. These two Governours were not onely consanguinei two brethren for so were Cain and Abel to whom totus non sufficit orbis but they were also consentanei like the soul and body of man of the same sympathy and affection for the performance of every action For the Church and Common-wealth are like Hippocrates twins so linked together as the Ivie intwisteth it self about the Oak that the one cannot happily subsist without the other but as the Secretary of nature well observeth That the Marygold opens with the Sun and shuts with the shade even so when the Sun-beams of peace and prosperity shine upon the Common-wealth then by the reflection of those beams the Church dilates and spreads it self the better as you may see in Acts 9.31 and on the other side when any Kingdom groaneth under civill dissention the Church of Christ must needs suffer persecution And therefore to this end that the Prince and Priest might as the two feet of a man help each other to support the weight of the whole body and to bear the burthen of so great a charge God at the first severing of these offices which before were united in one person as the Poet saith of Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos and as the Apostle saith of Melchisedech that he was both a King and the Priest of the most high God did chuse two natural brethren to be the Governours of his people and that quod non caret mysterio Aaron was the eldest and yet Moses was the chiefest to signifie as I take it that they should rather help and further each other then any wayes rule and domineer one over the other because that although Aaron was the eldest brother and chief Priest yet Moses was the chief Magistrate and his brother's god as God himself doth stile him and therefore this should terrorem incutere and teach him how to behave himself towards his brother and though Moses was the chief Magistrate yet Aaron was the chief Priest and his eldest brother which had not lost like Reuben the prerogative of his birth-right and this should reverentiam inducere work in Moses a respect unto his brother's age and place And truly there is great reason why these two should do their best to support and protect each other for the government of the people is as we may now see a very difficult and miraculous thing no lesse then the appeasing of the Surges of the raging Sea as the Prophet sheweth when he saith That God ruleth the rage of the Sea and the noyse of his waves and the madness of his people And the Rod of government is a miraculous Rod as well that of Aaron as that of Moses for as Moses Rod turned into a Serpent and the Serpent into a Rod again so the Rod of Aaron of a dry stick did blossome and bear ripe Almonds to shew how strange and wonderful a thing it is either for Prince or Priest to rule an unruly multitude too much for any one of them to do and therefore God doth alwayes joyn both of them together as the Psalmist sheweth Thou leddest thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron And besides if these two do not assist and protect each other they shall be soon suppressed one after another of their own people for if the Prince which is to be our Nursing-Father be once subdued then presently the Priest shall be destroyed and when he hath lost his power our power shall never be able to do any good and if the Priest which prayeth and preacheth to direct the King be trampled under foot As soon as men have overthrown their Priests they will presently labour to destroy their king it hath been found most certain that after they have thrown away the Miter they have not long retained the Scepter And therefore King James of ever blessed memory of a sharp conception and sound judgement was wont to say No Bishop no King unlesse you mean such a King as Christ was when the Jewes crowned him with Thorns and bowing their knees said Hail King of the Jews that is Rex sine Regno a King without power like a man of straw that is onely made to fright away the birds For the people are alwayes prone to pull out their necks from the yoke of their obedience and would soon rebell if the Priests did not continually preach that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers as we see now by experience how apt they are to rebell when factious Preachers give them the least incouragement And therefore as this rebellion of Corah so every other though they begin with one yet they aym at both and strive to overthrow aswell the one as the other for so my Text saith They angred Moses in their Tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. And therefore these two should be as Hippocrates twins or indeed like man and wife indissolubly coupled and coherent together without distraction and cursed be they that strive to make the division for whom God hath thus united together no man should put asunder And here you may observe the method of their Rebellion The method of their Rebellion the Text saith Moses and Aaron yet Moses sheweth they began with Aaron for when their Rebellion was first discovered Moses doth not say What have I done against you but What is Aaron that you should murmure against him to shew unto us that although Moses was the first they aymed at in their intention yet he was the last they purposed to overthrow in the execution Quia progrediendum à facilioribus as the Devil began with the woman the weaker vessel that he might the easier overthrow the stronger so the enemies of God and his Church do alwayes seek first to overthrow the Priest and then presently they will set upon the Prince And therefore as Moses here Virgil. Aeneid lib. 2. so all Magistrates every where should remember that Jam tua res agitur through our sides they may smart and our wounds may prove dangerous unto them because you shall never read they began to shake us but they fully intended to root out them for if the fear of God and the honour of the King must go together as Saint Peter sheweth it must needs follow that they will but dishonour and disobey their King that have cast away the fear of God and it is most certain that when they drive God out of their hearts as the Gergezites drove Christ out of their Coasts Little fear of God in them that expell their Priests out of their societies
profoundnesse of knowledge Nazian Orat. 1. was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 termed Theologus the Divine saith that the fury of Julian that great Apostata was repressed onely with the tears of the Christians which many of them did most plentifully powre forth to God when they had no other remedy against their Persecutor Mark that they say It is unlawful to resist because they knew it unlawful for them to use any other means then sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrongs with violence Saint Ambrose saith as much and Prosper in like manner saith Ambros ep 33. The present evils should be suffered untill the promised happinesse doth come the Infidels should be permitted among the faithful and the plucking of the tares should be deferred and let the wicked rage against the godly as much as they will yet the case of the righteous is far better because that Quantò acriùs impetuntur tantò gloriosiùs coronantur Prosper in sent 99. by how much the more sharply they are tormented by so much the more gloriously they shall be crowned And Saint Bernard saith If all the world should conspire against me and conjure me that I should plot any thing against the royal Majesty yet I would fear God and would not dare to offend the King Bernard Ep. 170. that is appointed of him over me because I am not ignorant of the place where I read Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And yet he speaketh this of King Lodovicus that offered a monstrous wrong to all the Clergy when he robbed them and took away all their goods without cause and which is worse would hear of no perswasions to make restitution or to give them any satisfaction Gaguin lib 6. as Gaguinus testifieth Thus the Fathers whereof I could heap many more do testifie of this truth and the School-men tread in the same steps The School-men of the same judgement and differ not a nails breadth from them herein For Alexander Hales saith wicked and evill men ought to suffer for the fault of their irrationability and good men ought to suffer Propter debitum divinae ordinationis for the duty that they owe to the divine ordinance and the benefit of their own purgation Whereupon Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius in Rom. 13. If the Prince be good he doth not punish the well-doer but loveth him because he doth well but if the Prince be evill and punisheth the well-doer he hurteth him not but purgeth him Alex. Hales p. 3. q. 48. memb 2. art 1. de offic subd erga Princ. and therefore he is not a terrour to him that doth well but the wicked ought to fear because Princes are appointed that they should punish evill Aquinas saith The faith of Christ is the beginning and the cause of righteousnesse and therefore by the faith of Christ the order of Justice is not taken away but rather setled and strengthened because as our Saviour saith It became him to fulfill all righteousnesse But the order of justice doth require that all inferiours should obey their superiours otherwise the estate of humane affairs could no ways be preserved Tham. secunda secundae q. 104. art 6. and therefore by the faith of Christ the godly and the faithful Christians are neither exempted nor excused but that they are tyed and bound by the Law of Christ to obey their secular Princes Where you see the Christian faith doth not submit the superiour to the inferiour contrary to the rule of justice neither doth it any wayes for any cause permit the power of the sword to any subject to be used against his Prince because this inordinate power would turn to the ruine of man-kind and the destruction of all humane affairs which can no otherwise be preserved but through the preservation of the order of justice Indeed many times there may happen some just causes Wherein we may disobey and how for which we are not bound to obey the commands of our Magistrates as when they command any thing contrary to the commandements of God and yet then there can be no cause why we should withstand him that executeth the unjust sentence of our condemnation or requireth the punishment that an unjust malitious Magistrate under the colour of his power and authority hath most unjustly laid upon us because he hath as our Saviour saith unto Pilate this ordinary power from God which if he doth abuse he is to be refrained not by the preparation of arms and the insurrection of his subjects to make impressions upon their Soveraign but by those lawful means which are appointed for them that is Petitions unto him and prayers and tears unto God for him because nothing else remaineth to him that is guilty or condemned as guilty for any fault but to commit his cause to the knowledge of the omnipotent God and to expect the judgement of him which is the King of Kings and the Judge of all Judges and will undoubtedly chastize and correct the iniquity of any unjust sentence with the severity of eternal justice Barcl l. 3. c. 10. as Barclay saith These testimonies are clear enough and yet to all these I will adde this one memorable example Berchetus in explicat controvers Galli cana cap. 7. which you may read in Berchetus and Joh. Servinus which tells us that in France after the great Massacre ut Paris when the reformed Religion did seem as it were forsaken and almost extinguished a certain King powerful in strength rich in wealth and terrible for his Ships and navall Force which was at enmity and hatred with the King of France dispatched a solemn Embassie and Message unto Henry King of Navarre and other Protestant Lords and commanded his Embassadors to do their best to set the Protestants against the Papists and to arm Henry the Prince of Navarre which then lived at Bearn under the Dominion of the most Christian King against his Soveraign the French King which thing the Embassadours endeavoured to do with all their art and skill An example of a faithful and excellent subject but all in vain for Henry being a good subject as it were another David to become a most excellent King would not prevent the day of his Lord yet the Embassadours offered him many ample fair and magnificent conditions among the rest abundance of money the summe of three hundred thousand Aureorum Scutatorum French Crowns which were ready to be told for the preparation of the warre and for the continuation of the same there should be paid every moneth so much as was necessary but Henry being a faithful Christian a good Prince a Widower and though he was displaced from the publique government of the Common-wealth and for his sake for the dislike the King bare towards him the King had banished many Protestants from his Country and had killed many faithful Pastours yet would not he
for all this lift up his hand against the Lords annointed but refused their gold Jâ—h Servinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchia Rom. p 202. rejected their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelity and allegiance to his King and peaceable mind towards his Country Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the Ordinance of God And surely this Example is most acceptable unto God most wholesome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants Not to offer but suffer all kind of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to study to gain the favour of their Persecutors then any ways with force and arms to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose Ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offered unto us 3. Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then Phalaris and degenerating from all humanity should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be allwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deem a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannical and idolatrous And therefore in such a case The difference betwixt king and people to be determined onely by God when some men think their King most gracious and others think him vitious some believe him to be good others believe him to be evil shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with arms decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civil warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs both the Scripture teacheth That we ought not by any means to resist our kings Proved and the Church believeth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safety requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evil Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane Reason and the Welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement 1 By the Scriptures and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworn before God and by God to obey him Be not hasty to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is Ecclesiast 8.2 3 4. he hath power and authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou or Why dost thou so And Solomon saith A Grey-hound an Hee-Goat and a King Prov. 30.31 against whom there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1 Sam. chapter 8. verse 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will doe and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him Not to rebell and take up arms but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And S. Peter saith that they which despise government 2 Pet. 2.10.12 and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities are presumptuous and do walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as natural brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Jude 8.10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Corah This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evil of our Kings be they what they will but first of all 1 Tim 2.2 or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authority And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of hell it self durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. By the Doctrine of the Church 2. The Church of Christ believeth this Doctrine to be the truth of God for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said It is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Cyrill in Jâ—han l. 14. c 56 Iniquè agis Thou dost amisse for as God is the supream Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are onely subject and therefore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because
Aegyptians or Abraham of murder if he had killed Isaac but without this special command he could not have done this extraordinary work without sin and therefore that which he could not do then without the warrant of the heavenly Oracle cannot be done now by any other Jehu's example not to be imitated without the contempt of the Deity the reproach of Majesty and abundance of dammage to the Common-wealth And so not onely I but also Peter Martyr commenteth upon the place where he saith God stirred up and armed one onely Jehu against his Lord which fact as it is peculiar and singular so it is not to be drawn for any example for certainly if it might be lawfull for the people upon any pretence to expell their Kings and Governours though never so wicked and unjust from their Kingdomes and government no Kings or Princes could be safe in any place Petrus Martyr loc com class 4. loc 20. for though they should raign never so justly and holily yet they should never satisfie the people but they would still accuse them of injustice and impiety that they might depose them And Bodinus in his Policy differeth not at all from this Divinity for he saith If the Prince be an absolute Soveraign as are the Kings of France Spain England Scotland Aethiopia Turkie Persia Muscovie and the like true Monarchs whose authority cannot be doubted and their chief rule and government cannot be imparted with their subjects in this case it is not lawful for any one apart nor for all together to conspire and attempt any thing either of fact or under the colour of right against the life or the honour of his Prince or Monarch yea though his Prince should commit all kind of impiety and cruelty which the tongue of any man could expresse For as concerning the order of right the subject hath no kind of jurisdiction against his Prince from whom dependeth and proceedeth all the power and authority of commanding as they that rise against their King do notwithstanding send out their Warrants and Commands in the Kings name and who not onely can recall all the faculty of judging and governing from his inferiour Magistrates Johan Bodinus de repub l 2. l. 5 whensoever he please but also being present all the power and jurisdiction of all his under-Magistrates Corporations Colledges Orders and Societies do cease and are even then reduced into him from whom before they were derived But we find it many times that not the fault of the Prince nor the good of the Common-wealth The true causes that move many men to disturb the State and to rebell but either the hiding of their own shame or the hope of some private gain induceth many men to kindle and blow up the flames of civil discord for as Paterculus saith Ita se res habet ut publicâ ruinâ quisque malit quà m suâ proteri It so falls out that men of desperate conditions that with Catiline have out-run their fortunes and quite spent their estates had rather perish in a common calamity which may hide the blemish of their sinking then to be exposed to the shame of a private misery and we know that many men are of such base behaviour that they care not what losse or calamity befalls others so they may inrich themselves Paterculus in Histor Roman so it was in the eivil warres of Rome Bella non causis inita sed prout merces eorum fuit they undertook the same not upon the goodnesse of the cause but upon the hope of prey and so it is in most warres that avarice and desire of gain makes way for all kind of cruelty and oppression and then it is as it was among the Romans a fault enough to be wealthy and they shall be plundered that is in plain English robbed of their goods and possessions without any shew of legal proceedings But they that build their own houses out of the ruine of the State and make themselves rich by the impoverishing of their neighbours are like to have but small profit and lesse comfort in such rapine because there is a hidden curse that lurketh in it and their account shall be great which they must render for it Therefore I conclude this point that for no cause and upon no pretext it is lawful for any subject to rebell against his Soveraign governour for Moses had a cause of justice and a seeming equity to defend and revenge his brother upon the Aegyptian And Saint Peter had the zeal of true religion and as a man might think as great a reason as could be to defend his Master that was most innocent from most vile and base indignities and to free him from the hands of his most cruell persecutors and yet as Saint Augustine saith Vterque justitiae regulam excessit August contra Faustum Man l. 27. c. 70. ille Fraterno iste Dominico amore peccavit both of them exceeded the rule of justice and Moses out of his love to his brother and S. Peter out of his respect to his Master have transgressed the commandement of God And therefore I hope all men will yield that what Moses could not do for his brother nor Saint Peter for his Master and the religion of his Master Christ that is to strike any one without lawful authority ought not to be done by any other man for what cause or religion soever it be especially to make insurrection against his King contrary to all divine authority for the true Religion hath been always humble patient and the preserver of peace and quietnesse Pro temporali salute non pugnavit sed potius ut obtineret aeternam non repugnavit Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 6. and as Saint Augustine saith the City of God though it wandred never so much on earth and had many troopes of mighty people yet for their temporal safety they would not fight against their impious persecutors but rather suffered without resistance that they might attain unto eternal health And so I end this first part of the objection with that Decree of the Councell of Eliberis If any man shall break the Idols to pieces and shall be there killed for the doing of it because it is not written in the Gospel and the like fact is not found to be done at any time by the Apostles Concil Eliber Can. 60. it pleased the Councel that he shall not be received into the number of Martyrs because contrary to the practice of our dayes when every base mechanick runs to the Church to break down not Heathen Idols but the Pictures of the blessed Saints out of the windows they conceived it unlawful for any man to pull down Idolatry except he had a lawful authority CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates nor the greatest Peers of the Kingdom may take arms 2. Part of the objection answered No kind of men ought to rebell 1. Not private
which never hoped for any glory in the Kingdome of Heaven but by suffering patiently in the Kingdom of the Earth and when they could did faithfully discharge the duties of their places and when they could not did willingly undergo the bitternesse of death and were alwayes faithfull both to their good God and their evil Kings to God rather by suffering Martyrdom then offend his Majesty and to their Kings not in committing that evil which they commanded but in suffering that punishment which they inflicted upon them 2. Not the Nobility or Peers Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza in confess c. 5. p. 171. Autor vindic q. 3 pag. â—03 Alchus de polit c. 14 pag. 142. 161. Danaeus de polit Christiana l. 6. c. 3. p. 413. 2. As no private men of what rank or condition soever they be so neither Magistratus populares the peoples Magistrates as some term them nor Junius Brutus his Optimates regni the prime Noble-men of the Kigdom nor Althusius his Ephori the Kings assistants in the government of the people nor his great Councel of Estate nor any other kind calling or degree of men may any wayes resist or at any time rebell for any cause or colour whatsoever against their lawful Kings and supreme Governours 1. Because they are not as Althusius doth most falsely suggest Magistratus summo Superiores but they are inferiours to the supreme and chief Magistrate otherwise how can he be Summus if he be not Supremus or how can Saint Peter call the King supereminent 1 Pet 2.13 if the inferiour Magistrates be superiour unto him and it is Reason 1 contra ordinem justitiae contrary to the rules of justice as I told you before out of Aquinas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the inferiours should rise up against their superiours which hath the rule and command over them The Inferiour should never rise against his Superiour Optat. de schis Donat. l. 3. p. 85 as the husband hath over the wife the father over the sonne the Lord over his servants and the King over his subjects and therefore Jezabel might truly say Had Zimri peace which slew his Master And I may as truly say of these men as Optatus saith of the Donatists when as none is above the King or the Emperour but onely God which made him Emperour while the inferiour Magistrates do extoll themselves above him they have now exceeded the bounds of men that they might esteem themselves as God Non verendo eum qui post Deum ab hominibus timebatur in not fearing him which men ought to fear next to God But the words of Saint Peter are plain enough 1 Pet. 2.15 Submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Wherein you may see not onely the subordination which God hath placed betwixt the King and his Subjects but also that different station which is betwixt the Supreme and the inferiour powers for the words sent of him do most clearly conclude that the inferiour Magistrates have no power to command but by the vertue power and force which they receive from the supreme and that the inferiour Magistrates opposed to the supreme power are but as private men and therefore that as they are rulers of the people so being but instruments unto the King they are subjects unto him to be moved and ruled by him which is inferiour to none but God and their authority which they have received from him Inferiour Magistrates in respect of the king are but private men can have no power upon him or to manage the sword without him and especially against him upon any pretence whatsoever how then can any or all these Magistrates make a just war against their King when as none of them can make any just warre without him 2. Because as Bodinus saith most truly the best and greatest not onely Reason 2 of the inferiour Magistrates but also of all these Peers Nobles Counsellors or what you please to call them have neither honour power nor authority but what they have given them from him which is the King or supreme Magistrate as you see God made Moses the chief Governour and Moses made whom he pleased his Peers and his inferiour Magistrates and as they have all their power derived from him that is the chief so he that is the King or chief can draw it away from them that are his inferiours when he pleaseth and as he made them so he can unmake them when he will and none can unmake him but he that made him that is God himself and therefore David that was ex Optimatibus regni the greatest Peer in Israel being powerful in warre famous in peace the Kings Son-in-law and divinely destinated unto the Kingdome yet would he not lay his hand upon his King when he was delivered into his hands And this Buchanan cannot deny but confesseth that the Kings of the Jews were not to be punished or resisted by their subjects because that from the beginning they were not created by the people but given to them by God Buchanan's absurdity and therefore saith he jure optimo qui fuit honoris autor idem fuit poenarum exactor it is great reason that he which gives the honour should impose the punishment But for the Kings of Scotland Buchan de jure Regni apud Scotos they were saith Buchanan not given them of God but created by the people which gave them all the right that they can challenge Ideoque jus idem habere in reges Multitudinem quod illi in singulos è multitudine habent which is most false for Moses tells us that immediately after the deluge God the Creatour of all the world ordained the revenging sword of blood-shed and the slavish servitude of paternal derision wherein all the parts of civil jurisdiction and regal power are Synecdochically set down and Job saith that there is one God which looseneth the bond of Kings Job 12.18 and girdeth about their reines which must be understood of the gentile-Gentile-Kings because that in his time the Commong-wealth of Israel was not in being and God himself universally saith By me Kings do reign that is all Kings not onely of the Jews but also of the Gentiles and Christ doth positively affirm that the power of Pilate was given him from Heaven and Saint Paul saith There is no power but what is appointed of God And Tertullian saith Inde Imperator unde homo iude illi potestas unde spiritus he that made him a man made him Emperour and he that gave him his spirit gave him his power And Irenaeus saith God ordained earthly Kingdomes for the benefit of the Gentiles Et cujus jussu homines nascuntur That God is the ordainer of
and the chief hâ—ads of all the people which are flos medulla regni are therefore added unto the superiour Magistrate 1. By Reason both to be his helpers in the government and also to refrain his licentiousnesse and to hinder his impieties if he degenerate to be an Idolater or a Tyrant 2. By Examples And to confirm this Tenet they produce many examples both out of the sacred and prophane Histories as the Judges that rose up against their neighbour-Tyrants Ezechias against the King of Assyria the people withstanding Saul that he should not slay Jonathan Ahikam defending the Prophet Jeremy against King Jehoiakim the revolâ—ing of the ten Tribes in the time of Rehoboam Jerem. 26.24 the Priests and Princes of Juda taking away Athalia the Macchabees arming themselves against Antiochus and others of the Macedonian Tyrants Thrasibulus driving the thirty Tyrants out of Athens the Romans expelling their flagitious Kings Consuls and other Tyrants that behaved themselves most wickedly out of Rome and so many Peers and Potentates of other Kingdomes that in the like cases did the like To all which I answer Sol. 1. Their Reasons answered 1. That it is most false that any Peer or inferiour Potentate Magistrate or other is appointed by God to be the Associate of the King or supreme Governour for the government of the people for as God and not the people appointed Moses Joshua Gideon and the other supreme Judges of Israel so Moses and not God immediately as he did the others appointed the Rulers of tens To what end kings do choose their inferiour Magistrates fifties hundreds and thousands which alwayes acknowledged themselves his subjects and not his associates in the government of the people And so other Kings and Princes have alwayes chosen whom they pleased to be their Peers Counsellors and inferiour Magistrates as well to bear some part of their burthen as Jethro saith unto Moses and to lessen their care as also to afford them their best assistance and counsel in the discussion and determination of great and difficult affaires but not for them to prescribe and set down Lawes Orders and Ordinances that should either moderate their royal liberty or bridle and revenge what they conceive to be Idolatry or Tyranny I am sure no King that did intend to be a Tyrant would choose Counsellours or make Magistrates to that end but they make choyce of them as I said to further them and not to hinder them to effect those things which they conceive to be most fit and just for the Magistrates that are over the people are under the King and do all All the inferiour Magistrates must do all in the name of the Superiour as you see in the name of the King from whom they derive all the power that they have whereby it followeth that neither the people can resist the Magistrates whom the King appointeth nor those Magistrates resist their King without apparent sacriledge against God because the greater can never be judged nor condemned by the lesser but as the Apostle saith of Abraham and Melchisedech Heb. 7.7 that without contradiction the lesse is blessed of the better so I say that without all controversie the inferiour must be alwayes judged of the superiour and therfore if these Peers Nobles or inferiour Magistrates have any wayes any power or authority over their Kings we must conclude against Saint Peter that these are above the King and so they and not the King are the supereminent power But we find no such power nor commandement that they have from God to refrain Kings in all the holy Scriptures Et si mandatum non est praesumptio est ad poenam proficiet non ad praemium and if there be no commandement for it it is presumption to do it which deserveth punishment and not praise because it is to the reproach of the Creator that contemning the Lord we should worship the Servant and neglecting the Emperour we should adore or magnifie his Peers as S. Augustine saith And therefore both the learned and religious Fathers And the Homily of the Church of England against wilful Rebellion and the best of our later Writers are flat against this Doctrine that any sort of men have any power over Kings but he that is the King of Kings as you may see what would be too teadious for me to set down in Johan Bodinus Apol. pro Regibus c. 27. de repub l. 2. c. 5. Barclaius contra Monarchom l. 3. c. 6. Berchetus in explicat controvers Gallicar c. 2. Saravia de Imperator autorit l. 2. c. 36. Sigon de repub Hebraeor l. 7. c. 3. Bilson de perpet Eccles gubernat c. 7. Pet. Gregor Tholos de republ l. 5. c. 3. num 14 15 16. and many more 2. For the examples that are produced 2. Their examples answered to countenance Rebels against their Kings I answer that they are unlike or of some peculiar fact or unjust and therefore no warrant for any other to do the like when as we are to live by the lawes and precepts of God and not by the examples of men which many times contrary to equity do induce us to transgresse the divine verity But to run over the particulars of their examples as brief as I can 1. I say that to conclude an ordinary rule from the doings of the Judges 1. Example answered which were extraordinarily commanded by God to be done is no more lawful for us to do then it is for us to rob our neighbours August in Jud. c. 20. because the Israelites robbed the Egyptians as Saint Augustine sheweth And therefore Aquinas if Aquinas be the Authour of that book Thom. de Regimine Princip l 1. c. 6. De Regimine Princip saith excellently well Quibusdam visum est it seems to some men that it pertaineth to the honour of valiant and heroical men to take away a Tyrant and to expose themselves to the perill and danger of death for the liberty and freedom of the Multitude whereof they have an example in the Old Testament where Ehud killed Eglon Judg. 3.21 But this agreeth not with the Apostolical Doctrine for Saint Peter teacheth us to be subject not onely to the good but also to the froward because this is thank-worthy with God if for conscience sake we patiently suffer wrongs therefore when many of the Roman Emperours did most tyrannically persecute the faith of Christ and a great and mighty multitude both of the Nobility Gentry and Commons were converted unto Christianity they are praised not for resisting but for suffering death Besides A great deal of difference betwixt a lawful King and an Usurper Eglon was not the lawful King of Israel but an alien an usurper and a scourge to them for their sinne and therefore no pattern for others to rebell against their lawful King 2. For the example of Ezechias rebelling against the King of Assyria 2.
farre worse then the disease they suffered And I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdom will feelingly confesse this to be too true when they shall more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soon he was removed and how happily it câ—me to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Richard the third was not onely a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the Crown and not the right King of England and that there is a great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawful Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping Tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himself into the royal Throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously find both in the Greek and Roman stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalierisme p. 8 which is taken out of 2 Kings 6.32 where the Objector saith When Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha open his dore for him and sit still till he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himself for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him And a little after he saith Surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got in to him before the dore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer that who this Goodwin is I know not Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the incendiaries of war I could wish he were none oâ— the Tribe of Levi 1. Because I find him such an incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Qâ—Ã m speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lord and therefore I can hardly believe these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6.32 If any thing more when as Ahab was dead long before it was his ghost therefore and not he But it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the dore and desired the Elders to handle the messenger roughly or hold him fast at the dore Thus saith the Text and the Prophet in my judgement doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to do not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the dore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector tells us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand What inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure John Baptist would not do so nor Saint Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret Counsel and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not do except he be sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by wâ—rd as he did to Abraham to kill his son or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from Heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to do it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those patterns that are confirmed by known and general Rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure Commentaries of humane wisdom upon the clear Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed be the gloss that corrupts the Text. But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully do to keep the messenger out of dores so long as he could and yet this man would inferre hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawful Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the School of Christ He makes some other Objections which I have already answered in this Treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six several answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must be Arcana Imperii and there must be Privie Counsellours and every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not onely be examined but also disobeyed as the three Children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the High-Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resist them and to take arms against them I would he understood There is a great deal of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no means we may do CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth BUt when all that hath been spoken cannot satisfie their indignation against true obedience and allay the heat of their rebellious spirits they come to their ultimum refugium best strength
think every change to be a remedy therefore the people that are soon perswaded to believe the lightest burthen to be too heavie are easily led away by every seducing Absolon who promise them deliverance from all their evils so they may have their assistance to effect their ends and then the people swelled up with hopes cry up those men as the reformers of the State and so the craft and subtilty of the one prevailing over the weaknesse and simplicity of the other every Peer and Officer that they like not must with Teramines be condemned and themselves must have all preferments or the King and Kingdom must be lyable to be ruined Repl. But you will say the whole Parliament cannot be thought to be thus envious against the Officers of State or thus carelesse of the common good as for any sinister end to destroy the happinesse of the whole Sol. I answer that Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit but as Generall Councels so whole Parliaments have been repealed and declared null by succeeding Parliaments How a Faction many times prevaileth to sway whole Councels and Parliaments as 21. Rich. 2. c. 12. all the Statutes made 11 Rich. 2. are disanulled and this in the 21 Rich. 2. is totally repealed in 1 Hen. 4. c. 3. And 39 Hen. 6. we find a total repeal of a Parliament held at Coventry the year before and the like and the reason is because many times by the hypocritical craft of some Faction working upon the weaknesse of some and the discontent of others the worse part procuring most unto their party prevaileth against the better The original of Parliaments why they were at first ordained Besides all this I conceive the Original of Parliaments was as it is expressed in the Kings Writ to consult with the King De quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis regni they being collected from all the parts of the Kingdom can best inform His Majesty what grievances are sprung and what reparations may be made and what other things may be concluded for the good of His Subjects in every part and His Majesty to inform them of his occasions and necessities which by their free and voluntary Subsidies they are to supply both for his honour and their own defence In all this they have no power to command their King See Jo. Bodin de repub l. 1. c. 8. pag 95. in English and the place is worth the noting no power to make Lawes without their King no right to meet without his Writ no liberty to stay any longer then he gives leave how then can you meet as you do now in my Episcopal See at Kilkenny and continue your Parliament there to make warre against your lawful King What colour of reason have you to do the same you cannot pretend to be above your King you have with lyes and falshoods most wickedly seduced the whole Kingdom and involved the same in a most unnatural civil warre you are the actives the King is passive you make the offensive He the defensive warre for you began and when He like a Gracious King still cryed for peace you still made ready for battel And I doubt not but your selves know all this to be true for you know that all Parliament men must have their elections warranted by the Kings especial Writ You will say that so you were well The letter sent from a Gentleman to his friend and you were chosen but by subjects and intrusted by them to represent the affections and to act the duties of subjects and subjects cannot impose a rule upon their Soveraign nor make any ordinance against their King and therefore if the representative body of subjects transcend the limits of their trust and do in the name of the subjects that which all subjects cannot do and assume that power which the subjects neither have nor can conferre upon them I see no reason that any subject in the world should any wayes approve of their actions For how can your priviledge of being Parliament men That men intrusted should not go beyond their trust priviledge you from being Murderers Thieves or Traytors if you do those things that the Law adjudgeth to be murders thefts and treasons Your elections cannot quit you and your places cannot excuse you because he that is intrusted cannot do more then all they that do intrust him and therefore all subjects should desert them that exceed the conditions and falsifie the trust which their fellow-subjects have reposed in them Besides The King must needs be a part of every Parliament you know the King must needs be reputed part of every Parliament when as the selected company of Knights and Burgesses together with the Spiritual and Temporal Peers are the representative body and the King is the real head of the whole Kingdom and therefore if the body separates it self from the head it can be but an uselesse trunk that can produce no act which pertaineth to the good of the body because the spirits that gave life and motion to the whole body are all derived from the head as the Philosopher teacheth And further you do all know that as the King hath a power to call The power of dissolving the Parliament greater then the power of denying any thing so he hath a power to dissolve all Parliaments and having a power of dissolving it when he will he must needs have a power of denying what he please because the other is farre greater then this And therefore all these premises well considered it is apparent that your sitting in Kilkenny without your King or his Lievtenant which is to the same purpose and your Votes without his assent are all invalid to exact obedience from any subject and for my part I deem them fooles that will obey them and rebels that will take arms against their King at your commands and if you persist in this your rebellious obstinacy I wish your judgements may light onely upon your own heads and that those which like the followers of Absolon are simply led by you may have the mist taken from their eyes that they may be able to discern the duty they owe unto their King that they be not involved and so perish in your sin For though you be never so many and think that all the Kingdom Towns and Cities be for you Psal 21.11 yet take heed lest you imagine such a mischievous device which you are not able to perform for the involving of well-meaning men into your bad businesses 1 Reg. 22.29 as Jehosaphat was misâ—led to war against Ramoth Gilead doth not only bring a punishment upon them that are seduced but a far greater plague upon you that do seduce them and God who hath at all times so exceeding graciously defended His Majesty and contrary to your hopes and expectation from almost nothing in the beginning of this rebellion hath increased his power to I hope an invincible
Romanus Alexander Felinus Albericus and others doth inferre Principem ex certâ scientiâ supra jus extra jus contra jus omnia posse Principem solum legem constituere universalem Princeps soli Deo rationem debet Princeps solutus est legibus temerarium est velle Majestatem Regiam ullis terminis limitare which things if I should English seditious heads would think my head not suffiâ—ient to pay for this but I only repeat their words and not justifie their sayings and therefore to proceed to more familiar things Pasquerius writeth that Lewis the eleventh did urge his Senators and Counsellors to set forth a certain Edict which they refused to do Pasquer de Antiquit Gallican l. 1. Sicut olim Lacedaemonii victoribus responderunt Si duriora morte Imperetis potius moriemur because it seemed to them very unjust and the King being very angry threatned death unto them all whereupon Vacarius President of the Councel and all the Senate in their purple robes came unto the King and the King astonished therewith demanded whence they came and what they would have Vacarius answered for all We come to undergoe that death which you have threatned unto us for you must know O King that we will rather suffer death then do any thing against our câ—nscience towards God or our duty towards you Whererein we see the Nobility of this King like Noble Christians do more willingly offer to lay down their lives at the command of their Liege Lord then unchristian like rebell and take Arms against their delinquent Soveraign And so Colmannus a godly Bishop did hinder the Scottish Nobility to rise against Fercardus that was their most wicked King Tertul. ad Scapul Tertullian writing unto Scapula the President of Carthage saith We are defamed when the Christian is found to be the enemy of no man no not of the Emperour whom because he knoweth him to be appointed by God he must needs love and reverence and wish him safe with all the Roman Empire for we honour and worship the Emperour as a man second from God Tertul in Apooget solo Deo minorem and inferiour onely to God And in his Apologetico he saith Deus est solus in cujus solius potestate sunt reges à quo sunt secundi post quem primi super omnes homines ante omnes deos it is God alone in whose power Kings are kept which are second from him first after him above all men and before all gods that is all other Magistrates that are called gods Athanasius de summo regum imperio q. 55. Athanasius saith that As God is the King and Emperour in all the world that doth exercise his power and authority over all things that are in Heaven and in Earth So the Prince and King is appointed by God over all earthly things Et ille liberâ suâ voluntate facit quod vult sicut ipse Deus and the King by his own free-will doth whatsoever he pleaseth even as God himself And the Civilians could say but little more Simulach um à similitudine dictum Isidor Saint Augustine saith Videtis simulachrorum templa you see the temples of our Images partly fallen for want of reparation partly destroyed partly shut up partly changed to some other uses ipsaque Simulachra and those Images either broken to pieces or burned and destroyed and those Powers and Potentates of this world which sometimes persecuted the Christians Aug. ad frat Madaur ep 42. See the duty of Subjects oâ— a perswasion to Loyalty which is a full collection of the Fathers to this purpose pro istis simulachris for those Images to be overcome and tamed non à repugnantibus sed à morientibus Christianis not of resisting but of dying Christians and the rest of the Fathers are most plentiful in this Theam and therefore to the later Writers Cardinal Alan saith but herein most untruly that the Protestants are desperate men and most factious for as long as they have their Princes and Lawes indulgent to their own wills they know well enough how to use the prosperous blasts of fortune but if the Princes should withstand their desires or the Laws should be contrary to their minds then presently Card. Alan in resp ad Instit B itannicam c. 4. they break asunder the bonds of their fidelity they despise Majesty and with fire and sword slaughters and destructions they rage in every place and do run headlong into the contempt of all divine and humane things which accusation if it were true then I confesse the Protestants were to be blamed more then all the people in the world But howsoever some factious seditious anabaptistical and rebellious spirits amongst us not deserving the name of Protestants may be justly taxed for this intolerable vice yet to let you see how falsely he doth accuse us that are true Protestants and how fully we do agree with the Scriptures and the Fathers of the purest age of the Church in the Doctrine of our obedience to our Kings and Princes I will onely give you a taste of what we teach And to begin with the first reformer Luther saith no man which stirreth up the multitude to any tumult can be excused from his fault though he should have never so just a cause but he must go to the Magistrate and attempt nothing privately because all sedition and insurrection is against the Commandement of God Sleidan commentar l 5. which forbiddeth and detesteth the same Philip Melancthon saith though it be the Law of Nature to expell force with force yet it is no wayes lawful for us to withstand the wrong done us by the Magistrate with any force yea though we seem to promise our obedience upon this condition Melancthon apud Luther tom 1. p. 463. if the Magistrate should command lawful things yet it is not therfore lawful for us to withstand his unjust force with force for though their Empires should be gotten and possest by wicked men yet the work of their government is from God and it is the good creature of God and therefore whatsoever the Magistrate doth no force ought to be taken up against the Magistrate Brentius saith that the rule and government of a Prince The rule of a Prince may be evil two ways may be evill two wayes 1. When he commandeth any thing against the faith of Christ as to deny our God to worship Idols and the like and herein we must give place to the saying of the Apostle It is better to obey God then men but in this case the subject must in no way rage or rise against his Magistrate but he should rather patiently suffer any evil then any way strike again and rather endure any inconveniences and discommodities then any ways obey those ungodly commands 2. The Prince his government may be evil when he doth or commandeth any thing against the publique justice of which kind are
the exaction of our goods or the vexation of our bodies and in these kinds of injuries Brentius in respon ad artic rusticorum the subject ought rather then in the former to be obedient to his Magistrate for if he steps forth to arms God hath pronounced of such men He that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword Cranmer Arch Bishop of Canterbury together with the rest of the Bishops and most famous Divines of this Kingdom saith If Princes shall do any thing contrary to their duties God hath not appointed any superiour Judge over them in this world but they are to render their account to God which hath reserved their judgement to himself alone and therefore it is not lawful for any subjects Cranmer in lib. de Châ—istiani hominis institutis how wicked soever their Princes shall be to take arms or raise sedition against them but they are to powre forth their prayers to God in whose hand Kings hearts are that he would inlighten them with his spirit whereby they might rightly to the glory of God use that sword which he hath delivered unto them Gulielmus Tindal a godly Martyr of Christ when Cardinal Lanio's sonne did lead the Lambs of Christ by troops unto the slaughter doth then describe the duty of subjects according to the strait rule of the Gospel saying David spared Saul and if he had killed him he had sinned against God for in every Kingdom the King which hath no superiour judgeth of all things and therefore he that indeavoureth or intendeth any mischief or calamity against the Prince that is a Tyrant or a Persecutor or whosoever with a froward hand doth but touch the Lords annointed he is a rebel against God and resisteth the ordinance of God as often as a private man sinneth he is held obnoxious to his King that can punish him for his offence but when the King offendeth he ought to be reserved to the divine examination and vengeance of God Tindal l. de Christiani hominis obedient and as it is not lawful upon any pretence to resist the King so it is not lawful to rise up against the Kings Officer or Magistrate that is sent by the King for the execution of those things which are commanded by the King for as our Saviour saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And as he saith unto Saul when he persecuted the servants of Christ Saul Acts 9.4 Saul why persecutest thou me when as he was then in Heaven farre above the reach of Saul yet because there is such a mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church the head and members as is betwixt man and wife no man can be said to injure the one but he must wrong the other so whosoever resisteth the Kings Lievtenant Deputy or any other Magistrate or Officer that he sendeth with Commission to execute his commands resisteth the King himself and all the indignities that are offered to the Kings Embassadour or servant that he thus sendeth are deemed as indignities offered to the King himself as we see the base usage of David's servants by King Hanun 2 Sam 10. David revenged as an abuse offered unto himself because the Kings person cannot be in all places where justice and judgement and many other offices and actions are necessarily to be done throughout the latitude of his Dominions but his power and his authority Whatsoever is done to any Messenger is deemed as done to him that sent him deputed to those his servants and officers that he sendeth are as the lively representatives of the King in every part of his Kingdome and whatsoever favour payment neglect or abuse is shewed unto any of them the same in all Nations is accounted and therefore punished or rewarded as a service done unto the King himself as our Saviour when but the Tole gatherer came for the Tribute-mony saith Give unto Caesar what belongeth unto Caesar And therefore it is but an idle simple most foolish and frivolous distinction of men to deceive children and fools to say They love and honour their King and they fight not against their King but against such and such whom notwithstanding they know to be the Kings chiefest officers and to be sent with the Kings Power Commission and Authority to do those things that they do This is such a foppery that I know not what to say to undeceive those that are so desirous to be deceived when the Devill * Saint Paul saith God sâ—ndeth them strong delusions 2 Thess 2.11 But what God sendeth justly as the punisher of their sin the Devil sendeth maliciously as the guider of them to Hell Ba nesius in Tract de humanis Constitut which knoweth how near their destruction hangeth over their heads sends them strong delusions that they should so easily and so sillily believe su h palpable lyes as to make them think they love him dearly whom they murder most barbarously Barnesius a very godly and learned man treating of the same Argument saith in a manner the same thing That the servants of Christ rather then either commit any evil or resist any Magistrate ought patiently to suffer the losse of their goods and the tearing of their members nay the Christian after the example of his Master Christ ought to suffer the bitterest death for truth and righteousnesse sake and therefore saith he whosoever shall rebell under pretence of Religion aeternae damnationis reus erit he shall be found guilty of eternall damnation Master Dod upon the Commandements Master Dod saith that where the Prince commandeth a lawful act the subjects must obey and if he injoynes unlawful commands we must not rebell but we must be content to bear any punishment that shall be laid upon us even unto death it self and we should suffer our punishment without grudging even in heart and this he presseth by the example of the Three Children and of Daniel that was a mighty man and of very great power in Babylon yet never went about to gather any power against his King though it were in his own defence Master Byfield upon 1 Pet. 2.13 Master Byfield expounding the words of Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreme saith This should confirm every good subject to acknowledge and maintain the Kings Supremacy and willingly to bind himself thereto by oath for the Oath of Supremacy is the bond of this subjection and this oath men must take without equivocation mentall evasion or secret reservation yea it should bind in them the same resolution that was in Saint Bernard who saith If all the world should conspire against me to make me complot any thing against the Kings Majesty yet I would fear God and not dare to offend the King ordained of God Serenissimus Rex Jacobus de vera lege liberae Monarchiae I might fill a Volume if I
Rites which were such a burthen that neither we nor our fathers could undergo and also from the curse and malediction of the moral law would under this pretence of Christian liberty be freed from the obligation of all lawes and give themselves the freedom to do what they pleased for this would prove to be not the liberty but the bondage and the base slavery of a people that are not governed by lawes but suffered to do what they please because that neither God nor good lawes confine us but for our own good and he that forbids us to obey impious commands bids us to obey all righteous lawes and rather to suffer then to resist the most unrighteous Governours But I fear that under the name of the liberty of the subjects What is often aimed at under the name of theâ— liberty of the â—ubjects the licentiousnesse of the flesh is aymed at because you may see by what is already come to passe our civil dissention hath procured to many men such a liberty that few men are sure either of their life or estate and God blesse me from such a liberty and send me rather to be the slave of Christ then such a libertine of the world Whether for the preservation of our Religion we can be warranted to rebell And if religion be the cause that moveth you here hereunto I confesse this should be dearer to us then our lives but this title is like a velvet mask that is often used to cover a deformed face decipimur specie recti for as that worthy and learned Knight Sir John Cheek that was Tutor to King Edward the sixth saith If you were offered Persecution for Religion you ought to flye and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth ye ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancie of Martyrs And a little after he demands why the people should not like that Religion which Gods Word established the Primitive Church hath authorized the greatest learned men of this Realm and the whole consent of the Parliament have confirmed and the Kings Majesty hath set forth is it not truly set out Sir John Cheek in The true subject to the rebell p. 4 6. Dare you Commons take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realm have This was the judgement of that judicious man And I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that Faith should be compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with blood Micah 3.18 and Hierusalem with iniquitie and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reform the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels and idolatrous True religion never rebelleth with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation And this truth is so solid that it hath the clear testimony of holy Writ the perpetual practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the orthodox Bishops and Catholick Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the world That Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with arms to withstand the authority of our lawful Kings If you say The Laws of our Land Whether the Laws of our Land do warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdom give us leave to stand upon our libertie and to withstand all tyrannie that shall be offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to be destroyed To this I say with Laelius that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinum Laelâ—â—s de privileg Eccles 112. Mans lawes can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore we must not so preferre them or relye upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our fear of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the world may believe that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were afraid where no fear was And Job tells you whom terrours shall make afraid on every side Job 18.11 12. and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels do from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of fear for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without fear they know that the heart of the King is not in his own hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov 21.1 Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. qu. 1. as the rivers of waters and he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God He ordereth the King how to rule the people And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Jesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causelesse fears and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it self become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that Rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuel's judgement as the sinne of witchcraft whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devil and above all The remembrance of his Oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every Rebel remember the oath that many of you have taken to be true and faithful unto your King and to reveal whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or hear to be contrived against his Person Crown or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So help you God Which Oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore return O Shulamite 〈◊〉 lay down thine arms submit thy self unto thy Soveraign and know that as the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 so is the King of England thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty â—est as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of
their nearest friends they had paid too dear for their quarrels so thou be driven to do the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdom I am confident The Authours confidence of the kings victory and am ready to hazard life and fortunes in this confidence that the goodnesse of our King the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithful Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victorie over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraign and all the world shall see that as Christ so in sensu modificato this Vicegerent of Christ shall rule in the midst of these his enemies and shall reign untill he puts them all under his feet A rebellion that the like was never seen And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here which of above six hundred thousand men had not many more then 250. Rebels nor that of Absolon against David who had all the Priests and Levites and the best Counsellors and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plain field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Arms invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though he was the first that intrenched upon their libertie and intended to exchange their Aristo-democracie into a Monarchie nor any other that I can remember except that Councel which condemned Christ to death that was grown to that height to be so absolute and so perfect a Rebellion in all respects as that a whole Parliament in a manner and the major part of the Plebeians of a whole Kingdom should make a Covenant with Hell it self yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdom of Ireland was the Commonalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirm their Votes till at last they must be compelled in all things to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now be subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend the weaknesse of the Nobility from that desert which they merited by their simplicity to be seduced to joyn with them to rebell against their King Therefore if any faction in any Parliament should thus combine against the Lord and against his annointed there is no question but their reducement to obedience will make that Majesty which shall effect it more glorious to posterity than were any of all his Predecessors And therefore I say again Return O Shulamite return and remember I pray thee remember lest my words shall accuse thy conscience in the day of judgement that we are often commanded in many places of the Scriptures to obey our Kings but in no place bidden nor permitted to rise up and assist any Parliament against our King If thou sayest Thou dost not do it against thy King but against such and such that do abuse the King I told you before that whosoever resisteth him that hath the Kings authority resisteth the King and therefore the whole world of intelligible men laugheth at this gullery and he that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh it to scorn when with such equivocation men shall think to justify their rebellion and I hope the people will not still remain so simple as to think that all the Canon and the Musket shot which the enemies of a King should make at him must be understood to be for the safety of his person And as neither private men nor any Senate nor Magistrate nor Peers That the Pope hath no power to licence any man to make war against the King nor Parliament can lawfully resist and take Arms against their King so neither Synod nor Councel nor Pope have any power to depose excommunicate or abdicate or to give immunities to Clergy or absolution to subjects thereby to free them from their duty and due allegiance and to give them any colour of allowance to rebell and make warre against their lawful King And this point I should the more largely prosecute because the natives of this Kingdome are more addicted to the Pope and his Decrees then any others of all the Kings Dominion Pareus in Rom. 13. Johan Bede in the Right and Prerogatives of Kings And the Treatise intituled God and the King But the bulk of this Treatise is already too much swelled and I hope I may have hereafter a fitter opportunity to inlarge this Chapter and therefore till then I will onely referre my Reader unto Pareus John Bede and abundance more that have most plentifully written of this Argument And so much for the persons against whom they rebelled Moses their King and Aaron their High-Priest or chief Bishop both these the prime Governours of Gods people whom they ought by all laws to have obeyed and for no cause to have rebelled against them CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten several steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 5. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the wayes to all Rebellions and the reason which moveth men to rebell 3. WE are to consider Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did 3. Part. What these Rebels did Cajetan saith Zelati sunt Tirinus saith Irritaverunt The vulgar Latin saith Aemulati sunt Our vulgar English saith They angred Moses and our last English saith They envied Moses And indeed the large extent of the original word and the diversity of the Translation of it sheweth the greatnesse of their iniquity and the multiformity or multiplicity of their sin And therefore that you may truly understand it you must look into the History * Numb 16. and there you shall see the whole matter the conception birth strength and progresse of their sin for 1. This sinne was begotten by the seed of Pride they conceived an opinion of their own excellency Excellency that bewitcheth men to rebell thinking that they are inferiour to none equall to the best if not superiour unto all and therefore they disdained to be governed and aspired to the government of Gods people And then Pride as the father Pride the beginning of rebellion begat Discontentment as his eldest sonne they liked not their own station but would fain be promoted to higher dignity and because Moses and Aaron were setled in the government before them and they knew not how either to be adjoyned with them or advanced above them therefore discontent begat Envy and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reads it They envied Moses 2. This
sinne being thus conceived in the womb of the heart Private meetings do often produce mischief at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mutter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say We are all good we are all holy 2 Sam. 15.3 4. and They are no better then we and as Absolon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountains unto the people if he were King so do they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happy if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the son of Pride and Discontentment is born into the world and spreads it self from the inward thought to open words Then Moses hears the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himself and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bad these rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treat and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisdom and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen The wisdom of Moses And here I do observe the care and wisdom of the Prophet that at the first appearance of their design would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had been so weakened that he had never been able afterwards to defend himself to teach all Kings to beware that they yield not their Bishops and Priests unto the desires of the people which is the fore-runner of rebellion against themselves for as King Philip told the Athenians that he had no dislike to them The witty tale of Demosthenes to save the Oratâ—urs and to assure all Kings that if Aarons tongue and the Prophets pen perswade not the conscience to yield obedience Moses's power and Joshua's sword may subdue the people to subjection but never retain them long without rebellion Evil men grow worse worse Vers 12. Vers 13. but would admit them into his protection so they would deliver to him their Orators which were the fomenters of all mischief and the people were mad to do it till Demosthenes told them how the Wolf made the same Proposition unto the Sheep to become their friends and protectors so they would deliver their Dogs which were the cause of all discontent betwixt them and the Shee being already weary of their Dogs delivered them all unto the Wolves and then immediately the Wolves sparâ—d neither Sheep nor Lambs but tore them in pieces without resistance even so when any King yieldeth his Bishops unto the peoples Votes he may fear ere long to feel the smart of this great mistake Therefore Moses wisely delivereth not his brother but stoutly defendeth him who he knew had no wayes offended them and offered if they came to a convenient place to make this plain to all the people But as evil weeds grow apace and lewd sons will not be kept under so the more Moses sought to suppresse this sinne the faster it grew and spread it self to many branches from secret muttering to open rayling from inward discontent to outward disobedience They tell them plainly to their faces they will not come è Castris from their strong holds they accuse them falsely that Moses their Prince aymed at nothing but their destruction and to that end had brought them out of a good land to be killed in the wildernesse and contemning them most scornfully in the face of all the people whatsoever Moses bids them do they resolve to do the contrary So now Moses well might say with the Poet Moses is in a strait Fluctibus hic tumidus nubi b bus ille minax Quocunque aspicio nihil est nisi pontus aether And therefore it was high time this evil Weed should be rooted out or else the good corn shall be choaked these Rebels must be destroyed or they will destroy the Governours of Gods people and Moses now must wax angry Nam debet amor laesus irasci otherwise his meeknesse had been stupidnesse and his mercy had proved little better then cruelty when as to spare the Wolfe is to spoile the Sheep and because these great Rebels had with Absolon by their false accusations of their Governours and their subtle insinuations into the affections of the people stole away the hearts of many men therefore Moses must call for aid from Heaven and say Exsurgat Deus And let him that hath sent me now defend me So God must be the decider of this dissention as you may see he was in the next verse And by this you find Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did and how their sin was not Simplex peccatum but Morbus cumulatus a very Chaos and an heap of confused iniquity for here is 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering The ten fold sin of rebels 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Rebellion A Monster indeed that is a ten-headed or ten-horned beast 1. Pride which bred the distraction in the Primitive Church 1. Pride and will be the destruction of any Church of any Common-wealth was the first seed of their rebelllion for the humble man will easily be governed but the proud heart like a sturdy Oak will rather break then bend 2. Discontent was the second step and that is a most vexatious vice 2. Discontent for though contentation is a rare blessing because it ariseth either from a fruition of all comforts as it is in the glorious in Heaven The poyson of discontent or a not desiring of that which they have not as it is in the Saints on earth yet discontent is that which annointeth all our joyes with Aloes for though life be naturally sweet yet a little discontent makes its weary of our lives as the Israelites that loved their lives as well as any yet for want of a little water say O that we had dyed in Aegypt And Haman tells his wife Hester 5.13 that all the honour which the King and Queen shewed unto him availed him nothing so long as Mordecai refused to
bow unto him And discontent may as well invade the highest as the lowest for as none is so bare but he hath some benefits so none is so full The commâ—n condition of man to be ever wanting something but he wanteth something as the Israelites had Manna but they wanted water and when they had water they wanted flesh and this want made them discontented so these Rebels had the dignity to be Levites and to be Peers of high places and heads of all their families which was more then they deserved but they wanted the honour to be Priests and to be Kings the chief Governours of Gods people which they desired and therefore were discontented because their conceit was unsatiable and their desires unsatisfied 3. As Pride makes men discontented to be inferiour unto any 3 Envy so Discontent makes them alwayes to envy their superiours and therefore Envy is the third head of this monster and the third step unto rebellion How monstrous a sin is Envy a most hateful vice before God and man That I should pine away with grief because God is gracious unto another and I must be angry with God because he will not be guided by me in the disposing of his favâ—urs and therefore Saint Augustine calleth this a devillish vice which caused Cain to kill Abel Gen 4.8 Acts 7.9 the Patriarchs to sell Joseph the Medes to molest Daniel and the Nobility of Jury to persecute good King David Cyprian in Serm. de Livors and to crucifie the sonne of David Christ himself Et ideo periêre quia malucrunt Christo invidere quà m credere And yet herein I must commend Envy that as the Poet saith Sit licèt injustus Livor Though it be unjust to others yet is it very just to destroy them first that would destroy others as the envy of these rebels did Sampson-like pull down the house upon their own heads and will most likely bring destruction unto those that follow them in rebellion 4. Murmuring 4. Murmuring is a secret discontented muttering one to another of things that we dislike or persons that we distaste and the very word in all languages seems as harsh unto our ears as the sinne is hateful unto our souls for in Greek it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Murmurare in English to Murmure in Brittish Grwgnach a sad word and a sowre sinne Exod. c. 15. c. 16. c. 17. therefore the wise man saith Beware of murmuring which is nothing worth and yet this sinne was frequent among the Israelites three times in three Chapters that they could never leave it till as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. they were destroyed of the destroyer 5. Hypocrisie 5. Hypocrisie is when a man seems to be what he is not for as Saint Hierom saith Qâ—i foris Cato intus Nero hypocrita est he that talks of peace and prepares for warre that protesteth loyalty and yet hates his King that in his words will advance the Church but in his actions will overthrow the Church-men that commends all piety but commits all iniquity that will not swear for a Kingdom but deceipe for a penny that pretends the safety of the Kings person but purloyneth away all his power that will bend his knee and say Hayle King but will spit in his face and crown him with thorns he is an hypocrite So these rebels say they are all holy they love all their brethren they hate usurpation and cannot endure the tyranny of these Governours but indeed though they cryed Templum Domini Templum Domini all for the King and all for the Church all for Moses and all for Aaron yet notwithstanding this voyce of Jacob they had the hands of Esau and they would have brought Moses and Aaron to confusion as they brought themselves to destruction This is the property of an Hypocrite and therefore Job speaking of an hypocrite saith and it is excedingly well worth the observing Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung they which have seen him that is they which came out to see his pomp and his greatnesse and have admired at the greatnesse of his glory shall say Where is he or How chance he doth not ride on with his honour Job 20.6 7 8 9. Job answereth The eye which saw him shall see him no more that is in the like Majesty neither shall his place any more behold him for He shall flee away as a dream and shall not be found yea he shall be chased away as a vision in the night And our Saviour knowing as well the cruelty as the subtlety of hypocrites biddeth us to beware of hypocrites Matth. 7.15 as the Poet saith ut atri limina Ditis Shun hypocrites as the gates of Hell Hypocrisie how odious it is and believe their actions rather then their protestations for as in the Old Testament Sodom and Gomorrah are the patterns of all beastlinesse so in the New Testament the greatest sinners are threatned to have their portion with the hypocrites 6. Lying 6. Lying must follow Hypocrisie at the heels for were it not for the heaps of lyes that hypocrites spread abroad the world could not possibly be so easily seduced by their hypocrisie and I read it in a Sermon of a learned Divine That now adayes some phanatique Sectaries of desperate opinions and despicable fortunes whom the Church and State find to be a malignant party having little else to do make it their trade to lye both by whole sale and retayle they invent lyes and vent lyes they tell lyes and write lyes and print lyes yea I may adde and more palpable lyes and more abominable then either Bourn or Butter ever published of the affairs of Germany and this they do as confidently and impudently as if they were informed by that lying spirit which entred as a Voluntier into Ahab's Prophets and by lying and raising false rumours they beget jealousies and feares in the people and by blowing the coales which themselves kindled and inlarging the difference betwixt King and Parliament they set all in a combustion and bring all into confusion and that which grieves me most he saith that they are Preachers which in the exuberancie of their mis-grounded and mis-guided zeal do both preach and pray against publique peace as inconsistent with the Independencie or rather Anarchie that they ayme at 7. Slandering may be coupled unto their Lying 7. Slandering because we can slander none with that which is truth therefore these Rebels say All the Congregation is holy and that is a lye when there can be no holinesse in the Rebels and The Lord is among them which is another lye for he will forsake all those that forsake him then they say Moses and Aaron take too much upon them which is an apparent slander and they adde that they lifted up themselves
above the Congregation of the Lord which is another slander as false as the Father of lyes could lay upon them for I shewed unto you before how truly they were called and how justly they behaved themselves in their places but as Absolon knew well enough that to traduce his Father's Government was the readiest way to insinuate and to winde himselfe into a good opinion among the people and to make the King odious unto his subjects so these and all other Rebels will be sure to lay load enough of lyes and slanders upon their Governours and so the namelesse Authour of the Soveraign Antidote Goodwin Goodwin in his Anti-Caval Buâ—roughs in his Sermon upon The glorious name of the Lord of Hosts Burroughs and abundance more such scandalous impudent lying libels have not blushed which a man would think the brazen face of Satan could not chuse but do so maliciously and reproachfully to lay to his Majesty's charge the things which as the Prophet saith he never knew and which all they that know the King do know to be apparent lyes and most abominable slanders against the Lord's Vicegerent but Quid domini facient audent cum talia fures You know the meaning of the Poet and you may know the reason why these grand Lyars these impudent slanderers do so impudently bely so good a King so pious and so gracious a Majesty for Lay on enough Et aliquid adhaerebit and throw dust enough in their faces and let the Governours be never so good the King as milde and as unreproveable as Moses and the Bishops like Aaron the Saints of the Lord yet some thing will stick in the opinion of the simple that are not able to discern the subtilty of those distractors And as they diminish and undermine the credit and reputation of the best Governours by no other engine then a lying tongue and a false pen so with the same instruments they do magnifie their own repute and further their unjust proceedings by deceiving the most simple with such equivocal lyes as any sensible man might well wonder A strange equivocation that they should be so insensibly swallowed down as when they say They fight for him whom they shoot at and they are for the King when with all their might and main they strive to take away his power to pull the sword out of his hand and to throw his Crown down to the dust which is so strange a kind of equivocation as might well move men with Pilate to ask What is truth which we can never understand if any of these things can be true which as one saith most truly is one of the absurdest gulleries that ever was put upon any Nation much like that Anabaptist which I knew that beat his wife almost to death The tale of an Anabaptist and said He beat not her but that evill spirit that was in her Therefore the Lord hateth this abominable sinne because it is unpossible the people should be so soon drawn into rebellion if they did not credit these defamations But the wise man tells us that Stultus credit omni verbo therefore no wise man will believe those false and wicked slanders that such malicious Rebels do spread abroad against their King Prince or Priest or any other Governour of Gods people 8. Rayling 8. After they had thus slandered these good men they fell to open rayling against them as you may see Num. 16.13 14. For now they had eaten shame and drunk after it and therefore they cared not what they said and so now we find how the Rebels deal with our King and with our Bishops too with our Moses and with our Aaron for here in Ireland they rebell against their Soveraign because he is no Papist and will not countenance the Papists as they desire And in England they rayle at him and rebell against him because they say He is a Papist and doth connive at Popery and hath a design to bring in Popery into the Kingdome which is as flat a lye as the father of lyes hath ever invented So the Bishops here are driven out of all as my self am expelled aedibus sedibus and left destitute of all relief because we are no Papists but do both preach and write against their errours as much as any and more learnedly then many others And in England we are persecuted and driven to flee from place to place or to take our place in a hard prison as my self have been often forced to flee and to wander in the cold and dark long nights because we are Papists and Popishly given Good God! what shall we do whither shall we go or what shall we say for Nusquam tuta fides nec hospes ab hospite tutus We cannot confide in the confiders to whom we are become malignant enemies for speaking truth neither dare we trust in the followers of the publique faith nor in the professors of the Catholique faith whereof men maliciously rejecting their godly Bishops rebelliously fighting against their lawful King and mortally wounding their own souls have made a shipwrack But If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub if they said he was a glutton and a drunkard what wonder if they say these things of us and if Christ the King of Kings was crucified between two Thieves what marvel if this servant of Christ our King be thus pressed opposed and abused betwixt two rebellious factions And when we see our Saviour and our King thus handled it is lesse strange to find the Bishops and the Priests persecuted and crucified betwixt two heretical and tyrannical parties Well Jerusalem Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee take heed lest the King of peace shall say unto thee Verily thou shalt see me no more till thou sayest Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 9 Disobedience 9. When they were grown thus impudent from bad to worse both over shooes and over boots then Disobedience must needs follow and therefore now putting on their brazen foreheads they tell Moses plainly We will not come to thee we will do nothing that thou willest but will crosse thee in all that thou intendest this is our most peremptory resolution And so we see that Nemo repentè fit pessimus but the wicked grow worse and worse first you must lend then you must give if not we will take or if you deny your goods we will have your bodies so at first what soever we do it is for the King and because this is so palpable a mockery that as every man knoweth they that fight against the Earl of Essex and his Army do warre against the Parliament so they that fight against the Kings Army do as certainly war against the King then we grow so impudent as to justifie any rebellion against our King as in England Goodwin and that seditious Pamphleter in opening The glorious name of the Lord of Host do
gracious King and I believe the best Protestant King that ever England or Ireland saw neither Popishly affected nor Schismatically led to disaffect but most constantly resolved to be a true Defender of that true Protestant Faith which is established by Law in the Church of England and he is such a King of so unblameable a life so spotlesse in all his actions so clement and so meek towards all men and so merciful towards his very enemies that the mouth of Envy cannot truly taxe him nor malice it self disprove him in any thing Yet we know that as Moses the meekest among men and David the best of Kings were sore afflicted slandered and persecuted not a little by many of their own obliged subjects yea and the best Kings have had the greatest troubles so this good King hath had for his trial a great part of the like usage I know not by whom neither do I intend here to accuse others but to instruct you and by what I shewed out of this Text to teach you above all to take heed of disobedience and Rebellion towards your King and to let you understand that what priviledges in the New Testament are acknowledged to be due to Heathen Princes and what prerogatives the spirit of God hath in the Old Testament warranted unto the Jewish Kings and what the universal Law of Nature hath established upon all the supreme Governours do all of them appertain by unquestionable right unto his most sacred Majesty and yet His Majesty out of His incomparable goodnesse insisteth not to challenge all these but vouchsafeth to accept of those Rights and Prerogatives which are undoubtedly afforded him by the Lawes of His own Lands and these come farre short scarce the moity of the other because we know if our Historians have not deceived me how many of them were obtained by little better then by force and violence compelling Kings to consent unto them whereas Lawes should be of a freer nature And therefore of all the Nations round about us besides that God hath intrusted Him with us all we have most reason to intrust him and to give credit unto his Majesties many Protestations too high to be forgotten by him or misdoubted by us for his resolution to maintain the Liberty of his Subjects the just Priviledges of Parliaments and the true established Religion in the Kingdome of England and likewise to rule over us according to our Laws in this Realm of Ireland And we have least reason to rebell and take arms against him and therefore let us not be perswaded by any means by any man to do it because God will preserve his annointed and will as you see plague the Rebels but let us pray for our King and praise God night and day that he which might have given us a bramble not only to tear our flesh but also to set us all on fire hath given us such a Cedar such a gracious and a pious King and if either forreign foes or domestique Rebels do presse him so that he hath need of us let us adde our help and hazard our lives to defend and protect him that protecteth us and suffereth all for the protection of Gods service as it was established in the purest time of Reformation and for the preservation of our Laws from any corrupt interpretation or arbitrary invasion upon them by those factious men that under fair yet false pretences have with wondrous subtilty and with most subtle hypocrisie seduced so many simple men to partake with them not onely to overthrow the true Religion to imbase the Church of Christ that hitherto hath continued glorious in this Nation and by trampling the most learned under feet to reduce Popery into this Kingdom and to bring in Atheism or Barbarism into our Pulpits when they make their Coach-men and Trades-men like Jeroboam's Priests the basest of the people to become their Trencher-Chaplains and the teachers of those poor sheep for whom the Son of God hath shed his precious blood but also to change the well-setled government and to subvert the whole fabrick of this famous Common-wealth either by their tyranny or bringing all into an Anarchie for if we have any regard of any of these things either true Religion or ancient Government a gracious King and a learned Clergy a glorious Church and a flourishing Kingdom we ought not to spare our goods or be niggards in our contributions to help his Majesty yea as Debora saith To help the Lord against the mighty Or if we be cold and carelesse herein penurious and tenacious of our worldly pelfe preferring our gold before our God or fearing gracelesse Rebels more then we love our gracious King It may fall out as Saint Augustine saith Quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus or as it did with the Carthaginians who because they would not assist Hanniball with some reasonable proportion of their estates they lost all unto the Romans and with the Constantinopolitans that for denying a little to Paleologus lost all unto the Turkes so we may be robbed and pillaged of all because we would not part with some and I had rather the King should have all I have then that the Rebels should have any part thereof Therefore I hope I shall perswade all good men to honour God with their riches and to assist His Majesty to the uttermost of their powers even to the hazard and to the losse both of liberty and life And doing this our God which is the King of Kings will blesse us and defend us from all evill and make us Kings and Priests to live with him for ever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all praise and glory and dominion from henceforth for evermore Amen Amen Hester 4.16 If I perish I perish Yet Esdras 4.41 The truth is great and will prevail Jehovae Liberatori TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yet the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te videre superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of
any otherwise then they said or looked any further then they shewed Him He never dream'd that they intended to have an everlasting Parliament and so perfidiously to over-reach both the King and the Kingdom But though our gracious King being not so much versed with the dissembling subtilty and serpentine windings of wicked hypocrites that are to be removed from the King and expelled out of his House supposed all them to mean sincerely and to deal fairly as they seemed to do yet I do admire that the wisdom of the Kings Counsel but that they which as the Apostle saith are not ignorant of the devices of Satan are not permitted by these men to be of His Councel could not espy what mischief might lurk under this fair shade or what might be the Consequences of such a Parliament that is inconsistent with a Monarchy and therefore must in a convenient time be ended or else will make an end of all Monarchical Government Why then might not a year or two or three or more so the years were limited suffice to determine all businesses but that the life of this Parliament should be endless and the continuance thereof undetermined This is beyond the age of the Counsel of Trent What the faction could be contented with Complaint p. 19. that they say lasted above forty years for I presume if some of the contrivers of this Design might have their desires the youngest of us should hardly see the Dissolution of this Parliament Til the earthly Houses of our Tabernacles be dissolved for it is likely they could be well contented as one saith to make an Ordinance that both Houses should be a Corporation to take our Lands and Goods to themselves and their successours and when any of that Corporation dieth toties quoties the surviver and none else should choose a successour to perpetuity so they should be Masters of our Estates and disposers of all we have as they are now for ever And therefore this was a Plot beyond the Powder-plot and beyond the device of Semiramis The plot of Semiramis that with a lovely face desired her husband she might rule but three daies to see how well she could mannage the State and obtaining her request in the first thereof she removed all the Kings Officers in the second she placed her own minions in all the places of Power and Authority as now the saction would do such as they confide in in all places of strength and in the third day she cut off the Kings head and assumed the Government of all the Kings Dominions into her own hands for not three daies nor three years will serve their turn for fear they shall not have ability in so short a space to finish all their strange intended projects and therefore that they might not be hindered their request is unlimited that the Parliament should not be dissolved till both Houses gave consent which they were contented should be ad Graecas Calendas Yet God that knew best what punishments were due to be inflicted for their former Actions and for all the subtle Devices of their hard hearts gave way for this also that this third Impediment of their projects might be removed that so at last their sins like the sins of the Amorites by little and little growing unto the full might undergo the fulness of Gods vengeance which as yet I fear was not fully come to pass for till the Parliament was made perpetual the things that they have done since were absolutely unimaginable How the faction hath strengthened it self because that while it was a dissolvable body they durst not so palpably invade the known rights either of King or Subjects whereas now their Body being made indissoluble they need not have the same apprehension of either having strengthened themselves by a Bill against the one and by an Army against the other and therefore all the dissolutions of Parliaments from the beginning of them to this time have not done half that mischief as the continuance of this one hath done hitherto and God only knowes what is to succeed hereafter But seeing themselves have publickly acknowledged in their Declarations that they were too blame if they undertook any thing now which they would not undertake if it were in His Majesties power to dissolve them the next day and they have since used this means which was given them to disburthen the Common-Wealth of that debt which was thought insupportable What many wise men do say to plunge it irrevocably into a far greater debt to the ruine of the whole Kingdom to change the whole frame of our Government and subjecting us to so unlimited an arbitrary power that no man knows at the sitting of the House what he shall be worth at the rising or whether he shall have his liberty the next day or imprisonment Many wise men do say they see no Reason that this trust being forfeited and the faith reposed in them betrayed the King may not immediatly re-assume that power of dissolving them into his own hands again and both our unjustly abused King and our much injured people declare this Act to be voyd when as contrary to their own Faith and the trust of the King they abuse it to overthrow the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom though I could heartily wish that because it still carrieth the Countenance of a Law the faction would be so Wise to yield it to be presently dissolved by a Law CHAP. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature The fourth impediment of their design 4. THere was one stop more that might hinder or at least hardly suffer their plots to succeed according to their hearts desire and that is the Bishops Votes in the Vpper House nay they cannot endure to call it so but in the House of the Lords for they rightly considered therein these two special things 1. Their Number 2. Their Abilities Which are two main things to stop and hinder many evils For 1. They had Twenty six Voyces which was a very considerable number and might stop a great gap and stay the stream or at least moderate the violence of any unjust prosecution 2. They were men of great Learning men of Profound knowledge both in Divine and Humane Affairs and men well educated à cunabulis that spent all their time in Books and were Conversant with the dead that feared not to speak the truth and have wearied themselves in reading Histories The abilities of the Bishops comparing Laws and considering the Affairs of all Common-wealths and so were able if their modesty did not silence them to discourse de quolibet ente to untie every knot and to explain every riddle and being the immediate servants of the living God set apart as the Apostle speaketh to offer Sacrifice and to administer the Sacraments of God to prepare
our selves and our families we shall be in the power of these men at their pleasure under the pretence of Religion contrary to all justice to be deprived of any part of our freehold when we shall have not one man of our own Calling to speak a word in our behalf on no Seat of Justice throughout the whole Kingdom O terque quaterque beati Queis ante or a patrum contigit oppetere O most miserable and lamentable condition of Gods Ministers I must needs speak it though I should die for it and if some did not speak it I think the stones would cry against it and proclaim it Better for the Clergy were their hope only in this world never to have been born or at least never to have seen a Book then to fall into the hands and to be put under the censure of these men that do thus love Christ by hating his Ministers This Act more prejudiciall to the future times than now who as I said before by this one Act are made liable to undergo all kind of evils which shall not only fall upon the present Clergy for were it so our patience should teach us to be silent but also to the increase of all prejudices to the Gospel more than my fore-sight can expresse in all succeeding Ages And therefore I may well say with Jeremy Jer. 5.9 29. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this And we need not wonder that such plagues calamities and distresses have so much increased in this Kingdom ever since the passing of this Act and yet the anger of the Lord is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and I fear his wrath will not be appeased till we have blotted this and wiped away all other our great sins and transgressions with the truest tears of unfained repentance These are like to be the consequences of this Act And yet our good King who we know loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue and was as I assure my self most unwilling to passe it was notwithstanding over-perswaded considering where thirteen of the Bishops were even in prison and in what condition all the rest of them stood in question whether all they should stand or be cut down root and branch to yield His assent unto the Act though if the case in truth were rightly weighed not much lesse prejudicial to his Majesty than injurious to us to be thus deprived of our right and exposed to all miseries by excluding us from all Civil Judicature And I would to God the King and all the Kingdom did continually consider how his Majesty was used ever since the confirmation of this Act How the King hath been used ever since this Act passed for they no sooner had excluded the Bishops and Clergy out of their right but presently they proceeded and prosecuted the Design ever since to thrust out the King from all those just Rights and Prerogatives which God and Nature and the Laws of our Land have put into his hands for the Government of this Kingdom neither was it likely to succeed any otherwise as I have fully shewed and I would all Kings would read it in the Grand Rebellion That the Act should be annulled But I see no reason why it may not and why it should not be retracted and annulled when the Houses shall be purged of that Anabaptistical and Rebellious Faction that contrived and procured the same to Passe for these three special Reasons Reason 1 1. Because that contrary to all former Precedents that Bill for their exclusion was as it is reported at the first refused and after a full hearing among the Lords it was by most Votes by more than a dozen voices rejected And yet to shew unto the World that the Faction's malice against the Bishops had no end and their rage was still implacable at the same Session and which is very considerable immediately assoon as ever they understood it was rejected the House of Commons revived it and so pressed it unto the Lords that if I may have leave to speak the truth contrary to all right * For I conceive this to be an approved Maxim That no Right not proved forfited by some offence can be taken away without wrong it must be again received and while the Bishops were in prison it was with what honour I know not strangely confirmed 2. Because this Bill had the Royall assent after that a most riotous tumult and many thousands of men with all sorts of Warlike weapons both on land and water most disloyally had driven His Majesty to flie from London that most Rebellious City not without fear for his own safety even for the safety of his life as himself professeth And when they had so cunningly Reason 2 contrived their Plot as to get some of the Kings servants and friends that were about him In his Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. of July p. 8. and imployed in the Queens affairs to perswade Her Majesty to use all her power with the King for the passing of this Bill or else Her journey should be stayed as formerly they had altered Her resolution for the Spaw and at Rochester she should understand the sense of the House to stop Her passage unto Holland whereas the passing of this Bill might make way for Her passage over And many other such frights and fears they put both upon the King and Queen to inforce Him full sore against his will as we believe to passe this harsh Bill for the exclusion of the spiritual Lords out of the House of Peers and of all the Clergy from all Secular Judicature But Master Pym will tell us as he did that it was the opinion of both Houses There was no occasion given by any tumults that might justly cause His Majesties departure To whom I answer with the words of Alderman Garraway Ald. Gar. speech at Guild-hall If the Houses had declared that it had been lawful to beat the King out of Town I must have sate still with wonder though I should never believe it but when they declare matters of Fact which is equally within our own knowledge and wherein we cannot be deceived as in the things we have seen with our eyes if they dissent from truth they must give me leave to differ from them As if they should declare They have paid all the money that they owe unto the City or that there * For now I understand it is pulled down was no Crosse standing in Cheapside we shall hardly believe them And therefore seeing we all remember when the Alarm was given that there was an attempt from Whitehall upon the City how hardly it was appeased and how no Babies thought the Design of those subtile heads that gave that false Alarm was no lesse than to have caused Whitehall to be pulled down and they that loved the King and saw the Army both by land and
in the blood of so many faithful Christians do sing with the Psalmist Psal 58 9. The righteous rejoyce when they see this vengeance they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly for as Solomon saith The tender mercies of the wicked are meer cruelty Prov. 12.10 And I believe the first inventers of that Design to root out all the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Col. 3.11 every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of State yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings power so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth. 6.11 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10.11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5.16 for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20.34 1 Thes 2.9 1 Cor. 1.12 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of
design How they strengthened themselves to make their orders fi m without the King Whereupon these men put their heads together to consult how they might strengthen themselves and make their ordinances firm and binding without the King and to that purpose having by their former doings gotten too great an interest as well in the faith as in the affections of the people in confidence of their own strength they came roundly to the businesse and what they knew was not their right as their former Petitions can sufficiently witnesse they resolve to effect the same by force but as insensibly as they can devise as 1. To seize upon the Kings Navie to secure the Seas 2. To lay hold upon all the Kings Magazine Forts Towns and Castles 3. To with-hold his moneys and revenues and all other means from the King 4. To withdraw the affections and to poyson the loyalty of all his Majesties Subjects from him And hereby they thought and it must have been so indeed except the Lord had been on his side they had made their hill so strong that it could not be moved and the King so weak and destitute of all means that he could no wayes subsist or relieve himself as a member of their own House did tell me for 1. Earl of Warwick made Vice-Admiral 1. They get the Earl of Warwick to be appointed Vice-Admiral of the Sea and to commit all the Kings Navie into his hand and to take away that charge from Sir John Pennington whom most men believed to be far the better Sea-man but more faithful to his King and the other purer to the Parliament 2. Sir John Hotham put into Hull for the Magazine 2. They send Sir John Hotham a most insolent man that most uncivilly contemned the King to his face to seize upon the Kings Magazine that he bought with his own money when they might as well take away my horse that I paid for and to keep the King out of Hull which was his own proper Town and therefore might as well have kept him out of White-Hall and was an Act so full of injustice as that I scarce know a greater 3. They detained the Kings moneys Esay 1.23 3. Because moneys are great means to effect any worldly affaire and the sinews of every warre when as men and arms and all other necessaries may be had for money some of them and their followers shew themselves to be just as the Peers of Israel companions of thieves meer robbers which forcibly take away a mans mony from him they take all the Kings treasure they intercept detain and convert all the Kings revenues and customes to strengthen themselves against the King 4. They labour to render the King odious by lyes 4. Because their former Remonstrances framed by this faction of the ill government of this kingdom though in some things true which the King ingenuously acknowledgeth and most graciously promiseth to redresse them yet in all things full of gall and bitternesse against the King could not so fully poyson the love and loyalty of the Kings Subjects as they desired especially the love of those that knew his Majesty who the better they knew him did the more affectionately love him and the more faithfully serve him they thought to do it another and a surer way with apparent lyes palpable slanders and abominable accusations invented printed and scattered over all the parts of this kingdom by their Trencher Chaplains and parasitical Preachers and other Pamphleters some busie Lawyers and Pettifoggers to bring the King into an odium disliked and deserted of all his loving Subjects And what created power under heaven was able to dissolve that wickednesse which subtilty and malice had thus treacherously combined to bring to passe Hereupon after many threatning votes 1. Lye that he intended to war against the Parliament and actual hostility exercised against his Royall person the King is forced to raise a guard for the defence of himself and those his good Subjects that attended him then presently that small guard that consisted but of the chief gentry of the Countrey was declared to be an Army raised for the subversion of the Parliament and the destruction of our native liberties an invincible Army is voted to be raised the Earl of Essex is chosen to be their Generall with whom they promise both to live and die the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse moneys are provided and all things are prepared to fetch the King and all delinquents or to be the death of all withstanders and that nothing might hinder this design though the King in many gracious Messages attested by the subscription of many noble Lords that were upon the place assured them he never intended any warre against his Parliament yet they proceed with all eagernesse and declare all those that shall assist the King either with Horse money or men to be malignants and enemies unto the King and Kingdome and such delinquents as shall be sure to receive condigne punishment by the Parliament Hoc mirum est hoc magnum And among the rest of their impudent slanders this was their Master-piece which they ever harped upon that he countenanced Papists and intended to bring Popery into this Kingdgm and to that end had an Army of Papists to assist him But to satisfie any sensible man in this point I would crave the resolution of these two Questions 1. Whether every Papist that is subject to his Majesty Two questions to be resolved is not bound to assist and defend his King in all his dangers 2. Whether the King should not protect his Subjects that are Papists in all their dangers so far as by the Law he ought to do it and accept of their service when he himself is invironed with dangers For first 1. All Papists bound to assist their King I believe there is no Law that inhibiteth a Papist to serve his King against a Rebellion or to ride Post to tell the King of a Design to murder Him or any other intended Treason against Him or being present to take away a weapon from that man that attempted to kill the King because his not coming to Church doth not exempt him from his Allegiance or discharge him of his duty and service unto the King and therefore if a Fleet from France or Spain or any other forreign part should invade us or any Rebellion at home should rise against his Soveraign and seek to destroy those Lawes and Liberties whereof himself and his Posterity hath as good an interest to as any other Subject I say he is bound by all Laws to assist his King and to do his best endeavour both with his purse and in his person not only to oppose that external Invasion but also to subdue as well that home-bred Rebellion as the forreign Invasion 2. If a Papist should be injured his estate seized upon 2. The King bound to protect dutiful Papists his house
blasphemiam then heretofore this Kingdom hath ever been by any Civil War for if you will consider the Treasons and Rebellions the Injustice Cruelty and Inhumanity the Subtilty Hypocrisie Lying Swearing Blasphemy Prophaneness and Sacriledge in the highest pitch and many other the like fearful sins that have been committed since the beginning of this Parliament by the sole means of this Faction and observe the ill Acts that have been used by them to compass things lawful the wicked Acts that have been daily practised to procure things unlawful when by blood and rapine and the curses of many Fatherless and Widdows they have gotten the Treasure of the Kingdom and the Wealth of the Kings loyal Subjects into their hands and wasted it so that their wants are still as notorious as their crimes we may admire the miracles of Gods mercy and the bottomless depth of his goodness that the stones in the streets have not risen against them or the fire from Heaven had not consumed these Rebels that thus far and thus insolently had tempted Gods patience and provoked him to anger with such horrible abominations Mischief 5 5. As Jerusalem justified Samaria so this Faction hath justified all the Romanists and shewed themselves worse Christians less Subjects and viler Traytors than all the Papists are for these factious Rebels justify their Rebellion and to the indelible shame of their Profession they maintain that it is not only lawful but that it is their duty to bear Arms and to wage War against their King when the King doth abuse his Power whereas the Doctrine of the Church of Rome * Christopherson tract contr rebell Rhemist in Nov. Test p. â—01 Goldastus de Monarchia S. Imp. Rom. tom 3. Dr. Kellison in his Survey Aquin. de Regim Princip c. 6. Concil Constan Sess 15. Stephan Cantuar anno 8. H. 3. Tolet. in summa l 5. c 6. Gr. Valentia p. 2. q 64. Bellar. Apol. c. 13 Lessiâ—â— l. 2 c. 9. Serrarius Azorius c. utterly denieth the same and concludes them no Children of the Church that do it and Doctor Kellison giveth this reason for it because Faith is not necessarily required to Jurisdiction or Government neither is Authority lost by the loss of Faith therefore it is not lawful for any Subjects to Rebel against their King though their King should prove a Tyrant or should Apostate from the Faith of Christ so that now the Papists boast they are better Subjects than these Rebellious Protestants and thefore I fear that this Faction Defendens Christum verso mucrone cecidit by their unjust Design to propagate the Gospel have most grievously wounded the Faith of Christ and given a more deadly blow to the Protestant Religion than ever it had since the Reformation when it is impossible that the true Religion should produce Rebellion And therefore seeing we are free-born Subjects and persons interessed in the good and safety of this Kingdom as well as any of them we must crave liberty to express our grievances and to crave redresses and seeing my self am called to be a Preacher of Gods Word and a Bishop over many of the souls of my Brethren for which I must render an account to my God both for my silence when I should speak and speaking any thing that should not be spoken I resolved to fear my God and neither out of flattery to the King and his party nor out of hatred or malice to those factious men but as I am perswaded in my Conscience fully satisfied and guided by Gods Truth to set forth this Discovery of these Mysteries what danger soever I shall undergo and if I shall become their Enemy for speaking Truth I shall fare no worse than Saint Paul did and it shall be with them if they do not repent as it was with the Israelites When their destruction cometh Ezech. 7.25 27. they shall seek peace and shall not have it but calamity shall come upon calamity CHAP. XV. Sheweth a particular recapitulation of the Reasons whereby their Design to alter the Government of the Church and State is evinced And a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion ANd thus I have set down not any thing to render these men more odious than they are or to abuse my Reader with falshood If I have been misinformed of any thing that shall appear false I shall not blush to retract it by an ingenuous confession or uncertainties but to report what I knew and what I collected out of the present writings of best credit and attested by men of known truth and integrity whereby it is most apparent to any discerning eye That the Faction of Anabaptists and Brownists and some other of the subtilest heads in the House of Commons had from the first Convention of this Parliament secretly projected this Design and insensible to the rest of their well-meaning Brethren prosecuted the same to alter and change the ancient Government both of the Church and Kingdom Sober Sadnesse p. 44 45 46. which the Author of Sober-Sadness proveth by these subsequent Reasons as for the first 1. By suspending all Ecelesiasticall Laws and Censures Their Design to change the Church Government proved 4. wayes which indulgence of all Vices hath drawn all Offenders to comply with them 2. By setting the people on work to petition against the present Government and the Service of the Church 3. By the Bill concluded for the abolishing of our Government 4. By the chief persons countenanced and imployed by them in that businesse who are Anabaptists and Brownists and all sorts of Sectaries he evinceth their Design to change our Church-Government and to convert the Patrimony of the Church which our religious Ancestors dedicated for the advancement of God's Worship not to establish Learning and a preaching Ministery as they pretended but to dis-ingage their Publick-faith which otherwise would never prove a saving faith And I wish there might be none about His Majesty that pretending great loyalty unto him do comply with them herein and either to raise or to secure their own Fortunes would perswade Saint Paul to part with Saint Peters keyes so he may still hold the sword in his hand or to speak more plainly to purchase the peace of the Common-wealth with the ruine of God's Church But for this let me be bold 1. To crave leave to tell His Majesty It was not His sword that hath brought him from a flying Prince out of Westminster and as yet unsecured at Nottingham to be a victorious King at Edge hill and immediately to be the terrour of all the Rebels in London But it was God whose Church and Church Service he defended that protected him hitherto and gave him the Victory in Battel And let him be assured that He which is Yea and Amen will be his Shield and Buckler still to defend him from the strivings of his people and to subdue them that rise against him while he defendeth them whose eyes next under God are only
God and my fidelity to my King I have undertaken this hard and to the Rebels unpleasant labour The Rebels for the punishment of our sins may prosper for a time but at last they shall be most surely destroyed Prov. 8.15 Psal 68.30 Joshua 9 16. Psal 91.16 to set down the Rights of Kings wherein I shall not be afraid of the Rebels power neither would I have any man to fear them for however Victores victique cadunt here may be a vicissitude of good success many times on both sides to prolong the war for our sins and they may prosper in some places yet that is but nubecula quaedam a transient cloud or summer storm that will soon pass away for we may assure our selves they shall not prevaile because God hath said it By me Kings do raigne and He will give strength unto his King and exalt the horn of his Annointed He will scatter the people that delight in war and make the hearts of the cursed Canaanites to melt and their joynts to tremble but He will satisfie the King with long life and shew him his salvation CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to Kingdoms the best of the three rights how Kings came to be electted and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracie and Democracie issued out of Monarchie TO proceed then you see the person that by Saint Peters precept is to be honoured to be the King and what King was that but as you may see in the beginning of this epistle the King of Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bythinia and what manner of Kings were they I pray you I presume you will confess they were no Christians but it may be as bad as Nero who was then their Emperour and most cruelly tyrannizing over the Saints of God What Kings are to be honoured gave a very bad example to all other his substitute Kings and Princes to do the like and yet these holy Christians are commanded to honour them And therefore 1. Heathen Pagan wicked and tyrannical Kings are to be truely honoured by God's precept 2. Religious just and Christian Kings are to have a double honour because there is a double charge imposed upon them as The double charge of all Christian Kings 1. To preserve peace 1. To execute justice and judgement among their people to preserve equity and peace both from intestine broyles and foreign Foes which careful government bringeth plenty and prosperity in all external affaires unto the whole Kingdom and this they do as Kings which is the common duty of all the Kings of the earth 2. To protect the Church 2. To maintaine true Religion to promote the faith of Christ and to be the guardians and foster-fathers unto the Church and Church-men which tye their people unto God to make them spiritually and everlastingly happy and this duty is laid upon them as they are Christian Kings and therefore in regard of this accession of charge they ought to have an accession of honour more then all other Kings whatsoever 1. Then I say that the Heathen Pagan wicked and tyrannical Kings such as were Nero Dioclesian and Julian among the Christians or Ahab and Manasses among the Jews or Antiochus Dionysius and the rest of the Sicilian Tyrants among the Gentiles are to be honoured served and obeyed of all their Subjects and that in three especial respects 1. All Kings to be honoured in three respects 1. Of their institution which is the immediate ordinance of God 2. Of God's precept which enjoineth us to honour them 3. Of all good mens practice whether they be 1. Jewes 2. Gentiles 3. Christians 1. The institution of Kings is immediately from God Justin lib. 1. Herodot lib. 1. Clio. 1. Justin tells us that Principio rerum gentium nationúmque imperium penes reges erat from the beginning of things that is the beginning of the world the rule and government of the people of all Nations was in the hands of Kings Quos ad honoris fastigium non ambitio popularis sed spectata inter bonos moderatio provehebat And Herodotus setteth down how Deioces the first King of the Medes had his beginning And Homer also nameth the Kings that were in and before the wars of Troy But the choice of Deioces and some others about that time and after Cicero in Officiis whereof Cicero speaketh may give some colour unto our rebellious Sectaries to make the royal Dignity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a humane ordinance therefore I must go before Herodotus and look further then blind Homer could see and from the first King that ever was I will truly lay down the first institution and succession of Kings and how times have wrought by corruption the alteration of their right and diminution of their power which both God and nature had first granted unto them God the first King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1.17 Apoc. 19.16 And I hope no Basileu-mastix no hater of Kings nor opposer of the royal government can deny but that God himself was the first King that ever the world saw that was the King of ages before all worlds and the King of Kings ever since there were any created Kings The next King that I read of was Adam whom Cedrenus stiles the Catholique Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mighty King of a large Territory of great Dominion and of unquestionable right unto his Kingdom which was the whole World the Earth the Seas and all that were therein For the great King of all Kings said unto him Gen. 1.28 Adam the first King of all men Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Which is a very large Commission when dominare is more then regere and therefore his royalty is so plain that none but wilful ignorants will deny it to be divinum institutum a divine institution and affirm it as they do to be humanum inventum a humane ordination when you know there were no men to chuse him and you see God himself doth appoint him and after the flood the Empire of Noah was divided betwixt his three sons Japheth reigned in Europe Johan Beda de jure Regum p. 4. Sem in Asia and Cham in Africa Yet I must confess the first Kingdom that is spoken of by that name is the Kingdom of Nimrod who notwithstanding is not himself termed King Gen. 10.9 but in the Scripture phrase a mighty hunter because he was not onely a great King but also a mighty Tyrant or oppressour of his people in all his Kingdom or as I rather conceive it because he was the first usurper that incroached upon his neighbours rights to enlarge his own dominions
and the first king that I find by that name in the Scripture was Amraephel king of Shinar with whom we find eight other Kings named in the same chapter Gen. 14.1 But we are not to contest about words or to strive about the winde when the Scripture doth first give this name unto them the plain truth is that which we are to enquire after and so it is manifest there were Kings ever since Adam and so named ever since Noahs flood for Melchizedech which in the judgment of Master Selden Broughton and others was Sem the eldest son of Noah though mine own minde is set down otherwise was King of Salem and Justin tells us that long before Ninus which was the son of Nimrod there were many other Kings as Vexores King of Aegypt and Tanais King of Scythia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripides de Cyclop Gen. 14.14 and the like and as reason sheweth us that eveâ—y one qui regit alios Rex est so every master of a family that ruleth his own houshould is a petty King as we commonly say to this very day every man is a King in his own house and as their families were the greater so were they the greater Kings so Abraham hand three hundred and eighteen servants that were able men for the War in his own house and therefore the inhabitants of the Land tell him Princeps Dei es inter nos thou art a Prince of God that is a great ruler amongst us and yet the greatest of these rulers were rather reguli then reges Kings of some Cities or small Territories and of no large dominion as those thirty and one Kings which Joshua vanquished doth make it plain Josh 12.14 Selden in his Titles of honour cap. 1. But Master Selden confesseth that civil societies beginning in particular families the heads thereof ruled as kings and as the World encreased or these kings incroached upon their neighbours so their Kingdoms were enlarged Kings therefore they were and they were kings from the beginning But how they came to be kings or what right they had to regal power from whence their authority is derived 1. Whether God ordained it or 2. Themselves assumed it 3. The people conferred it upon them herein lyeth all the question To which I must briefly answer The chiefest rights to kingdoms either of three ways that the right of all kings which have any right unto their kingdoms is principally either 1. By birth or 2. By the sword or 3. By choice whereof The last is and may be just and good The second is so without question but The first is most just and so best of all For 1. The best right whereby the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their royalty was that which God hath appointed that is 1. The best right without contradiction is by inheritance Gen. 4.7 Gen. 25.31 the right of primogeniture whereby the elder was by the law of nature to reign and rule over the younger as God saith unto Cain though he was never so wicked an hypocrite unto thee shall be the desire of thy brother and thou shalt rule over him though he was never so godly and syncere a server of God which made Jacob so earnestly desirous to purchase the birth-right or the right of primogeniture from his brother And 2. When the rightful kings became with Nimrod to be unjust Tyrants 2. The right by conquest is a just and a good right then God that is not tyed to his Vicegerent any longer then he pleaseth but hath right and power Paramount to translate the rule and transfer the dominion of his People to whom he will Psal 89.44 So the Israelites enjoyed the kingdome of Canaan and David the territories of them that he subdued c. Esdras 1.2 Esay 45.1 2. Dan. 2. c 4. hath oftentimes thrown down the mighty from their seat and given away their crownes and kingdomes unto others that were more humble and meek or some other way fitter to effect his divine purpose as he did the kingdom of Saul unto David and Belshazzar's unto Cyrus and this he doth most commonly by the power of the sword when the Conquerour shall make his strength to become the Law of justice and his ability to hold it to become his right of enjoying it for so he gave the Kingdoms of the earth to Cyrus Alexander Augustus and the like Kings and Emperours that had no other right to their Dominions but what they purchased with the edg of their swords which notwithstanding must needs be a very good right as the same cometh from God which is the God of war and giveth the victory unto Kings Psal 144.10 when as the Poet saith Victrix causa Deo placuit And he deposeth his Vicegerents and translateth the government of their Kingdomes as he seeth cause and to whom he pleaseth 3. The right of elective kings and how they came to be elected 3. When either the Kings neglected their duty and omitted the care of their People so far as that the People knew not that they had any Kings or who had any right to be their Kings or upon the incursion of invading Foes the Nations being exceedingly multiplied and having no Prince to protect them did change the orderly course of right belonging unto the first-born which their rude and salvage course of life had obliterated from their minds unto the election and choice of whom they thought the better and the abler men to expel their enemies and to maintain justice among themselves so the Medes being oppressed with the insolencies and rapines of enemies and the greater man said it cannot be that in this corruption and lewdness of manners we shall long enjoy our Countrey and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot lib. 1. Let us appoint over us a King that our Land may be governed by good Lawes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we turning our selves to our own affairs need not be oppressed by the rage and violence of the lawless and finding by their former experience of him that Deioces was the justest man amongst them they chose him for his equity to be their King which is the first elective King that I do read of and Cicero saith Cicero in Offic. pag. 322. Mihi quidem non apud Medos solùm sed etiam apud majores nostros justitiae fruendae causâ videntur olim benè morati reges constituti even as Justin said before And when the People do thus make choice of their King it is most true which Roffensis Roffensis de potestate Papae fol. 283. and our most learned Divines do say that Licet communicatio potestatis quandoque sit per consensum hominum potestas tamen ipsa immediatè est à Deo cujus est potestas though the power be sometimes conferred by the consent of men yet it is immediately given from God whose power it is
Empire of men should be Monarchicall And indeed it is concluded by the common consent of the best Philosophers that the Laws of Nature lead us to a Monarchy Monarchy founded in Nature as when among all Creatures both animate and inanimate we do always finde one that hath the preheminence above all the rest of his kinde as among the Beasts the Lion among the Fowls the Eagle among Grains the Wheat among Drink◠the Wine among Spices the Baulme among the Planets the Sun and all the best Divines conclude the Monarchicall government to be the most lively image and representation of the divine regiment and government of God Consonant to the Divine government who as sole Monarch ruleth and guideth all things and therefore we finde all the Nations of greatest renown lived under the Royal Government as the Scythians Aethiopians Indians Assyrians Medes Aegyptians Bactrians Armenians Macedonians Jews and Romans first and last and at this day the most famous people live under this forme as the English French Spaniards Polonians Danes Muscovites The Government of the most famous Nations Monarchicall Summo dulcius unum stare loco sociisque comes discordia regnis Statius Thebaid 1. Tartars Turks Abissines Moores Agiamesques Zagathinians Cathaians yea and the Salvage people lately discovered in the West Indies as being guided thereto by the rules of Nature do all of them in a manner live under the Government of Kings and I beleive the Apostle doth specially mean the Regal Government though he speaketh plurally of powers as understanding the same of many Kings because he speaketh but of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sword which being wrested out of the hand of the King and put amongst many would make them all like mad men fall out and fight which of them should bear it when one Sword can never be well guided by many hands and therefore I think it is a madness indeed for any people to be weary of that government which God first ordained which is most agreeable unto Nature most consonant to God's government most acceptable to God himself and most profitable unto men and to affect a late new invented government full of all dangers and inconveniences A family is a small kingdom and a kingdom a great family Therefore it is apparent that Monarchie is the first Ordinance of all governments a family being nothing else but a small Kingdome wherein the paterfamilias had Regal power potestatem vitae necis even over his own children as I have elsewhere shewed in the example of Abraham and of other Heathens that justly executed their own sons and a Kingdom being nothing else but a great family where the King hath paternal power and more then fathers now have because of the great abuse that divers fathers committed while they had their plenary authority therefore it was thought fit to abridge them of that pristine power and to place it all in the hands of the more publique father And to make this yet more plain unto the World I would fain know of these Democratical men 1. When 2. How their Democracy and Aristocracy had their being and came first in use I have shewed the age of Monarchy to be from Adam primáque ab origine mundi Ad mea perpetuum deduxi tempora Regem And I cannot remember that any Democracy or Aristocracy was in all the Assyrian Monarchy which notwithstanding lasted above a thousand years When Aristocracies and Democracies began for the Aristocracies of Greece alas they are but of yesterday of no age long after Homers time which yet lived but about the time of Jephte Judge of Israel and besides I will not believe Quicquid Graecia mendax Audet in historiis And for the Democracy of Rome Titus Livius sheweth when it was first hatched after the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus◠if therefore you will believe Tertullian that Id verius quod prius you must needs give the precedency of all governments unto Monarchy But that which is more considerable is to understand how these birds flitted out of the nest of Monarchy Our Saviour saith Every plant which my Father planted not shall be rooted up that he planted Monarchy I have made it plain Matth. 15.13 but when this Vine began to grow wilde and instead of grapes to bring forth bitter clusters that is oppression instead of justice What caused the change of Monarchy the people grew weary of God's Ordinance and loath to be contained within the bounds of obedience when they found strength and opportunity they withstood their lawful but degenerated Kings and then they deposed them from their estates and deprived them of their lives so that as the Poet saith Ad generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Juvenal Satyr 10. Descendunt reges siccâ morte tyranni And thinking to finde a better way then that which they found so thorny and a better government then that which formerly they found so bad they elected those men whom they thought would make them happy The unconstancy of the people in the choice of their Governours sometimes more and sometimes fewer as their disposition was to be their Governours so after the expulsion of Tarquinius the Romanes chose two Consuls and these giving not a plenary content unto the People they added the Tribunes to bridle the disorders of the Consuls and when all this would not satisfie their unsatiable expectation they must have their Decemviros and in great dangers their Dictator then comes the Triumvirat of Antony Lepidus and Augustus The Government never settled till it came as all things in nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Monarchy who at last takes upon him the name of an Emperour but the full power of a King and governs all as the sole Monarch thus they ran in a maze and turned round like a wheel and I should but weary my Reader to trace the Greek Histories to set down the state of Athens under the thirty Tyrants or of the Lacedaemonians under those Ephori that bore a fair shew to restrain their Kings Lacedaemoniorum aristocratia ex duobus Regibus quinque Ephoris octo viginti senatoribus composita 1 Sam. 2.14.15 Chap. 8.11 but were indeed a scourge and plague unto the people so that in truth the remedy proved far worse then the disease excessit medicina modum and the change of Government never brought any other good but an exchange of miseries the greater for the lesser unto the people as for that one rape of Lucrece by Tarquinius to undergo a thousand greater insolencies under the new erected Government of the Consuls and Tribunes and the Israelites for preventing the snatching of the flesh out of their pots by the sons of Eli and growing weary of the sons of Samuel to have a Saul that shall tear their own flesh in pieces and take their sons and their daughters for his vassals 2. Reason that Monarchy
is the best form of Government 2. As the hereditary Monarch is the first kinde of Government so it is the principal and best government because it is the immediate Ordinance of God that he set down for the Government of his People for this was ordained by God himself and so continued among his people even in an hereditary way unless the same God designed another person by those Prophets that he inspired for that purpose as it was in the case of David Solomon and Jehu and it is certain that the wisests of men cannot devise a better Form of Government then God ordained therefore the choice of one or more made by the People to be their King or Governour cannot be if not without sin yet I am sure without folly but seeing as our Saviour saith a Sparrow cannot light upon the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father so I must confess Matth. 10.29 haec non sine numine divûm Eveniunt This election of Kings and change of the first Ordinance happend not without God's providence either for the Tyranny of the evil Kings or the punishment of the rebellious people and therefore as Moses for the hardness of those mens hearts that hated their Wives to prevent a greater mischief either continual fighting or secret murdering one another suffered them to give their Wives a bill of divorcement Deut. 24.1 Matth. 19.8 but as our Saviour saith Non erat sic ab initio it was not any primary Ordinance of God but a permissive toleration of the lesser evil so when the people out of their froward disposition to God's first Institution of the Regal right How God allowed the Aristocratical and Democratical Government and why and presuming to like better of their own choice do alter this hereditary Right and divine Ordinance into the election of one or more Governours either annual as among the ancient Romans or vital as it is in the present state of the Venetians God out of his infinite lenity to our humane frailty rather then his people should be without Government and so many heynous sins should go unpunished doth permit and it may be allow and approve the same though sometimes not without great anger and indignation for our contempt and distaste of his heavenly institution Deut. 33 5 as when the Israelites weary of the Judges that succeeded Moses who was a king in Jesurun and that God raised still to rule as Kings amongst them to make War against their enemies and to judge them according to the Law in the time of peace which are the two chiefest Offices of all kings 1 Sam. 8 5. desired to have a king to judg them like all the Nations not a king simply for so they had indeed though not in name but a king like all the Nations that is a king of a more absolute power then the Judges had as Samuel sheweth and they seem contented therewith God sent them a King in his wrath because they had rejected him that he should not reign over them that is vers 7. they had refused to submit themselves to his Ordinance and to obey the Kings that he appointed over them but they must needs be their own Carvers and have a King of their own election or such a king invested with a more absolute power as they desired though notwithstanding they did most hypocritically seem to desire none but whom God appointed over them and therefore perceiving their own errour and seeing their own offence by the anger that God shewed they confessed their fault and did always thereafter accept of their kings by succession The lamentable success of the first elective kings but onely when their Prophets by the sacred Ointment had ordained another by God's special designation But I cannot finde it in all the Scripture or in any other Writings authentical where God appointed or commanded any people to be the â—hâ—esers of their kings but rather to accept of him and submit themselves to him whom the Lord had placed over them For I would very fain know as Roffensis speaketh Roffen de potest Papae 282 An potestas Adami in filios ac nepotes adeóque omnes ubique homines ex consensu filior um ac nepotum dependet an à solo Deo ac naturâ— prostuitâ— And if this Authority of the Father be from God without the consent of his Children then certainly the authority of Kings is both natural and divine immediately from God and not from any consent or allowance of men and Pineda saith Pineda de rebus Solo l. 2. c. 2 Nusquam invenio Regem aliquem Judaeorum populi suffragiis creatum quin si primus ille erat qui designaretur à Deo vel à Propheta eâ—t Dei jussus vel sorte vel aliâ ratione quà m Deus indicâsset Neither do I remember any one that was chosen king by the Children of Israel but onely Abimelâ—â—h the bastard son of Gedeon and as some say Jeroboam that made Israel to sin and the Scripture tells you how unjustly they entered how wickedly they reigned Strange that the People should bestow the greatest favour or dignity on earth Esay 42.8 and how lamentably the first that was without question the Creature of the people ended both his life and his reign to teach us how unsuccesful it is to have other makers of kings then he that is the King of kings and saith He will not give his glory unto another nor hold them guiltless that intrude into his Throne to bestow Soveraignty and create kings at their pleasures when as he professeth it belongeth unto him not to the People to say Yee are Gods and to place his own Viceroy to govern his own People And therefore though I do not wonder to finde Aristotel of that opinion Vt reges populi suffragio constarent That Kings should be elected by the People Arâ—st pol l. 3. and that it was the manner of the Barbarians to accept of their kings by succession Quales sors tulerit non virtutis opinione probatos The nature of the people Blaovod p. 61. and as T. Liv. saith Aut servit humiliter aut dominatur superbè such as nature gave them and not those which were approved by the people for their virtues because he was ignorant of the divine Oracles yet me thinkes it is very strange that men continually versed in God's Word and knowing the nature of the people which as one saith Semper ager est semper insanus semper furore intemperiis agitur and specially reading the story of times should be transported with such dreames and fopperies that the people should have any hand in the election of their kings for if you briefly run over most of the kings of this World you shall scare finde one of a thousand to be made by the suffrage of the people Of all the kings of the world very few made by the suffrage of the
tyrannicall King 2. The same Spirit saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods that is 2. To say no ill of the King Exod. 22.28 Act 23.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. To do no hurt to the King Psal 10â— 15 1 Sam. 24 4 5. the Judges of the Land nor curse that is in Saint Pauls phrase speak evill of the Ruler of the people and what can be more evill then to bely his Religion to traduce his Government and to make so faithfull a Christian King as faithless as a Cretan which is commonly broached by the Rebels and Preached by their seditious Teachers 3. The great Jehovah gives this peremptory charge to all Subjects saying Touch not mine Anointed which is the least indignity that may be and therefore Davids heart smote him when he did but cut off the lap of Sauls garment What then can be said for them that draw their swords and shoot their Cannons to take away the life of Gods Anointed which is the greatest mischiefe they can do I beleive no distinction can blinde the judgment of Almighty God but his revengefull hand will finde them out 2. What we should do to honour the King Eccles 8.2 1. To observe the kings commands that so maliâ—iously transgress his precepts and think by their subtilty to escape his punishments 2. The Scriptures do positively and plainly command us to shew all honour unto our King For 1. Solomon saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandment or as the phrase imports to observe the mouth of the King that is not onely his written law but also his verball commands and that in regard of the oath of God that is in respect of thy Religion or the solemne vow which thou madest at thine initiation and incorporation into Gods Church to obey all the precepts of God Et si religio tollitur nulla no bis cum coelo ratio est Lactant Iust l. 3. c. 10. whereof this is one to honour and obey the King or else that oath of allegiance and fidelity which thou hast sworn unto thy King in the presence and with the approbation of thy God which certainly will plague all perjurers and take revenge on them that take his name in vain which is the infallible and therefore most miserable condition of all the perjured Rebels of this Kingdom For if moral honesty teacheth us to keep our promises yea though it were to our own hindrance then much more should Christianity teach us to observe our deliberate and solemn oathes whose violation can bear none other fruit then the heavy censure of God's fearful indignation But when the prevalent faction took a solemn Oath and Protestation to defend all the Privileges of Parliament and the Rights of the Subjects and then presently forgetting their oath and forsaking their faith by throwing the Bishops out of the House of Peers which all men knew to be a singular Priviledge How the prevalent Faction of the Parliament forswore themselves 2. To obey the kings commandements Josh 1.18 and the House of Lords acknowledged to be the indubitable right of the Bishops and their doctrine being to dispence with all oaths for the furtherance of the cause it is no wonder they falsifie all oaths that they have made unto the King 2. The people said unto Joshua Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment and will not hearken to the words of thy mouth in all that thou commandest he shall be put to death surely this was an absolute government and though martial yet most excellent to keep the people within the bounds of their obedience for they knew that where rebellion is permitted there can be no good performance of any duty and it may be a good lesson for all the higher powers not to be too clement which is the incouragement of Rebels to most obstinate trayterous and rebellious Subjects who daring not to stir under rigid Tyrants do kick with their heeles against the most pious Princes and therefore my soul wisheth not out of any desire of bloud but from my love to peace that this rule were well observed Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment he shall be put to death * Quia in talibus non obedientes mortaliter peccant nisi foret illud quod praecipitur contra praeceptum Dei vel in salutis dispendiâ—m Angel summa verb. obedientia 3 To give the king no just cause of anger Prov. 2.2 The Rebels have given him cause enough to be provoked 4. To speak reverently to the king and of the king Eccles 8.4 3. The wisest of all Kings but the King of Kings saith The fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul And I believe that the taking up of Armes by the Subjects against their own King that never wronged them and the seeking to take away his life and the life of his most faithful servants is cause enough to provoke any King to anger if he be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too Stoically given to abandon all passions and that anger should be like the roaring of a Lion to them that would pull out the Lions eyes and take away the Lions life 4. The King of Heaven saith of these earthly Kings That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou And Elihu demands Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked or to Princes you are ungodly Truely if Elihu were now here he might hear many unfitter things said to our King by his own people and which is more strange by some Preachers for some of them have said but most maliciously and more falsely that he is a Papist he is the Traytor unworthy to reign unfit to live good God! do these men think God saith truth Where the word of a King is there is power that is to blast the conspiracies and to confound the spirits of all Rebels who shall one day finde it because the wrath of God at last will be awaked against their treachery Jerem. 27.8 and to revenge their perjury by inabling the King to accomplish the same upon all that resist him as he promised to doe in the like case 5. To pray for the king Ezra 6.10 1 Tim. 2.1 2. 5. The Israelites being in captivity under the King of Babylon were commanded to pray for the life of that Heathen King and for the life of his sons And Saint Paul exhorteth Timothy to make supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for Kings and for all that are in authority and how do our men pray for our King in many Pulpits not at all and in some places for his overthrow for the shortning of his life and the finishing of his dayes nullum sit in omine pondus and they give thanks indeed not for his good but for their own supposed good success against him thus they praevaricate and pervert the words of the
Apostle to their own destruction Psal 109 6. when as the Prophet saith Their prayers shall be turned into sin 6. Christ commandeth us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars that is 6. To render all his dues unto him as I shall more fully shew hereafter your inward duties of honour love reverence and the like and your outward debts tolls tribute custome c. and the Rebels render none unto him but take all from him and return His Arms to his destruction I might produce many other places and precepts of Holy Scripture to inforce this duty to honour the king but what will suffice him cui Roma parùm est Luke 16.31 if they beleive not Moses neither will they believe if one should arise from the dead and if these things cannot move them then certainly all the world cannot remove them from their Wickedness Yet 3. Quia exempla movent plus quà m praecepta docent 3. All kings should be honoured by the example of all Nations 1 The Israelites 1 In Egypt Exod. 12.37 Exod. 1.9 you shall finde this doctrine practised by the perpetual demeanour of all Nations For 1. If you looke upon the Children of Israel in the Land of Egypt it cannot be denyed but Pharaoh was a wicked king and exercised great cruelty and exceeding tyranny against Gods people yet Moses did not excite the Israelites to take arms against him though they were more in number being six hundred thousand men and abler for strength to make their party good then Pharoah was as the king himself confesseth but they contained themselves within the bounds of their Obedience and waited Gods leisure for their deliverance because they knew their patient suffering would more manifest their own piety and aggravate king Pharoah's obstinacy and especially magnify Gods glory then their undutiful rebelling could any ways illustrate the least of these 2. Davids demeanour towards Saul is most memorable 2. Under Saul The loyal Subjects belief p. 55. for though as one saith king Saul discovered in part the described manner of such a king as Samuel had foreshewed yet David and all his followers performed and observed the prescribed conditions that are approved by God in true Subjects never resisting never rebelling against his king though his king most unjustly persecuted him Samuel also when he had pronounced Sauls rejection 1 Sam. 15. yet did he never incite the people to Rebellion but wept and prayed for him and discharged all other duties which formerly he had shewed to be due unto him and Elias that had as good repute with the people 3. Under Ahab and could as easily have stirred up sedition as any of the seditious Preachers of this time yet did he never perswade the Subjects to withstand the illegal commands of a most wicked king 1 Reg. 21.25 that as the Scripture testifieth had sold himself to work wickedness and became the more exceedingly sinful by the provocation of Jezabel his most wicked wife and harlot but he honoured his Soveraignty and feared his Majesty when he fled away from his cruelty And because these are but particular presidents Two examples of the whole Nation under Heathen kings 1. Under Artaxerxes Ezra 1.1 I will name you two observeable examples of the whole Nation 1. When Cyrus made a Decree and his Decree according to the Laws of the Medes and Persians should be unalterable that the Temple of Jerusalem should be re-edified and the adversaries of the Jews obtained a letter from Artaxerxes to prohibit them the people of God submitting themselves to the personal command of the king contrary to that unalterable Law of Cyrus pleaded neither the goodness of the work nor the justness of the cause but yeilded to the kings will and ceased from their work until they obtained a new Licence in the second year of king Darius and if it be objected that they built the Temple in despite of those that hindered them with their sword in one hand and a trowel in the other it is rightly answered that having the kings leave to build it they might justly resist their enemies that did therein not onely shew their malice unto them but also resisted the will of the King 2. When Ahashuerus to satisfie the unjust desire of his proud favorite 2. Under Ahashuerus Hester 3.10 had wickedly decreed and most tyrannically destined all the Nation of the Jewes to a sudden death yet this dutiful people did not undutifully rebel and plead the King was seduced by evil counsel and misguided by proud Haman therefore nature teaching them vim vi pellere to stand upon their own defence they would not submit their necks to his unjust Decree but being versed in God's Lawes and unacquainted with these new devices they return to God and betake themselves to their prayers Hester 8.11 until God had put it into the Kings heart to grant them leave to defend themselves and to sheath their swords in the bowels of their adversaries which is a most memorable example of most dutiful unresisting Subjects an example of such piety as would make our Land happy if our zealous generation were but acquainted with the like Religion The author of the Treatise of Monarchy p. 32. But here I know what our Anabaptists Brownist and Puritan will say that I build Castles in the air and lay down my frame without foundation because all Kings are not such as the Kings of Israel and Judah weâ—e as the Kings that God gave unto the Jews and prescribed special Laws both for the Kings to govern and the people to obey them but all other Nations have their own different and several Laws and Constitutions according to which Laws their Kings are tyed to rule and the Subjects bound to obey and no otherwise Henric. Stephaâ— in libello de hac re contendit in omnes respub debere leges Hebraeorum tanquam ab ipso Deo profectas per consequens omnium optimas reduci I answer that indeed it is granted there are several Constitutions of Royalties in several Nations and there may be Regna Laconica conditional and provisional Kingdoms wherein perhaps upon a real breach of some exprest conditions some Magistrates like the Ephori may pronounce a forfeiture as well in the successive as in the elective Kingdoms because as one saith succession is not a new title to more right but a legal continuance of what was first gotten which I can no ways yield unto if you mean it of any Soveraign King because the name of a King doth not always denotate the Soveraign power as the Kings of Lacedaemon though so called yet had no regal authority and the Dictator for the time being and the Emperours afterwards had an absolute power though not the name of Kings for I say that such a government is not properly a regal government ordained by God but either an Aristocratical or Democratical government instituted by the people
though approved by God for the welfare of the Common-wealth 1 Sam. 8 4 20. but as the Israelites desired a King to judge them like all the Nations that is such a King as Aristotle describeth such as the Nations had intrusted with an absolute and full regal power as Sigonius sheweth so the Kings of the Nations if they be not like the Spartan Kings were and are like the Kings of Israel both in respect of their ordination from God by whom all Kings as wel of other Nations as of Israel do reign and of their full power and inviolable authority over the people which have no more dispensation to resist their Kings then the Jews had to resist theirs And therefore Valentinian though an elected Emperour yet when he was requested by his Electours to admit of an associate Sozom. histor l 6. c. 6. Niceph hist l. 11. c 1. answered it was in your power to chuse me to be an Emperour but now after you have chosen me what you require is in my power not in you Vòbis tanquam subditis competit parere mihi verò quae facienda sunt cogitare it becomes you to obey as Subjects and I am to consider what is fittest to be done And when the wife takes an husband there is a compact agreement and a solemn vow past in the presence of God that he shall love cherish and maintain her The wife may not forsake her husband though he break his vow and neglect his duty yet if he breaks this vow and neglects both to love and to cherish her she cannot renounce him she must not forsake him she may not follow after another and there is a greater marriage betwixt the King and his people therefore though as a wife they might have power to chuse him and in their choice to tye him to some conditions yet though he breaks them they have no more power to abdicate their King then the wife hath to renounce her husband nor so much because she may complain and call her husband before a competent Judge and produce witnesses against him whereas there can be no Judge betwixt the King and his people but onely God and no witnesses can be found on earth because it is against all Lawes and against all Reason that they which rise against their king should be both the witnesses against him and the Judges to condemn him or were it so that all other Kings have not the like constitution which the Scripture setteth down for the Kings of Israel yet I say that excepting some circumstantial Ceremonies in all real points the Laws of our Land are so far as men could make them in all things agreeable to the Scriptures in the constituting of our Kings according to the livelyest pattern of the Kings of Israel as it is well observed by the Authour of the Appeal to thy conscience An Appeal to thy conscience pag 30. Our Kings of the like Institution to the kings of Israel in these four special respects 1. In his Right to the Crown 2. In his Power and Authority 3. In his Charge and Duty 4. In the rendring of his Account For 1. As the Kings of Israel were hereditary by succession and not elective Respect 1 unless there were an extraordinary and divine designation as in David Kings of England are kings by birth Proved Salomon Jehu so do the Kings of England obtain their Kingdoms by birth or hereditary succession as it appeareth 1. By the Oath of Allegiance used in every Leete that you shall be true Reason 1 and faithful to our Soveraign Lord King Charles and to his Heires 2. Because we owe our legeance to the King in his natural capacity that is Reason 2 as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King James when as homage cannot be done to any King in his politique capacity Coke l. 7. Calvin's case the body of the King being invisible in that sence 3. Because in that case it is expresly affirmed that the King holds the Kingdom Reason 3 of England by birth-right inherent by descent from the bloud-royal therefore to shew how inseperable this right is from the next in bloud Hen. the 4. though he was of the bloud-royal being first cozen unto the King and had the Crown resigned unto him by Rich. the 2. and confirmed unto him by Act of Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto Speed l. 9. c. 16. as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment of Watson Reason 4 and Clerke 1. Jacobi that immediately by descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and outward Solemnization of the descent And it is illustrated by Hen. 6. that was not crowned till the ninth year of his Reign Speed l. 9. c. 16. and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have been done had he not been King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings The right heir to the Kingdom is King before he is crowned Why the peoples consent is asked his Successor is immediately proclaimed King to shew that he hath his Kingdom by descent and not by the people at his Coronation whose consent is then asked not because they have any power to deny their consent or refuse him for their King but that the King having their assent may with greater security and confidence rely upon their loyalty 2 As the Kings of Israel had full power and authority to make war and Respect 2 conclude peace to call the greatest Assemblies as Moses Joshua David Jehosaphat and the rest of the Kings did to place and displace the greatest Officers of State as Solomon placed Abiathar in Sadoc's room and Jehosaphat appointed Amariah and Zebaediah rulers of the greatest Affaires 2 Chron. 19.11 The absolute authority of the kings of England Coke 7 rep fol. 25. 6. Polyd. Virgil. lib 11. Speed Stow c. and had all the Militia of the Kingdom in their hands so the Kings of England have the like for 1. He onely can lawfully proclaim war as I shewed before and he onely can conclude peace 2. There is no Assembly that can lawfully meet but by his Authority and as the Parliament was first devised and instituted by the king as all our Historians write in the life of Henry the first so they cannot meet but by the king's Writ 3. All Laws Customs and Franchises are granted and confirmed unto the people by the King Rot. Claus 1. R. 2. n. 44. 4. All the Officers of the Realm whether Spiritual or Temporal Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. are chosen and established by him as the highest immediately by himself and the inferiour by an authority derived from him The absurdiâ—ies of them that deny the Militia to the King 5. He hath the
sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this kingdom or otherwise it would follow that the king had power to proclaime war but not to be able to maintain it and that he is bound to defend his subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraigns their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realm of England supremam potestatem merum imperium apud nos habentes Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec praeter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by Oath to maintain the kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that not onely as they are singularly considered but overall collectively represented in the body politick for by sundry divers old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have been bounden and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience Respect 3 3. As the duty of every one of the kings of Israel was to be custos utriusque tabulae to keep the Law of God and to have a special care of his Religion and then to do justice and judgment according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judicial Laws of that kingdom so are the kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties The duty of the kings of England 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintain common right according to the rules and dictates of Nature And. 3. To see the particular Laws and Statutes of his own kingdom well observed amongst his people To all which the king is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his Oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these estabâ—ished Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty Respect 4 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but onely unto God Psal 51.4 and therefore king David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their most idolatrous The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings of England are accountable to none but to God Reason 1 1. Because they have their Crown immediately from God who first gave it to the Conquerour through his sword and since to the succeeding kings by the ordinary means of hereditary succession Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. Reason 2 2. Because the Oath which he takes at his Coronation binds him onely before God who alone can both judge him and punish him if he forgets it Reason 3 3. Because there is neither condition promise or limitation either in that Oath or in any other Covenant or compact that the king makes with the people either at his Coronation or at any other time that he should be accomptable or that they should question and censure him for any thing that he should do Reason 4 4. Because the Testimony of many famous Lawyers justify the same truth for Bracton saith if the king refuse to do what is just satis erit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem The Lord will be his avenger which will be punishment enough for him but of the kings grants and actions nec privatae personae nec justiciarii debent disputare And Walsingham maketh mention of a Letter written from the Parliament to the Bishop of Rome wherein they say Bracton fol. 34. 2. b. apud Lincol anno 1301. that certum directum Dominium à prima institutione regni Angliae ad Regem pertinuit the certain and direct Dominion of this Kingdom from the very first institution thereof hath belonged unto the King who by reason of the arbitrary or free preeminence of the royal dignity and custome observed in all ages ought not to answer before any Judge either Ecclesiastical or Secular Ex libera praeeminentia Ergo neither before the Pope nor Parliament nor Presbytery Reason 5 5. Because the constant custome and practice of this kingdom was ever such that no Parliament at any time sought to censure their king and either to depose him or to punish him for any of all his actions save onely those that were called in the troublesome and irregular times of our unfortunate Princes No legitimate and just Parliment did ever question the kings of England for their actions and were swayed by those that were the heads of the most powerful Faction to conclude most horrid and unjustifiable Acts to the very shame of their Judicial authorities as those factious Parliaments in the times of Hen. 3. king John Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and others whose acts in the judgment of all good authors are not to be drawn into examples when as they deposed their king for those pretended faults whereof not the worst of them but is fairly answered and all thirty three of them proved to be no way sufficient to depose him Heningus c. 4. p. 93. by that excellent Civilian Heningus Arnisaeus And therefore seeing the Institution of our kings is not onely by Gods Law but also by our own Laws Customs and practice thus agreeable to the Scripture kings they ought to be as sacred and as inviolable to us as the kings of Israel were to the Jews and as reverently honoured and obeyed by us as both the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul advise us to honour and obey the king CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto
subjection with a good and free will although they were Infidels Ob. Ob. But against this patience of the Saints and the wisdome of these good Christians it is objected by Goodwin and oters of his Sect that ei her they wanted strength to resist or wanted knowledge of their strength or of their priviledge and power which God granted them to defend themselves and their religion or were over-much transported with an ambitious desire of Martyrdome or by some other misguiding spirit were utterly mis-led to an unnecessary patience and therefore we having strength enough as we conceive to subdue the King and all his strength and being wiser in our generation then all the generation of those fathers as being guided by a more unerring spirit we have no reason to pray for patience but rather to render vengeance both to the King and to all his adherents Sol. Sol. This unchristian censure and this false imputation laid upon these holy Fathers by these stubborn Rebels and proud Enthusiasts are so mildly and so learnedly answered by the Author of resisting the lawfull Magistrate upon colour of Religion Where they are fully answered that more need not be said to stop the mouthes of all ignorant gain-sayers Therefore seeing that by the institution of Kings by the precept of God and by the practice of all wise men and good Christians Heathen Kings and wicked Tyrants are to be loved honoured and obeyed it is a most hatefull thing to God and man to see men professing themselves Christians but are indeed like those in the Revel which say they are Jewes Revel 2 9. and are not in stead of honouring transcendently to hate and most violently to persecute their own most Christian and most gracious King a sin so infinitely sinfull that I do not wonder to see the greatness of Gods anger to powre all the plagues that we suffer upon this Nation but I do rather admire and adore his wonted clemency and patience that he hath not all this while either sent forth his fire and lightning from heaven as he did upon Sodome and Gomorrah to consume them Gen. 19.24 Num 16.31 or cause the earth to swallow them as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram for this their rebellion against their King or that he hath not showred down far greater plagues and more miserable calamities then hitherto we have suffered because we have suffered these Antichristian Rebels to proceed so far and have with the Merozites neglected all this while to add our strength to assist the Lords Anointed to reduce his seduced Subjects to their obedience Judges 5.23 and to impose condigne punishments upon the seducers and the ringleaders of this unnaturall and most horrible Rebellion CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three severall opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion 2. AS all Kings are to be honoured in the fore-said respects 2. Christian Kings are to have double honour in reshect of their double duty 1. Duty 2. Duty so all Christian Kings are to have a double honour in respect of the double charge and duty that is laid upon them As 1. To preserve true religion and to defend the faith of Christ against all Atheists Hereticks Schismaticks and all other adversaries of the Gospel within their Territories and Dominions 2. To preserve their Subjects from all forraigne adversaries and to prevent civill dissentions to govern them according to the rules of justice and equity which all other Kings are bound to do but neither did nor can do it so fully and so faithfully as the Christian Kings because no Law either Solons Lycurgus Pompilius or any other Greek or Latine nor any Politique Plato Aristotle Machievle or whom you will old or new can so perfectly set down and so fairly declare quid justum quid honestum as the Law of Christ hath done and theâ—efore seeing omnis honos praesupponit onus the honour is but the reward of labour and that this labour or duty of Kings to maintain true Religion well performed and faithfully discharged brings most glory unto God and the greatest honour to all Kings when it is more to be with Constantine a nursing father to Gods Church then it is to be with Alexander the sole Monarch of the known world I will first treat of their charge and care and the power that God hath given them to defend the faith and to preserve true Religion And 1. Religion saith a learned Divine without authority is no Religion for 1. Care of Kings to preserve true Religion Aug. de utilitate credendi cap. 9. as Saint Augustine saith no true Religion can can be received by any means without some weighty force of authority therefore if that Religion whereby thou hopest to be saved hath no authority to ground it self upon or if that authority whereby thy Religion is settled be mis-placed in him that hath no authority at all what hope of salvation remaining in that Religion canst thou conceive but it is concluded on all sides that the right authority of preserving true religion must reside in him and proceed from him by whose supreme power and government it is to be enacted and forced upon us and therefore now the question is To whom the charge of preserving religion is committed 3 Opinions and it is very much questioned to whom the supreme government of our Religion ought rightly to be attributed whereof I finde three several resolutions 1. Papistical which leaneth too much on the right hand 2. Anabaptistical which bendeth twice as much on the left hand 3. Orthodoxal of the Protestants that ascribe the same to him on whom God himself hath conferred it Opinion 1 1. That the Church of Rome maketh the Pope solely to have the supreme government of our Christian Religion Vnde saepe objiciunt dictum Hosii ad Constantium Tibi Deus imperium commisit nobis quae sunt ecclesiastica concredidit Sed hic intelligitur de executione officii non de gubernatione ecclesiae Sicut ibi manifestum est cùm dicitur neque fas est nobis in terris imperium tenere neque tibi thymiamatum sacrorum potestatem hâ—bere i. e. in praedicatione Evangelii administratione Sacramentorum similibus is most apparent out of all their writeings and you may see what a large book our Country-man Stapleton wâ—ote against Master Horn Bishop of Winchester to justifie the same And Sanders to disprove the right of Kings saith Fatemur personas Episcoporum qui in toto orbe fuerunt Romano Imperatori subjectas fuisse quoniam Rex praeest hominibus Christianis verùm non quia sunt Christiani sed quia sunt homines episcopis etiam ex ea
parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onley among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pope's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation a flock of violent and seditious men How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation that pretending a great deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's Foxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For Opinion 2 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites do most stâ—fly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said Of the Anabaptists and Puritans may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possesion of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them which have neither right to own it nor discretion to use it and that is Where the Puritans place the authority to maintain religion 1 In the Presbytery either 1. A Consistory of Presbyters 2. A Parliament of Lay men For 1. These new Adversaries of this Truth that would most impudently take away from Christian Princes the supreame and immediate authority under Christ in all Ecclesiastical Callings and Causes will needs place the same in themselves and a Consistorian company of their own Faction a whole Volume would not contain their absurdities falsities and blasphemies that they have uttered about this point I will onely give you a taste of what some of the chief of them have belched forth against the Divine Truth of God's Word and the sacred Majesty of Kings Master Calvin a man otherwise of much worth Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and worthy to be honoured yet in this point transported with his own passion calleth those Blasphemers that did call King Henry the eight the supreme Head of this Church of England and Stapleton saith that he handled the King himself with such villany and with so spiteful words Stapl. cont Horn. l. 1. p. 22. as he never handled the Pope more spitefully and all for this Title of Supremacy in Church causes and in his fifty fourth Epistle to Myconius he termed them prophane spirits and mad men that perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva not to deprive themselves of that authority which God hath given them Viretus is more virulent How Viretus would prove the temporal Pope as he calleth the King worse then the spiritual Pope for he resembleth them not to mad men as Calvin did but to white Devils because they stand in defence of the Kings authority and he saith they are false Christians though they cover themselves with the cloke of the Gospel affirming that the putting of all authority and power into the Civil Magistrates hands and making them masters of the Church is nothing else but the changing of the Popedome from the Spiritual Pope into a Temporal Pope who as it is to be feared will prove worss and more tyrannous then the Spirituall Pope which he laboureth to confirme by these three reasons Reason 1 1. Because the Spiritual Pope had not the Sword in his own hand to punish men with death but was fain to crave the aid of the Secular power which the Temporal Pope needs not do Reason 2 2. Because the old spiritual Popes had some regard in their dealings of Councils Synods and ancient Canons but the new Secular Popes will do what they list without respect of any Ecclesiastical Order be it right or wrong Reason 3 3. Because the Romish Popes were most commonly very learned but it happeneth oftentimes that the Regal Popes have neither learning nor knowledg in divine matters and yet these shall be they that shall command Ministers and and Preachers what they list and to make this assertion good he affirmeth that he saw in some places some Christian Princes under the title of Reformation to have in ten or twenty years usurped more tyranny over the Churches in their Dominions then ever the Pope and his adherents did in six hundred years All which reasons are but meere fopperies blown up by the black Devil to blast the beauty of this truth for we speak not of the abuse of any Prince
Viretus his scandalous reasons answered to justifie the same against any one but of his right that cannot be the cause of any wrong and it cannot be denyed but an illiterate Prince may prove a singular advancer of all learning as Bishop Wickham was no great Scholler yet was he a most excellent instrument to produce abundance of famous Clerks in this Church and the King ruleth his Church by those Laws which through his royal authority are made with the advice of his greatest Divines as hereafter I shall shew unto you yet these spurious and specious pretexts may serve like clouds to hide the light from the eyes of the simple T. C. l. 2. p. 411. So Cartwright also that was our English firebrand and his Disciples teach as Harding had done before that Kings and Princes do hold their Kingdoms and Dominions under Christ as he is the Son of God onely before all Worlds coequal with the Father and not as he is Mediator and Governour of the Church and therefore the Christian Kings have no more to do with the Church government then the Heathen Princes so Travers saith that the Heathen Princes being converted to the faith receive no more nor any further encrease of their power whereby they may deale in Church causes then they had before so the whole pack of the Disciplinarians are all of the same minde and do hold that all Kings as well Heathen as Christian receiving but one Commission and equal Authority immediately from God have no more to do with Church causes the one sort then the other And I am ashamed to set down the railing and the scurrilous speeches of Anthony Gilby against Hen. 8. and of Knox Gilby in his admonition p. 69 Knox in his exhortation to the Nobility of Scotland fol. 77. Whittingham and others against the truth of the King 's lawful right and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes For were it so as Cartwright Travers and the rest of that crew do avouch that Kings by being Christians receive no more authority over Christ his Church then they had before * Which is most false yet this will appear most evident to all understanding men that all Kings as well the Heathens as the Christians are in the first place to see that their people do religiously observe the worship of that God which they adore and therefore much more should Christian Princes have a care to preserve the religion of Jesus Christ The Gentilee Kings preservers of religion For it cannot be denyed but that all Kings ought to preserve their Kingdoms and all Kingdoms are preserved by the same means by which they were first established and they are established by obedience and good manners neither shall you finde any thing that can beget obedience and good manners but Lawes and Religion and Religion doth naturally beget obedience unto the Lawes therefore most of those Kings that gave Lawes were originally Priests and as Synesius saith Synes ep 126. Vide Arnis part 2. pag. 14. Ad magnas reipubl utilitates retinetur religio in civitatibus Cicero de divin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priest and a Prince was all one with them when the Kings to preserve their Laws inviolable and to keep their people in obedience that they might be happy became Priests and exercised the duties of Religion offering sacrifices unto their Gods and discha ging the other offices of the Priestly Function as our factious Priests could willingly take upon them the offices of the King or if some of them were not Priests as all were not Law-makers yet all of them preserved Religion as the onely preservation of their Lawes and the happinesse of their Kingdomes which thye saw could not continue without Religion But 2. The wisedom of our grave Prelates and the learning of our religious Clergie having stopped the course of this violent stream 2. In the Parliament and hindred the translation of this right of Kings unto their new-born Presbytery and late erected Synods There sprang up another generation out of the dregs of the former that because they would be sure to be bad enough out of their envy unto Kings and malice unto the Church that the one doth not advance their unworthyness and the other doth not bear with undutifullness will needs transfer this right of ruling God's Church unto a Parliament of Lay-men the King shall be denuded of what God hath given him and the people shall be endued with what God and all good men have ever denyed them I deny not but the Parliament men as they are most noble and worthy Gentlemen so many of them may be very learned and not a few of them most religious and I honour the Parliament rightly discharging their duties as much as their modesty can desire or their merit deserve neither do I gain-say but as they are pious men and the greatest Council of our King so they may propose things and request such and such Lawes to be enacted such abuses to be redressed and such a reformation to be effected as they think befitting for Gods Church but for Aaron's feed and the Tribe of Levi Hugo de Sancto Vict. l b 2. de sacr fid par 2. cap 3. Laicis Christianis fidelibus terrena possidere conceditur clericis verò tantum spiritualia committuntur quae aâ—tem illa spiritualia sunt subjicit c. 5. dicens omnis ecclesiastica administratio in tribus consistit in sacramentis in ordinibus in praeceptis Ergo Laici nihil juris habent in legibus praeceptis condendis ecclesiastâ—cis to be directed and commanded out of the Parliament chair how to perform the service of the Tabernacle and for Lay men to determine the Articles of faith to make Canons for Church-men to condemn heresies and define verities and to have the chief power for the government of Gods Church as our Faction now challengeth and their Preachers ascribe unto them is such a violation of the right of Kings such a derogation to the Clergy and so prejudicial to the Church of Christ as I never found the like usurpation of this right to the eradication of the true Religion in any age for seeing that as the Proverb goeth Quod medicorum est promittunt medici practant fabrilia fabri what Papist or Atheist will be ever converted to profess that religion which shall be truly what now they alleadge falsly unto us a Parliamentary religion or a religion made by Lay-men with the advice of a few that they choose è faece Cleri I must seriously profess what I have often bewayled to see Nadab and Abihu offering strange fires upon God's Altar to see the sacred offices of the Priests so presumptuously usurped by the Laity and to see the children of the Church nay the servants of the Church to prescribe Lawes unto their Masters and I did ever fear it to be an argument not onely of a corrupted but also of a
decaying State when Moses chaire should be set in the Parliament House and the Doctours of the Church should never sit thereon therefore I wish that the Ark may be brought back from the Philistines and restored to the Priests to be placed in Shilo where it should be and that the care of the Ark which king David undertook may not be taken out of his hands by his people but that he may have the honour of that service which God hath imposed upon him For Opinion 3 3. As nothing is dearer to understanding righteous and religious Kings then the encrease and maintenance of true religion Of the Orthodox Quia religio est ex potioribus reipublicae partibus ut ait Aristot Polit. l. 7. c. 8. ipsa sola custodit hominum inter se societates ut ait Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 12. Peritura Troja perdidit primùm Deos. Therefore the Tyrians chayned their gods lest if they fled they should be destroyed and the inlargement of the Church of Christ throughout all their Dominions so they have at all times imployed their studies to this end because it is an infallible maxime even among the Politicians that the prosperity of any Kingdome flourisheth for no longer time then the care of Religion and the prosperity of the Church is maintained by them among their people as we see Troy was soon lost when they lost their Palladium so it is the truest sign of a declining and a decaying State to see the Clergy despised and religion disgraced and therefore the provision for the safety of the Church the publick injoying of the word of God the form of Service the manner of Government and the honour and maintenance of the Clergy are all the duties of a most Christian King which the King of Heaven hath imposed upon him for the happiness and prosperity of his Kingdom and whosoever derive the authority of this charge either in a blinde obedience to the See of Rome as the Jesuites do or out of their too much zeal and affection to a new Consistory as the late Presbyterians did or to a Lay Parliament as our upstart Anabaptists aad Brownists do are most unjust usurpers of the Kings Right which is not onely ascribed unto him and warranted by the Word of God but is also confirmed to the Princes of this Land by several Acts of Parliament to have the supremacy in all causes and over all persons as well in the Ecclesiastical as in the Civil government which being so they are exempted thereby from all inforcement of any domestical or forraign power and freed from the penalties of all those Laws both Ecclesiastical and civil whereunto all their Subjects Clergy and Laity Q. Curtius de rebus Alexand. Joh. Beda p. 22 23. and all inferiour persons and the superiour Nobility within their Kingdomes are obliged by our Laws and Statutes as hereafter I shall more fully declare Therefore it behoveth all Kings and especially our King at this time seriously to consider what prejudice they shall create unto themselves and their just authority if they should yeild themselves inferiour to their Subjects aggregativè or repraesentativè or how you will or liable to the penal Laws for so they may be soon dethroned by the unstable affection and weak judgment of discontented people or subject to the jurisdiction of Lay Elders and the excommunication of a tyrannous Consistory who denouncing him Matth. 18.17 tanquam Ethnicum may soon add Deut. 17.15 a stranger shall not raign over thee and so depose him from all government For seeing all attempts are most violent that have their beginning and strength from zeal unto Religion be the same true or false and from the false most of all and those are ever the most dangerous whose ringleaders are most base as the servile War under Spartacus was most pernicious unto the Romans there can be nothing of greater use How necessary it is for Kings to retain their just rights in their hands or more profitable either for the safety of the King the peace of the Church and the quiet state of the Kingdome then for the Prince the King to retain the Militia and to keep that power and authority which the Laws of God and of our Land have granted to and intailed upon him in his own hands unclipped and unshaken for when the multitude shall be unbridled and the rights of the Kings are brandished in their hands we shall assuredly taste and I fear in too great a measure as experience now sheweth of those miserable evils which uncontrouled ignorance furious zeal false hypocricy and the merciless cruelty of the giddy-headed people and discontented Peeres shall bring upon us and our Prince But to make it manifest unto the World what power and authority God hath granted unto Kings for the government of the Church and the preservation of his true Religion we finde them the worst men at all times and in all places that mislike their Government and reject their authority and we see those Churches most happy The Kings that maintain true religion make their Kingdoms happy and those Kingdoms most flourishing which God hath blessed with religious Kings as the State of the Church of Judaea makes it plain when David Ezechias Josias and the other virtuous Kings restored the Religion and purified that Service which the idolatry of others their predecessours had corrupted and we know that as Moses * Exod. 14 31 Num. 12.7 8 Deut. 34.5 Josh 1.1 2. so kings are called the servants of God in a more special manner then all others are that is not onely because they serve the Lord in the Government of the Common wealth but especially because he vouchsafeth to use their service for the advancement of his Church and the honour of his Son Christ here on earth or to distribute their duties more particularly we know the Lord exspecteth and so requireth a double service from every Christian king 1. The one common with all others to serve him as they are his creatures and Christians The double service of all Christian kings and therefore to serve him as all other Christians are bound to do 2. The other proper and peculiar to them alone to serve him as they are Kings and Princes 1. As they are Christians In the first respect they are no more priviledged to offend then other men but they are tyed to the same obedience of Gods Laws and are obliged to performe as many virtuous actions and to abstain from all vices as well as any other of their Subjects and if they fail in either point they shall be called to the same account and shall be judged with the same severity as the meanest of their people and therefore Be wise O ye Kings be learned ye that are Judges of the earth Psal 2.10 Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverence for with God there is no respect of persons but
if they do offend he will binde Kings in fetters Rom. 2.11 Psal 149.8 and their Nobles with linkes of iron and we dare not flatter you to give you the least liberty to neglect the strict service of the great God 2. As they are Christian king and that is twofold In the second respect the service of all Christian kings and princes hath as I told you before these two parts 1. To protect the true religion and to govern the Church of Christ 2. To preserve peace and to govern the Common-wealth For 1. To protect the Church Aug. cont lit petil l. 2. Optat. Milivit lib. 3. 1. It is true indeed that the Donatists of old the grand fathers of our new Sectaries were wont to say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What have we to do with the Emperour or what hath the Emperour to do with the Church but to this Optatus answereth that Ille solito furore acceusus in haec verba prorupit Donatus out of his accustomed madness burst forth into these mad termes Prima omnium in republ functionum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist l. 7. c. 8. Arist Polit. l. 3. c. 10. for it is a duty that lyeth upon all Princes because all both Christians and Pagans ought to be religious as I shewed to you before not onely to be devout but also to be the means to make all their Subjects so far as they can to become devoted to Gods service as the practice of those Heathens that had no other guide of their actions then the light of nature doth make it plain for Aristotle saith that Quâ—â— ad Deorum cultum pertinent commissa sunt regibus magistratibus those things that pertain unto the worship of the Gods are committed to the care of Kings and civil Magistrates and whatsoever their religion was as indeed it was but meere superstition yet because Superstition and Religion hoc habent commune do this in common Vt faciant animos humiles formidine divûm Therefore to make men better the more humble and more dutiful the transgression thereof was deemed worthy to receive punishment among the Pagans and that punishment was appointed by them that had the principal authority to govern the Common-wealth as the Athenian Magistrates condemned Socrates though he was a man wiser then themselves yet as they conceived very faulty for his irreligion and derision of their adored gods The chief Magistrates of the Heathens had the charge of Religion And Tiberius would set up Christ among the Romane gods though the act added no honour unto Christ without the authority and against the will of the Senate to shew that the care of religion belonged unto the Emperour or chief Magistrate and therefore as the Lord commanded the kings of Israel to write a copy of his Law in a booke and to take heed to all the words of that Law for to do them that is not onely as a private person for so every man was not to write it Deut. 17.18 19. but as King to reduce others to the obedience thereof so the examples of the best kings both of Israel and Juda and of the best Christian Emperours do make this plain unto us for Joshua caused all Israel to put away the strange gods that were among them Josh 24.23 The care of the good kings of the Jews to preserve the true religion and to incline their hearts unto the Lord God of Israel Manasses after his return from Babylon tooke away the strange Gods and the Idols out of the house of the Lord and cast them all out of the City and repaired the Altar of the Lord and commanded Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel And what shall I say of David whose whole study was to further the service of God and of Jehosaphat Asa Josias Ezechias and others that were rare patternes for other kings for the well government of Gods Church and in the time of the Gospel Quod non tollit praecepta legis sed perficit which takes not away the rules of nature nor the precepts of the Law but rather establisheth the one and perfecteth the other because Christ came into the world non ut tolleret jura saeculi sed ut deâ—eret peccata mundi not to take away the rights of the Nations but to satisfie for the sins of the World the best Christian Emperours discharged the same duty reformed the Church abolished Idolatry punished Heresy and maintained Piety The care of the good Emperours to preserve the true religion Esay 49.23 especially Constantine and Theodosius that were most pious Princes and of much virtues and became as the Prophet foretold us nursing fathers unto Gods Church for though they are most religious and best in their religion that are religious for conscience sake yet there is a fear from the hand of the Magistrate that is able to restrain those men from many outward evils whom neither conscience nor religion could make honest therefore God committed the principal care of his Church to the Prince and principal Magistrate And this is confirmed and throughly maintained by sundry notable men who defended this truth The Papists unawares confess this truth Osorius de relig p. 21. as Brentius against Asoto Bishop Horne against Fekenham Jewel against Harding and many other learned men that have written against such other Papists and Puritans Anabaptists and Brownists that have taken upon them to impugne it yea many of the Papists themselves at unawares do confess as much for Osorius saith Omne regis officium in religionis sanctissimae rationem conferendum munus ejus est beare rempubl religione pietate all the office of a King is to be conferred or imployed for the regard of the most holy Religion and his whole duty is to bless or make happy the Common-wealth with Religion and piety Quod enim est aliud reipublicae principi munus assignatum quà m ut rempubl florentem atque beatam faciat quod quidem nullo modo sine egregia pietatis religionis sanctitate perficitur For though we confess with Ignatius that no man is equall to the Bishop in causes Ecclesiasticall no not the King himselfe that is in such things as belong to his office Whit. resp Camp p. 302. as Whitaker saith because he onely ought to see to holy things that is the instruction of the people the administration of the Sacraments the use of the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the like The Kings authority over Bishops 1 Chron. 28.13 2 Chron. 29. 1 Reg. 2.26 matters of great weight and exceeding the Kings authority yet Kings are above Bishops in wealth honour power government and majesty and though they may not do any of the Episcopall duties yet they may and ought lawfully to admonish them of their duties and restrain them from evill and command them diligently to execute their office and if they neglect the same they
ought to reprove and punish them as we read the good Kings of the Jewish Church and the godly Emperours * As Martian apud Binium l. 2. p. 178. Iustinian novel 10. tit 6. Theodos jun. Evagr. l. 1. c. 12. Basil in Council Constant 8. act 1. Binius tom 8. p. 880. Reason confirmeth that Kings should take care of religion of the Christian Church have ever done and the Bishops themselves in sundry Councils have acknowledged the same power and Authority to be due and of right belonging unto them as at Mentz Anno 814. and Anno 847. apud Binium tom 3. p. 462. 631. At Emerita in Portugall Anno 705. Bin. tom 2. p. 1183. and therefore it is an ill consequent to say Princes have no Authority to preach Ergo they have no authority to punish those that will not preach or that do preach false Doctrine This truth is likewise apparent not only by the the testimony of Scripture and Fathers but also by the evidence of plain reason because the prosperity of that Land which any King doth govern without a principal care of Religion decayeth and degenerateth into Wars Dearths Plagues and Pestilence and abundance of other miseries that are the lamentable effects and consequences of the neglect of Religion and contempt of the Ministers of Gods Church which I beleive is no small cause of these great troubles which we now suffer because our God Psal 35.27 that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure that either his service should be neglected or his servants abused CHAP VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of things that pertain to Religion by his Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods the unlawfulness of the new Synod the Kings power and authority to govern the Church and how both the old and new Disciplinarians and Sectaries rob the King of this power THerefore seeing this should be the greatest care that brings the greatest honour to a Christian Prince to promote the true Religion it is requisite that we should consider those things that are most necessary to a Christian King for the Religious performance of this duty And they are Three things necessary for a king to preferre the Church and the Religion 1. A will to performe it 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. Our knowledge and our power without a willing minde doth want motion 2. Our will and power without knowledge shall never be able to move right And 3. Our will and knowledge without ability can never prevaile to produce any effect Therefore Kings and Princes ought to labour to be furnished with these three special graces The first is a good will to preserve the purity of Gods service 1. A willing minde to do it not onely in his House but also througout all his Kingdom and this as all other graces are must be acquired by our faithfull prayers and that in a more speciall manner for Kings and Princes then for any other and it is wrought in them by outward instruction and the often predication of God's Word and the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit The second is knowledge which is not much less necessaâ—y then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is no better then not to run at all and men were as good to do nothing as to do amiss and therefore true knowledge is most requisite for that King that will maintain true religion and this should be not onely in generall and by others but as much as possible he can in particulars and of himselfe that himselfe might be assured what were fit to be reformed and what warranted to be maintained in Gods service for so Moses commandeth the chiefe Princes to be exercised in Gods Law day and night because this would be a special means to beatifie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth and ruine to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affairs or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect do rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindness will over-spread the Church and pride covetousness and ambition will replenish the Common-Wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all virtue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learn and finde out the true state of things and because it is far unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affairs will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their books as if they were such critiques How kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to govern the same 1. To call able Clergy-men about them as intended to exceed all others in the theâ—rick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing forth his Mathematicall figures when the City was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares therefore it is wisdome in them to imitate the discreet examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the means that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attain unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their own greatest study and that is 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to inform him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his prime Orators Poets and Historians to instruct him in all affairs so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of Government of Gods Church and these Chaplains should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to do evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique loss How they should be qualified or an advantage to themselves by the detriment of the Church
and to be honest without knowledge or to have knowledge without experience especially in such places of eminency and for the affaires of importance may be as dangerous when their want of skill may counsel to do matters of much hurt but when both are met together in one person that man is a fit Subject to do good service both to God and the King and the King may be assured there cannot be a better furtherance to assist him for the well ordering of God's Church then the grave advice and directions of such instruments as it appeareth by that memorable example of King Ioas left to be remembred by all Kings who whilst the wise and religious Priest Jehoiada assisted and directed him had all things successefull and happy to his whole Kingdome 2 Reg. 12.2 but after Jehoiada's death the King destitute of such a Chaplain to attend and such a Priest to counsel him all things came speedily to great ruine Therefore I dare boldly avouch it they are enemies unto Kings and the underminers of God's Church and such instruments as I am not able to express their wickedness that would exclude such Jehoiada's from the Kings counsel for was not Saul a wicked King and Ahab little better yet Saul would have Samuel to direct him though he followed not his direction and Ahab would ask counsel of Micaiah though he rejected the same to his own destruction and King David 1 Reg. 22.16 though never so wise and so great a Prophet and Josias and Ezechias and all the rest of the good Kings had always the Priests and the men of God to be their Counsellors and followed their directions especially in Church causes Mar. 6.20 as the oracles of God so wicked Herod disdained not to hear John the Baptist and to be reformed by him in many things and happy had he been had he done it in all things And if you read Eusebius which is called Pamphilus for the great love he bare to that his noble Patron and Socrates and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Historians or the Histories of our own I and you shall finde that the best Kings and greatest Emperours had the best Divines and the most reverend Bishops to be their chiefest Counsellors and to be imployed by them in their weightiest affairs How then hath the Devil now prevailed to exclude them from all Counsels and as much as in him lyeth from the sight of Princes when he makes it a suspicion of much evil if they do but talk togethe How hath he bewitched the Nobility to yield to be deprived of their Chaplains Is it not to keep them that have not time to study and to finde out truth themselves still in the ignorance of things and to none other end then to overthrow the true religion and to bring Kings and Princes to confusion 2 To call Synods to discuss and conclude the harder things 2. When the King seeth cause God hath given him power and authority to call Synods and Councils and to assemble the best men the most moderate and most learned to determine of those things together which a fewer number could not so well or at least not so authoritatively conclude upon for so Constantine the Great called the great Council of Nice to suppress the Heresie of Arius Theodosius called the Council of Ephesus in the case of Nestorius Valentinian and Martian called the Council of Calcedon against Eutyches Justinian called the Council of Constantinople against Severus that renewed the Heresie of Eutyches Constantine the Fifth called the sixth Synod against the Monothelites and so did many others in the like cases God having fully granted this right and authority unto them for their better information in any point of religion and the goverment of the Church And therefore they that deny this power unto Kings or assume this authority unto themselves whether Popes or Parliament out of the Kings hand they may as well take his eyes out of his head because this is one of the best helps that God hath left unto Kings The unparallel'd presumption of the Faction to call a Synod without the king to assist and direct them in the chiefest part of their royal government how presumptuous then and injurious unto our King and prejudicial to the Church of Christ was the faction of this Parliament without the Kings leave and contrary to his command to undertake the nomination of such a pack of Schismatical Divines for such a Synod as might finally determine such points of faith and discipline as themselves best liked of let all the Christian world that as yet never saw the like president be the Judge and tell us what shall be the religion of that Church where the Devil shall have the power to prompt worldlings to nominate his prime Chaplains Socinians Brownists Anabaptists and the refuse of all the refractory Clergy The quality of the Synodical men that seem learned in nothing but in the contradiction of learning and justifying Rebellion against their King and the Church to compose the Articles of our faith and to frame a new government of our Church I am even ashamed that so glorious a Kingdom should ever breed so base a Faction that durst ever presume to be so audacious and I am sorry that I should be so unhappy to live to see such an unparallel'd boldness in any Clergy that the like cannot be found in any Ecclesiastical History from the first birth of Christ's Church to this very day unless our Sectaries can produce it from some of the Vtopian Kingdoms that are so far South ward In terra incognita beyond the Torrid Zone that we whose zeal is not so fiery but are of the colder spirits could not yet perfectly learn the true method of their Anarchical government or if our Lawyers can shew us the like president that ever Parliament called a Synod contrary to the King's Proclamation I shall rest beholding to them produce it if they can Credat Judaeus appella non ego The third thing requisite to a King for the preservation of true religion 3. An authority and power to guide the Church and to uphold the true religion and the government of God's Church is power and authority to defend it for though the Prince should be never so religious never so desirous to defend the faith and never so well able in his understanding and so well furnished with knowledge to set down what Service and Ceremonies should be used yet if he hath not power and ability which do arise from his right and just authority to do it and to put the same in execution all the rest are but fruitless embryoes like those potentials that are never reduced into actions Ps 129.6 or like the grass upon the house top that withereth before it be plucked up But to let you see that Kings and Princes should have this power and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes and over all Ecclesiastical persons we
Christ nor reformed from their sins and so now when the Puritan faction prevailed in our Parliament Good to be excluded from the counsel of the wicked and our Sectaries disdained in their counsels to take the counsel of Religion and resolved to banish GOD from their assemblies to make the Church and Church-men a publick scorn unto the wicked and the Common-wealth a private gain to every broken Citizen and every needy Varlet I say happy are those Bishops that are excluded and well it is for those Ministers that are furthest off from such godless and irreligious not Parliament but Parricides even as the Psalmist testifieth Blessed is the man that hath not sate in the seat of the scornful Psal 1.1 and therefore if they had not been excluded I am sure that as the case now standeth they would have seceded themselves But when the civil Magistrates became Christians and the Christians consulted with God in all their actions then it was no indecorum for the servants of Christ to be seen in the Congregation of Saints and to sit as Judges among gods where the judgement shall pass for the glory of God neither is it any prejudice to our holy calling The giving of Caesar's due doth not hinder us to give to god his due to give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's and that we owe unto him as our service and our counsel and whatsoever else lyeth in us to do for the good of the Common-wealth as we are his Subjects and the Tenants of the Common-wealth nor do the rendering of these things to Caesar any wayes hinder us to give unto God the things that are God's and that we owe to God as our prayers and our care over God's flock as we are Christians and Bishops over the Church of Christ but the same man if he will be faithful may justly perfoâ—m both duties without giving over or neglecting either And when our men shall return to God and take him along with them into their counsels and desire the assistance of his servants as I hope they will have grace to do I assure my self the Reverend Bishops will not refuse to do them service Ob. 4 But you will say the Emperours were good Christians when the Council of Calcedon put out their Canons Sol. I answer the Emperours were but all Kings were not besides that Canon cleares it self for it sheweth that Clergymen did at that time undertake secular imployments Propter lucra turpia ministerium Dei parvi pendentes for gaine neglecting their duty and therefore the Council forbade all Clergy-men negotiis secularibus se immiscere because the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.4 no man that warreth intangleth or insnareth himself with the affairs of this life and so neither the Apostle nor the Council doth absolutely forbid all secular affairs as inconsistent with this function but as the Council of Arles saith Concil Arelai Caâ— 14. The words of the Canon explained Clericus turpis lucri gratia aliquod genus negotiationis non exerceat so they forbid all Clerks to meddle with any business for the love of gain and filthy lucre that might insnare him to neglect his duty or as the Canon of the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop should not assume unto himself or seeke after worldly cares but if either necessity or authority impose them on him I see not how he can refuse them because there is no absolute prohibition of such imployments in any place but as it might be a hinderance to discharge his office or otherwise Saint Paul's Tent-making was as much against the calling of an Apostle as the sitting in a secular tribunal is against the office of a Bishop because there is no reason we should deny that benefit to a publick necessitated community which we will yeeld to a private personal necessity And so indeed these very men that cry out against our Bishops The Presbyterians will be the directors of all affaires and other grave Prelates of the Church for the least medling in these civil affaires do not onely suffer their own Preachers to strain at a gnat but also to swallow a Camel when M. Henderson Marshal Case and the rest of their new inspired Prophets shall sit as Presidents in all their Counsels and Committees of their chiefest affaires and consultations either about War or Peace or of any other civil cognizance how these things can be answered to deny that to us which they themselves do practise I cannot understand when as the light of Nature tells us Quod tibi vis fieri mihi fac quod non mihi noli Sic potes in terris vivere jure poli * Vnde Baldus jubet ut quis in alios non aliter judicet quà m in se judicari vellet And therefore when as there is no politick Philosophy no imperial constitution nor any humane invention that doth or can so strictly binde the consciences of men unto subjection and true obedience as the Doctrine of the Gospel and no man can perswade the people so much unto it as the Preachers of Gods word as it appeareth by this Rebellion perswaded by the false Preachers because the Principles of Philosophy and the Laws of many nations do permit many things to be done against tyrants which the Religion of Christ and the true Bishops of Gods Church do flatly inhibit How requisite it is for Kings to delegate civil affaires unto their Clergie it is very requisite and necessary for all Christian Kings both for the glory of God their own safety and the happiness of the Common-wealth to defend this their own right and the right of the Clergy to call them into their Parliaments and Counsels and to demise certain civil causes and affairs to the gravest Bishops and the wisest of the Ministers and not suffer those Rebellious Anabaptists and Brownists that have so disloyally laboured to pull off the Crown from their Kings head to bury all the glory of the Church in the dust to bring the true Religion into a scorn and to deprive the King of the right which is so necessary for his safety and so useful for the Government of his people that is the service of his Clergy in all civil Courts and Councils And as it is the Kings right to call whom he pleaseth into his Parliaments and Councils That it is the Kings right to give titles of honour to whom he pleaseth and to delegate whom he will to discharge the office of a civil or Ecclesiastical magistrate or both wheresoever he appoints within his Realms and Dominions so it is primarily in his power and authority and his regal right to give titles of honour and dignity to those officers and magistrates whom he chooseth for though the Barbarians acknowledge no other distinction of Persons but of Master and Servants which was the first punishment for the first contempt of our Superiors Gen. 9.25
not simply Subjects unto their king but deny civil obedience unto their Prince where canonical obedience commands the contrary and you see how the Presbytery not only deny their just allegeance but incite the people to unjust Rebellion but the Bishops and their Clergy renounce all obedience to any other Potentate and anathematize as utterly unlawful all resistance against our lawful Soveraigne and in this hearty adherence to His Majesty as they are wholly his so they do exspect favour from none but onely from His Highness and yet Philip the second of Spaine notwithstanding he had but half the obedience of his Clergy advised his son Philip the third to stick fast unto his Bishops even as he had done before him therefore our king that hath his Bishops so totally faithful unto him hath more reason to succour them that they be not no◠the object of contempt unto the vulgar Reason 3 3. The state of the Clergy is constantly and most really to their power the most beneficial state to the Crown both in ordinary and extraordinary revenues of all others for though their meanes is much impaired and their charges encreased in many things yet if you consider their first fruits the first year their Tenths every year Subsidies most years and all other due and necessary payments to the king I may boldly say that computatis computandis no state in England of double their revenue scarce renders half their payments and now in the kings necessity for the defence of Church and Crown Or else they are much to blame and far unworthy to be Bishops I hope my Brethren the Bishops and all the rest of the loyal Clergy will rather empty themselves of all they have and put it to His Majesties hands then suffer him to want what lyeth in them during all the time of these occasions Reason 4 4. They bestow all their labours in Gods service continually praying for blessings upon the head of His Majesty and his posterity and next under god relying onely upon His favour and protection Reason 5 5. God hath laid this charge upon all Christian kings to be our nursing fathers and to defend the faith that we preach Esay 49.33 which cannot be done when the Bishops and Prelates are not protected and God hath promised to bless them so long as they discharge this duty and hath threatned to forsake them when they forsake his Church and leave the same as a prey to the adversaries of the Gospel Reason 6 6. Our king hath like a pious and a gracious King at his Coronation promised and engaged himself to do all this that is desired of him And as for these and other reasons His Majesty should so we do acknowledge with all thankefulness that he hath and doth His best endeavour to discharge this whole duty Quia non plus valet ad dejiciendumterrena mala◠quà m ad erigendum divina tutela Cypr. and do beleive with all confidence that maugre all open opposition and all secret insinuation against us He will in like manner continue his grace and favour unto the Church and Church governours unto the end And if any whosoever they be how great or how powerful soever either in kingdome or in Court shall seeke to alienate the Kings heart or diminish His affection and furtherance to protect and promote the publishers of the Gospel which we are confident all their malice cannot do because the God of Heaven that hath built his Church upon a rock and will not turn away his face from his Anointed will so bless our King that it shall never be with him as it was with Zedechia when it was not in his power to save Gods Prophet but said unto his Princes Jerem. 28.5 Behold he is in your hand for the King is not he that can do any thing against you yet as Mordecai said to Hester God will send enlargement and deliverance unto his Church Hester 4.14 and they and their fathers houses that are against it shall be destroyed because as Saint Peter saith we have forsaken all to become his servants that otherwise might have served Kings with the like honour that they do and we have lest the world to build up his Church we put our trust under the shadow of his wings and being in trouble we do cry unto the Lord and therefore he will hear our cry and will helpe us and we shall never be confounded Amen CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensatious for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensation is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure special sorts of false professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated 2. That the King may lawfully grant his dispensation for Pluralities and Non-residency 2. WHereas the Anabaptists and Brownists of our time with what conscience I know not cry out that our Kings by their Lawes do unreasonably and unconscionably grant dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency onely to further the corrupt desire of some few aspiring Prelates to the infinite wrong of the whole Clergy the intolerable dishonour of our Religion the exceeding prejudice of Gods Church and the lamentable hazard of many thousand soules I say that the Pluralities and Non-residency granted by the King and warranted by the Lawes of this Land In Anno 112. may finde sufficient reasons to justifie them for In Anno 636. if you consider the first limitation of Benefices that either Euaristus Bishop of Rome or Dionysius as others thinke did first assigne the precincts of Parishes The first distribution of Parishes and appointed a certain compass to every Presbyter and in this Kingdome Honorius Arch-bishop of Canterbury was the first that did the like appointed the Pastorall charge and the portion of meanes accrewing from that compass to this or that particular person whereas before for many years they had no particular charge assigned nor any Benefice allotted them but had their Canonicall pensions and dividents given them by the Bishop out of the common stock of the Church according as the Bishop saw their severall deserts for at first the greater Cities onely had their standing Pastors and then the Countrey Villages imitating the Cities to allow maintenance according to the abilities of the inhabitants had men of lesser learning appointed for those places Pluralities and Non-residency no transgression of Gods Law Therefore this limitation of particular Parishes being meerly positive and an humane constitution it cannot be the transgression of a divine ordinance to have more Parishes then one or to be absent from that one which is allotted to him when he is dispenced with by the Law-maker to do the same for as it is not lawfull without a dispensation to do either because we are to obey
Church and King and in the end destroy themselves for who deceived Absolon though rightly but his own Counsellour who betrayed Ahab and that most wickedly but his lying Parasites and who overthrew Rehoboam and that foolishly but his young favourites * Which thing is purposely set down in the holy Scripture to be a caveat for all Kings not to rely too much upon young Counsellors not that wisedome and prudence are intailed to old age and inseperable from gray-haires or divorced from green heads but because commonly experience is the fruitfull mother of these faire issues and the multitude of yeares teacheth wisdom for otherwise there may be delirium senectutis the dotage of old age as well as vanitas juventutis the folly of youth and as Elihu saith Great men are not alwayes wise neither do the aged understand judgement but as Solomon saith ◠isdem even in youth is the gray haires and an undefiled life is the old age as we see young Ioseph was the wisest in all Egypt Solomon Daniel and Titus how wise how learned and how religious were they in their younger yeares So Alexander Hà nniball Scipio in the feates of war Lucan Mirandula Keckerman and abundance more in all humane learning that were but Neophyti annis yet were egregii virtutibus young in years yet very admirable for their worth And Princes do most wisely when they make such election especially when they are inforced to call men to places of labour and industry they must have some regard to the bodies as well as to the mindes of their servants and chuse men of younger yeares though not to be their favourites but their confidents according to the French distinction as His Majesty hath lately made choice of one noble servant who is a◠Nazianzen speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gray in the minde though yellow in the head and supplying in all manner of excellent parts what may be conceived wanting in years whose name so much already catched at by envy I shall ever reverence though now I purposely passe it over in silence and whom may the Church fear most of all but her dissembling friends that are in most favour with Kings and therefore seduce them soonest insensibly to wound the Care and neglect the Charge that is laid upon them because as St. Bernard saith Longè plus nocet falsus Catholicus quà m si apertus appareret haereticus those eare-wigs are most pernicious whose counsels seeme to be most specious when they are but as the spirit of darkness appearing like an Angel of light when they say God indeed must be served and the Word must be preached but whether Bishop or no Bishop whether in a sumptuous Church or private house whether by an esteemed Clergy or a poore meane Ministrie in this manner or in another fashion it skilleth not much Kings may well enough give way to spare that cost to lessen that Revenue and to pull down these Cathedrals especially to give content unto the People and to defray the expensive charge of the Common-wealth But these counsels will not excuse Kings in the day of their account therefore let them take heed of such Counsellors and when they hear them begin to speak against the Church though they be-guild their beginnings never so slily let them either stop their eares with the Cockatrice Psal 58.5 that will not heare the voice of the charmer charme he never so wisely or let them answer as our Saviour answered their grand instructor Vade Satana non tentabis Matth. 4.10 for it is most true that Qui deliberat jam desivit he that listens to them is halfe corrupted by them and so they may prove destructive both to themselves and to their posterity for as nothing establisheth the Throne of Kings surer then obedience to God so nothing is more dangerous then rebellion against God with whom there is no respect of persons for he expecteth Rom. 2.11 that as he made Kings his Vice-gerents so they should feare him preserve the right of his Church uphold his service defend his servants and do all that he commands them intirely without taking the least liberty for feare of the people to dispense with any omission of his honour or suffering the hedges of his Vineyard the Governours of his Church to be trodden down and torne in pieces that the beasts of the field may destroy the grapes and defile the service of our God Therefore to conclude this point let all Kings do their best to hinder their People to corrupt the Covenant of Levi which is a Covenant of Salt that is Malach. 2.8 Deut. 33.11 to indure for ever let them remember Moses prayer Blesse Lord his substance and accept the worke of his hands smite through the loynes of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again and let them alwayes consider that God taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants Psal 35.27 CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses the testimony of the Fathers and Romanists for the Soveraignty of Kings the two things that shew the difficulty of government what a miraculous thing it is and that God himself is the governour of the people 2 The duty of the King in the government of the Common-wealth HAving set down some particulars of the Kings right in the Government of Gods Church it resteth that I should shew some part of his right and duty to serve God as he is a King in the government of the Common-wealth touching which for our more orderly proceeding I will distribute my whole discourse into these five heads Five points handled 1. To justifie his right to govern the people 2. To shew the difficulty of this government 3. To set down the assistants that are to helpe him in the performance of this duty 4. To distinguish the chiefest parts of this Government 5. To declare the end for which this Government is ordained of God 1. Point 1. Where the Protestants place Soveraignty 1. We say that the Kings Soveraignty or royal power to govern the people is independent from all creatures solely from God who hath immediately conferred the same upon him and this we are able to make good with abundance both of divine and humane proofes and yet we finde the same adversaries of this truth though with a far less shew of reason that we met withall about Government of Gods Church For 2. In whom the Papists do place Soveraignty The Pope's sad Message to Hen. 3. Imp. Quem meritum investivimus quare immeritum non devestiamus quia ad quem pertinet institutio ad eundem pertinet destitutio 2 They that are infatuated with the cup of Babylon the
is immediately from God yet if he would believe learned Authours he might find enough of this judgment for the sublime power and authority that resideth in earthly Potentates is not a derivation or collection of humane power scattered among many and gathered into one head but a power immediately granted by God to his Vicegerents * So acknowledged by Act of Parliament 25 H. 8. c. 12.28 c. 10. Dr Sarav sol 175. Bellar. de Laicis cap. 6. 8. quam nunquam fuisse populo demandatam legimus which God never communicated to any multitudes of men saith Saravia And Bellarmine himself against the Anabaptists confuteth their error that denyed the power and authority of kings to be immediately from God I. From Script Sap. 6. Esay 45. Hierem. 27. Dan. 2. Rom. 13.1 Pet. 2. II. From the Councill of Constans Sess 8. 15. III. From S. Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 21. where he saith non tribuamus dandi regni potestatem nisi Deo vero which giveth felicity in the kingdome of Heaven onely to the godly but the earthly kingdomes he giveth both to the godly and to the wicked nam qui dedit Mario ipse Caesari qui Augusto ipse Neroni qui Vespasianis vel patri vel filio Idem de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 3. Irvinus de jure regni c. 2. p. 40. suavissimis imperatoribus ipse Domitiano crudelissimo qui Constantino Christiano ipse Apostatae Juliano And IV. it is proved from the confession of the Popes of Rome as Leo. ep 38. 43. Gelasius epist ad Anastasium Greg. l. 2. epist 61. Nicholaus epist ad Michaelem out of all which saith Irvinus it is apparent all and every king non multitudini aut hominibus sed Deo soli regum regi quicquid juris habent acceptum ferre And he might consider that a thing may be said to be immediately from God divers wayes as specially 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque ullo signo creato 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum aliquo actu conjuncto that is 1. Solely from God and no other presupposing nothing praevious to the obtaining of it So Moses and Joshua had their authority from God Heningus fusè c. 1. p. 4 5. de distinct duplici jurisdict Sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure Principi tamen facto divinitùs potestas data est Cunerus c. 5. de offic Princip 2. Joyntly with an interposed act of some other instrument as the Apostolicall power of Matthias was immediately from God though his constitution was from the Apostles so Kings though some of them be after a sort elected by men yet as our Saviour saith to Pilate that his power was from above though he was deputed by Caesar So may they be said to have their authority immediately from God though they should be some wayes deputed by men for we must distinguish betwixt the soveraignty the Subject and the collation of the Soveraignty to the Subject the Soveraignty is immediately from God the Subject is from it's naturall cause and the unition of the Soveraignty to the Subject is likewise immediately from God not onely approving but appointing the same in all the Kings of his ordination or to speak with the Schooles we must distinguish betwixt deputationem personae and collationem potestatis the designation of the person which is sometimes done by men and that is where the King is elective and the donation of the power which is proper onely unto God for so the Psalmist saith Psal 62.11 God hath spoken once and twice I have also heard the same that power belongeth unto God and the Apostle saith the powers that are are ordained of God Rom. 13.2 which is to be understood of the regall or Monarchicall power because Saint Paules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.13 Saint Peters description betwixt the King and the inferiour Magistrates A twofold royalty in a King 1 Merum imperium higher powers are interpreted by Saint Peter to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings that are supreme where Saint Peter makes an excellent distinction betwixt the superiour and the inferiour Magistrates the superiour is that which Saint Paul saith is ordained of God and the inferiours are they which Saint Peter calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are sent by the King for the better explanation of which place you must know that in every King or supreme Magistrate we may conceive a double royalty The 1 is merum imperium or regni potestas summa plenissima and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this fulnesse of power and independent of any creature and immediately received of God which the Civilians call jus regis or munus regni is in the person of the King indivisible not to be imparted by the King to any creature because he cannot devest himself divide this power or alienate the same to any subject no not to his own son without renouncing or dividing his Kingdome How the King cannot do unjustly and by this the Civilians say the King may governe sine certa lege sine certo jure sed non sine aequitate justitia without Law but not without equity whereupon it is a rule in the Common Law hoc unum rex potest facere quod non potest injustè agere which is to be applyed to this inseperable regality of the King 2 Imperium dispositivum and hath been often alleadged by other Parliaments to justifie the King from all blame The 2 is imperium dispositivum or jus gubernandi vel jurisdictio the right of governing or jurisdiction and distribution of justice and this may be derived and delegated from the King legatis vitalitiis either for terme of life or during the Kings pleasure But how not privativè when the King doth not denude himself thereof but cumulativè and executivè to execute the same as the Kings Instruments for the preservation of peace How the King delegates his power to his inferiour Magistrates and the administration of justice as it appeareth in their patent and this subordinate power is not inherent in their persons but onely committed unto them for the execution of some office because that when the supreame power is present the power of the inferiour officers is silent it is in nubibus fled into the clouds and like the light of the Moon and Stars vanishing whensoever the Sun appeareth for Kings when they do transfer any actuall power to the subalternate Officers retain the habituall power still in their own hands which upon any emergent occasion they may actually resume to themselves again which they could not do if they parted with the habite and forme of this despoticall power of government The words of the Apostles vindicated from the false glosses of the Sectaries Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13 The testimony of the Fathers for the Soveraignty of Kings Tertul. ad Scap. in apologet
c. 30. Iren. advers baeres Valent l. 5. c. 20. Optat. contr Parmen l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost tom 6. orat 40. orat 2. Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 21. that they have immediately received from God And as the Scriptures make it plain that the Kings right and power to govern is immediately from God so they make it as plain that it is the greatest right and most eminent highest power that is on earth for though the cavillers at this power translate the words of Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not potestatibus sublimioribus or supremis but potestatibus superexcellentibus and say that the word or particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where S. Peter bids us submit our selves to the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the cheif intends a resemblance onely and not a reall demonstration to prove the King to be the chief Yet the malice of these men and the falshood of these glosses will appear if you consider that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habens se super alios or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the powers that are ordained of God must needs signify not any subordinate power but the supremest power on earth because the other powers are directly said by Saint Peter to be sent by the King and the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth as really expresse the matter there as in John i. 14. where the Evangelist saith and we beheld his glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God And I hope our Sectaries will not be so impudent as to say that this signifieth but a resemblance of the Son of God But to make this point more plain you shall heare what the Fathers and the learned say for I told you before Tertullian saith of Kings and Emperours inde potestas unde spiritus and he is solo Deo minor inferiour to none but God Saint Chrysostome saith he hath no peer on Earth but is the top of all men living Athanasius saith there is none above the Emperour but onely God that made the Emperour Q. Curtius l. 9. Saint Cyrill in a Sermon upon that text I am the vine commendeth the answer of a King whom Quintus Curtius affirmeth to be Alexander that being shot and his Subjects would have him bound to pull out the arrow said non decet vinciri Regem Bern. Tractat. de pass Dom. c. 4. it becomes not Kings to be bound because none is superiour unto them Agapetus a Deacon of Constantine saith as much and because it is a rule in the Civill Law testem quem quis inducit pro se tenetur recipere contra sese the testimony of our adversaries is most convictive therefore I beseech you hear what they say for Rosellus a great Catholique saith it is heretical to affirm that the universal administration of the temporall affaires is or must be in the Pope when the King hath no superiour on earth but the Creator of heaven and earth Caninus also saith that the Apostle Rom. 13. spake of the Regall and secular Power Cassan Catal. glor mundi p. 8. consider 28. Card. Cusan concord Cathol l. 3. c. 5. Vide Arnis p. 5. de dist dupl jurisdict and not of the Ecclesiasticall and Cassanaeus saith that Kings are the highest and most paramount secular power and authority that ever God appointed on earth and denies that either the old or the new Testament makes any mention of an Emperour juris utriusque testimonia manifestè declarant imperialem dignitatem potestatem immediatè á filio Dei ab antiquo processisse said Philip King of France in Constit de potest elect Imperat. Irvin p. 33 34 35. quoteth many authors to confirme the same truth Lombard Gratian Melancthon Cranmer Tyndall and abundance more without number do likewise most peremptorily affirme that the Kings Power is the supreme power on earth and as the mirror of our time the Bishop of Winchester observeth the Scripture testifieth that their Throne their Crowne their Sword their Scepter their Judgement their Royalty their Power their Charge their Person and all in them are of God from God and by God to shew how sacred they are and ought to be unto us all and so the very Heathens teaching sounder Divinity then our Sectaries thought and said that Kings were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homere Plutarch Ovid. Fast l. 5. Quia à jove nutriti ab eo regnum ade ti sunt Scapula in verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers of God and not the servants of the people Good God! what shall we say then to those children of Adam that will not onely with Adam be content to be like God but with Antichrist this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Many-headed beast 2. The difficulty of Government 2. Things shewing the difficulty of Government as Plato calleth them wil exalt themselves above all that is called God they will devest the King and invest themselves with his right and therefore 2. This sheweth how difficult a thing it is to rule and govern this unruly aspiring and ambitious multitude for the fuller understanding of which difficult duty Osorius saith that two things are to be considered 1. Suscepti muneris amplitudo the greatness of the charge which is of that weight that we can scarce think of a greater in all our life the care of Church and Common-wealth and to rule millions of men far and neare 2. Gubernandorum qualitas the quality and conditions of those men that are to be governed which if there were nothing else to prove it will sufficiently shew the difficulty of their government for if it be a very hard thing to govern a mans selfe how much harder is it to govern such a multitude of mad men for Cicero saith the multitude is the greatest teacher of errour the unjustest judge of dignity being without counsell without reason without judgement Cicero Tusc 3. de sinibus lib. 2. Plutarch in Alcibiad and Plutarch calleth them pessimam veritatis interpretem whereunto agreeth the answer of that Pope who being demanded what was furthest from truth answered populi sententia the opinion of the People and as they are the weakest for judgement so they are most instable in their resolutions to day crying Hosanna and to morrow Crucifige this is the nature of the People Osorius his description of the factious Puritans most plainly seen verified in our Rebels of whom these our Sectaries are the very dregs the worst and the basest of all I must crave leave to set down what Osorius saith of them long ago and you may finde that this rebellion proves his words most true for he saith the desire and end of this faction is too much liberty then which nothing can be more averse to the office and government of Kings for it is the
duty of a King to cut off all haynous offences with just punishments the unbridled people desires to be free from all fear of punishment the King is the Minister of the Law the Keeper of it and the auenger of the transgression thereof the people as much as possibly they can with an impetuous temerity pulleth down all Laws the King laboureth to preserve peace and quietness the people with an untamcable lust turmoileth and troubleth the peace of all men lastly the King thinkes not fit to distribute rewards and compensations indifferently to all men alike but the people desire to have all difference of worth and dignity taken away infima summis permisceri and to make the basest equal with the best whence it happeneth so that they hate all Princes and especially all Kings quos immani odio persequuntur whom they persecute with a deadly hate for they cannot endure any excellency or dignity and to that end they use all endeavour ut principes interimant vel saltem in turbam conjiciant either utterly to take away and destroy their Princes or to implunge them into a World of troubles which thing at first doth not appeare but when the multitude of furious men hath gathered strength then at last their impudent boldness being confirmed by daily impunity breaketh forth to the destruction of the royal Majesty And a little after he saith Osoriu in ep Reginae Elizabethae praefix l. de relig add to these things the abolition of Laws the contempt of Rule the hatred of royal Majesty and the cruel lying in wait which they most impiously and nefariously do endeavour for their Princes add also their clandestine and secret discourses where their confederacies are made for the extirpation of their Kings and to plot with unspeakable mischief the death of them whose health and safety they ought most heartily to pray to God for and then he addeth Pagina 24. 25. cum immodica libertatis cupiditate rapiantur leges oderunt judicia detestantur regum majestatem extinctam cupiunt ut licentiùs impuniùs queant per omnia libidinum genera vagari and this is most manifest saith he all their endeavours ayme at this end that Princes being taken away they may have an uncontroulable leave and liberty to commit all kinde of villanies and to that purpose they have poysoned some kings Revera mihi videtur esse ars artium hominem regere qui certè est inter omnes animantes maximè moribus varius voluntate diversas Nazian in Apol. and killed others with the sword and to root out all rule Consilia plena sceleris inierunt they are full of all wicked counsels And therefore this being the condition of the people as the Scripture sheweth plainly in the Jews by their continual Rebellions and murmurings against Moses and Aaron and we see it as plainly in our own time when our people hath confirmed all that this Bishop said it is not an easie matter to govern such an unruly people But we finde that the rod of Government is a miraculous rod that being in Moses hand was a fair wand but cast unto the ground turned to be an ungly and a poysonous Serpent to shew that the people being subject to the hand of Government is a goodly thing and a glorious society but let loose out of the Princes hands they are as Serpents crooked wriggled versipelles A people well governed very glorious and as full as may be of all deadly poyson and the Prophet David makes the ruling of the people to be as great a miracle as to appease the raging of the Seas and therefore he ascribes this Government to be the proper work of God psal 65.7 God is the governour and Kings are but Gods instruments psal 77.20 when speaking unto God he saith Thou rulest the rage of the Seas the noyse of his waves and the madness of the people for Kings are but Gods instruments and God himself is the ruler of his people even as the same King David sheweth saying still to God Tu duxisti populum tuum Thou leadest thy people like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron God was the leader and they were but the hands by which he led them for where God hath not a hand in the government of the people it is impossible for the best and most politick heads to do it and this Solomon knew full well when God bade him aske what he should give him and he said Thou hast made me King he doth not say the people hath made me and I know not how to go out or in that is to govern them 1 Reg. 3.7 9. therefore I pray the give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great a people that is what one man is able to govern an innumerable multitude of men Thou therefore must be the Governour and I am but thine instrument and that I may be a fit instrument to do thy work I desire thee to give me a docible heart They that reject their King reject God Wherefore O you Subjects without obedience and you Divines without Divinity how dare you put any instruments into Gods hands and refuse nay reject the instrument that he chuseth for the performance of his own work to rule the people you may as well refuse God himself even as God saith unto Samuel 1 Sam. 8.7 They have not reiected thee but they have reiected me so you that do rebel and cast away your King that God hath chosen as his hand to guide you and his instrument to govern you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 10.16 I pronounce it to all the World you have rebelled against God and you have cast away your God for the rule of Christ must stand infallible he that rejecteth or despiseth him that is sent rejecteth him that sent him CHAP. XII Sheweth the assistants of Kings in their government to whom the choice of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peers nor Parliament can have supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King the two chief parts of the regal government the four properties of a just War and how the Parliamentary Faction transgress in every property 3. The assistance that God alloweth unto Kings to help them in their government of two sorts 3. SEeing it is so hard and difficult a matter ars artium gubernare populum the Mistresse of all Sciences and the most dangerous of all faculties to govern the people that Saturninus said truly to them that put on his Kingly ornaments they knew not what an evil it was to rule because of the many dangers that hang over the rulers heads which under the seeming shew of a Crown of gold do wear indeed a Crown of thornes therefore Vt
Israel for I stand not about words when some were called Kings for the honour of the People Judges 17.6.18.1.19.1 and yet had no more power then Subjects as the Kings of Sparta and others had not the name of Kings and yet had the full power of Kings as the Dictator and the Emperour and the great Duke of Muscovie and the like But when a war is undertaken by any Prince how shall we know which party is in the right for to make an unjust war cannot be said to be the right of any King yet as the Poet saith Quis justius induit arma Lucan lib. 1. Scire nefas summo se judice quisque tuetur Every one pretends his cause is just he fights for God for the truth of the Gospell the faith of Christ and the liberty and Lawes of his Countrey how then shall those poore men that hazard their lives and their fortunes yea and soules too if they war on the wrong side understand the truth of this great doubtfull and dangerous point I answer all the Divines that I read of speaking of war Dambaud in praxi criminal cap. 82. do concur with what Dambauderius writeth of this point that there must be foure properties of a just war 1. A just cause 2. A right intention Foure properties of a just War 3. Meet Members 4. The Kings authority Sine qua est laesa Majestas without which authority the Warriours are all Traytors And I would to God our Rebels would lay their hands upon their hearts and seriously examine these foure points in this present War 1. What cause have they to take Armes against their King 1. A just cause and to kill and murder so many thousands of their own Brethren they will answer that they do it for the defence of their Liberty Lawes and Religion but how truely let God himselfe be the Judge for His Majesty hath promised and protested they shall enjoy all these fully and freely without any manner of dimunution and we know that never any rebellion was raised but these very causes were still pretended And therefore 2. Consider with what intent they do all this 2 A right intention and I doubt not but you shall finde foul weeds under this fair cloak for under the shadow of liberty and property they took the liberty to rob all the King 's loyal Subjects that they could reach of all or most of their estates and to keep them fast in prison because they would not consent to their lawless liberty and to be Rebels with them against their conscience And under the pretence of Lawes they aimed not to have the old Lawes well kept which was never denyed them but to have such new ones made as might quite rob the King of all his rights and transfer the same unto themselves and their friends so he should be like the King of Sparta What Lawes and Religion the Rebels would fain have a Royal Slave and they should be like the Ephori ruling and commanding Subjects And for the religion you may know by their new Synod which are a Synod not of Saints but of Rebels what religion they would fain have not that which was professed in Q. Elizabeth's times that was established by the Lawes justified by the paines and confirmed by the bloud of so many worthy men and faithful Martyrs but a new religion first hatched in Amsterdam then nourished in New-England and now to be transplanted into this Kingdom 3. Meet Members 3. Who are the persons that are imployed in this war he first of all that is the more disloyal because he was a person of honour that had so much honour conferred upon him by His Majesty and so much trust reposed in him and would notwithstanding prove so unthankful as to kick with his heeles against his Master and so follow whom you know passibus aequis whose example any other man that were not rob'd of his understanding would make a remora to retain him from rebellion and what are the other heads but a company either of poor Who the Rebels are and what manner persons they be needy and mean condition'd Lords and Gentlemen or discontented Peers that are misled or such factious Sectaries whose blind zeal and furious malice are able to hurry them headlong to perpetrate any mischief for their Captains and their Officers I believe they fight neither for the Anabaptists creed nor against the Romane faith nor to overthrow our Protestant Church but for their pay for which though they cannot be justified to take their hire for such ill service to rebel against their King and to murder their innocent brethren Yet are they not so bad as their grand Masters and for their common Souldiers I assure my self many of them fight against their wills many seduced by their false Prophets others inticed by their factious Masters and most of them compelled to kill their brethren against their wils and therefore in some places though their number trebled the Kings yet they had rather run away then fight and what a miserable and deplorable case is this when so many poor soules shall be driven unto the Devil by Preachers and Parliament against their wills 4. The supreme authorrity 4. If you consider quâ authoritate by what authority they wage this war they will answer by the Authority of Parliament and that is just none at all because the Parliament hath not the supreme authority without which the war is not publique nor can it be justified for a war is then justifiable when there is no legal way to end the controversie by prohibiting farther appeales which cannot be Albericus Gentilis de jure belli l. 1. c. 2. Subjects can never make a lawful war against their King but onely betwixt independent States and several Princes that have the supreme power in their own hands and are not liable to the sensure of any Court which power the Parliament cannot challenge because they are or should be the King 's lawful Subjects and therefore cannot be his lawful enemies but they will say Master Goodwin Burroughs and all the rest of our good men zealous brethren and powerful Preachers do continually cry out in our eares it is bellum sanctum a most just and holy war a war for the Gospel and for our Lawes and Liberties wherein whosoever dies he shall be crowned a Martyr I answer that for their reward they shall be indeed as Saint Augustine saith of the like Res dura ac plena pericli est regale occidisse genus Martyres stultae Philosophiae when every one of them may be indicted at the bar of God's justice for a felo de se a Malefactour guilty of his own untimely death and for their good Oratours that perswade them to this wickednesse I pray you consider well what they are men of no worth rebellious against the Church Rebels against the King factious Schismaticks In what
condition their Preachers are and of what worth of no faith of no learning that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the king and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soul to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deare to me as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soul dearer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Vniversities and all the Divines within the kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this War there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleive not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this war is lawful upon the Parliament side for though these Locusts that is the German It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king Scottish and the English Puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainly this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawful King is point blanck and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c 2. Keckerm Syst pol. c. 32. Jun. Brut. q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de laic c. 6. Suar. de fid cathol c. 3. Lichfield l. 4. 19. sect 19. Field l. 5. c. 30. that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing kings saith that no Protestant doth maintain that damnable doctrine and that rashness of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juel and Bilson and all the Doctors of the Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Field saith that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their kings though they were Hereticks and Infidels and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainly and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebels and Traytors that do resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselves damnation and truely I beleive most of their own consciences tell them so and they that thinke otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should aver such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justness of the War on the Parliament side But. 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his own defence for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion that is established by our Laws and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyal Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our own consciences to be true and therefore 2. As his Majesty professeth so we beleive him that he never intended otherwise by this war but to protect us and our Religion and to maintain his own just and unquestionable rights which these Rebels would most unjustly wrest out of his hands and under the shew of humble Petitioners to become at last proud Commanders for as one saith They whom no denial can withstand Seeme but to aske while they indeed command 3. For the persons that war with him they are the chiefest of the Nobility 3 His assistants learned honest and religious all the best Gentry that hazard their lives not for filthy lucre for the Kings Revenues being so unjustly detained from him they are fain to supply his necessities and to bear their own charges and the poor common Soldiers are nothing wanting to do their best endeavours neither need they to fear any thing because 4 His authority sacred and unquestionable What the pretended Parliament is 4. The King hath a just right to give them full power and authority to do execution upon these Rebels as I have proved unto you before And therefore the result of all is that the Parliament side under the pretence of Religion fighting if not for the Crown yet certainly for the full power and authority of the King who shall have the ordering of the Militia that is who shall have the government of this Kingdome which is all one as who shall be the King they or King CHARLES and which is the very question that they would now decide by the sword in taking away our goods are theeves and robbers in killing their brethren are bloudy murderers and in resisting their King are rebellious traytors that as the Apostle saith purchase to themselves damnation when as the Prophet Esay speaketh of the like Rebels being hardly bestead and hungry Esay 8.21 22. as I believe thousands of them are in London and other Rebellious Cities they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke upward as I fear many of them do curse the King with their tongues and God in their hearts and they shall looke unto the earth Matth. 8.12 and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse and anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse even to utter darknesse where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth if by a true repentance they do not betimes rent their hearts and forsake their fearful sinns And the Kings side in this war doing no further then the king gives Commission do no more then what God commandeth and therefore living they shall be accounted loyal Subjects worthy of honour and dying they shall be sure to be everlastingly rewarded CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deu. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Government came up 2 part of the regal government in the time of peace Master Selden in his titles of Honour p. 15. That the first government of Kings was arbitrary 2. HAving thus shewed you potestatem ducendi the Kings right and power of making War it resteth that I should speake De potestate judicandi of his power and right of judging and governing his people in the time of peace touching which we finde none denying his right but all the difference is about the manner where 1. I finde Master Selden rejecting
hominis summa rerum autoritas esset futura because now all authority and all things were not in the power of the Law but in the power of one mans arbitrary will But seeing we are fallen upon the peoples desire of a king let us examine what right God saith belongeth unto him and because that place 1 Sam. 8. is contradicted by another Deut. 17. as it seemeth we will examine both places and see if Moses doth any wayes crosse Samuel Deut. 17.14 usque ad finem and truly I may say of these two places that as S. Aug. saith in the like case Alii atque alii aliud atque aliud opinati sunt for some learned men say that Moses setteth down to the king legem regendi the Law by which he should governe the people without wronging them and Samuel setteth down to the people legem parâ—â—di the Law by which they should obey the king without resisting him whatsoever he should doe to them Spalat tom 2. fol 251. And other Divines say Haec est potestas legitima non tyrannica nec violenta ideò quando rex propria negotia non possit expedire per proprias res ac servos possit pro negotiis propriis tollere res servos aliorum isto modo dicebat Deus quod pertinebat ad jus regis G. Ocham tract 2. l. 2. c. 25. this is the lawfull and just right of the king Therefore to find out the truth let us a little more narrowly discusse both places And 1. In the words of Moses there I observe two speciall things 1. The charge of the people 2. The charge of the king 1. Popular election utterly forbidden 1. The people are commanded very strictly in any wise saith the Text to make choice of no king of their own heads but to accept of him whom the Lord did chuse 2. The Kings charge 2. The king is commanded to write out the Law to study it and to practice it and he is forbidden to do foure speciall things which are 1. Not to bring the people back into Egypt nor to provide the means to bring them by multiplying his horses 2. Not to marry many wives that might intice him as they did Solomon unto Idolatry 3. Not to hoord up too much riches 4. Not to tyrannize over his Brethren Joseph Antiquit l. 4. And Josephus to the same purpose saith Si regis cupiditas vos incesserit is ex eadem gente sit curam omnino gerat justitiae aliarum virtutum caveat verò ne plus legibus aut Deo sapiat nihil autem agat sine Pontificis Senatorúmque sententia which Moses hath not neque nuptiis multis utatur nec copiam pecuniarum equorúmque sectetur quibus partis super leges superbiâ efferatur that is to be a Tyrant Rex Jacobus in his true Law of free Monarchs 2. The words of Samuel are set down 1 Sam. viii 11. to the 18. verse whereof I confesse there are severall expositions some making the same a propheticall prediction of what some of their Kings would doe contrary to what they should doe as it was expressed by Moses So King James himself takes it others take it Grammatically for the true right of a King that may do all this and yet no way contradict those precepts forecited by Moses to confirme which supposition they say 1. The phrase here used must beare it out for as the Hebrew word signifieth as Pagninus noteth Morem aut modum aut consuetudinem and many other things as the place and the matter to be expressed do require because every equivocall word of various signification is not to be taken alike in all places but is to be interpreted secundum materiam subjectam yet the Septuagint that should know both the propriety of the word and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that place as well as any other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apparet nomen juris significare hic potestatem jure soncessam Arnisaeus c. 1. p. 216. translate the word to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we know the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint useth and jus which the Latine useth is never taken in the worser sence the Scripture never using to call vices by the names of vertues or to give a right to any one to exercise tyranny which then might be better termed jus latronis because an unjust tyrant is no better then an open thiefe 2. There is nothing here set downe by Samuel that is simply forbidden by the Law of God but that any the very best Kings may do as the occasions shall requi e for being a King he must have the royalty of his house supported and the necessities of his war supplied and you may read in Herodotus how Dioces after he was chosen King had all things granted unto him that were needfull to express his royall state and magnificence and here is nothing else in the text for if you marke it the Prophet saith not he should kill their sons nor ravish their wives nor yet take their daughters to be his Concubines which are the properties of a tyrant * Instat terribilis vivis morientibus haeres Virginibus raptor thalamis obscaenus adulter Divit busque dies nox metuenda maritis Quisquis vel locuples pulchra vel conjuge notus Crimini pulsatur falso si crimina desunt Accitus conviva perit mors nulla refugit Artificem Claudian de bello Gildon Bilson diff fol. 356. but he should take them to support his State and to maintain his war which as his necessities require is lawfull for him to do so that it is not the doing of those things but the motives that cause the King to do them or the manner of doing them that do make it either an unjust tyranny or the just right of a King for as Doctor Bilson saith kings may justly command the goods and bodies of all their Subjects in the time both of war and peace for any publique necessity or utility And Hugo de Sancto Victore saith Nunquam possessiones à regia potestate ita elongari possunt quin si ratio postulaverit necessitas illis ipsa potestas debeat patrocinium illis ipsae possessiones debeant in necessitate obsequium And so most Authors say the Subjects ought to supply the kings necessities and he may justly demand what is requisite and necessary for his publique occasions and who shall judge of that necessity but his own conscience and God shall judge that conscience which doth unjustly demand what he hath no reason to require because the greatness of his authority gives him no right to transcend the rules of equity whereof both God and his conscience will be the impartiall Judges And therefore in Deut. Modus describitur res non prohibetur and in Samuel Jus ponitur ratio subintelligitur for many things may be prohibited in
were many times swayed by the heads of the most powerfull faction The case of our affairs p. 17. How powerfull factions have procured Parliaments to doe most unjust things Turba tremens sequitur fortunam ut semper odit damnatos Juven Satyra 10. When Kings were most powerfull they could get the Parliaments to yeeld to what Statutes they thought best when the Lords or faction were most powerful they forced their Kings to make what Statutes they liked best which are instances rather of their unsteady weaknesse then of their just power when forsaking the guidance of their lawfull head they suffered themselves to be led by popular pretenders as when Canutus prevailed by his armes he could have a Parliament to resolve that his title to the Crown was the best when Hen. 4. had an army of 60000 men he could have a Parliament to depose Rich. 2. and confer the Crown upon himself when Edw. Duke of Yorke grew powerfull he could have a Parliament to determine the reigne of Hen. 6. and leave him only the name of king for his life but give the very Kingdome unto the Duke under the names of Protector and Regent and then he could procure the Parliament to declare that Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6 were but kings de facto non de jure so Rich. the 3. as meere an Usurper as any could notwithstanding procure a Parliament to declare him a lawfull king and Hen. 7. could procure the forementioned acts that were made in favour of Edw. 4. and Rich. 3. to be annulled and Hen. 8. could have a Parliament to justifie and authorize his divorces and Queen Elizab. could have a Parliament to make it high treason for any man to say that the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the rights and titles which any person whatsoever might have unto the Crown when as we know it was adjudged in Hen. 7. that no Act of Parliament nor yet an Attainder by Parliament can disable the right heire to the Crown because the descent of the Crown upon him purges all disabilityes whatsoever and makes him every way capable thereof Thus as the Parliaments when they were most prevalent caused their kings unwillingly to yeeld many things against right so the kings growing most powerfull prevailed to work the Parliament to consent to very unjust conclusions and therefore it is inconsequent to say this exclusion must be just because it is past by an Act of Parliament The case of our affaires p. 20. And therefore as in the 15 yeare of Edw. 3. the king being unwillingly drawn to consent to certain Articles prejudiciall to the Crown and to promise to seale the Statute thereupon made lest otherwise his affairs in hand might have been ruinated which we conceive to be just in like manner now the king very unwillingly drawn to passe this Act for the exclusion of the Clergy which is most prejudiciall both to the Crown and the Church and a mighty dishonour unto God himself lest otherwise more mischiefe might have followed when he hoped that this would have appeased the fury of that prevalent faction which now the kingdome seeth it did not Another Statute was made the same year reciting the former matter Statutes unwillingly procured from the king repealed that was enacted in these words It seemed to the said Earls Barons and otherwise men that since the Statute did not of our free will proceed the same to be void and ought not to have the name nor strength of a Statute and therefore by their counsell and assent we have decreed the said Statute to be void c. So I hope our Earles and Baron and the rest will be so wise and so just both to the king and to the Church that seeing this Statute proceeded not of the kings free will as I beleeve their own conscience knoweth and do presume His Majesty will acknowledge they likewise will consent that the king may make it void again §. Certaine Quaeres discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the prayse of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly AND here I must further craue leave to be resolved in certain Quaeres and doubts wherein I would very gladly be satisfied for seeing as I told you before there are some rights of royalty which are inseperabilia à majestate which the king ought not and which indeed he cannot grant away as there be some things which he may forgoe though he need not I demand Quaere 1 1. Whether any positive Act Statute or Law that is either ex diametro or ex obliquo either directly or by consequent or any other way contradictory or transgressive to the Law of God ought to be kept and observed wherein I beleive and constantly maintain that it ought not and I say further that by the Word of God not any Lay men be they never so noble never so learned and never so many but the Clergy be they never so poore and never so much dis-esteemed ought to be the resolvers of this point what is repugnant and what consonant to the Law of God Malach. 2.7 because the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and the people must seek the Law at his month therefore it may be conceived no Statute can be rightly made that is not assented to and approved as all our former Statutes were by the Bishops that are the chiefest of the Clergy to be no wayes contrary to the Law of God Quaere 2 2. Whether the king that is an absolute Monarch to whom God hath committed the charge and government of his people can without offence to God change this forme of government from a Monarchicall to an Aristocraticall or a Democraticall forme of government which may be beleived he cannot because though as I shewed out of Saint Augustine the worser forme invented by man may lawfully be changed into a better yet the best which is onely and primarily ordained by God cannot be changed into a worser without offence Quaere 3 3. Whether the king can passe away that power authority and right which God hath given him and without which he cannot govern and protect his people that God hath committed under his charge wherein it may be conceived he cannot because God must discharge him from the charge that he imposed upon him before he can be freed and excused from it but as the Bishop on whom the Lord hath laid the charge of soules cannot lay aside this charge when he pleaseth so no more can the King lay aside the charge of the Government nor paâ—t with that power and right * Otherwise then by substitution Rege absente durante beneplacito or quamdiu se benè gesserint substituti whereby he is inabled to govern them and without which he cannot governe them untill God that laid this charge
upon him and gave him full power and authority to do it by some undeniable dispensation gives him his Writ of ease to discha ge him Quaere 4 4. Whether such an Act or Statute which disinableth any King to dissolve his Dyet Councill Assembly or Parliament and inableth some subtle faction of his Subjects in some sort to countermand their King be not derogatory to the inseperable right of Majesty destructive to the power of government and prejudicial to all the loyall Subjects and therefore void of it selfe and not to be observed because such an act ought not to have been concluded The Act for the indissolubility of any Parliament beleived by many to be of it selfe void wherein I leave the resolution to be dete mined by the Judges and Bishops of this Land and I will onely crave leave to set down what may be thought herein viz. that such an Act or Statute is clearly and absolutely void Reason 1 1. Because that hereby the King may be said after a sort and in some kinde to change the fundamentall constitution and Government of his Kingdome from an absolute Monarchy to another species and forme of Government either Aristocraticall or Democraticall or some other forme emergent out of all these such as we know not how to terme it and such as was never known from the beginning of the world a mixture indeed which I told you before no absolute King can be thought to do without offence unless he can prove his licence from God to do the same Reason 2 2. Because that hereby he may be said to denude himselfe of his Right and by depriving himselfe of this power to disinable himselfe to discharge that duty which God doth necessarily require at his hands that is to govern his people by protecting the innocent and punishing the wrong doer and when God shall call the King to an account why he did not thus governe his people and defend those poore Subjects that were loyal and faithful both to God and their King according to the charge that he laid upon him and the right and power which he gave him to discharge it It may be feared it will be no sufficient answer for any King to say but I have so laid away that power and parted with that right unto my Lords and Commons that I could not do it for it may be asked where doth God require him or when did he authorize him to devest himselfe of that authority wherewith he indued him how then can he do it to the undoing of many people without an assured leave from God therefore as that Act which was made unrepealable was adjudged no Act but immediately void because it was destructive to the very power of Parliament * Which may repeale their owne Acts but not destroy their just power not themselves as it seemes the Act of excluding the Bishops doth and takes away as it were the soule of the Parliament and if any act should be made to destroy common right or to hinder the publique service of God or to disinable the right heire to injoy the Crowne or the like those Acts are void of themselves so any Statute that disinableth the Kings Government must needs be void ipso facto as I have partly shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries p. 32. Reason 3 3. Because it may be beleived no King would ever grant such an act unless he were either subtilly deceived and seduced or forcibly compelled thereunto for feare of some inavoidable extremity which according to all outward appearance could not otherwise be prevented without the concessions of such unspeakable disadvantages as a man gives away his sword when he seeth his life in danger if he deliver it not Therefore the premises considered Quaere 5 5. The Quaere is whether any King should be bound and obliged to observe such grants and make good such Acts In all these Quaeries I conclude nothing whatsoever I beleive as are thus fraudulently obtained or forcibly wrested from him and are thus contradictory to Gods will thus prejudiciall to the power of Government and thus destructive to his Subjects which for the fore said reasons is by many men beleived he is not but that this right was unduly procured from him so when God inableth him he may justly acquire it and re-assume it without any offence to God or the least reluctancy to his own conscience And if this Act that hath passed in our Parliament makes it immediately to be no Parliament * As I know not whether it doth or not neither will I determine it as being now another forme of government which the Divines hold ought not to be effected then certainly all Acts that passed since are no Acts but are void and invalid of themselves Or be it granted that the Act for the perpetuity of Parliament doth not annul the Parliament yet it is doubted by many whether the Parliament may not themselves without the kings pronouncing it void or dissolved make it no Parliament Quid prodest tibi nomen usurpare alienum vocari quod non es when of Counsellors for the King they become Traytors unto the King and of Patriots that should protect the Common-wealth they become Parricides and Catilines unto the same because these duties being as the soul the life and the end of Parliaments when these are changed to be the bane and death of King and Kingdome it is doubted how it can be a Parliament any more then a dead carkase that is deprived of his soul can be said to be a man for the circumstances and ceremonies of times places and the like are not essentialia Parliamenti but as accidentia quae possunt adesse abesse sine interita subjecti and may be ad benè esse but are as Punctilio's in respect of the end and essence of a Parliament And therefore as God promiseth infallibly to do a thing for example that He will not fail David Psal 89.34 1 Sam. 2.30 his seed shall endure for ever and of Eli he said indeed that his house and the house of his father should walke before him for ever yet this unchangeable God when the change is wrought in David or his seed or in Eli his house David doth immediately say Thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed Psal 89.37 1 Sam. 2.30 and art displeased at him and of his promise to Eli God saith in the same place now be it far from me so it may be conceived that when any Parliament changeth its nature I should never acknowledge Judas after he betrayed his master and resolved to persist in his wickednesse to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ no more then I should take the Temple of Jerusalem to be the house of God so long as it continued the den of theeves faileth in its very being and of a preservative becomes a poyson both to the King and Kingdome the King and Kingdome may then without any
preserved Licia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through justice and fortitude whereupon the old Scholiast citeth the words of Aeschilus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that virtue and justice are ever coupled together and Dio. Chrysost saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the best of men that is the most valiant and most just Orat. 2. and Herodian saith of Pertinax Plut. in vit Cicero 2. orat in Anton. Ovid. Met. 6. Suet. de act c. 2 that he was both loved and feared of the Barbarians as well for the remembrance of his virtues in former battels as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that wittingly or willingly he never did injustice to any man at any time Plutarch ascribeth these virtues to Lucullus and to Paulus Aemilius Cicero saith the like of Pompey Ovid. of Erictheus Suetonius of Octavius Augustus his father Virgil of Aeneas Krantius of Fronto king of the Danes and of our late king James of famous and ever blessed memory we may truly say Cui pudor justitiae soror Incorrupta fides nudáque veritas Quando ullum invenient parem Horat. lib. 1. Od. 26. Neither need I blush to apply the same to our present King So you see how Justice exalteth a Nation commends the doers of it and crownes them with all honour and as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that worketh justly shall have God himself for his Co-adjutor But here you must observe that which indeed is most true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is not a just man that doeth no hurt Who rightly termed just but he that is able to do hurt and will not do it that can be unjust and will not be for it is no great matter to see a poore man that hath no ability to do no wrong but it is hard to use power right even in the meanest office and therefore this is that that is to be urged to be then most just when we have most power to offend which most properly doth belong to all kings and Princes to put them in minde of their duties to what end God hath made them kings for they are but base statterers Tacit. annal l. 3. Plut. in Apotheg Eustath ad Iliad ss Salust in Orat. Cas cont Catil quibus omnia principum honesta atque inhonesta laudare mos est that will commend all the doing of Princes be they good or bad and which say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are honest and just that kings do as that flattering sycophant said to Antigonus or like those Chirodicai 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thinke justice lyeth not in the Lawes but in their hands because as Caesar saith in maxima fortuna minima licentia est the higher their places are the more righteous they ought to be and the lesse liberty of sinning is left unto them and that in respect 1 of God 2. of others 3. of themselves Kings ought to be more just then all others in 3 respects 1. Where God hath conferred much honour there he exspecteth much equity and the more goodnesse where he bestowed the more grace ideò deteriores estis quia meliores esse debetis and will men therefore be the more sinfull Luke 12.48 Salvian de Pro. vid. l. 4. because they ought to be the more righteous 2. All mens eyes are upon the Prince and as Seneca saith of the royall Pallace Perlucet omne regiae vitium domûs the houses of Kings are like glasses and every man may look through them so their actions can no more be hid then the City that is placed upon an hill but their least and lightest acts are soon seen 3. Their places are as slippery as they are lofty Seneca in Agamemn 2.1 when as one saith height itself maketh mens braines to swimme nunquam solido stetit superba foelicitas and proud insolency never stood sure for any certain space for as God hath made them Gods so he can unmake them at his pleasure and as S. Augustine saith Quod contulit immerentibus tollit malè merentibus Aug. ho. 14. quod illo donante fit nostrum nobis superbientibus fit alienum what God haâ—h freely bestowed upon you without desert he may justly take away from you for your evill deserts and what is ours through Gods gift may be made another mans through our own pride and not onely so but as he hath heaped honours upon their heads that they might honour him so if they neglect him Job 12.21 Job 30.1 he can powre contempt upon Princes and cast dirt in their faces and make them a very scorne to those that formerly they thought unworthy to eate with the dogs of their flock and then Quanto gradus altior tanto casus gravior the higher they were exalted the more will be their greif when they are dejected as it was with those Kings that being wont to be carryed in their royall Charets were forced like horses to draw Sesostris Coach Quia miserrimum est fuisse felicem because it is a most wretched thing to have been happy and not to be or as the Poët saith Qui cadit in plano vix hoc tamen evenit unquam Ovidius Trist l. 3. Eleg. 4. Sic cadit ut tacta surgere possit humo At miser Elpenor tecto dilapsus ab alto Occurrit regi flebilis umbra suo And therefore all Kings should be ever mindfull of the words of King David He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the feare of God 2 Sam. 23.3 and all these things that I have set down should move all Kings and Princes to set their mindes upon righteousnesse to judge the thing that is right and to live Psal 58.1 What should move all kings to rule justly according to Lawes to reigne and rule according to the straight rule of the Law that so carrying them justly and worthily in their places the poore people may truly say of them Certè Deus est in illis they may well be called Gods because God is in them and if these things will not nor cannot move them to be as mindfull of their duty as well as they are mindfull of their excellency then let them remember what the Psalmist saith Psal 149.8 He will bind Kings with fetters and their Nobles with linkes of Iron and let them meditate upon the words of King Solomon where he saith unto them all Heare O ye Kings and understand learne ye that be Judges of the ends of the earth give eare you that rule the people and glory in the multitude of Nations for power is given you of the Lord and soveraignty from the Highest who shall try your works and search out your counsels because being Ministers of his Kingdomes you have not judged aright nor kept the Law nor walked after the counsell of God horribly and speedily shall he come upon you Sap. 6. usque ad vers 9. for a sharpe judgment
Parliament who condemned and executed him for his thought Philip the first of Spain seeing a Falcon killing an Eagle commanded his head to be wrung off saying let none presume above their Soveraigne and in the Raigne of Henry the fourth of England one was hanged drawn and quartered in Cheapside London for jesting with his son that if he did learne well he would make him heire of the Crowne meaning his owne house that had the Signe of the Crowne to prove the Proverbe true non est bonum ludere cum sanctis it is not safe jesting with Kings and Crowns and it is lesse safe to resist them if you will believe wise Solomon And I have read of another King that passing over a river his Crowne fell into the water one of his water-men lept in and dived to the bottome and taking up the Crown put it upon his head that it might not hinder his swimming and so brought it to the King again who rewarded him well for his pains but caused his head to be chopt off for presuming to weare his Crown And all this is but an inanswerable argument to condemne our Rebels that neither reverence the Majesty of their King nor respect the commandment of their God 3. 3. Obedience Obedience is another principall part of that honour which we owe unto the king and this obedience of the inferiours joyned with the direction of the superiors doe make any state most successefull but when these are divorced The marriage of obedience and authority and the issue Aeschylus All must be obedient then nothing goeth right in that Common-wealth for so the Sages of Greece exprest it by the marriage that Jupiter made between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose child brought forth betwixt them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew unto us that when authority is married to obedience and obedience proves a dutifull and good wife to authority the fruit of that match will be happinesse to the whole Kingdome And therefore if we would be happy we must be obedient and our obedience must be universall in all things in the Lord. Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quà m posse necesse est Lucan l. 1. So the people say unto Joshua all that thou commandest us we will do Josh 1.16 and all must do it the greater aswell as the lesser the noble man as well as the meane man yea rather then the meane man for though Rebellion in any one is as the sin of witchcraft yet in a vulgar man it may admit of vulgar apologies but in a man of quality in noble men in Courtiers bred in the Kings house Noble mens Rebellion more abominable to God and man then any other in the Kings service and raised by the Kings favour it is Morbus complicatus a decompound sin a transcendent ingratitude and unexpressable iniquity the example more spreading and the infection more contagious because more conspicuous and the giddy attempts of an unguided multitude are but as Cardinal Farnesius saith like the Beech tree without his top soon withered and vanishing into nothing without leaders when they become a burthen unto themselves and a prey unto others therefore the contradiction of Corah Dathan and Abiram that were so eminent in the congregation was a sin so odious unto God that he would have destroyed all Israel for their sake as now he punisheth all England for the sins of those noble men that have rebelled against their King Rom. 13.1 and were alwayes like Sejanus as wayward pleased as opposed And therefore St. Paul saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every soul must be subject to the higher power and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you must needs be subject or be obedient Rom. 13.5 Obedience pressed by a three fold argument and he presseth this obedience with many arguments as 1. From Gods ordinance because God hath set them over us and commanded us to be obedient unto them and therefore whosoever resisteth them warreth against God 2. From mans Conscience which telleth us Rom. 13 4. that he is the minister of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for good and therefore virtutis amore if we have any love to goodnesse we ought to obey our King 3. For feare of vengeance because he beareth not the sword in vain but is v. 4. How we ought to behave our selves towards wicked Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill therefore this obedience to our King is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing of indifferency but of necessity for be our King for his Religion Impious for his government unjust and for life licentious as cruell as Nero as prophane as Julian and as wicked as Heliogabalus yet the Subjects must obey him the Bishops must admonish him the counsell must advise him and all must pray for him but no mortall man that is his Subject hath either leave to resist him or license to reject him unless they reject the ordinance of God and so fight against God and you know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is hard to vanquish God It is truly said by a learned Bishop si bonus est Princeps nutritor est tuus Ardua res homini est mortali vincere numen Why God sendeth evil kings if thy King be good he is thy nursing Father and it is a great happinesse to his Subjects sin malus est tentator est tuus but if he be evill he is either for the punishment of thy sins or for the triall of thy faith and therefore receive thy punishment with patience or thy triall without resistance and Aquin saith tollenda est culpa cessabit tyrannorum plaga do thou take away thy sins and God will soon take away thy punishment otherwise as for our sins we do often suffer droughts floods unseasonable weather sicknesses plagues and many other evills of nature ita luxum avaritiam deminantium tolerare debemus so when God setteth up hypocrites or tyrants to reigne over us to be the scourges of his wrath and the rods of his fury we must not struggle against God but rest contented to indure the vices of our rulers as a just punishment of our wickednesses saith Cornelius Tacitus * Et Michael Palatinus Hungariae dicebat rege coro nato etiamsi bos esses nobis obtemperandum est Bonfin dec 4. lib. 3. Foure kindes of obedience 1. Forced obedience Rom. 12.1 1 Sam. 15.22 But here you must observe that there are diverse kindes of obedience especially 1. Coacta 2. Caca. 3. Simulata 4. Ordinata 1. Forced 2. Foolish 3. Faigned 4. Well ordered 1. The first is a forced and compelled obedience meerly for feare of wrath as Children learne or Slaves do their duty for fear of the rod and this is better then resâ—stance though nothing like to that obedience which S. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because this
that observeth not his own voluntary concessions but themselves perceiving how peremptorily the Apostle speaketh against resistance of the Heathen Emperours that then ruled do confess that absolute Monarchs ought not to be resisted wherein also they are mistaken because the histories tell us those Emperours were not so absolute as our Kings till the time of Vespasian when the lex regia transferred all the power of the People upon the Emperour No Monarch ought to be resisted Vlpian de constit Principis therefore indeed no Monarch ought to be resisted whatsoever limitations he hath granted unto his Subjects And the resisters of authority might understand if their more malitious then blinde leaders would give them leave that this virtue of obedience to the supreme power maketh good things unlawful when we are forbidden to do them as the eating the forbidden tree was to Adam and the holding up of the Arke was to Vzza and it maketh evil things to be good and lawful when they are commanded to be done as the killing of Isaack if he had done it had been commendable in Abraham and the smiting of the Prophet was very laudable in him that smote him when the Prophet commanded him to do it and therefore Adam and Vzza were punished with death because they did those lawful good things Rebels should well consider these things which they were forbidden to do and the others were recompenced with blessings because they did and were ready to do those evill things that they were commanded to do when as he that refused to smite the Prophet 1 Reg. 20.38 being commanded to do it was destroyed by a Lyon because he did it not whereby you see that things forbidden when they are commanded è contrà cannot be omitted without sin Ob. Mandatum imperantis tollit peccatum obedientis Aug. Sol. You will say it is true when it is done by God whose injunction or prohibition his precept or his forbidding to do it or not to do it maketh all things lawful or unlawful I answer that we cannot thinke our selves obedient to God whilest we are disobedient to him whom God hath commanded us to obey and therefore if we will obey God we must obey the King because God hath commanded us to obey him and being to obey him non attendit verus obediens quale sit quod praecipitur sed hoc solo contentus quia praecipitur he that is truely obedient to him whom God commanded us to obey never regardeth what it is that is commanded so it be not simply evil for then as the Apostle saith it is better to obey God then man were he the greatest Monarch in the World but he considereth and is therewith satisfied that it is commanded and therefore doth it saith Saint Bernard Bernard in l. de praecept dispensat in l. de praecept dispensat CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraign Magistrate all actions of three kinds how our Consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the Kings concessions how to be taken Ob. BUt against this our Sectaries and Rebels will object that their conscience which is vinculum accusator testis judex their bond their accuser their witnesse and their judge against whom they can say nothing and from whom they cannot appeale unlesse it be to a severer Judge will not give them leave to obey to do many things that the King requireth to be done and who can blame them for obeying their conscience rather then any King Sol. I confesse that it is naturally ingraffed in the hearts of all men that no evil is to be done and reason according to that measure of knowledge which every man hath tells us what is good and what is evil then conscience concludeth what is to be done and what not to be done quia conscientia est applicatio notitiae nostrae ad actum particularem because our conscience is the application of our knowledge to some particular act Thom. 2. Sent. dist 14. part 4. saith Aquinas And this application of our knowledge to that act considereth 1. De praeteritis of things past whether such a thing be done or not done Conscience a witness Conscience a Judge and so our conscience is a witnesse that cannot erre 2. De praesentibus factis of our present actions whether the fact done be good or evill just or unjust so our conscience is a judge according to the measure of our knowledge 3. De futuris faciendis of future acts that are to be done Conscience a follower of reason Reason obscured two wayes 1. Way Iohn 16.2 whether they ought to be done or left undone But because our conscience springeth from our reason and our reason may be clouded and obscured by a double error 1. A false assumption when we take those things to be good or true which are indeed evill or false as they that think they do God good service when they kill his servants even as the Rebells do at this very day and that they please God when they disobey their King 2. A false application or a false conclusion from a true assumption as 2. Way The Rebells offend both wayes because I am commanded to love God above all things therefore I am to hate all things but God or because it is better to obey God then man therefore I must not obey the commands of any man So our conscience may be poysoned in like manner with the same errors and being so misguided they ought not to binde us but we ought rather to reforme them for that which truely should binde the conscience What should binde our conscience is not our judgment but Gods precept that either commandeth or forbiddeth such and such actions to be done or not done And you know that all actions are either 1 good 2. evill 3. indifferent 1. The good God commandeth us to do them All actions of three sorts 2. The evill he flatly forbiddeth them to be done and 3. The indifferent he wholly leaveth to the power of the Magistrate to make them either lawfull or unlawfull good or bad as he pleaseth And therefore for the first two sorts of actions because thy conscience hath Gods precept to direct thee if thy reason either through ignorance Pride blindeth many men or the strength of thine own fancy which often happeneth to proud Spirits doth not mislead thee to call good evill and evill good it is safer for thee to follow the dictamen of thine own conscience then the command of the greatest potentate Act. 5.29 for in all such cases it is better to obey God then man But in all the other things that are indifferent of themselves the precept of the King or any other our lawfull superiour We are too inquisitive of many things maketh them to become necessary unto the Subject because the command of the superiour
things fitting for the Majesty of a King and all the other Kings of the Gentiles did the like as well they might if it be true that some of them thought Quicquid habet locuples quicquid custodit avarus Gunterus Jure quidem nostrum est populo concedimus usum But also Solomon 1 Reg. 12.4 Tertul. to 3. de pudicit c. 9. Pamel in Tertul and all the rest of the Kings of Israel required no small aid and tribute from their Subjects for though Tertullian out of Deut. 23.17 reads it there shall not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vectigal pendens a payer of tribute of the sons Israel yet Pamelius well observes it that these words are not in the original but are taken by him out of the septuagint which also saith not of the sons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the daughters of Israel that is ex impudicitia lupanaribus for their dishonesty as it is said in the next verse that the hire of a whore and the price of a dog Deut. 23.18 Aug. de Civit. dei l. 10. c. 9. are an abomination unto the Lord and so S. Augustine useth the word Teletae for those unchaste sacrifices wherewith such women did oblige themselves and so doth Theodoret likewise but that the Jewes paid tribute it is manifest our of 1 Sam. 17.24 where this reward is promised to him that killed Goliah 1 Sam. 17.25 in vulgata editione 2. reg 11.28 that his father's house should be absque tributo free from all tribute in Israel therefore certainly they paid tribute and to make it yet more plain Solomon appointed Jeroboam super tributa universae domûs Joseph saith the vulgar latine over all the charge or burthen of the house of Joseph that is of the tribe of Ephraim and Manasses as our translation reads it Barrad to 2. l. 5. c. 21. p. 340. and he appointed Adoniram the Son of Abda over the tribute 1. Reg. 4.6 Yea though the Jewes were the people of God and thought themselves free and no wayes obliged to be taxed by foreign Princes that were Ethnicks yet after Pompey took their City Josephus l. 15. c. 18. they paid tribute to the Romans and our Saviour bids us nor onely to obey but also to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's that is not determining the quota pars how much as he doth the tenth unto the Priest but indefinitely some part of our goods for subsidies imposts aids loanes or call it by what name you will and rather then himself would omit this duty though he never wrought any other miracle about money yet herein when he had never a peny Barrad to 2. l. 10. c. 32. p. 317. he would create money in the mouth of a fish as S. Hierom and the interlin glosse do think and command the fish to pay tribute both for himself and his Apostle Therefore we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greekes take promiscuously though the Civilians distinguish them de solo fundo de bonis mobilibus de mercibus of our grounds of our goods of our merchandize we ought to pay subsidies aid and tribute unto our King and that not sparingly nor by way of benevolence as if it were in our power to do it or not to do it sed ex debito but as his due jure divino regulâ justitiae as his proper importance annexed unto his Crown for I take it infallibly true which Suarez saith Suarez de leg l. 5. c. 17. n. 3. fol. 316. Tribute due to the King acceptationem populi non esse conditionem necessariam tributi ex vi juris naturalis aut gentium neque ex jure communi quia obligatio pendendi tributum it à naturalis est principi per se orta ex ratione justitiae ut non possit quis excusari propter apparentem injustitiam vel nimium gravamen the consent of the people is not any necessary condition of tribute because the obligation of paying it is so natural springing out of the reason of justice that none can be excused for any apparent injustice or grievance and therefore the Parliaments that are the highest representations of any Kingdome do not contribute any right unto Kings to challenge tribute but do determine the quota pars and to further the more equal imposing and collecting of that which is due unto Kings by natural and original justice as a part of that proper inheritance which is annexed unto their Crownes And therefore our Saviour doth not say give unto Caesar but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word which S. Paul useth Matth. 22. Rom. 13. Latimer in Mat. 22.21 when he biddeth us to pay our debts and to owe nothing to any man saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pay to every man that which you owe and Father Latimer saith if we deny him tribute custome subsidie tallage taxes and the like aid and support we are no better then Theeves and steale the kings dues from him Navar. apud Suarez de legibus sol 300. fol. 311. because the Law testifieth tributa esse maximè naturalia praeâ—se ferre justitiam quia exiguntur de rebus propriis and Suarez saith penditur tributum ad sustentationen principis ad satisfaciendum naturali obligationi in dando stipendium justum laborauti in nostram utilitatem tribute is most naturall and just to be paid to the king for our own good therefore Christ pleading for the right of Caesar that was a Tyrant saith not give unto him quia petit because he demands it but pay unto him quae illius sunt the things that are his and are due unto him even as due as the hirelings wages which we are commanded not to detain for one night because this is a part of that reward and wages Deut. 24.15 which God alloweth him for all his pains and cares that he takes to see Justice administred in the time of Peace and to protect us from our enemies in the time of War which makes the life of kings to be but a kind of splendid misery wearing many times with Christ a Crown of Thornes a Crown full of cares while we lap our heads in beds of downe and therefore it is not only undutifulnesse to deny him or unthankefulnesse not to requite the great good that he doth unto us but it is also a great injustice especially if we consider that as Ocham saith Qui est dominus aliquarum personarum est Dominus rerum ad casdem personas spectantium omnia quae sunt in regno sunt regis quoud potestatem utendi eis pro bono communi Ocha tract 2. l. 2. c. 22. 25. to detain that right from him which God commands us to pay unto him and that indeed for our own good as Menenius Agrippa most wittily shewed unto the People of Rome when they murmured and mutined for these
taxes that whatsoever the stomach received either from the hand or mouth it was all for the benefit of the whole body so whatsoever the King receiveth from the People it is for the benefit of the people and it is like the waters that the Sea receiveth from the Rivers which is visibly seen passing into the Ocean but invisibly runneth through the veines of the earth into the Rivers again so doth all that the King receiveth from the People return some way or other unto the People again And there be six speciall reasons why or to what end we should pay these dues unto the King Six reasons for which we pay Tribute unto the king 1. For the Honour of his Majesty 2. For the security of his Person 3. For the protection of his Kingdome 4. For the succour of his confederates 5. For the securing of our 1. Goods 2. Estates 3. Lives 6. For the propagating of the Gospel and defence of our Religion But for the further clearing of this point you must know that every just and Lawfull tribute must have these three essential conditions that are proprietates constitutivae Three conditions of every lawfull Tribute 1. Legitima potestas that is the Kings power to require it 2. Justa causa an urgent necessity or need of it 3. Debita portio a due proportion according to the Kings necessities and the peoples abilities that he be not left in need nor the people over-charged For As the Subjects are thus bound to supply the necessities of their King so the King is not to over-charge his Subjects for the King should be the Shepheard of his People as David calls himself and Homer tearmeth all good Kings and not the devourer of his people Kings should not over-charge their Subjects as Achilles calleth Agamemnon for the unreasonable taxes that he laid upon them therefore good Kings have been very sparing in this point for Darius inquiring of the Governours of his Provinces whether the tributes imposed upon them were not too excessive and they answering that they thought them very moderate he commanded that they should raise but the one half thereof A worthy speech of Lewis 9. which had Rehoboam bin so wise to do he had not lost ten parts of his Kingdome and Lewis the ninth of France which they say was the first that raised a tax in that Kingdome directing his speech to his Son Philip and causing the words to be left in his Testament which is yet to be sound Registred in the chamber of accounts said be devout in the service of God have a pittifull heart towards the poore and comfort them with thy good deeds observe the good Lawes of thy Kingdome take no taxes nor benevolences of thy Subjects unlesse urgent necessity and evident commodity force thee to it and then upon a just cause and not usually if thou doest otherwise thou shalt not be accounted a king King James his golden apothegme Basilicon doron l. 2. p. 99. but a Tyrant and it is one of the gracious apothegmes of our late noble and never to be forgotten Soveraigne worthy to be written in in letters of gold where speaking to his son he saith inrich not your self with exactions from your Subjects but think the riches of your Subjects your best Treasures and Artaxerxes said it was a great deale more seemlier for the Majesty of a King to give then to take by polling to cloath then to uncloath which belongeth to Theeves not to Princes unlesse they will stain their names for as Apollonius saith that gold which is taken by Tyranny is far baser then any iron because it is wetted with the teares of the poor Subjects and therefore Peter de la Primauday saith they are unworthy of the title of Prince that lending their eares to such as invent new wayes to get monyes from their Subjects and having against all humanity Pet. de la Primauday cap. 60. p. 670. spoyled them of their goods do either miserably consume them upon their pleasures or prodigally bestow them upon undeserving flatterers that fat themselves by the overthrow of others And therefore it behoveth all kings to consider that all mens goods are theirs only quoad tuitionem defensionem and their Subjects quoad possessionem proprietatem as you may see where Joseph bought all the Land of the Egyptians for king Pharaoh Gen. 47.46 and then let it them againe in Fee-farme to give the King the fifth part of the fruit of it and as you may conclude it from the eighth Commandment which saith as well to the King as to the subject thou shalt not steale for if all be his he cannot be said to steale it and if this precept concerns not kings then have they but nine Commandments and therefore be wise O ye Kings and remember what Saint Augustine saith remotâ justitiâ quid sunt Regna nisi Latrocinia for though you may justly demand Tribute and Taxes yet you must have just occasions to use them and you must take but a just proportion or else they may come unjustly unto you But who shall be the Judges of the Kings just occasions in many kingdomes his conscience as the Roman Consuls imposed what taxes they thought meet upon the Provinces they subdued so Marcus Antonius being in Asia doubled their Tax and laid a second charge upon the People which was very unreasonable as Hebreas told him saying The saying of Hebreas to M. Antonius if thou wilt have power to lay upon us two taxes in one year thou must have also power to give us two summers and Autumns two Harvests and two Vintages and yet if our king do thus unreasonably tax us with more then we are able to beare we may reason with him as Hebreas did with Marke Antony refel his arguments Kings herein not to be resisted and repel his oppressions according to the course of Law but we may not in any case with the Sword make any resistance either actual or habitual against him Reason 1 1 Because God hath not made us Judges of the Kings occasions and we know not his necessities and therefore we cannot determine what is just and unjust Reason 2 2. Were it granted that the superior demanded without right yet the inferior not onely may rightly render it without offence unto his conscience but also ought to pay it without resistance unto the Magistrate for if the Jews were not free and the Romans had no right to demand Tribute of them yet by our Saviours question unto Saint Peter and his replication unto the Apostles answer it is apparent that our Saviour was most free and was no way bound to pay any thing unto the Romans not onely quâ Deus as Hesselius saith Hesselius in Matth. 18. Barrad to 2. l. 19. c. 32. but also as he was a man as Barradius more truely proveth yet lest he should offend them as he saith tributum solvit quia voluit he
to set down how the factious and malicious Preachers of the rebâ—llious Cities either neglect to pray at all or pray most seditiously and unchristianly for their own Liege Lord and gracious King and therefore the curse of Judas lights upon them that their prayer is turned into sin which should make them pray that Judas his end should not fall unto them But we that desire to follow the Apostles Precept considering the greatnesse of his cares and charge thaâ— he doth undergo and the multitude of dangers that he is lyable to will most heartâ—ly pray to God both in our Morning and our Evening Prayers both at our sitting and at our rising from our meat Vt vivat Rex exurgat Deus dissipentur inimici that God would give his Angels charge over him to preserve him in all his wayes that he dash not his foot against a stone that his enemies may be cloathed with shame and that he may flourish as the Lilly that he may raign long and happily here and raign for ever in Heaven this shall be my prayer for ever CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the King and the recapitulation of one and twenty Wickednesses of the Rebels and the faction of the pretended Parliament 3 The persons that must honour the King 3. HAving seen the Person that is to be honoured and the honour that is due unto him we are now to consider in the last place who are to honour him included in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour ye him which being unlimited and indefinite is equivalent to an universal and so Saint Paul doth more plainly express it Rom. 13.1 saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every soul be â—ubject to the higher powers which is an Hebrew Ideome or Synecdochical speech s gnifying the whole man the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being usually taken in Scripture pro toto composito for the whole man composed of body and soul as where it is said Gen. 46 62·27 Act. 2. that Jacob went down into Aegypt with 70 soules and S. Peter by one Sermon converted 3000 soules and the abstract word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that our subjection obedience and honour which we are to ascribe unto our King must be not as hypocrites render it in shew from the â—eeth outwa d but really and indeed ex animo from our soules and the bottome of our hâ—arts as Aquinas glosseth it and the concrete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added unto it makes it the more energetical to shew that all mortal men none excepted are ob iged to do this honour and to yield this subjection unto their King for seeing every man both spiritual and temporal and every sex both man and woman and every degree of men young and old rich and poor one with another hath an immortal soul as well as a mortal body it must needs follow that all cujuscunque gradûs sexûs conditionis are obliged both in soule and body to honour and obey their King And yet it is strange to see how many men can exempt themselves and grant a dispensation unto their soules for the performance of this duty The Pope and his Clergy would be freed from the subjection of Kings for the Pope will be freed because he hath a power above all powers to depose Kings and to dispose of their Kingdomes at his pleasure and the Popish Clergy will perform no duty unto their King because their Function is spiritual but to all these I may truly say as our saviour doth to the lewd servant ex ore tuo out of the Fathers whom they acknowledge and out of their own Authors they are confuted for Saint Chrysostome saith that whether he be an Apostle or Evangelist or Prophet Seu quisquis tandem fuerit or whosoever else he be Pope Cardinal or Deacon he is commanded to be subject to the higher power and that you may see what power he meanes he pointeth out the same by the symbol that is of him that carryeth the sword which you know must be the secular Prince and not the spiritual Pope and so not onely Euthym. Theophylact Oecumenius and other Greek Commentators do avouch but also those Epistles which are recorded by Binius and quoted by the Bishop of Durham as Leo 1. ep 26. 35. Simplicius 1. ep 4. Felix 3. ep 2. Anastasius 1. ep 78. Pelagius 1. ep 16. Martinus 1. ep 3. Agatho 1. ep ad Herac. Hadrian 1. ep ad Constant do make this most manifest unto vs and therefore Espencaeus convinced by such a cloud of witnesses confesseth very honestly that the Apostle here Espenc in Tit. 3. 1. Digres 10. p. 5. 13. Paris 1568. The wickednesses of the pretended Parliament shewed by their actions Docet omnes credentes mundi potestatibus esse subjectos nempe sive Apostolus sive Evangelista c. ut tenet Chrysost Euthym. qui non Graeci And as the Popelings will be free so the Presbyterians and the faction of this Parliament will be as free as they and because every wickednesse laboureth to exceed that which preceeded these do not agree with the Catholiques as Herod and Pilate did to crucifie Christ in the same conclusion and tenet of exemption but they will go a note beyond Ela and surmount both Jesuite and Pope and therefore they not onely dishonour and disobey their King but they have violated and incroached upon all his rights and assumed the same into their own hands for to recapitulate some of their choycest wickednesses 1. As the Church of Rome and the Jesuites teach in Aphorismis confessariorum ex Doctorum sententiis collectis p. 249. that Rex potest per rempublicam privari ob tyrannidem si non faciat officium suum cum est causa aliqua justa eligi alius à majore parte populi which falshood their own Divines confute when Royard saith Rege constituto non potest populus jugum subjectionis repellere so these men maintain that diabolical tenet that the Regal power is primarily in the collective body and derived to the king cumulativè not privatiuè and therefore upon the kings neglect or male-administration it comes back again to the collective body in whom it resideth suppletivè to discharge the royal duty when the king faileth to do the same and then the king so falling from his right they may refuse obedience and if they see cause which they can soone do they may depose him from his office which impudent falshood I have fully confuted in this Treatise 2. They say the Regall Majesty is a humane creature or the ordinance of men primarily and therefore may be deposed by men when as Cunerus could say Sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure princeps fiat principi tamen facto divinitùs potestas adest and therefore they have no power to take away that which God
it is most lamentable to consider how many thousands they have murdered 7. How they loosened the reins to all lust hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam populumque fluxit Horat. car l. 3. 8 How they are like Argivi fares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ps 94.12 9. How they belyed all sorts of good men Quomodo Deus pater genuis filium veritatem nempe sic diabolus lapsus genuit quasi filium mendacium Aug. super Ioh. Habac. 2.9 Gildas de exci dio Britan. and how they are thought worthy of the greatest honour and the best reward that have killed most of God's faithfull servants and the King 's loyal Subjects 7. For adulteries Fornications and all Uncleannesse they may now freely do it lust may flow like the river whose bankes are broken down when they have overthrown those courts of Justice and were never at rest till they had most violently suppressed the power and execution of all Ecclesiastical censures that were the chiefest bars and hindrances of these unlawful lusts 8. For stealing they have changed the name but not the nature of it for under the pretence of preserving to us the propriety of our goods they have not stolne but plundered away that is robbed us of all our goods and carried them into those Rebellious Townes that are now the dens of these thieves and are stronger in their wickednesse then the hils of the robbers and that which makes this sin most sinful is that it is established by a Law 9. They have justified the Cretans and proved themselves the right bastard sons of the father of lyes filling all and every corner of this Kingdome with palpable intolerable and incredible lyes slanders and false witnesse-bearing against God against his Anointed against the Church and against all the reverend governours of the Church all religious Protestants all the loyal Subjects of this Nation that the Angels do now blush and the Devils do laugh and rejoyce to see they are so fruitful in begetting so many Children so perfectly formed and so compleately perfected in their own image and likenesse and if ever the saying of Gildas was true they have proved it now Moris continui gentis erat sicut nunc est ut infirma esset ad retundenda hostium tela fortis ad civilia bella infirma inquam ad exequenda pacis ac veritatis insignia fortis ad scelera mendacia 10. They have coveted an evil covetousnesse 10. The extent of their covetousnesse when they coveted all evil unto themselves not onely their neighbours houses goods and lands and all that are theirs but also the patrimony of the Church the revenues of the Clergy and all the rights and prerogatives of the King to be entayled upon themselves and their faction that so they and theirs might be both Kings and Priests and all not to God but to themselves and their fellow Rebels in the government of this Kingdome And as they have thus transgressed all the old Commandments of the Law How they transgressed the new commandment of the Gospel Gen. 4.9 so they come no wayes short in transgressing the new Commandment of the Gospel for their love to their brethren is now turned to perfect hatred when they say not with Cain am I my brothers keeper but with Apollyon I will be the destroyer of my brethren neither will I sell them as the brethren of Joseph did him unto the Egyptians but I will send them if I can possibly quick to hell let those Lâ—yal subjects that have been unexspectedly murdered and those many thousands that have beene plundered of all their Estates testifie to the World the love of these men unto their brethren who have felt more cruelty and barbarity and less charity from these holy Saints then could be expected from Jews Turkes and Pagans 23. Though every sin deserves the wrath of God How they have committed the 7 deadly sins Rom. 6.23 as the Apostle saith in general the reward of sin is death be it little or be it great yet because some sins do more provoke the wrath of God and do sooner produce this deadly fruit then other sins the Divines have observed seaven special sins which they terme the seaven deadly sins and these also you may finde committed in the highest degree by these factious Rebels For 1. Pride which is an high conceit of a mans own worth 1 Their Pride Quid juvat O homines tanto turgescere fastu Nam ut ait Comicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 far beyond his just deserts and therefore believing himself to be inferiour to none scorns to be subject unto any is the Father that produceth and the nurse that cherisheth all rebellion and our Parliamentary faction together with the Assembly of their Divines thinking themselves holyer then the Saints and wiser then their Brethren have therefore made this unnatural war to destroy us all because we will not subscribe with them to destroy both Church and State this is the fruit of pride but the punishment is to be resisted by God who throweth damnation upon their heads because they resist the ordinance of God 2. Pride cannot subsist without meanes therefore covetousnesse must support it and I shewed you before how covetous these Rebels are not of any good 2. Their Covetousnesse Sacrilegia minuta puniuntur magna jam in triumphis feruntur Senec. ep 87. 3. Their luxury Certa quidem tantis causa est manifesta ruinit Luxuriae nimium libera facta via est Propert. eleg 11. l. 3. 4. Their envy but of our goods and of our lives that they may enjoy our lands even the lands of the Church that they may take the houses of God in possession which may prove to them like Aurum Tholosanum or as Midas gold that was the destruction of that covetous wretch 3. Their luxury and lust must needs proceede from fulnesse and pride and I beleive it is not unknown to many how these Rebels spend their time in revelling and feasting chambering and wantonnesse which though never so secretly done by them in the night yet are they publickly seene in the day and seene to their shame if they could be ashamed of any thing 4. How envy hath possest their souls it is almost beyond all sence to consider it they envy that any man should be king and themselves subjects that any man should be a Bishop and themseves Priests or that any man should be rich and themselves not so wealthy therefore they will needs pull down what themselves cannot reach unto 5. If Epicurus were now living or Sardanapalus came to these mens feasts 5. Their Gluttony and drunkennesse they might think themselves the teachers of sobriety and the masters of abstinency in comparison of these new gulists who make a God of their bellies and fare deliciously every day that they can get it more deliciously then Dives it is incredible to consider what they
be heartily sorry that these unjust Acts and Ordinances were ever done and more sorry that they were not sooner undone and then God will turne his face towards us he will heale the bleeding wounds of our Land and he will powre down his benefits upon us but till we do these things I do assure my selfe and I beleive you shall finde it that his wrath shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still and still untill we either do these things or be destroyed for not doing them King James his speech made true by the Rebells Thus it is manifest to all the World that as it was often spoken by our sharpe and eagle-sighted Soveraigne King James of ever blessed memory no Bishop no King so now I hope the dull-ey'd owle that lodgeth in the desart seeth it verifyed by this Parliament for they had no sooner got out the Bishops but presently they laid violent hands upon the Crowne seized upon the Kings Castles How the Rebells have unking'd our King shut him out of all his Townes dispossest him of his owne houses took away all his sâ—ips detained all his revenues vilified all his Declarations nullified his Proclamations hindered his Commissions imprisoned his faithfull Subjects killed his servants and at Edge-hill and Newbury did all that ever they could to take away his life and now by their last great ordinance for their counterfeit Seale they pronounce all honours pardons grants commissions and whatsoever else His Majesty passeth under his Seale to be invalid void and of none effect and if this be not to make King Charles no King I know not what it is to be a King Hos 8.4 so they have unking'd him sine strepitu and as the Prophet saith they have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not What kings they would have to rule us but whom have they made Kings even themselves who in one word do and have now exercised all or most of the regall power and their Ordinances shall be as firm as any Statutes and what are they that have thus dis-robed King Charles and exalted themselves like the Pope as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Antichrist above all that are called Gods truly none other then king Pym king Say king Faction or to say the truth most truly and to call a spade a spade king perjurers king murderers king traytors * Whâ—ch S. Peter never bade us honour The Rebells brave exchange Psal 146.20 and I am sorry that I should joyne so high an office so sacred a thing as King to such wicked persons as I have shewed them to be And what a royal exchange would the Rebels of this Kingdome make just such as the Israelites made when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that cateth hay and said these be thy Gods Psal 146.20 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawful King for unlawful Tyrants and taken Jothams bramble for the cedar of Lebanon the Devils instruments for Gods Anointed Judg. 9.15 they may justly say these be thy Kings O Londoners O Rebels that brought thee out of a Land that flowed with milke and hony out of those houses that were filled with all manner of store into a land of misery into houses of sorrow that are filled with wailings lamentations and woes when we see the faithful City is become an harlot our gold drosse and our happinesse turned to continual heavinesse But as the Rutilians considering what fruit they should reape by that miserable war wherein they were so far ingaged cried out at last Virgil Aeneid l. 12. Scilicet ut Turno contingat regiae conjux Nos animae viles inhumata infletáque turba Sternamur campis We undo our selves our wives and our children to gain a wife for Turnus so our seduced men may say we ingage our selves to dye like doggs that these rebels may live like Kings who themselves sit at ease while others endure all woes and do grow rich by making all the Kingdome poore and therefore O England quae tanta est licentia ferri lugebit patria multos when as the Apostle saith evill men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived for God is not mocked but whatsoever a man soweth 2 Tim. 3.13 Gal. 6.7 that shall he also reape for though we for our sins may justly suffer these and many other more miseries we do confesse it yet the whole world may be assured that these Rebels the generation of vipers being but the Rod of Gods fury The Rebels sure to be destroyed Contemptrix superûm sevaeque avidissima caedis violenta fuit scires è sanguine natam 2 Sam. 7.1 to correct the offences of his children such seeds of wickedness as they sow can produce none other harvest then ruine and destruction to all these usurping Kings and Traytors who thinke to please God by doing good service unto the Devil and to go to Heaven for their good intention after they are carried into Hell for their horrid Rebellion God Almighty grant them more grace and our King more care to beware of them and when God doth grant him rest with David on every side round about him to restore his Bishops and Clergy to their pristine station that when these bramble rods are burnt and these rebels fallen the King and the Bishops may still stand like Moses and Aaron to guide and gouerne Gods people committed to their charge And thus I have shewed thee O man some of the sacred rights of royal Majesty granted by God in his holy Scriptures practised by Kings from the beginning of the world yeilded by all nations that had none other guide but the light of nature to direct them I have also shewed thee how the people greedy of liberty and licentiousnesse have like the true children of old Adam that could not long endure the sweet yoke of his Creator strived and strugled to withdraw their necks from that subjection which their condition required and their frowardnesse necessitated to be imposed upon them and thereby have either graciously gained such love and fauour from many pious and most clement Princes as for the sweetning of their well merited subjection to grant them many immunities and priviledges or have most rebelliously incroached upon these rights of Kings wresting many liberties out of the hands of Government and forcibly retaining them to their own advantage sometimes to the overthrow of the royal government as Junius Brutus and his associates did the Kings of Rome sometimes to the diminution of the dimidium if not more then halfe his right as the Ephori did to the kings of Lacedemon but alwayes to the great prejudice of the king and the greater mischief to the Common-wealth because both reason and experience hath found it alwayes true that the regal
whom the choice of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peeres nor Parliament can have Supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King Pag. 70 § The two chiefest parts of the Regall Government the foure properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary Faction transgress in every property Pag. 74 CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Gouernment of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deut. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Gouernment came up Pag. 78 § The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people Pag. 83 CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto His People to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at His Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed Pag. 88 § Certain quaeries discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the praise of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly Pag. 92 CHAP. XV. Sheweth the honour due to the king 1. Feare 2. An high esteem of our king how highly the Heathens esteemed of their kings the Marriage of obedience and authority the Rebellion of the Nobility how haynous 3. Obedience foure-fold divers kindes of Monarchs and how an absolute Monarch may limit himselfe Pag. 98 CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraigne Magistrate all actions of three kindes how our consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the kings concessions how to be taken CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the king for six speciall reasons to be paid the condition of a lawfull tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the king that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our king Pag. 116 CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the king and the recapitulation of 21 wickednesses of the Rebells and the faction of the pretended Parliament Pag. 121 CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandments of the Law and the new Commandement of the Gospell how they have committed the seaven deadly sins and the foure crying sins and the three most destructive sins to the soul of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience Pag. 213 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have un-king'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole Pag. 127 PSAL. 39.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily every man living or in his best estate is altogether Vanity Sela. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour saith the night cometh John 9.4 when no man can work therefore I must work the Works of him that sent me whilst it is day and S. Paul tels us the time will come when men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves Teachers that is 2 Tim. 4.3 Teachers enough in every place and every time so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth but what kind of Teachers shall they heap unto themselves the Apostle tels you they shall be teachers after their own lusts that is such Tub-teachers of the new Order as will study rather to satisfie their lusts and to preach what they please best than to edifie their soules And I believe all wise men see that time is now and not till now fully come therefore it behoves all the true Teachers to bestir themselves to work the works of him that sent them while it is day while they have any time and while there is any true Light yet remaining before the sad night and darksom clouds of Errours and Heresies be grown so far and to prevail so much against the Truth that you shall scarce find any place or person where or by whom the new lights may be confronted and the old Truth confirmed unto us So it behoveth me and it is my duty to employ my Talent to the uttermost of my power against these false Prophets of the Great Antichrist that is now come into the world and by these heaps of his Emissaries laboureth quite to overthrow the Church of Christ And as Clement recordeth that when Barnabas came to Rome to preach the Gospel of Christ and divers rejected it he briefly said In vestra potestate est vel recipere quae annuntiamus vel speruere It is in your choice either to receive what we teach or to reject it but we may not be silent and not speak quod vobis expedire novimus what we know to be expedient and necessary for you quia nobis si taceamus damnum est vobis quae dicimus si non recipiatis pernicies est Ciem Recog l. 1. p. 6. so say I. And therefore that you may be somthing and so happy I beseech you listen to these words that testifie that in your selves you are nothing but Vanity For verily every man And the nearest way to exchange this Vanity for Eternity and so to make us happy that are in misery is to know our own vanity and to understand our own misery For Knowledge saith Hugo Card. is the way to God and understanding saith the Prophet David Psal 49.12 20. is that which distinguisheth and differenceth man from beast for man though he be never so great in honour never so powerful in place and never so rich in wealth yet if he hath no understanding he is compared to the beasts that perish And the two chiefest parts which are like the Body and Soul of all the Knowledge that makes us happy are these two Precepts so much commended and so often urged unto us even by the Heathens themselves that yet notwithstanding were destitute of all true Knowledge that could make them happy because they knew rightly neither of those two things that they so much commended which were 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self For John 17.3.1 to know God the only way to make us happy 1. Our Saviour tels us this is eternal Life to know God i.e. to know the Father to be the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ For the Heathens knew that God alone is the summum bonum and the only true
garment for them 4. By Rik which signifieth inanity or vacinity 4. Rik from whence the word Raka that our Saviour useth in the Gospel and is taken for a fool whose head is empty and void of all understanding is derived for as when Kings are deprived of their Soveraignty disrobed of their power dis-joyned from their Regality they are as no bodies I am sure no Kings and as Bishops silenced from preaching and secluded from their Offices are no Bishops but as when Cyphers are separated from their Figures they do make just nothing at all though they should be never so many even so the creature dis-joyned from God and opposed to the Creator and so likewise shadows opposed to the substance darkness to the light lies unto the truth and all finite things to eternity they are inania most vain and nothing but privations or things that do suddenly vanish into nothing Out of all which words and the like that are used to explain this Vanity Aristot Phisie l. 2. that Definition of Aristotle may well stand Vanum id esse quod ordinatum est ad aliquid sicut ad finem non potest attingere that is vanity which cannot attain unto the end for which it was appointed for so the Prophet Esay Isa 49 4 after he had preached a long time and had made many Sermons for the amendment of the Jews and yet could no more recal that stiffenecked people from their abominations thin we can reclaim our hearers from their transgressions crieth out In vacuum laboravi I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for naught and so man by his sin and disobedience unto his God not attaining unto his end that is his Union and communion with God for which he was created and by which he should have enjoyed an everlasting happy Being is now become vain and liable to be reduced to an eternal miserable Being and to a far worser condition than an everlasting nothing And so you see what is Vanity But 2. The opposite thereof which is Verity and is derived a vero 2. The â—ature of Verity and Eternity from that which is a thing real and not fained or else a vere from the Spring-time because the Truth is alwaies fresh and springeth and is sufficient to subsist of it self and will prevail as Zorobabel saith against all assaults and such a thing is Eternity which is diametrically opposed unto Vanity and is called by the Greeks diuria that is Interminabilis vit aesimul tota perfecta possessio Bettius de consolat Philosop l. 5. an infinite boundless gulph of time which no linâ— can fathom no tongue can express saith Bottius because not only if you do retrospect and look backward into the time past you shall find Cicero Nat. Deorum l. 1. that as Cicero saith Fuit quaedam ab infinito tempore aeternitas quam nulla circumscriptio temporum metiebatur there hath been a certain Eternity from an infinite space of time which no circumscription of time could measure sed qualis ea spatio fuerit intelligi non potest but what manner of space that should be cannot be understood quod nec in cogitationem quidem cadit ut fuerit tempus aliquod nullum cum tempus esset neither can it fall into the thought of man to consider truly how any time should be when as yet there was no time but also if you look forward into the time to come you shall find that when there shall be neither Sun nor Moon which are appointed to be the measure of time yet there will be an endless infinite space of time that cannot be terminated What time is and how expressed Apuleius de dogm Platonis And Apuleius the Platonist saith that time is but the Image of Eternity and that time moveth but Eternity moveth not being naturally fixed and eternally immoveable and also that time passeth towards Eternity and endeth in the Perfection thereof the time being dissolved whensoever the Creator of this world pleaseth but Eternity abiding for ever Eternity how expressed And in this respect the Egyptians that taught all by Hierogliphicks represented Eternity by a Circle which had neither beginning nor ending and for the same cause Numa Pompilius that was unto the Romans as Moses was unto the Jews the Author of all their Religion and Religious Ceremonies and others the ancient Pontifices of the Romans erected their Temples which they dedicated unto their gods whom they conceived to be aeternal in a circular form and Mercurius Trismegistus one of the most ancient Philosophers that we read of expressed this Eternity by an intellectual Sphaere whose Center is every where and Circumference no where because Eternity cannot be bounded within any compass nor terminated by any Limits The difference betwixt Eternity and Perpetuity And the difference which these wise men assigned betwixt Eternity and Perpetuity is this that Eternity is that which hath neither beginning of dayes nor end of time as is God alone and none else but perpetuity is that which though it had a beginning yet it shall never have an end as are the Angels both good and bad and the Soules of all men both the righteous and unrighteous All men desire perpetuity and to be united to Eternity And therefore it is naturally ingrafted in the Soul of every man to affect perpetuity and to desire to have an Union and Communion with God which is Eternity because as S. August saith God made us for himself that we might be perpetually with him ideo irrequietum est cor nostrum douec requiescat in eo and therefore as no Element no thing can rest satisfied and contented until it cometh to its own proper place as the fire to be on high and the stone to come to the bottom so our hearts can never attain to any true rest until they do rest in God and nothing in the world can satisfie the mind of man but that which is above man neither can all the Gold of Ophir all the Sand of Tagus all the Treasures of Egypt all the riches of the World and all the allectives under Heaven make a proportionable Object to satisfie the Soul of man for seeing as some Philosophers have observed the heart of man is after a sort made triangle wise and the world circular therefore as a Globe can never fill a triangular figure so no more can the whole world replenish the vast corners and the illimited desires of mans heart Therefore the very Heathens that knew no more of God than what Nature taught them How the heathens affected to have an union with Eternity had an earnest desire to attain unto an Union with this Eternity as we read how Cleombrotus hearing the Philosophers discoursing of the excellency of Eternity and the Felicity of the soul united unto the Deity in an over-hasty desire of this Unition tumbled himself voluntarily to death that his soul
to supplant others to advance himself and he cares not how nor how many others he maketh poor to make himself onely rich Aug. de verb. Dom. Ser. 17. And yet this is not all for you may remember what St. Augustine saith Quid est diu vivere nisi diu torqueri nam vita presens est aerumnosa quam humores tumidant dolores extenuant ardores exsiccant aera morbidant escae inflant jejunia macerant Augustinus joci dissolvunt tristitiae consumunt solicitudo coarctat securitas hebetat divitiae jactitant paupertas dejicit juventus extollit senectus incurvat infirmitas frangit maror deprimit post haec omnia mors intermit universis gaudiis finem imponit ita cum esse desserit nec fuisse putetur And you may remember also that Job tells you and Seneca tells his friend Lucilius the very same that vivere est militare the life of man is a warfare here upon earth and Lucan saith Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur Whether this be true or no let the Warrior himself and not I be the Judge but for what Job saith you may see it literally verified throughout all the world and all Christendome now to become the shambles of Christian blood The many miserable Wars of these last centuries of years even in Christendome The which men if you consider their Civil breeding and their much teaching in the School of Christ that doth so straitly forbid all ambition and all revenge and so earnestly enjoyn all men to love one another you may admire that as Jerusalem justified Samaria so the pretended Christian should justifie the bloody Turks or men-eating Canibals that glut themselves upon buried carkasses and do use as the Poet saith Pinguescere corpore corpus and are therefore deemed by the more civil Nations to be but the remote prodigies of lost humanity For If you now let your thoughts to consider and your eyes to wander throughout all the Christian Kingdomes of Spain France Germany Poland Sweden Italy and the rest of the neighbouring Nations that profess to believe in the same Jesus Christ and do hope to be coheirs of the same Kingdome of heaven they shall see most of these men striving to be not homicidae cucurbitarum the cutters down of Cucumbers as St. Aug. stiled the Manichaeans but Homicidae Christianorum the bloody killers of many good Christians and so make Rivers of blood and Hills of Christian carkasses And how he that shed his blood to redeem those carkasses will judge of this I am atfraid to speak and tremble to think of it And yet you must not think that I say this to retard the courage or to blunt the Swords of our gallant Souldiers that have just causes to make War for when wickedness groweth so wilfull as to seek our lives that desire to live in peace or to rob us of our livelihood lands or goods that God hath justly given us then you must know that out God is the God of War as well as the God of Peace and his name is the Lord of Hosts and he will make his sword drunk with blood and will strengthen our hands if we trust in him to scatter all those people that delight in War and to destroy those Enemies that maliciously labour for our destruction What Wars the Author blameth But I blame all shedding of Christian blood in any War either to plant Religion which should be done by preaching and not by fighting which in seeking to make them Christian men will make them no men or dissembling hypocrites in stead of faithfull believers or else to satisfie the ambition of any man that desires to inlarge his Dominion and so unjustly to wrong his neighbours when as every man from the King unto the beggar should be contented with what God hath justly given him and that policy can never be justified which is not every way consonant to equity or especially for any subjects put of a rebellious discontent or ambitious desire to usurp the Power and Authority of their Soveraign to turn the sweet waters of Peace to become rivers of Christian blood This is that warfare which I chiefly discommend as the greatest of all vanities But 3. If the Sword or Bullet in this warfare taketh not man away 3. His egress yets Age and Sickness will soon summon him to his death and dissolution and till then his whole life is spent inter suspiria lachrymas betwixt sighs and tears troubles of minde and distempers of body and a thousand such sad accidents that will soon bring hoc vitrium corpusculum this our frail and brittle body and our distressed life to a miserable death and when we dye or as the Psalmist saith When the breath of man goeth forth he shall turn again to his earth and then all his thoughts Psal 146.3 and all his high designs and vain conceits perish and then it will appear which till then proud man will not believe that the life of man is but a flower that soon withereth a smoak that soon vanisheth and a bubble that suddenly falleth or as others say a shadow a dream a nothing And it were well for many men if as their great thoughts either on some deep plots of state or how to hook unto themselves their neighbours inheritance or to wreak their malice on their poor brethren or the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Castles in the air as Aristophanes calleth them do vanish into nothing when their soules part with their bodies so likewise their bodies and their soules should then with their Thoughts return to nothing But that cannot be for that now mans soul must pay for all his evil thoughts and suffer for all the wicked works and the great wrongs that he hath done and though à corpore vermis é vermibus foetor his body turnes to worms and those wormes yield such Sent as all the Spices of Arabia cannot keep away yet the living spirit of every wicked man that cannot and shall not die must now for his unrepented evil be hurried into the dreadful Regions of all horror where it must live and lie for ever and ever to suffer unsufferable and unconceivable torments a life that lives not and a death that dies nor And so you see that man is Vanity and a wicked man in misery worse than vanity And therefore Reason should perswade you all to labour to become more than men that is more than meer men and to desire to be born again not of flesh and bloud but of water and of the Spirit of God that you may be brought again to that Union and Communion with God which you had when we were first made by God 2. The Prophet saith that totus homo vanitas all the whole man that is both his Body and his Soul is vanity for what is this body of ours but a piece of earth 2 Point That whole man is vanity
thy servants may seem to prove thee very happy among thy neighbours yet we all do or may know that there is none of these things but at some time or other hath proved to be the destruction of their possessors For as when the poor Passenger may rejoyce and sing before the most ravenous Robber and in the sight of the most barbarous Plunderers so thy wealth and thy Jewels thy pockets full of Gold and thy back full of bravery may make thy heart sad and thy head full of perturbations and in every moment to be afraid to be assailed and slain in all the paths that thou shalt walk And whereas the man that hath none but himself to serve himself need not fear to be betrayed by his Servants the rich man that needeth more and the noble man that keepeth many Servants may well fear there may be a Judas among twelve and a Traytor in his own house and as Humphrey Banister betrayed his Lord and Master Henry Duke of Buckingham that had been too good a Master to him Speed l 9 c. 19. p. 927. so may one of thy chiefest Servants sell thee and betray thee too into the hands of thy greatest Enemies even as we read in Stories of many Kings that have been so likewise dealt withal And therefore Wealth and Riches can afford us no true comfort nor yield us any certain assistance even in this life when by getting them we do oftentimes lose our selves or at least hazard our safety by saving them 3. Our Saviour Christ speaking of the deceitfulness of Riches and S. Paul calling them uncertain riches Mat. 13.22 do sufficiently shew unto us that the wealth and riches of this world do but promise fulness when they intend to bring us nothing but emptiness 1 Tim 6 17. for you see all our Money is as it is called currant and all our riches transient like a torrent stream that floweth apace or as the summer snow that presently melteth somtimes before it falleth and all the wealth in the world is but contingent with one man to day and with another man to morrow as your selves may see how within these few years many men scarce worth a Groat became worth thousands and as many others that were worth thousands became not worth a Groat Aug. Confes l. 6. And therefore S. Aug. speaking of the things of this world saith Si quid arrisisset prosperum taedebat apprehendere quia priusquam pene teneretur avolabat if any worldly prosperity smiled upon me and seemed to offer some happiness unto me yet I was loath to accept it and to lay hold upon it because commonly all the pleasure of this world is fled from us before we can scarce fasten on it and as the wise man saith extrema gaudii luctus occupat Sorrow and sadness do follow both out Profits and our Pleasures hard at the very heels For as the Player appeareth upon the Stage and then presently after few words exit he is gone so the wealth prosperity of this world do but salute us and then immediatly depart from us even while we are most busie about them and when they seem to smile most of all upon us And I could make this plain unto you by more examples than I have time to express For we read of Marcus Attilius Regulus that was a Roman Consul Boetius de consol l. 2. c. 5. and had laid Fetters upon many Africans yet being unhappily taken by the Carthaginians he found himself presently environed and then miserably tied in the Conquerors Chains and it is written of Cheops King of Egypt that erected the Pyraemides which were all built of Theban Marble and were of that huge height and monstrous Magnitude that one of them was 20 years in building though it is reported there were circiter decem hominum miriades about 10 Myriades of men as Herodotus saith or 100000 men Herodoc l. 2 p. â—2 Sandys l. 2. as others write that did continually work upon it the same containing as Sands affirmeth eight Acres of ground at the bottom and ascending by 255 steps to the top and every step being of three foot in height and of a proportionable breadth and yet this great King that was of this great power before his death became so poor that he was compelled to prostitute his own Daughter to relieve his wants So Belisarius that in the dayes of Justinian 1. was one of the bravest Souldiers and of the greatest Commanders of the world to whom the Lady and Empress of the world Rome it self owed her self thrice at the least and who took two mighty Kings Gilimer King of Africa and Vitiges King of the Gothes to be his Prisoners yet within a little while this great man as some writers do report came to that poor pass as he was fain to cry Date obâ—lum Belisario quem virtus exaltavit malitia depressit fortuna caecavit O give one half-peny to Belisarius whom vertue hath honoured envy hated and fortune spoyled and made him now a poor blind Beggar And Pedro Mexia setteth down the miserable ends and other strange traverses endured by divers Kings Emperours Dukes and other great Princes Treasury of times l. 4. c. 37 Pope John whom Mart. 5. succeeded An. 1410. Pope Clement that was imprisoned by Charles 5. 1527. Archbishop of Flor. and four Cardinals butchered 1448. The Bishop of Liege Brother to the great Duke of Burgoyne and 10 Abbats massacred in his presence whereof he accounteth no less than 13. besides 2 Popes 2 Bishops 4 Cardinals and 10 Abbots that within one hundred and fifty years were thrown down from the Pinacle of Prosperity to the lowest Gulf of Adversity as George King of Bohemia Charles Duke of Burgoyne Uladislaus King of Poland Constantinus Paleolagus Emperor of the East Charles 8. King of France James 4. King of Scots John de Albret King of Navarre Lewes Sforza Duke of that rich and goodly Countrey of Millain Francis 1. King of France that was the Patron of all Learning and those three great Kings Muley Mahomet King of Fez and Morocco Abdelmelec his Unkle and Sebastian King of Portugal that came to a miserable end and died all three in one day being Monday the 4th of August 1578. and which is worthy to be remembred above all John Justinian that trayterous Villain who covenanted with Mahomet to betray Constantinople so he would make him King which the great Turk promised and accordingly performed but after three daies struck off his head as his Treason well deserved and so I wish may be the reward of all disloyal Traytors And therefore seeing not only wicked Potentates but also most famous Kings and Princes and most excellent Prelates have been reduced to such ends what wonder is it that many great Scholars and many reverend Bishops whom their worth and learning raised to some height of dignity should be thrown down as they were of late by envy and hatred
Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope God made Kings our nursing Fathers and Queens our nursing Mothers and we putting our selves under their protection have been hitherto most graciously protected but now by this Act we are left naked of all defence and set under the very sword of our Adversaries and as the Psalmist saith They that hated us are made Lords over us to call us to assess us to undo us 3. Debarred of that right that none else are 3. Hereby they are made more slavish than the meanest Subject and deprived of that benefit and priviledge which the poorest Shoomaker Tailer or any other Tradesman or yeoman hath most justly left unto him for to be excluded debarred and altogether made uncapable of any benefit is such an insupportable burden that it is set upon no mans shoulders but upon the Clergy alone as if they alone were either unworthy to receive or unable to do any good 4. Made more contemptible than all others 4. Hereby they are made the unparalleled spectacle of all neglect and scorn to all forraign people for I can hardly believe the like Precedent can be shewed in any Age or any other Nation of the World no not among the very Infidels or Indians for in former times the Bishops and Clergy-men were thought the fittest instruments to be imployed in the best places of greatest truth and highest importance in the Common-Wealth and Kings made them their Embassadours as the Emperour Valentinian did Saint Ambrose And our own Chronicles relate how former times respected the Clergy and how our Kings made them both their Counsellours and their Treasurers Chancellours Keepers of the Great Seal and the like Officers of the chiefest concernment as Ethelbert in the year of Christ 605. Vt refert in tractatu suo de Episcopatu p. 61 62. M. Theyer Sir Henry Spelman p. 118. Idem p. 403. Idem p. 219. saith I Ethelbert King of Kent with the consent of the Reverend Arch Bishop Augustine and of my Princes do give and grant c. And the said Ethelbert with the Queen and his Son Eadbald and the most Reverend Prelate Augustine and with the rest of the Nobility of the Land solemnly kept his Christmass at Canterbury and there assembled a Common Councel tam cleri quà m populi as well of the Clergy as of the People And King Adelstan saith I Adelstan the King do signify unto all the Officers in my Kingdom that by the advice of Wolfelm my Arch-Bishop and of all my Bishops c. In the great Councel of King Ina An. 712. The Edicts were Enacted by the Common Councel and consent omnium Episcoporum Principum Procorum Câ—mitum omnium sapientum seniorum populorum totius regni per praeceptum regis Inae And in the second Charter of King Edward the Confessour How former times respected the Clergy granted to the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster it is said to be Cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque suorum Optimatum With the Counsel and Decree of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and other Potentates And so not only the Saxon Kings but the Norman also ever since the Conquest had the Bishops in the like or greater esteem that they never held Parliament or Councel without them And surely these Princes were no Babes that made this choice of them neither was the Common-Wealth neglected nor justice prejudiced by these Governours And whosoever shall read Mores gentium or the pilgrimage of Master Purchas Livy Plutarch Appian and the rest of the Greek and Latin Histories I dare assure him he shall find greater honour given and far less contempt cast upon the Priests and Flamins the Prophets of the Sybils than we find of this Faction left to the Servants of the Living God who are now dâ—it withall worse than Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites that took away their straw and yet required their full tale of Bricks For these men would rob us of all our means and take away all our Lands and all our Rights and yet require not only the full tale of Sermons and Services as was used by our Predecessours but to double our files to multiply our pains How the Clergy are now used and to treble the Sermons and Services that they used to have of our forefathers more than ever was done in any Age since the first Plantation of the Gospel And when we have done with John Baptist the utmost of our endeavours like a shining and a burning lamp that doth waste and consume it self to nothing while it giveth light to others they only deal with us as Carriers use to do with their pack-horses hang bels at their ears to make a melodious noise but with little provender lay heavy loads upon their backs and when they can bear no more burdens take away their Bells withdraw their praises call them Jades exclaim against their laziness and then at last turn them out to feed upon the Commons and to die in a ditch And thus we have now made the Ministers of Christ to be the Emblems of all misery and in pretending to make them more glorious in the sight of God we have made them most base in the eyes of all men And therefore the consequence of this Act is like to prove most lamentable when the people considering how that hereby we are left naked of all comfort and subject to all kind of scorn and distresse and how that this being effected is but the Praeludium of a far greater mischief they will rather with no great cost make their children of some good Trade and their children will chuse so to be than with such great cost and more care and yet little hope to bring them up to worse condition than the meanest of all Trades or the lowest degree of all rusticks When as they can challenge and it shall not be denied them to have the priviledges of the Law The Clergy alone are deprived of Magna Charta and a property in their goods which without their own consent yielded in their persons or their representours cannot be taken from them And the Clergy only of all the people in this Kingdom shall be deprived of the right and benefit of our great Charter which so many famous Kings and pious Princes have confirmed unto us and when we have laboured all the dayes of our lives with great pains and more diligence to instruct our people and to attain to some competency of means to maintain
Government or Monarchical State though it might sometimes happen to prove tyrannical is far more acceptable unto God as being his own prime and proper ordinance most agreeable unto nature and more profitable unto all men then either the Aristocratical or Popular Government either hath or possibly can be for as it is most true that praestat sub malo principe esse quà m sub nullo it is better to live under an ill Governour then where there is no Gove nment so praestat sub uno tyranno vivere quà m sub mille it is better to be under the command of one tyrant then of a thousand as we are now under these Rebels who being not faex Romuli the worst of the Nobilty but faex populi the dregs of the people indigent Mechanicks and their Wives captivated Citizens together with the rabble of seduced Sectaries have so disloyally incroached upon the rights of our King and so rebelliously usurped the same to the utter subversion both of Church and Kingdom if God himself who hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand and turneth the same wheresoever he pleaseth had not most graciously strengthned his Majesty with a most singular and heroick resolution assisted with perfect health from the beginning of their insurrection to this very day to the admiration of his enemies and the exceeding joy and comfort of his faithfull Subjects and with the best aide and furtherance of his chiefest Nobility of all his learned and religious Clergy his grave and honest Lawyers and the truly worthy Gentry of his whole Kingdom to withstand their most treacherous impious barbarous and I know not how to expresse the wickednesse of their most horrid attempts so thou hast before thee life and death fire and water good and evil And therefore I hope that this will move us which have our eyes open to behold the great blessings and the many almost miraculous deliverances and favours of God unto his Majesty and to consider the most horrible destruction that this war hath brought upon us to fear God and to honour our King to hate the Rebels and to love all loyal Subjects to do our uttermost endeavour to quench this devouring flame and to that end with hand and heart and with our fortunes and with the hazard of our lives which as our Saviour saith shall be saved if they be lost to assist his Majesty to subdue these Rebels Luk. 9.24 to reduce the Kingdom to its pristine government and the Church to her former dignity that so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity faith and true religion and all other happinesse remaining with us to the comfort of our King and the glory of our God through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with his Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour thanks prayse and dominion for ever and ever Amen Amen Jehovae liberatori FINIS Errata PAge â— lin 3.5 dele not p. 5. l. 50. for make r. made p. 9. l. 23. for hand r. had p. 27. l. 53. dele can p. 39. l. 25. r. right to be p. 51. l. 54. r. this day p. 54 l. 37. dele and p. 61. l. 21. r. that denyed repentance p. 62. l. â—â— r. the same hope p. 95. l. 18. for justice r. injustice p. 100. l. 49. for ye r. yet The Contents of the severall Chapters contained in the RIGHTS of KINGS CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1 Pet. 2.17 in fine How Kings honoured the Clergy the faire but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly ayme at and their malice to Episcopacy and Royalty Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to kingdoms the best of the three Rights how Kings came to be elected and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracy and Democracy issued out of Monarchy Pag. 7 CHAP. III. Sheweth the Monarchicall Government to be the best forme the first Government that ever was agreeable to Nature wherein God founded it consonant to Gods own Government the most universally received throughout the world the immediate and proper Ordinance of God c. Pag. 11 CHAP. IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themseves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel c. Pag. 17 CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto Heathen and wicked Kings how he carried himself before Pilate and how all the good Primitive Christians behaved themselves towards their Heathen Persecuting Emperours Pag. 23 CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three several opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion Pag. 27 CHAP. VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of this that pertain to Religion by His Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods c. Pag. 34 CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiasticall Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Lawes by the advice of of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay-Counsellors how our late Canons came to be annulled c. Pag. 40 CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to four speciall Objections that are made against the Civill jurisdictions of Ecclesiasticall persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councels inhibited these Offices unto Bishops c. Pag. 47 CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensations is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure speciall sorts of false Professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses c. Pag. 64 CHAP. XII Sheweth the assistants of Kings in their Government to