Maryes of Scotland and England both of them at that very instant of time vvhen they vvere destroying the Protestant interest and murthering true Protestants vvere not vvanting by all fair means to persvvade the people of their resolute and unchangeable purpose to maintain the same I knovv some vvill object and say that though a Magistrate be found qualified for the office as to all outvvard appearance and have the povver lavvfully convoyed to them yet the people are still uncertain vvhether he be their lavvfull Magistrate or not and so are not obliedged to maintain and defend him as their Just and lavvfull Magistrate or give him any obedience as such To vvhich I ansvver that vvhen a people do diligently inquire into the qualifications of a Magistrate and as to all outvvard evidences they are assured and convinced of his suitable qualifications for the office and accordingly do convoy unto him the Just and lavvfull povver belonging to the office though his heart be fals and treacherous yet he is to them a Just and lavvfull Magistrate so long as he doth not discover any thing to the contrary Neither is every act of vvickedness in a Magistrate that vvhich doth really unmagistrate him though I hope non vvill deny a Magistrate ought to be as circumspeck as any other for certainly he vvho is to punish vice and vvickedness should not be a bad example to others I knovv some do alleadge that a King is above the Lavv and may do vvhat he pleaseth but non vvill say so but Court-flatterers and non vvill pretend to such a povver but tyrants and oppressours for a person vvho pretends to be above the Lavv of a Nation does thereby exclude himself from the society that being nothing else but a consociation of many persons of vvhat ranks somever under common Lavv and so is incapable of any office in that Nation but vvhen a Magistrate does either formally or practically break his Faith to the people by proveing fals and treacherous and does thvvart and contradict the very end for vvhich he vvas ordained and becomes a destroyer and murtherer of that very interest and people vvhich he should have preserved and defended he does then sufficiently demonstrate himself to be no lavvfull Magistrate but a tyrant and an oppressour Some do object I knovv and say that a Just and lavvfull povver being once convoy'd unto a Magistrate by the people even though he should malverse never so much and act never so vvickedly in the povver yet still he does remain a Just and lavvfull Magistrate untill that povver vvhich gave him the povver do in the same manner take the povver from him Though vvhat I have said already does sufficiently discover the vveakness of this argument yet I shall give a particular ansvver thereto As it is only in the people to give a morall externall povver so as to render him a lavvfull Magistrate upon supposition of his justice and other necessary qualifications vvhich are gifts of God and that it does still remain that God give him that internall and effectuall povver vvhereby he does become really and in effect a Just Magistrate as in that forecited place of Proverh 8. ver 15 16. so the not formally takeing avvay this morall externall povver does not at all continue him a Just and lavvfull Magistrate for vvhen a murtherer committes a murther and aftervvards is brought before a Judge and sentenced to die for the same it is not the sentence of the Judge that does really materially and in effect make him a murtherer but only formally and declaratively and accordingly punishes him for the same but it is his committing of murther that does really materially and in effect make him a murtherer For though he should never be brought before a Judge or receive the sentence of death yet from his very committing the act of murther he is really materially and in effect a murtherer So that it is very strange that some are pleased to say that a Magistrate haveing once the povver convoyed unto him by the people though he should act never so vvickedly yet the povver does still remain the same so long as he is not formally divested and that these acts of vvickedness are only the bad exercise of that lavvfull povver vvhich vvas given him of the people vvhereas Gods vvithlolding the qualification of justice and other qualifications supposed the povver granted upon the supposition falles ipso facto vvithout any declarative sentence and the people have a right vvhenever an opportunity occurres to reject such a Magistrate And it is as impossible that a Just and lavvfull Magistrate by vertue of a Just and lavvfull povver can bring forth acts of vvickedness as it is impossible for a good tree by vertue of it's goodness to bring forth bad fruite For the exercise of the povver is as the fruite from the tree so that if the exercise of the povver be vvicked and unjust there is nothing more certain then that the povver it self must be vvicked and unjust and that vvhich once vvas a Just and lavvfull povver must be changed into an unjust and unlavvfull povver For as a tree is knovvn by it's fruites so is the povver knovvn to be Just by the good acts thereof And vvhen our blessed Lord and Saviour vvas charged by the Pharisees of possessing a vvicked and bad povver in casting out of Divells by the povver of Beelzebub the Prince of the Divells he gives no other reason for a certain proofe of the goodness of that povver by vvhich he acted then these very good acts thereof as Matth. 12. ver 24 25 26 27 28. The Apostle Paul vvhen he does commend obedience to higher povvers as those povvers vvhich are ordained of God vvarning them not to resist the ordinance of God he does not leave people in the vvilderness but gives this as the certain and true Character of Just and lavvfull Magistrates that they vvere not a terrour to good vvorks but to the evill and that they vvere the Ministers of God to the people for good Rom. 13. ver 3 4. And accordingly the Apostle Peter in his 1 Epist 2. ver 14. gives the same Character that they are for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that do vvell So that this is the very Character by vvhich Just and lavvfull Magistrates are knovvn to be such I knovv some vvill object and say that the Apostles gave command to obey these very Magistrates vvho vvere then in place and they vvere the quite contrary for they vvere not a terrour to the evill vvorks but to the good But I hope non vvho are in any measure acted by reason and Religion vvill ever alleadge that the Apostles did thvvart and contradict themselves or that they vvere lying and dissembling to the people but that this vvas given as a standing command for all times to come that the people should give obedience to those Magistrates vvho should act by vertue of Gods ordinance and therefore
both were destroyed and the curse of God did lye heavily upon the Kingdome for his sake so that much blood was shed till that David was put in full possession of that which was his Just and proper right And although Davids heart did smite him so that he could not kill him in the cave from these reasons following First That God honour'd him makeing him King and that he was not as yet formally divested of the power Secondly That he was his Father in Law. Thirdly He vvas a brave man as appeares from that commendation David gives him after his death that his bovv did never return empty Fourthly The braveness of Davids spirit yet David vvanted not a purpose to have done it in Battel as vve may finde from these vvords some one day or other he shall fall in Battel And it could be for no other end that David did keep so many in armes vvith him for if he had looked upon him to have bin the Just and lavvfull Magistrate it had bin usurpation and Rebellion in him to have accepted of that right vvhich the Prophete had given him And as for Zedekiah he did not so formally breake to the people as he and they vvent alongst together in Apostacy and defection from God as is clear from that Scripture Jerem. 38. ver 5 24 25. vvhen the Princes besought that Jeremiah's life might be taken Then Zedekiah the King sayd behold he is in your hand for the King is not he that can do any thing against you and yet vve finde that the Lord declared him to have no right to Reign as in that Scripture Ezek. 21. ver 25 26 27. And thou profane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end 26. Thus sayeth the Lord God remove the Diademe and take off the Crown this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high 2. I will overturn overturn overturn and it shall be no more till he come whose right it is and I will give it him As also vvhen they vvere delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezar they vvere commanded to renounce all alleadgeance in Zedekiah and to take protection from Nebuchadnezar as prisoners of War and so submit to him in all things lavvfull as their Magistrate for a time untill God should deliver them out of his hand Haveing novv in some measure held forth and discovered vvhat it is that makes a Just and lavvfull Magistrate and continues him such and thereby discovered vvhat it is that makes a Tyrant It remains novv to be spoken to vvhether a people are obliedged to svveare and keep alleadgeance and do the same duty to a Tyrant that they are to a Just and lavvfull Magistrate That it is the duty of a people to svveare and keep alleadgeance to a Just and lavvfull Magistrate is not in the least to be questioned for thereby a Magistrate is in a capacity to do the duty of a Just and lavvfull Magistrate to his people and vvithout it he is not but to svveare Alleadgeance to a Tyrant is most vvicked and sinfull For Just and lavvfull Magistrates are ordinances of God for his Glory and the good of the people as the true and reall Ministers of God for the peoples good but Tyrants and oppressours are only raised up by the Lord for Judgements and plagues to a people for their disobedience to God. For God never gave a right to Tyrants and oppressours to govern his people but ordained them for a peoples punishment according to that povver that the Divell has for he has a povver both to tempt to sin and also the punish for sin Although God has him allvvayes restrained as to both such is the povver of Tyrants and oppressours for as they are plagues and Judgements against these parts of the vvorld vvhere they have povver by robbing them of their rights and priviledges so are they also by tempting people to sin against God to vvhich assertion the Christian vvorld this day may give their vvitness as in Brittain Ireland France and other parts of the vvorld not only have they bin robbed of their rights and priviledges but all manner of vvays used to make them sin against God. And as it is a great and Rebellious sin against God to enter in any Compact or Covenant vvith the Divell to mantain and keep up him in his vvicked povver so it is the very same to enter in any Compact or Covenant vvith Tyrants and oppressours to mantain and keep them up in their vvicked povver for thereby Satans Kingdome is mantained and kept up vvhich I prove thus such as do svveare to mantain and keep up those vvho do mantain and keep up Satans Kingdome do svveare to mantain and keep up Satans Kingdome but such as do svveare to mantain and keep up Tyrants and oppressours do svveare to mantain and keep up those vvho do mantain and keep up Satans Kingdome Ergo they do svveare to mantain and keep up Satans Kingdome for as Hell and Divells are immediately opposite and contradictory to Heaven and those holy Spirits vvhich are there so Tyranny and oppression Tyrants and oppressours are the same opposite and contradictory to the true ordinance and Ministers of God here on earth and it does most natively follovv that vvhatever vvickedness they do commit or innocent blood they shed their concurrance is not vvanting thereto and that they are guilty thereof vvhich I prove thus such as do mantain and keep up a Tyrant and an oppressour in a vvicked and tyrannicall povver are guilty of all his vvickednesses Tyranny and bloodshed but such as do svveare Alleadgeance to a Tyrant and an oppressour are thereby obliedged to mantain and keep him up in that vvicked and tyrannicall povver Ergo they are guilty of all his vvickedness Tyranny and bloodshed yea if it vvere in their povver by a good vvish or prayer to God or other indeavour to do good to the interest of God thy can not give it or do it for so long as they stand under that Alleadgeance in the doing of any of these things they commit perjury I knovv some do object and say that vvicked Magistrates yea Tyrants and oppressours are raised up by the Lord as plagues and Judgements against a people for their sines and therefore they are obliedged patiently to bear the same from Gods hand vvithout useing any resistance vvhatsomever and accordingly to pray to God for those Tyrants that the Government may be blessed to them That they are raised up by the Lord as plagues and Judgements against a people for their sins as also that a people are obliedged patiently to endure and bear the same tovvards God no vvays freteing at the dispensation of God therein knovving it be the Just and reall effects and fruits of sin as also to pray for them is not in the least to be questioned but that a people should stupidly lye under the same vvithout useing any indeavour to remove
TYRANNY NO MAGISTRACY OR A modest and Compendious Enquirie into the nature and boundaries of that Ordinance of MAGISTRACY WITH An essay to Demonstrate it's specifick distinction from Tyranny By an Enemy to Tyranny and lover of true Magistracy 2 Sam Chap. 23. vers 3. He that ruleth over men must be Just ruleing in the fear of God. Prov Chap. 28. vers 15. As a roaring Lyon and a rangeing Bear so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people Printed in the Year 1687. AS Magistracy that excellent ordinance of God whereon much of his Soveraign Majesty and glory is impressed is not amongst the smallest priviledges of the sons of men they being thereby not only preserv'd in their well and better being but even in their real and true being injoying thereby not only Religion Right and Property but even life freedome and safety from all the other inconveniences in the world and that whilest these due bounds and limits which God has appointed in his Word and given men to know by reason are so strictly observ'd that Magistracy is thereby preserv'd so when through the breach thereof there is a full perversion into Tyranny that which once was the greatest priviledge and blessing does then become the greatest misery and curse according to that maxime corruptio optimi semper pessima But such a plague and so much the greater that the world hath bin rather doteing on then seeking a remedie against it hath overtaken this generation that very properly an allusion to that of Isaiah may take place Isai 44. ver 16. Where he speaks of such as take a peece of wood and burn part thereof in the fire with part thereof he eateth flesh rosteth rost and is satisfied yea he warmeth himself and sayeth Aha I am warme I have seen the fire And the residue thereof he maketh a God even his graven Image he falleth down unto it and worshipeth it and prayeth unto it and sayeth deliver me for thou arte my God. Such hath bin the madness and folly even of the true Christian world that they have set up persons most unfit for Government and inlarged their power beyond the due limites that tyranny and oppression in the very abstract has bin visible both in their persons and Government and yet worshiped as so many Idols and all absolute obedience and non-resistance pleaded for to an absolute power and tyranny One great reason whereof is that foolish notion of the sacredness of power in possession never inquiring into right and title and the due distance distinction and boundaries of Magistracy and Tyranny that are as specifically distinct as right and robry honesty and knavery a blessing and a curse Hence nothing would be more usefull and advantageous to the world then to be induced to a serious inquirie how these are to be distinguished by their true characters And that the matter may be the more clearly illustrate the question shall be stated thus What is it that makes a just and lawfull King or Magistrate and doth continue them such The which question shall be answered first negatively and then positively Negatively by removing what it is that doth not positively in a plaine asserting and proveing what it is that doth In the negative part there are these two would be removed first that it is conquest that doth it and secondly that it is an hereditory title that doth it That conquest is not that which doth it will easily be granted by all men for a man by violence may mount a Throne and yet be no just and lawfull King. Absolom did mount the throne and yet was no just and lawfull King as in 11 Sam. 15. Chapt. more particularly it is to be observed in the 19. ver where David designs him by the title of King which in effect was only an usurped title he having come to it only by violence and robry Zimri did the same and yet was no just and lawfull King as in 1 Kings 16. from the 9. ver we find his conspiracy against his master and killing of him and after his establishment upon the Throne a destroying of all the house of Baasha and in ver 16. when the people heard thereof they made Omri King over Israel in the Camp and in the 17 and 18 ver Omri pursued him and took the City so that Zimri went into the Palace of the Kings house and burnd ' the same over him with fire Athaliah destroyed also all the seed Royall of the house of Judah and by violence took possession of the power as in 2 Chron. 22. ver 10 12. And yet Joash is made King and she destroyed as in the following Chapter 12 13 14 ver Many more examples of this nature might be added but we shall only say this by way of argument and so have done that seeing neither the word of God nor reason does command or allow a King or any other Magistrate to mount a Throne and accordingly to take possession of the power by violence and that it would be a thing of most dangerous effects if the minds of people should be possest with any such principle for there is such a lust and propensity in the hearts of men to govern that they would seek out all occasion to destroy the very best of Magistrates and thereby the people might be robbed of the very best of Governours and Government for the same principle that makes a man usurp a power makes him also usurp an unjust and unlawfull power it 's evident that conquest makes not a good right Now this being ended our next is to inquire into that of an hereditory title and we shall state the argument thus Quest Whether or not doth an hereditory title really in it self give a full and real power to a King and thereby make him a just and lawfull Magistrate Answ That which neither in it self nor by the Law of God nor reason is necessar or essentiall to the being of a King can never make a King but an hereditory title neither in it self nor by the Law of God nor reason is necessar or essentiall to the being of a King therefore hereditory title can never make a King. The major I hope none will deny the minor I prove thus as for the first part of it Viz that an hereditory title in it self doth not make c. It is clear that hereditory title in it self dot not make a King or then Kings could never have bin made without it but Kings have are and may be made without it Ergo c. And as for the latter part that the word of God nor reason does not allow of it nor command it I prove thus That which doth expresly thwart and contradict the word of God and reason must be inconsistant with the word of God and reason but that an hereditory title should be necessar and essential and accordingly make a King doeth expresly thwart and contradict the word of God and reason ergo c. which I prove
thus The word of God and reason do expresly command and allow that a Magistrate should have suitable qualifications for the office as in Deutr. 17. from ver 15. there the qualifications of a King are held forth and commanded I shall only mention one of those which is this that he should not be a stranger born which does clearly import that he should not be of a strange Religion for the reason why the Lord did lay such strict commands upon his people not to marry with strangers was not but that they had the bodies of men and women as good as they but that they were of a strange Religion and might draw them away to Idolatry and seeing the word of God does expresly command these qualifications as necessar and essential certainly reason does command and allow that a people should have a respect to the glory of God their own good and safety and accordingly make non King but such as have these necessar and essentiall qualifications but that hereditory title which many do boast of does allow and essentially make him a King whether he have these qualifications or not though he should be born a monster and not a man a mad man and not a sober man a fool and an ideot and not a wise man a stranger and of a strange Religion and not a native nor of the Religion of the Land yea though he were given to all manner of wickedness yet he is said to be a born King and accordingly the Lords anointed wich is altogether inconsistant with the word of God and reason But that we may give satisfaction more fully to all persons concerning this matter let us inquire yet a little further into the nature of this hereditory title who it is that gives this title and what it is they can give I know that some of the vil'd of the earth who would flatter Princes and cheat the people out of their rights and liberties do plainly say that it is God only gives it and that all Kings have their right and power only and immediatly from God and so are accomptable to non but God. I would gladly know where those Kings got these ladders by which they went up to Heaven to get those rights devolved upon them and their Families or if there be such a thing recorded in Scripture that such and such men should by an hereditory title Reign as Kings on the earth and in such and such parts of the world or if this right of reigning must only and immediatly flow from the people There is nothing more certain than that it is the gift of the people if it be not the effect of conquest which is already spoke to and excluded And therefore we shall next consider what a people can give and what the extent of this hereditory title can be And it must be understood that a people can give no more then they have to give which is that if they be persons so and so qualified for the office then they shall be preferred before others to such an office but if a people should absolutely say and determine that such a race and Family should be their born Kings that were to take Gods power unto them for it is not in their power to bring such a thing to pass in respect of these many natural accidents that are in the way yea it were the very way to make themselves slaves and to bring that curse upon them that is there threatned in Hos 8. ver 3 4. and accordingly to forfeit Gods protection So that the extent of this hereditory title being only a promise in the people that such a race shall succeed to such an office being qualified for the same it must of necessity follow that the people must be Judges of this matter for no forraign power can determine therein the people being only and immediatly concerned therein Let us now go to the case of Saul and David and there we find though Saul had Gods absolute promise for it from the mouth of the Prophete for non can make an absolute promise of this nature but God only and that also the Prophete did confirme the same unto him by anointing him with oyle and telling him whome and what he shoud meet with by the way yet all this did not make him King for this was only a secret act of the Prophete whereby he did make known Gods minde and promise unto him for when Saul was made King the people were gathered together for that purpose and presented before the Lord by their trybes and by their thousands and when Saul was taken by lot he was lying hidde amongst the stuffe being it seemes affrayed and doubtfull whether he should be chosen King or not as you shall find in 1 Sam. 10. ver 20 21 23. And accordinly David though he had the Lords promise in the same manner yet he was not really King for many years after until the death of Saul and he was first made King of Judah and did Reign seven years and six moneths before he was made King over Israel until all the tribes went to him in Horeb and David made a League with them and then they anointed him King over Israel Now seeing we finde clearly the Lords promise which was absolute was not that which did really make them Kings far less doth the lame promise of the people do it which we have made manifest already may come to nothing I know some do alleadge that there was an hereditory right settled upon the house of David but we finde that it was only a secret promise of God to David upon conditions that if he and his family should keep Gods Covenant then the Lord in his providence would so order it that there should not be one of the family wanting to sit upon the Throne and this promise was not made to David simply as he was a King for then it should rather have bin made to the house of Saul because he was before him for God did bless him with severall blessings that no King on earth can pretend to as his being a Prophete and Christs coming out of his race Yea that Prophecy and blessing of Jacob to his Children in the 49. of Genesis ver 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come was fulfilled in the person of David and his house as vve shall finde by Davids ovvn vvords in 1 Chron 28. ver 4. Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my Fathers to be King over Israel for ever for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler and of the house of Judah the house of my father and amongst the sons of my father he liked me to make me King over all Israel c. I knovv some do alleadge this hereditory title to be the absolute promise and gift of the people and therefore becomes as really the right and property of that race
and family to vvhom it is given as any other estate does go-from father to son Although there be anough sayd both from Scripture and reason sufficiently to ansvver the same yet vve shall come to matter of practice in these Nations vvhere this hereditory title has bin most in use And in the first place vve shall consider the reason of this hereditory title the title it self and the practice of the people concerning those to vvhome it did belong As for the reason thereof there can be no other reason given then this that often times families fell a contending for the Government and thereby the sheding of blood vvas occasioned and therefore the people to take avvay this inconvenience thought fit to settle the title to an office upon a particular race As for the title self though the very vvords granting it may seem to be absolute admitting of no condition or qualification vvhatsomever yet it cannot be thought that any Nation vvho knevv any thing of a God much less a Christian Nation and of the Reformed Religion vvould ever set the povver and providence of God so at nought as not to respect the same in the doing of this very thing for though men do frequently say that they vvill go such avvay or do such a thing yet it is alvvays understood that they do respect the povver and providence of God in this matter that they neither can go any vvay or do any thing vvithout God concur vvith them in giving them those necessar qualifications as health strength reason and understanding and every vvay make his povver and providence good for them therein So it must be understood of such a Nation vvhen they give such a right that as they are lead by some reason for the doing thereof so they do not intend thereby to destroy reason Religion and nature and accordingly to set the povver and providence of God at nought For it vvere against reason Religion and nature and a defying of Gods povver and providence for a people to give up themselves blindfoldedly to such a race in such an absolute manner as that And as for the practice of the people concerning those to vvhome this title did belong vve shall find that in Scotland England and other parts of the vvorld vvhen the people did find that those persons to vvhome this hereditory title did immediatly belong were unqualified for the office that they have taken it from them and given it to the next in line being more qualified for the same Now if this promise and gift had bin so absolute as some do say so as that these persons by their birth had bin Just and lawfull Kings it had not bin in their power to have taken the same from them But seeing we have said anough from Scripture reason and the practice of the people to prove that this hereditory title neither in it self nor by the Law of God or reason is necessar or essentiall to the makeing of a King and that it is inconsistant with the word of God reason that a King can be made thereby let us now consider what it is that doth really make a Just and lawfull King and continue him such It is necessar to be considered that no supreme Magistrate comes justly to the power without the call and election of the people and that the people are to call and elect non but such as have those necessar and essentiall qualifications First that he be a man and not a monster Secondly that he be a prudent wise and sober man and not a fool an Ideot or a mad man. Thirdly that he be of the true Religion of the Land and not of a strange Idolatrous Religion Fourthly that he be Just and upright I know no rational man will object against the first two and therefore I shall labour only to prove the absolute necessity of the last that he be of the true Religion of the Land and not of a strange Idolatrous Religion and I do it thus First the Lord has commanded it in his Word secondly reason does also injoyn it Thirdly from the bad consequences that may follow if it be not Now that the Lord has commanded it is clear from that of Deut. 17. ver 14. It is like some will object that this command was judiciall and only binding upon the Jewes they being more immediatly under Gods own Government but if the Text of Scripture be considered there can be no such mistake for this is a Government common to other Nations to which God grantes them a liberty these due measures being observed which a people or Nation who do worship the true God in the true manner ought to secure their Religion and liberty by Now that reason does injoyn it must natively follow for that people who would secure their Religion and Liberty could not at all be accompted men of reason if they should set up an Idolater to be their King. For it is too well known to the true Christian world that no bondes can binde an Idolater especially a Papist who by the nature of his Religion and these his religious vowes does not only stand at liberty but obliedged upon all occasions to break all vowes and Oaths whatsomever to those of the true Religion when it does in any measure prove consistent with the destruction of the true Religion and the advancement of Idolatrie and it must also follow that the worst of consequences will attend thereupon For thereby a people are guilty of rebellion against God by not observing but rather forsakeing those due measures that the word of God and reason has commanded and do accordingly forfeit Gods protection and it must of necessity be said that they have cast off that which is good and that the enemies shall pursue them as it is sayd of that people Hos 8. ver 3 4. And as the worst of misery must follow thereupon so it must be acknowledged that they have brought it on with their own hands And so long as they continue unpenitent for this their rebellion against God and treachery to their native Land they can not pray with hopes that God will either help or relieve them out of their misery And that he be Just and upright is most absolutely necessar for that Magistrate who is not Just and upright in his office can no more be said to be a Just and lawfull Magistrate then a thiefe or a murtherer can be said to be an honest man. David in his last words gives this as a thing most absolutely necessar and essentiall to the real and true being of a Magistrate in 2 Sam. 23. ver 3. The God of Israel said the rock of Israel spoke to me he that ruleth over men must be Just ruleing in the fear of God This Text of Scripture does not say that it is necessar he should be Just so as he might be the better Magistrate for that were only necessar to the well being of a Magistrate but that he must be
Just so as without it he cannot at all be accompted a lawfull Magistrate and accordingly Jethro Moses Father in law gives this also as a thing most absolutely necessar and essentiall to the true being of a Magistrate Exod. 18. ver 21. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them c. And it is a thing well known to all the world that the want of this can not be dispenced with in any manner of employment whatsomever for the meanest treadsman is obliedged to be Just and upright or if otherways he be found to malverse in his office by cheating of people he can no more be looked upon as a Just and lawfull treadsman but a cheat and a rogue Now as it is most certain that the electing and chooseing of a King is the proper true Just and radicall power of the people and that they for their convenience further good and safety do chuse a King so for their convenience they do not now meet by their tribes and thousands as in the days of old but do chuse their representatives and the representatives the King. So that if the representatives malverse the people may call them to an accompt and if the King malverse the representatives may call him to an accompt and if both malverse the people may call both to an accompt for both are chosen for the convenience good and safety of the people derive their power only and immediatly from them as the only qualified under God for giveing the same unto them Now it is to be considered when a people do call and chuse a King that there are termes and conditions agreed upon by borh parties the people they do convoy and give into his hands the Just and lawfull power of the supreme office in the state and accordingly he does receive the same from them promising faithfully to hold possess or use no other unlawfull or tyrannicall power but by vertue of that Just and lawfull power to maintain and preserve all those rights and priviledges wherewith God has blessed them both sacred and civill and as the peoples Magistrate to exercise the same for the glory of God and their good and safety for there is nothing more certain then that all Magistrates whatsomever are really ordained of God and do receive their power from the people to minister thereby for their good and accordingly the people do promise to maintaine and desend them as such This appears further from 1 Kings 12. ver 7. The old men when they gave their advice to Rehoboam it was to this purpose And they spoke unto him saying if thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day and wilt serve them and answer them and speake good words to them then they will be thy Servants for ever Now when this man who is to be their Magistrate has this power convoyd unto him by the people and does promise to the people to maintaine preserve and accordingly to act by vertue of the same it must necessarly follow that he is either really sincere and upright in his undertakeing and promising his heart being fully determined to comply with the minde and purpose of the people and accordingly to become the Minister of God for good to the people having nothing else before his eyes but the glory of God the good and safety of the people over whome he has that charge or then he is fals and treacherous and does only dissemble with them takeing occasion thereby only to possess himself of the power that then he may act according the purpose of his own wicked heart if he be real and sincere in his promises to the people there is nothing more certain then that he is a Just and lawfull Magistrate but if otherways he be fals and treacherous and does only take occasion by his thus receiveing of the power to change the same unto an unjust unlawfull arbitrary wicked and tyrannicall power and accordingly to rob them of their rights and priviledges both sacred and civill at his pleasure then he can not at all be said to be a Just and lawfull Magistrate but a deceiver and a tyrant for a people can do no more then put a Just and lawfull power in his hand and accordingly to cloath and possess him with the same but it still remains that God give him that grace of justness and uprightness to maintain preserve and accordingly to act by vertue of the same as Prov. 8. ver 15 16. By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice 16. By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Now though there may be some that pervert and wrest this Scripture to a proveing that Kings have their power immediatly from God yet the true meaning of it is that a King being lawfully chosen and set up by the people it 's God that gives him the Spirit of Government whereby he is in a capacity to exercise that function whereinto he is first installed by the people so that it does sufficiently prove what we were saying For when a people has brought a Magistrate to a Throne of Justice and accordingly put a sword of Justice in his hand if he from the wicked purpose of his heart shall immediatly leave and forsake that Throne of Justice and go to a Throne of iniquity whereby he shall fraime and establish mischief by a Law and change that sword of Justice into a sword of injustice by destroying that very interest which he should have maintained and become a murtherer of those whome he should have defended there is nothing more clear and certain then that he is no longer a Just and lawfull Magistrate Now this is to be known severall ways one way is this that so soon as he has received that Just and lawfull power from the people and findes himself well fixed therein if he shall immediatly declare his fals teracherous and sinistruous end in receiving that power and that he was only dissembleing with the people in all his vowes and ingagements that were upon him to them and accordingly formally renounce those very vowes and ingagements that were upon him to the people and declare himself an enemy to that very interest and people which he should have preserved and defended then it is most clear and certain that he is no Just and lawfull Magistrate The next way is this that though he should not do it in such a formall way yet he may do it practically as many have done who did not finde it their interest in a formall way to renounce their vowes and ingagements but upon the contrary have indeavoured what they could to blinde the eyes of the people by all fair promises whatsomever and yet nothing has bin more clear and certain then that their practice has bin quite contrary and that the people have found to their sad experience many a time as those two Queen
civill cases especially if there be no shunning it for wrathes sake and in such things one may still chuse the greater conveniency provided it be done salva innocentiâ as he who by an unjust sentence is appointed to pay 100 Crownes at a certain day or 200 if he pass it may justly and innocently save 100 by preventing that set day Fourthly That what is done in any of these cases doth no way acknowledge an usurped power it's justness or it's lawfulness but only which can not be denyed it's existance And moreover it is not persecuting Religion simply as it is Religion that unmagistrates a Magistrate and thereby makes him become a Tyrant but it is the persecuting of Religion as it is the right and priviledge of a Nation For those Magistrates who did then persecute Religion were not at all guilty of the breach of Faith and trust to the people because they were not under any ingagement to the people to defend the same in respect of Religions not being the right and priviledge of those Nations therefore the persecuting Religion did not in the least unmagistrate them but it is a far different thing where Religion is become the right and priviledge of the Nation and the Magistrate formally ingaged to maintain and defend the same Then persecuting Religion is a formall breach of his Faith and trust to the people and a robbing them of the best and choicest priviledges that they have upon which all their other priviledges have a dependency For there are some priviledges that a people can dispence with the want of but this is such a priviledge that the want thereof can not be dispenced with For if they should dispence with the want of Religion then they should dispence with the want of God also for by their forsakeing of Religion they forsake God also I know some will object aud say that the Magistrates may change their own Religion and yet not take from the people theirs and so not be guilty of the breach of Faith and trust to the people To which I answer that the Magistrates changeing from the Religion established forfeits ipso facto his right of Magistracy and when the Religion is condescended upon by the people and the Magistrate formally ingaged to maintain and defend the same his very changeing therefrom is a breach of his Faith and trust to the people and thereby he becomes a Traytour to God and his native Country But it 's like some may alleadge that a Magistrate may give a tolleration of Religion and thereby tollerat a false Religion To which I answer that if the Constitution of the Government does allow of the same and it be done by the consent of the people or their representatives the Magistrate is the more excusable but if it be done contrary to the expres Laws of the Land and without the consent of the people or their representatives the Magistrate in this case is no less then a thiefe and a robber and as there is a curse due to such as do remove the Landmarkes and that as to the civill and common Interest of men amongst themselves Deutr. 19. ver 14. and 27. ver 17. Proverb 22. ver 28. certainly there must be a great curse due to such as do remove the Landmarkes of the Land upon which the good peace and safety yea and glory of the Land does depend And as David understood it well to be his duty to pray that God would confound all such as did worship graven Images Psal 97. ver 7. Certainly it is the duty of the people of God to pray that God would confound such as do not only worship graven Images but establish the same in a Land where the Glory of God has shined brightly in his pure Ordinances and that contrary to the Laws of the Land and consent of the people And as there is a command by the Lord to stone to death such as should but secretely intice and lead the people away to Idolatry Deutr. 13. ver 6. and 17 ver 2 3 4 5 and 6. certainly this command must in a great measure reach him who does the same in such a publick manner But I know some will yet alleadge that NERO was not only a persecutor of Religion but he was otherwayes a persecutor and destroyer of his people and was really a Tyrant and an oppressour That he was once this I do acknowledge but that he was such at that time I will not so easily grant in respect of the good intertainement Paul had from him And those very Historians who do say that NERO became a Tyrant do also say that it was not in the first five years of his Reign but that for the first five years he Reigned as a Sanct so that the people said that a God was come down from Heaven to govern them But grant he had bin a Tyrant it was not Paules interest to call it in question being only a stranger and what he did might have bin done by him though he had fallen unto the hands of thieves and murtherers by the way For if a man should fall unto the hands of thieves and murtherers by the way and if they were going to take away his life if he knew any of them to have a greater power then another and to have some title of honour above others it were no sin in him to make application to him in the same manner by giveing those titles of honour that were any ways common and ordinar to him that thereby his generosity might be ingaged to show him mercy There are some I know will still object that the Kings of Israel though most wicked and in effect Tyrants and oppressours as Saul Zedekiah and others yet they did still remain Just and lawfull Magistrates untill the day of their death and the people gave obedience to them as such as also when the people of Israel were subdued by Nebuchadnezar though in effect a wicked Tyrant and oppressour yet the people are then injoyned to give obedience to him as their Magistrate in all things lawfull From what has bin sayd already it does clearly appear that when once a Magistrate does degenerate unto a Tyrant he can no more be accompted a Just and lawfull Magistrate then that man who committes all manner of Villany and knavery can be sayd to be an honest man from what he has bin formerly And as for Saul we finde that no sooner he had committed Rebellion against God but as soon the Prophete Samuel is sent to tell him that the Kingdome was rent out of his hand and accordingly David was anointed King in his place and in respect that the people did not performe their part in a formall divesting him of the power and establishing of David they were made sufficiently to smarte for it for he killed fourscore of the Priests of the Lord and when foresaken of the Lord went to the Divell for councill and when invaded by the enemy he and they