The Power of Kings from God A SERMON Preached in the CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SARUM The XXIX Day of June 1683. Upon Occasion of the DETECTION of the late Horrid Plot Against the LIFE of his Sacred Majesty By Paul Lathom Prebendary of that Church Rom. 13.2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation LONDON Printed by M. Clarke for Joanna Brome at the Sign of the Gun at the West End of St. Pauls 1683. A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church OF SARUM On PROV 8.15 By me Kings Reign THat the Person here speaking is Wisdom will be manifest to every man that peruseth the precedent Verses of this Chapter That by Wisdom so frequently mentioned up and down this Book of Proverbs is meant not Derivative and Imperfect Wisdom such as is in the Creatures but Wisdom in the Original or Fountain the infinite Wisdom of a God infinite in all excellencies and perfections or God infinitely wise is generally agreed by Divines And hereby it is sufficiently evident that the direct and immediate sense of the words of the Text is this By the infinite wisdom of the great God of heaven or by the all-wise the only-wise God Kings do reign over their Subjects That I may discourse distinctly upon these words it will be requisite to consider that Kings may be said to Reign by God in four respects 1. By the most wise Ordination and Appointment of the God of Wisdom Government in general and Monarchy in particular was established among men 2. By the infinite wisdom of God Kings are set over a People to accomplish those most wise and just ends which himself hath designed 3. By the powerful and gracious Providence of the all-wise God Kings are set upon their Thrones and upheld and continued there 4. By Authority immediately derived from the only-wise God the great King of Kings Monarchy is established and Kings do hold their Scepters First By the most wise Ordination and Appointment of the God of Wisdom Government in general and Monarchy in particular was established among men And here it will be worthy our consideration to trace the footsteps of the divine Wisdom in erecting Government in the World 1. The most wise and benign Creator of the world made man an Intelligent and Sociable Creature There is an inclination to society even among Creatures void of Reason The brute Beasts by natural Instinct do sort themselves into Flocks and Herds the Fowls of the Air do fly together in Companies yea the very Infects do Associate the Bees in swarms do dwell and work together Nature enclines them hereto as that which conduceth to the comfort and support of one another But Man that hath Reason more clearly discovering the necessity and sweetness of Society is more enclined thereunto as best knowing how to improve it and to make the best advantage of it 2. To encline men the more to Society the most wise God hath thought meet to leave men to a mutual dependence one upon another and a need of their conversing together It is not in vain that the Wise man saith Wo to him that is alone Eccl. 4.10 for God hath made no man capable of standing by himself The Philosopher therefore compares men to stones in an Arch which so necessarily depending upon each other to keep them from falling by this very dependence the whole and all its parts are supported In the Natural body no part is so great or eminent that it can say it stands in no need of those that are less considerable nor any part so small or inconsiderable but it is capable of being useful and helpful to the rest And in the Body Politick there is no person so great or high that he can live independent on others nor any person so mean and but he is low capable of doing service to the other parts of the Society And hereby our Creator hath precluded all thoughts of solitariness and rendred Society necessary 3. To answer this necessity which himself hath thought fit to entail upon man for the mutual help and support of his Kind he hath by his providence digested men into Societies Of these a Family though the least and most imperfect was the first that was constituted The necessity and usefulness of Society being better discovered by experience did encourage succeeding Generations to enlarge the Territories of their Societies And ten Families joyning together made a Tything as ten of these joyned made an Hundred till Society and Government by degrees were digested into more perfect Form But still from the beginning men never lived in Solitude 4. To form and manage these Societies the great Governour of the World hath erected a Government in each of them Indeed to shew us how inseparable Government is from Society we may observe some rude lineaments of it amongst the Brutes not to speak of the Lion being called the King of the Beasts and the Eagle of the Birds it is observable that in all Flocks and Herds there are some that bear rule and others that are subject But here certainly Dominion is founded in fear for as the strength and courage of one beast invites him to usurp rule over others so the weakness and cowardliness of others prompts them to be subject to the other But as Reason makes man more capable to see the advantages of Government and to manage it aright so it hath enclined him to set it up in every Society So that from the least that of a Family to the greatest that of a Kingdom still Government hath managed and supported all Societies 5. And the most wise and gracious Providence of God doth fit some men to rule and govern the rest and others to be subject and to submit to Superiors In the natural body each part is fitted for the place it holds and the Office it bears The Head seems made on purpose to stand in the most eminent part to preside over the rest the Hands wonderfully fitted for such employments as exercise either strength or activity the Feet as strongly suited to support the body and to help it in moving from place to place Hereby God hath both provided for the necessities of the whole and hath taken care that each Member should rest content in its Station and Office there being no more reason to tempt the Feet to envy or covet the office of the Head than there is for the Head to sneak or crowch down to the place of the Feet And in the body politick God hath fitted men for different Stations and Offices To some he hath given great and noble Spirits to design worthy things quickness of apprehension and soundness of judgment to guide them and dexterity and courage to put them forward in acting And these seem cut out by the hand of God himself for Government To others he hath given meaner spirits fixing upon lower designs shallower judgments fitted to yield to the conduct
it would supersede a great deal of pains to our Politick Wou'd Bees and prevent their Censures of Transactions which they neither can nor is it their duty to understand 7. When the mouths of men are so open in speaking evil of Dignities that they refuse to be stopt and plead that they have Justice and Truth on their side it will concern us to consider that the best and greatest of men are still but Men and cannot plead exemption from the mistakes and frailties that are common to Mankind And if men that move in lower spheres attended with less violent temptations do frequently err how much more may those that are placed in higher Orbs surrounded with weightier Cares and greater Difficulties commit mistakes and discover Humane Frailties Which should move us rather to assist them with our Prayers that they may not err than to suggest in sly and slanderous whispers to the Rabble that they are always erring 8. Charity towards Men as Brethren and Loyalty to our Prince as the Father of our Country should oblige us to pass the most favourable construction upon doubtful actions 'T is this alone can justifie an intermedling with private Affairs and therefore the Argument holds stronger that onely this can excuse if any thing can be said to excuse an inspection into publick Transactions Every Action says the Moralist hath two handles and if one Ear of the Cup be cold and the other hot he is foolishly rash that chooses by a wrong application of his hand to burn his fingers without necessity Thirdly Let what we have heard of the Original of Government and of the Power of Kings prevail with us to a ready chearful and conscientious Obedience and subjection to them The Jews could see that if they owned St. Johns Baptism to be from Heaven it would necessarily follow that they ought to have entertained him and believed his Doctrine Matth. 21.25 And seeing it is manifest that the Power of Kings is from God it follows that we ought to be obedient to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whose Vicegerent he is 1 Pet. 2.12 Seeing the Powers that be are ordained of God it follows that not onely he that rebelleth but even he that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves danmation And forasmuch as he is the Minister of God to thee for good therefore we must needs be subject not onely for wrath to escape punishment but even for conscience sake Rom. 13.1 2 4 5. For when men presume to think that the King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Peoples Creature deriving his Power as a Trust from them and when the fondness and novelty of the Notion by degrees hath flattered them into a fixed Opinion of it they will quickly implead his Authority as a Conditional and precarious thing and upon the least distaste will be tempted to meditate a Revocation of their Trust so that what does not jump with one mans Interest though it may advance anothers the King must answer for and what does not indulge the lusts of the Foolish though 't is highly acceptable to the Wise the King must account for so apt are Resty men to clamour against the settlements of their own security and happiness and promote the steps of their own ruine and confusion But when they seriously consider that the Sword is put into his hand by God himself and that he bears it not in vain that he is a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Rom. 13.1 this will oblige them to Obedience and Loyalty to their Earthly Sovereign out of a principle of Conscience toward the King of Heaven this will speak them at once both true Christians and good Subjects For pretended Saintship is consistent with Rebellion but true Christianity will be always attended with Loyalty This will clear the Profession of Religion from the Aspersion of Ungovernableness and set us forward to that Kingdom where he by whom Kings reign shall rule over all and be all in all To which Heavenly Kingdom God in his Mercy bring us all c. FINIS
of others and a dexterity for works only of lesser moment And these are fitted for subjection And hereby at once the Divine Wisdom is seen in fitting every man for the business of his station and his goodness in disposing all men to be content in the places wherein God hath set them 6. As Societies do differ in their numbers and other Circumstances so is there difference in the Formalities of the Governments set up amongst them In great and wealthy Societies of men Government doth use to be very August and Majestical in lesser and meaner Societies there is abatement of the dignity of the Rulers The little Monarch of a poor Cottage doth not expect that Attendance nor those Regalia which belong to the chief Magistrate of a Kingdom Nor will the little Magistrate of a Parish or Tything expect to follow such Maces and Swords as are usually born before the chief Magistrates of great Cities But allowing for the different state of Governours in different Societies there are these things observable in all Governments 1. That to command hath always been reckoned the Office and Privilege of the Superiour to obey the Part and Duty of the Inferiour These three sorts of actions distinguishing the three sorts of capacities wherein God hath set all men To petition or request being commonly the act of the Inferiour To covenant and capitulate being ordinarily the act of Equals To command or enjoyn belonging only to the Superiour and must be answered with obedience in the Inferiour 2. The making of Laws properly so called belongs peculiarly unto him that hath a right of Jurisdiction over others The School-men distinguish between potestas Dominationis and Jurisdictionis The former he hath who by any means doth bear rule over others such is the power of the Master of a Family over his Family The latter is peculiar to him that hath right to govern the Community And these two sorts of Authority do differ in three respects 1. In reference to the Matter they are exercised about the Master of a Family bearing rule over a Society less perfect as to the integral and constituent parts thereof than is a Kingdom 2. In respect of the End and Design of the Government The immediate end of the Master in ruling his Family is his own Profit or Wealth the good and benefit of the other Members of the other Members of the Family is but the Secondary or Mediate end But as to the Power of Jurisdiction the end of that is quite different 3. As to the effectual Administration of each Power The Masters power in his Family extends no further than to urge obedience to his commands by corporal Punishments or dismission from his family But the Prince hath Power to attend his word of command power over the Estate the Liberty and Life of his Subjects 3. The infinite wisdom of the God of Order hath not only appointed that one man should be governed by another but amongst Governours themselves hath established Order that some should be Superiour and others subordinate to them Thus the lesser streams are accountable to the greater and eminent Rivers which receive and comprehend all these little accessions in the vastness of their Chanels And so among those that govern the earth hath God appointed some that should be subordinate and others that should be superiour in Authority 4. And he that in Nature allows of no infinite proceeding hath in Government ordered it so that this subordination and superiority should not be in infinitum but that one should be supreme unto whom all the rest should be subject and to whom they should give an account of the Administration of their Offices Him St. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supreme 1 Pet. 2.13 St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The higher Power Rom. 13.1 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him that is eminently in Authority 1 Tim. 2.2 Whereas concerning inferiour Magistrates they are said to receive their power from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sent by him 1 Pet. 2.13 And that unto this Supreme Power belongs the Authority both of giving life and motion to Laws may appear by those expressions so familiar in Scripture When the Ruler of the People is foretold to spring from the Loins of Judah the Scepter and the Lawgiver are joyned together Gen. 49.10 Moses tho we do not read of his being formally a King adorned with a Crown and Scepter yet when he is called the Lawgiver of the People he is also called King in Jeshurun Deut. 33.4 5. When Jacobs Prophesie was accomplished and the Throne of Israel established in the Tribe of Judah Judah is then called a Lawgiver Psal 60.10 And in my Text the reigning of Kings and their decreeing of Justice are joyned together And it being familiar with Solomon among his Proverbs to make the later expression exegetical of the former this shews us that it is the Prerogative of Kings to decree and make Laws Yea in the New Testament we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Royal Law Jam. 2.8 It will not be necessary to add what might be spoken for the confirmation of this truth from Philosophers Historians or men skilful in Laws For I take it to be an established truth that as Government in general is Gods Ordinance so the subordination of all inferiour Governours to one Supreme and the power of the supreme Governour alone to put life into Laws is likewise from the appointment of the all-wise the only-wise God the great Governour of the World Secondly By me Kings Reign that is By the infinite wisdom of God Kings are set over a People to accomplish those most wise and just ends which himself hath designed The Wisdom and Power of the Creator and Preserver of all things hath made nothing in vain but hath designed every Creature for some work worthy of its nature and hath subjected all other ends and actions to that great end of serving his own good will and pleasure And in so noble a contrivance as Government in Society the most wise God doth design the promoting of great and admirable ends Princes being chief workers with the divine Will and Prouidence for bringing to pass what the great Ruler of the World will have accomplished And this generally for the singular good and benefit of the Community over which they preside 1. As every Creature of God is good so this of Government amongst men doth generally tend to their great benefit and advantage And Kings as the principal Persons concerned in the Government are of so great advantage to the People that Davids Subjects when loyally minded knew not what measure to take of his worth but estimate him as better worth than ten thousands of them 2 Sam. 18.3 And tho the advantages which accrue to a People from a wise and good Prince are very many yet these four are most remarkable 1. The restraining and suppressing of wickedness 1 Pet. 2.13 which as it is an offence to the
pure and jealous eyes of Almighty God so both Prince and People are bound by that love they owe to God to delight to see it suppressed As it tends to bring down Gods Judgments upon a Nation so it promotes the interest of the Community to root it out and thereby to prevent or remove the Calamity As it corrupts the Morals of men so 't is for the honour and interest of all that it be extirpated that the People may be sound and healthy in their Souls and Princes have the glory of reigning over a vertuous people And as divers sorts of vices do naturally tend to disturb the peace and to hinder the welfare of the Nation so it is for the common good that this weed be cut down by the Sword of Justice 2. Preserving of Peace among men and securing each mans Liberty and Property unto him If we were here so free from the dominion of of Passions and inordinate Affections as we hope to be hereafter when we come to Heaven there would then be little need of the Magistrates Power or Office But the activeness of Interest and the unruliness of Passion produce such exorbitancies among men that if it were not for the Rods and the Axes of the Magistrate men would be too prone to live upon Earth as the Fishes in the Sea where the less are a prey to the greater The Law therefore was made for the lawless and the Magistrate bears not the Sword in vain but brings the very Sons of Belial to endure a Yoke and to the great good of the people takes care that the Kings peace be preserved 3. Stirring up the people and encouraging them to Industry Sloth and Vice and Poverty and Ruine are so nearly related that one doth almost unavoidably follow upon the other It is therefore for the interest and security of a People that the Prince doth with the Sword of Justice cut off those Vices that hinder men from being ingenious and industrious and by providing for their peaceable and quiet enjoying the fruit of their labours doth encourage them to industry by convincing them that their labour will not be thrown away And this tends at once to keep people orderly employed and thereby prevents their doing worse and it sharpens their intellectuals which are commonly dulled and rusted by sloth and desuetude and withal it brings Riches and Wealth as its attendant 4. Advancing the Interest and Honour of the Nation by forein Correspondencies and Leagues God Almighty hath so disposed of the good things of this World that what abounds in one place is wanted in another And if Commerce were not maintained with Forein Nations many of Gods good Creatures would be depretiated and disesteemed This forein Trade therefore lays a foundation of Wealth and Plenty in a Nation And without publick correspondence between the Kings of those Nations whose Subjects have Commerce together this Trade could not be allowed nor secured to them For what Nation doth ever make Capitulations of Peace or Trade with the Common People of another Country The Correspondence and agreement is with the Prince and not the Multitude And this maintains the Honour of that Nation and secures its interest in trading to the great enriching of a Land These are some of those blessings which a People reap by the Government of a good King assigned by the King of Kings to promote these good ends And these are some of those advantages which we in particular have so long enjoyed under the happy Reign of a gracious wise and Christian King namely by promoting those wise and just Ends which God himself hath designed which was the second branch of my Discourse Thirdly by the powerful and gracious providence of the All-wise God Kings are set upon their Thrones and upheld and continued there That there is 1. A special hand of divine providence seen in setting Kings in their Thrones is very evident Psal 75.6 7. Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is the Judg he putteth down one and setteth up another He is said to have given Nebuchadnezzar a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory Dan. 2.37 And his hand is more especially seen in preserving the rights of those that have a just title to a Crown As in respect of our gracious King in particular Indeed he suffered him for a time to know affliction before he advanc'd him to glory as he dealt with David long since He suffered his Throne to be invaded and those that had killed to take possession For the iniquities of the Land many were the Princes thereof Prov. 28.2 But he was not long wanting to a righteous cause He suffered not the Hypocrite long to reign that the People might not be too much ensnared Job 34.30 And how wonderful were the workings of his Providence both in preserving the sacred person of our gracious King as under his own wings until the Tyranny of the wicked was overpast and also in his happy and peaceable Restauration at last unto the Throne of his Forefathers this generation I hope will never forget and generations to come will be informed of it We must needs say this was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes and it is by him that our King reigneth 2. And as eminently is the hand of divine Providence seen in upholding and continuing Kings upon their Thrones as Kings are for the praise of them that do well and such need not to fear the Power for they shall have praise of the same so are they a terrour to evil doers for they know that the sword is not born in vain and of this sort are a great part of mankind who together with those that ambitiously aspire to be catching the Sword out of the Prince's hand do create much trouble to the reign and hazard to the life especially of a Good and Religious King and as it may be said of all men that we are encompassed with so many dangers daily that without God's good Providence upholding us we should not be able to subsist one moment In him we all live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 so it may more especially said of Princes that their Office exposeth them to so many dangers that without great help from God they could not escape And certainly as Kings are great Ministers of the Divine Providence and eminently useful to promote the Glory of God and the Good of the People so the same Providence doth concern it self more especially about the protection and preservation of them If it may be supposed that the Stars have influence upon all men for the lengthning or shortning their lives certainly stars of the greatest magnitude do attend Kings with their eminent influences to protect their persons and prolong their reigns How remarkably was this seen in preserving that wise and pious Princess Q. Elizabeth so that no weapon formed against her could prosper she appeared to be the
Favourite of Heaven in her life and at last dyed in Peace and Honour in a good old age after a long and glorious reign belov'd by all good men while she lived and lamented by them at her death Did not the same Providence watch over her wise and peaceable successor delivering him from many attempts and particularly the most horrid that ever the Sun saw discovered And blessed be God he is still the same to our present Monarch protecting him from the rage of those that are his Enemies on both hands because he strongly maintains that Truth that is opposed by them both How many experiences hath God given us of discovering and disappointing their wicked Plots and Conspiracies against him and especially at this time in particular This gives us advantage to strengthen our Faith in the belief of God's care of our King and in him of us this encourageth us to hope and pray that no Treason formed against him may prosper that his Enemies of all sorts may be cloathed with shame but that upon himself his Crown may long and happily flourish and that after many and many years spent in a peaceable and glorious reign he may at last in peace exchange his corruptible for an incorruptible Crown even so Amen Fourthly by Authority immediately derived from the only wise God the great King of Kings Monarchy is established and Kings do hold their Scepters And that I may discourse upon this distinctly to the clearing of the truth to the confirmation of those that own it and to the conviction of gain-sayers I shall propose these four Questions 1. Whether Monarchy be that particular form of Government which God hath appointed and doth approve or whether there may not be another form of Government that may be competitor with it for desirableness or rather preferred before it 2. Whether Kings have their Power immediately from God or whether it be not conferred upon them by the People 3. Whether supposing that the People did confer the Power upon the Prince in the first institution of Monarchy it doth now lie in the Power of the People to revoke it 4. Whether the Power of Kings be so immediately subject unto God that no earthly Power can call the King to an account for the administration of the Government First Whether Monarchy be that particular form of Government which God appointed and doth approve or whether there be not other forms of Government for example a Democracy that may be commended equally with it or rather preferred before it I move this Question because we are fallen into an unhappy Age when men do assume to themselves if not a liberty of Prophecying or Conjecturing what form of Government will come next upon the stage and act its part amongst us yet at least a liberty of arguing pro and con making it a moot case whether Monarchy be the Government that God approves and whether the Nation might not be as happy or more under a Republick than a Monarchy In order to the stating of this Point I lay down these Assertions 1. It is certain that Monarchy is the most ancient Government of Mankind He that epitomized Trogus an ancient Writer tells us that Principio rerum gentium civitatum imperium penes reges erat And if in the search of Histories Sacred or Prophane there be no Footsteps of Democracy in the eldest Times then certainly a Republick is an Innovation And Innovations in the State are as dangerous as in the Church And if our Saviour convicted Practices introduced in later Ages by calling them back to the Original of things telling them that in the beginning it was not so Matth. 19.8 then sure I think the Antiquity of this Form pleads much for the preference of Monarchy 2. It is the Government that God set up over his own People of old I do not say that we are absolutely bound to the Jewish Model of Government or Laws any further than the common equity or benefit thereof doth oblige us But we may reasonably conclude that what Form of Government the infinite wisdom of God did know to be best that his infinite goodness would move him to establish amongst that People whom he had chosen out of all the Nations of the Earth to be unto him a Peculiar People Deut. 14.2 Now Monarchical Government was that which he set up among the Jews Even Moses was a Monarch and King in Jeshurun Deut. 33.5 Joshua and the rest of the Judges or Dukes were virtually though not formally Kings After them followed those that bore the Name and State of Kings but still their Government was Monarchical which is a great argument for its excellency 3. We read of no other Form of Government in Scripture but Monarchy This Argument is chiefly ad homines those that are ready so pertinaciously to stick to that Principle that the holy Scripture is a sufficient Rule in all things appertaining to Faith and Manners that they are ready to think an argument concluding negatively ab hâc authoritate to be firm and cogent that press us so much with the prohibition of adding to or diminishing from the Word of God and urge the great Curse to deter us these I hope will accept of what consequences do necessarily follow from those premisses And for as much as no other Form of Civil Government but Monarchical is found in Scripture therefore to attempt to set up another must be either adding to that Word or detracting from it or both And this Argument must hold strongly amongst all men of that persuasion 4. Monarchy doth most nearly resemble the Power and Authority of God the great King of Kings Originals give Pattern to all Copies and Copies must be corrected by them Now the Power of God as the Governour of the World is the Original and Pattern of all Government And consequently the nearer any Form comes to the resembling of his Government the better it is and the further off the worse But the great God of Heaven rules as a Sovereign Monarch whose Vicegerents all earthly Rulers are and to whom they must give an account And therefore Monarchical Government among men doth come nearest to this Pattern and consequently must be owned as the best Form 5. Monarchical Government is every way qualified to answer the ends of Government most advantagiously and therefore it is the best The ends of Government are making and executing Laws and protecting the People Now what way so expeditious for the making of Laws as when the Royal Assent breaths life into them when they are drawn up by the Counsels of many wise men and receive their Stamp of Authority from One One the Supreme Moderator and Adjustor of all different Interests and Opinions What Method so Uniform in the Execution of the Laws as when all Proceedings run in the Name of One and the same sacred Person What means so expedient to protect the People as when the Sword is in the hand of a Man that
to give check to the Senate another while to Monarchy when they chose Dictators which becoming by degrees perpetual at last ended in Monarchy again The Venetians are rather to be esteemed to be an Aristocracy than a Democracy Our Neighbours of the United Provinces seem to have mixed Aristocracy with their Democracy And if we remember the proceedings of our own Nation the pretended Commonwealth did one while degenerate to Monarchy in the time of the Usurper another while to Anarchy in the time when the Rota invented so many new Forms of Government No settlement could be till God was pleased to restore us to the Old Foundation The result of all which will be to weigh things in an even balance and to judge which is most agreeable to Gods Institution and tending to the Good of the People Monarchy or any other Form of Government Second Question Whether Kings have their Power immediately from God or whether it be conferred upon them by the People The reason of moving this Question is because it is become the Subject of common Discourse in our days And an Author that wrote a bad Post-script to a good Letter hath seemed to assert the Power of the King as intrusted to him by the People A person who if he had been as well acquainted with Divines as Lawyers might have known the substance of his Arguments to have been prevented about 35 years before they were produced in the excellent Lectures of a Learned Professor who determined that in the Chair which few men but himself durst to have done in those days Or if he did consider the Consequences that would be deducible from such a Supposition Honesty and Loyalty should have kept him from maintaining it In answer to the Question I affirm the first part that Kings have their Authority derived immediately from God And deny the later that it is conferred upon them as a Trust by the People And here 1. Let us consider what Titles the Scripture gives to Kings They are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers of God therefore not of Men Rom. 12.4 6. the Powers that be are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained of God therefore not of Men. v. 1. for the Question concerning St. Johns Baptism was it from Heaven or of Men Mat. 21.25 seems to put this upon an Issue Besides they are called Elohim Earthly Gods Psal 82.6 And what People can make their own Gods without palpable Idolatry 2. When God first subjected his own People Israel to the Government of Kings the People had nothing to do in conferring the Power Moses was made their Ruler immediately by God So Joshua and the Judges for so long the Theocracy did continue visible among them When the People desired a King with Formality God is not angry with them simply for desiring a King for he had foretold their having a King and given him directions for his Government Deut. 17. but for some irregularities in their manner of desiring him But how was he chosen Not by the People but by Lot 1 Sam. 10.20 21. the determination whereof is from the Lord Prov. 16.33 no hand of the People in choosing him David was made King by Gods immediate choice 1 Sam. 16.1 Here the Theocracy seems to end Afterward the Government did descend by Succession And those that pretend directions from the Scripture in every thing will be at a loss where to find directions there for the People to confer Power upon their Prince 3. We challenge any man from prophane Histories to shew us any Footsteps of such beginnings of Monarchy when the People did entrust this Power to their Kings If they acknowledge that their History fails them let not also Reason fail them let not Loyalty fail them let not Conscience fail them let them have something more than bold surmises or else not attempt to build a supposition of such dangerous consequence upon the meer strength of Imagination 4. If therefore they persist and urge us to shew how Monarchy first came to subject men to Obedience I think the History of the Bible will give us light enough That Patriarchal Government or the Ruling of the Father or Eldest of the Family over the rest was the first Form of Government in the World I think is generally owned Now when the Families increased the Subjects multiplied and by insensible degrees the Patriarchal Government seems to have setled into that Government of the Reguli or Small Kings which was upon the matter the same When Joshua conquered the Land of Canaan which is less in extent than the Kingdom of England alone he found and subdued thirty one Kings Josh 12.24 And it seems this was the least Jurisdiction of their Reguli For after him Judg. 1.7 Adonibezek when he was conquered doth own that he kept Seventy Reguli in barbarous servitude under him And some hundred of years after the King of Syria no great Prince had thirty two Kings at once in his Army 1 Reg. 20.1 So that it seems their Territories and Power were then surely but an inconsiderable Alteration of Paternal Government and that which by degrees introduced greater Monarchies 5. If we further proceed to take a view of all the ways whereby Princes ascend to the Throne it will appear they are but few and that in none of these the People confer the power on the King 1. By Descent or Succession as in England Now who can say that the People here confer the power If they plead that at the Kings Coronation the Consent of the People is demanded It is evident that the King is King to all intents and purposes before his Coronation Besides neither are all the People summoned nor any considerable part of them appear at a Coronation And if then there should be any surly Sheba that should reject his Prince that would not hinder the Coronation So that this is but barely a thing of Course and doth not derive the Kings power from the People at all 2. Of those that attain a Crown by Conquest no man can say they expect or receive the explicit Consent of the People though a tacite consequential Consent may be argued in their yielding him obedience 3. As for those that surprize a Throne by Fraud though they may impose upon the People so as to gain a Formal Consent yet is there no real Consent in those that are thus cajol'd 4. There are some that come to a Crown by Election And here our Male-contents think they are secure that they derive their power from the People But we must consider the great difference that is betwixt designing the Person and conferring the Power The former is from them that choose him the later by no means The Dean and Chapter of a Cathedral by the Kings leave choose a Bishop sede vacante this Choice designs the Person but doth not confer the power which is afterward given him in his Consecration The Aldermen and Commons of a City do yearly
choose their Mayor this choice doth indeed design the Person but not confer the Power which descends by virtue of the Kings Charter So when the Seven Electors choose an Emperour of Germany or those that usually choose a King in Poland they onely design the Person his power is not from them but immediately from God The third Question Whether supposing that the People did confer the Power upon the Prince in the First Institution of Monarchy it doth now lie in the Power of the People to revoke it This Question seems needful to be handled not only because in the late days of Rebellion it was maintained but because it may be feared that those Seeds are not yet quite rooted out especially seeing the holding the Kings Power to be a Trust committed to him by the People doth seem to design to prove it revokable In Answer hereto 1. I have already shewed that the Supposition which is the Foundation of this that the People confer the Power upon the Prince is false and consequently the Superstructure that is reared upon it must fall of course 2. Supposing but not granting the Princes power to be conferred by the People yet the Revokableness of it will not follow For 1. Both Law and Reason say that what is Absolutely conferred in any Compact or Donation is not to be revoked Against the reasonableness whereof I cannot see what can be alledged 2. Instances in other Cases of like Nature do shew the truth of this When the Dean and Chapter have chosen their Bishop for their Ordinary or the Aldermen and Commons of a City have chosen a Mayor to govern them it doth not lie in either of them afterward to recal the Exercise of this power or to reassume the Trust into their own hands When the Freeholders of a County have chosen their Knights to represent them it will not afterward lie in their power to recall this trust They might have forborn to commit the Trust but being committed they cannot re-call it The same is applicable to the Case in hand if the supposition were true which yet is not to be granted The Fourth Question Whether the Power of Kings be so immediately subordinate to God and depending upon him that no earthly Power whatsoever can call them to account for the administration of their Government and discharge of their Trust The accountableness of Princes to the People in their Representatives hath passed for currant doctrine in the days of imprisoning our late Sovereign That Reason and Conscience may be satisfied of the falseness and dangerousness of such affections I shall offer what follows to prove that God Almighty is the onely Ruler of Princes and that to him onely they owe their Accounts 1. In Reason it is a contradiction after we have owned the King to be Supreme in all Causes and over all Persons both Ecclesiastical and Civil afterwards to affirm that there is any other Power that hath Right to call him to an account and consequently is in that respect his Superiour That we have owned the King as Supreme I suppose all men will confess and the Apostle St. Peter calls him so 1 Pet. 2.13 And that his accountableness to any other on Earth would render those persons that may demand his account eo nomine Superiour to him is grounded upon that known Maxim Par in parem non habet potestatem If therefore the King be Supreme and yet hath others on Earth that are Superiour to him then is he Supreme and not Supreme a palpable contradiction both branches whereof cannot be true Now the Kings Supremacy both the Law hath setled and every good Subject hath owned and therefore must disown the Supremacy of the People either Collectively or in their Representatives as a spurious off-spring descended from Salus populi and Universis minor 2. If we consult the Scriptures when David had committed those two great sins of Adultery and Murder either of which singly was Capital by the Jewish Laws yet do we not find him called to account for them but onely by the great King of Kings If any man here will reply in the Country Proverb of the Author of Julian the Apostate that the People would if they could have called David to an account and punished him too but that David had the Sword as well as Scepter and therefore was above their reach I answer there was then a Sanhedrim among the Jews whose Authority was as venerable as that of a Parliament and yet we neither find them challenging an account of Davids Actions nor God who then made familiar converse with men either summoning the King to submit himself to a Legal Trial or stirring up the Sanhedrim or the Princes of the Tribes to call him to account by judicial Process No the Onely Ruler of Princes takes the matter into his own hands sends his Prophet to him summons him before himself as his Judge brings him to Repentance accepts his Confession and remits his Trespass as to the Eternal Punishment And David appears very sensible of his being subordinate and accountable to God onely when in his most penitent Confession he looks up wholly unto him Against thee thee onely have I sinned Psal 51.3 If therefore we own the Scriptures for our Guide in all doubtful and important points here is an instance to guide us in a matter of this great and weighty moment 3. To hold a Power in the People to call the Prince to account for the administration of his Government is most highly inconsistent with the Law of Nature and all the Reason and Conscience imaginable For it makes the People at once the Complainants the Witnesses the Jury and the Judge For when we speak of the King and the People they are but two Parties If therefore the King must be Impleaded who must be the Complainants and Prosecutors the People Who Witnesses the People Who must be the Jury to enquire of Matter of Fact the People Who must be the Judge to determine whether he hath broken a Law and be obnoxious to punishment the People At last when Sentence is passed upon him who must execute it still the People A thing never heard of in any Judicial Proceedings even in the most barbarous Nations and that which must needs preclude the doing of Justice when Passion or Interest in the Mobile would carry all things according to their own Lusts and Humours 4. The Judgments of God have dogged at the heels in all Ages those Subjects that have risen up in Rebellion against their lawful Kings and either secretly or openly taken away their lives Had Zimri peace who slew his Master 2 Reg. 9.31 And how Gods Justice hath become the Avenger of Bloud and pursued at the heels those who had killed and taken possession and after they had boasted of their wickedness for several years together and some of them desired it might be written on their Tombs Here lies one of the late Kings Judges at last brought
them to condign punishment This I hope will not be forgotten in this generation and those that shall succeed I doubt not will be made sensible of it that all men may hear and fear amd do no more so presumptuously If we at last proceed to reflect upon what hath been spoken we may make improvement of it three ways First If Kings have their power from God and are not accountable to any person or persons on Earth for the administration thereof then it is a great sin to arraign the Wisdom and the Justice of the Kings proceedings in the little Conventions of men of unsanctified hearts unhallowed lives and prophane mouths A Sin which had I the voice of Stentor I could not declaim loudly enough against in this Age when many make it either a sign of Grace or a token of Wisdom or at least an argument of good Affections to the Publick to slander the Foot-steps of Gods Anointed and as if they would investigate their Pedegree from Corah and his Complices do proceed by rising up against Moses and Aaron reproaching both Prince and Priest as if they took too much upon them If God Almighty be the onely Ruler of Princes and neither the People Collectively nor Representatively have power to censure the Actions of a King then certainly the Individuals or little Knots of the Populacy have much less power to censure his proceedings If that which without Christning gave it self the Unchristian name of an High Court of Justice had no power to censure and condemn a King though they bore before them pretences of Justice how much less is it lawful for them that do not in the least pretend to be a Court of Judicature to arraign and condemn both his Majesties Actions and Intentions If sin be aggravated by Ingratitude in him that commits it and in the want of advantage to be proposed in doing amiss then certainly this sin is doubly aggravated as being the highest ingratitude to a Prince that hath been so merciful and obliging and committed without the least probability of any advantage to follow such discourses If he that stept out of his Rank without allowance of his Officer to fight an Enemy though he killed him was condemned for deserting his place what censure can be great enough for those that desert their Ranks and Stations not to fight an Enemy but to encounter their lawful Sovereign If a scandal cast upon a private person that damnifies him in his Profession be censurable in Law what censures do they deserve that cast scandals without fear or shame upon the greatest of men and thereby lessen the affections of his Subjects and render his Throne uneasie to him Secondly Let the Original of Kingly power teach us out of Conscience toward God to stand in the defence of our King against all the Aspersions that are cast upon him to alienate the affections of his good Subjects from him He that is not against him ought to be on his side And to move us all hereto 1. Let us consider the evil Root from whence these bitter Fruits do spring even a Malignant and Disloyal Spirit Had Ham been so dutiful as his other Brothers he would have covered in stead of shewing his Fathers nakedness and the curse that was bequeathed to him seems grounded upon his evil Intention So that as well may a man believe that person that rails at him behind his back and censures all his disputable Actions to be his Friend as believe these persons to be good Subjects 2. We should further consider the ill Consequences of such Discourses Every wise man ought to consider the tendency of his words and actions And he that foresees evil consequences and doth not endeavour to prevent them cannot be reckoned either Friend or honest man And if these discourses do conclude that their thinking that to be true which they speak of the King and his Government will alienate their own Affections from him then ought they not to vent them in discourse to others which must also tend to alienate their affections and duty from him 3. It would be fit to recollect what happiness we and the whole Nation have so long enjoyed under his Majesties happy Reign Some men are like that sort of Insects which pass over the sweet Flowers in a Garden to fix upon Excrement in a Dunghil They overlook all that Peace and Plenty that flourishing of the Church which we have tasted since the Kings happy Restauration and if they can find any real or fancied oversight in those that are Ministers of State they set themselves to censure that and expose it to others If the Nation hath flourished in 23 years past more than in any the like period of time then it may be suspected to be a Plethory arising from Peace and Plenty that makes men so sick and so apt to disgorge themselves in these unsavoury Belches 4. And withal let us reflect upon the judgments of God that have overtaken the Enemies of our King and his Fathers Throne The righteous God hath both shewed that his Providence takes a special care of the safety of Princes and that he is immediately concerned to avenge their Bloud Unto those that had shed the Royal Bloud God kept silence for a while and they were ready to think him altogether such an one as themselves a Partner if not the Principal in that Fact But in his good time he did reprove them and set before them the things that they had done O consider this and forget not God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 5. It would greatly help to govern mens Tongues if they did with greater wariness look to their Ears For what is over-greedily drank in at the Ear is commonly vomitted out at the Mouth as hastily If we consult the old Rule it will tell us that Fame hath for many Ages been branded with the infamous Character of Common Liar and Incendiary If we consult Experience it will tell us how often it hath imposed upon us misreports and false representations of things And if we consult Reason it will tell us that Reports do and must savour of the Cask from whence they are drawn and we cannot so well know how to judge of what is spoken as by taking due measures of him that speaks it Which if it were duly improved it would put us upon weighing or slighting bare Reports and excuse our tongues from many transgressions 6. Both Modesty and Prudence should teach us not to presume that we see into the depth of the Proceedings of our Governours It is better for us thankfully to make use of the Light and Heat and Influences of the Sun than to stand gazing onely upon the Course of its Motion It is better to comfort our selves in the practical Use of a piece of Clockwork than to puzle our heads with speculative inquiries how and why and what does move the Hand And if these things were duly considered