Scriptures as is plain by the Tragedy of Abel and the Murtherous minde of Lamech And what may be meant by the Giants who were mighty men and in the old time men of renown but such as Thucydides writes of who by force and rapine did snatch and catch what they could from others holding it an honour and no disgrace so it was Valiantly done all which continually happened before the setlement of a Society by a Supreame Governor how then was it possible for such a discordant multitude of people solemnly to concurre or unanimously to consent in the Election and approbation of a Supreame Magistrate which indeed at that time was bellua multorum Capitum and though God for the special care he had of the People of Israel did sometime after a special manner choose their King whom the people afterwards did accept and approve yet cannot this Impostor find any Place or Text in the Scripture where any Power or Commission is given to the people to govern themselves or choose themselves a Governor or to alter the manners of Governement at their pleasure though this Impostor would obtortâ gula wrest the Text of Deut. 17.14 15. to that purpose If thou say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations are about me Thou shalt make a King over thee such as the Lord thy God shal choose so as notwithstanding their saying the choise and nomination of their King was to proceed from God and therefore according to that prediction when the people did ask a King 1 Sam. 6.5 and that Samuel would make them a King to Judge them like other Nations he shewed them Saul saying See you him whom the Lord hath chosen 1 Sam. 6.5 which the people acknowledged showting and saying God save the King And in that he saith it is plain in that place that God gives the people the choise of their King for there he instructs them whom they shall choose one of the midst of their Brethren This is otherwise for he there saith not they shall choose a King from among their Brethren but they shall make a King over them 1 Sam. 10.1 from among thy Brethren whom the Lord God shall choose that is to say shall approve and confirme Gods choise So Saul was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel but was made that is confirmed King by all the people in Gilgal so David was chosen by God and anointed by the same Prophet but was afterwards confirmed by the people of Juda and the Elders of Israel 1 Sam. 16.2.14 And if the peoples consent were alone sufficient then was Gods choice in vain but I hope this Impostor will not be so vain in this as in other things he is to make Gods Election and choice vain to please the people for Deus natura nil faciunt frustra God and nature do nothing in vain Much more he saith he could say if it were a lesse Manifest truth to wit for the Election of the people but how can it be a Manifest truth is so absonant from reason for it is averse from reason that men who are free by nature should by free Elections expose themselves to imperious subjection without fear or force Oratio ad Caesarem for by nature every one asperrime Rectorem patitur un willingly and stubbornly endureth a Ruler especially to have the Power of life and death over him as every Ruler hath whereupon Patricius inferreth this conclusion Nulla gens sine aliquo metu De rep F. 6. vel vi supremo Magistratui se subjecit and therefore as Bodin saith Aristotle is deceived in supposing that Kings where chosen by the suffrages of the people fallit enim Aristoteles saith he Bodin de repub l. 2. c. 2. qui aureum illud genus hominum Fabalis Poetarum quam ipsa re illustrius Reges Heroas suffragio creasse prodidit Aristotle deceiveth in that he sheweth that the people who lived in the Golden Age did create their Heroique Kings by suffrages which is more Illustrious by Poetical Figments then by real truths for it is perspicuous that the first Kingdom and Royalty was constituted by Nimrod whom the Sacred Letters call a mighty Hunter because by force he gained his Kingdom for before his age Liberty was equal to all and he was the first that compelled Free men to subjection and therefore is called Nimrodus In. Gen. 10. that is Dominus metuendus a terrible Lord and as Tostatus was the first King and Monarch because we read of none in Holy Scriptures Reigned before him But against this I surmise this Impostor will object who goeth about to make all Princes Tyrants in Titulo whose Power is not founded on popular Election or consent that Nimrod was a Tyrant because he was a mighty Hunter Populosque vi armis Sceptro subjecit and subjected the people by force and Armes to his Scepter but on the contrary he is said to be a mighty Hunter before the Lord because as Chrysostome saith Cajus in Arist Fo. 3. c. 10. Cornelius de lapide Melchior Canus Aben Ezra in 10. Gen. Barcl contrae Monarch F. 281. Acq. sum pa. 1. q. 63. Ar. 4. Syntag. Ic. l. 18. c. 18. c. 12. robur acceperat à Domino he had received his strength from the Lord by which he subdued the people that lived in that age and that he nutu beneplacito Dei by the impulse good pleasure of God had forced the barbarous and rude people unto a Civil life and stoutly ruled them by the Power of the Sword as many Commentators on that place observe so as if this Impostor will make Nimrod a Tyrant he must make the will and power of God Tyranny by which he obtained his Royalty for as Aquinas effectus semper convertitur in suum principium the effect is alwayes converted into his principle It is clear therefore that if we respect the foundation of Governement it is not Election or consent of the people as this Impostor would have it but force and Armes which first raised and established it which is also confirmed by Judicions Tholosanus primus vi constituit imperium alii partim successione alii Electione facti sunt reges The first by force constituted a Kingdom others were partly by succession and partly by Election made Kings Election then hath no priviledge in a Commonwealth which was first constituted by force neither in a setled Commonwealth hath it any power where succession reigneth which is almost universal and where it hath any vigor it is but little and in part for many Princes are and have been chosen by some part of the people but by the whole or major part none at all but most have been by the nobility Gentlemen and Princes of the blood as in Poland Denmark Swethland and Germany and not by any collective or representative body of a Nation whence this Impostor may learn if he scorn not instruction
that all just Power of Government is not founded upon those two bases of Gods immediate appointment or the peoples consent as he would have it but datur tertium to wit Warre and Victory which he might have learned of the ancient Father Tertullian Imperia armis quaeri Apoll. Resp ad Apollo Jur. F. 124. Victoriis propagari that Empires are purthased by Armes and pronagated by Victories or else of his new Master Suares Solent iâ—terdum provinciae seu populi liberi involuntarie subjici regibus per bellum Provinces and free people are unwillingly sometimes made subject by Warre but this hapneth to be done justly or injustly when therefore Warre hath a just Title the people is justly deprived of the power they had and the Victor that prevaileth against them hath true Right and Dominion over them For jus est in Armis there is Right in Armes and it is the most potent Right which the Roman Civilian Cicero was at the last forced to confesse Ep. ad Atticum Nullum Jus plus potest quam arma ut enim quisque potentissimus est it a justissime dicere facere omnia videtur no Law hath more power then Armes for as every one is more potent so doth he seem to say and do all things most justly By this it is perspicuous that there are three bases of all just power of Government the immediate appointment of God Warre and Victory and the Election and consent of the people And therefore this Impostor shall give me leave to inferre his conclusion that whosoever doth arrogate to himself that power or any part of it and cannot produce any of these three Titles is not a Ruler but a Tyrant And now let this Impostor dare to ask his Highness Quis te constituit Principem Judicem super nos who made the Prince and Judge over us and he shall be fully answered to wit that he was made a Prince and Judge over us by the immediate appointment of God by the Right of Warre and by the consent of the people which two Titles dimane also from the Divine providence as shall be in the sequel showed but first of the immediate appointment of God The power of all Kings Princes and Rulers immediately proceeds from God though not by his special revelation which was onely incident to some of the Kings of Israel Rom. 13.1 yet by particular designation which is common to all and is a matter of Faith if we will believe St. Paul who saith There is no power but of God which he useth as a reason to perswade due obedience to the Prince and that God is the immediate Dispensator of that power he proveth by the Authority God hath given to a Prince to revenge and execute wrath upon him that doth evil Ib. 2.4 by depriving him of life if it be requisite as he saith that he beareth not the Sword in vain which is onely in the gift and power of God who is Dominus vitae necis the Lord of life and death for no man hath power to take away his own life without the guilt of being a Murderer and therefore are Princes called by the Prince of Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Son and Schollers and by a more Divine Poet Homer Gods Dixi quod dii estis I have said you are Gods because they immediately have their power from God Solomon the Wisest of Kings acknowledged this By me Kings Raign and Princes degree Justice Prov. 14.21 And Daniel who was wiser then all the Astrologers and Magitians taught Nebuchadnezzar this lesson Thou O King art King of Kings for the Lord of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom power strength Dan. 2.21 Apology fetcht out of Allen. and glory and that he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings which none will deny but he that saith in his heart there is no God but nature to which purpose speaks some of the Papists and Jesuits and especially Bellarmine Bellarm. de conc l. 2. c. 19. In regnis hominum potestas Regis est à populo c. In the Kingdom of men the power of the King is from the people which power is immediately in the multitude as in the Subject and Suares second to none in subrility says that God is said to give this power to the Prince because he hath immediately given it to the people who transferres it to the Prince and this saith he is modus maxime connaturalis optimus qui intra latitudinem naturalis rationis cogitaripotest the most connatural and best meanes Resp ad Apollo Jur. fidel F. 127. which can be thought or found within the Latitude and extent of natural reason Which to confirme he produceth Scripture that whereas St. Paul saith there is no power but of God he doth not say that every Prince is constituted of God for his saying is not of any Prince but of the power and so as he said before the power being immediately in the people from God is immediately by them conveyed to the Prince yet will he not allow the power to be immediately in the people Ex peculiari institutione donatione divina from the peculiar institution and Divine gift sed per naturalem consequutionem ex vi primae creationis but by natural consequence from the force of his first creation in which they seem to ascribe more to natural reason and production then to Divine patesaction But St. Paul is his own Interpreter for after his general Doctrine of obedience to the power he expoundeth it in the singular and applyeth it to the Prince in particular as he is the Minister of God to thee and then again that he beareth not the Sword for nought and least they should forget it he reiterateth it for he is a Minister of God c. But it is objected that though St. Peter makes the King Supreame yet he tells us the King is an humane Ordinance or creature of the people for the words are Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake but it is answered 1 Pet. 2.11 Kings may be called an humane Ordinance for being made of one of the people and not by the people and are humane in regard of their material cause though not of their efficient and if Peter had meant that Kings had been made by the people he must also have meant that the Governors had been made by the people for he saith they are sent by him not by them for the punishment of evil Doers so as the Governors are sent by the King not by the people This needs no application were it not for this Impostors exprobations for who but such a blind Bayard will question who made his Highness a Prince and Judge over us and cannot see what wondrous works the immediate hand of God hath wrought by him who as Moses delivered this captive Nation from the bondage and Tyranny
they groaned under and though not sent by particular nomination as Moses was yet questionlesse by the immediate designation of the Almighty above ordinary providence for if we observe his various and marvelous progressions in his military imployments who from a common Commander within a few Summers for his stupendious Victories was made Commander in chief and from that dignity above his own ambition or humane calculation Resque fide major was advanced to the Supreame power of these three Nations how can we but acknowledge that it is the Lords doing and that it is marvellous in our eyes who raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the needy out of the dunghil Psa 113.7 that he may fit with Princes even the Princes of the people The second way by which the just power of Government is gained is bello Victoria Chyl rud Fo. 16. by Warre and Victory for as Master Hobbs saith it is a Corollarie in the natural state of man that a sure and unresistable power conferres the Right of Dominion and ruling over those who cannot resist of which before sufficient hath been said A Title also to which his Highness may justly lay claim for after the Victorious and invincible Army under the Command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his Highness had layed the Royal part in the dust and trampled it under foot the Enemy which was vanquished in the Field had recourse to subtile practises to corrupt the Parliament and City of London upon the specious pretences that there was no Enemy in the Field and therefore no more need of any Army to continue the heavy and unnecessary charge upon the people by such Arguments as this the faction prevailed to vote the disbanding of the Army and vast Summes of the Commonwealths Treasure were wasted in raising Forces and entertaining of Reformadoes to beat the Army and thereby to make way for the readmitting of the then King to the reexercising that power which had produced such bloody and fatal effects and that without any just satisfaction given for the same to the people or reasonable provision for those had Faithfully engaged in the maintenance of them See the Declaration of the Parliament of England dated 24. of September 1649. insomuch that the Army presaging what dangerous and bloody consequences might ensue to the reinslaving of the people and to make void and irrite all their former and glorious Victories and that the Commanders and Officers of the Army might become a prey to the Royal party and the Enemy whom they had with great difficulty and much effusion of blood subdued and that their own honor and safety was now in dispute they of necessity were justly instigated by the principles of nature and self defence to oppose their bloody inhumane and ungrateful designes in attempting to supplant and cut off those had been the Patriots and Champions of their Lives Liberties and Fortunes and by the power of the Sword to force them to Victorious conditions which having obtained by the Right of Warre the Supreame power divolved on them because they were in an Hostile manner unjustly invaded and inforced to defend themselves from imminent destruction And that this was a just Warre Cic. pro. Milone let Cicero and Aristotle be Judges Illud est non solum justum sed etiam necessarium saith Cicero bellum cum vi vis illata defenditur that is not onely just but a necessary Warre when inforcing force is defended by force And Aristotle to the same effect injuriam Passos oportet pro seipsis Arma capere Arist ad Alex. it is not onely just but it behooveth those who suffer injury to take up Armes for themselves or to defend their Kinsmen Benefactors or Associates affected with injuries as the Commanders and Officers of the Army did neither is the objection of any force that in Civil Warre where the people is divided into two parts that part which conquereth the other cannot challenge conquest over it by Right of Warre because it is one Nation and a Nation cannot conquer it self to which Grotius gives this satisfactory Answer Grotius 16. l. 2. c. 18. that in such a divided State Gens una pro tempo re quasi duae Gentes habentur One Nation during the time of those civil divisions is accounted and esteemed as two And therefore one part may claim Title of Conquest over the other as one Nation may do over another So Henry the Fourth with one party of this Nation Heywards Hen. 4. conquered Richard the Second and his party after which conquest he was made King of England and did not claim that by the Title of Inheritance for as Mortimer said he was Haeres Malus but first by conquest and then by consent of the people which commonly follows the conquest as Praemium Factorum a Reward of his Valour which all men naturally applaud and honor And so Henry the Seventh with one of the party of this Nation conquered Richard the Third and his party neither did he lay claim to the Kingdome by proximity of blood for there were others nearer then himself but the first Title he had was in Bosworth field when after the conquest of Richard the Third Bacon and Bakers Hen. 7. he was by publick acclamations saluted King of England And such Conquerors for right of War may as Alexander saith in Curtius Leges Victis dare Give Laws and Conditions to the subdued party and as Ariovistus said to Coesar Imperare iis quemadmodum vellent Caesar de Bello Gallico To rule over them as they please And so did the Commanders and Officers of the Army of whom his Highness was the Head-piece by right of War rule and order the conquered party as they pleased and caused the City to deliver up all their Forts together with the Tower of London and all the Magazines and Arms therein To disband all their Forces and turn all the Reformados out of the Line to withdraw all their Guards from the Houses and to receive such Guards within the Line as the Army should appoint to guard the Houses to demolish their Works and to suffer the whole Army to march in Triumph through the City as Conquerors and by the same Right did they purge the Parliament of its infected and corrupted Members which power from that time they constantly retained and upon occasions continually exercised and were as Curators to the Parliament and Common wealth to remedy the distempers and rectifie the disorders which the ambition of some and lucre of others introduced And in fine for important Reasons above specified dissolved that long Parliament and that poor men under their arbitrary power were driven like flocks of Sheep by forty in a morning Hen. 4. See his Highness Speech 12 Dec. 1653. to the Confiscating of their Goods and Estates without any man to give a reason that any of them had forfeited Forty Shillings and that no door was
the Spirit of our Saviour Christ the Prince of Peace to wit Love Joy Peace c. but he hath the fruits of the spirit of his father the Devil to wit envy cursing lying and all manner of reviling So if his father the Prince of darkness should be deposed by right of inheritance the succession may properly descend to him as the Devil Incarnate who is the worser and most dangerous Devil And now in every respect are the reasons of this Impostor by which he fortifieth his first Question utterly quashed notwithstanding his vain-glorious triumphing before Victory that it is a Question no longer But before he comes to the Second Question seeing things are more easily perceived by the Description of Exteriour Accidents and Qualities he thought it not amiss to see whether his Highness hath the outward marks and characters by which a Tyrant is known aswel as he hath their nature and essential properties which as he saith do so naturally correspond to his Highness that it cannot be doubted whether his Highness be the Original or the Coppy or whether he hath in drawing the Tyrant represented him or in representing him expressed a Tyrant But here also will his fair and glorious pretences prove but shadows and sick mens dreams for as it hath been exactly proved that the nature and essential properties of a Tyrant are not to be found in his Highness no more cannot the exterior accidents and qualities be inherent in him for if the nature and essential properties be not in him the external accidents and qualities also cannot for as Aristotle Arist Categ c. 2 Accidens non potest esse sine eo in quo est and therefore cannot the Characters be aptly and properly applied to his Highness though they be not of his own stamping as he saith but such as be found in Plato Aristotle Tacitus and his Highness own Evangelist Machiavel who indeed is his onely Evangelist for he seemeth better versed in him then in the Gospel having cited more Texts and Passages out of him then out of that whereas his Highness in his Writings never mentioneth him nor ever had him in his mouth as this Impostor every where hath who supposeth his Paradoxes authentique whereas neither his Highness nor any Pious Prince will adhere to his authority and therefore in vain cited by him Howsoever if we examine his Characters Marks and Scutchion of a Tyrant which he would fasten on his Highness sleeve we shall find them sleeveless and altogether impertinent The first Charrcter is That all Tyrants have been first Captains and Generals of the people for which he quoteth Aristotle but his words are all Tyrants have been made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Leaders of the people and so have all Kings Princes for without a party of the people how can an Army be raised and without Armies how can there be Leaders So Arbactes Arist Pol. l. 5. c. 10. and Cyrus Leaders of the People were made Kings the one of Assyria and the other of Medea data libertate for giving and gainings the Peoples Liberty And so was his Highness also made Protector of these Nations See the humble advice of Parl. 1656. for delivering us from Bondage and Tyranny and restoring us to Peace and Tranquillity as is declared by our Representative in the last Act. But to construe it according to his own mind and meaning which is incongruously pacht out of Aristotle and Tacitus That his Highness being made a Leader for the people under pretences of vindicating and defending their Liberties did subvert the present Governement which being done he invaded that Liberty himself And so indeed his Highness was made a Leader for the people and did vindicate and defend their Liberties and vanquished their Tyrannical Enemy but when some of the Corrupters of the people contrary to the Law of Nature and Reason in an hostile manner would have compelled their Leaders by force of Arms to have subjected themselves to the power of the Tyrant whom they before had conquered then according the Law of Nature were they inforced to repel such ingrateful and destructive inuries aperto Marte to force them to submission and subjection whence by the Law of War their Command Rule and Government was transferred on them which they afterwards always exercised over them as hath been before argued and determined yet did not their Leaders leave them but persevered to maintain and defend their Liberties against the said Tyrants abetters and never ceased till they had wholly and perfectly routed and subdued them for which not onely by the Law of War but by the Consent of People and Act of Parliament the Supream Power was placed and setled on his Highness by whom we enjoy our Liberty more fully then before we did in our new modelled Democracy for as Aristotles Tyranny is a confused and mixt of Timocracy and Democracy of the principalities of a few and the power of the people Arist Pol. l. 5. c. 10. and hath the vices of them both for the vicious end of the one as his accurate Expositor Camerarius observeth is to be an Enemy to the noble and rich men and them either to destroy or exile of which we have had sensible experience and the vicious end of the other is through diffidence to afflict the people to banish some and dissipate others into several places which also hath been formerly practised among us but by Monarchs and the Government of one these Vices are rejected and remedied For as Aristotle saith by it the nobles and rich are defended from the injury of the multitude and the people are protected from the oppressions of the Nobles and Rich So as there is no greater Liberty then in Monarchy by which the Tyrannical vices are expunged and expelled and the Nobless are according to their virtues worthily preferred and defended and the People according to their deserts advanced And this is his Highness cases far different from that of Panoetius Pysistratus and Dionysius whom Aristotle produceth as examples of Tyranny And now I am of the Impostors mind this needs no further application The second Character is That Tyrants accomplish their ends much more by fraud then force neither virtue nor force are so necessary to that purpose as Vna astutia fortunata A lucky craft which without force hath been found sufficient but never force without that wherein he mistaketh his Apostle Machiavel as if in that place he should denote a crafty Tyrant whereas he intimateth a prudent Prince as if his Prince were all one with a Tyrant For though all his Precepts collectively taken are not authentick or allowable yet some parts of his policy are necessary and useful for the gaining and preserving a Princes State as Guards Garrisons Fortresses Vigilancy of Councellors diligence of Spyes and Intelligencers De Arcanis Imperii f. 207. for which reason acute Clapmare in dispraising commendeth him pro politico magni acuminis sed
〈◊〉 that he either have a good minde to virtue or else that he be half good and not altogether vicious and doth not say that he would have him really good but that he would have him like a Prince be as good as possibly may be And whereas he saith that this half good is too great a proportion for his Highness and more then his temper will bear It is onely his saying as if his Ipse dixit like the Pope his Holy Fathers Sentence were definitive and to be rested in See the humble advice of Parl. 1656. though the contrary be humbly acknowledged by the Parliament which is of more authority then his finxit or the Popes dixit In conclusion he supposeth That if his Highness be not a Tyrant then there is no description of a Tyrant And because he hath put an if to it he hath invited me to shew him that some have affirmed 1 Kings 1.11 1. Justin l. 1. Esay 45.1 there are no Tyrants in Titulo and others no Tyrants in Exercitio and divers no Tyrants at all according to his Hypothesis And for that there are no Tyrants in Titulo some alleadge the example of Jeroboam who invaded the right of Rehoboan yet was he by Holy Writ neither reputed an Usurper or Tyrant but on the contrary that the ten Tribes were given him by God And so say they Cyrus invaded the Kingdome of Harpagus to which he had no Title though the Sonne of his Daughter and did beat him out of his Kingdome yet is he by the Prophet Esay called the Lords anointed Others to prove there are no Tyrants in Exercitio produce the example of Nebuchadnezzar whose cruelty and Tyranny in Sacred Writ is generally expressed but in especial for erecting his golden Image and commanding that they who resused to worship it should be cast into a fiery Furnace Jer. 15.9.24.17 Baruch 1. by which he would have enforced and compelled the consciences of men to his prophane superstitions which is the most execrable Tyranny Carnificina Animorum a Torture and Torment of mens Souls yet God calleth him his Servant and the Prophet Jeremy and Baruch did write to the Jews to pray for the life of him and Baltazar his Son And further say that God stirreth up the spirits of wicked Princes to do his will and that if they abuse their authority they are to be judged by God onely who is onely their Superiour yet say they God reserveth them to the sorest Tryal Horribly and suddenly will the Lord appear unto them and an hard Judgement shall they have In Gen. 10. And those who maintaine there are no Tyrants at all argue from the name of a Tyrant which as Musculus saith signifieth nothing but as a Monarch a Prince and a King though of late it hath been taken in the worser sense Act 19. 19. which though it be frequent in every mans mouth and our old English Translation useth sometimes the word Tyrant yet the Authors of the New Translation have not once used the words because they find no Hebrew word in the Scripture to signifie a Tyrant Neither do Aristotle Bodin or Sir Walter Rawleigh agree in the distinction or description of Tyranny and therefore question whether any man can describe what a Tyrant is and then who can tell who was ever a Tyrant according to that description Pardon me for this digression for my intention is not to assert any of these opinions but onely to give this Impostor a glance and a touch for his if who will be of any opinions which may serve his turn But now this Impostor shall give me leave to rowl up the conclusion which things seeing they are so It is certo certius and not lyable to exception that according to his distinction and description of a Tyrant His Highness without question is no Tyrant in Titulo nor in Exertio neither in Title nor in Practice and that he is a Lawful and Legitimate Prince ordained by God warranted by the Sword and approved by the People And triplex nodus non facile est solvendus A triple wreath is not easily loosened And this is the prime and peremptory question upon which the other two depend which being defunct the other two dye with it For to refricate your memories The first Question was whether his Highness was a Tyrant or no upon which it is resolved upon the Votes of the Scripture Reason and Parliament that he is no Tyrant The second Question is If he be a Tyrant whether it be lawful for any private person to kill him Thirdly If it be lawful whether it is likely to prove profitable or noxious to the Commonwealth So as it is as cleer as the Day-star that the first question which is the Foundation of the other being resolved against him the other two which are built upon it will of themselves fall to the ground for Sublato Fundamento corruit Opus The Foundationing failing the Work falleth And now me thinks I hear my Genius calling on me Heus tu Cic. Epist ad Att. manum de tabula Hark Sir Stay your Hand and spare your Pen least it may seem over-long and troublesome And so I would were it not to be feared that some of the Impostors swearing Auditors will be made by his Enchantements Jurare in verba Magistri to swear what he saith or through simplicity or prejudice will not or cannot conceive or weigh the premisses in the golden Scales of true Judgement and distinguish real Demonstrations from glistring probalities Whereby they may be seduced to imagine his Highness to be one of his Tyrants and his Ears to be Horns and his Justice Tyranny And consequently to be lawful for every person to do Justice upon him without solemnity as he saith that is to kill him according to his seditious inference For what reverence and obedience will be given to a Prince without which what is his power when the people are perswaded that under pretences and colour of Tyranny every private Subject may vindicate his own quarrel and be a Judge and Executioner of his Right and Actions Which preposterous inconveniences to prevent I thought it necessary to continue this discourse and further to proceed in the refutation of his strange absurdites and according to my design of brevity will succinctly consider his material passages omitting his superfluous Tautologies First Therefore he proposeth that Supream Magistrates who degenerate into Tyrants are not be censured by private persons and that none of sober sense do make them Judges of their actions But he findes none have been such great enemies to Comon Justice or to the Liberty of mankind to give any kind of indemnity to an Vsurper who can pretend no title but that of being the stronger nor to have the peoples obedience upon any other Obligation then that of necessity or fear Wherin by the way I cannot supersede Sir Edward Coke's Rule of State Cooks Com.
what is he angry at but that he shall employ his time and pains to little purpose which he truly divines or to think that any reasons of his or convictions of theirs shall draw men from any thing wherein they shall see profit or security or to any thing wherein they shall see loss and fear of danger which also is true for by the dictate of reason every one is taught and convicted to pursue his own profit and to shun danger neither will any one of sound sense hearken to his unprofitable and unreasonable delusions And that we court our bondage and place it among the requests we put up to him which is illi cordolium and strikes to his heart to see the sincere affection of the Parliament and their respective observance And that he expecteth not onely danger from ill men but disallowance from many which are good that have a zeal but not according to knowledge neither of which he hath which therefore he must expect All his hopes is in honest and wise men which he saith are but few or indeed none at all for what honest or wise man will give ear to his projects which as he confesseth appear so bloody and so cruel unless such discontented and forlorn persons as himself whose life is a death to them and for whom Timon Misanthropos hath prepared a new Gibbet in his Garden expecting daily their desired hansel But his soul Pen bespatters not onely his Highness but his accomplices as he terms them and especially Mr. Speaker by name for giving Mr. Sindercombes traiterous designe the epithites of bloody wicked and proceeding from the prince of darkness fearing that the people judging of things according to their outward appearances without penetrating at all into their causes and natures when they shall read the Pamphlet of Mr. Speaker they will certainly think he gives those plotters the right Titles and not without good reason for though the vulgar do not ordinarily dive into the causes of things are not wise enough to apprehend them yet most of them are so wise as to hearken unto the advice and reports of those whom they know to be wise and able to judge of them whom Aristotle in that respect adjudgeth to be wise men And therefore without doubt they will sooner believe what is declared by Mr. Speaker who is a man of Authority and who hath alwayes been reputed vir bonus sapiens a wise and honest man then that what is feigned and foysted in the Pamphlet of this Impostor an obscure scurril and lying Pasquiller which for it in divers places of the City of London was burnt by the people for want of an Hangman which is notoriously manifest in that he seemeth to doubt of Sindercombes traiterous design and suspitiously to ascribe it to his Highness invention whereas the contrary is made clear by the confession of his confederates and upon sufficient evidence at a publique Trial so adjudged Which is not unlike to his lying protestation to wit that his principal intent in this paper is not to declaim against my Lord Protector or his Accomplices and that were it not more to justifie others then to accuse them he should think their own actions should justifie them sufficiently which as Cicero is magnum impudens mendacium a great and impudent lye For in his Supplication he perswadeth his Highness to his happy expiration and that his death shall something ballance the evils of his life And in his Dedication he inciteth the Officers of the Army against him that they can never redeem their honour untill they see their revenge upon his faithless head And herein in his Preface he justifieth it lawfull for Sindercomb to have killed him as a Tyrant and by consequence for any other private man If then to perswade his Highness to his expiration or to incite the Army to take away his life or to allow it lawfull for any private person to kill him and that as it is probably said tribus bolis he would have him forthwith devoured one way or other be not principally to declaim against his Highness then fools cannot speak nonsence But what will William Allen gain by his lying but that when he speaketh truth no man will beleeve him but say to him as it is said in the Comedy Si dixeris mendacium solens tuo more feceris Plaut Amph. But to pass by his other sensless and superfluous passages and to discuss and examin his three serious questions which contain in them the contagion and venom of this pestilent Pamphlet The first is Whether my Lord Protector be a Tyrant or no which he saith is no question and would disputare ex non concessis but he shall neither find it granted of us nor proved by him The second is If he be whether it it is lawfull to do justice upon him without solemnity that is to kill him The third is If it be lawfull whether it is likely to prove profitable or noxious to the Common-wealth The first question Bartolus makes Tyrants of two sorts In titulo or Exercitio the one is called a Tyrant because he hath no Right to govern and the other because he governeth not rightly or as he Phraseth it Tyrannically and at last inferreth that the Protector may with great Justice put in this claime to both Titles but how unjustly the conclusion will manifest And then saith that we shall sufficiently demonstrate who they are that have not right to govern if we shew who they are that have Arist Polit. l. 1. c. 1. And first he premiseth truely that the supreame Power was first placed in Fathers of Families as Aristotle tells us from Homer that every one gives Laws to his Wife and Children so Adam was the King and Lord of his Family and a Son a subject and a Servant was then one and the same thing and this power was exercised everywhere where Families were dispersed and some small time in some places after Commonwealths were constituted but whereas William Allen assumeth that after of many Houses and Families a Society was made the supreame Power was designed and setled in one man by the consent and Election of the people where the immediate appointment of God himself did not interpose William Allen must give me leave to leave him for after the fall of our first Parents the natural State of men before they were setled in a Society as Master Hobbs truely saith was a meer Warre and as Cicero saith Rules concerning Governement F. 14. tantum haberent quantum manu ac viribus per caedem vulnera eripere retinere potuissent had so much as by force and might through wounds and slaughters they could obtain and retain and as his Master Mariana in those times Vbique latrocinia direptiones caedesque grassabantur everywhere Robbery Rapine and Slaughter did rage De Regis Institut Fo. 16. Gen. 6. Lib. 1. which abhorreth not much from the Sacred
open to their grievances By whose power afterwards a new Assembly Parliament was constituted because it seemed not to be for the good of the Commonwealth the Maior part of them thought it requisite to resigne and deliver up the said power unto the Lord General Cromwell which they received from him So as thereby all Power of Government divolved on the Lord General Cromwell as Head of the Army and by right of War descended to him as General The Supream Power being then vacant to whom all the acts and honor of the Army is to be ascribed Because as Iphicrates the General is the head without which the body cannot act and as Curtius militarem sine duce turbam esse corpus sine spiritu A Military Company without a General is as a body without a spirit and cannot be rancked and retained in its right postures without it for as the Comoedian Vhi summus Imperator non adest ad exercitum Plaut Amph. Citius quod non facto est usus fit quam quod Facto est opus And to speak truth without dawbing he was the Life spirit and head of the Army And in all his Battails led them on encountring the Enemy in the front Hostibus haud tergo sed forti pectore notus And as Fortunate as valiant who by the amplitude of his Victories overcame the envy of his Enemies for which as Romulus by the right of War upon the request and approbation of the Army he took upon him the supream dignity Ipsius certe Ducis hocque referre videtur Juvenal Vt qui fortis erit fit felicissimus idem This certes reflecteth on a Generals aim That he who valerous is thrice happy raign And as Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist lib. 3. Polit. cap. 22. it is just that such a Valourous Prince be Lord of all and King alone And this right and title also floweth from the Ocean of the Divine power for the Lord is a man of War and he in War overcometh ever it was he that girded his loins with strength and made his way perfect he taught his hands to war and his fingers to fight his gentleness hath made him great he hath given him the necks of his Enemies that he might destroy him that hates him he hath delivered him from the strivings of the Enemy and made him the head of his brethren And as his Motto and Word in battail was The LORD of Hosts So hath his Highness perpetually and piously ascribed and consecrated all his victories to the LORD of hosts The third basis upon which the just power of Government is founded is the election or consent of the people and to this title also may his Highness justly lay claim who to bar up the way against those manifold inconveniences which have been felt under many other fleeting forms of Government to reduce us as neer as may be to our antient way of Government by supream Magistrates Parliaments did at the request intreaty of divers persons of honor quality of many of the chief Officers of the Army for the good of the Commonwealth under the name title of the Lord Protector take upon him the supream Government and was by the consent and in the presence of the Commissioners of the great Seal the Judges the Lord Mayor and Aldermen for the City of London the Souldiers divers Gentlemen Citizens and many other people and persons of quality confirmed in the same with whom being accompanied to Westminster-Hall he did promise in the presence of God to the best of his understanding to govern these Nations according to their Laws Statutes and Customes seeking their peace and causing Justice and Law to be equally administred whereupon the Commissioners and Judges received their commissions from him by vertue of which they have ever since acted and as all the Justices of Peace did also act by his Commissions so did all the Sheriffs according to his Commands and Precepts and all which came in by process issued out by the Sheriffs consented to it and all the Justice in this Nation hath been administred by this authority besides his Highness had the approbation of the Army in England Scotland and Ireland by Remonstrances and under signature the Souldiers at that time being a very considerable part of the three Nations besides he had the Congratulation of the great City of London by way of invitements which was very great high and publike and by a numerous body of those who are known by the names of several Corporations and Societies in that City as also the greatest County in England the County of York with many other Cities and Burroughs and many other Counties assembled in the publique and general Assizes gave him thanks for the undertaking of that Burden These and many more were the presentary and explicite Testimonies of the peoples general approbations congratulations manifested to his Highness upon his gratious acceptance of this Government And which of late hath been more amply indiciously remonstrated declared in Parliament by the Knights Citizens Burgesses confirmed ratified and established by an Act that upon publication of the premisses all and every person and persons of what quality soever are strictly charged and commanded to take notice of the same and to conform and submit themselves to the Government established which Proclamation being published at the magnificent and glorious inauguration of his Highness in Westminster-Hall with great solemnity in the presence of the Lord Embassador extraordinary of France and the States General of the United Provinces and divers other noble and honorable personages the people made great several acclamations with loude shouts God save the Lord Protector and the like congratulations and acclamations with the expressions of their â—â—â—tions wishing to his Highness long life were made by the people 〈…〉 City of London and so did all the Cities of England Scotland and Ireland upon the sâ—lemn Publication of the said Proclamation With what brazen brow can the Impostor now deny but any that his Highness may also lay claim to this Title if this be not a visible publike and general approbation and consent of the people then was never publisht any in Poland Scotland Denmark or any other Dominion or Territory of the Universe and if there be any refractory or repugnant to the same they are such as this Impostor and his Accomplices malignant men of Belial And this also is the Lords doings who prepared the hearts of the people and touched them to appear and follow their Prince and Protector as he did the Band of men that went with Saul after the Lord had chosen him so as his Highness Councel or Parliament as he vainly vaunts nor any one else shall not be much troubled to answer his Interrogations and Questions which appear so frivolous and nugatory But here this Impostors malice ceaseth not for though he confidently concludeth his Highness to be a Tyrant
his Fables which are above Poetical fiction and which none will believe but Fools and Mad men his onely Parasites and Patrons his Highness also saith he hath his Emissaries to send with forged Letters if any one doubt this let him send to Major General Brown who will satisfy him and what saith Master Brown he cannot justify any Letters to be forged onely he suspecteth that one who brought him Letters from Charles Steward received not condign punnishment But though his Highness is clear of this calumnie yet hath that been Judged arcanum imperii a secret of Government in Princes and Generals Plutarch vita Eumenis A Gell. l. 15. c. 22. to forge Letters thereby to fish out the affections of those they doubted to be disaffected or for other Politick ends as Eumenes and Sertorius did which in such cases is not unlawful according to the practice of the Emperor Frederick the first and Lewis the eleventh King of France whose proverb was qui nescit dissimulare nescit imperare and which lesson the said Lewis would onely have his Son to learn as before hath been intimated The sixt Article is They stir not without their Guarde nor his Highness without his Life-Guarde as if it were Tyranny in a King or Prince to have a Guarde which is not onely useful but necessary to defend himself from the ambitious and seditious without which no Majesty is safe or secure for as Pontanus amor incedit inermis Armatus dormit love walkes unarmed Arist l. 3. Pol. c. 11. but the Armed man may sleep and truely Aristotle being a witnesse the use of such Guardes is necessary as well in a quiet and peaceable Commonwealth as in a turbulent and seditious for how saith he can a King exercise his power unlesse he hath about him Force and Armed men to resist those oppose it But he saith his Highness hath a Life-guarde and so had Romulus three hundred Horse-men tam pace quam bello as well in peace as Warre for his Royal body And for the same cause Antoninus had German Horse-men Liv. but this Impostor would fain have him to discard his Life-guarde that his Bravos may the sooner slay him The seventh Character is They impoverish the people that they may want the power if they had the will to attempt any thing against him His Highness way saith he is by Taxes Excise and Decimations But let us remember what the Impostor said to his Reader that he should not want Proofs if he wants not memory whereas herein his own memory faileth him for he might have called to memory that the like Taxes Excise and Decimations were imposed by the Parliament for which in all his passages he pleadeth whilest that possessed the sole Government ubi est eadem ratio ibi est eadem lex and where there is the same reason there is the same Law and if such Taxes were Lawful then and did not impoverish the people how can they for that reason be unlawful now But if his Highness should have imposed such intolerable Taxes on the people Arist Pol. l. 3. c. 11. as Dionysius did on the Syracusans having by them within five years space exhausted the wealth of Syracuse for which Aristotle in the same place from which he extracteth this Character branded him with Tyranny or if he should have laid such Imposts on them as the Duke of Alva did on the Netherlanders who as Bodin saith exacted the tenth part of their Vendible goods by which device within a short time he almost swallowed up all the Merchants Estates they using to tell the same ten times over then might he have had just cause to charge his Highness with the impoverishment of the people but since he hath alwayes imposed moderate and necessary Taxes according to the publicke occurrences and occasions and now onely such as are ratified and established by the last Parliament this Impostor may put up his Pipes and set down by weeping Crosse The eighth Character is that they make Warre to divert and buisy the people and besides to have a pretence to raise money and to make new Levies if they mistrust their own Forces or think them not sufficient But the words of Aristotle are they make Warre least the people should be idle Arist Pol. 5. c. 11. and that they may have need of a General and varyeth nor a little from his alledged Authority to intrude his own Inventions but herein also must we shake hands with our Master being taught by experience that as Bodin nihil est utilius quam externis bellis implicari Bodin de repub l. 4. c. 1. there is nothing more profitable then to make Warre with Forrainers And first to invert Aristotles reason that idleness in people may be taken away for idleness is the Mother of all vices and begetteth vicious persons in a Commonwealth which unless they be expunged the body will be vitiated and corrupted Therefore it is necessary to make Warre whereby such nefarious and facinerous persons may be exonerated Tholosan Synt. l. 41. 22. and those which remain imbettered and more glorious for them Valiantly to hazzard their Lives for the honor of their Countrey abroad then ignominously to endanger themselves by loose living at home An other reason is drawn from Annibal that ancient circumspect and couragious Captain that Warre is to be made with Forrainers to prevent intestine seditions which was his State Aphorisme Nulla magna civitas diu consistere potest Livii si foris hostem non habet domi invenit No great City can long continue if it have not an Enemy abroad it will find one at home as prevalid bodies are secure from external hurts yet are they burdned and laden with their own strength which was the principal cause that Scipio Africanus the younger would not destroy Carthage Bodin de rep l. 4. c. 10. least if there were no Warre against the Enemy it would begin at home and therefore to avoid some Warre at home or some eminent and supposed Warre abroad a Prince may well support a just quarrel in any such Countrey by way of prevention so as it is no Tyranny but preventing Policy to make Warre with an ambitious Enemy Non cuivis homini contingit and this Impostor is uncapable of this imperial mystery But mark his malitious inference The Warre with Spain serves his Highness to this purpose and upon no other Justice was it begun at first or is still continued what Pander can be more impudent as it may be he is to the Whore of Babylon who savors much of her Conclave to deny the justness of the undertaking that Warre which is so plainly and evidently demonstrated in the Declaration of his Highness in the year 1655. that the prudent and Protestant Princes of Christendom embrace and believe it and so do all others who are not simply ignorant or wilfully blinded but let us hear the Advice of Master Pymm that
provident Member of this State to the late King Charles in Parliament and the reasons by which he would have moved him to the same Warre The Spanish Colonies saith he in the Indies were weak distracted and discontented and that there were sixty thousand Persons of this Nation in those parts whose bodies were seasoned to that Climate which at a very small charge might be set down in some advantagious part of those pleasant Rich and Fruitful Countreys and easily make him Master of all that Treasury Master Pymms Speech 1642. which not onely foments the Warre but is the support of Popery in all parts of Christendom what will this Impostor now say He cannot say it was his Highness Plot but Mastes Pymms against whom if he open his Jawes they will instantly be Metamorphosed into the Jawe bones of an Asse by Vote of Parliament and whereas he makes this Warre his Highness pretence to raise monies to replenish his vacant cohorts What did Queen Elizabeth the Semiramis and Sheba of this Nation She was the Spaniards Potent Antagonist and never encountred him but she Conquered him for which she received this boon and benevolence for her Victorious attempts against him as Master Pymm affirmeth that the greatest part of that charge was made upon the Subjects Purses Vid. Pym. ibid. and not upon the Queens though the honor and profit of the same did most accrue to her this certainly will close this Impostors lips from bawling against the Taxes and that Sacred and hopeful Warre The ninth Character is They will seem to favour and provide for good men But herein this Impostor mistakes Aristotle for he doth not propound this as a Character of a Tyrant but of a King to wit to favour and preferre good men and sheweth that by this meanes a Tyrant may lengthen his power if he square his Rule by the patterne and similitude of the Royal power Arist Pol. 5. c. 11. And makes as absurd an Application That is saith he If the Ministers will be Orthodox and flatter if they will wrest and torture the Scriptures to prove the Government Lawful he then likewise will be content to understand Scripture in their favour and furnish them with Tithes For his Highness before the acceptance of this Princely dignity when the fifth Monarchy men in Parliament would have deprived the Clergy of their benefices and Tithes his Highness preserved and confirmed them according to the Laws of the Land neither need the Ministers wrest and torture the Scriptures to prove his Government for they are generally plain in that point as before hath been demonstrated The tenth Character is That things which are odious and distastful they make others Executioners of and when the people are discontented they appease them with Sacrificing those Ministers they employ and do grateful things themselves and simply inferreth that he will leave it to his Highness Major Generals to ruminate a little on that point for Princes make others Surrogates and Executioners of their Judicial Acts because as Jethro said to Moses they are too heavy for them and not able to performe them themselves alone not that they be distastful Exod. 18. but expedient it so should be yet whatsoever they do or Act is in the Princes name and by their Authority and in this respect is his own Acts So did his Highness by the advice of his Councel imploy the Major Generals upon urgent and necessary occasions to prevent seditions preserve Peace in the Commonwealth which are particularly expressed in his Highness Declaration Dated October 1655. which in that regard was his Highness own Act and though it did prove distastful to the people yet was it not therefore unjust and inconvenient for Moses a most just Prince did enjoin and prohibit almost all things contrary to the mind and will of the people neither were the Major Generals that Action Sacrificed to the censure of the Parliament nor thereby incurred any penalty though the Parliament was not pleased for some weighty reasons to confirme their Authority in the same mode they desired yet stand they in the same favour with his Highness and without any disparagement in the Parliament and whereas the deaf Adder saith he never heard of any good his Highness hath done himself it seemeth he never frequenteth our Churches who upon Thanks-giving days from the Pulpit might have heard Commemorations of his marvellous Victories and every day might have heard from the Parliament the thankfulnesse they have acknowledged to God for preserving his Highness in many Battailes and to make him an Instrument for restoring and preserving our peace and if he had not lost all his Sences See the Humble Advice c. holden at Parliament 1656. he could not but see hear taste smell and feel the many gracious blessings which God hath conferred on us since his Highness acceptance of the Empire For what greater blessings can accrue to a Commonwealth then peace and plenty which through Gods blessings we enjoy quietly and abundantly that we may say with the Poet Non est quod copia Major A Jove donari possit Hor. l. 2. Ser. 2. Or as it is said of Augustus Strabo l. 17. Nunquam pacis facultas tantaque omnium bonorum copia affluxit quantum suppeditavit c. Never so much Liberty of peace and plenty of all good things did abound as he hath sufficiently Ministred since he took upon him the Reines of the Empire insomuh as it we compare the store and cheapnesse of our present Commodities with the Scarcenesse and dearnesse of the preterit times we shall conceive them to overpoise ours to the value of our Taxes And as he hath lost all his Senses if he had lost his Tongue too he had been rid of his worst member The tenth Character is In all things they pretend to be wonderful careful of the publick to give general accompts of the monies they receive which they pretend to be levyed for the maintenance of the State and the prosecuting of the Warre But in this also he misconstrues Aristotle who doth not deliver this as a Symptome of a Tyrant but insinuateth that by practising those Precepts are proper to a Prince his power may endure the longer and for that he saith his Highness made an excellent Commentary on the same in his Speech to this Parliament which if he did his Highness therein did performe the part of a debonaire Prince to give an account to the representative of the people of his charges disbursements for the Commonwealth The twelfth Character is Arist l. 5. c 11. All things set aside for Religions uses they set to sale that whilest these things last they may expect the lesse of the people the Cavalier saith he would interpret this of the Deanes and Chapters Lands as if he were not a Cavalier and if he be not he is worse for many Cavalliers have submitted to Gods providence and this civil Government but this
is nihil ad rhombum for his Highness since his power hath maintained the Estate of the Church and advanced Learning though it may be not in that Superstitious kind this Impostor would have him The thirtenth Character is They pretend inspirations from God and responses from Oracles to Authorize what they do but how doth he apply this His Highness saith he hath ever been an Enthusiast as if it were Enthusiasme for him to believe and avouch his power to be of God and of Christ himself upon whose Shoulders the Government is layed and not to attribute the contrivance and Production of this mighty Work to himself or any other person and not to judge of Gods Revolutions as the products of mens Inventions and if this be Enthusiasm then all our precedent Kings and Princes have been Enthusiast's who by their Title Dei gratia professe to have received and held their Scepter of none but God and that their power dimaned immediately from him as the first cause and mediately by second causes from him also as before hath been asserted or that if were Enthusiasm to pray and beleeve and to receive returns from God or to be spoken unto by the Spirit of God who though he speaks with the written word sometimes yet according to that of Job God speaketh once yea twice for though God doth not speak to men in these dayes by Revelations or by the voice of a Prophet yet speaketh he by the secret operation of the Spirit though it doth not visibly appear to us as it is said in the same place of Job Job 33.14 God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not and that by prayer we may obtain the returns and comfort of the Spirit is clear by the simile of our Saviour If ye then saith he being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him whosoever therefore doth exclude the Spirit Luke 11.13 without whose concurrence or teaching all ordinances are ineffectual is like to the Disciples of John who had not so much as heard whether there was an Holy Spirit by which as the Apostle saith Acts 19.2 1 Corinth 12.13 we are all baptized into one Spirit and made to drink into the same Spirit and have one and the same Spirit with the Apostles though in a different measure But Lingua quo vadit his tongue runs at randome and idely blurteth a nonsensical simile And as saith he Hugh Capet in taking the Crown pretended to be admonished to it in a dream by the Instigation of St. Vallery and St. Richard so I believe his Highness will do the same at the Instigation of St. Henry and St. Richard his two sonnes A meer bull a nominal conceit without sense or reason for what correspondence hath my Lord Richard with St. Richard or my Lord Henry with St. Vallery they being no such superstitions Saints and dreaming Spirits But what if his Highness at the Instigation of my Lord Henry and my Lord Richard should have taken the Crown which this Impostor did but dream of he had taken no more then he hath merited and he were worse then an Infidel if he should not provide for his own and especially for these of his own houshold And my Lord Henry and my Lord Richard may be St. Pauls Saints that is Holy men if they follow his Doctrine by Faith in Christ and works of Salvation The fourteenth Character is Arist Pol. 5. c. 11. they love God and Religion and in this doth he also rack Aristotles words from the sense for his meaning is that if a Tyrant will prolong his power he most imitate a good pious Prince which he preposterously calleth Artem Tyrannorum potissimam the best Art of Tyrants for piety and justice are the two pillars of a principality otherwise by this Character David a man after Gods own heart might be a Tyrant and Numa Pompilius also who was the Founder of Religion among the Romans and for his piety advanced to that Royalty as his Highness likewise partly was to this supream Magistracy for protecting and cleansing true Religion of its superstitions And indeed as he saith His Arms were Pious Arms and conquered most by those of the Church Prayers and Tears for his Prayers and Tears prevailed more with God then his Arms and Force with Men and that as he also saith Godliness hath bin great gain to him for which the Lord hath honoured him with a Temporal principality as in all probability he will with his Heavenly Kingdom Thus are this Impostors prophane Scoffs against his Highness piously inverted to his honor who not onely as he likewise saith Romanlike but Brittainlike being a Prince and Priest for by our Law also Rex est persona mixta cum Sacerdote hath and doth as a Prince protect our Temporal Estates And as a Priest preserve the Tythes-offrings duties of the Church and not cost us all as he maliciously slandereth him No other marks of a Tyrant can be found in Aristotle Plato and his familiar Machiavel saith He which are suitable to his Highness but those two as he conceiveth The first to use Aristotles own words which he commonly changeth and wresteth to his own conce it is that he would not have him impulst with anger to fight and strike for as Heraclitus it is a difficult matter to resist anger which may cost ones life Arist Pol. l. 5. c. 16. which is also a precept for a Prince by the practice of which a Tyrant may the longer subsist For as St. Ambrose saith Dum justo amplius irascimur volumus aliena corrigere peccata graviora committimus when we are angry above measure and would restraine and represse offences Ambros de Sancto Josepho wee commit greater And therefore Theodosius after the furious slaughter of the Thessalonians ordained that Sentences of Princes should be deferred for thirty dayes from execution yet Aristotle saith in another place Arist 9. c. 8. Anger is a virtue in a Valiant man and spurs him on to dangerous attempts Vires injicit ira and by consequence in a General and Prince And therefore as Solomon saith We ought not to provoke a King to anger because the anger of a King is like the roaring of a Lyon Prov. 20.2 And therefore as this Impostor saith seeing his Highness is naturally cholerick and will call men Rogues and go to Cuffs let him beware he falls not into his Highness clutches least he handle him like a Rogue and serve gim as Agamemnon did Thersites a bawling Captain of the Grecians who for his impudent railing slew him with a cuff of his fist And the last is that a Tyrant should not be really good nor absolutely bad but half one and half toother but herein also he falfieth Aristotle Arist 15. c 11. whose words are that he so fashion himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
p. 392. Sunt quos ducit amoâ— plures sunt tamen quos corrigit timor Some are drawn to be obedience by the cords of love but more are forced to it by the scourge of fear which the Magistrate could not do unless he were the stronger and had the power of the Sword But how unfitly do these expressions correspond with his Highness Title which hath been before discussed and resolved Sambucam citius caloni aptaverit alto Perseus Sat. 4. A Fidle you shall sooner sit to a Souldiers side But to examine his Reasons why a Tyrants case is particular and why in that every man hath that vengeance given him which in other cases is reserved to God and the Magistrate which he saith cannot be obscure if we rightly consider what a Tyrant is what his crimes are and in what state he standeth with the Commonwealth and with every member of it And first he assumeth that Laws are the Nerves or Sinewes of a Society or Commonwealth without which they must necessarily dissolve and fall asunder Those therefore that submit not to the Laws but make their Will and Lust a Law and secure themselves against the ordinary course of Justice as Tyrants do are not to be reputed in the Society of mankind nor to have benefit from Humane Society nor protection from Law wherein he seemeth as he pretended to argue from the definition of a Tyrant which is as he supposeth that he that submitteth himself to no Law but secureth himself against the ordinary course of Justice is a Tyrant which is an imperfect definition For in the beginning of Societies there were no written Laws but Princes being advanced to the hight of Majesty for their Valour and Wisdome Just l. 1. l. 2. Arbitria Principum pro Legibus erant The Decrees of Princes stood for Laws as Justine saith of the Assyrians and of the Athenians Libido Regum pro Legibus erant the Will and Lust of Princes were for Law If then all Princes were Tyrants which submit themselves to no Law but made their Will a Law all the Grecian Princes before the Laws of Draco Arist Polit. l. 3. c. 12. Solon and Lycurgus and all the Roman Kings before the Laws of Tullius Hostilius were Tyrants and so also was Moses whose licet was a Law before the Law was given him by God on the Mount His definition therefore is defective because not adaequate to the thing defined and generally the Nonsubmission to written Laws which he speaks of doth not make a Tyrant For a good Prince without Laws may Rule the People aswel as with Laws And Aristotle makes it dubitable and disputable whether it is better to be Ruled by a good Law Arist ibidem or a good Man And whereas he maketh Aristotle to say that Tyranny is against the Law of Nature he doth not mean contrary to the Law of Humane Society by which Humane Nature is preserved as the Impostor construeth it for Humane Nature hath and may be preserved without the Law of Humane Society and that by the Law of Nature According to which as Sir John Davis In the Preface to his Reports If we all lived of Nature we should need few Laws and fewer Lawyers which Princes as Gods Subjects are bound to observe aswell as their Subjects them and which as Bodin is Regina utrisque Imperans Bod. Poc. A Queen commanding them both And a Lesbian Rule flexible every way according to the various contingencies and vicissitude of things Which therefore by some is preferted before written Laws because the inconstancy of the people and change of things do often require new Laws which the Law-givers cannot foresee or provide for which Defects are supplied by the Law of Nature in a good Prince Therefore such Princes as do not guide themselves and rule their Subjects according to the Law of Nature as Aristotle saith are Tyrants Arist Eth. l. 8. c. 10. because they rule contrary to the Law of Nature And as in another place Rex si vitiosus sit Tyrannus efficitur A King if he be vitious becomes a Tyrant for vices are contrarie to the Law of Nature and right Reason Such vitious Princes were Sardanapalus and Astyages And therefore for their vices by Arbactes and Cyrus expulsed their Kingdomes But grant his Major that those Rulers who subject themselves to no Humane Law but their will and his lust is a Law by which he governeth himself and others are no Magistrates but Tyrants How doth this reflect on his Highness who hath submitted himself to the Laws of this Nation and hath a principal care to put them in Execution Justissimus Vnus Qui fuit ex Anglis Et servantissimus aequi Virgil. Aene. 2 As before hath been shewen Besides in cases of present importunity or imminent necessity he exerciseth not an absolute power but is guided by his Councel who have as absolute a negative voice in the Intervals of Parliament as the Parliament had whilest it was sitting Then he falls fowl on the crimes and effects of Tyranny A Commonwealth saith he falling into a Tyranny absolutely loseth that name For Servorum nulla est Civitas saith Aristotle and Grotius Sed magna familia Arist Pol. c. 8. Grotius de Jubel l. 3. c. 8. s 2. Where all are Slaves it is not a City for as he saith there is one Government for the utility of the Ruler and another for the commodity of the Ruled this hath place among the free people the other between Lords and Servants and where the people is bridled by such a Government is not a City but a great Family And he inferres there is no longer King and People Parliament and People but these names are changed at least their natures into Masters and Servants Lords and Slaves But certainly this Impostor hath learned the Art of Forgetfulness not to forget injuries as Themistocles and Caesar did but benefits and good turns as Brutus whom though Caesar saved at the Pharsalian battail See his Highness Speech 12 of Septemb. 1654. yet was he the chiefest Conspirator against him Even so doth he brand his Highness with the enslaving others who freed him from slavery and aims more at the utility of the Commonwealth then his own and will not remember the gentle and gratious protestation his Highness publikely and solemnely made in Parliament that he did not assume to himself dominion over them but resolved to be a Fellow-servant with them And so indeed he is for in his Protection he serveth us and we in our obedience serve him unlesse he wil make obedience slavery which is Regis Legis essentia the being essence of a Prince and Law And of the two his service and burden is the greater and as Tiberius said Onerosior servitus The heavier service But observe his sottish inference And in truth saith he we are all members of Whitehal and when our Master pleaseth he may send