or land in time of Peace or Warre To these may be referred Heralds Ambassadours publick Agents with the rest which shall be mentioned in the second Book of this Treatise And because he is no Officer which hath not some publick power and this he cannot have of and from himself therefore all Officers are made such by the Soveraign who by granting Commissions and other wayes derives their power unto them And as he gives them power so he may remove them and revoke their power or translate them or call them to account To chuse nominate propose them may be an act of the people or some of them yet to constitute them and give them their political being is an act of Majestie either mediate or immediate And because the personal Soveraign and his Officers cannot do their duty and discharge their places without sufficient maintenance therefore in this respect there is a right to command the purse For as they say he that bears the sword must have the purse And if there be not a sufficient standing Revenue and Treasury determined in the constitution the Soveraign must have a power to raise monies to defray the publick necessary charges Hence that Vniversale eminens dominium of Majesty in every State so much mentioned in the Authors of Politicks The reason of this is clear in the very light of nature that the people maintain their Governours because the benefit of the Government redounds unto them according to that of the Apostle For this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom Rom. 13.6 7. It 's true that Soveraigns may have their private purse therefore some distinguish inter aerarium fiscum Aerarium is the publick Treasury which is maintained by Tribute Custom and other Impositions and this is to be raised and disposed of by the supream for the preservation of the publick Fiscus as some tell is the Soveraigns private purse whereof he may dispose at will and pleasure This publick propriety presupposeth every mans several propriety and no wayes prejudice it This right is reckoned by some amongst the lesser Prerogatives but there can be no minora Jura Majestatis in proper sense For because Majestas is Maxima potestas therefore all the essential parts and rights are so too section 13 The last is the Power of Jurisdiction whereby Justice is administred and it 's over all persons in all causes both Military Civil and Ecclesiastical so far as they fall under the Soveraigns cognisance Under this Head I comprehend not only the power of those acts of Judgement more strictly so called as Convention Discussion Decision of the cause upon evidence of the merit or demerit but the Execution To which last may be referred all penalties as well capital as not capital with Dispensations in Judgement suspension of Execution pardons To this of Jurisdiction also belongs all reservations of certain causes the receiving last appeals the final determinations and irrevocable sentences By vertue of this Power Commissions for judicial proceedings Courts the order of trial from first to last all calling of Assemblies general and provincial Civil and Ecclesiastical are determined From all this it 's evident that all Jurae Majestatis may be reduced to the Legislative Judicial and Executive Power if we understand Judicial and Executive in a larger sense than they are commonly taken And here it 's to be noted that Majesty Real is before and above all Majesty personal And by personal Majesty or personal Soveraign I do not mean only one single person as a Monarch but all Aristocratical and Polyarchical Soveraigns who are many Physically but considered as one person morally as joyntly invested with one Power Soveraign section 14 Thus far concerning the nature of Majesty after which follow some Epithets given to Majesty by Authors to signifie the properties thereof These are either included in the essence or flow from it For 1. It 's absolute and so Arbitrary Absolute soluta legibus It cannot be bound by any Lawes nor judged because the Soveraign is the Lawgiver himself and the Fountain of Jurisdiction He may bind himself by Oath to govern and judge according to the Lawes not to be governed or judged by the Lawes Yet no Soveraign personal is free from the Obligation of the natural and positive Lawes of God in force and how far he is inferiour to the real Soveraign who is subject to the same Lawes I will not here discuss 2. It 's universal not only in respect of all acts of Government but of all persons within that Territory For it must be coadequate to the whole body which it must act and animate it 's neither greater nor less No persons things or actions within can be exempted from this Power nor can it extend to any thing person action without but per Accidens 3. It s supream not in respect of God nor of the power of other States but in respect of the power of Fathers Masters Officers Corporations and Societies within every several State. For by vertue of Majesty it is that Soveraigns are equal in respect of themselves superiours in respect of their Subjects and inferiours unto God whose servants and subjects they are trusted with a particle of his power and accountable unto him 4. It 's Independent yet not in respect of God upon whom all Soveraigns do not only chiefly but wholly depend but in respect of all subordinate Powers within but coadequate to them without For all power civil within the Territory is derived from Majesty Fiduciary Princes therefore as such are not Soveraigns though they may have the title of Soveraignty yet a Soveraign may be fiduciary for some part of a Country within and part of the Dominions of another Soveraign Neither can the chief Magistrate of a Commonwealth trusted at certain times with the general exercise of the Power be such Protection and Vassalage are conceived by some not to destroy Independency neither doth confederation For though the League between several States as in Switzerland and the united Netherlands Provinces may be strict and Commissioners may be made and trusted with great power in things which concern the several States jointly such the states-General of the Low-Countries be yet this is thought to be no diminution of Majesty For it remains entire in the several Republicks 5. It s indivisible for though it hath several branches which may be distinguished yet they cannot be separated For if you take away but one much more if you take away more you make it imperfect and essentially defective and insufficient to Govern For as in Philosophy Essentia est indivisibilis so in Politicks Majestas est indivisibilis sic Majestatis Jura sunt inseparabilia As these Rights are indivisible in respect of themselves so they are in respect of the Subject For divide and separate some of
nascenti pagina Romae Ne vacet Egeriam consuluisse Numae Nôsset Sparta isthaec duro formata Lycurgo Secula mansisset quot stetit illa dies Nec tibi Parthenope gemino quater amplius anno Mutâsset dominos plebs malefida suos Nec sibi foedâsset fastos tam turpiter Anglus Mille per incertas mobilis usque vices Quam bene Lawsoni magni dignissimus haeres Nominis ille salo jura dat ipse solo Qui regnare doces qui parere libenter Imperium calami cedimus ecce tibi Te tantum genuit vicus brevis angulus orbis Langcliff nascenti conscia terra mihi Eborac invideant vel Athenae debeo plura Jam pro te patriae pro patriâque tibi J. Carr M. D. The Arguments of the several Chapters CHAP. I. THE Propriety of God acquired by Creation and continued by Preservation the ground of God's Supream Dominion and Power which is Vniversal over all Creatures more particular and special over Men and Angels who are capable of Laws Rewards Punishments not only Temporal but Eternal The exercise of this Power over men immediate or mediate Mediate in his Government by men over men is either Temporal and Civil or Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Of the Government Spiriritual before Christ's incarnation and after his Session at the right hand of God. Of the Church Christian Triumphant Militant Mystical Visible Vniversal Particular The particular parts of the Vniversal Church as visible the principal subject of the following Discourse Of our Differences and the Causes thereof of hope of better times and the Author's disposition and intention CHAP. II. Of a Community Civil What Politica is what a Common-wealth the subject of Politica What the parts of a Common-wealth what a Community in general which is the subject of a Common-wealth the name and nature of it Of a Community Civil the matter and the form thereof the Original of Civil Communities the members both natural and naturalized whether they be imperfectly or formally or eminently such The capacity of this Association to receive the form of a Civil Government Liberty Equality Propriety Adjuncts to this Community CHAP. III. Of an Ecclesiastical Community The Definition of it the explication of the Definition The distinction of the Members less or more perfectly such the manner of Incorporation Liberty Equality and aptitude to receive a form of Discipline Proprieties of this Society Where something concerning Children born of Christian Parents whether they be members of the Church or no. CHAP. IV. Of Power Civil The parts of Politica Constitution and Administration what Constitution is and what the parts of a Common-wealth both Civil and Ecclesiastical which are two 1. Soveraign 2. Subjects What Power in general what Power Civil what Supream Power or Majesty Civil the Branches thereof which are called Jura Majestatis the multitude of them reduced to order by several Writers and by the Author The Properties of Majesty which is real or personal What Soveraign real and personal may do The subject of Real Majesty in England the personal Majesty of the Parliament and of the King. CHAP. V. Of the Acquisition of Civil Power and the Amission thereof Civil Power not essential but accidental to any Person It 's acquired in an extrordinary or ordinary way In an ordinary way by consent or Conquest justly or unjustly as by Vsurpation Vsurpation no good Title The Person Vsurping Power at the first by subsequent consent may acquire a good Title Succession and the several ways of Succession Amission of Power by violence or voluntary consent or death Whether any can be made Soveraign by condition Whether Soveraign Power once acquired may be forfeited how and to whom the forfeiture may be made CHAP. VI. Of Power Ecclesiastical The Power is Spiritual not Civil Why it 's called the Power of the Keys as different from that of the Sword. Binding and loosing the same with shutting and opening and both belong chiefly to Legislation and Jurisdiction This Power is Supream and Independent in every particular Church constituted aright according to the Rules of the Gospel The Branches and several Acts of it as making of Canons the constitution of Officers Jurisdiction disposing of the Churches goods Of the extent and also the bounds of the Power Certain distinctions of Spiritual Government as Internal External Vniversal Particular Formal Material or Objective CHAP. VII Of acquiring or losing Ecclesiastical Power The just acquisition of this Power extraordinary in the highest measure as in Christ or in an inferiour degree as in the Apostles How ordinary Churches derive it from Christ by the Gospel-Charter in an ordinary way The Power of the Church and Church-Officers unequal The several ways of Vsurping and also of losing this Power CHAP. VIII Of the disposition of Power Civil from the several manners of which arise the several forms of Government General Observations premised The several ways of disposing Majesty or Supream Power in a State. Pure Forms Monarchies Despotical and Regal Pure Aristocracies and Democracies Mixt Governments when the Power is placed in the several States joyntly The Constitution of England Our Kings and their Title Peers Commons Parliaments and the limits of their Power The limits of the King 's personal Majesty Our late divisions and confusions Whether King or Parliament as separate could be justified by the fundamental constitution of England By what Rule the Controversie must be tried Whether Party at the first was more faithful to the English Protestant interest How the state of the Controversie altered The high and extraordinary actings of all Parties The good that God hath brought out of our Disorders and Confusions Whom God hath hitherto most punished What is to be done if we intend a Settlement of State and Church CHAP. IX Of the Disposition of Power Ecclesiastical and whether the Bishop of Rome be the first Subject of it under Christ. The many and great differences about the first subject of the Power of the Keys The Pope the Prince the Prelate the Presbyter the People challenge it as due unto them by a Divine Right Their several pretended Titles examined Whether that of the Bishop of Rome be good or valid His greatness state and pomp The opinions of some Authors concerning him The power he challengeth is Transcendent The reasons to prove his title taken from Politicks Ancient Writers the Scriptures The insufficiency of them though some may seem to prove the possession yet none make good the Title CHAP. X. Whether Civil Soveraigns have any right unto the power of the Keys Their power and advantage to assume and exercise this power Their power not spiritual but temporal The power of ordering Matters of Religion what it is and how it differs from the power of the Keyes Jus Religionis ordinandae rightly understood belongs to all higher Powers The Kings and Queens of England though acknowledged over all persons in all causes both Civil and Ecclesiastical supream Governours yet
Dignity or Honour without any Power The nature of it consists in Power which hath several branches concerning which he relates the Opinion and Judgment of the Philosopher of Historians of the writers of Politicks of Lawyers and in the end delivers his own mind and reduced them to certain Heads in this manner Iura majestatis sunt Majora Defensionis Gubernationis in Minora de aerario colligendo Legibus condendis Magistratibus constituendis The first division is taken from the inequality of these Prerogatives and Rights The second he seems to ground upon these words That our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our Battels 1 Sam. 8.20 Where to Judge seems to signifie to Govern by Law and Officers to go out before us and fight our Battels presupposeth in his Judgment the power of the Militia To these he adds other two concerning the ordering of Religion and Coining of Money Under these general Heads he reduceth many other particulars and so proceeds to handle 1. the greater 2. The less Prerogatives severally and that largely This with the salving of some doubts and confuting some Errours is the Scheme and substance of the whole Treatise divided into three several Books section 8 Leaving every one to his own method I will with submission to better Judgment make bold to deliver my own Majestas est Realis quae potest rempublicam Constituere abolere mutare reformare Personalis quae agit cum exteris De Bello Pace Per Foedera Legationes suis circa divina religionem ordinando humanae leges ferendo exequendo This though not exact may serve the turn and in some measure declare the several branches of this great Power which in it self is but one yet hath many acts and the same different in respect of several and different Objects and Subjects I only mention the chief Heads to which the rest may be reduced for the better and more distinct understanding of it I will more particularly explain my self 1. Therefore Majesty is Reall Personal Real is in the Community and is greater than Personal which is the power of a Common-wealth already constituted For as you have heard before this form of a Common-wealth is virtually in it before it be constituted and their consent is the very foundation of it And this consent whether mediate or immediate tacit or express is so necessary that though a people be conquered yet the Victor cannot govern them as men without their consent Nay more when God designed immediately first Saul then David yet the election and consent of the people did concur with and follow upon the Divine Designation As this Real Majesty is a Power to model a State so it s always inherent and can never be separated insomuch that when a form of Government is dissolved or there shall be a failer of Succession the Power of the Soveraign doth divolve unto them by the law of nature or rather it was always in the people As this Community hath the power of constitution so it hath of dissolution when there shall be a just and necessary cause Hence appears the mistake of Junius Brutus Buchanon Heno and others when they say Ejus est destituere Cujus est constituere if they meant it of the multitude and body of the Subjects as Subjects under a form of Government it can only be true of a Community where they have just and necessary cause Subjects as Subjects cannot do it because of their Subjection and Obligation whereas the Community as a Community is free from any Obligation to any particular Form either from the Laws of God Natural or Positive or from their own Consent or Oaths And though the People in this consideration are bound both by the Natural and Positive Laws of God to constitute a Government if they can yet they are not bound to this Form or that Another Act of this Majesty in the Community is when they see it necessary and just and they have not only Power but Opportunity to do it to alter the Form of the Government this Act as with us is above the Power of a Parliament which may have Personal yet cannot have this Real Majesty For a Parliament doth necessarily presuppose a Form of Government already agreed upon whereby they are made the Subject of Personal Soveraignity Therefore they cannot alter or take away the cause whereby they have their being nor can they meddle with the fundamental Laws of the Constitution which if it once cease they cease to be a Parliament If the Government be dissolved and the Community yet remains united the People may make use of such an Assembly as a Parliament to alter the former Government and constitute a new but this they cannot do as a Parliament but considered under another Notion as an immediate Representative of a Community not of a Common-wealth And thus considered the Assembly may constitute a Government which as a Parliament cannot do which always presupposing the Constitution as such can act only in and for the administration That Community is wise which doth and happy which can keep their Majesty so due unto them as to limit their personal Soveraigns so as not to suffer them to take it from them and assume it to themselves section 9 As there is a real so there is a personal Majesty so called because it 's fixed in some Persons who are trusted with the exercise of it and may and many times do forfeit to God and in some cases forfeit to the Community or the People for when it is said it may be forfeited to the People we must understand that the People is not Plebs the meanest and the lowest rank and but a part of the Community but the whole Community it self as a Community otherwise we may lay the Foundation of all kinds of Tumults Confusions Seditions and Rebellions The Person or Persons trusted with the Majesty and Power are bound to seek the good of the whole People and for that end they are trusted with it and no otherwise Hence the saying Suprema lex salus populi esto The Acts of this Power which it hath a right to exercise are many and that in respect of those without or those within the Common-wealth For agit cum exteris it dealeth and acteth with those without This is not the first but rather the last kind of acting It ariseth from the relation which it hath to other States with which it may have some society though it hath no dependance upon it The Rules of this Acting as it respects themselves and the States with whom they deal are the Laws of Nations Yet the particular Laws of every several State may determine the Rules according to which it will act with or against another State. Because one State may wrong or benefit or strengthen and help another hence it comes to pass that sometimes there is a cause of War. For when by Ambassadours or other
Agents the State wronged demands satisfaction or Justice and cannot be heard then there remains no way but to hazard a War and defer the cause to God to decide it by the Issue which he shall give Sometimes a State may be unjustly invaded in which case there is no remedy but a defensive War. 1. To judge and determine of this War whether offensive or defensive to have the chief Command to grant Commissions to Press Men provide for Arms and Money to denounce and proclaim the War by Heralds belongs unto the Soveraign who is trusted with this Militia not only against foreign States but against Seditious and Rebellious Subjects 2. After a War begun and continued a Peace may be concluded and this is another Act of Majesty Personal 3. Because one State may strengthen help and benefit another hence Leagues of Peace and Amity and also for mutual offence or defence or for Protection or for Commerce Yet none of these are valid by the very Law of Nations but as made concluded continued by the supream Powers Personal 4. The Soveraigns of several States cannot in their own Persons except very rarely meet together and act personally face to face one with another neither is it convenient or expedient so to do Therefore a way and means dictated by the light of Nature hath been invented to act by others who are their Deputies and Representatives and these are called Ambassadours To send these whether ordinary or extraordinary and to give them Power and Commissions with Instructions and Letters Credential that their Acts may be valid is the right of Majesty Personal To this Head may be referred the sending of Heralds and Agents or Envoyes section 10 This personal Majesty and Soveraignty acts within the Common-wealth and with the Subjects as Subjects With these it acts 1. In matters of Religion For Magistratus est custos utriusque tabulae where by Magistrate we must not understand Officers but supream Governours as the word is taken largely by many Authors especially such as profess Theology For it is the Duty as it is the Right of Civil Soveraigns to order matters of Religion and that in the first place so far as it tends unto or concerns the peace and happiness of a State which depends much upon the establishment profession and practice thereof As they must order it so they must not only constantly and sincerely profess practise it themselves but as Soveraigns protect and defend their Subjects in the profession and exercise of the same so far as their coactive-force and Sword may justly do it This should be their first and principal Work which they should do not onely for the good of the people but their own happiness success and establishment in the Throne They are not to associate as Priests or Presbyters nor arrogate the power of making Canons Ordination Excommunication Absolution and such like Acts which are purely spiritual yet they may make Civil Laws concerning those things and execute the same and also ratifie by Civil Acts the Ecclesiastical Canons and punish such as shall violate the same Yet this right doth presuppose the Religion which they establish and maintain to be true and instituted from Heaven It 's true that the consciences of men are subject only unto God and to him alone are they answerable for their secret thoughts and opinions which men can have no certain cognisance of Yet if they broach errours in Religion and blasphemies and seek by communicating them by word or writing to seduce pervert infect others they disturb the peace of the State offend God and bring Gods Judgements from Heaven upon themselves who are guilty of such sins and upon the Soveraign and the subject of that State where they live And in this case though the consciences cannot be forced yet their estates persons lives are liable to the sword and in that respect they may and ought to be punished by the sword of Justice This is so a Right of Civil Soveraigns that we never read of any State of civilized people without Lawes concerning Religion and the worship of a Deity I confess this branch of civil Power is not rightly placed nor is the method exact because it comes in under the Heads of Legislation and Jurisdiction the matter of both which are Religion mens persons estates and lives section 11 After matters of Religion which are more spiritual and divine follow such as are temporal and humane Concerning these we have two acts of Majestie 1. Legislation 2. Execution of Laws made hence these two Jura Majestatis 1. A right to make Laws 2. A right to execute them This Power of making Laws is the principal and most necessary and doth inseparably adhere unto the Soveraign once constituted It was Jethro's counsel to Moses which with Gods approbation he followed to teach the people Laws that all Subjects and Officers might know their work and duty and the Rule which must direct them in all actions of Officers and subjects as such this was Gods order For after that he became their Soveraign and the people of Israel his subjects he proceeds to make Lawes Moral Ceremonial Judicial yet the personal Soveraign hath no power to make fundamental Laws concerning the constitution but only for the administration This our Parliaments if rightly constituted and duly acting for the publick good I honour as much as any man may take notice of Yet I may not presume to teach them much less correct them This Power is given by the consent of the people in the constitution who upon their submission become their Soveraigns subjects and are bound thereupon either to obey his Lawes once made or suffer This is not meerly a Power to teach and direct them but to bind them To this Head are brought the Power of repealing interpreting altering Lawes with Dispensations Reservations naturalizing granting Priviledges conferring Honours founding Colledges and Corporations Legitimation restoring the blood tainted and all acts of Grace as giving immunities exemptions tolerations indulgences acts of oblivion section 12 After Legislation follows Execution which in this place is not the execution of the Judges Sentence for that follows as a distinct act of Jurisdiction This right of Majesty is of far greater latitude and reacheth all acts that tend to the execution of the Laws which are in vain if not put in execution And because this cannot be done without Officers and Judgment therefore this comprehends under it The right of making Officers administration of Justice The making of Officers as without which the Laws cannot be put in execution is the first of these two By Officers I understand all such as are used by the Soveraign for to put in practice the Law and perform any publick act These may be either ordinary or extraordinary temporary or standing for Peace or War for to deal with forriegn States Such are all Dictatours Viceroyes Regents Treasurers Counsellours Judges Sheriffs Constables Captains and Commanders by sea
them even but one from the Soveraign he is an imperfect Soveraign take away all he ceaseth to be a Soveraign Again the Subject of Majesty and of all the rights and parts thereof must be only one either Physically or Morally If you divide the Subject you destroy them For if in this Common-wealth we give part of these to the King part to the Peers part to the Commons we make it a Babel and destructive of it self For suppose the King have the Militia to himself he may command the Purse make void the Laws revoke Judgments reject Parliaments and none can hinder him because neither Peers nor Commons have any right to the Sword whereby to defend themselves Therefore little heed is to be given to that Book or bitter Invective entitled Elenchus motuum nuperorum which informs from the Lawyers if we may believe him that these Soveraign Rights were thus divided 6. From this that it 's Indivisible follows it that it 's incommunicable For to whomsoever they are communicated they cease to be Subjects and the Soveraign to be a compleat Soveraign and this Communication tends to the dissolution of the Government 7. It 's perpetual that is fixed in a certain subject to continue in the same according to the fundamental Laws of Constitution Therefore the Temporary or occasional power though very great of a Dictatour or Regent or Protectour who are but trusted with it for a time in extraordinary cases and upon occasion cannot be Majesty when there is an Interregnum or suspension of the Government by reason of Sedition Faction Rebellion Civil War or some other cause it 's good and expedient for the safety of a State to set up some extraordinary Governour or Governours trusted for a time with transcendent Power till the State disturbed and not capable of any Union be setled which done that Power doth cease and Majesty is fixed in his proper primary and constant subject that the Government may run in the old Channel except they intend to make an alteration of the Constitution section 15 There is another kind of personal Majesty inferiour to and different from the former We find it in some Princes of Europe as in the Emperour of Germany the Kings of Denmark Sweden Poland and England For our Kings had not only the title of Majesty but some power with the title For in the intervals of Parliament he was Soveraign alone and all and every one yea the greatest were his subjects He called and summoned Parliaments made all Officers by sea and land sent and received Ambassadours conferred all Honours the subjects sware Allegiance to him His Dignity was eminent his State great and so many advantages he had that if he should have used them all he might easily have undone his subjects and so have undone himself Yet he had not the power of the purse He was sworn to corroborate the just Laws and Customs which the people had chosen In the Parliament he made a third party yet so that neither in acts of Lawes or Judgement could he do any thing without the Peers and Commons and as Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript observes together with them he was greater than himself Yet as Kings have sometimes curbed Parliaments so Parliaments have Kings and disposed of the Militia the Navy the Ports the chief Offices Nay they have sometimes judged Kings accusing them of acting against the fundamental Constitution and challenging such Power as tended to the dissolution of the same and have deposed them But of this particular something may be said hereafter these kinds of Soveraigns have so much power whether more or less as the Constitution gives them yet it will be a difficult thing to keep them within their bounds CHAP. V. Of the manner how Civil Power is acquired WHat the Nature of Power in general and Majesty Civil is hath been declared The next thing to be considered is the Subject who from it is denominated a Soveraign and we must enquire first how this Power is acquired 2. How disposed in a certain Subject As for the acquisition it 's certain Man as Man or as a Member of a Community cannot have it from himself but it must be communicated to him from God who being the Universal Soveraign is the Fountain and Original of it and derives some part of it unto Man and a greater measure unto Mortal Soveraigns than other Men. Yet he doth not this immediately but mediately for the most part It 's extrinsecal and comes aliunde not only unto Men but Angels A Paternal Power which is more Natural is acquired by Generation though sometimes by Adoption This Generation from divine Benediction is the seminary of all Societies which as Societies and Communities may be so disposed and compleat as virtually to contain in them a Power of a Common-wealth and by a general consent constitute an actual Soveraign The Soveraign before he was made such was not invested with Majesty but it was extrinsecal unto him And here that distinction between the Power it self the Designation of the Persons Governing and the Form of Government is worthy taking notice of The Designation of the Persons and the Form of Government is from God leaving Man at Liberty but not so the Power which is more from him than the other two Though the parties justly possessed of power may be thought to have the propriety of it yet they have not any for let it be never so firmly conveyed upon them by designation and submission yet they are but trusted with it Princes tell us they hold their Crowns and Kingdoms per Deum Gladium If they mean that they derive their power from God so as that they neither receive nor hold it from the Bishops of Rome or the Emperour or any other Mortals it may be true yet they have their power so from God that they are invested with it by Humane Designation And as for their Sword it may by a Conquest make way for a Government but it cannot constitute it The fundamental Charter of all Civil Majesty is the fifth Commandment taken in a large sence and understood by other Scriptures which speak more expresly and distinctly of Civil Government In this Commandment including much more by Analogy than is expressed we may observe that there is a power of Superiority and Excellency as in Fathers so in the Princes and Rulers of the World and that from God who made them Men Fathers Princes 2. That all Government should be Paternal Not that the first-born of the most ancient Family in every Tribe Kinred Nation should be a Soveraign for that we seldom find but that they should as Fathers love their Subjects and seek their Good and tender them as Fathers do their Children 3. That by virtue of Gods Command so soon as they are actually Governours Honour and Subjection are due unto them 4. That all Vicinities as far as they are able ought first to associate and then establish an
some sort commanded by the Prophet Jeremy as sent from God to submit unto the King of Babylon and come under his protection section Majestas continuatur successione per electionem liberam indeterminatam astrictam familiae ubi mares solum foeminae quoque jure quasi haereditario succedant After a Title is once established by the Fundamental Charter and the first investiture care is taken how this Title may be continued that so not only the present but the future Sovereign and subject of personal Majesty may be determined and not only the State but the Sovereign thereof may become perpetual and immortal This can no ways be done but by Succession and this depends upon Election at least of the first Constitutors of the State which determines the successive Sovereigns to acquire their Title by Election or Birth or both If by Election only that many times is left free to the Electors to chuse out of what Family or Country they please Thus the Roman and also the German Emperors and the Kings of Poland acquire and receive their Power Sometimes the Election is confined to a Family or Line In this respect the Title is said to be Hereditary which is not to be understood as though the personal Sovereigns were absolute proprietaries of the Crown or had power of alienation but because they are like those who in civil Law are called Haeredes sui Heirs natural by Law and Birth who succeed into and by Birth acquire the right which their Predecessors justly had This Succession is sometimes tyed to the Males as in France sometimes is indifferent to Male or Female Children Thus it is in England where the Kings and Queens are said to have their Heirs which if we may believe the great Lawyer Sir Edward Coke upon Magna Charta are nothing but the Successors For Heirs saith he are Successors Yet surely he means Successors not only by Election but Blood. In this kind of Succession sometimes the present Sovereigns if they have Children may determine and declare which of them shall succeed them Thus David chose Solomon Sometimes it 's otherwise because by the Constitution it 's entailed upon the first-born or next of Blood. This seems to be the ancient right and custom of this Nation This may be the reason why King Henry VIII though he took upon him much of an absolute Prince would not presume of himself to define his Successor but desires an act to be made in Parliament for to enable him by Will to dispose of the Crown Yet such an act could not make void the Election used at the Coronation which hath something of the Constitution in it though it was made a meer formality section 5 Injuste usurpata dolo malo pecunia homicidio alio modo As Power may be justly so it may be unjustly acquired and this is usually called Usurpation which is the taking and keeping possession of that which is not our own or which we have no Right unto It 's true that in Civil Law it 's defined to be praepossessio juris controversi Yet in this manner of Usurpation that Right is seldom doubtful but for the most part clear enough The Power is always good because from God and the act thereof which is Government is good yet the manner of acquiring may be bad And it 's observable that many who have ill acquired have well used their Power It 's generally held That usurped Right and Power is no Right or Power because it 's not in his proper subject Therefore it 's conceived that Tyrannus in titulo such every Usurper is said to be cannot command and bind the people nor do any acts of Government which is valid and may justly be removed before the people acknowledge him or swear fealty to him And many think it unlawful to submit unto or act under an usurped Power Sometimes it may be so yet there are cases when we may nay we must submit and act too If Christians under the Heathen Emperors had stood upon such terms as some do in our days their condition had been far worse than it was For though they liked not Usurpation and the cursed means whereby many acquired their power yet this was their principle Non multum interest sub quorum imperio vivit homo cito moriturus si qui imperant ad impia vel iniqua nos non cogant Aust. de L.D. Blood Bribery Treason Rebellion unjust Invasions they abhorred as abominable and detested them as unfit means to ascend an Imperial Throne Yet it was not in their power to dispossess them once possessed and to establish better They knew God had reserved this unto himself Neither did they think that by submitting unto their power though unjustly gotten yet justly exercised that they were guilty of their sinful and unjust manner of Usurpation Concerning this unjust Acquisition of personal Majesty many things may be observed 1. There are few titles now especially such as are successive in a Line which did not at first begin in Usurpation 2. That the power it self with the just exercise thereof is a different thing from the manner of acquiring it 3. That one that hath the right in reversion may unjustly prepossess it and with us as the Lawyer tells us if the Heir apparent by murther or some other way remove the present just Soveraign yet so soon as he is possessed of the Crown he cannot be questioned and indemnity presently follows upon the possession Richard the Third is called an usurper and was so at the first yet his Laws and Judgments and other Acts of Government were and are judged valid after the Parliaments received him Henry VII cannot be acquitted from usurpation till the Parliament acknowledged him Neither his Victory nor Marriage with the right Heir could give him a good Title though this might conduce to his quiet possession He did never stand upon that Marriage as the foundation of his right unto the Crown for he knew well enough that if that had been his best and only Title that though it might make the Power good unto his Children yet while she was living he must hold the Crown in her Right not in his own and if she died before him it was lost 4. Many Princes have invented Oaths for to secure not only the form of Government but the Crown unto their own Posterity and Family And here it is to be considered whether these Oaths do not necessarily presuppose an higher Obligation of fidelity not only unto God but their own native Country to which they are bound to be faithful under any form of Government or personal Sovereign whatsoever If their present Allegiance cannot stand with the universal good it 's surely unlawful and unjust For the good of the whole is to be preferred before the good of a part and we are bound to love the whole body of the Community more than any Family or some particular persons Again it may prove sometimes impossible to
upon them spiritual power 5. But the greatest Usurper is the Pope who usurpeth a power both intensively and extensively far greater than is due section 5 As the Power may be acquired so it may be lost For 1. When a Church is so far decayed as not to be able to exercise an independant jurisdiction or order as their association so their power is so much abated 2. When a Church doth wholly cease to be a Church then their power is wholly lost Yet when it 's hindred either by the Magistrate or by schisms and rents in it self so that it cannot exercise it yet it 's vertually in them And many times such is the neglect of Christians that they will not associate nor reduce themselves into Order when they might do it this is a great sin 3. When Representatives turn into a faction and betray their trust they lose their power as Representatives 4. All Officers are divested when for some just cause they are deposed or degraded but this belongs not to this part CHAP. VIII Of the disposition of Power Civil and the several forms of Government section 1 AFter the acquisition both of Civil and Ecclesiastical power follows the disposition of both which will take up a great part of this first Book And 1. Of the manner of disposing Civil Power This Disposition seems to be the same with acquisition because it cannot be acquired but by a certain subject neither can it be said properly to be actually acquired but at the very same time and by this very Act it 's placed in that subject Yet because Power Civil may be so communicated and acquired that it may be disposed of several ways and from these several ways of disposing arise several distinctions and differences of Common-Wealths I thought good to make Disposition a distinct thing from Acquisition and so handle it for the better understanding of this particular I will 1. premise some general Observations 2. Briefly declare the several ways of disposing Majesty and the several forms of Governments 3. Inquire into the Constitution of the Common-Wealth of England 4. Deliver some things concerning our condition in these late times section 2 The Observations are these The 1. which belongs unto that of Acquisition is That no power can be fully acquired till it be accepted of as well as communicated For no man can be bound to be a Sovereign against his will. 2. That Majesty is then disposed when it is placed and ordered in a certain constant subject which thereby may be enabled and bound to protect and govern 3. That to be disposed in this or that subject in this or that manner is accidental to Majesty though to be disposed is essential to a Common-Wealth 4. From the different ways of disposing this Power arise the different kinds as they call them of Common-Wealths For from the placing of it in one or more arise Monarchical Aristocratical and popular States 5. Majesty being the same in general in all States it may be disposed several ways and in several degrees in one or more Hence arise the difference of one Monarchy from another one Aristocracy from another one popular State from another 6. Though it may be a Question whether the disposing of Power in one or more can make a specifical difference yet Monarchy and Polyarchy are taken for different species of Common-Wealths essentially different Majestas disponitur pure in uno despotice hinc imperium section 3 Despoticum Regale monarchicum section 3 Despoticum Regale regaliter pluribus optimatibus hinc Aristocratia Democratia plebe hinc Aristocratia Democratia miste in pluribus hinc Status popularis omnibus hinc Status popularis The knowledge of this Scheme depends upon the difference and distinction of the parts and members of a Community For besides those which are but vertually members there are such as are sui juris independant upon others and these are divided into three Ranks As 1. Such as are only free 2. Such as are of the Nobility 3. Some that are super-eminent The two former are called in Latin Plebs optimates And amongst these optimates there may be very great difference as we find a Pompey or a Caesar amongst the Romans a Duke of Briganza amongst the Portugals who inherited a vast Estate in Lands These are called the Tres ordines the three States or Ranks of the whole Body of the People with us King Peers and Commons The super-eminent are few the Peers more in number yet not very many the Commons are the greatest multitude by far and make up the main body of the Society Yet with us of these there be several degrees and subdivisions Amongst the Commons we find the Freeholders and the Gentry and a great disparity in both Amongst the Peers there is a difference 1. In respect of the manner of acquiring of this Dignity and so some of them are such by ancient tenure amounting to so many Knights-fees some by Writ some by Patent These are called in Latin Barones Feudatarii rescriptitii diplomatici There is another distinction with us of Lords for some are Temporal some Spiritual The highest of these amongst us are those of Royal Extraction In France the Princes of the Blood. In some Countries as in Denmark and some say in Poland there be Peers and Lords which hold in Allodio and these are independant upon the King in divers respects such also the Princes of Germany be for the most part And in those States where such are found the Government usually is Aristocratical These Kings Dukes and Monarchs became such at first either for the antiquity of their Family and their greate Estates or for their super-eminent wisdom and vertue or for their rare exploits in War or Peace For such as are Generals and great Commanders in wars prudent and successful much beloved by Souldiers may do much dethrone Princes set up themselves and if it will not be fairly given they will forcibly take the Crown and sometimes they may deserve it and prove the fittest to wear it These are the three Ranks and Orders of the People section 4 These being known well will give some light to that which follows concerning the disposing of Majesty whether real or personal though all Majesty actually ruling must be in some sense personal First this super-eminent power may be placed Purely in one Purely in more in one and then that the State is called a Monarchy Yet it may be disposed in more than one several ways 1. More absolutely 2. More strictly limitted An absolute Monarch whether Elective or Hereditary is such as hath a full power over his subjects goods and persons as his own so that the people have neither propriety in their goods nor liberty of their persons They are but his servants and little better than slaves such Pharaoh's Subjects when Joseph had purchased their stocks their Lands their persons for the Crown seem to have been This Government is absolutum dominium and
therefore termed Despoticum herile Imperium And such a Monarch seems to be that which by Aristotle is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There be Princes invested with Majesty who challenge the Legislative power unto themselves will by a Proclamation or Edict command the goods of their Subjects and imprison their persons at will and pleasure These though they be limited by the fundamental Constitution and their Oaths are in the exercise of their power as absolute as the former This kind of Government may do well where the Subjects are turbulent insolent and unruly or of a base and servile spirit or rude and savage But where the people are ingenuous tractable and of a better disposition it 's very unreasonable for it will either cause Rebellions and Seditions or much debase their spirits This kind of Monarchy is apt to degenerate into a Tyranny of one person Yet if this kind of Sovereign be wise just and vertuous the people may live happily under his protection Yet such a power and so unlimited is not fit to be trusted in the hands of every one And if it be hereditary woe to the people that live under it Yet this power may be trusted in the hands of one yet so as that it may be allayed limited and justly and wisely poised and the Sovereign as a King. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifies a Governor in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek is a word of great latitude and so is Rex in Latin and also Sultan in the Arabick and Mauritanian Language Yet some are such imperious Dictators and Masters of words that the word King must needs signifie an absolute Monarch That it often signifies a Monarch and one that hath the title of Majesty there is no doubt But the bare word or title not distinctly inform us of the power or the manifold differences of Kings which must be known another way as by the constitution of those particular States where the chief and most eminent Governours have that title For there is a great difference and that in respect of power between the Kings of Spain and France and the Kings of Poland Swethland and Denmark Neither doth the King of England in this respect exactly agree with any of them But if the word cannot the definition surely of a King should determine his power Yet neither will the common usual definition do it For thus he is commonly defined A King is a Monarch who governeth free men justly according to the Laws to the good of the Common-wealth The Genus is that he is a Monarch And if such in strict senc◠as such he can have neither Superiour nor Peer in his Kingdom The specifical difference is taken from the Subject the rule the end of his Government For his proper act is Regere to govern The subjects of his Government are Freemen The Rule is just Laws The end the publick good Abstract the specifical difference and lay the word King and Monarch aside and it agrees to all Governours Civil whatsoever For Civil government being grounded upon the eternal moral Law Love thy Neighbour as thy self and more particularly upon the fifth Commandment no person or persons invested with Sovereign power can be defined any other way and neither their power nor the exercise thereof is good further than it agrees with this definition And the more their government swerves from this Rule the more of the Tyrant is in them and if the violation of it be more than their observation and that habitually too then they are really Tyrants in exercitio For denominatio fit a parte praedominante But I have wondred why Authors have made this the specifical difference of a King which certainly it cannot be Yet this definition leaves many things doubtful For it determines not what liberty is and whether it can be perfect without propriety Nor doth it tell us what these Laws are according to which he must govern whether the Laws of God only or the Laws also of men and if of men whether the Laws of constitution or administration if of administration whether they must be made by himself alone or by some others without him or with him For if the Laws be made by him alone he is an absolute Despotical Sovereign if by others either with him or without him he is not such For there may be a King at least in name above Law and a King by Law and such as cannot command or bind the meanest Subject nor judge him but according to Law. Such a King is not a pure Monarch which I now treat of Therefore a King that is a pure Monarch differs from a Despotical Sovereign in respect of his Subjects and the measure of his power and according to this definition in the exercise of it The Subjects of the one are free and have propriety of person and goods the Subjects of the other have neither The power of the one is more absolute and of larger extent or rather more intensive The exercise of the power of the one is bounded by just Laws the power of the other is not limitted or directed by Laws and so tends not so much to advance the weal of his Subjects as his own greatness and in this respect can be no lawful and good Governour if he act according to his absolute and arbitrary power which God never gave him And Despotical Sovereigns if wise and just will do as Trajan did that is act according to the Rule of Justice and of a limitted power though they be not bound by man to do so section 6 An absolute and pure Monarchy is a very dangerous form of Government and very inclinable and propense to Tyranny and such a Sovereign as is invested with such transcendent power degenerates and turns Tyrant Experience in all times and places makes this evident Monarchy indeed in some respects is the best Government Yet such is the imperfection and corruption of man that it proves not to be so If Monarchs were like God or Saints and Angels it might be better But in a succession whether elective or hereditary we find in tract of time few good many bad and very wicked In Israel the first King was not right the fourth too bad and after the Kingdom was divided into the Tribe of Israel and Judah in Judah we find few like David many very wicked in the Kingdom of Israel not one good Yet the Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical were made to their hands and that by God himself Sovereign power is a weighty burthen and requires much strength and excellent abilities Moses himself cannot bear it alone he hath need of one hundred and Seventy Elders and the same endued with the spirit of government to be his assistants If a Sovereign be imprudent or weak of understanding not able to judge of good counsel or negligent or timorous or wilful or destitute of good Agents and Instruments for Administrations the Government begins to
decline even in most peaceable times and the Subjects become suddenly unhappy But if he be Wicked Vitious Insolent Impetuous Cruel he instantly becomes a Tyrant and then both Church and State begin to suffer much Religion is corrupted or suppressed and persecuted the Wicked are predominant and the best under Hatches Yea though the Prince may be of a good Disposition yet facile and flexible devoid of Wisdom and Courage and also destitute of good and faithful Counsellors and beset with wicked Men how easily is he misled involved in many Troubles and in the end brought to Ruine Sometimes a few cunning Politicians act him as a â—hild drive on their own Interest and neglect yea pervert the publick Good. How much more if the Monarchs be Children or Ideots as some be If in such a model God raise up a David a Solomon a Jehosaphat an Ezekiah a Josiah the People may be happy and have great Cause to be thankful for so great a Blessing There is another way of disposing Majesty than the former and that is when it 's fixed section 7 Purely in more than one And that is twofold in obtimatibus plebe When it is disposed in few and the same more eminent it 's called an Aristocraty so called from the quality of the persons who govern For they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimates primores praecipui the most eminent in the Community and above the common Sort or Plebean Rank for they are not only formaliter but eminenter cives as you heard before Their eminency ariseth from their noble Extraction as being descended from noble and ancient Families or from their great Estates or from both or from their excellent Vertues And such as in whom all these concurr are the fittest for Government Amongst the Romans these were called Patricii This Order of Peers which may be so called in relation of one unto another amongst themselves is sometimes confined to certain Families as they say it is in the Rhagusian and Venetian States and with a permission or prohibition to marry in inferior Families or there may be way made open for the Adoption of other persons for their eminent Vertues though of meaner Rank For virtus vera nobilitas Such were the Patricii minorum Gentium amongst the Romans And though political Vertues as Wisdom and Justice do best qualifie them for the place yet it 's requisite they have good Estates or sufficient Allowance otherwise they will oppress the people or be unfit to attend the publick Service Yet such as are born of noble and ancient Families have some advantage because they many times inherit great Estates are more honoured by the People have the benefit of the best Education sometimes participate some measure of the noble Spirit of their Ancestors whose rare Examples may do something too These though physically many yet morally are but one person collective They may have a president and such as the Duke of Venice And his Privileges Honour State and Dignity may be Paramount and he may have the precedency yet no negative Voice nor Power above the rest For the Power and all the particular Rights of Majesty are in them all jointly And when they in any business of State do differ the major part carries it and the rest submit This may be an excellent Government when all or the greater and predominant party are Wise and Just and follow some certain Rules of the Constitution and seek the publick good as all other Sovereigns should do If there be not care taken in the Succession that the best may succeed the best the body will corrupt and degenerate into an Oligarchy which is then done when either they agree to advance their own private Interest to the neglect of the publick or if they be divided one party bears down another and a few prevailing engross the Power and Usurp far more than is due and oppress the People and so prove a number of Tyrants When the richest engross the power to themselves it 's called a Timocraty If the Succession into places vacant either by death or some other way be by Election an excellent qualification prerequired some strict order for the admission should be observed least unworthy persons enter by Favour Money or some Indirect way And in this particular the State of Venice seems to excel Neither must any of them be suffered to swell and rise above the rest as many ways they may do especially if they be Men of excellent parts and successful and be trusted with too great a command in the Administration For some wise Men have observed That the unlimitted Commission granted Pompey at the first for the Pyratick War laid the Foundation of those bloody Civil Wars which followed Majestas pure disponitur in Plebe section 8 This is the last and basest kind of the pure Models For Plebs signifies the inferior rank of People which for number far exceed the rest Among these besides Artificers Husband-men and such as are for Trade and Traffick there may be some Merchants of great Estates some of more noble Descent and competent Revenue yet far short of such Eminency as is required in Peers or Princes which this kind of Government cannot brook Yet it may be so ordered as that the exercise of the Power may be trusted in hands of some just wise and experienced Persons which either must govern by course or be removed least trusted too long they engross the power to themselves or to some few Families or to a Faction predominant For this kind of Government is very subject to Faction Disorder and Tumults The name of it is a Democraty in which there is the greatest Liberty not only because they are free from Peers and Princes but because every one may be a Magistrate and proceed in such a way as opens to that end Yet because in such a State there be few Men of Learning Wisdom Experience in matters of State most of mean Education and many so taken up with their own private Affairs it can hardly continue long without some Alteration if not Ruine It presently degenerates into an Ochlocraty and when such there it cannot stay long before it become an Anarchy It 's a Curse and heavy Judgment of God to live in such a Government according to that in the Prophet And the People shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour the Child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable Esa. iij. 5 The Philosopher reckons up four several kinds of this Democratical Form and there may be many more some better some worse Of the Tumults and Intestine Dissentions amongst these Plebeans Histories tell us much But this is a subject which is not very profitable and I list not to enlarge upon it Majestas disponitur mixte in pluribus section 9 omnibus There is another kind of disposition different from the former and it 's called a mixt Government The reason
of the name few know because they little understand the thing It 's not called so as many think because the Jura Majestatis are divided and given some to the Peers some to the people and some in some States to the Prince For this tends to confusion and doth not well suit with the Nature of Sovereign Power Therefore it 's the cause of many Quarrels and Dissentions But it 's called mixt because either three or at least two of the States are mixt together so as that the Sovereignty is jointly in them all and in the whole and of these there are two Sorts For some time there is no Prince in the Administration and then it 's in the Commons and the Peers not in Peers and in Commons severally but in both jointly Sometimes it 's in omnibus in Prince Peers Commons Yet these in the Administration may have their several parts and different manners of acting Therefore we must not judge of States according to the manner of Administration though the Administration will give great light and help us to understand the Constitution This kind of Government is called a Free State a popular State a Republick or the Republick and may be the best State of all others where Majestas is tota in toto yet there may be several kinds of this manner of Government which by the Philosopher as some think is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Polity Machiavel informs us That Experience of the Inconveniencies of pure States put men on work to find out this and for the most part it may be so If either of the two or any of the three States be predominant in the Administration the State is denominated from the prevailing part For where the Prince hath the Title of King and is predominant in the Exercise of the Power it 's called a Kingdom or Monarchy where the Peers it 's an Aristocraty where the Commons a Democraty and yet if it be a right mixture it can be none of these And in this particular many are deceived For where the whole Power is wholly in the whole there Populus that is King Peers and Commons are the proper subject of Majesty in the Constitution by and in which if any be predominant it cannot be a Free State. Such a Government the German Empire and the State of Venice seem to be Yet in this latter the great Council which some tell us consists of Peers is counted and judged to have the supream Power Yet if we may believe Machiavel the Families out of which they are chosen were at the first Constitution the whole People The Lacedaemonian State is thought by many to be mixt and some say the mixture was ex Democratia praedominante Aristocratia diminuta yet this is very improper and cannot be true The State of Rome seems in the time of the Kings to be a Monarchy After that an Aristocraty in the Senate and the Patricii But when Plebs did jubere Leges then it was a Democraty in the judgment of many Yet upon diligent search it will be found otherwise For though the King was the chief Pontiff and did call the Assemblies had the chief and sole command in War for they gave him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Halicarnassaeus lets us know That this Form was taken from the Lacedaemonians where the Kings had not absolute Power they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but were limitted by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great Council and amongst the Romans by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is their Senate They must not do what they will but what the Senate did determine Yet we shall often find this mixture very imperfect or very much altered in tract of time from what it was at first To say nothing of Platonick and Vtopian Commonwealths which are not practicable nor people capable of them the summ of all this Head is this That God hath given to Men in their several Communities a power to protect the Just and punish Offenders according to wise Laws and just Judgment and also a power to preserve themselves and justly maintain their own Right against all Enemies and Invaders Yet he hath left them at Liberty to dispose of it several ways and trust it in the hands of one or more who if they once take it upon them must exercise it and be just For he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2 Sam. xxxiij 3 section 10 After 1. The generals premised 2. The several ways and manners of disposing Majesty in a certain subject handled I proceed to say something of the Constitution of the State of England which hath long been governed by Kings and Parliaments There was indeed a time even after the Saxons were setled in this Nation when there was no King but Forty Lords who at length chose a King which should have no Peer And there was a time when there were many Kings And after that we find one King and Parliaments and this before the Conquest For this model of ours began in the time of the Saxon Kings and was brought to perfection some say before some say in Edward the Confessor's time What the power of these Parliaments and of these Kings were is the great Question For that once known the Constitution will be evident There was a Power of Kings and also of Parliaments severally and a power of them jointly considered we find the real Majesty in the People and personal Majesty in King and Parliament jointly and a secondary personal Majesty sometimes greater sometimes less in the Kings in the intervals of Parliament But to observe a method and proceed more distinctly I will 1. Presuppose some things 2. I will say something of the Kings 3. Something of the Parliaments severally 4. Something of them both jointly 1. Therefore I will suppose the Government of England to have been by King and Parliament before the Conquest and to have continued so till our days And whosoever will not grant this must either be very ignorant or very partial 2. I will take for granted That there have been extraordinary cases wherein the Rules of the Constitution either have not or could not be observed 3. This is also true that sometimes when they might have been followed yet either the constitution of the Parliament or the carriage of the Kings was such as that they have violated the same 4. Wise and intelligent men will not deny but that in our days the Government was so altered and corrupted that the first constitution was hardly known and it was a difficult thing either to reform it or reduce it to the ancient form section 11 These things supposed in the second place I will examine 1. How the King acquires his power 2. What his power acquired is 3. How far it 's short of a plenary personal Majesty 1. The manner of acquiring this Power and Title is either by deriving it from the first investiture or
of a Congregation to govern and order it self in divers cases not so incident to a national Church well ordered Amongst others there be four acknowledged and reckoned up by Mr. Parker himself The first is when one and the same Cause may concern not only one single Congregation but divers several other neighbouring Churches The second is the Inability of the Eldership of an independent Congregation The third is Male administration The fourth is Appeal upon Male-administration presumed Concerning these four Cases I observe 1. That no single Congregation doth continue long but some of these Cases if not all will fall out 2. That in these cases there can hardly be any Redress 3. That a national Church is ordinarily furnished with sufficient Remedies against these Evils Upon all this it follows that in some cases a national Church is of a better constitution than a Congregational Whereas Mr. Parker in the case of Male-administration grants Appeals in that very concession he divests his Congregation of her independent Power and makes it to be no Politie at all For if as he saith a congregational Church be and that by divine Institution the primary Subject of the Power of the Keys how can it be subject to another Church or Churches as if it Appeal it must needs be Par in parem non habet potestatem is a certain Rule For obligatio ex delicto will not here take place To be independent and dependent cannot agree to the same Church at the same time And is it likely that Christ denieth the power of the Keys to that Church which in all the forementioned cases was sufficiently furnished with effectual means of redress and give it to that which is in it self insufficient There be several kinds and degrees of Communion between particular Churches independent and that for mutual help and edification yet all those kinds and degrees of Communion are but extrinsecal and the Communion is but like that of Leagues and Friendship between State and State which can no ways reach Appeals And as it is in several distinct States so it 's in several distinct Churches That of Dr. Jackson is very remarkable and worthy consideration That the best Union that can be expected between visible Churches seated in several Kingdoms or Commonweals independent one upon another is the Unity of League or Friendship and this Union may be as strict as it shall please such Common-weals and Churches to make it and to subject such a Church in such a case unto another is to build a Babel or seat for Antichrist This implies that a Church may be National and he gives a good reason why it should be no more And according to this Rule Mr. Parker by granting in this case Appeals doth no better than build a Babel and so I fear many others do by making every Congregation independent section 15 But to say no more in this place of Appeals the power of receiving whereof is a branch of Majesty and the exercise of this power belongs to Administration and comes under the head of Jurisdiction where they are to be handled at large I further do conceive that the condition of these independent Congregations is no better than that of petty States as those of the Netherlands and the Cantons of Switzerland These cannot subsist without a strift Confederation or a foreign Protection and both are dangerous and sometimes if not often prove prejudicial Though the States-General of the Low-Countries have their Commission from the several Republicks and with this Clause Salva cujusque populi Majestate yet they are ready many times to usurpe and exercise more power than is due unto them But foreign Protection sometimes proves a supreme Power But the danger of our independent Churches as with us is far greater because they are so petty and far less bodies and no ways by any certain Rules firmly united From all this Discourse a rational Reader will conceive that a national Church in my sence is far more agreeable to the Rules of Government which we find in Scripture than so many independent Polities Ecclesiastical in one Nation Some still do conceive and they have reason for it that as this Nation of an independent Congregation was at first invented to oppose the Diocesan Bishop so the dissenting Brethren pitched upon it in opposition to the Scottish Kirk and the English Scotified Presbyterian And as in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth some great ones and Counsellours of State protected the new Conformist and made use of him to poise the Bishop so in our days there were Statists who knew how to make the Congregational party subservient to their civil interest not only to poise but to beat down the Presbyterian and which they far more aimed at their party both in England in the Parliament and Army and also in Scotland which in the end was done to some purpose For at last the Independent became predominant had great Friends was much favoured obtained good maintenance and some of them were put in the best places and enjoyed the best preferments in the City Universities and Country Nay some of them do not scruple plurality of places as though the word Pluralist were only unlawful and Plurality the thing it self legal and just enough Some of them do much mislike the Parochial divisions yet like Parochial Benefices well enough and are unwilling once possessed of them to part with them yet this power and profit is made not only by them but others the great interest few seek a real Reformation with sincerity of heart section 16 To draw near a conclusion not only of this Chapter but of this discourse of the party supreamly Governing in Church and State it s the duty of us all in the best manner and by the best means to endeavour and make it our chief design to reform and unite this divided and distracted Church of ours For this end we should first lay aside our Divisions as they proceed either from ignorance or errour or disaffection and let us see and try how far we may agree in the general and clear truths of Scripture revealed for to direct us in the right ordering of a Christian Society and put on charity which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in our hearts to which we are called in one body Col. 3.14 15. For if we do not hold the Truth in love Eph. 4.15 no good thing will be done These are the only and effectual means whereby the Foundation of our Church-happiness can be laid 2. Let no person or party assume any power but what Christ hath given him or them upon a clear title 3. Let us give every one their due As for the Pope we must leave him to God who will in his due time take order with him Let civil Soveraigns have their right in matters of Religion Let the Bishop be reduced to his Ancient Superintendency and Inspection Let the Pretbyters be contented
unto another till a form of Government and Discipline be setled Yet they are subject to Christ as the Head of the universal Church visible subject to God as supream Lord subject to their Pastours if they have any For they are commanded to obey them who rule over them and to submit unto them c. Heb. 13.17 For Ministers are Officers and Representatives of Christ and therefore must needs have power in foro interiori conscientiae as the Schoolmen speak Yet Ministers as Ministers have no power of the Keys in foro exteriori they are only eminent members of the Community otherwise the Government external of the several Congregations in one Community should be purely Aristocratical in them and Monarchical in a single Congregation 2. They are equal as members of a Community in respect of Power and Government which is not yet introduced or at least considered as not actually brought in they cannot command or judge one another neither can the whole sentence any single member For that were to act as a Common-wealth which as yet is not 3. The whole is in an immediate capacity to form a Government as you heard before This may be done immediately by the eminent and compleat members or by a delegation of a power of modelling the Government by a few of the principal and fit for such a work and afterwards approved and ratified by all And though the general Rules of Discipline are plainly delivered in the Scriptures yet few will understand them or apply them right and it 's an hard thing to abolish the corruptions of former Governments so that many times a Discipline is setled and perfected only by degrees and in a long time Not only the constitution but a reformation of a Church meets with many difficulties One reason is there is so little of Christianity in many and none in some that yet profess their Faith in Christ which either they do not understand or refuse to practise This hath given occasion to some to gather Churches out of Churches and to separate How justly or wisely this hath been done something may be said hereafter CHAP. IV. Of a Common-wealth in general and Power Civil section 1 THE subject of a Common-wealth being a Community which is twofold Civil and Ecclesiastical It remains and order requireth that I say something of a Common-wealth You heard before that the subject adequate of Politicks was a State or Common-wealth and that the parts of this Act are two 1. The Constitution 2. The Administration The Constitution as you may remember is the first part of Politicks whereby an order of Superiority and Subjection is setled in a Community wherein three things were principally to be examined 1. What a Community in general 2. What a Community civil 3. What a Community Ecclesiastical is and all this is done Therefore to proceed observe that a Community is like a matter without form in respect of something that it must receive yet a matter and a subject disposed and in proxima potentia to receive a form to perfect it and this form is that we call a Common-wealth a Polity a State wherein we may observe four things 1. That it is an order 2. An order of superiority and subjection this is the general nature of it 3. An order of superiority and subjection in a Community 4. Such an order tending to the peace and happiness of a Community 1. It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Order or as some understand the Philosopher an Ordination which is a disposing of things in their proper place For as the learned Father observes Ordo est parium dispariumque rerum sui cuique loca tribuens dispositio It 's inter plura which may be equal or unequal For there may be an order of Priority and Posteriority in time or place amongst equals Therefore 2. It 's an order of Superiority and Subjection in respect of Power Yet 3. Because there is a superiority and subjection in a Family a Colledge a Corporation therefore it 's an order of superiority and subjection in a Community whether civil or Ecclesiastical 4. Because there may be such an order in a Community of wicked men and Devils if that might be called a Community where the Association is unjust as properly it cannot therefore it must be such an order as tends and conduceth directly to the peace and happiness of the Community This an unjust order cannot do To understand this the better you must know that all Communities spiritual and temporal are grounded upon that Commandment of God Love thy Neighbour as thy self where that word Neighbour may signifie indeed a single person yet it includes a notion of society and the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Socius This Neighbour therefore is either a single person yet as a Society or collective as in a Family Kindred Congregation Corporation Community This Love is the true cause of all association and is the special duty of all parties associated A Common-wealth is grounded upon a branch of that great Love the fifth Commandment which presupposing superiority and subjection in respect of power requires certain duties of the parties superior and subject both in a greater and lesser society And because these duties cannot be performed in great Societies except this Order be setled therefore by that Commandment all Communities are bound so far as they are able to erect a form of Government In which respect Politicks are from God not only allowing and approving them nor meerly as enabling men but commanding them enabled to establish and preserve them established for the better manifestation of his glory and their own greater good temporal and spiritual From hence it 's evident that Politicks both civil and Ecclesiastical belong unto Theology and are but a branch of the same section 2 In this Common-wealth two things are most worthy our consideration 1. The Superiority 2. Subjection for it consists of two parts Which are Imperans Subditus the Soveraign Subject And because the Soveraign is Civil Ecclesiastical I will begin with the Civil and so proceed to the Ecclesiastical And seeing that Imperans the Soveraign is a concrete and therefore signifies the Power Subject of this Power I will first speak of Power then of the Subject of this Power The Power must be considered what it is in General Special In respect of the Subject I will declare the manner how it is acquired disposed This is the Method which I intend to observe and wherewith I acquaint the Reader My observation of it will make the Discourse more clear and distinct The Readers knowledge of it will help both his understanding and his memory Pars imperans the Soveraign civil which is the first part of a Common-wealth is one invested with Majesty civil Where observe 1. That it is a part of a Politie and that 's the general nature of it and is an essential or integral part which together with the
Subject gives essence to the State and constitutes it in being and existence 2. It s the first part for though as superiority and subjection and so Soveraign and Subjects are Relates and in that respect simultaneous yet the Soveraign is not only the first in dignity but in some sort by origination if not as a cause For as paternity in some respect is before filiation so it is in this particular For subjection doth rather follow upon Soveraignty than the contrary And therefore in molding a State they first determine upon a Soveraign whereupon instantly and at the same time follows without any thing intervening subjection 3. This party that is Soveraign is invested with Majesty Civil Where we have two things 1. Majesty an adjunct 2. The subjection invested with it And as Power is the very essence of a Superiour so Majesty is of a Soveraign section 4 Majestas est maxima in civitate potestas Majesty is the greatest power in a Community 1. It s potestas Power 2. Maxima in civitate Potestas est Jus Imperandi Power is a right to govern It 's Jus a Right and in it self is always just and is from some propriety and as the absolute propriety so the absolute power of all things is from God and there is no power but derived from him It 's not Physical but Moral and so nomen juris and may be considered as a faculty or habit which qualifies the Subject to do something which one that hath no power cannot do The proper act of it is to Govern and in Governing to Command so as to bind the party subject to obedience or punishment This Imperium or Command is an act of the Will and presupposeth some act of the Understanding and must needs be ineffectual and in vain without a sufficient coactive force And because the Understanding may be ignorant or erroneous the Will unjust the coactive force act accordingly therefore the understanding of a Superiour as such ought to be directed by Wisdom his commanding Will by Justice and his Executive force by both And that act of Power which is not thus directed is not properly an act of Power nor any such Command of the Jewish Rulers when it was devoid both of Wisdom and Justice and it was so much the more invalid because contrary to an express command of a Superiour Lord and Master even Jesus Christ. This Power is an Excellency and makes the party invested with it like unto God and the greater it is the greater the excellency of him that hath it Though it is in it self good and just as being from God or rather the power of God in the creature intellectual yet it may be exercised either too little or too much For one that is invested with it may do less or more than his power doth warrant him nay he may act contrary to the Rules of divine Wisdom and Justice And such is the imperfection of man that there is no perfect Government in the world but that God doth supply all defects and aberrations For the Judge of all the World will do right and in the final Judgment will compleat all Justice and reward every man according to his works so that nothing in any person Man or Angel but shall be judged section 5 This is Power in general and may be distinguished many ways as into the Power of God or Angels or of men Here we speak of the power of men which is the power of a Father or a Master or an Officer of peace or war by Sea or Land. Again It 's Civil Ecclesiastical and both supream or subordinate The subject now in hand is Majesty Civil which is the greatest power in a Civil Community the power of a Soveraign whereby he is able to bind the whole Community and every Member thereof It 's an act of the publick and universal Will directed by the universal Judgment made effectual by the universal and general coactive force and all this is done according to the Rules of Justice and Wisdom And that the best wisest and most just are most fit to govern To know it the better we must consider 1. The principal and several kinds of acts 2. The qualities of it the particular acts of this power in one Community are numberless yet all reducible to one And that is the wise and just Government and ordering of the Community yet this is divided and subdivided by the Authors of Politicks And the several Branches of this Power are called Jura Majestatis Praerogativa Regalia c. The distinction of these Rights are made according to the several acts of Majesty conversant about several different Objects and according to the diversification of the Objects is the diversity and difference of these Rights I might here relate both the number and the method of these Rights of Majesty as delivered by Angelicus Bodin Clapmarius Grotius Bisoldus Arnisaeus and others if it were either needful or useful The Civilians and sometimes though seldom the Casuists mention them Yet hardly two of them agree either in the method or the number or the particular names of them section 6 Yet not to neglect them all attend how handsomly and briefly Grotius reduceth them to a certain Order Qui regit civitatem eam regit per se circa universalia in legibus condendis abolendis singularia alios magistratus publica circa actiones Belli pacis res vectigalia dominium eminens Privata ad publicum ordinata quae sunt res inter privatas quas dirimi oportet propter pacem Curatores Yet this is far short of some others and indeed no ways accurate The Civilians some of them reduce them into Order according to the several acts of this power which are acts of Grace Justice Bisoldus doth distinguish of Majesty and informs us that it 's Real Personal Real in the People personally in the Prince He understands by the People the Community and under God that is the primary subject of it wherein it virtually resides and out of which by the constitution it is educed It hath power to form a State where there is none and if after a form once introduced the Order be not good they may alter it What the Rights of personal Majesty is he tells us but what those of real Soveraignty be he saith nothing Majesty so naturally belongs unto the Community that upon a failer of succession or a dissolution it divolves to them and that People is not wise which parts wholly with it and absolutely alienates it as the Romans are said Lege Regiâ to have done if necessity or some very weighty cause required it not section 7 We might in this particular expect much from Arnisaeus who hath composed a whole Treatise of this subject in which he informs 1. Of the name 2. Of the nature of Majesty For 1. The name may be given to such as have nothing of the thing and so be a meer Title 2. It may signifie