may be compensed by that eminent Worth and Perfection is in You. I do confess I have so many ties by personal Favours received above my desert that I were the ingratest of Christians if I did not acknowledge it yet give me leave to speak truth notwithstanding all these Endowments if I had not seen and were not assured that in none in this Age there can be seen more true discreet Zeal to Christ's Church and Loyalty to Your Master our most gracious King I had never presumed to go this way I see it even there and then where and when Satan had erected his Throne and Antipas God and the King 's faithful Servant did fuffer My Lord God hath sent You to us for a comfort in these worst of Christian times who knoweth but at this time You are set at the Helm to help the Lord right his Anointed and to save a poor Church threatned with ruine Go on in Your Piety and Devotion with these Heroical Endowments God hath enabled You and be assured God will heap Honour on you and your Noble Family for ever and reward you with an uncorrupt undefiled and Eternal Crown of Glory Which shall be the fervent and constant Prayers of Your Lordships most humble and bounden Servant I. A. To the Christian Reader CHristian Reader this is an Extemporary Piece which was extorted by the importunity of Friends who prevailed so far with me that I chose rather to expose my Weakness and it to the Censure of the World than uncourteously refuse them To strengthen Truth I was able to bring more Zeal and good Affection than any other Abilities Believe I write nothing but that I am assured of in Conscience in certitudine mentis and which I believe to be really certain in certitudine entis God knows I am far from temporizing and he is of weak apprehension that in this Distemper can expect any great Reward by appearing in Publick to maintain this Sacred Truth Experience teacheth us that it is more advantageous to run the contrary course if a good Conscience could allow it If the method in handling and proposing these five ensuing Questions be not so orderly I beg pardon and that justly because I follow the Order proposed by the Observator If the Diction be not so terse and pregnant I am not able to help it for by nature I am not enabled to delicate and witty Expressions nor have I endeavoured by Industry to help those natural Defects My care was ever to study Truth and Reality more than flowers of Eloquence holding that for one as I am of small reach the better way is rather to be inter reales than inter nominales If there be any tart Expression construe it charitably as fallen by inadvertence from my Pen whereas there was no Gall in my Heart If any will be at pains to examine it critically and to answer it rationally and fully I humbly intreat him to do it in a Christian and Charitable way without Passion for which I shall heartily thank him And if I be not able with as much reason to answer him I shall not be ashamed to retract my Errours and joyn Heart Hand and Pen for him and all Christian Sacred Truth of which kind I hold those which I would maintain to be If any thing in it give thee content thank God for it and pray for Grace and Strength to the weak Author who hath resolved to be a Lover a Professor and a maintainer of Truth according to his Power at whatsoever peril to advance the true Reformed Catholick Religion and what may conduce to the Honour of our Church to the overthrow of that is truly Popery and to the regaining of all erring Sectaries to the Communion of this Church And let all of us put up our hearty and humble Prayers to Almighty God to touch our Hearts that we may endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace to do good in his good pleasure unto Sion to build up the Walls of Ierusalem to re-establish his Anointed our Sovereign in His Throne and Right to set aright what is disjoynted in Church and State that all of us may be happy here and receive that Crown of Glory which the righteous Judge hath laid up for them that love him his Truth and Christian Peace Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecunt Elenchus Questionum Quaestio Prima WHether or not the King be onely and immediately dependent from God and independent from the Body of the People diffusive collective representative or virtual Affirmatur Quaestio Secunda Whether or not God is no more Author of Regal than of Aristocratical and Democratical Power Of Supreme then of Subordinate Command and whether or not that Dominion which is usurped while it remains Dominion and till it be legally divested again refers to God as its Author and Donor as much as that which is hereditaryâ— Negatur Quaestio Tertia Whether or not the nature of conveyance of Sovereignty to the King is by Trust immediately from the People and mediately onely from God and as Fiduciary so Conditionate and proportioned to what measure or portion the People please or is it intirely and immediately by a Trust devolved upon him from the King of Kings Neg. prius Aff. posterius Quaestio Quarta Whether or not be there any Jura Majestatis some Divine Prerogatives intrinsecally inherent in the Kings Crown and Sovereignty which are incommunicable to the Subjects Aff. Where is explained what they be Quaestio Quinta Whether or not in any case upon any reason just or pretended it be lawful for the Subject or Subjects in what Notion soever imaginable singly or joyntly collectively or representatively to oppose the Sacred Authority of the King by Force or Arms or to resist him either in a Defensive or Offensive way Neg. Elenchus Capitum QUESTIONIS PRIMAE THE Preface Page 1. containing the Sum Method and Order of the ensuing Treatise Chap. I. Wherein is maintained that the King is onely and immediately dependent from God and independent from the Body of the People diffusive collective representative or virtual The contrary Opinion is explained the Authors and Asserters some of them with their differences are recited Pag. 9. Chap. II. How that God is the immediate Author of Sovereignty in the King and how he is no Creature of the Peoples making is explained and proved by Scriptures 30. Chap. III. The same Truth is proved by more Arguments from Holy Scripture 57. Chap. IV. That Kings are onely dependent from God and not from the Community is further proved by Scripture The poor shifts of Suarez and Bellarmine are removed who abusing the passage Deut. 17. would have the constitution of the Kings of Israel to relate to the People as its real and proper origine and Cause and the priviledged case onely this that God reserved to himself the designation of the Person of the King 62.
such whatsoever to suppress whatsoever is contrary to the good intended in this Covenant and association if it be in their power so that this Sovereign maketh every man armatum magistratum to be armed with Power and the way left to himself for ought we know it may be Ravilliac's way or Guido Faux's way Surely here is a Despotical Sovereignty and more than ever was challenged by any the Turk or King of Spain without Europe This is to tyrannize over mens Souls for no man must be suffered to live or enjoy any Freedom or Life there who dissenteth in the least point of their voluminous Greed from them and if he assist not with his Monies his Arms his Hands to the loss of his Life for his Religion he is either Prelatical or Papistical and for his affection to the States a word incompatible with Monarchy and of highest Treason he is at best a Malignant At pleasure of this Sovereignty every man must give the Quota this Sovereignty prescribeth the Twentieth the Tenth the Fifth part c. must give loan of what moneys they have by them or upon Bank for the good Cause upon security of the Publick Faith a non ens which is like if God prevent it not to ruine the Reformed Orthodox Catholick Faith and moral Faith and Truth amongst men or what other they specifie and ordain What a vast Sovereignty is this the extent of it is immense for nothing shall be without the Sphere of this Power which hath no motion but eccentrick no Person without the verge of this Scepter And good reason for all this for this is God and Christ's Institution this Sovereignty is the indâ—vidual companion of the Gospel the holy discipline the discipline of Christ half the Kingdom of Christ the undoubâ—ed Note of the Church the eternal Counsel of God it is 〈◊〉 Scepter of the Son of God You see the Effect of it whâ—aâ— happy what a glorious Reformation it hath brought with it the like was never seen since the Apostles dayes this Reformation will pull down Antichrist from his Throne the hearing of the beginning of it how it enlarges it self now to be sworn too in England will make the Pope of Rome and his Cardinals knees smite one against another Quid verba audiam cum facta non videam Judge of the Tree by its Fruits as our Master hath taught us and we will find all their good words are as Jurists say Protestatio contraria facto solemn Protestations liberal Promises you know whose custom this is but slack Performances Would to God that had been allâ— no a world of mischiefs have followed upon it and it is to be feared that what is past is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginnings of troubles The most glorious Church amongst the Reformed the staff and strength of Reformed Religion is broken in shivers where all things are lawful except to serve God and all Sects all Schisms allowed except the Orthodox Truth and Ordinances of God This Reformation is written in Letters of Bloud acted with the greatest Cruelty against not onely Innocent but Deserving men with Calumnies Rapine Robbery Cruelty that Father Mother and young ones if they have not been starved with hunger and cold have been exposed to extreamest indigency contempt and mockery I dare to say no Persecution that ever was can parallel this Persecution for Impiety Injustice and Cruelty What heart bleedeth not to see these Kingdoms happy before to the Envy of other Kingdoms and States to be the mocking-stock of the World that the Canaanite and Perizzite rejoyceth to look upon our Misery to see the Desolation standing in the Holy place and those Kingdoms of late the desire of all the Earth turned into an Akeldama and no other fruit of this glorious Reformation but to kill Christians for Christ's sake and to plunder for Religions sake Lord forgive them for Christ's sake and remove our Sins and those fearful Judgments and I beg pardon of the Reader for this Digression or Regret which I have poured out with a sad heart and wish them no worse than speedy Repentance For all we have said of this Antichristian Sovereignty whereby the Puritan and Factious would exalt the Presbytery and Representative Body above all that is called God Let no man imagine that we ran to the other Extreme to privilege a King from the direction and just Power of the Church or that we would encourage him or set him on like Vzziah to intrude upon Sacred actions proper to Ecclesiastical Persons Ex vi ordinis In direction by the Word administration of the Sacraments binding and loosing in interiori foro conscientiae or in exteriori by the Spiritual Censures annexed to the Keys Sure I am no pious or knowing King as blessed be God our Sovereign is will by right of his Crown which he holdeth immediately of Christ usurp upon this but on the contrary as a Son of the Church will submit to the Church his Mother or rather Christ in Church-men reconciling him to God Elsewhere by Gods Grace if God give us Life and Leisure in a several Treatise by it self we intend to lay open this point In sum briefly we say that men in Sacred Orders In rebus purè spiritualibus in things meerly and intrinsecally of themselves Spiritual have from Christ immediately a directive and authoritative Power in order to all whatsoever although ministerial onely as related to Christ But this giveth them no Coercive Civil Power over a Prince either per se or per accidens either primarie or secundarie either principaliter or consecutive directâ— or indirectè simple or absolute that either the one way or the other directly or indirectly absolutely or respectively by it self or in ordine ad spiritualia any or many in sacred orders Pope or Presbytery can convent cite censure in case of Defailance Supply and in case of not obeying what God in Scripture hath commanded to covenant associate swear and take Sacrament upon it to resist him oppose him and force him to submit to the Scepter of Christ. This Power over man God Almighty useth not much less hath he given it to man Psal. 110. His People are a willing People Suadenda non cogenda religio nihil minùs Religionis quà m Religionem cogere Nor doth that spiritual Power which entirely we give to Bishops Priests and Deacons rob the King as he is the nursing Father of the Church of the power Christ hath endowed him with as a Christian King in externa gubernatione Ecclesiae We must not look on Kings as on others of the Flock of Christ although we may neither preach nor administer the Sacraments nor bind nor loose nor give sacred Orders nor excommunicate these are things only proper to Priests Primi secundi ordinis of the first and second Order and Degree Yet the exercise of these things freely within his Kingdom what concerneth the decent and orderly doing of all and what concerns
Sacro-sancta Regum Majestas OR THE SACRED and ROYAL Prerogative OF Christian Kings Wherein Sovereignty is by Holy Scriptures Reverend Antiquity and sound Reason asserted by discussing of five Questions AND The Puritanical Jesuitical Antimonarchical Grounds are disproved and the untruth and weakness of their new-devised-State-principles are discovered Rom. 13. 1 2. The Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powâ—â— resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist â—â—all receive to themselves damnation Dei Gratia Mea Lux. London Printed for Tho. Dring over against the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street 1680. TO THE DUKE of ORMOND MY LORD PIety and Policy Church and State Prince and Priest are so nearly and naturally conjoyned in a mutual Interest that like to Hippocrates his Twins they rejoyce and mourn flourish and perish live and dye together Sound Reformed Catholick Protestants deny justly such a Subordination of the Prince to the Priest as by any direct or indirect over-ruling Power the Crown and Scepter are under any coactive directive we acknowledge over-ruling Power of the Mitre and that Kings by any Church-man or men whatsoever Pope or Presbytery are censurable dethronable deposable Notwithstanding it is certain Religion hath a mighty Influence upon State Governour and Government that from the happiness and quiet of Religion issueth forth necessarily the happiness and quiet of the Civil State The Heathen did see this that Religion rightly ordered is the Base and Bottom upon which King and State are founded Religion is the cement of all Societies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it bindeth Families together and Cities too and is their greatest splendour and ornament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That one saith Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a Christian to the same purpose Religio timor Dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se Societatem Religion and the Fear of God and nothing else preserveth all Societies amongst men Religion teacheth Kings how to rule and Subjects how to obey maketh Obedience complete universal entire in all things not partial in some things onely it teacheth our Reverence Service and Obedience not to be outward with Eye-service but sincere for Conscience sake as in the sight of the Lord. Religion hath a powerful influence upon Laws the Heathen who termed Religion the Cement of all Society calleth it too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cement the Strength the Vigour the Life of all Laws This made Zoroaster authorise the Laws by Horomasis Zamolxis by Vesta Trismegistus by Mercurius Minos by Jupiter Charondus by Saturnus Draco and Solon by Minerva and Apollo and Numa Pompilius by Aegeria Religion is the Nurse of the Quiet of State and Common-wealth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If all living in one Society and Kingdom were pious and religious none would wrong themselves or others Take it more fully from a Christian Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Religion be preserved in Peace it rights and facilitates all the rest of the Government Religion is the Walls Strength and Safeguard of King and Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Overthrow me Sion Civitatem Veritatis Sanctitatis and you cannot but overthrow Ierusalem Civitatem justitiae all this is much more and solely verified of the Christian Religion a strange Wonder then it is that so many Achitophels and Achans in the World should promise to themselves undertake to Christian Kings by sacrificing the Church undoing the Solemnity of the Service and Worship of God destroying Christ his Ordinances robbing him of his Patrimony and Right to establish King and Kingdom Peace and Quiet in the Land How is it probable or possible Religion being the Base and Bottom upon which all Happiness of King and Kingdom are grounded and founded the Cement and Bond that tieth all together the Rule of Right ruling the Mother of entire and hearty Obedience the life of Laws the use of Quiet and Strength of all Defence that it being disordered King Kingdom and State can be well and enjoy any kind of Happiness If neither the Dictate of Nature nor sacred Truth revealed in holy Word should confirm this Truth the sad and doleful Experience we find we feel this day in the Acheldama of these Kingdoms has laid it open to our Eyes in Letters of Blood that he that runneth by may read it Consider how since the Sacred Hierarchy the Order instituted by Christ for the Government of his Church constituted by the Apostles and continued against any prevalent Opposition for fifteen Ages and upwards without Interruption hath been opposed that in some places it is totally overthrown in other places disgraced weakened and threatned with Abolition of Root and Branch what is the Condition of Sovereignty and Subject You shall find that the Course against it hath been a preparatory Destructive to Royalty to the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject Many are deceived and think it skilleth not what Government be in the Church it is enough if the Essentials and Fundamentals of Faith and Worship be preserved They are infinitely deceived no Society can subsist without Government and if you destroy the Government neither can the sound Faith nor the true Worship be long maintained The Apostle intimateth this Col. 11. 5. that he joyed to behold their Order and the stedfastness of their Faith in Christ. First their Order then the stedfastness of their Faith in Christ implying where right Order is non maintained stedfastness of Faith in Christ cannot continue A Holy Father to this purpose saith well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order is the Mother and Security of the Being of all things that have Being Do we not see that the Order and Government of the Roman Church doth this day preserve their Humane Inventions and unwarrantable Superstions in such Safety that alas Truth doth not prevail much upon them are within her Communion and on the other part our Disorder and not setled Government maketh us lose too too much and gain too too little Look a little upon the Parallel and consider how since Episcopacy hath been infested and way too much given to a prevalent Faction what malign Influence this course hath had upon Sovereignty and it will make it appear that the Mitre cannot suffer and the Diadem be secured It was maintained that Episcopacy was none of Christ's Institution it was onely the positive constitution of man Hath not Royalty been thus entertained Do not our Sectaries impudently maintain that Kings are the onely Extract of the People having their Being and Constitution by derivation from them Do they not hold that howsoever Episcopacy is a tolerable government of the Church yet it is mutable at the pleasure of the Church And do they not answerably aver that the collective or representative Body of the Community may upon any real or fancied Exigent mould themselves into an Aristocracie or Democracie Others more desperately have reached higher and give out that the Sacred
Hierarchy is Antichristian against Christ and his Scepter not being able because of their Ignorance to difference betwixt Christian Hierarchy and Romish Hieromonarchy Have not the Authors and Abettors of these Paradoxes in Divinity invented and vented as blasphemous Principles against the Lord 's Anointed in Policy Do they not magisterially determine that Kings are not of God's creation by authoritative commission but onely by permission extorted by importunity and way given that they may be a scourge to a sinful People Nor is this all these late distempers have produced Creatures not of Christ's making Ruling Elders who are adopted to be Ecclesiastical Persons with equal Power with men in holy Orders to decide and determine in matters of Faith Worship and in the exercise of the Power of the Keyes nothing kept from them but liberty to Preach publickly to baptize and to consecrate the blessed Eucharist Answerable to this find we not that they have erected a coordinate a coequal a corrival Power with Sovereignty and have made Regnum in regno two Sovereigns a thing incompatible with Supremacy and Monarchy the persecution of Episcopacy has been so hot and cruel that I dare say look upon all Persecutions recorded in Ecclesiastical Story none can parallel this if ye consider it as it is cloathed with all its circumstances and attended with its consequents Episcopacy after the most exact and sollicit Tryal is onely the Crime except you will add the Solemnity of the Publick Worship intended and attempted to vindicate God's Service from prophaneness and contempt and to restore it to its ancient true beauty to the shame of the Roman Church Men innocent men well deserving of the Church and Kingdom have been cast out their Estates seized their Houses rifled and plundered their Blood thirsted after their poor Wives forced to fly some into mountains and wilderness some by Sea some one way some another their poor Children forced to starve or beg at best O barbarous and inhumane Cruelty more beseeming Cannibals than Christians When the Lord's Prophets were hurt and wronged was the Lord's Anointed not touched Tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Askalon lest the Daughters of the Philistims rejoyce lest the Daughters of the uncircumcised triumph The best of Kings in whom malice it self how quick-sighted soever cannot find any thing blame-worthy except it be a Crime to be too good and transcendently clement hath been forced to flie from his Palaces could not find Safety in that City enlightened and enriched by his royal Presence to the Admiration and Envy of the whole World His royal Consort necessitated for personal Security and in a prudential way to provide for strengthening her Lord the best of Husbands to flie beyond Seas That Royal Family those Olive-branches the Pledges and Hopes of our continuing Peace divided one from another and to this day remaining so His Revenues his Casualties seized by those have sent out Armies and Arms against him His Forts his strong Holds taken from him his Royal Navy employed to destroy him keep all Encouragement of Allies from him and to divorce personally if they could those royal Personages in whom we are most happy if we had Eyes to see it whom in Heart and Affection the Devil and his Malice cannot divide notwithstanding it hath been shrewdly endeavoured More of this kind might be added but of purpose I forbear it If we will consider what private men have gained since God and Religion have been wronged we will find we have made an unhappy Choice a miserable Change No man hath Protection or Direction by Law no known Law hath place we are all oppressed and tyrannically over-ruled by an arbitrary Power placed in a wrong hand all Religions if I may call Sects so are tolerated except the true Catholick Reformed Religion and all Heresies buried long ago in Hell are revived in number like to be more and in their nature more ugly than all recorded by Epiphanius and St. Austin our Sectaries agreeing only in the destructive part to make away Truth and the true Government to spoil Churches rob Christ of his Patrimony abrogate the Solemnity of the Worship destroy ancient Christian Monuments but in the positive not one agreeing with another Ephraim smiting Manasseh and Manasseh Ephraim and both of them against Judah Hath any now the Liberty of his Person are not the best of Subjects the best of God's Servants kept in Prisons like to Jeremie's Dungeon What Property is reserved Since Christ's Patrimony hath been despoiled who can say This I have They command what portion what quota they will and in the end he will be a Malignant at Pleasure that hath any thing to maintain this Rebellion If S. Austin were living now he might well say Quod non capit Christus hoc rapit fiscus What stately Houses have been spoiled What rich and princely Furniture hath been destroyed What Blood of Nobles and generous Gentry hath been shed More in this uncivil Rebellion in this short time than in many years in long continuing Wars in many Countries beyond Seas this Loss cannot be valued it infinitely surpasses all other Losses besides And yet give me leave to say it if we will look upon the Pressures and Sufferings of the Subject the only Effects we feel of this glorious so much talked of Reformation they will transcend highly all Grievances complained of in the successive Reigns of seven Sovereigns And the greatest of all Iudgments have fallen upon us that some sort with the Prophet Hosea We have no King because we feared not the Lord what then should a King do to us They have spoken words swearing falsely in making a Covenant thus Judgment springeth up as Hemlock in the Furrows of the Field Hos. 10. 3. 4. A Redress of these Disorders a Remedy of these Evils we need not to expect till we turn to God by Repentance and Moses and Aaron be again rightly seated in their Power their Place My Lord I have put Pen to Paper to right our gracious Sovereign to undeceive his Subjects making it appear that his Right is independent from man solely dependent from God that Monarchy is the most countenanced the most authorised Spece of Government by Almighty God that the conveyance of this Right is not by Trust from the People and have cleared what are Jura Majestatis the Prerogatives inherent in the Crown incommunicable to the Subject and how Sacred his Person and Charge is that they cannot be opposed are not to be resisted A task it is above my strength In the Imperial Law it is a crime mixt with Sacrilege to argue the Right and Power of the King nor was it allowed to every vulgar and ordinary Pencil to draw the Picture of Alexander the Great and we see what advantage the Seditious and Factious have made of the escapes of some Pens Notwithstanding I am necessitated to meddle with it with no less constraining and unavoidable necessity than that
Chap. V. That all Christian Kings are dependent from Christ and may be called his Vicegerents is proved 85. Chap. VI. That the King is solely dependent from God and Christ and independent from all others is proved by the Suffrages of the Holy Fathers 116. Chap. VII That the Government of mankind is established by God and is necessary Jure Naturae is proved by Reason against those that hold that all Government is arbitrary of the voluntary constitution and composition of men 126. Chap. VIII That Sovereignty is not by derivation from the Community is proved by more reasons 141. Chap. IX That Sovereignty is not derived to the King from the People communicativè by communication so that they may resume it in some cases is proved by Reason 154. Chap. X. Wherein the truth of our Tenet is by more Reasons asserted the contrary Errour disproved and the absurdities in the Sectaries Paradox involved are discovered 164. Chap. XI Scripture by Example teacheth us that Kings of the Peoples making have not had Gods blessing but have ruined their Makers 180. Chap. XII Wherein three grounds of our Adversaries are taken off and disproved As 1. That the interposing of an humane act in the constitution of a King doth not hinder the Sovereignty to be immediately from God 2. Next the inconsequence of that Sophism A private man may make away his personal Liberty and enslave himself to another Ergo a People or Multitude may do the like and invest a King with Sovereignty is detected 3. The true sense of Quisque nascitur liber is given and the false gloss of the Adversaris is discovered 189. Chap. XIII The Maxim Quod efficit tale est magis tale or Propter quod unumquodque tale ipsum magis tale or Constituens constituto potior is examined 200. Chap. XIV Other grounds of the Iesuits and Sectaries are removed and disproved as that that neither Scripture nor Nature determine the specification of Government nor do they intimate why this man more than the other or he than a third or these more than those should have the Power of Government And that great one is taken out of the way where by the variety and difference is found in several Monarchies it is more than apparent say they that Monarchy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the voluntary composition and constitution of man 209. Chap. XV. Wherein is examined the Iesuits Maxim that every Society of Mankind is a perfect Republick and consequently the Community may supply and rectifie the Defects and Errours of Sovereignty And the Puritans too that if there were not such a Power and Superintendency to supply God had left man remediless 230. Chap. XVI Wherein is examined that Maxim Salus Populi suprema Lèx esto And the other that the People may be without a King but a King cannot be without People 248. Chap. XVI As the King hath an high Calling by immediate donation from God so hath He an high Charge with his Prerogative to be as eminent in Sanctity as He is excellent and Sacred in Power 283. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas OR The Sacred and Divine Right and Prerogative of KINGS The Sum Method and Order of the ensuing Treatise IT is not my Purpose at this time to examine and refute the Opinions and Errours of those who either totally or partially have spoken against Government as the Fratricelli in the Judgment of some who alledging their Independency from man and assuming to themselves an immediate Being or Derivation from Christ no less than the Apostles and every way as perfect would submit and subject themselves to none Our Independent Ministry looks this way Or as the Begardi who did hold that the Government of Superiours was only for the more imperfect but have no Authority over and above the perfect Nec Rex nec Lex justo posita No Superiour No Law for the Saints the holy ones the perfect ones It feareth me this Age fancieth to it self some such thing and have learned it of Korah Dathan and Abiram who have gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and say unto them ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord. Both these Sects were about the end of the thirteenth Age and beginning of the fourteenth Age. Nor purpose we to meddle with that mad Heresie of the Anabaptists who condemn all Government whatsoever as sinful and unlawful It is an impious blasphemous Error destructive not only of humane Society but mankind it self You may read in it their Antitheses Christi veri falsi published in Transilvania Anno 1568. The seventh of which is That the false Christ hath in his Church Kings Princes Magistrates and the Sword but the true Christ hath none nor alloweth any of those We presuppose all with whom we are to enter in Lists do willingly grant That Government is not only Lawful and Iust but necessary both for Church and Commonwealth Neither intend we to refute that erroneous and pernicious tenet of some who held that Dominium fundatur in gratia that the right of Dominion is founded in Grace or any other supernatural Gift For it is certain it is neither founded 1. In gratia praedestinationis in the Grace of Predestination 2. nor In gratia gratum faciente in that Grace which is in the stating of a man in the actual Condition of Grace and Salvation 3. nor In dono aliquo supernaturali gratiae infuso in any supernatural infused Grace as soundness of Faith and profession of the Truth or I cannot tell what Character of Christianism they fansie to themselves Whether or not the Wâ—ldenses Wioliffe and Hus held any Tenet like to these I cannot now insist to prove or disprove it But sure I am if the Writers of the Roman Church do not wrong some of their own have said some like thing As Henry the Cardinaâ— B. of Ostia who lived about the year 1260. averreth that Soundness of Faith and Profession of the Truth is fundamentum Dominii Armachanus de Paupertate Christi faith that fundatur in gratia gratum faciente Nor will I take the Pains to examine Gerson the Chancellor of the University of Paris who lived in the time of the Councel of Constance who de vita spirit consid 15. and others after following him did hold that the Just did acquire a new Title and Right to what they possess either in Dominion of Propriety or Iurisdiction If any deâ—ire to have more Satisfaction in this point I refer them to the Casuists where they treat de Subjecto Dominii pity it is that too many do confidently hold these or the like Tenets and in a worse sense than Gerson for his Tenet with a little benign Interpretation may pass for tolerable if not warrantable Nor is it fit or pertinent for us now
externum hominem by coactive Power or externam gubernationem Ecclesiae the external Government of the Church in appointing the use of things arbitrary and indifferent and what else is of this strain are so due to the Prerogative of the Crown as that we must not rob him of it nor may the Priest without highest Rebellion against God intrench or usurp upon the King A King in the State and Church is a mixed Person not simply Civil but Sacred too They are not only Professores fidei Professors of the Truth that they have in the Capacity of a Christian but they are also Propugnatores fidei Defenders of the Faith which is proper to them in the Capacity of a King What is the meaning of that that in Scripture they are honoured with more than the Stile of a Son of the Church they are called by Isaiah or rather God himself The Nurse-fathers of the Church This is not to be so scantled as if there were no more Influence from Kings upon the Church but by Honour and Riches other great men may and have done the like it is meant by some Influence from their Crown their Sword their Scepter What meaneth that Charge Psal. 2. 10 11 12. Be wise O ye Kings serve the Lord with Fear kiss the Son left he be angry and ye perish from the way When his Wrath is kindled but a little I will believe Saint Austin more than all the glorious pretended Reformers of this happy Reformation or Deformation rather writing to Boniface Quomodo enim saith he Reges Domino serviunt nisi ea quae contra jussa Domini fiunt religiosâ severitate prohibendo atque plectendo Aliter n. servit quà homo est aliter quà etiam Rex est Quia homo est ei servit fideliter vivendo quia vero etiam Rex est servit leges justa praecipientes contraria prohibentes convenienti vigâ—re sanciendo Sicut servivit Ezechias Lucos templa idolorum excelsa quae contra praecepta Dei fuerunt constructa destruendo Sicut servivit Iosias talia ipse faciendo Sicut servivit Rex Ninivitarum universam civitatem ad placandum Dominum compellando Sicut servivit Darius idolum frangendum in potestatem Danieli dando inimicos ejus Leonibus inferendo Sicut servivit Nebuchadnezzar de quo jam diximus omnes in regno suo positos à Blasphemando Deo legi terribili prohibende In hoc ergo serviunt Domino Reges in quantum Reges cum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi Reges The Passage is plain and hath more for the Right of Kings than Iesuit or Puritan will allow them who will have them to be Ministri and Executores their Servants to put in Execution what they ordain and command To make Pope or Presbytery as the immediate Vicegerents of Christ and to authorize them with a coactive or a coercive Power to confirm their Orders to force him to repeal his own Laws and in case of Defailance or Refusal after Remonstrance is made or Supplication as they call it although possibly presented on the point of a Sword or Pike to stir up people against the Lords anointed to Sedition to Rebellion howsoever they deceive the simpler sort to make them believe they dye Martyrs is truly the Disgrace of Religion the highest of Treasons against God and man and to make poor People die Traytors to both If you make two Sovereigns in one Kingdom Independent one from another there is no more Peace or Quiet to be expected than was in Rebecca's Womb whilst Iacob and Esau did strive for the Prerogative of the first born Nay if you make the Sovereign and Supreme managing of Religion and religious Affairs to depend upon and properly belong either to any foreign power without the Kingdom as to the Pope or to any Power domestick within it as to the Presbytery or Assembly you commit and entrust to their managing the greatest and highest Affairs of Kingdom and State and if you take from the King the Regiment in Religion you take from him that which in its own nature is the mainest the chiefest and most excellent thing in Government as may appear by what is subjoyned Religion is the Base and Bottom on which all the Steadiness and Happiness of King and Kingdom are seated Religio Timor Dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se societatem It is Religion and the Fear of God alone which preserveth all Society and consequently King and Kingdom Lactant. de Ira Dei c. 12. Religion is the Base and it is the Cement too of all other Societies besides this Plutarch saith that Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which bindeth all Societies together and giveth Strength to all Laws Religion it hath a mighty Influence upon Laws it worketh hearty sincere and compleat Obedience Religion rightly ordered maketh the Prince rule well and people yield true real and perfect Obedience This made Aristotle say Polit. l. 7. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first care in Policy should be that of Religion and things divine Religion rightly ordered is the Preserver Nurse and Defence of the Quiet of King and State I say Religion rightly order'd for Superstition is a mad and madding thing Seneca ep 24. Superstitio error insanus est Trismegistus saith apud Lactant. Institut lib. 11. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piety and the fear of God is the safety and only Defence of all things Religion in Sum is the only thing to make private and publick Affairs to prosper Which thing being infallibly true it must necessarily follow that Religion is the most important of all Affairs of State and Kingdom How can it then subsist and consist with Reason that the King shall have no more hand or Power in Religion than to execute at the Command of Pope or Presbytery To do it or do worse Christ did never institute such a Sovereignty in Ecclesiastical persons either Pope or Sectaries Independent from King and Sovereign with which they are invested with Power from Christ from above immediately If it were so the Pope or Presbytery were in better Condition than the King The Ecclesiastical Sovereignty hath the Souls in subjection under no less Sanction than with Assurance of Salvation eternal in case of Obedience and Damnation eternal in case of Disobedience and both of them to be extended both to Soul and Body Religion is seated in the Soul and is a mighty Ruler there the civil Sovereignty holdeth only a dead Dominion over the Bodies That Sovereignty which hath the Soul in Subjection the Conscience at his Devotion must over-rule Royal Civil Sovereignty and shall be able at any time so to limit weaken lessen yea disable it that it shall be no more fearful abroad nor glorious and powerful at home with it's Subjects than the spiritual Sovereignty shall permit It is most true and consonant to our
grounded upon a good cause for proof see Bellarmin de translat Imper. and Suarez in his Book which we have often cited in this little Treatise It is easie to bring a great many more Arguments to destroy this erroneous Tenet pernicious to mankind it self onely because we are weary of it give me leave in the Close to shew you that it is morbus complicatus a Disease a Distemper made up of the confluence of many together and that it hath involved within or adherent to and coherent with it a great many Absurdities contrary to Truth in Sacred Scripture revealed to sound Reason and Policy I shall onely point at them and leave the enlarging of them to the judicious Reader 1. First it is absurd to say and maintain in true Philosophy that the Community is primum subjectum the first Seat and Subject in which Sovereignty is immediately fixed How can it be said so seeing in them it was never found never actuated never exercised Vana est potentia quae nunquam reducitur in actum 2. Next this Principle presupposeth the most excellent of Creatures Men to be like Cadmus off-spring de terrâ nati sprung out of the Earth Iuvenes aquilone creati or which is worse in origine like to the most imperfect of living Creatures Animalia de putredine orta Creatures coming from Corruption it self which Paradoxes how well they sute with the Excellency of humane Condition and which is more with the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the Creation of all and lastly how consonant to sacred Truth in Scripture revealed if these be well considered then I am hopeful our new Statists will forsake their Errour 3. Thirdly this Tenet of our Sectaries presupposeth that all men coming into the World are Iure or privilegio naturae by the Right and Priviledge of Nature originally born equal independent one from another without desparity or Difference one from another This is contradictory to the word of God that teacheth God did fix Government in Adam before the Woman was made or Children begotten by him Is not every one that cometh into the World begotten of a Father Is he not thus by the Law of God and Nature to submit and subject himself in Reverence and Obedience to his Father Is he not then so far from having original Power inherent in himself that he hath not his own Original being in the Capacity of Nature but from his Father How then can he be freed from Subjection to his Father And if his Father be subject to another is he not by the same Law subject to his Father's Superiour Who can make this Subordination void except he will ranverse the Ordinance of God and Nature Where then is the Truth of this deceiving Maxim which worketh so much mischief Quisque nascitur liber every man is born a free-man in the Forrest Are they not subordinate subject to their pre-existent Father and to his Superiour too if he have any Is not the Female Sex by the Ordinance of God and Nature inferiour and subordinate to the male Doth not Nature teach that the Wife by the Law of Nature is subject to the Husband If you will believe Aristotle in his Politicks he telleth you that a man of weak Understanding is subject to him who is more intelligent and prudent and if I forget not that he is naturâ servus 4. Fourthly this ground presupposeth Anarchy to be de facto pre-existent really and actually before Order and Government Christians must believe that as God created all things in numero pondere mensurâ in a compleat Perfection of all things every Creature having its own intrinsecal Weight and Worth not only in it's own due Proportion and measure but in a measure orderly disposed for it's Accord and Being with the Universe and must believe accordingly that he hath disposed of all things in that Order which establisheth an unrepealable Government by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Universe and every spece and individual in the Universe is preserved and continued in it's happy natural Being Who then can be so stupid to think that God Almighty sends man in the World destitute of this Order and Government which is necessary for the happy Being of the Abridgment of the World for whom it was made in a secondary respect If the whole world without this Order could not but return to a confused Chaos and Mass and from thence to an Annihilation what other can be the Condition of Mankind without order established to preserve it See Chrysostom's Testimony upon Rom. 13. cited above If they will speak philosophically they must confess Habitus est naturâ prior privatione the Habit in nature is presupposed to be existent before the Privation How come we then from our new-state-Philosophers to hear that Anarchy was in Nature was in the world before Government 6. Fifthly by the same Ground by Consequence it will as necessarily follow that Ius paternum jus maritale the lawful Authority of a Father over his Children and a Husband over his Wife are derived from the Children and Wife and that Children and Wife in some cases may resume their Power derived from them and their native Liberty If any aver so he is Flagris dignus to be cudgelled not to be answered 6. Sixthly this Tenet if it be not blasphemous it is certainly sacrilegious for to say that Power is radically originally fundamentally inherent in the Community or as the observator saith that in the people is an underived Majesty robbeth God and Christ of his Glory Scripture declareth them to be the immediate Authors of all Sovereignty Glory and Majesty as we proved above Doth not Scripture express the immense Sovereignty of God and Christ over the World and Church by the Compellation of King If you will have Kings then to be the Derivatives of the People take heed you make not God and Christ the Derivatives of Derivatives which any pious mind will be loth to think 7. Seventhly when the King 's Right is made to be such that the same Sovereign Power is habitually retained in the People and the Power in some cases is resumable How can you make the King's Title complete Law is against it when the Donor is dans retinens as Jurists speak giving a right yet retaining it he maketh not over a full and entire Right nor can the Donee lay just claim to it It is a maxim without Exception among them Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae à voluntate promittentis statum accipit the Donor is not tyed to make his Bond and Gift good if at pleasure he may resume it as we spoke before 8. Lastly leaving many Absurdities more untouched in the last place we place it which in our Judgment moveth us most to abhor it that you which believe this Tenet must either give us new Bibles or find out new Commentaries to the Bible for what you say is right down opposite and contradictory to
Distempered Age cryed up are not Gods Ordinance and most unhappy in the end howsoever for a time when God is to punish a Nation they may have some seeming Success and some lasting Durance God in his Wisdom giving way to them to punish our Sins and to try our Constancy in his Truth Both the one and the other Story prove that these Courses when they prevail are the worst of Judgments If you joyn them and be pleased to parallel them with our times you will find a full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remonstrance and resemblance with us in many fit Resemblances my Prayer to God is to give us all Repentance and that speedily lest the like or worse befall us when we shall have neither Opportunity nor Place nor Power to help it and too late acknowledge our Errour All Divines do rightly hold that Omnis Christi actio nostra instructio never was any thing acted by Christ which hath not in it something to instruct us in Christian Knowledge and Duty That Christ was truly a King born we proved it before The wise men did him royal Homage while he was in his swadling-cloaths he entered Ierusalem in royal Pomp and Magnificence When his Disciples honoured him by the name of King he did not refuse it when the Iews were offended at it he told them it was not just but also necessary and if all should fail in that Duty the Stones would proclaim him King and do him Homage he avouched it before Pilate when he was looking Death in the Face by a special Direction of Gods Providence it was written upon the Cross The Altar where he offered that propitiatory and expiatory Sacrifice His Grave was sealed as Kings Tombs use to be from the Cradle to his Cross from his Mothers Womb till he is buried in all the times of his Life his Royalty and Kingdom is manifested Notwithstanding of all when the people would have made him a King he disclaimed it he would have none of it When by commission and trust he might have been Arbiter umpire betwixt two brethren differing about the moitie of their inheritance he refused it Many reasons for it but without all controversie this is one to teach all Christians that Sovereignty cannot be derived from the people from the Communitie He would have none of that dignity from them he chose rather to want it than to have it from a wrong hand It is evident by what we have said that sacred Truth as revealed to us in Scripture as understood by the Fathers and Martyrs of the Primitive Church and sound Reason doth plead for the truth we maintain That Sovereignty and Royalty in a King is by immediate dependency derivation and collation from God and Christ who are Kings of Kings and Lords of Lords and it is not onely a simple Errour but pernicious sacrilegious and derogatory to the Honour of God and Christ to make it to be derived and transferred from the underived Majesty of the People and that in such a measure by such a tenor that they have it in what portion what proportion they will bestow it with no more certainty and security than to be Tenants at will to be enthroned dethroned kinged unkinged at their pleasure Having said enough although but little in regard of what may be said to establish the positive part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we come now to take off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their pretended grounds and principles upon which they build â—his their Babel And these onely in this question which have nearest alliance and contingency with this â—irst Question the rest we will take off in discussing â—nd debating the subsequent Questions as they are most proper and homogeneous to them and every one in â—ts proper place CHAP. XII Wherein three grounds of our Adversaries are taken off and disproved As 1. That the interposing of an Humane Act in the constitution of a King doth not hinder the Sovereignty to be immediately from God 2. Next the inconsequence of that Sophism a private man may make away his Personal Liberty and enslave himself to another Ergò a People or multitude may do the like and invest a King with Sovereignty is detected 3. The true sense of Quisque nascitur liber is given and the false Gloss of the Adversaries is discovered THE Jesuit is so learned that he knoweth and acknowledgeth that an Humane Act may be interposed and the Effect wrought produced may be the immediate Work of God the ignorance of the Sectary and weak Christians stumble at it for nothing is more frequent in the mouthes of the vulgar and less knowing sort where hath God manifested from Heaven that such or such a one is King and the Observator himself conceiveth the sensâ— of our Tenet that the King is immediately of Gods appointment and constitution cannot in any other Notion be verified except we can shew a particular Revelation for every King invested with Sovereignty by a Revelation from Heaven It feareth me he will take 〈◊〉 ill if we marshal him with the vulgar and less-knoâ—â—ing sort and yet without Disparagement to his othâ—â— Abilities we must conceive him to be a small Intelligent in Divinity if he conceive that no Power can 〈◊〉 in man by Gods immediate working except he 〈◊〉 shew him a Revelation from Heaven by the Ministeâ— of Angels or some extraordinary Prophet In stating the Question we cleared this point sufficiently to an understanding man yet give me leavâ— for the better Satisfaction of the weaker coctam reponeâ— cramben to resume and repeat some of that we havâ— said with some Additions and Illustrations It is not to be denied but in the ordinary Consâ—â—â—tution of Kings some humane act interveneth and 〈◊〉 interposed as Election Succession Conquest â— yet this may very well subsist with the immediaâ—â— Collation of royal Power from God to make thâ—â— plain consider that a thing is said to be immediate 〈◊〉 from God two ways First when it is done by Goâ— sine quocunque signo creato sine quacunque dispositioâ— praeveniente that no created Sign or previous Dispoâ—â—tion interveneth or precedeth the work done Thâ— nothing is immediately said to be from God bâ— what is by immediate Manifestation from himself 〈◊〉 by the extraordinary Ministery of Angel or Prophet as 〈◊〉 Moses was made Captain over Israel Saul and Dâ—â—vid were made Kings of Israel 2. Next when Goâ— worketh or effecteth the work yet so as some Disposition sign or created act is previous and antecedent to or coherent with the work effected By Baptism the baptized obtaineth Remission of Sins and Renovation of Nature This Effect is immediately wrought by God himself The reason is evident because Aspersion of or Immersion in water of their own nature cannot take away the Stain and Guilt of Sin nor state the baptized in the state of Adoption and Regeneration The School expresseth it barbarously yet pregnantly enough Deus concurrit ad God is concurrent and
Pearls and precious Stones you know to whom I have a better Opinion and Esteem of all the Kings Subjects It is a poor and ignorant shift that some Pettifoggers Smatterers in the Law use to wrong the sacred Prerogative of Kings acknowledging no more for the royal Prerogative nor what they say the Law municipal of the Kingdom hath determined I do not speak this to reproach intelligent Jurists and reverend Judges whose places and parts I reverence as much as any accounting the knowledge of that Science next to Divinity and far more excellent and useful than all others besides I acknowledge none have written more divinely almost nor rationally in maintenance of the sacred Right and Person of Kings than some excellent and eminent in the Knowledge of the Law as Bodin Barcklay Blackwood â—nd others to whose Travels in this Subject we owe much but for these other Sâ—ioli they cannot distinguish betwixt a Statute declarative and a Statute consâ—â—tutive What is found in the Statutes of the Kingdom concerning the Prerogative they only declare Prerogative to the Subject and add a Sanction penal in case of Violation they do not determine it God Almighty hath by himself declared it We would laugh at him in the School of Divinity who would but mutter that the Decalogue was not a Law till God wrote it with his own Finger in two Tables in mount Sinai gave it to Moses and Moses intimated it to the people What is morally natural in it is Lex naturae the Dictate of Nature by the finger of Nature written in the minds and Hearts of all and what is positivum morale positively moral was from the Beginning so known and practised by the Church from Adam to Moses when David commanded what share of the Spoil those should have who were the reserve to preserve the Stuff Scripture calleth this Ordinance a Law made by David to last for ever yet we know this was God's Ordinance before the Law The very like is in Statutes and Acts of Parliament declaring the royal Prerogative of a King that the Subject may the better know it be put in malâ fide if he violate it and know what Judgment he is to expect Lastly to shut up all this Discourse let us intreat the impartial Reader to cast his Eyes upon all Story domestick and Foreign and especially domestick and if they find not the worst Bargains ever Subjects made was at any Rate to purchase a possession of the sacred Rights of Kings sometimes it hath been no better than occidisti possedisti it hath been purchased with a great deal of Blood The Market hath been made by Sedition Rebellion Rapine Murder plundering God and man and sometimes regained again to its right Owner but at as dear a Rate and Price It is in Morals as in Naturals Omne corpus quiescit in suo loco an Element without its place hath never Rest nor the World good by it's Operation and Influence till it be replaced and seated in it's right Locality God hath commanded not a date but a reddite not a giving unto Caesar of his Right but a rendring not only as due but if it be with-holden or with-drawn to restore him it The Stories of these Kingdoms have too many real Proofs of this Truth I forbear to cite them or to refer you to them I wish of these days and others like them that they be never known nor read of hereafter Excidat illa dies c. But seeing I treat of this purpose divinely give me leave to speak Gods Truth to you as becometh Gods Servant and a good Subject Till those Kingdoms be purged of Sacriledge so highly committed against God by wronging his Anointed and his Church and both of them restored to their sacred Right we need not expect true and solid Peace nor the true and effectual Blessings of God Let us fancy to our selves this or that Accommodation for Peace if God be wronged in his Anointed and Church we add only Fewel or Oyl to the Fire Almighty and merciful God the God of all Spirits put it in the Hearts of all Christians and Subjects to honour him and in him and for him his Anointed and Church rendering to God what is God's and to the King what is the Kings that there may be a Blessing in these Kingdoms in our Ierusalem there may be Peace within her Walls and Prosperity within her Gates that the Crown which he hath put upon the head of his Anointed our Sovereign may flourish with him and his Seed for ever and we and our Posterity may live in Godliness and Honesty under him and them till the coming of our Lord when he they and we shall receive that immortal Crown of eternal Glory which the King of Kings Lord of Lords and chief Bishops of our Souls hath laid up for all them that fear him Amen CHAP. XV. Wherein is examined the Iesuit's Maxim That every Society of Mankind is a perfect Republick and consequently the Community may supply and rectifie the defects and errours of Sovereignty And the Puritan's too That if there were not such a Power and Super-intendency in People to supply God had left man remediless THE Jesuit and Puritan although they differ in their Expressions agree well in the Sense and intend both of them one Conclusion How this Argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be retorted upon the Jesuit against his Numen terrenum the Pope we told in the preceding Chapter only now let the Jesuit give me leave to ask him how a Republick is conceivable is imaginable without a Governour or Governours and People governed How can a Society be imagined without Order and how Order without Priority and Posteriority When the Jesuit then saith that every Society of men is a perfect Republick and every perfect Republick must have within it self as much Power as may preserve it self from Ruine and right what is amiss he must necessarily by this Society of men and Republick mentioned in the Premisses understand only the Community of the People and Subject in an abstracted Notion from the Sovereign Governour or Governours otherwise concludes nothing at all to purpose And here let me intreat the Jesuit or Puritan to tell me where ever he read the word Civitas or Republick ascribed to a multitude a disorderly rout where there is no Governour It is alike to conceive a politick Body without a Governour as to conceive the natural Body without a Head We pardon the Jesuit and Puritan to give us new Tenets in Policy seeing they are so bold with God and his Church to give us new Tenets in Divinity Again it is worth our observing that when our Adversaries come to shew where this Republick is where this Superintendent Power is seated they differ and vary infinitely It is no wonder to hear the Builders of Babel speak with different Tongues we are hopeful God in his mercy will scatter them upon the Earth and cast down this Babel The
up a state upon the Ruines of the Church or better a prior estate they care not although Levites usurp upon Priests Presbyters upon Bishops and Christ and his Patrimony be both put out of the World Ten shekels of Silver and a Sute of Apparel Micah's allowance Iudges 17. 10. is enough and too much for the best of God and Christ's Servants All in the end will prove Aurum Tholosanum like the collop the Eagle brought from the Altar to feed her young ones so much Fire came with it that it consumed the Nest and the young ones too When the Church of God is in this distress it is not onely sin to be accessary to these Counsels and Courses but such as may and are able to prevent these mischiefs and do it not God will charge them with it Some there be who profess that they like not the course against the Church but for reason of State way must be given to the current of the stream and a fit opportunity waited to right what was amiss I will not search the hearts of such men I leave them to him who trieth the reins and knoweth our thoughts afar off onely let me put them in mind that sins of Omission of necessary Duties are high sins in the balance of the Sanctuary Meroz is cursed that came not out to help the Lord and Matth. 25. They are to be condemned in the last Day who fed not Christ when he was hungry no less than those who robbed him of his Food It is the highest Service to God with the Church of Thyatira not to deny the Faith where Satan's seat is where Antipas sufereth for the truth Rev. 11. 13. If God hath endowed any with Wisdom Power and Trust by Princes and in such time they withdraw their help from God and his Church it is like they will call to him in the day of their trouble and God will not hear them Remember after the reducing of the People from the Captivity the Prophets did charge the re-building of the House of God the Princes of Iudah answered The time is not come the time wherein the Lord's House should be built None was so impudent to come directly contrary to this Charge but they meant we are poor newly come out of Captivity we have strong Enemies about us we must wait a better opportunity a more seasonable time a jugling trick it is to cross good Works and crush them substantially by opposing them onely circumstantially Notwithstanding all this the Prophet chargeth them Is it time for you O yee this compellation is very emphatical to dwell in your cieled Houses and this House lie waste Read the Judgments I cease to repeat it I love not to apply it and wish it be not the Judgment of our Times See Hag. 1. vers 1 2 3. Ã vers 6. ad vers 12. Do not deceive your selves with that imposture that you will wait upon an opportunity to right all that is disjoynted in Church you are not to tempt God to put him to extraordinary Providence when he has put you in the ordinary way to serve him and to prevent these mischiefs Is it lawful and warrantable to you to do Evil or give way to Evil and to wait opportunity to do good afterward to salve all this Or can you expect that God will honour you to make you fit instruments to repair again what is wrong Certainly you neither deserve it nor can lay any claim or interest to it If these men fear Covenants and Associations I desire them to remember that as in Scripture the first and happiest Covenant is the Covenant of Mercy and Grace so in the next place we have in Holy Writ mentioned A Covenant of Levi which is the means ordinary God hath appointed to preserve the other The Scripture telleth us that it is an high impiety to corrupt the Covenant of Levi Mal. 11. 8. Both the one and the other Covenant are Covenants of Salt that is of everlasting durance from which it followeth necessarily that whatsoever Covenant destroyeth the Ordinance of God in the necessary Government of the Church the Ordinances of the Worship and its Solemnities cannot be from God from whence then it comes you may easily guess Of all impieties in this kind there is no higher transgression than if the Tribe of Levi for some subsistence to themselves and theirs and to gain popular applause and credit with the Faction assure Kings they may give way to a popular current and flood to suffer God's Ordinances to be destroyed the Solemnity of the Worship defaced till a better opportunity offer I beg pardon to speak truth in humility and reverence and first to Kings that although Church-men advise Kings upon such exigents to do such unwarrantable Acts yet it will not excuse them in the Day of their Accounts no more than it excused Achab that had the warrant of Zedekiah 1 Kings 22. 11. Nor did it excuse Pilate who had the representative Body of Priests and State to warrant him they had a Law and by their Law Christ was a Malefactor and worthy to dye Next let me tell the Tribe of Levi who for their own good and popular applause do comply with a popular Eaction and set their brains on work to make specious shews of Reason and inducements to perswade or warrant Kings by permission and giving way or by actual concurrence with their Authority to permit and do Acts destructive to Christ's Ordinances or derogatory to the Worship are near to the sin of Apostacy and another of an higher degree which I fear to name But of all Levites those are the most miserable who being advanced to the highest of Sacred Orders having enriched themselves by the Patrimony of the Church to keep their purchase have abjured that Sacred Order as Antichristian and yet make not restitution of what they have purchased I wonder how such mens Repentance could be admitted for in such cases they cannot truly repent without Restitution Non dimittetur peccatum nisi restituetur ablatum These men come short of Iudas this Repentance who was not onely contrite for betraying his Master but restored the Money which unjustly he had purchased by his Villany By the detention of their purchase their Converts declare themselves Mercenary and their Fathers by receiving them into their Communion publish to the World they care not what they lose in truth if they can deceive the People to make them think by such a goodly access their evil Cause is strengthened I refer these Apostate Bishops to read the story of Ecebolus I wish them not to be in like condition and cease to apply the story I thank God there is no rancour in my heart against them nor their Fathers Converters my imprecations are no other but to pray Almighty God to give them true Repentance and to forgive them The sum of what we have said is this that neither King nor Kingdom can be happy if Kings fear not