Three words viz. Bellarmine thou L. CHAP. XI Kings not lawless but bounded by Laws and are accountable to those who intrusted them with their own Power Oaths and Covenants between King and People are equally binding Reciprocal Duties between Parents and Children Masters and Servants King and People The Power of the People is by the Law of Nature that of Kings is from the People and fiduciary As the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God so the Sword of the Magistrate is the Law of God and of Man. Obedience is a Holy thing when yielded to just commands but void and sinful when referred to unjust and then natural Defence succeeds in its room No mean between a Saint and a Bruit Law by the Judgment of the wisest Heathen is both Lord and Kings of Men. Vujust force may lawfully be resisted by force WHAT hath been hitherto written is diametrically opposite to that Pulpit Leviathan Doctrine of quod libet licet and that Kings are obliged to no Laws nor accountable to any but to God. So Julia the Mother-in-law to Antoninus Basianus Caracalla the Emperor her Son-in-law most impudently Si libet licet nescis te imperatorem esse leges dare non accipere Dost thou now know that thy Will is a Law and that it is thy right to give not to accept Laws from any And he acted accordingly If this be good Doctrine that Jure Regio they are absolved of all Laws and though they violate all human Constitutions yet are guiltless or unaccountable to any but to God alone certainly then there never was a Tyrant nor ever can be if they had been so capacitated by any Law of God or Nature as some most impudently have printed God would never have prescribed them Laws nor have punished them for breach of them What is this less than to render Mankind made a little lower than the Angels and after the similitude of God himself to be governed no better than Bruits Can it ever be supposed that God would ever subject his own similitude the Race of Mankind for whom he hath done such great things to be harrassed pilld poled governed tyrannically without any hope of Redress till the day of Judgment Or that any People should be so void of Counsel and Sense as voluntarily to subject themselves and their Posterity to such abominable slavery and to make Kings to govern and Laws to be governed by and both sworn to the observation of them in the presence of God Almighty and yet to esteem Kings not obliged by those Sacred Ties to keep them The Basis and Establishment of God's own Throne are righteousness and judgment and mercy and truth go before his face Psalm 89. 14. 97. 2. And if they who call themselves God's Lieutenants or Vice-gerents govern by Violence and Oppression as they all do that govern not by an immediate appointment of God or by common consent of the governed a fire shall go before them and burn them up as enemies to God and man Psalm 97. 3. And whoever acquires a Power over any People whether by dint of Sword or by cunning Craft or by consent of Parties and useth it to the detriment and not for the good of the People are not to be esteemed as rightful Kings but as Enemies and Tyrants Be it so say the Pulpiteers but by what Law shall they be punished or reproved Even by them and by the same Right and Law that they themselves are there 's no exceptions And no Law of God or Nature ever prescribed Impunity for Oppression and Tyranny and Wickedness over Men He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. So spake the rock of Israel unto David himself a King 2 Sam. 23. 3. It 's righteousness that establisheth the Throne and it 's an abomination for Kings to work wickedness So King Solomon Prov. 16. 12. When Solomon Eccl. 8. 2. 34. prescribes to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God and not to stand in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou All these are ever to be understood of things lawful to be commanded and of things lawful to be done otherwise this undoubted Truth is to be observed viz. we ought to obey God rather than man Acts 5. 29. Besides Solomon's counsel here was to single and particular Men not to Assemblies and Dyets and Senates and Parliaments and great Councils who have a share in making Laws and consequently co-ordinate in the Government Though all Writs Processes of Law Executions and Edicts pass under the Title of one single Person for the sake of order yet he that sendeth out Writs is to be obedient to those very Writs and to those Laws as well as they to whom they are sent Besides what Generation of Christians in the World so void of Reason as to swear Fealty and Allegiance to Kings except they again reciprocally swear to observe the Laws Divine and of their Country So the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half Tribe of Manasseh promised obedience to Joshua but as they did to Moses on condition that God be with him as he was with Moses Jos 5. 17. If they can shew a Patent from Heaven as Moses and Joshua had by an immediate Call and God's Promise to be with them as he was with Moses and Joshua never to fail them nor forsake them then may we all lay our hands on our mouths and proceed no farther Job 40. 5. And yet if they had the like Patents yet from such Patents no Authority could be drawn to oppress or tyrannize over any People but if not so nor so why should not Christians in whose inward parts God hath put wisdom and who hath given understanding to their hearts who make Kings from among themselves and take Oaths of them for performance of Agreements maintain and defend their own just Rights and Liberties God never broke his Covenants but punished the People that brake theirs and why should his Vicegerents break their Covenants and yet be thought guiltless or unquestionable The Jews who were the most stif-neckt most rebellious and most ungrateful Nation under the Cope of Heaven and provoked God to the uttermost as if they did it purposely to non plus and pose his very Mercy and they provoked Moses also the Man of God and the meekest Man upon Earth beyond all his Patience so that he cast the very Tables of the Testimony the Work of God and the Writing of God graven upon the Tables out of his hands and brake them beneath the mount Exod. 32. 11 16 19 32. yet was he so far from oppressing or tyrannizing over them that he wrastled with God Almighty with strong and importunate Prayers for their Good Why doth thy wrath wax hot against this People nay so importunate was he for their Pardon that though
equal and he tries the heart verse 2 3. But what signifies this to prove that Kings are accountable to none but God for Male Government Another abused place of Scripture is Psalm 51. 4. Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest That Men of the same temper and complexion with Leviathan should urge places of Scripture and make false glosses upon them I wonder not at all but that the Pulpits should Chime and Ring to the same Tune I am in an amaze Do they believe themselves Or have they forgot their Pater Noster Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us If one Man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if they sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. So 1 Cor. 8. 12. when ye sin against the Brethren to commit Murder Adultry c. and yet sin against God only happily may be good Doctrine according to the Alcoran or â—â—viathan but certainly can have no place in Scripture no not in this Psalm which is a Psalm of David's deep repentance confessing his sins to God and begging his pardon David's heart having smote him for these his sins against God and Uriah did in the bitterness and anguish of his Soul prostrate make his court to God his Judge and besought him more especially who only trieth the hearts and reins acknowledging his sins and begging his pardon who only had power of Soul and Body of Life and Death eternal and so only could acquit or punish eternally and to create in him a new heart and to renew a right spirit within him which no mortal had the like and therefore by only in this place can be meant no other but thee chiefly thee especially according to Matth. 10. Luke 12. He did not fear them which had power to kill the Body only but not able to kill the Soul but did fear him which after he had killed the Body had power to cast into hell For David had already condemned himself to death before he knew himself to be the Man mentioned in Nathan's Parable 2 Sam. 12. 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the Man and he said to Nathan as the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die Have they not read what Jonathan said to Saul Let not the King sin against his servant against David because he hath not sinned against thee 1 Sam. 19. 4. did Saul a King sin against David a private person and his Subject in seeking his innocent Blood And shall David when King covet his Neighbour Uriah 's Wife and seek the innocent Blood of Uriah himself and yet not sin against Uriah Quis discrevit Who hath made the difference who exempted him Falsest Teachers that would be esteemed Men of God Priests of the most high and yet teach Doctrines more becoming Priests of Baal Men of Belial Did not David sin against the Tenth Commandment and against his Neighbour also when he coveted his Neighbours Wife and purchased her adulterous embraces at the rate of innocent Blood may they not as well plead the like plea and justifie Ahab sinning against God only and not against Naboth when he purchased his Vineyard at the price of his innocent Blood 1 King. 21. 19. 2 King. 9. 33. 36. If David had Power to shed the innocent Blood of Uriah and debauch Bathsheba uncontrolably by Man it is either from God or not from God if it be from God it must be a Power against the Six and Seventh Commandments which God gave to David and not to any Subjects and so David lyed when he confessed it a sin which was none and consequently needed no pardon and so consequently Kings because Kings are under no Obligation of Duties of Mercy Truth Justice c. to their Subjects which is contrary to all Scripture Deut. 1. 15 20. 2 Chron. 19. 6 7. Rom. 13. 3. 4. If this Power be from God as it is unrestrainable and unquestionable by the Subject it cannot be from God at all for God cannot give a Power to do ill that is unpunishable by Men and not give that Power to do ill for in this very thing that God giveth to David a Power to kill and commit Adultery with this respect that it shall be punishable by God only and not by Men God must give it as a sinful Power to do ill i. e. a Power of Dispensation to sin and so not to be punished by either God or Man which is contrary to the whole design and purport of the Scriptures If such a Power as is not restrainable by Man be from God permissivè as in Devils and Men then it is no Regal Power nor any Ordinance of God and then to resist such Power is not to resist the Ordinance of God. For Priests to preach Kings to be Nursing-fathers of the People and to be custodes utriusque tabulae as indeed they ought to be and yet to preach that if Kings do break the Commandments yet they sin against God only and are accountable to God only is Divinity becomming only Micha's Priests that for a little better reward and hope of preferment will with gladness of heart take Ephod take Teraphim take graven Images preach any thing swallow down theft and idolatry together pervert any Text though thereby whole Nations are rob'd and despoiled of their Laws Liberties and Religion Falsest Prophets that thus flatter profaneness betraying God's truth and smothering and dissembling the strictness and purity of his ways striking at sin with the Scabboard and not with the Sword extenuating evil palliating Vice daubing with untempered Morter and by divining Lyes to seduce Kings and Princes If Kings can do no wrong to their People and are accountable to God only what made Samuel to make publick proclamation Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed Whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my Eyes therewith and I will restore it to you 1 Sam. 12. 3. So Lewis IX for his great Piety and Devotion sirnamed the Saint the French King being fully satisfied in his Conscience that Sovereigns are responsible by Laws both divine and human for all the miscarriages of themselves and of their subordinate Ministers caused to be publish'd through all his Kingdom That whoever had suffered any wrong or damage by him or by any belonging to him should make it known and he would give them satisfaction out of his own Estate which was punctually performed accordingly To me 't is a wonder and I am in an amaze how any Man can be so biassed or corrupted in Judgment except possessed with an evil Spirit as to draw such Conclusions from such Premisses Can any thing be
all his Saints Ps 149. 4 5 8 9. It is Piety alone that enobles Kings gives them a mighty Character and establisheth their Thrones Therefore Kings ought to be like the Sun in the Firmament comfortably influencing all their Subjects by governing justly and living uprightly having their Eyes on the faithful of the land and on them that excel in virtue and not suffering those that make Kings glad with their wickedness and Princes with their Lies Hos 7. 3. to tarry in their sights it being an abomination in Kings to work wickedness for the throne is established by righteousness if Solomon the wisest King that ever did or ever will sit upon a Throne can judge Prov. 16. 12. So Pope Leo Ep. 7. to the Emperor Theodosius Tune est optimus regni vestri status quando sempiternae incommutabili Trinitati unius Dei confessione servitur Then is the State of your Kingdom in it its Glory when it serveth and acknowledgeth one eternal God in the Immutable Trinity This God hath demonstrated by an Iliad of Examples both of old and more puny daies by punishing Kings governing tyrannically more signally and especially in Nebuchadnezzar who not conforming to the Counsel of Daniel by breaking off his sins by righteousness and his iniqities by shewing mercy unto the poor was turned into a very Brute being driven from men to dwell with wild asses to eat grass with Oxen till seven times had passed over him his body wet with the dew of Heaven his hairs grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws before his understanding returned unto him to bless God and to acknowledge that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men Dan. 4. So averred David a King after God's own heart Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psalm 49. ver 20. What this Vnderstanding is is declared Job 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding All other Wisdom in respect of this is but Brutish which made Constantine the Great to esteem all Principalities not subservient to the Laws of Heaven to be far worse than the Government of Goat-Keepers Shepherds and Cow-herds Euseb Orat. In the Kingdom of Insidels who have no right knowledge of God nor of his Laws the Supreme Law is only the safety of the Civil State and its Temporal Happiness but when a Gentile State becomes Christian then consequently it becomes also a Church whereby it loseth nothing which it had before but acquires a new Perfection by accrument of Divine Powers added to the Civil and consequently a greater Duty incumbent on the Governors thereof to seek and procure the Welfare and Happiness Such Kingdoms so united and so interwoven are in a more special manner the Inheritance and Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ which his Father gave him as the Purchase of his bitter Passion Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Psalm 2. 8. And Christ doth imbrace the Glory of this his Kingdom so incorporated with so much more tenderness and affection than the Pomp and Pride of all earthly Kingdoms as that he threatneth those Kings Nations and Kingdoms that will not serve him shall perish and be utterly wasted Isaiah 60. 12. Speak every man truth in his heart to his neighbour execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates therefore love the truth and peace Zechar. 8. 16 19. are Divine Oracles and shall challenge Obedience from every Individual but more particularly and especially they seem to have respect unto those that sit at the Helm that execute the Judgment of Truth and Peace in the Gates It is no doubt as great a fault to be silent when one ought to speak as to speak when one should hold his peace sins of Omission being no less dangerous than sins of Commission I think I do no dis-service to the Publick or transgress the duty of Honesty or Loyalty if I endeavour by Pen to set the Right of Government on a sure and right Foundation when I see daily so many false Principles exorbitant Powers and Vnaccountableness attributed to Cheif Magistrates as may make very Saints to transgress in Government that happily otherwise would not and these not Written by vulgar Pens only but Preached and Printed by Ministers of the Gospel that they might be delivered with the better grace and greater authority though not without most palpable wresting of Scripture to wrong senses and purposes which in Ministers of the Gospel is the more abominable but God shall cut off all flattering lips and tongues that speak proud things Psalm 12. 3. There are so many Sermons full fraught with such Principles that they who are esteemed the Governors of our Church cannot be ignorant of them yet they whom it most concerns to take notice of true and false Doctrines being silent which seems to argue consent hath encouraged me to put Pen to Paper to assert the truth It ought not to be imputed as a Crime to any who bring the Actions of Princes Popes or Prelates to the Touch-stone of Truth Truth though it begets hatred to the Asserters thereof yet like the Sun is a publick good which neither exempteth Princes Popes private Men no nor Angels from her Laws I have followed as near as I can the Beams of that Sun by adhering close to true Principles of Nature of Reason and of Scripture If any Light I have given hath discovered false Glosses or Truth from Error no reason to quarrel either with the Truths themselves or with the Assertor of them Truth seasonably spoken can hurt no Body If false Principles are censured and adjudged by Divine by Laws of Nature and Reason and disapproved by Christian Religion be pleased or displeased who will it matters not the care is taken It being more than human Tyranny to deprive Faith and Truth of Tongue or Pen for their Defence where Truth maketh no distinction of Persons I dare not I only condemn what she doth without respect had to Persons great or small if they clash with Truth or endeavour to obscure her brightness To assert Truth is no point of Arrogance and to search for Truth when it is concealed is the beginning of Charity and to assert it with constancy when it is apparent is the consummation of Charity and to walk in the Light thereof is the beginning and consummation of Happiness For who can be more blessed than he who enjoyeth Truth in its Excellency Constancy and Immutability I am not ignorant that Fear Honour and Reverence are due to Magistrates but more to Truth for God is Truth Nor is it Reverence with base flattery or ignorant blindness to hide the publick Blemishes and Miscarriages of the Actions of great Men. No no it 's downright flattering Profaneness dissembling and betraying the Truths of God. It 's much more Christian
who carefully defend and govern the Church and People of God imitating David King of Israel Psalm 101. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord c. The King ought in all truth and sincerity fully and wholly to observe all the Dignities Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and to reduce them to their Pristine condition The King also ought to do all things in his Kingdom righteously and that by the judgment of the Nobles of the Kingdom and Right and Justice ought rather to bear Rule in a Kingdom than sinful Wills and Pleasures Law is always that which doth right but Will and Pleasure is violence and force is not right And much more to the same purpose by Edward the First to whose Laws also William the Conqueror subscribed Vid. Lambert Collect p. 142. N o 17. The true Religion of God and honest Conversation even of Priests themselves is our chiefest care saith Justinian Novel constit 6. The search of true Religion we find to be the chiefest care of Imperial Majesty Legum Theodos Novel tit 2. de Judaeis Samaritanis So Gregory the Great earnestly exhorted Edelbert unto the first that was Christned of the Saxon Kings in England For this cause the Almighty God brings the good Princes to the Regiment of his People that by them he may bestow the gifts of his mercy upon all that are under them Beda hist Aug. 32. Consider in the Creation we were all created in Adam equal and equally innocent and upright and had we so continued in that state of Innocency there would have been no need of Impery one over another every one would have been a King to himself God and Nature their only Law-givers but lapsed Man sought out many Inventions and broke the Laws both of God and Nature and thereby provoked God to anger and to vengeance and instead of being homo homini Deus as in their fist Creation and state of Innocency they soon became homo homini Lupus which unavoidably introduced a necessity of Government framed by human Wisdom that they may not like Brutes devour one another but live in Unity Wealth Peace and Godliness that they might have Liberty preserved Justice equally distribute◠Honesty upheld Religion and Piety maintained and propagated all which could not be done when the Race of lapsed Mankind was multiplyed but by Laws ordained by Common Consent as sociable Parts united into one Body which Laws in common Prudence and of right do bind each to serve other and all to prefer the good of the whole before what good soever of any particular without which no House no City no Nation can long subsist in any happy condition For to govern and to be governed is not to be esteemed amongst things only necessary but as things profitable also for the benefit and sollace of all Mankind and hath its ground and warrant in Scripture in Nature in Heaven Hell the Creatures Mans nature and Conscience In Scripture by me Kings and consequently all other Forms of Government reign and Princes decree Justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Pro. 8. 15 16. saith Gods essential wisdom viz. not only by the secret disposition of his Providence but by the express warrant of his Ordinance by Divine Institution not by naked approbation there being no power but of God either by his commission or permission The powers that are i. e. the several Forms of Government are ordained by God Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. i. e. politick Power in general is warranted by a Divine Law but the several Forms of Government is by the Law of Nations Princedom Empire Kingdom and Jurisdiction have their Rise from a positive and secondary Law of Nations and not absolutely from the Law of God or of pure Nature which the Lawyers call Secundariò Jus naturale or Jus gentium secundarium In sum Government is immediately from God but this or that Form of Government is immediately from God by the Interposition and Mediation of the publick consent of Kingdoms and States and so the application of the Persons to the Office is wholly in the Governed The several Forms of Government differ not in nature Morally and Theologically speaking the end of all Government being the very self same but only politically and positively For God appointed not Kings absolute and solely Independent but constituted with them also Judges who were equally obliged to judge according to the Law of God. 2. Chron. 19. 6. as Kings 17. Deut. 15. and have a co-ordinate share in the Government because the Judgment is neither the Kings nor the Judges but the Lords and both their Consciences are in immediate subjection to the King of Kings 2 Chron. 19. 6 7. The persons are sometimes Usurpers sometimes Abusers of their Authority as when they tyrannize or oppress such powers God owns not the Rulers that he ordains are not to be a Terrour unto good works but to the evil for they are the Ministers of God to the governed for good revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil To such Rulers we must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake therefore whosoever resisteth such powers resisteth the ordinance of God And for this cause pay we tribute but not to those that are a terrour to good works the reason subjoyned is for they are Gods Ministers attending continually on this very thing but if they attend not continually on this very thing there is no absolute necessary Obligation expressed incumbent upon us for our Obedience or for our paying of Tribute Sute or Service but rather on the contary It is better to obey God than Man Acts 5. 29. The same Power St. Peter terms human Ordinances Submit your self to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. so that S. Paul and S. Peter run parallel to one and the self same Sense and the Sword in the Magistrates Hand to revenge is not a material Sword to hack and hew kill and slay at pleasure but the Laws made by the common consent are the true Sword so Bishop Bilson to which both Magistrates and People are equally obliged to submit the Magistrates being but the Conduit and Pipe the Administrators not Patrons of the Powers for the sake of order through which and by whom all Laws are to pass and be executed and by the same Texts they have the like Obligation to praise them that do well as to punish those that do ill so David was taught and practised I will not know a wicked person mine eyes
respect not to this life only but to that of a better even to Eternity which no other Lawgivers had therefore Moses exhorted the Israelites that when they should possess the Land whether they were going that they should keep and do the statutes and judgments as the Lord had commanded him and it should be their wisdom and their understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all those statutes and say surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day Deut. 4. 4 5 6 7 8. Having declared the necessity usefulness and benefit of Government and the final end thereof it is now requisite to show the true and efficient cause and right of Government where and in whom the just right of appointing Governours and Government is undoubtedly inherent and instated God beyond all contradiction reigns by his own Plenipotentiary Power and doth whatsoevor he pleaseth in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and in the Waters under the Earth Kings and other Governours only precariò at the good will and pleasure of others God by himself Kings by God and the Governed God by his own Jurisdiction Kings by deligated Authority from others the Jurisdiction of God is immense that of Kings limited So the power of God infinite that of Kings not so the Kingdom of God endless boundless that of Kings limited to certain Regions and fading When God sets Kings upon Thrones he sets them there as his Substitutes to go in and out before his people and to do Judgment and Justice 2 Chron. 9. 8. and upon condition that the governed should still be the Lords people 2 King. 11. 17. 2 Chron. 1. 10. So that God still remains Lord and Proprietor of the same People but sets Kings and other Magistrates over them to govern and feed them like good Shepherds not to pill poll and fley them so all good Kings acknowledged as David Solomon Jehosaphat and others So Nebuchadnezzar tho an Ethnick did acknowledge Dan. 2. 47. Hence it necessarily follows that Kings are set over a People to nourish and cherish them as God himself and not to wrong or oppress them So Jehojada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People 2 King. 11. 17. In the Inauguration of Joae we read of a holy Covenant between God and the King and the people as it is elsewhere expressed between Jorada the chief Priest and all the people and the King that they should be the people of God. So Josiah and all the people made Covenant with God 2 King. 11. 11. 2 Chr. 23. 13 16. 2 King. 23. from which is to be understood that the high Priest in the name of God covenanted between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People that God should be truly and purely worshipped by both King and People of Judah And was not the King so to reign that he should suffer the People to serve God according to the Law of God and the People so to obey the King that in the first place they were to obey God and both King and People sworn by Solemn Sacrament in the first place to worship God and keep his Laws matter of Fact doth manifest it And all the People of the Land went into the House of Baal and brake it down his Altars and his Images brake they in pieces c. and restored the Worship of God the sum of the Covenant being that all should worship God and all should take care that God be worshipped according to his own Precepts and Prescript which if they did perform God would be with them and bless them if not then he would destroy them So Moses before his death rehearsâ—th the Conditions of the Covenant made with their Forefathers and all the Blessings and Curses attending the breach or performance thereof Deut. 29. 30 31. commanding them to take the book of the Law and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God that it may be there for a witness against thee c. Deut. 31. 26 27 28. After Moses was dead God himself constituted Joshua to go in and out before his People on the same conditions Josh 1. which if they transgressed they should be delivered into the hands of the Canaanites One and the self-same Covenant which was made between God and the People under the Judges was made under and with the Kings After Saul was constituted King Samuel said to the People Fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart but if you shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King Josh 12. 24 25. thereby shewing that God expects as strickt performance of his Laws from Kings as from the People Saul being rejected because he brake Covenant David was constituted King on the same Conditions and so Solomon his Son which Covenant was That if they and their Children kept his Commandments and observed his Statutes they should sit on the Throne of Israel for ever if otherwise they should be destroyed 1 Kings ch 2. ver 12. 2 Chron. 6. 16. ch 7. 17. Hence the Book of the Law found in the Temple in the days of Josiah is called the Book of the Covenant of the Lord which he commanded his People to deliver to the King 2 King. 23. 2. Deut. 7. 18. which Samuel did to Saul 1 Sam. 10. 25. and Josiah accordingly did covenant before the Lord So the Law which was kept in the Ark is called the Covenant of the Lord with the Children of Israel who being delivered from the Babylonish Captivity renewed their Covenantwith God which they had violated 2 Chron. 6. 11. whereby it is manifest that Kings as Vassalls to the Law of God solemnly swear to be obedient thereunto We make a sure Covenant and write it and our Princes Levites and Priests seal unto it Nehem. 9. 38. the breach of which Covenant is a like penal to King and People which is manifested in Saul who for offering Sacrifice and for sparing Agag King of the Amalekites was accounted a Rebel and punished accordingly 1 Sam. 13. 12 13. and thereby taught that Kings if they break the Laws are as truly Rebels as Subjects and that obedience is better than sacrifice thou hast rejected the wâ—rd of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel 1 Sam. 15. 26 27. which crime doth not terminate only in the Persons of Kings so rebelling but is extensive also to their Children So God did rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and gave ten tribes to his servant Jeroboam because he forsook God and worshipped 〈◊〉 c. 1 King. 11. 32 33.
he breaking his Covenant God became free and discharged of his promise and rent his Kingdom from him The same Jeroboam erecting twâ— Calves in Dan and Bethel became â—in unto the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and was first punished by the death of his Son and then destroyed it from off the face of the Earth 1 Kings 13. 34. And why Because they kept not God's Covenant The Scripture is full of such Examples of the Kings of Israel and Judah As the Gospel succeeded the Law so Kings Christian are in the place and stead of Jewish Kings and are under the same Covenants the same Pacts and the same Punishments and the same God is the same Revenger of all Perjuries and Perfidiousness and Covenant-breaking As the Jewish Kings were strictly obliged to the observation of the Law so Kings Christian to the observation and propagation of the Gospel unto which they Swear at their Inauguration Herod who ought to have advanced the Kingdom of the Lord Christ fearing Christ himself as a Competitor for his Kingdom condemned him to Death Behold how soon he miserably perished and lost his Kingdom How soon was Julian the Apostate in despight of all his obstinacy and perversness brought to his scornful Exclamation and Acknowledgment of Vicisti Galilae Histories both Sacred and Profane Old and New are full of such fearful Examples which may teach all Kings and Princes That though they set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed which are his People Psalm 105. 14 15. yet he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn and the Lord shall have them in derision and in his due time shall break them with a rod of Iron and shall dash them in pieces like a potters vessel and make all their enemies their foot-stools Psal 2. 100. And they shall confess the Lamb Christ Jesus to be King of kings and Lord of lords and that they that be with him to be the chosen and faithful Rev. 17. 14. It is wonderful and ineffable to consider that the great God of Heaven and of Earth did not create Men only a little lower than the Angels and in his own Image and give them also dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Gen. 1. 26. but such was his admirable Love to Mankind that he hath in some measure given him a share and part with himself in the External and Worldly Administration and Government of themselves and of the things below in directing them to a Government according to his own Pattern displaied in the Old and New Testament and given them Laws to Govern themselves and Honours and dignifies them with the Title of his own Lieutenants and Vice-gerents nay of Gods I have said ye are Gods c. Psalm 82. 6 7. viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice Prov. 8. 15 16. who in the days of the Prophets and since hath left them unto their own free choice and discretion still observing his Laws and Commands against which no Law can have force And God himself remembring his Covenant the Word which he swore to a thousand Generations became a Pattern to all his succeeding Vicars and Vice-gerents to imitate When he sent Joseph before him into Egypt in his due time to bind Princes at his pleasure and teach his Senators wisdom when he sent Moses his Servant and Aaron whom he had chosen to hector proud Pharaoh King of Egypt and bring out his people Israel with a high hand and stretched out arm and deliver them out of the Iron furnace and Egyptian bondage reproving Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm when he led them through the wilderness by spreading a cloud for their covering and fire to give light in the night when he made the red sea a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left and at the same time overthrew Pharaoh and all his hoast in the midst of the same so that there remained not so much as one of them but brought Israel forth with Gold and with Silver and not one feeble person among their Tribes and gave them the Land of the Heathen for their inheritance and uttermost parts of the Earth for their possession Of such vast and near consequence and concern was the Happiness and Welfare of the People of the Jews though a rebellious generation unto God himself that he used â—his Almighty Power and wrought Miracle after Miracle rather than not deliver them from the Hands of their Enemies and cruel Bondage A notable Document to all Christian Kings who pride themselves and glory in being stiled and esteemed his Vice-gerents to imitate God and his Vice-gerent Moses in all their Governments in keeping Covenants and being in good earnest Nursing-fathers to the governed and carry them in their Bosoms as Nursing-fathers bear their sucking Children and not vex them with their Wyles nor yet with any Oppressions or Tyranny CHAP. III. The true Basis and Foundation of all Governments and right of Legislation is consent of Parties who may delegate and devolve the use of their own power on one or more Persons without devesting themselves of the Supreme Dominion thereof And that common Good is the main end of all Governments Kings made by the People THESE things thus premised I lay this for an undeniable Truth as the Basis of all true Government viz. That Paternal Government excepted to which within their own private Families Nature hath given a Supreme Power throughout the World even from the first Creation thereof and have ever been reputed as Lawful Governors therein no Man nor any number of Men can have compleat Lawful Power or Authority over any number of society of Men but by consent of Men or by immediate appointment of God which position will justice all subsequent Superstructures all other Governments being unnatural violent and usurped and therefore unlawful whereby it is manifest that the whole Right and Power of Government is originally in the Governed who may transfer and vest as much of their own Power as they please on one or more Governors without devesting themselves absolutely of the Supreme Dominion thereof which still remains virtually in them they delegating the Use only not the Patronage and Dominion of their own Power for the better Execution Administration and Regulation of those Laws which by common consent they should make and chuse for the sake of Justice Peace Order and Piety Common good being the main end for which Societies and Governments were instituted by God and Man and without they tend unto that end they are not perfect And in all such delegations salus populi the good of the governed is and so ought to be the Supreme Law and is always so expressed or imployed and so to be undertaken and understood This
is so natural an obligation that it cannot be dispensed with And for Governors to procure the good of Commonweals is but to do their duty he that is above all should be best of all for Example prevails more than Law and there can be no reason for sin violence or oppression Princes Councils Love and Hate Must do homage to the Law of State The Peoples Safety hath no Mate So King James of happy Memory in his Speech to the Parliament 1603. When I have done all that I can for you I do nothing but that which I am bound to do and am accountable to God upon the contrary For I do acknowledge that the special and greatest point of difference that is between a Rightful King and an Usurping Tyrant is in this That whereas the proud and ambitious Tyrant doth think his Kingdom and People are only ordained for satisfaction of his Desires and unreasonable Appetites the righteous and just King doth by the contrary acknowledge himself to be ordained for the procuring of the Wealth and Prosperity of his People and that his greatest and principle Worldly Felicity must consist in their Prosperity If you be rich I cannot be poor if you be happy I cannot but be fortunate and I protest that your Welfare shall ever be my greatest care and contentment and that I am a Servant it is most true that as I am Head and Governor of all the People in my Dominions who are my natural Vassals and Subjects considering them in numbers and distinct ranks so if we will take the whole People as one Body and Mass then as the Head is ordained for the Body and not the Body for the Head so must a righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People and not his People for him For though a King and People be relata yet there can be no King if he want People and Subjects but there be many People in the World that lack a Head wherefore I will never be ashamed to confess it my principal honour to be the great Servant of the Commonwealth and ever think the Prosperity thereof to be my greatest Felicity 494 495. The reason is demonstrable viz. God not the King made the People and those all equally of one and the self-same Mould but the People make Kings Nature was Father to the People but the People make some of themselves Kings and are the rightful Patrons of all their Power Honours Priviledges and Prerogatives and therefore as God ordained the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath Mark 2. 27 so 〈◊〉 ordained Kings and all other Governors and Governments for 〈◊〉 and not Men for Kings The prospect and foresight of the wise That to be governed by one Mans Will might become the cause of all Mens misery prevailed with them 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 Laws 〈◊〉 all might see their Duties and 〈…〉 There are that 〈◊〉 with great 〈…〉 truth that Kings receive their 〈…〉 according to Prov. 8. 15. and not from the 〈…〉 are set and that they are accountable to nonâ— bu◠〈…〉 on the just Right of all Polâ—â—â—â—k Power 〈…〉 and of Nature and of Reason is originally in the 〈…〉 use thereof from them may be transferred and deligated unto whom 〈…〉 devesting 〈…〉 their Administrator◠〈…〉 them who deligated it and to 〈…〉 countable If such Assâ—â—tor◠〈…〉 old when God by 〈…〉 the People had 〈…〉 Prophets for Rules 〈…〉 much more might have 〈…〉 yet even in those days the 〈…〉 far complied with common consent 〈…〉 change of that Government his own Wisdom 〈…〉 him and his Government 〈…〉 his peculiar People only because they 〈…〉 King over us maugre all that Samuel could 〈…〉 as Solomon was dead all Israel come 〈…〉 King who refusing to be a Servant to the◠〈…〉 for ever threatning that his little finger should be 〈…〉 would whip them with Scorpions c. they soon 〈…〉 have we in David neither have we inheritance in the 〈…〉 and see to thine house David 1 King 12. and then chose 〈…〉 Rehoboam the Son of Solomon But such choice being now quite out of doors and 〈…〉 the least pretence of Title from such Nomination and therefore 〈…〉 can only be meant the institution of the Office and not the designation 〈…〉 and cannot possibly be understood any other ways 〈…〉 instituted hath together with other Governmentâ— th◠〈…〉 And it standeth sure that all Royal Power 〈…〉 in the People as in the first Subject which they may confer on this or that Man with â—â—at â—â—mitations they please and on condition that if conditions be not performed they 〈…〉 Power they intrusted him withal And therefore no King can have 〈…〉 so just Powers as from the suffrages of the People all other Governments 〈…〉 Tyrannies and continued Injuries of which the People may ease themselves when they have just reason and a neat opportunity so to do because their just and natural Right is wrongfully invaded for that naturally no sort of Men have full and lawful Power to command whole politick multitudes of Men and therefore utterly without the Peoples consent they ought not to be at any Man's commandment living This is plain and natural reason and ought to have the stamp of a publick Law. Laws positive are mutable natural not so and therefore these Laws ought to stand unrepealed because they always bind The Kings of Israel and Judâ—â— were not so immediately and absolutely from God as that the People were 〈…〉 excluded from their Right and Power of Electing and Approving and 〈…〉 of them that had been to deprive them of that Power that God and the 〈…〉 Nature had given them to Covenant and Agree with them before they would admit of them that had been to wrong the People and to bind them up from the use of their reason by Covenanting for their own Happiness and against Tyranny in ease they should break Laws and Covenants solemnly made with them by Oath which cannot be broke without Perjury By me Kings reign was only an Index and Declaration of God's Will and Pleasure which doth not take away or destroy the Peoples Right or Liberty Saul was not King so absolutely and so immediately from God that it excluded all Election of the People but was afterwards chosen by Lot by all the People at Mizpeh And all the People shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10. 17 24. and afterwards Behold the King whom ye have chosen Chap. 12. 23. Did not all the Elders of Israel Capitulate and Covenant with David before the Lord in Hebron and then and not till then anointed him King over Israel 1 Chron. 11 13. All the Men of War came with a perfect Heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel and all the rest also of Israel were of one Heart to make David King chap. 12. 38. Did not all the People of Judah take Azariah who was Sixteen years old and made him King instead of his Father Amaziah 2
be manifest that the People even in such choice had their share their influence and their power also as in Saul And all the People went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal 1 Sam. 10. 15. And several Writers are of opinion that Saul was not only anointed with Oyle first privately by Samuel 1 Sam. 10. 12. but also at two other times before the People once at Mizpah an another time at Gilgal So David though he were anointed of the Lord by Samuel yet all the mâ—n of Israel came with a perfect heart to Hebron and anointed David King over Israel and made a Covenant with him before the Lord 1 Chron. 11. 2. 12. 38. In summ Many Writers of several Persuations from these examples conclude that the People under God make the King. Beside the want of the publick Stamp of the People made Zimri who had usurped that Title and Office no King and yet made Omri King 1 Kings 16. 16. And those whom the rulers of Jezreel at Samaria 2 Kings 10. refused to make a King were no Kings This Power of the People made Athaliah a Princess no Princess by their translation of the Crown to Joah 2 Cron. 23. There 's now no Voice no immediate Oracle from Heaven no Samuel no Elisha no inspired Prophets to anoint David not Eliab Solomon not Adoniah no particular persons and therefore no persons can have a just Title to Crowns but by choice and approbation publick God hath only ratified the Kingly Office and described fit qualifications viz. Men of truth hating covetousness c. Exod. 18. 21. Deut. 1. 16 17. but doth not now name or appoint particular Persons but hath left it wholly and freely to the People to chuse for themselves and make their own Conditions It is farther observable that Saul after Samuel from the Lord had anointed him remained a private Person and no King till the People had elected and made him a King. So David though anointed by the same Divine Authority yet remained formally a Subject and not a King till Israel made him King at Hebron So Solomon though by God designed and ordained to be King yet never was King till the people made him King 1 Kings 1. What greater demonstration can there possibly be than such Scriptural both Precepts and Examples as are here set down for justifying of the right of the People in the choice of Kings and not only in the free choice of this or that Person to the Diadem or to this or that Government but also in the alteration and granting of Succession and in the change and alteration of the very Form of Government Moreover by God's owning Kings to reign by him Prov. 8. 16. is no more than God's general owning and constituting all things else viz. thine is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in Heaven and Earth is thine thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted above all both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. This general Right and Power of the Almighty doth not abolish or impeach the Natural Right of his People in chusing themselves a King on their own Tearms and Laws woful experience having taught them that to live by one Man's will would be the cause of all Mens miseries the truth whereof we see experienced to this very day both in the Eastern and Western Empires which constrained them to devise Laws for the Regulation of every Man 's just Right that no Man might by lawless Dominion oppress another but that all should be governed by their own consent by Laws of their own making respect always being had Christianly speaking to the Laws of the Almighty Cui plus licet quam par est plus vult quam licet A People may be without a King but there can be no King without a People and therefore Kings not particularly and immediately named by God must own their Establishment and Inthronization to the People and ought to be accountable in some cases to them for they that give Power are by just Reason accounted greater and more honourable than they that receive it according to that old Maxime Quicquid efficit tale est magis tale and though Kings are to be accounted singulis majores yet are universis minores For Kings are not Patrons of their Kingly Power but Administrators and deputed Executioners thereof Now it necessarily follows that by the same Reason Kings have their Authority from the People so to them they are of right to be accountable for they chuse them and covenant with them for their own good If by God Kings do reign by God also the People have right and liberties to be governed how they please for the immediate appointment of Kings by God himself by his Prophets being now ceased the application of the Powers of the governed to this or that Person is left wholly to the common consent of themselves Be the right of Kings and of the People what it will from God they both equally derive it Wherever the People create themselves a King by the same right he is accountable to them and it participates as much of Divine right for the People to curb and oppose oppressing wicked Kings as to make Kings according to the 149 Psalm 8 9. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his Saints Nay God 's own People on whom he had set his Love had his own Command that when he had brought them into the Land whither they were going to possess That they should smite them and utterly destroy them and shew no mercy unto them Deut. 7. 1 2. Kings are constituted by God and Man to go in and out before them for Protection and Comfort not for Violence and Oppression and it is by righteousness that the Throne is established and iniquity will be the ruine of any Nation fury is not in him Isaiah 27. 4. And God himself hath given no Power to Kings Princes or Potentates but what is just and honest and hath tied them up and bound them by Laws viz. He shall not multiply horses to himself he shall not multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall be greatly multiply to himself silver and gold And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book And he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from the
Tyranny which Conspiracy though acted so very privately and as it were by stealth yet blamed neither by God nor Man but justified by all Writers both Sacred and Prophane and the success answered the end designed As the King so all Israel as one Man the several Cities as parts of the Kingdom and their Magistrates did covenant with God to keep his Laws c. Joshua when old and near his end congregated all Israel in Sechem in the Presence of the Lord for the Ark of the Covenant was there and called for the Elders of Israel and for their Heads and for their Judges and for their Officers and they presented themselves before God Josh 24. 1. And he said unto them fear the Lord and serve him c. and the People answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other Gods ver 14. 16. And Joshua said unto the People ye are witness your selves that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him And they said we are Witnesses ver 22. So Joshua made a Covenant with the Lord that day and set them a Statute and an Ordinance in Sechem And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God and took a great Stone and set it up there under an Oak that was by the Sanctuary of the Lord and Joshua said unto all the People Behold this Stone shall be a Witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us it shall be therefore a Witness unto you least you deny your God ver 24 25 26 27. Hence it is evident that as every individual Person so more especially all Officers in a Kingdom that have any publick Authority ought every one in their several stations to take care that God's Law be fulfilled and of the Peoples happiness which Officers are Officers of the Kingdom from whom they have their Authority according to Laws of their own making and to them they are accountable If the Ark of God be to be brought back then all of the Congregation of Israel are to be summoned and consulted and to give their help 1 Chron. 13. 2 Chron. 15. So if a Temple be to be built to the Lord the chief of the Fathers and Priests of the Tribes of Israel and the Captains of Thousands and of Hundreds with the Rulers are summoned and moved to offer willingly 1 Chron. 29. So that there is no power committed to Kings to alter or change the Laws Covenants or Worship of God. So in the Covenants under Joah and Josiah between God the King and the People all the Kingdom were present and all were particularly bound to keep and stand to the Covenant so that not the King only but the Kingdom nor the Kingdom in general only but all the Parts thereof promise Faith and Allegiance to God Almighty Not the King only but Israel not Israel only but the Cities and chief Governours of them did secretly bind themselves to God to do him homage and leige Services against all Infractors of his Laws 2 Kin. 11. 23. 2 Chron. 23. For Example Libnah revolted from Jehoram because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers 2 Chron. 21. 10. So Mattathias and all they that fled from the Persecution of Antiochus joyned themselves together and smote sinful men in their anger and wicked men in their wrath and they pursued after the proud men and the work prospered in their hands So they recovered the Law out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of Kings neither suffered they the sinner to triumph 1 Macc. 2. 42 47. saying We will not hearken to the Kings word to go from our Religion either to the right hand or to the left verse 22. So his Son Judas Maccabeus was valiant for the truth and fought for the People and the Sanctuary so prosperously Deo favente against Antiochus that he recovered Jerusalem and restored the pure worship of God from the Gentiles 1 Macc. 3. Though others took part and were obedient to Antiochus and they fell together with the Persecutor for their so doing by the edg of the Sword. When Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord he sold them into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan whom they served twenty years a fair prescription for a Kingdom worshipping strange Gods among whom especially were the Tribes of Reuben Ephraim Benjamin Dan Asser c. who adhered to Jabin Nevertheless Deborah who judged Israel at that time levied force with the assistance of the other Tribes of Zabulon Napthaly and Issachar over whom they made Barack Captain and went along with them being ten thousand men and discomfited the Hoast of Sisera Captain of Jabin and restored the true Worship of God to Israel and then sang Deborah c. Judg. 4. 5. Happily some may say that these Facts of Deborah Jael Mattathias and Libnah ought not to be drawn into imitation and practice as being stirred up by motions extraordinary like that of Phineahs and the Book it self but Apochypha and not so Authentick as Scripture What then It 's certain that not only the King but all Israel and the parts thereof viz. the several Cities and their Magistrates as in Josh 24. covenanted before God and did swear to worship the true God according to his Law which Covenant is expresly in force to this day in all Christian Kingdoms where King and People Covenant each with other and tacitely or interpretatively also where Kings Rule Vi Armis or by fraud or any other unjust way which is down-right Tyranny The People are the People of God and obliged in the first place to God and then to the Kingdom and to the King and though the King have the formality and executive part of Power all Writs Executions Proclamations c. issuing in his Name yet the People have the true Dominion originally Sunt enim universa in Regis Imperio non in Patrimonio Seneca lib. 7. de Benef. c. 6 7. Omnia Rex imperio possidet singuli dominio Consult all Histories search all Antiquity and you will find the true cause of all Rebellion in all Ages and in all Countries to have risen originally and most especially from the abuse of Power first and not from the disobedience of Subjects to the lawful commands of Kings If Kings command unlawful things as they have no Authority so to do so Subjects have no Obligation to obey When Covenants between Prince and People are of such a nature as cannot be broken or violated by either King or People without doing manifest Injury to the other The injured party may seek his Redress and Relief though it be vim vi repellendo which is always to be understood of unjust Force For if the Force be unjust the Defence must be lawful and contrariwise if the Force be just the Defence must be unlawful So that Kings and Princes if transgressors are as truly Transgressors and Invaders
God had promised to make of him a great Nation though he should destroy them yet he besought God so earnestly that if he would not forgive their sin that he would blot him out of the Beâ—k of Life If Magistrates now adays had the like zeal for the good of the Bodies and Souls of their People how happy would Kings how happy would the People be When the Israelites by reason of the ill Government of Samuels Sons desired a King like all the Nations God whom by such desires they had rejected yet told them the manner and custom of those Kings Heathens you may be sure who knew not God nor his righteous Judgments 2 Sam. 8. 11 12 13. was very Arbitrary governing by an Army that they may go in and out before them and fight their Battels and judge them Arbitrarily yet so peremptory were they that they rejected the just and a righteous and easy Government that God had appointed over them Nay but we will have a King over us as other Nations and they had one that used them accordingly Therefore Solomon might well say as in Ecclesiastes I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment for he doth whatever it pleaseth him Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou It being then the manner of the Kings of Nations Heathens so to govern volenti non fit injuria which manner remains even to this day among the Eastern Princes and let them that delight to be so governed have their Belly full of it But God hath provided better Laws Judgments and Statutes for his People whom he hath chosen out of all Nations to be a Peculiar People Redeemed by the Blood of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ blessed for ever Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what doest thou This he wisely advised to those who would be so governed and to Single Persons but not to whole Kingdoms or their Representatives the practice was otherwise even by Gods own command Elisah told Ahab that he and his Fathers House had troubled Israel 1 Kings 17. 18. Samuel told Saul thou hast done foolishly 1 Sam. 13. 3. So Nathan told David thou art the Man. 2 Sam. 12. 7. Obj. But these Men were extraordinarily commissionated Sol. Be it so so are all they Commissionated that follow their Example though not immediately from God himself yet tacitely by his general Commands universally and eternally true Viz. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Levit. 19. 17. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Saith Job 34. 13. Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a Wise man and he will love thee Prov. 9. 8. These are prudential Documents how to manage rebukes but exempts not Kings and Princes from being rebuked He that rebuketh the wicked getteth himself a Blot ver 7. In such case the Apostles give good Advice Give not that which is holy unto Dogs neither cast Pearls before Swine lest they trample them under their Feet Indeed if Kings and Princes are such Bruits then Tophet is prepared for them and shall be their Doom Isa 30. 33. And Men will be wiser than to run their Heads against Brick Walls But Truths seasonably spoken can do no man no wrong and ought graciously to be received Solomons intimation is good Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what doest thou Eccl. 8. 4. Indeed it is a folly in any Man to contend with any Man King or not King that is mightier than he Eccl. 6. 10. But all these Apothegms relate chiefly to Private Persons not to whole States and Kingdoms who have just Power to defend their just Rights against Princes that usurp more Power to themselves than ever God and the People gave them And to urge Samuel a Prophet in a wrong sense is with the Witch at Endor to raise a False and Counterfeit Prophet 1 Sam. 28. 11 12. Can it ever be imagined that God gave countenance or encouragement to Kings to work Wickedness to oppress or violate all Laws and Covenants and yet be blameless and unaccountable here on earth He hath commanded no man to do wickedly neither hath he given any man licence to sin Eccl. 15. 20. God never breaks his own Covenants but keeps them for ever and always punished them that did and shall they who call themselves his Vicegerents like Wild Boars of the Forrest or like Bears robb'd of their Whelps break through all Laws and Bounds and yet be blameless and unaccountable to them who made them Kings designedly to be subject to Laws and not to destroy them or like Foxes of the Wilderness by craft and subtilty by shamming Laws or perverting Righteous Judgment or by packing an Alteration in Government and slide thereinto insensibly by tricks and querks of Law or to draw Arguments from the manner and custom of Kings Heathen for Jus Regium to be the Right of Kings Christian to do as they list quod libet licet uncontrolably is as much as in them lies to do as the Rebellious and Ungrateful Israclites did vilify set at naught and reject the Government which God established by his infinite Wisdom Where such Doctrines are embraced as true what better conditions are Christians under than Heathens nay then Brutes Did God think you create the whole Race of Mankind without respect of Persons after his own Image a little lower then the Angels and crown them with Glory and Honour and give them dominion over the works of his hands and put all things under their Feet and yet at the same time to subject them to Axes and Harrows to Thorns and Briars to the lusts and pleasures of a few Kings chose by themselves from among themselves for the sake only of Order Peace and Well-fare of them all It 's true that seeing the Israelites notwithstanding God cautionating of them were so fool-hardy as to reject God in rejecting his Government yet he did gratify them but in his displeasure in what they desired and they felt the sad effects thereof But from Deut. 17. 14 16. it may be gathered and concluded that the People have a just Right and Title to choose whether the Commonwealth shall be governed by one or more and may change it from one kind of Government to another as shall best please themselves But in all Governments God is always to be President i. e. His Laws are always to be had in remembrance and observed and they who govern otherwise are not to be accounted as Kings but as Enemies not as Gods Vicegerents but as the Devils and may be proceeded against accordingly O but ye shall be his Servants 1 Sam. 8. 17. Very well and well they deserved to be so and Slaves to boot as they
People and that there is not any one Law either in the old or new Testament that makes any exception or exemption or to free one more than another from censure if a Transgressor either against God or Man. To assert that God hath reserved to his own Tribunal the punishment of Kings and Princes more than others so as to free them from being called to an account and censured here on Earth is a false Maxime without sound reason or good authority Examine the Gospel and see if that doth allow that which the Law doth not and whether the Divine Herald of Liberty inward and outward or civil to all Christians do deliver us up also Captives and Slaves to Tyrant Princes without a power or liberty to extricate our selves from such Slavery and Thraldom We read in the Gospel that Christ at his coming should scatter the Proud Imaginations of their Hearts and put down the Mighty from their Thrones Luke 1. 51 52. but no where that he did establish the Thrones of Tyrants for good government Christ himself was born under Tyrants suffered under them made himself of no Reputation took upon him the form of a Servant and thereby purchased for us an honest and just liberty as to bear with patient minds a necessitated servitude but we no where read that he took away from us our just powers of procuring our own Liberties when oppressed but rather confirmed them Art thou called being a Servant care not for it but if thou mayst be made Free use it rather Ye are bought with a price be not ye the Servants of Men. 1 Cor. 7. 21 23. In vain therefore is the example of Christ brought for our enduring of such servitude who by the price of his Servitude purchased and confirmed our civil Liberties Christ having asked Peter at Capernaum of whom do the Kings of the Earth take Custom or Tribute of their own Children i. e. their Citizens or of Strangers i. e. though under a conquerred condition Peter saith of Strangers Jesus saith unto him then are the Children free notwithstanding least we should offend them pay for me and thee Matt. 17. 25 26 27. Thus much rationally and naturally may from hence be concluded viz. That Christ and Peter as private Persons paid Tribute to Caesar though they had no obligation to pay it nor Caesar any just right to require it yet because they would give no offence but would be at quiet and avoid trouble Christ did command payment But from hence it never can be concluded that whole Kingdoms or Commonwealths being unjustly oppressed with exorbitant Taxes contrary to Law and without their consent are therefore obliged to pay them or that they are thereby forbid or hindred to right and relieve themselves Whether by Children are meant the Citizens or Subjects of Kings according to some or by Children be meant the Children of God the whole Race of Christians according to St. Austin it matters not if Peter was of the Children or Citizens he was therefore free We also Christ testifying are free likewise either as Citizens or as Christians God certainly would never give his Vicegerents or Patres Patriae as they desire to be esteemed authority to oppress those whom he would not tyrannize over himself and for whom he made the whole Creation for their comfort and solace no nor yet so unlimited Powers as that if they did oppress or tyrannize they should by no means for such their Tyranny be questioned which is an absurdity of the same nature as great as the other Is it not a wonderful injury to Gods infinite wisdom grace and goodness towards man to suppose that God should appoint Kingly Government and oblige him to keep Laws for the well government of his Charge as his Vicegerents for whose good he is set over them and yet at the same time if he violate them all he may do it without contradiction till the day of Judgment and to aggrevate the injury they endeavour to support that injury by wresting his own word by coyning evasions and creating subtleties to overshaddow the true and genuine meaning thereof and foysting false glosses upon them No doubt but when a fair opportunity offereth it self to an oppressed People to extricate themselves out of any Tyranny Gods Providence is therein manifested and it s their own fault if they make not use of it Is not Gods Image as manifestly seen in man as Caesars on the Coyn Is not as much respect and regard to be shewed to Gods Image as to Caesars I appeal to all rational men if it be not an injury of the same nature to give Kings and Princes power to do what they list or to swear them to keep Laws and yet in the same breath to leave them accountable to God only at the day of Judgment and so leave the governed to be without remedy Caesars have their Rights and the People have their Rights also Caesars are the Ministers of God to the People for their good and to see that all render to all their reciprocal dues not to take them away from them and in those things wherein they minister otherwise they are not Ministers of God but of the Devil Rom. 13. 4. 7. The Liberty and Freedom of the People is their propriety both by the Law of God and nature born with them and ought not to be defrauded or deprived thereof by any subtilties but the rights and powers of Kings over the People are given them by the People either expressly or implyed and to be always understood for their good the Inscription upon Coins doth not confer any more right to Kings than unto the People it only denotes its intrinsick value and that it is pure and without base mixture or allay Christ therefore in this place did not so much demonstrate Subjects duty towards Kings as to tax the Pharisees who feigned themselves Just Men and took council to entangle him in his talk cogging with him crying Thou art true and teacheth the way of God in truth c. of malice and wickedness designing to betray him by taking hold of his words that so they might deliver him to the power and authority of the Governor Luke 20. 20. and therefore put that captious question to him is it lawful to give Tribute to Caesar or is it not But he knowing their Hypocrisy answered them accordingly Mark 12. 14. 15. Thus sophistically by false reasonings and counterseit glosses on plain Texts of Scripture what is it less or other then to represent the great God of Heaven and of Earth a Deceiver of his People whilst he sets Kings over us as his Ministers for our good and yet at the same time to allow them a Latitude to tyrannize over them at their pleasure without controll Can men gather Figs of Thistles or Grapes of Brambles then may these men gather such false conclusions from such right premisses as cannot yield them It s undeniable that God never gave any Power to
Kings and Princes but what is just and right and equal Righteousness and Judgment are the Basis and establishment of his own Throne and shall Kings pretend to govern otherwise When the Pharisees pretending kindness but designing mischief to Jesus advised him to depart out of their Coasts for that Herod sought to kill him Luke 13. 32 33. Christ did not depart nor yet return any low pittiful answer but boldly answered Go tell that Fox I do cast out Devils and do cures to day and to morrow c. thereby intimating that Kings have no lawful Power to wrong their Subjects or to hinder any from doing good to others or their duty towards God though by Fox-like advisoes they usurp dominion beyond all just right and that God himself esteems them no other or better than Bruits according to Psal 49. 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish now what is here meant by understanding is declared by Job the greatest man of the East Job 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding So David a King tells us the same Psal 111. 10. and so King Solomon the wisest of men Prov. 1. 7 8 9. ch 10. with promises of great Blessings He that feareth the Lord his soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the Earth and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal 25. 12 13 14. All other wordly wisdom that hath not respect to eternity is but foolishness and bruitish and the esteem that God himself hath of the greatest men on earth without this wisdom is but as that of Bruits So John Baptist esteemed the Pharisees and Sadducees but as a generation of Vipers Matth. 3. 7. So God by Jeremy to the voluptuous when he had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assemble themselves by Troops in Harlots Houses they were as fed Horses c. Jer. 5. 8. So David Dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me Psal 22. 16. So Isaiah calls ignorant and blind Watchmen Dogs ye greedy Dogs Isaiah 56. 10 11. And Christ forewarned them not to give that which is holy unto Dogs neither cast Pearl before Swine Matth. 7. 6. So was Paul's caution to the Philippians 3. 2. Beware of Dogs beware of evil workers whereby it is apparent that there is no mean between a Saint and a Bruit be they great or small rich or poor Heaven and Hell will divide the whole world without respect of Persons And therefore the advice of David a King is to be followed Be ye not like Horse and Mule which have no understanding Psal 32. 9. A Bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a Fool understand this Psal 92. 6. All the Machiavilians and Leviathans and time-serving Pulpiteers of the world and their Council without such understanding are but as Bruits and Bruitish void of true sense and understanding Christ suffered under a Tyrant true but how could be suffer but under a Tyrant that feared neither God nor Man Christ came into the world in the form of a Servant and to suffer what for not to bring us under but to free us from the yoke of Bondage both Spiritual and Temporal Consider well the answer which Christ gave to the Mother of Zebedee's Children desiring that her two Sons might sit the one on his right the other on his left hand in his Kingdom viz. Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever will be great among you let him be your Servant even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Zebedee's Sons dreaming of a Kingdom that Christ should suddenly have on Earth and affecting to be chief in that Kingdom and next unto him there arose among them a strife through Pride cometh Contention who should be greatest among them whence that proud demand that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left But Christ gently rebuked their proud aspiring humour and in them all Christians shewing that the Princes of the Gentiles did domineer and play Rex among their Brethren a temper very ill beseeming Christians but it shall not be so among you in whom the spirit of the living God should dwell but whoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant and made himself the great exemplar of so great humility who came not to be ministred unto but to minister of which he gave real testimony through the whole course of his life first coming down from Heaven his Imperial Residence then refusing to be made a King here on Earth when 5000 designed to have taken him by force to have made him a King. Then by washing his Disciples feet breaking Bread unto them And to consummate all he became obedient to death even that shameful death the death of the Cross for us men and for our Salvation and indeed the whole course of his Life was but administration of all good to all Rich or Poor without respect of Persons which is the proper duty of all Kings But it shall not be so among you i. e. Proud and aspiring domination ought not to be among Christians though they bear the glorious Titles of Evargitae or Benefactors nay of Emperors Kings or Princes Kings Christians especially though Kings by name and title yet in truth are but Servants to the governed So Moses who certainly had as great and as unquestionable authority over the Israelites as ever mortal had to whom God himself did dictate Laws yet did he never proudly domineer over them tho' provoked to the uttermost so that he desired God to kill him that he might not see his wretchedness to their prejudice or detriment but did bear the burden of them all carried them in his bosom as a nursing Father beareth the nursing Child and pleaded importunately with God himself to save them from destruction when the Fire of the Lord was consuming them at Taberah and prevailed worthy the imitation of all those who stile themselves Gods Vicegerents then should the governed have no oppression no complaining in our Streets but should every man sit quietly under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree So Plato called Magistrates not Lords but Ministers and Servants of the People and calleth the People not Servants but Benefactors as those that allow and give them in gratitude and recompence for their service wherewithal to keep a Kingly State and Grandeur and depute them also their Conservators and Executioners of their Laws So Aristotle calls them Ministers and Keepers of their Laws the Apostles call them Ministers both of the Laws of God and of the People and no doubt but they are so
of Christians True but not the only Weapons lawful resistance of unlawful Force is as true which Divines both Popish and Protestants Bellarmine Turrecremata Cajetan Dominicus Soto Franciscus Victorius Pareus Calvin Eccolompadius Beza Martyr Luther Lavator Zuinglius Bucer Padre Paolo eminent for his great Learning Judgment and Faithfulness in all his Writings Bishop Bilson famous for his incomparable works especially for maintaining Christian Subjection against Unchristian Rebellion Willet Dr. Sherrock Bishop Bedel and other Modern Writers innumerable who following one another confirm the same But yet the said Mr. Clifford in the same Sermon pag. 11 12. is pleased with great confidence to Pulpit it That those that hold such Opinions are but a few deluded Creatures in the Church of Rome and a handful of zealous Fools in the reformed Churches a very severe censure on so many great and learned Men. I much wonder at his daring confidence thus to censure and which is worst to imploy his Priesthood and his Pulpit to rail and to delude his Congregation and the World with Paralogisms and false glosses and misapplications of plain Texts of Scripture as he hath done contrary to the very duty of his Priesthood which is to feed us with Wisdom and Knowledge and not to prevaricate and juggle with plain Texts To instance only in that golden Sentence as he calls it of the Psalmist viz. touch not my anointed Psalm 105. 15. which very Text though more particularly spoken of the Seed of Abraham his Servant and of Jacob his chosen yet it is so clearly and undeniably applicable to God's People in general in whom is all his delight and not of Kings in particular that it cannot be denied nay it is a reproof even to Kings themselves viz. He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm verse 14 15. which also is reinforced Psalm 149. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his People and will put a two-edged Sword in their Hands to bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgment written This honour have all his Saints What is this but to betray and smother and reproach Truth it self very ill becoming Priests of the most high God. He hath done as much by other Texts as Psalm 51. 4. 1 Sam. 8. Prov. 8. 15. And indeed most Texts he quotes he dissembles and puts false glosses upon them But let these pass I only wonder how Priests dare be so sawcy with the Word of God. Neither is it true as often objected That infinite scandals would arise and grow from such Doctrines on the Christian Religion but it is true that they would grow out of the contrary for so should Tyranny be brought into Commonwealths which as a publick fault is more pernitious Even as no more is it true that by this Doctrine there would grow confusions in Families Cities and Kingdoms because every one might defend himself from the Sergeants from the Comito in Gallies and from the Prince who would force them to pay Impositions and Taxes not granted by publick consent For indifferences between Princes and Subjects both cannot have right on their sides but of necessity that if they who use force do it lawfully the defence must be unlawful and where the force is unlawful the defence of necessity must be lawful and therefore vim vi repellere licet is always to be understood of that force which is unjusty used And these Doctrines are most especially to be understood of publick Kingdoms Commonwealths free States and Cities and to preach Patience unto such under Tyranâ—â— and Oppression is a Medicine fitter for mad Dogs than for reasonable 〈◊〉 especially Christians for whose sakes God rebukes even Kings saying Touch not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do my Prophets no harm Psalm 105. 15. To which sort of Remedy no Man â—bound nay rather oftentimes a Man should sin in using it as when the remedy were not only prejudicial to themselves but also to others Another Remedy often urged is Obedience be it so This is a Remedy but when unjust and prejudicial and not only to the Liberty which God hath given to the governed but also to their Lives Goods and Honours they are not bound to use it and by reason of prejudicing another they should sin if they should use it Obedience is a Divine Precept and is to be yielded to a just and holy command but when it is referred to unjust and tyrannical commands it is not good but natural defence doth then succeed in its room Submission to unjust commands is Obedience in name but indeed an extreme disobedience towards God and the governed Gregory II. Quest 7. yields the reason Admomendi sunt subditi ne plus quam expedit sint subjecti ne quum student plus quam necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur etiam vitia eorum venerari That Subjects must be admonished that they make not themselves more subject than is convenient lest they are inforced to flatter them in their Vices whose subjects they make themselves more than they should Besides one abuse of Power and Authority gives a greater scandal to the World and is a cause of greater mischiefs than many disobediences and the Prince as more eminent is much more bound by his greater Obligation to God to do his duty Kings that have a serious intent to live Christianly in good earnest will be careful to observe the Commandments of God and that they be preferred before his own These Doctrines of Resistance and Passive Obedience have of late been very bitterly controverted by our Spiritual Guides and Mr. Miles Barne tells us That it is the duty of private Men to submit their judgments in matters of Religion to the determinations of those whom God hath constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governors in his Sermon preached before his Majesty October 17. 1675. which undeniably is false Doctrine and makes us not their Disciples but their Slaves and we are never the nearer the Truth if we do For Prester John may believe with Julian and John of Jerusalem with Jovian both Spiritual Guides and so the Position satisfied and yet the Controversie as indeterminable and as far undesided as before And for certain private Men are no more obliged to believe their Spiritual Guides because such than Spiritual Guides are obliged to believe private Men but both the one and the other are to be believed or disbelieved according to the Doctrines they do deliver are true or false But this is not the only false Doctrine he hath preached Besides his faculty of preaching false Doctrine he excels in the faculty of Railing and dares to Pulpit more against Julian than Michael the Archangel durst do against the Devil for in his Sermon on Luke 19. he tells us That amongst Phanaticks and Atheists transformed into malicious Fiends by the Hellish Divinity of that
is a Crime unpardonable and that it must be punished with the loss of Goods Lives and Estates Men to Men still But when they themselves break Faith plighted to God and Men by Solemn Oaths and do things ten thousand times worse against their Supreme Lord and Master and the Governed yet such is the wonderful perverse ends of their Judgment that they imagine themselves to be innocent and unaccountable Whereas by right they ought to hazard and spend their own Lives and Scepters in Defence of his Glory from and under whom they hold those Lives and Scepters and for Defence Support and well Governing of the Governed that they may live in Wealth Peace and Godliness they being the Church of God whose Nursing-Fathers and Mothers Kings and Queens and all other Rulers as in duty bound of right ought to be more especially if they confer Honors Dignities or Places of Profit on any of their Subjects Prerogatives given them even by the Governed if they say not as they say and do not obey all their Commands right or wrong what a huff and Fustian fume are they in What eat of their Bread drink of their Drink and live at Ease and in great Plenty and Pleasure by their Favors and Graces bestowed on them and yet so ungrateful as not to subordinate their wills to the wills of their Princes Which arises from corrupted nature and their own great mistake For Kings themselves and all their Officers are the Kingdoms Officers cloathed with their Fleece warmed with their Wooll fed with their Bread their Oyl and their Wine and paid with their Tribute And is it not much more sinful and ungrateful in them to do violence or oppress any of them Do they not Dig and Delve Plow and Harrow Sow and Reap Plant and pull up with the labour of their Hands and sweat of their Brows and all this to pay them Tribute that they may live in great Glory and Plenty that they may eat the Fat drink the Sweet lie upon the Soft chant to the sound of the Vial drink Wine in Bowles that they may be gorgeously clad and fare deliciously every day Is it not therefore much more abominable wicked and ungrateful in them to oppress or violate the Laws of them that set their Crowns on their Heads and maintain them in all their Glory and Excesses not only for necessity but for delight Consider seriously with your selves whilst you are yet on this side the Grave For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave Eccl. 9. 10. And all your Pomp must be brought down to the grave even Lucifer the Sun of the morning who did weaken the Nations how did he fall from heaven and was cut down to the ground Isaiah 14. 12. That you cannot oppress the Governed without being guilty of Ingratitude the vilest and basest of Crimes in the esteem both of Heathens and Christians and by the practice even of Bruits and Beasts First Gratitude is natural and therefore ungratefulness must be unnatural witness Beasts themselves not only tame and domestick but even wild and cruel among whom there are many excellent and true examples as of the Lyon towards the Roman Slave c. Officia etiam ferae sentiunt even wild Beasts are sensible of good and evil done unto them by which it is easie to guess how unnatural how unpleasing and odious how base and villanous Ingratitude is unto all Men quatenus Men only Dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris thou speakest all the evil that may be said of a Man when thou callest Man ungrateful It is against Nature and therefore Plato speaking of his Disciple Aristotle calleth him an ungrateful Mule it is without all excuse and cannot come but from a wicked Nature So Seneca Grave vitium intollerabile quod dissociat homines A grievous vice and intollerable which breaketh the Society of Men. If by the instinct of Nature and the examples of Bruits unreasonable Creatures Ingratitude be so vile a Crime that it becomes a reproach to Men as being reasonable Creatures how much greater reproach is Ingratitude in Men as Christians God's Commands are Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5. 44 45. So Luke 6. 27 35. for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil So ought all Kings and Rulers to love their People though Enemies out of gratitude they owe to God who hath both commanded us so to do and whose daily practice it is How doth God upbraid and reproach the ungrateful Jews Hear O heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me the Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider c. Isaiah 1. What Reproaches and Woes are pronounced against those ungrateful Jews for whom God had done so much when Israel was a Child then God loved him and taught Ephraim also to go taking them by the Arms drew them with Cords of a Man with Bands of love and was to them as they that take off the Yoak on their Jaws and laid meat unto them c. Hos 11. All the Prophets testifie throughout the whole Bible that Gratitude is the universal Precept and Command of God himself and he is the Avenger of all Ingratitude and Disobedience Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Deut. 22. 6. God is so gracious as to let the Sun shine on the Just and on the Unjust to requite good for evil How ought Kings then as his Ministers his Vicegerents not to requite evil for good but good for evil How much more are Kings then obliged to God and Man by their greater Obligation to keep Faith and Covenant with their People who choose them from among themselves to be their King setting them on Thrones in a more Eminent and glorious Station and Figure above all themselves paying them all the Ensigns of Honour Duty and Majesty giving them abundant Tribute to support the same What to do to tear them with Thorns and Briars or whip them with Scorpious or grind their Faces as many have done no no but to have their Laws run in their Names and executed by legal Powers in their Names that Justice might be equally and indifferently administred to all They claim and glory in the Title of being Gods Vicegerents and Ministers and therefore their Ministrations ought more especially to be for the happiness and Salvation of their Kingdoms if otherways know that God will cut off the Spirit of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the Earth Psal 76.
12. and in his due time will relieve the oppressed and afflicted If we make diligent and exact Scrutiny into other Relations of human and civil dependencies our Judgments may be assisted for the more clear apprehending of truths of Government wherein we shall find some obligations between them so strictly enjoyned that they cannot be violated without the brand of Impiety as between Parents and Children Husband and Wife Master and Servant Col. 3. 18 19. 20 21 22. Job 31. 13. between whom although by the Laws of God and Man there be many reciprocal Duties yet are they nothing if weighed in a just Ballance in comparison to what Kings themselves owe to God and the Governed who are also the Church of Christ for what ever injury is done to a Christian Commonwealth is at the same time done against the Church of God whereof Christ is Head and King and those whom we call Kings thereof are but his Substitutes and Vicegerents and ought to govern as he hath commanded and as he will do when he shall come again in Glory to reign on Earth Besides they are constituted and ordained by the Governed under Conditions Covenants and Agreement not that themselves may live at ease only and command and rule at Pleasure but as Gods Vicegerents and as Trustees and Administrators of the Governed to rule and govern according to his and their own Laws quas vulgus eligerit for what a madness should we esteem it in human Affairs if Deputies Viceroyes and Lieutenants of Earthly Kings should for their own private ends and interest prefer them before the Honour Glory and Service of their Kings They who so administer Affairs take not right measures of their Masters Glory and the Peoples good but comply with the flatteries of their own Lusts their particular Advantages sinful Ends and interests or hatred furiously transporting them to the publick ruin privati Commodi vel odii pertinacia in publicum exitium stimulante Tacit. lib. 1. hist Private Interest and concerns saith Livy always have and always will hinder publick good Councils privatae res semper officere officientque publicis consiliis Livy lib 22. The Heathen taught only by the light of Nature could discern the truth of these things and have left Monuments thereof on their Tombs and Coins They doubted not saith Valerius that Empires were made to serve holy Purposes and that all things even such where the Lustre of Supreme Majesty was to appear were to be placed after Religion Kings Princes and Governours being partakers of the same human Nature in common with their Subjects are equally obliged by the same Laws of God and Nature to keep Faith and Covenant the common Law of Nature with them and therefore the Obligation of keeping Faith and Covenant is equally obligatory both to Prince and People As by the Law of Nature so by the Law of God Covenants are inviolably to be kept and not broken by either Prince or People And as Covenants between God and the King and between God and the People so between Kings and the People which as they are most solemnly made so they are as sacredly to be kâ—pt and that under great Menaces Pains and Penalties God hath given his â—ord that â—e will never break his Covenant Jud. 2. 1. and Psal 89. 34. My Covenant I will not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Mouth and requires and expects the like punctual performance from his Vicegerents and bitterly curses those that do infringe and break plighted Faith and Agreements Cursed be the Man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant Jâ—r 11. 31. and God for the breach of Covenant gave the Princes of Judah and the Princes of Jerusalem the Eunuchs and the Priests and all the People of the land into the hands of the Enemies and into the hands of them that sought their lives and their Bodies for meat unto the Fowls of Heaven and to the Beasts of the Earth Jer. 34. 19 20. Besides God is no respecter of Persons Kings and Peasants are all alike to him all the Works of his own Hands all made of the same Mould all redeemed with the same previous Blood all his own Images and Temples and shall stand in an equal distance before his Tribunal who will judge all breakers of Covenant whether Kings or Peasants according to his own Righteous Judgment Neither Kings nor People have any Priviledge or Prerogative to break Covenant and they that do be they Kings or be they People are justly esteemed Rebels to the Laws and Covenants and the injured Persons have just Cause to right and defend themselves if oppressed by such Violation Kings accounting themselves as Gods Ministers and Vicegerents and Fathers of their Countries ought so to govern in good earnest and they being placed on their Thrones as such by the People ought to keep Laws and Covenants punctually with them and which they cannot break or sham without being perjured and becoming guilty of Tyranny and Oppression No Kings nor Princes can be so indulgent nor so really fond and ambitious of their Peoples Love and Welfare as God is of the Love of Mankind like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him Psal 103. 13. testified by his making them a little lower than the Angels and crowning them with Glory and Honour and giving them Dominion over the works of his Hands and by putting all things under their Feet all Sheep and Oxen c. Psal 8. And indeed the whole Creation for his own Glory and the good and Solace of Mankind Did he not command Moses to carry his people in his Bosom as a Nursing Father beareth his sucking Child Num. 11. 12. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that â—he should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget them Isa 49. 15. If God hear but Ephraim bemoaning himself how passionately doth he expostulate with himself Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Jer. 31. 20. Doth God who is Lord alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth make known his excessive fondness of his People by such Bowels of Compassion How then dare his Vicegerents requite evil for good contrary to Gods own Commands and Practice and not seek the Good and Welfare of their People without having Hearts harder than the nether Millstone Again How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee O Israel my Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together Hos 11. 9. Tho you will neither turn nor repent yet how shall I give thee up So desirous is he of his Peoples Repentance that he beseecheth them till he is weary of repenting Jer. 15. 6. even passionately with Oaths doth he expostulate with