chusing and so known to be 2 Sam. 16.12 He was for his personal qualification a Man after Gods own Heart Acts 13.22 and fulfilled all his Wills And in his Government over Israel 't is said that be fed or ruled them according to the Imagrity of his Heart and guided them by the Skilfulness of his Hands Psal 78.72 He Fought their Battles with Victorious Successes against their Enemies and managed all Public Affairs to their best Advantage Yet his Son Absolom being an Ambitious Aspiring Prince taking State upon him by his Magnificent Attendants and Departments easily obtained the Popular Reputation of a Brave Spirited Man and by his familiar Compliances and insinuating Discourses and Harangues to the Common People easily endeared himself to them and soon possessed them with hard thoughts of their King and a Perswasion that if his Father David were deposed and he succeeded him in the Throne they should be more tenderly dealt withal and all their Grievances redressed 2 Sam. 15.1 2 3 4. Oh! That he were a Judge in the Land If the Power of Government were in his hand Public Affairs should be so well Accommodated that there should not be a Grievance to be complained of Which plausible Pretence made such deep Impressions on the Minds and Affections of the Giddy Subjects that almost all the Kingdom of Israel conspired with him to make Head against David 'T is said so strong and spreading was the Conspiracy that the People increased continually with Absolom 2 Sam. 15.12 and a Messenger told David that the Hearts of the Men of Israel were after Absolom v. 13. and David's Danger was so Great that though he were a Man of an undaunted Courage and in a Cittadel of Great Strength and well Garrison'd with Valiant and Experienced Souldiers and had many Loyal and Faithful Subjects about him yet for his own Preservation and the Good of the City of Hierusalem he and all that were with him fled before Absolom and his Conspirators 2. Sam. 15.12 13 14. Sect. 17. And although God was manifestly graciously present with David and brought this Rebellious Insurrection to nothing 2 Sam. 18. and 2 Sam. 19. Yet the Men of Israel having been possessed with an Opinion that 't was lawful for them to take up Arms against their King even whilst the Bitter Effects of their former Rebellion and the Sense of the King's Indulgence and Pardon was fresh in their Minds upon some hot words betwixt the Men of Judah and the Men of Israel Sheba sounds a Trumpet of Rebellion and every Man of Israel went up from David and followed after Sheba in a New Rebellion 2 Sam. 20.12 which suggests to us this Observation That Rebels are not obliged by the Indulgences Pardons and Favours of their Princes against whom they have once made Resistance but those who have been Engaged in a Rebellion against their King how remarkable soever their overthrow was and how much soever the Hand of God was against them are so fatally bewitched with the Charmings of Rebellious Principles and Affections that they readily comply with an opportunity of involving themselves in a New Rebellion A Rebellious Disposition is too stubborn to yield to the Victorious Successes of his Prince Conquest and a Pardon will change the Condition but not the Disposition of a Rebel Yea favours will rather exasperate than extirpate their ungovernable Passions And from this instance 't is likewise manifest That if it be warrantable for Subjects in any case whatsoever to make Resistance against the Higher Powers the most Innocent and Righteous Government may easily be disturbed and destroyed Sect. 18. 3. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever be resisted with armed Force because the Jus gladij the Power of Arms the Power of making Peace and War doth properly belong to them only The Apostle tells us Rom. 13.4 that he beareth not the Sword in vain Implying that the Supream Power hath right to the Sword and consequently the Subject cannot take the Sword without Invading and Usurping the Right and Propriety of the King That which is proper to the King is inseperable from him and cannot be communicated to his Subjects 'T is a Great Truth which a Learned Man Asserts That the Power of the Sword is Potissima pars Regis the Chiefest Propriety of the Sovereign Power Devest the King of this and he is rather a Nominal than a Real King For whatever Authority he hath he hath no Power to Defend himself Protect his Subjects or to offend his and their Enemies Sect. 19. Now if the Power of the Sword be only in the King it cannot be lawful for his Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever to wrest it from him and turn the Force of it against him because 't is an Usurpation made upon his Propriety and an assuming to them that in which they have no right Who but the King with us is to appoint Martial Officers He shall make Captains over Thousands and Captains over Fifties and he shall go out before them and Fight their Battles 1 Sam. 8.12 No Man or Men but the Supream and Sovereign Power hath Authority to raise Souldiers Levy War and Fight Battles Whosoever therefore maketh use of the Sword in a military sort without Authority derived from thence deserves to perish by the Sword as our Saviour told Peter upon that occasion Mat. 26.51 I pray who had under the Law the Power of the Trumpet by which the People were alarmed and assembled for War but Moses who was the Supream Ruler of the People And when Jonathan by Sauls command smote the Garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba who blew the Trumpet that is caused it to be blown throughout the Land to call the People together for a general Rendezvouz but King Saul 1 Sam. 13.3 4. Sect. 20. War being the Highest Act of Vindicative Justice as it must not be undertaken without a just Cause and very weighty Reasons and for very good Ends and such too as cannot be obtained without it so neither must it be undertaken and engaged in without good Authority to warrant it And the Supream Authority which hath Power to make and execute Laws being the only Authority that can warrant a War and give Men a Lawful Call to it there cannot be a Lawful Assembling and Confederacy for any War without such a Lawful Call and the King having the only Power of the Sword here with us as the Laws of all Ages declare to us he only can call us to engage our selves in a War and therefore certainly we cannot lawfully resist him upon any pretence whatsoever In the Statute of the 25th of Edw. 3d. it is Declared without the Allowance of any Pretence whatsoever to be Treason for any Man or Men whatsoever to Levy War against our Lord the King or to be Adherent to his Enemies giving them any aid or comfort in the Realm or elsewhere And in
the Statute of the 13th of Ch. 2d 't is in General Terms Declared Treason to Levy War against the King within the Realm or without And to cut off all Pretences from the Grounds or Nature of the War as Defensive only or as engaged in from the Authority of a Parliament or of the Lords and Commons we have in two several Statutes this Declaration That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or Levy any War offensive or defensive against the King his lawful Heirs and Successors In which Statutes also the sole Supream Command and Government of the Militia is Declared to be by the Fundamental Law of England ever the undoubted Right of the King And where could it be better placed for the Subjects Interest than in their Sovereign Prince and Supream Governour Sect. 21. There must be in one or other either in some single Person or some Community of Men a Supream and Chief Authority which hath the Principal and Highest Command of the Strength and Military Force of the Nation or else the Military Power will be under no command and consequently the Subjects will not know whom to obey with respect to War and Peace nor no Arms regularly used for the Suppression of Intestine Rebels or the Resistance of Foreign Enemies And who so fit to possess and execute such a Supremacy of Government as the King whose Interest as well as Duty obligeth him to preserve the Persons Estates Rights and Liberties of his People And this Authority by our Original Constitution being seated in the King and by subsequent acts of the Legislative Power Declared to be solely in him it cannot be lawful in any case to resist him because he cannot I say be resisted by an armed Force without Invading the Power of the Sword in which we have no Right and therefore cannot use it against him without the Guilt of Rebellion Sect. 22. 4. 'T is against common Reason that the Higher Powers should in any case and upon any Pretence whatsoever be resisted because all Resistance from Subjects against the Higher Powers is utterly inconsistent with their Relation and Condition for they that resist are not Subject 'T is contradictio in adjecto a meer Solecism to affirm That the Highest Power may lawfully be resisted because the Highest Power cannot have a Superiour and that which hath no Superiour cannot have a Superiour Power exercised over it Where ever there is a Supremacy it is inseperable from a Right to impunity and universally exempts from coercion and correction Where a King then is not obeyed his Majesty is lost He hath not a Principality but an Inferiority in his Country Resistance is coercive and punitive and implies a Superiority For he which resists assaults to controul counteracts to countermand opposeth the Will of his Sovereign to impose upon him his own and consequently starts from the Condition of a Subject and sets himself up in the Throne of Sovereignty Where we acknowgledge a Sovereign Authority there we yeild Subjection and Obedience from the one flows the other as an effect from the Cause but where we resist a Power we disclaim and renounce the Sovereignity of it for we resist it that we may not be under but above it They that resist the King will not be his Subjects but his Superiours will not receive Laws from him but give Laws to him reject his Rod and snatch away his Scepter will not act as Subordinate Instruments but as Principal Agents in the Administration of the Government Sect. 23. But what saith the Prophet Shall the Axe boast it self against him that heweth it Or shall the Saw exalt it self against him that moveth it Isa 10.15 So 't is as absurd and unreasonable that Subjects who are inferiour and ought to be subservient unto the higher Powers should assume to themselves Power to resist them They have a Power and fitness to act in their proper Places in an orderly way of dependency and subserviency to the Sovereign Power but if they resist the Sovereign Power they leave their proper rank and station and will not be where they ought but where they should not be And I am sure God being the God of Order and not of Confusion cannot approve or allow that we should Desert our own proper Places to thrust our selves into anothers We must abide in our proper Seatings and not go up higher and take the Place of our Betters As there is no Power but of God so there is no Power but is Gods and the Subordination of Subjects to their Sovereign being of Divine Ordination the Subordination is to God himself and therefore Subjects are not only obliged quietly to abide under the Predominant Force and Strength of their Sovereign but likewise to make a Voluntary Resignation of themselves their Understandings Wills Powers and Interests to his directive Wisdom and preceptive Will actively obeying what he justly imposeth or passively enduring what he inflicts for Disobedience So that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects in any case whatsoever to resist their Sovereign is a plain contradiction to the Moral Relation of Subjects to their Sovereign and equally as absurd in the Moral Order of Things as 't is in the Natural and Local Order of Things for the Feet to ascend above the Head Sect. 24. When therefore some learned Men affirm that the King is Major singulis greater than any of his Subjects singly considered but Minor universis less than the whole Body of them collectively considered unless they understand it respectively to the Safety and Welfare of the Community to which the King belongs as a Part and not respectively to the Governing Power thereof 't is false and unreasonable For though the Preservation and Safety of the Community be the Supream Law yet 't is of the Community concretively and not discretively considered the Governing Part as well as the Governed Part is comprehended therein the Preservation and Safety of the one being concatenated unto and included in the other 'T is true every Community considered simply and antecedently to the Constitution of a Government therein is warranted and authorized by the Natural and Positive Law of God to Design and Nominate some particular Person or Persons to be the Rulers and Governours thereof but this is not the Communicating of any Authority or Power that was inherent in themselves before but only the Condition of the Applicatition of that Authority and Power which God as the Fountain and Efficient Cause deriveth to be exercised subordinately to himself by one Man over another And therefore supposing a Community setled under a constituted Government whether we consider the governed Members thereof divisim or conjunctim singly and a part or united and altogether they are one and all equally Subjects and altogether as well as asunder obliged to Subjection and Obedience and accordingly the higher Powers are over Kingdoms and Nations and not meerly over particular Persons Saul was called the Head of
search all the days of their lives and not be able to discover when or where such a Charter ever was in Being but suppose there were such a Charter who shall be the Interpreter of it and judge how far the Power of the Prince extends it self and during the Dispute how shall the Government be administred doth not this in effect authorize the Subjects to do at pleasure what is right in their own eyes for if they demur against the Prince's Power he is to act at his peril But on the other side the Subject stands on a firm Bottom for his Liberty proves it self this is a Self-evident Principle and when the Subjects pretend it the Sovereign Powers durst not contradict and contest it for in this case every Subject if it be not a Contradiction so to speak is a Sovereign because so far as his liberty is not expresly given away it always remains entire The Sovereigns Power is originally from the Subject but the Subjects Liberty originally from himself the Princes Power is derived from the Subjects Will but the Subjects Liberty from his Nature And wo to that Prince who shall violate and usurp on the Laws and Liberties of Nature Sect. 73. But if every Man by Nature equally partake of Sovereignty then no body can be obliged to Subjection for where all are equal there can be no Subordination neither Superiors non Inferiors and is not he a strange Supreme who hath no body under him Moreover if it be so then every Man is born in a State of Anarchy and the God of Order hath sate no bounds to Mankind the relative Duties of Superiors and Inferiors might never have had any foundation in Nature and were only presumptively from Arbitrary Contracts and Agreements limited and determined by the Fifth Commandment and not only every Nation but every City Town Parish Family may chuse what Government seems best to them yea every particular Person may live independently if he will altogether free from the Circumscriptions of all sorts of governed Societies and if any attempt be made to restrain him without his consent he is oppressed in his natural Liberty And is not this Doctrine of a sovereign Tendency to maintain mutual Amity and Peace amongst Men Sect. 74. 5. That Subjects in political Monarchies and under other Sovereign Powers have Rights Immunities and Priviledges as unalienable Properties without their concurrent consent is very manifest but these do not proceed from any Reservations made in a presumed fundamental Constitution composed and ratified by a mutual Compact and Confederacy betwixt the Sovereign and Subjects but from the Sovereign's Condescentious Acts of Grace which having the Establishment and Security of his Laws he cannot invade and violate without Injustice to his Subjects dishonour to himself provocation to God loss of Reputation with his Allies and Confederates abroad and exposing himself as a Person of no Faith 'T is well observed by Fortescue that the Kingdom of England is not meerly Regal or meerly Politick but partly Regal and partly Politick Regnum Angliae ex Bruii comitivâ Trojanorum in Dominium politicum regale prorupit The Kingdom of England out of Brutus his retinue of Trajans brake out into a politick and regal Dominion And elsewhere tells us Rex Angliae principatu nedum regali sed politico suo populo dominatur the King of England governeth his People not only by a Regal but a politick Principality Ch. 9. So that though the King of England in some cases exercise an absolute and arbitrary Power like a despotick Prince as in making War and Peace Summoning Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments Coinage of Money c. Yet in other cases he exerciseth a bounded and limited Power as in the imposition and repealing of Laws Taxes and Levies of Mony c. and therefore ought in Conscience to regard his Duty as a Politick King as well as his Power as a Despotick King and such hath been the Moderation of the English Government hitherto that it is acknowledged to be the most easy and safe of any in the World These particulars being duly considered I am confident the forementioned Objection is sufficiently answered and no warrant can thence be taken for Subjects to resist with armed Force the Sovereign Powers Sect. 75. 2. Another Objection near of kin to the former though in different words to plead the Cause of Rebellion is this that all Real Majesty being only in the Community all Personal Majesty is transfused or delegated from thence and consequently the Personal Majesty is nothing but a Trust accountable and forfeitable to the Community and therefore if the Administrators of Sovereign Power abuse their Trust they may not only be resisted but deposed Upon this Ground it was that the Rebellious Lords and Commons when King Charles the First sate up his Standard in the Defence of himself and the Government adjudged it a Breach of his Trust and Treason against the State and Kingdom And answerably one of their Advocates tell us That their Generals Commission to seize the King's Person was a strong Capias utlegatum a Judgment passed against him as out of the Protection of the Kingdom and Aid of the Law And in truth granting what they suppose to be true That the King was not the Officer of God but of the Community received his Authority not from God but them and made War against the Kingdom whose Trustee he was and the inference seems to be rational That Power which is derived from the Civil Constitution being in an Hostile manner employed against it or administred to dissolve and destroy it is forfeited and lost and those who were subjected to it absolved from their Allegiance Ans Having represented this Objection in its full Strength to the best Advantage of the Patrons of it I shall endeavour to assoil it and I doubt not but I shall confute it to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced Person Sect. 76. By a Community these Men understand not a Society of Men actually conâ—enting and formed into a public Government but only a Society of Families and Vicinities voluntarily rationally and justly assembling and associating themselves from mutual benevolence in order to the common Good and Safety thereby putting themselves into an immediate capacity of receiving a public Government under some Form or other such as they themselves shall judge most expedient for them Be it now considered that Sect. 77. 1. This pretended Real Majesty in the Community of a Multitude so associated as hath been said must either be the Product of the Law of Nature or of some positive Law of God or of some human Compact or of some other Cause I will reflect briefly on each of these and if neither of them be assignable as the Ground Reason or Cause thereof I shall be so bold asconclude that 't is a Platonical Idea which hath no existence 1. There is no dictate of Nature which ascribes a greater Authority to a