the judgment of sir orlando bridgman declared in his charge to the jury at the arraignment of the twenty nine regicides (the murtherers of king charles the first, of most glorious memory) began at hicks-hall on tuesday the ninth of october, 1660, and continued at the sessions-house in the old-baily, until friday the ninteenth of the same month. bridgeman, orlando, sir, 1608-1674. 1690 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29394 wing b4491 estc r19011 12876902 ocm 12876902 94855 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29394) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94855) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 731:30) the judgment of sir orlando bridgman declared in his charge to the jury at the arraignment of the twenty nine regicides (the murtherers of king charles the first, of most glorious memory) began at hicks-hall on tuesday the ninth of october, 1660, and continued at the sessions-house in the old-baily, until friday the ninteenth of the same month. bridgeman, orlando, sir, 1608-1674. [1] p. s.n., [london : 1690?] broadside. caption title. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bridgeman, orlando, -sir, 1608-1674. charles -i, -king of england, 1600-1649. divine right of kings. broadsides -england -london -17th century 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-12 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-12 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the judgment of sir orlando bridgman , declared in his charge to the jury at the arraignment of the twenty nine regicides ( the murtherers of king charles the first , of most glorious memory ) began at hicks-hall on tuesday the ninth of october 1660 , and continued at the sessions-house in the old-baily , until friday the ninteenth of the same month. these are the very words of sir orlando bridgman , p. 10. in the book of the tryals . i must deliver for plain and true law. that no authority , no single person , no community of persons , not the people collectively , or representatively , have any coer●ve power over the king of england ; and i do not speak mine own sense , but the words of the laws unto you . it was the treason of the spencers in king edward the second's time , in colvin's case , in the 7th report , the spencers had an opinion , that all homage and a legeance was due to the king by reason of the crown , as they called it ; and thereupon ( say the books and records ) they drew out this execrable inference ( among others ) that if the king did not demean himself according to kight , because he could not be reformed by law , he might per asperte● , that is by sh●p imprisonment . but this was adjudged horrid treason by two acts of parliament . [ let me tell you what our law books say , for there is the ground , out of which ( and the sea●utes together ) we mast draw all our conclusions for matter of government . how do they stile the king ? they call him the lieutenant of god , and many other expressions . in the book of 1 hen. 7. says that book there , the k● is immediate from god , and hath no superior . the statute says , that the crown of england is immediately subject to god and to no other power . the king , says our books , he is not only caput populs , the head of the people , but caput re●public● , the head of the common-wealth , the three estates . and truly thus our statutes speak very fully . common experience tells you when we speak of the king , and so the statutes of edward the third , we call the king , our sovereign lord the king. sovereign , that is , supr●am . and when the lords and commons in parliament apply themselves to the king , they use this expression , your lords and commons , your faithful subjects , humbly beseech . i do not speak any words of my own but the words of the laws . in the statute 24 hen. 8 cap 12. 't is thus exprest , whereas by divers , sundry , old , authentick histories and chromcles , it is manifestly declared , that this realm of england is an empire , and so hath been accepted in the world , governed by one supream head and k● having the dignity and royal estate of the impersal crown . 25 hen. 8. c 21 there it is the people speaking of themselves , that they do recognize no superior under god but only the kings grace . gentlemen , you see if the king be immediate under god , he derives his authority from no body else ; if the king have and 〈◊〉 i power , if the king be head of the common-wealth , head of the body politick ; if the body politick owe him obedience , truly i think it is an undenied consequence , he must needs be superior over them . the imperial crown is a word that is significative , you shall find in all statutes , 1 eliz. and 1 jacobi , nay even in the act of judicial proceedings of this parliament it is called an impertal crown . they that take the oaths of allegeance and supremacy , they swear , that they will to their power , assist and defend all jurisdictions , priviledges , preheminencies , and authorities granted or belonging to the king , his hears and successors , or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm . what is an imperial crown ? that , which as to the goersive part , is subject to no man under god , is not subject to any humane tribunal or judicature whatsoever . gentlemen , since this is so , consider the oath of upremacy , which most men have taken or should take . all men that enter into the parliament house , they are expres●y enjoyn'd by statute to take the oath of supremacy . what says that oath ? we swear , that the king is the only supream governour within this realm and dominions . he is supream , and the only supream , and truly if he be supream , there is neither major nor superior . i declare this , to you , to let you know that the king is immediately subject to god , and so is not punishable by any person . he is the supream head , he is not punishable by any coersive power , the laws provide for that , the king can do no wrong ; it is a rule of law , it is in our law books very frequent . 22 ed. ● . lord coke and many others . if he can do no wrong , he cannot be punished for any wrong . the king hath the infirmities and weakness of a man , but he cannot do any injury , at least not considerable in person . he must do it by ministers , agents , and instruments . now the law , though it provide for the king yet if any of his ministers do wrong , though by his command ; they are punishable . he is not to be touched , touch not mine anointed . thus far that great and eminent lawyer , afterwards made lord keeper of the great seal of england by king charles the second of ever blessed memory . and if his judgement be false , unto which most of the lords of england , at least of the privy council , sitting with him , did assert , shall not we make martyrs of the king's regicides ? to be sure they had hard measure , after the reasons that were given by mr. cook and mr. scot for what they did , if this were not law. the speech of mr. higgons in parliament at the reading of the bill for the militia the twenty second day of may higgons, thomas, sir, 1624-1691. 1661 approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43758 wing h1959 estc r30787 11470625 ocm 11470625 47819 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43758) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47819) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1463:37) the speech of mr. higgons in parliament at the reading of the bill for the militia the twenty second day of may higgons, thomas, sir, 1624-1691. 6 p. printed for roger norton, london : 1661. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. great britain -militia. 2008-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 scott lepisto sampled and proofread 2009-01 scott lepisto text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the speech of m r. higgons in parliament at the reading of the bill for the militia the twenty second day of may. london , printed by roger norton , 1661. mr. speaker , you have a bill of extraordinary importance now before you , and there are many points of law in it , which i will not presume to speak to . i shall leave them to the learned gentlemen of that profession , who have spent their time in that noble study . but because all laws either are , or ought to be grounded upon reason , and all lawes are to give place to that supream law of publique safety , i will make bold to speak something to this bill , though not to the law , yet to the reasonableness and necessity of it . i believe there is no man but is sensible of the mighty mischiefs that the late dispute of the militia brought upon this nation . for what was the fruit of that dispute , and what liberty did the contenders purchase , but a liberty to destroy themselves and ruine their countrey ? a liberty , mr. speaker , worse than the worst sort of servitude . if the question of the militia had been rightly stated , if it had been declared to be wholly in the king , as without doubt in reason and nature it was , and been settled in him with that latitude and those powers as were requisite for protecting himself and his people , for ought i know , the late war had been prevented and all the calamitous consequences of it . i have ever been of opinion that they who are born under a just , legitimate , and hereditary monarchy have the same obligations , and owe the same service to their prince , which the antients who lived in common-wealths did to their countrey . it was an ordinary thing with them to preferr the publick good before their own , and to devote themselves to death , that the place which gave them being might be happy . that zeal which inflamed them with a love to their countrey ought in my judgement to operate in us for the service of our prince . for in a monarchy , the prince represents the country ; the majesty of the countrey is in him , his welfare is the welfare of the countrey , and of every particular person in it : it was a celebrated saying of artabanus captain of the guard to xerxes , when themistocles fled out of greece to the court of persia , stranger , sayes he , the customes and manners of men are different , and that is laudable in one nation which is not so in another . you greeks affect liberty and equality , and to be one as good as another . but we who are persians think nothing so great and so honourable as to serve and obey our king , who is the image of the living god. if to serve our king be to serve our countrey , if the interest of the king be the interest of the publique , if all our lives , safeties , and fortunes are bound up in his , certainly we can not make him too great , or be too concern'd for his preservation . that which first brought men into societies was the fear they had of one another , and a desire of safety . this made them content to pass away that right which by nature they had to all things , that they might be assured of something : this made them transferr and give up the dominion of themselves to others . and hence it was that government arose , from hen●● it was , i mean from the disposing of this ●…inion , that all governments were denominated ; for where the dominion is placed in many , there it is a popular state , where it is in some of the better sort , there it is aristocracy ; where it is in one alone , there it is monarchy . now all these governments may be convenient in their proper places . but certainly the most absolute , the most noble , and to use the words of plato , the most divine form of government is that of monarchy . under this form of government , sir , it is our honour to be born ; to this form of government we have the happiness to be restored from one of the vilest and miserablest anarchies that ever any nation was under . nor is that all our happiness ; we are not onely restored from the worst fort of government to the best , but by the great mercy of god delivered from the worst men that ever ruled in the worst kind of government into the hands of one of the best of princes . now sir , the question before you is , what power you will allow this prince for his and your own preservation . the power of the militia is a thing so inherent in the king , and so inseparable from his person , that without it he cannot perform the ends for which he is a king. he can neither protect us ●…m the attempts of enemies , nor from the violences of one another . so that of necessity the militia must be in him , and in him alone : for to divide it betwixt him and any other is a contradiction in the very nature of government : since where there are two co-ordinate powers in one state , where there are two pretending an equal power to the same thing , and no superiour to appeal to , the question can not be decided but by force , this force will introduce a war , which must end in the dissolution of the government . but the question is not so much where the right of the militia is ( for i find none expresly deny it to be in his majesty ) as how far the power of it shall extend , and what restraints and limitations shall be laid upon it . the king , it is confess'd hath power to levy and array men , but if he have not power to arm and appoint them as he please when he hath levied and arrayed them , to what purpose will they be levied and arrayed ? or if he have power to levie , array , and arm them , and can not lead them out of one county into another , as occasion shall require , and danger call them , to what purpose will they be armed ? or if he have power to lead them where he please , and can not raise money to maintain them , to what end will he lead them any where ? without pay there will be no discipline , and forces without discipline will be worth nothing . it is as good have no militia as an ineffectual one , as a militia which will onely trouble the people and not secure them . it is a vulgar error sir , that the power of the king is incompetible with the liberty of the people . the restraining of the king does not make the people great , but makes the king and the people both little . it distracts and disunites the soveraign power , whereas it is in the union of power that all empire consists . and therefore it is my opinion that this bill as it is penn'd should pass . if i have said any thing , mr. speaker , contrary to the sense of this house , as soon as you declare your opinion i shall retract mine . in the mean time i submit my opinion and the reasons of it to your more venerable judgement . finis . an humble desired union betweene prerogative and priviledge shewing, that if one draw too hard one way, and the other another, the whole common-wealth must be in danger to be pull'd in sunder. taylor, john, 1580-1653. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a64174 of text r2073 in the english short title catalog (wing t468). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 13 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a64174 wing t468 estc r2073 12411390 ocm 12411390 61532 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64174) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61532) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 249:e129, no 14) an humble desired union betweene prerogative and priviledge shewing, that if one draw too hard one way, and the other another, the whole common-wealth must be in danger to be pull'd in sunder. taylor, john, 1580-1653. [2], 6 p. by richard olton, imprinted at london : 1642. signed: john taylor. illustrated t.p. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng divine right of kings. great britain -history -charles i, 1625-1649 -sources. a64174 r2073 (wing t468). civilwar no an humble desired union betweene prerogative and priviledge. shewing, that if one draw too hard one way, and the other another, the whole co taylor, john 1642 2314 3 0 0 0 0 0 13 c the rate of 13 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-01 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-01 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an humble desired union betweene prerogative and priviledge . shewing , that if one draw too hard one way , and the other another , the whole common-wealth must be in danger to be pull'd in sunder . the serpent amphisbena . this double headed serpent is a wonder , it drawes two wayes , and teares the womb in sunder : the wofull emblem of a troubl●d state , vvhere civill warres doe threat to ruinate . imprinted at london by richard olion . 1642. an humble desired union betwixt prerogative and priviledge . concord or discord have bin , are , and will be either the raising or ruine of kingdoms , and common-wealths . and as 2 heads are too many for one body , ( as the picture of the african serpent shewes ) eitheir to rule or to be ruled when the wills and affections are violently extended to contrary attractions then such distractions are the fore-runners of destructions ; and what true english understanding heart doth not moane , grieve and is fild with horror and amazement to see know , and feele the calamitie of this somtimes flourishing famous renowned kingdom to see it transform'd into an acheldama , & so many of our fertile fields and pastures turn'd into the horrid shapes of so many golgotha's , this land that hath had so many innumerable undeservd blessings from god , that it hath long bin admired of , and esteem'd the eden , or paradice of the world , the support to all our forraign friends and the scourge and terror of our enemies , to be so suddainly chang'd and metamorphosed , so rent and torne with factions divisions and contentions that her peacefull bowels are ript up and her intrailes plow●d with the slaughtering swords of her owne unnaturall and undutifull sonnes when gods commandements which were wont to be the rule and guide of all our actions are now slighted contemn'd and trampled under foote , when too many doe preach and teach the breach of both the first and second table , and in stead of exhorting men to peace and unity , they thunder and bluster warre and blood-shed : but all the world may know that such pastors and teachers were not sent by him whom they pretend and fainedly seeme to serve , for the eternall prince of peace never gave any of his servants any command or commission to raise warre , ( especially domestique , civill vncivill warre , and surely those nimble talking tong-men that talke so hotly of battailes , they would not willingly be at one themselves , and th●y doe know chat a whole skin is a good cover to sleepe in . the weapons that gods ministers should use in their warfare , was wont to be praiers and teares onely ; all the persecuted and martyr'd protestants that suffered in the bloody raigne of queene mary , had no other armes to oppose authority ; noe imprisonment , banishment , losse of goods , fathers , mothers , wives , sons , daughters , kindred or friends , could shake their loyalty ; no racks tortures , or tyrannicall torments , nor death in most cruell waies of flame , fire and faggot , could alter the allegiance of protestants in those times , so that there was not any one of them did attempt at any time to raise divisions to disturbe either the queene or state ; therefore if we be of the same ancient religion which they then profest , and hath bin since maintained these 84 yeares in this kingdom , then we have more reason then they had to be obediently thankfull for it , because we do ( or may ) enjoy the blessings and benefits of it in secure peace and tranquillity which they could not . love is the livery which the servants of our saviour doth weare , for he saith , by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if yee have love one to another , joh. 13. 35. now love and peace have no communion or fellowship with war , especially in one and the same kingdom , betwixt one and the same nation , pretending to professe one and the same religion : nor do these men shew themselves to be christs ministers or disciples that stir up division betwixt us , for every kingdom divided against it selfe shall be brought to nought , and every city or house divided against it selfe shall not stand : mathew 12. 25. in the raigne of king richard the first , ( surnamed cor de lyon or lions heart ) there was a bishop in this land that rebelled against the king who was taken in a battell and clap't in prison , the newes of the bishops imprisonment being carried to rome , the pope ( benedict the 2 ) sent a letter to the king for the bishops inlargement , wherein hee declared that the bishop was a servant of god , a reverend father , and likewise the pope wrote that hee was his sonne : to which letter the king returned an answer to the pope to this effect , may it please your holynesse , if this be a habit or coate for a church-man , and one of your sonnes , i pray you judge , for i tooke him fighting in this coat of compleate armour : the king thus sending and the pope seeing the armour sent this replie , may it please your majestie , such a garment as this belongs to no son of mine , and therefore as he is in prison , there let him lie for me . it were well if every man and woman were at deadly warre with their transgressions , such a warr would make our peace with god , and the god of peace would give us the blessing of his peace , which passeth all understanding . how can peace be expected if we continue in our wickednesse and wallow in impieties , esteeming peace at that low rate as if it were not worth the praying for , or the desiring for without any command from authority , some strange opinioned men have thrust out of the church that needfull prayer , give peace in our time o lord ; almighty and most merifull father , is omitted and neglected , the creede is left out , and unbeliefe and infidellity hath intruded too much into the roome of it and the commandements are not repeated , and in the place of all these is crep't in a confused masse of toutalogicall long-winded repetitions , with the fearefull instigations and incitements to provocations of hostility and mischiefe . mr. iohn stow relates in his chronicle , pag 697 , that in the 25 yeare of queene elizabeths blessed raigne , anno 1583. on the 4 and 6 of iune , one elias thacker and one iohn copizg were hang'd at st edmondsbury in suffolke for dispersing libells and pamplets against the booke of common prayer , which were written by one iohn browne one of the first mad apostles of the sect of the brownists . there are no protestants but will confesse , that that queene ( of happy and famous memory ) was a true defendresse of the faith professed by the protestants , that she hazarded her life for it divers times , in the bloody raigne of her sister and in the whole course of her 44 yeares raigne many romish treasons were plotted and attempted against her only because she maintained that booke , which was then no masse-booke ( though now it be esteemed so ) and if any popery had bin then perceived to be in it , that glorious and godly princesse would never have protected it , neither would two great protestant kings ( since her reigne ) have profest and maintained it 40 yeares , yet i am of opinion that somethings may be omitted in it some things reform'd some things dissolv'd , but the most correspondent to scriptures manners and good life , i hope shall be ever upheld and maintained by all understanding protestants . thus the vaine scattering opinions of some selfewill'd , some ignorant , some ambitious , some presumptuous , and some malitious , turbulent spiriits have drawne the church and state several wayes , that the poore common-wealth ( which is the body of the kingdome ) is almost pulld in twaine , as is emblematically shewed in the picture of the two headed serpent . there are too great a number that have gotten the wisdom of the old serpent but there are few that are possest with the innocency of the dove , the old serpent is a malitious breaker of peace and a diligent laborer for warre , his onely businesse is to make us wicked and he knowes that for the sinnes of a people god sends war for a punishment , 1 kings . 8 , 35 37. he knowes warre doth plunge a nation into misery and that the breach of all gods lawes is attendant upon warre , and inseparably joyne with it ; pride ( like a gentleman usher ) goes before destruction odious swearing impious prophanation , damnable disobedience , execrable murders , shamelesse adulteries , incests , rapes , and deflorations , lawlesse stealing and plundering and all the crimes and calamities that may bring poor and miserable mankind to distruction are incident to warre , and continuall waiters on mars and bellona . yet there is nothing more uncertaine then the events of warre nor is there any thing more unsure then the successe of a battell for though it be never so prudently pondered by the most wise and valiant counsell of the best and most expert leaders , though the plot be contrived by the best iudgments of the most knowing commanders , as how to gaine the advantage of ground wind , sun , how the front , van , reare , flanks , wings , and body of an army shall or may prevaile and be victorious ; yet all these serious consultations have found most strange alterations , and as a man that presumes to reckon without his hoste is quite out and must begin againe , for . they are most blind , with ignorance besotted , vvho think warrs councell in a chamber plotted , must be so acted with the dint of sword , as it was wisely talkd of at the board me thinks the proverbe should not be forgot , the warrs are sweet , to those that knowes them not . but if there were any sweet content in warre , it may rather be , so either in a forraigne warre abroade against turkes , infidels , iesuiticall papists , or any of gods and our nations enemies such warrs as those may not onely be tolerable , but commendable , profitable , and honourable ; but for englishmen , for brittaines , for protestants , to warre against protestants , the fathers against their sonnes , and the sonnes against their fathers , when one brother shall sheath his sword in the bowells of another , when a king is against his subjects ; and subjects against their soveraigne , this kind of warre is unpleasing to god , and a good king , unprofitable distastfull to true and loyall subjects , and dishonourable to all . god forbid that prerogative of kings should be too much stretched or diminished any way , or that priviledge should shrink to enslave or pinch the liberty of free-borne subjects : our king doth know that if he defend the faith the faith will save him : and he further knowes that he must maintaine his lawes , or else his lawes cannot defend him : the king knowes , that though kings are called gods on earth yet they are but gods of earth ( or earthen gods ) and loyall subjects do obediently love and honour the king . good kings may be compared to lightning because as lightning doth never hurt wooll or any soft unresistable substance , but it violently penetrates , breakes and melts trees rocks , and mettalls , so a good king doth never proceed in wrath against milde and gentle natures . i would we could thinke upon the great mischiefes that the divisions betwixt scilla and marius brought to the roman empire , the massacres that long continued in italy betweene the guelphes and gibelines , or the unnaturall dissension that bloodily embrewd this kingdom 80 and od yeares betwixt the royall families of yorke and lancaster , and as brothers in one house do often jarre and disagree , yet if one of them be injured by a stranger , the other will take his part , so let all english-men or britaines , king and subjects , great or small ( like brothers ) take it to heart how they are all abused ( by the common enemy ) the rebells in ireland , and god grant that the king may be defended from all false friends and fierce enemies , that we may all be united in peace here , and jointly and unanimously relieve the opressed and distressed calamities under which our poore protestant brethren have so long suffered , and do still groane under in ireland . these shall be the daily prayers and humble desires of iohn taylor . finis . the title of kings proved to be jure devino and also that our royall soveraign, king charles the ii, is the right and lawful heir to the crown of england, and that the life of his father, charles the first, was taken away unjustly, contrary to the common law, statute law, and all other lawes of england ; wherein is laid down several proofs both of scripture and law, clearly and plainly discovering that there can be no full and free parliament without a king and house of lords / by w.p., esq. prynne, william, 1600-1669. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a70874 of text r5212 in the english short title catalog (wing p4106a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 11 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 4 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a70874 wing p4106a estc r5212 12376835 ocm 12376835 60647 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70874) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60647) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 223:13 or 397:3) the title of kings proved to be jure devino and also that our royall soveraign, king charles the ii, is the right and lawful heir to the crown of england, and that the life of his father, charles the first, was taken away unjustly, contrary to the common law, statute law, and all other lawes of england ; wherein is laid down several proofs both of scripture and law, clearly and plainly discovering that there can be no full and free parliament without a king and house of lords / by w.p., esq. prynne, william, 1600-1669. [2], 5 p. printed for nehemiah price ..., london : 1660. written by william prynne. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in university of michigan libraries and university of minnesota library. eng charles -ii, -king of england, 1630-1685. divine right of kings -early works to 1800. great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. a70874 r5212 (wing p4106a). civilwar no the title of kings proved to be jvre divino. and also that our royall soveraign, king charles the ii is the right and lawful heir to the cro prynne, william 1660 2055 9 0 0 0 0 0 44 d the rate of 44 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the title of kings proved to be jvre devino . and also that our royall soveraign king charles the ii is the right and lawful heir to the crown of england . and that the life of his father charles the first was taken away unjustly , contrary to the common law , statute law , and all other lawes of england . wherein is laid down several proofs both of scripture and law , clearly and plainly discovering , that there can be no full and free parliament without a king and house of lords . by w. p. esq london , printed for nehemiah price , and are to be sold at the royall exchange in cornhill . 1660. the title of king charles proved by lavv . 1. pet. 2. 17. fear god , honour the king . kings are jure divino , by divine right to be obeyed , and not by violent force of subjects to be resisted , although they act wickedly , prov. 8. 15. by me kings reign , dan. 2. 21. he removeth kings and setteth up kings , prov. 16. 10. a divine sentence is in the lips of the king . prov. 21. 1. the kings heart is in the hand of the lord . job 34. 18. is it fit to say to a king thou art wicked , and to princes , ye are ungodly , prov. 24. 21. fear thou the lord and the king , and meddle not with them that are given to change . eccl. 8. 2. i ●oun●el thee to keep the kings commandement , exod. 22. 28. thou shalt not speak evil of thy prince , nor detract the magistrate . 2. pet. 2. 1● . fear god , honour the king . eccles. 10. 20. curse not the king , no not in thy thought , 1 sam. 24. 6. the lord forbid that i should ●o this thing unto my master the lords anointed , to stretch forth my hand against him , seeing he is the lords anointed . from which premisses none unless those who deny the scripture , can deny these consequences , that the jura , regalia of kings , are holden of heaven , and cannot for any cause escheat to their subjects : that active obedience is to be yielded to the king as supream , in omnibus licitis , in all things lawfull . but if god for the punishment of a nation , should set up a tyrannical king , secundum voluntatem pravam non rationem rectam regentem , governing by his depraved will against reason , and commanding things contrary to the word of god , we must not by force of arms rebel against him ; but rather then so ( if not prevailing by petition unto him , or escaping by flight from him patiently subject to the lost of out lives and estates , and in that case , arma nostra sunt preces nostrae , nec possimus , nec decemus aliter resister , our prayers and tears should fight , and not our swords : for who can lift up his hand against the lord anointed , and be guiltless ? this in scripture we find practiced , by gods people to pharaoh , exod. 5. 1. and the same people to nebuchad-nezzar , a tyrant , were commanded to perform obedience , and to pray for him , though there was no wickedness almost which he was not guilty of , his successor darius , daniel obeyed , and said o king live for ever , dan. 6. 21. for now no private person hath with ehud , judg. 3. 31. extraordinary commandment from god to kill princes , nor no personal warrant from god , as all such persons had who attempted any thing against the life even of tyrants , nil sine prudenti fecit ratione vetustas . 2. the king hath his title to the crown , and to his kingly office and power , and by way of trust from the people , but by inherent birth-right , immediately from god , nature and the law , 1. reg. ja. 1. li. 7. 12. calvins case . 3. the law of royal goverment , is a law fundamental , 1. pars just . fo. 11. 4. the kings prerogative and the subjects liberty are determined , and bounded by the law : bracton , fo. 134. plowden , fo. 236. 237 , 5. by law no subjects can call their king in question , to answer for his actions , be they good or bad , bracton , fo. 5. 6. if any one hath cause of action against the king ( because there is no writ runeth against him ) his onely remedy is by supplication and petition to the king , that ye would vouchsafe to correct and amend thatwhich he hath done , which if he refuse to do , onely god is to revenge and punish him , which is punishment enough , no man ought to presume to dispute the kings actions , much lesse to rebell against him . 6. the king hath no superiour but the almighty god ; all his people are inferriour to him , he inferriour to none but god . 7. the king is caput reipublicae , the head of the common-wealth immediately under god . finch . 81. and therefore carrying gods stamp and mark among men , and being as one may say a god upon earth , as god is a king in heaven , in a similitudinary sort given him . ( bracton , fo. 5. cum fit dei vicarius , evidenter apparet ad similitudinem jesu christi , cujus vicesgeret in terris ) that is to say — 1. divine perfection : 2. infinitness . 3. majesty . 4. soveraignty and power . 5. perpetuity . 6. justice . 7. truth . 8. omniscience . 1. divine perfection in the king no imperfect thing can be thought , no folly , negligence , infamy , stain or corruption of blood can be adjudged in him ; so nullam tempus occurit reg●● . 2. infinitnesse , the king in a manner is every where , and present in all coutts , and therefore it is that he cannot be non-suit , and that all acts of parliament that concern the king are general ; and the court must take notice without pleading them , for he is in all , and all have their part in him . fitz. urb. 21. h. 8. br. tit. non-suit . 68. 3. majesty , the king cannot take nor part from any thing , but by matter of record , and that is in respect of his majesty , unlesse chattle or the like ; because , deminimis non curaet , lex , 5. ed. 4. 7. 4. e. 6. 31. 2 h. 4. 7. 4. soveraignty and power , all the land is holden of the king , no action lyeth against him , for who can command the king , he may compel his subjects to go out of the realm to war , hath absolute power over all ; for by a clause of non obstante , he may dispense with a satute , though the statute say , such dispensation shall be meerly void , 7. e. 4. 17. ● . 1. calvins case . bracton ; rex habet potestatem jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt ea que sunt jurisdictionis , & pa●is ad nullam pertinent nisi ad regiam dignitatem , habet etiam certionem , ut delinquentes paniat & ●●●●●at ; and therefore ought to have the militia . 5. perpetulty , the king hath aperpetual succession , and never dieth ; for in law it is called the demise of the king , and there is no inter-regnum , a gift to the king goeth to his successors , though not named , for he is a corporation of himself , and hath two capacities ; ( to wit ) a natural body , in which he may inherit to any of his ancestors , or purchase lands to him , and the holes of his body , which he shall r●tain , although he be afterwards removed from his royal estate ; and a body politick , in which he may purchase to him and his heirs kings of england , or to him and his successors , yet both bodies make but one individual body . plomden 213. 233. 242. li. 7. 12. 6. justice , the king can do no wrong , therefore cannot be a disseisor , he is all justice , veritas & justitia , saith bracton , circasolium ejus , they are the two supporters that do hold up his crown , he is medicus regni , pater patria , sponsus regni qui per annulum is espoused to his realm at his coronation , he is gods lieutenant , and is not able to do an unjust thing . 4. e. 4. 25. potentia injuria est impotentia natura , his ministers may offend , and therefore to be punished if the laws are violated , but not he . 7. truth the king shall never be stopped , judgement finall in a writ of right shall not conclude him . 18. e. 3. 38. 20. e. 3. fitz. droit . 15. 8. omniscience , when the king licenceth expresly to aliente an abbot , &c. which is in mortmain , he needs not make any non abstante of the statutes of mortmain , for it is apparant to be of the law , and therefore shall not be intended misco●●sant of the law , for praesumitur rex habere omnia jura inscrinio pectoris sui . 2. just . 99. and therefore ought to have a negative voice in parliament , for he is the fountain of justice from whence the law sloweth . high treason can be committed against none , but the king , neither is any thing high treason , but what is declared so to be by the statute . 25. ed. 3. c. 21. to leavy war against the king , to compasse or imagine his death , or the death of his queen , or of his eldest son , to counterfeit his mony , or his great seal , to imprison the king untill he agree to certain demands , to leavy war to alter religion , or the law , to remove counsellours by arms , or the king from his counsellours , be they evil or good by arms , to seize the kings forts , ports , magazine of war , to depose the king , or to adhere to any state within or without the kingdom , but the kings majesty , is high treason , for which the offender have judgement . first , to be drawn to the gallows . secondly , there to be hanged by the neck , and cut down alive . thirdly , his intrals to be taken out of his belly , and he being alive to be burnt before him . fourthly , that his head should be cut off . fifthly , that his body should be cut in four parts . sixthly , that his head and his quarters should be put where the king the lord pleaseth . post-script . reader , take notice that in many places of this brief collection of the lawes of england , touching the power of kings , and their just prerogative , by the word parliament is meant the rump , who have unjustly taken to themselves the name of parliament contrary to the known lawes of the land , for there can be no full and free parliament without a king and house of lords . finis . christvs dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane but of divine right and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof and not the people : also, that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth and is not onely major singislis, but major vniversis : written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. jones, john, d. 1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a47055 of text r14104 in the english short title catalog (wing j961). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 30 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a47055 wing j961 estc r14104 11839685 ocm 11839685 49793 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47055) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49793) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 539:10) christvs dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane but of divine right and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof and not the people : also, that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth and is not onely major singislis, but major vniversis : written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. jones, john, d. 1660. morton, thomas, 1564-1659 supposed author. [2], 17 p. printed by h. hall ..., oxford : 1642. attributed to john jones. cf. dnb. attributed also to thomas morton, bp. of durham. cf. nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in bodleian library. eng parker, henry, 1604-1652. -observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. divine right of kings. theology, doctrinal. a47055 r14104 (wing j961). civilwar no christus dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved, that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane, but of divine right, and t jones, john 1642 5495 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-04 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion christus dei , or , a theologicall discourse , wherein is proved , that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane , but of divine right , and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof , and not the people . also , that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth , and is not onely major singulis , but major universis . written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled , observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses . 1 pet. 2. 13. subjecti estote omni humanae creaturae propter dominum , sive regi quasi praecellenti . submit your selves to every ordinance of man , for the lord's sake , whether it be to the king as supreme . oxford , printed by h. hall . an. dom. m. dc . xlii . christus dei , or , a theologicall discourse , wherein is proved , that regall power is not of humane , but of divine right , and that god onely is the efficient cause thereof , and not the people . preface . there is a booke come forth of late , barely intituled , observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses , without any name of the author or place where it was printed . wherein the observer ( soe i must call him not knowing him by any other name ) aimes cheifly and directly to prove ; that the hereditary , regall , and monarchicall power of our now present dread soveraigne king charles , is inferiour and subject to the power of the now present parliament . which to evince he undertakes to lay downe the originall foundation of all regall power whatsoever , according to the efficient and finall causes thereof . and having made the finall cause to be the safety of the people , together with their civill or politicall happinesse ; he also makes the efficient cause to be , not god , but onely the people , and the instrumentall cause of conveying and deriving this regall power to be , not any divine law , nor nothing else ( amongst christians ) but the meere humane pactions and agreements of the politique body of the people . and then arguing by a rule in nature ; that quicquid efficit tale est magts tale , he issueth out this just inference ( as he calleth it ) that though the king be singulis major , yet he is universis minor , and therefore inferiour and subject in power to the parliament . having perused this discourse , and finding it to be most injurious to regall power or monarchie , contrary to the true principles of state and divinitie , or orthodox christian doctrine : i thought i might doe my king and country good service , to confute these desperate and more then dangerous positions , by declaring and proving the true originall foundation , according to the finall and efficient causes of regall or monarchicall power : which ( with gods good helpe ) i hope to do perspicuously in the few ensuing paragraphes . §. 1 of the primary finall cause ; as also of the efficient cause of all civill societies or republiques . because whatsoever is done , is done for some end or purpose , without which it should not have beene done , nor had a being : therefore it is the constant doctrine of all philosophers , that the end is the cheif and principall of all causes : and therefore , for methods sake i will begin with it . now to find out the primarie end of all civill societies or commonwealthes , we , that are christians , must reflect attentively upon those words of the holy ghost . prov. 16 : 4. universa propter semetipsum operatus est dominus . by which we are ascertaind , that god almighty created not only all other creatures , but all mankind also , as for their primarie end , for himselfe , and his owne praise and glorie . and as for man in particular , god created him to his owne image and likenesse , endowing him with an understanding and a will , that he might know how to honour and love his creator , and by such love and honour might finally become happy in the fruition of his eternall , unspeakable and inestimable glory in heaven : for means whereto , first god dictated certaine divine precepts and principles unto man , and imprinted them with his very creation upon his naturall reason ( for which cause they are called divine naturall lawes written in every mans heart , saith saint paul rom. 2. 15. ) that every man might be equally capable to know them , and equally obliged to obey them . secondly god infused into him faith , hope , and charity , and other supernaturall virtues , all tending to this conducement , that man following them as his guides , might , through his obedience to god , attaine to his owne salvation . thirdly to bind man more strongly to his subjection , and to make it appeare more illustriously unto him , that therein principally consisted his welfare , as the very end and center , for and to which he was created , he gave him an expresse divine law , not to eate of the tree in the midst of paradise upon paine of death . fourthly , by revelation he instructed him in many particular sacred formes and rites of exterior divine worship , as sacrifice and others ; for though we read not anywhere in holy writ , that adam offered sacrifice , no more then wee do of isaac ; yet wee read there that cain and abell did , and that abraham and iacob did . but it cannot be imagined that cain and abell were the first inventors of this most , religious and divine worship , ( noe more then that isaac did neglect it ) but that by paternall tradition and example they received it from adam . all which duely considered ; it will appeare evidently , that the primary end for which all men are created , is to serve , honour , love , obey , & worship god . from whence it followes ; that this being mans highest and principallest concern , it ought also to be his highest and principallest care to attend to it . but most certaine it is , that men , living divided and scattered over the face of the world without the instruction and assistance one of another , cannot possibly performe this for every particular mans behoofe , as is requisite . and therfore from this finall cause arose primarily a necessity amongst men to unite and combine themselves into civill societies and common-wealths . this end could not be prefixed by men ; but men were created for this end by god . and therfore this is the primary , spirituall , supernaturall , and divine finall cause of all republiques , to which every other end must be but secondary , subordinate , and subservient . and from hence it followeth further , that since on the one side no naturall agent can by it's naturall power compasse the attaining of a supernaturall end ; and on the other side civill societies ought not to be instituted in vaine : we mustneeds conclude , that the primary efficient cause of all common-wealths is only god . §. 2. of the secondary finall cause , and also the onely efficient cause of all civill societies and republiques . every creature in the world strives to preserve its owne kind . wee see what paines and care beasts and birds take to reare their younglings . trees and plants beare fruites and seeds to produce the like when they are perished . yea , the inanimate creatures ( according to their predominant element and mixture ) strive every one to obtaine and enioy their center . and all this not only for their owne particular , but also for the harmonious accommodation and preservation of the vniverse , the great and most excellent worke of nature , wherin shee doth nothing in vaine . but in vaine had man been , if he also had not been provided of necessary meanes towards the preservation of his kind . for which cause god said it was not good for man to be alone : and therfore gave him a woman to be his helper , that so by meanes of generation he might propagate his ofspring to the worlds end . this preservation then of mankind is the maine naturall and secondary end of man . and to this end god gave him his blessing to increase and multiply from whence ariseth , that of necessity there must be at least private families . but man and woman finding ( by woefull experience ) most true what god said to adam and eve ; that hee should eate his bread in the sweat of his browes , that shee should bring forth her children in paine , found also presently , that every private family is not sufficient of it selfe to maintaine this worke of preservation , without the helpe of one another . for first , to say nothing of womens deliveries in child-birth , which cannot possibly alwaies and every where be performed requisitely by themselves and their families , without the helpe of some other , or others : and yet even upon this the preservation of mankind holds a most necessary and principall dependance . i will only speake of mans part , who with the sweat of his browes , with extreame toile and labour must provide food and cloathing , and all other necessary supports and sustentations for his family . but to doe this , he must of necessity ( i speake not of barbarous inhumane people ) have some certaine place of aboad ; and in this he must have some peculiar right , some propriety of possession , by virtue wherof he may reape the fruites of the earth , and maintaine his cattel . and how shall every private family be able to doe this with securitie ? will not every one strive for the best possession ? will not the shepheards of abraham and lot , and of isaac and gerara fall to contention for water & pastures , and such like other necessary elbow roome ? and in these uncivill and unsociable quarrels , must not all private families be made like to the fishes of the sea . hab. 11 , 13. 14. where the stronger must devoure the weaker . secondly god endowed man in his creation with an understanding and a will . this understanding is of that infinite capacitie , that it hath for it's adaequate object omne ens as it is verum . and man therefore is in perpetuall and restlesse search of knowledge , to perfect his understanding by experience and learning . the will also hath for her adaequate object omne ens as it is bonum ? and man therefore is in perpetuall pursuite of reciprocall love to perfect his will by friendship and justice . over and above these god gave to man the facultie of speech , to be the reciprocall conveyance of learning and friendship . so as for this verie reason arisiotle said excellently well , that man is by nature a sociable creature , for neither learning , nor friendship , nor justice ( in which consists essentially mans civill or politicall happinesse ) nor safety or securitie ( which is the only preservative of mans verie being ) can possibly be acquired and maintained in the division of men in their private families . and therefore for this verie end it was naturally necessary for men to unite and associate themselves into civill societies and communities , that soe they might preserve their kind . from the learning , experience and industrie of the understanding proceed all arts , tillage , manufactures , trade and traffique , which bring in gaine , and that brings plentie from the freindship and justice of the will proceed peace and securitie : in which secure peace and plenty consisteth perfect salus populi . now since this cannot be had in divided private families , and without this there can be no preservation of mankind , it followes , that civill societies or commonwealthes are naturally necessary . whose naturall finall cause is truely and only ( in the manner as i have explicated ) salus populi . now furthermore , seeing that a commonwealth is not the designe of art and invention of particular men , nor of any positive law of theirs , but proceeds from the common necessity of all mankind , intimated unto them by the law of nature , of which god is the sole cause and author ; it followeth , that the officient cause of all republiques is onely god . §. 3 of the finall and efficient cause of civill power in a common wealth . as for the finall cause there is little or no difficultie ; for seing that the finall cause of every thing must needs be that , which that thing necessarily referres unto , as to it's end for which it is done or hath it's being : it is manifest , that since civill societies have for their naturall and secondary finall cause salus populi ; the power also which must not be ad destructionem , but ad adisicationem , to maintaine those civill societies , can have no other finall cause , but that whereunto they direct and are directed , which is salus populi . the materiall cause in which this power originall , resides and inheres ; as the forme to make up a compleat body of a common-wealth , is the people . and so the observer saith verie well in this kind of cause ; power is originally inhaerent in the people , most certaine then it is ; that even at the very first uniting themselves into a civill societie , there is an inhaerent power in the people to governe themselves , and by such government to preserve themselves in safetie . for this is the onely necessary naturall end for which they met ( as i have shewen before ) that they might be able and powerfull to secure themselves , and preserve their kind . but this meeting would have beene in vaine , and this preservation wholly made frustrate , if there were not this power inhaerent in them . if in the naturall body of man there were not an interiour directive governing power to guide every particular member in the operative use of it's function , and to contrive those operations to the mutuall good of one another , and the conservation of the whole man ; that body could not possibly but suddainly perish . for if the teeth will not chew , nor the throat swallow , nor the hands reach , nor the feete stirr , nor the eyes look out , when nature requires her necessary food , she and they & all must sterve . so in a politicall body ; if all members should doe but what they list , and should not be compelled by some absolute power to contribute their strengthes and endeavours to the preservation of one another , and the whole communitie , it would be but regnum in se divisum , that of necessity must fall to desolation , as the holy ghost confirmes also elsewhere , saying , proverb . 11. 14. ubi non est gubernator dissipabitur populus . the maine difficulty is : who is the efficient cause of this power . wherein , not to be tedious to my reader , but to yeild him the satisfaction of his expectation in a breife and resolute answere , i present unto him this decretorie assertion . this power is not a humane but a divine right ; and god only is the immediate efficient cause thereof . this i prove by five arguments . arg. 1. there is a rule in nature ( to use the observers owne words ) quod dat esse dat consequentia ad esse . but the esse of a republique cannot have a simpliciter esse without the esse of this power . therefore he that is the efficient cause of the republique , is also the efficient cause of this power . but ( as i have prov'd before § . 2. n. 5. ) god is the sole efficient cause of all republiques , therfore he is also the sole efficient cause of this power . arg. 2. the primarie finall cause of civill societies ( as i haue prov'd § . 1. ) is divine worship ; which man could not prefix to himselfe as his end , but he was created by god for and to that end , and only god prefixed that end to man . therefore this is a divine end which cannot be atcheived without a divine power ( as i have alsoe proved in the same . § . n. 4. ) only god then is the immediate efficient cause of this power . and from thence it proceeds , that kings , acknowledging themselves to have received this divine power principally for this primary end , their oathes at their coronation are ( as the observer very grutchingly granteth ) more precise in the care of canonicall priviledges , and of bishops and clergie-men , then of the commonalty ▪ and not from the reason which he gives . viz. because they were penned by popish bishops . for whether the bishops were popish or protestant , surely they are not to be blamed ex hoc capite , but most highly to be reverenced , that according to their profession & dutie they put kings in mind , in the first place , of divine worship , and their owne and their peoples eternall salvation depending thereupon . and i cannot understand why the observer should give that reason , but only to seduce the vulgar into a base and profane misconceiving and vilifying of the royall power of kings , and their sacred oathes . for , popish , without all doubt in his dictionary signifieth superstitious at least , if not idolatrous . but , if it be superstition for a man to be more precise in the care of divine worship , and his soules everlasting salvation , then of any other his remporall end or affaire ( see § . 1. n. 3. ) in vayne then have all christians hitherto beleeved that they were in a true religion . let the observer consider what censure he deserves for thus finding fault with kings oathes , and whether hee gives not just cause of suspicion , that he is rather an athiest then a christian . it is well known to all christians , that quaerite primùm regnum dei & justitiam ejus is no invention of popish bishops , but our blessed saviours owne doctrine and rule , not only to bishops , but to all kings and people whatsoever , as the ! principall , to which as an accessorium followes , & haecomnia adjicientur vobis : mat. 6. 33. arg. 3. when private families first joyned themselves into a common body of societie , before any condictum , paction , or agreement amongst themselves , to enact positive lawes for their government , there was an inherent power in them to enact : such lawes . for who can make a law without a power ? but this power , not being the effect , but the most necessary cause of all humane pactions or positive lawes , cannot have it's origen from man , but only from god . ergo god is the sole efficient cause of this power . arg. 4. when men first associated themselves into a commonwealth , they were all of equall right and power , so that none ( i speake of severall families still as before ) could challenge superioritie the one over the other . for , this divine naturall power , viz. se defendere , et vim vi repellere , was inherent in every one of them , and obliging them . the power then which accrewed to the aggregation of the whole societie , was not made but brought , as being no other then what was in all and every particular member of that society before . but that is a divine power and the immediate effect of god . ergo . and indeed in the due managing or excercising of this divine naturall law of se defendendo , and vim vi repellendo consists totallie the security and salus populi , and the power of the commonwealth to maintaine it . arg. 5. god almighty is so solely the legislator and author of his owne lawes , without the concurrence or consent of any other counsell , ( quis enim consiliarius ejus fuit , aut quis prior dedit ei ? rom. 11. 33. ) that they have their establishment onely in and by his owne will . so that noe power whatsoever of his creatures , can by any contraition against him , invalid or annull those laws . but non occides is a divine naturall law and precept expressed in the decalogue . therefore no pactions or agreements of men can give this power of putting a man to death , no more then cain could kill abel . but on , the other side it is manifest , that republiques have a lawfull power of putting men to death , without which they could not preserve their owne safety . therfore they have it from god . and how soone god gave this power to men i know not , nor cannot find , untill after the floud ; when genes . 9. 6. we read this expresse positive divine law and precept given to the civill magistrate . quicunque effuderit humanum sanguinem , fundetur sanguis illius . §. 4. of the efficient cause of regall power . the finall cause of regall power must of necessity be the same that is of the commonwealth , because the king is the administrator of the power of the commonwealth , to the same end no doubt , for which it was first ordained : of which having spoken largely before , i have no need to say any thing here . the maine question is , who is the efficient cause of regall or monarchicall power ? which the observer boldly averres to be , not god , but the people . and upon this false ground hee vents all those swarmes of false inferences throughout his whole discourse . but before i lay downe the true resolution of this question , i must desire my reader to marke with good heed the great difference that is betweene the power it selfe of a commonwealth , and the authority to administer that power : for the people may be the efficient cause of this second , though not of the first . as for example , the aldermen of london may elect , nominate , and constitute such or such a man to be their lord major to administer the power that belongs to the corporation of that city : and herein they may be the efficient cause of his authority to administer the power of the city , but not of his power ; because that is the guift of the king by his charter , of which his majesty therefore is the onely efficient cause , and not the aldermen , nor all the people of that corporation whatsoever ? i have proved all along in the precedent § . that the civill power of a commonwealth , is not a humane , but divine power , of which , not the people , but god onely is the efficient cause . it is true indeed , that it is in the voluntary election of the people to authorize one , or few , or more with the administration of this power . and as long as this authority is still elective in the people , they may by consent of the major part alter their forme of gubernation into democraticall oligarchicall , aristocraticall , or monarchicall , as they please . and herein the observer saith truly , that god is no more the authour of regall , then of aristocraticall power : for whether this power be in many , or in one , it is still the same divine power of the common-wealth , though diversly administred , of which god onely is the efficient cause . but when the people have once resigned up all their authority into the hands of one , and his heires for ever , so that now it is not any longer elective in them , but hereditary in him : then not onely the power , but the authority also to administer that power is solely inherent in him and his heires , unalterably and irrevocably for ever . this then is my first assertion . the efficient cause of regall or monarchicall power , is not the people , but onely god . i speake in this assertion , not of conditionall princes , but only of absolute kings , and monarchs . my first proofe then is . when the people create a king , they elect his person , and authorize him with the administration of that absolute power which is inherent in the whole commonwealth to governe it selfe : otherwise hee is no absolute king , of whom onely i speake , and so doth the observer also . but this power ( as i have proved ) is not an humane , but a divine power , of which god onely is the efficient cause . therefore god onely , and not the people is the efficient cause of regall power . my second proofe , god saith expresly , prov. 8. 15. per me reges régnant , &c. then their dominion or power by which they reigne is immediately from god . christ saith to pilate , ioh. 19 , 11. non haberes potestatem , &c. nisi tibi datum esset desuper . then this power is not from below from men ; but from above , from god . saint paul saith , rom. 13. 1. omnu anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit : non est enim potestas nisi à deo. and , qui resistit potestati , dei ordinationi resistit . and , non sine causa gladium portat . for what cause ? dei enim minister est , vindex in iram &c. then regall power is divine power and the ordinance of god , wherein the king is not the peoples , but gods minister , as being invested and annointed interiorly in his person by him with a divine power ; of which the exterior unction is a sacred , ceremonious , commonefactive and solemne testimonie . and for this cause , cyrus though a heathen king is called by god himselfe . isay. 45. 1. christus mens , gods owne annointed . the holy king josaphat saith to those whom he had constituted judge . 2. paralip . 19. 6. non hominis exercetis judicium sed domini . then it is not a humane power , but a divine power by which the king doth judge & rule his people . from hence i inferie two corollaries . the first . that there is a twofold trust in the king . the one of his power . the other of the administration of his power . the first is gods trust unto him to exercise his divine judgments . the second is the peoples , to administer it propter salutem populi . but if he swerve herein , seeing that the power is divine & residing and inhering only in him , and not in the people , he is not liable to the people , but only to god . the second corollarie . as god is the sole efficient cause of regall power ; so the instrumentall cause which conveies this power , is the divine naturall law obliging men to unite themselves into civill societies . for god gives a power to men to governe themselves by obliging them to unite themselves . and consequently the election of the people ( with all the observers pactions & agreements ) is but causa sine qua non , by way of approximation , that this divine power may reside in those few , or more , or one rather then in any other . as in my former example . ● . 3. the efficient cause of the lord majors power is only the king . the instrumentall cause by which this power is derived unto him , is the charter of the citie , granted to them at pleasure , more strictly , or more largely by the king . and the aldermens election of this or that particular man , is but the approximation , that the kings power may reside in him to governe the cittie , rather then in any other . my second assertion . every absolute king ( invested and annointed with a divine power by god himself to exercise his judgements , through the election of the people to be sole administrator thereof ) is in power super totam rempublicam , superiour absolutely over the whole commonwealth . and therefore is not only major singulis , but major universis , and super omnes simul . this assertion is evident out of the former . for , the power that was inherent in the whole commonwealth to exercise gods judgements and to governe and preserve it selfe , was a divine power , not only super singulos , but super omnes simul , and therefore major universis . but this power is now totally and absolutly inherent in the king only . ergo he is super totam rempublicam : and major vniversis , in confirmation of this argument , i argue thus . either the whole power of the commonwealth is in one , or no . if no : then he is no absolute king or monarch , contrary to our supposition . but if he be a monarch i aske againe ; if there be a power in the commonwealth , which is not in him , is it subordinate to his power , or no ? if it be subordinate , then his power is above that power , and so super totam rempublicam , and major vniversis . if it be not , then there are simul & semel two supreame civill powers in a commonwealth , two supreame contrary masters at once to be obeyed , one and the same individuall kingdome and gubernation , and yet divided against it selfe , which are most absurd and impossible . from hence it is evident that his majesty sayed most truly and most learnedly , that the administration of the whole power of the commonwealth being committed in trust absolutely and irrevocably to him and his heires for ever , it is impossible that a power above that trust should be committed to others . this the observer in effect plainly confesseth . but relapsing into his wonted paroxismes of strong malice against regal power , he labours ( by his most false erroneous principal rex est minor vniversis ) and tires himself in vaine to answer it . and because the strength of all his long tedious and farraginous discourse depends wholly upon these two false grounds , viz. that the people is the efficient cause of regal power . and that rex est minor vniversis ; and i have manifestly confuted them both , i presume i have also sufficiently confuted all the rest : and therefore conclude in those sacred words . data est a domino potestas regibus , & virtus ab altissimo . power is given to kings of the lord , and soveraignty from the highest . sapient . 6. 3. finis . notes taken in short-hand of a speech in the house of lords on the debates of appointing a day for hearing dr. shirley's cause, octob. 20, 1675 shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of, 1621-1683. 1679 approx. 23 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59476 wing s2897a estc r12391 12426369 ocm 12426369 61870 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59476) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61870) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 297:15) notes taken in short-hand of a speech in the house of lords on the debates of appointing a day for hearing dr. shirley's cause, octob. 20, 1675 shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of, 1621-1683. 4 p. s.n., [london? : 1679] caption title. attributed to shaftesbury. cf. nuc pre-1956. place and date of publication from nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherley, thomas, 1638-1678. england and wales. -parliament. -house of lords. divine right of kings. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion notes taken in short-hand of a speech in the house of lords on the debates of appointing a day for hearing dr. shirley's cause , octob. 20. 1675. my lords , our all is at stake , and therefore you must give me leave to speak freely before we part with it : my lord bishop of sarum is of opinion that we should rather appoint a day to consider what to do upon the petition , then to appoint a day of hearing : and my lord keeper ( for i may name them ) at a committee of the whole house , tells us in a very eloquent and studied language : that he will propose us a way far less lyable to exceptions , and much less offensive to our priviledges than that of appointing a day of hearing . and i beseech your lordships , did you not after all these fine words , expect some admirable proposals , but it ended in this ; that your lordships should appoint a day , nay a very long day , to consider what to do in it : and my lord hath undertaken to convince you , that this is the only course by several undenyable reasons . the first of which is , that it is against our judicature to hear this cause which is not proper for us , nor ought to be relieved by us . to this my lords give me leave to answer , that i did not expect from a man professing the law ; that after an answer by order of the court was put in , and a day had been appointed for hearing , which by some accident was set aside , and the plaintiff moving for a second day to be assigned ; that ever without hearing councel on both sides , the court did enter into the merits of the cause . and if your lordships should do it in a cause attended with the circumstances as this is , it would not only be an apparent injustice , but a plain subterfuge to avoid a point you durst not maintain . but my lords second reason speaks the matter more plainly , for it is because it is a doubtful case whether the commons have not priviledge ; therefore my lord would have you to appoint a further & very long day to consider of it , which indeed in plain english is , that your lordships would confess upon your own books that you conceive it on second thoughts a doubtful case , and that for no other reason , but because my lord keeper thinks it so , which i hope will not be a reason to prevail with your lordships , since you cannot yet by experience tell that his lordship is capable of thinking your lordships in the right in any matter against the judgment of the house of commons ; 't is so hard a thing even for the ablest man to change ill habits . but now my lords third reason is the most admirable of all , which he stiles unanswerable , ( viz. ) that your lordships are all convinced in your own conscience that this ( if prosecuted ) will cause a breach : i beseech your lordships to consider whether the argument thus applyed would not overthrow the law of nature and all the laws of right and property in the world ; for it is an argument , and a very good one , that you should not stand or insist on claims where you have not a clear right , or where the question is not of consequence and moment , in a matter that may produce a dangerous and pernicious breach between relations , persons or bodies-politick joyned in interests and high concerns together : so on the other hand , if the obstinacy of the parties in the wrong shall be made an unanswerable argument for the other party to recede and give up his just rights , how long shall the people keep their liberties , or the princes and governours of the world their prerogatives ? how long shall the husband maintain his dominion , or any man his property from his friends , or his neighbours obstinacy ? but my lords , when i hear my lord keeper open so eloquently the fatal consequence of a breach , i cannot forbear to fall into some admiration how it comes to pass ; that ( if the consequences be so fatal ) the kings ministers in the house of commons ; ( of which i am sure there are several that are of the cabinet , and have easie resort to his majesty , and have the direction and trust of his affairs ; ) i say that none of these should press these consequences there , or give the least stop in the career of that house in this business ; but that all the votes concerning this affair , nay , even that very vote that no appeal is cognoscible by the house of lords , should pass nemine contradicente , and yet all the great ministers here , yea bishops and other lords of greatest dependance on the court contend this point , as if it were pro aris & foris : i hear his majesty in scotland hath been pleased to declare against appeals in parliament . i cannot much blame the court if they think ( the lord keeper and judges being of the kings naming , and in his power to change ) that the justice of the nation is safe enough , and i my lords may think so too during this kings reign ; though i hear scotland ( not without reason ) complain already . yet how future princes may use this power , and how judges may be made , not men of ability or integrity , men of relation and dependance , who will do what they are commanded , and all mens causes come to be judged and estates disposed of as great men at court please , is to be considered . my lords , the constitution of our government hath provided better for us , and i can never believe so wise a body as the house of commons will prove that foolish woman that pluck'd down her house with her hands . my lords , i must presume to say something , to wit , what was offered by my lord bishop of sarum , a man of great learning and ability , and always versed in a stronger and closer way of reasoning then the business of the noble lord i answered before did accustom him to ; and that reverend prelate hath stated the matter very fairly upon two heads . 1. whether the hearing of causes and appeals , and especially in this point where the members have priviledge , be so material to us , that it ought not to give way to the reason of state of greater affairs that press us at this time . 2. if the business be of that moment , yet whether the appointing a day to consider of the petition would prove of that consequence and prejudice to our cause . my lords , to these give me leave in the first place to say that this matter is no less then your whole judicature , and your judicature is no less then the life and soul of the dignity of the peerage of england ; you will quickly grow burthensom , if you grow useless , you have now the greatest and most useful end of parliament principally in you , which is not to make new laws , but to redress grievances and to maintain the old land-marks . the house of commons business is to complain to your lordships to redress not only the complaints from them that are the eyes of the nation , but also other particular persons that address to you . a land may groan under a multitude of laws , and i believe ours does , and when laws grow so multiplied yearly , they oftner prove snares then the directions and security of the people : i look upon it as the ignorance and weakness of the latter age , if not worse , the effect of the designs of ill men , that it 's grown a general opinion , that when there is not a particular direction in some act of parliament the law i● defective , as if the common law had not provided much better , shorter and plainer for the peace and quiet of the nation , then intricate , long and perplexed statutes do , which has made work for the lawyers , given power to the judges , lessen'd your lordships power , and in a good measure unhinged the security of the people . my lord bishop tells you , your whole judicature is not in question , but only the priviledge of the house of commons , of their members not appearing at your bar. my lords , were it no more , yet that for justice and the peoples sake you ought not to part with , how far a priviledge of the house of commons , their servants and those they own doth extend , westminster-hall may with grief tell your lordships , they have neither presidents , nor reason , nor any justifiable pretence to shew against us ; and therefore my lords if you part with your undoubted right meerly for asking , where will their asking stop . and my lords , we are sure it doth not stop here , for they have already nemine contradicente voted against your lordships power of appeal from any court of equity , so that you may plainly see where the confusion and reason of state means to stop , not one jot of laying your whole judicature aside , for the reason of passing the kings money if not interrupting good laws , or whatever else , must of necessity avoid all breach upon what score soever . and your lordships plainly see the breach will be as well made upon our judicature in general , as upon this ; so that when your lordships have appointed a day , a very long day to consider whether dr. shirley's cause be not too hot to handle ; and when you have done the same for sir nicholas stoughton , whose petition i hear is coming in , your lordships must proceed to a vote to lay aside all private business for six weeks : for the phrase of private business had obtained this last age upon that which is your most publick duty and business , namely the administration of justice . and i can tell your lordships , besides the reason that leads to it , that i have some intelligence of desiring such a vote ; for on the second day of our sitting , at the rising of the lords house there came a gentleman into the lobby , belonging to a very great person , and asked in great haste , are the lords risen , have they passed the vote , and being asked what vote , he answer'd , the vote of no private business for six weeks . my lords , if this be your business , where are you ; if we are to post-pone our judicature for fear of offending the house of commons for six weeks , that they may in the interim pass the money and other acceptable bills that his majesty thinks of importance . are so many wise men of the house of commons so lull'd to pass all these so acceptable things , and when they have done to let us loose upon them , will they not remember this next time there is want of money , or may they not rather be assured by those ministers that are among them , and go on so unanimously with them , that the king is on their side in this controversy : and then i beg your lordships where are you , after you have but the last sessions asserted your rights of judicature so highly even in this point ; and after the house of com : had gone so high against you on the other hand , as to post their declaration and remonstrance on westm. hall doors : the very next session after you postpone the same causes , and not only those , but all judicatures whatever ; i beseech your lordships , will not this prove a fatal president and confession against your selves : 't is a maxime , and a rational one amongst lawyers , that one president where the case hath been contested , is worth a 100. where there hath been no contest . my lords , in saying this i humbly suppose i have given sufficient answer to my lord bishops two questions , for it is a plain confession that it is a thing never heard of before , for it is the very same case that you formerly ordered , and so strongly asserted , so that upon time and all the deliberation imaginable you declare yourselves doubtful , and you put your selves out of your own hands that power you have no reason to believe on your sides in this question . my lords , i have all the duty imaginable to his majesty , and should with all submission give way to any thing that he should think of importance to his affairs , but in this point it is to alter the government . if you are asked to lay this aside , yet there is no reason of state can be an argument to your lordships to turn yourselves out of that interest you have in the constitution of the government : it is not only your concern , but it is the concern of the poorest man in england , that you keep your station . it is your lordships concern , and that so highly , that i will be bold to say the king can give you no recompence for it . what are empty titles ? what is present power , or riches , or great estate , wherein i have no firm no fixed property ? 't is the constitution of the government , and maintaining it that secures your lordships , and every man else in what he has ; the poorest lord , if the birthright of the peerage be maintained , has a fair prospect before him for himself and his posterity , but the greatest power with greatest title and riches , is but a mean creature , and maintains those monarchies no otherwise then by servile and low flatteries , and upon uncertain terms . my lords , 't is not your interest , but the peoples that you maintain your rights , for let the house of commons and gentry of england think what they please , there is no prince that ever governs without a nobility or an army ; if you will not have one , you must have the other , or else the monarchy cannot long support it self from tumbling down into a democratical republick . your lordships and the people have the same cause , and the same enemies . my lord , would you be in favour with the king ; 't is a very ill way to it , to put your selves out of a future capacity to be considerable in his service . i do not find in story or modern experience , but that it is better , and a man is much more regarded that is still in a capacity and opportunity to serve , then he that hath wholly deprived himself of all for his princes sake . and therefore i declare i will serve my prince as a peer , but will not destroy the peerage to serve him . my lords , i have heard of twenty foolish models and expedients to secure the justice of the nation , and yet to take this right from your lordships : as the king by his commission to appoint commissioners to hear appeals , or that the twelve judges should be the persons , or that persons should be appointed by act of parliament , which are all not only to take away your lordships just right , which ought not to be altered any more than any other part of the government , but are in themselves when well weighed , ridiculous : i must deal freely with your lordships , these things could never have risen in mens minds , but that there has been some kind of provocation that has given the first rise of it . i pray your lordships forgive me if on this occasion i put you in mind of committe-dinners , and the scandal of it , those droves that attend all causes ; 't was come to that pass , that men even hired or borrowed of their friends handsom sisters or daughters to deliver their petitions , but yet for all this i must say that the judgments have been impartial unless in one or two causes , and those we owe most to that bench from whence now i apprehend most danger . there is one thing i have almost forgot to speak to , which is the conjuncture of time , the hinge on which our reason of state turns ; and to that give me leave to say , if this be not a time of leasure to vindicate your priviledges , you must never expect one ; i would almost say that the harmony , good agreement and concord that is to be prayed for at other times may be fatal to us now : we owe the peace of this last two years and disengagement from the french interest , to the two houses differing from the sense and opinion of white-hall : so as at this time the thing in the world this nation has most reason to apprehend is a general peace , which cannot now happen without very advantageous terms to the french , and disadvantageous to the house of austria . we are the kings great councellors , and if so , have right to differ , and give contrary councells to those few that are nearest about him : i fear they would advance a general peace , i am sure i would advise against it , and hinder it at this time by all the ways imaginable : i heartily wish nothing from you may add weight and reputation to those councellors who would assist the french : no money for ships , nor preparations you can make , nor personal assurance our king can have , can secure us from the french if they are at leisure ; he is grown too potent for us at sea , he has built 24 ships this last year , and has 30. more in number then we ; besides the advantage , that our ships are all out of order , and his so exquisitely provided for , that every ship has its particular store-house , 't is incredible the money he hath , and is bestowing in making harbours , he makes nature it self give way to the vastness of his expence : and for all this shall a prince so wise , so intent upon his affairs , be thought to make these preparations to sail over land and fall on the back of hungary , or is it possible he should oversee his interest in seizing of ireland , a thing so seazable to him if he be master of the seas , ( as he certainly now is , ) and which when attained , gives him all the southern and mediteranean , east and west-india trade , and renders him both by scituation and excellent harbours master of the seas without dispute . my lords , i conclude this point , i fear the court of england is greatly mistaken in it , and i do not wish them the reputation of the concurrence of the kingdom , and this out of the most sincere loyalty to his majesty , and love to my nation . my lords , i have but one thing more to trouble you with , and that peradventure a consideration of the greatest weight and concern both to your lordships and the whole nation : i have often seen in this house that the arguments with the strongest reason and most convincing to the lay lords in general , have not had the same effect upon the bishops bench , but that they have unanimously gone against us in matters that many of us have thought essential and undoubted rights : and i consider that 't is not possible that men of great learning , piety and reason , ( as their lordships are , ) should not have the same care of doing right , and the same conviction what is right upon clear reason that is offered , which other your lordships have . and therefore my lords , i must necessarily think we differ in principles , and then 't is very easie to apprehend that the clearest sense to men of my principles may not at all perswade or affect the conscience of the best man of a different one . my principle is , that the king is king by law , and by the same law that a poor man enjoys his cottage , and also it becomes the concerns of every man in england that has but his liberty , to maintain and defend to his utmost the king in all his rights and prerogatives . my principle is also that the lords house and the judicature and right belonging to it , are an essential part of the government and established by the same law , the king governing and administring justice by his house of lords , and advising with both his houses of parliament in all important matters , is the government i own , am born under , and am obliged to . if ever there should happen in future ages ( which god forbid ) a king governing by an army without his parliament , 't is a government i own not , was not born under , nor am obliged to , and according to this principle , every honest man that holds it must endeavour equally to preserve the frame of the government in all the parts of it , and cannot satisfy his conscience to give up the rights of the lords house for the service of the crown , or to take away the just rights and priviledges of the commons to please the lords . but there is another principle got into the world my lords , that hath not been long there : for archbishop laud was the first author that i remember of it , and i cannot find that the jesuits , or indeed the papist clergy hath ever owned it , but some of the episcopal clergy of the british isles ; and as it 's new , so 't is withall the most dangerous and destructive doctrine to our government and law that ever was : 't is the first of the clamours published by the convocation in the year 1640. that monarchy is of divine right . this doctrine was then preached up by sybthorpe and manwaringe , and others of later years , by books published by dr : sanderson bishop of lincoln under the name of archbishop vslter , and how much it is spread amongst our dignified clergy is very easily known . we all agree that the king and government is to be obeyed for conscience sake , and that the divine presence requires not only here , but in all parts of the world obedience to lawful governours . and that this family are our kings , and his particular frame of government is our lawful constitution , but obliges us in owning only the particular laws of our country . this laudean doctrine was the root that produced the bill of test last session , and some very perplexed oaths that are of the same nature with that end , yet imposed by several acts of parliament . in a word , if this doctrine be true , our magna charta is of no force , our laws are but rules amongst our selves during the kings pleasure ; monarchy if of divine right cannot be bounded or limitted by humane laws , nay what is more , cannot bind it self , and all our claimes of right by the law , or the constitution of the government , all the jurisdiction and priviledge of this house , all the rights and liberties of the house of commons , all the properties and liberties of the people are to give way not only to the interest , but the will and pleasure of the crown , and the best and worthiest of men holding this principle , must vote to deliver up all we have , not only when reason of state , but when the pleasure of the king will have it so . therefore my lords you see how necessarily it is that our principles be known , and how fatal to us all it is that this principle should be suffered to spread any further . my lords , to conclude , your lordships have seen of what consequence this is to you , that the appointing a day to consider is no less then declaring your selves doubtful upon second and deliberate thoughts , that you put your selves out of your own hands into a more then morally probability of having this session made a president against you , you see your duty to your selves and the people , and that 't is really not the interest of the people , but may be the inclination of the court that you loose the power of appeals : but i beg that our house may not be felo de se , but that your lordships in this affair will take the only course to preserve your selves , and appoint a day this day three weeks for the hearing of dr. shirley's cause , is my humble petition . the loyall convert quarles, francis, 1592-1644. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a56832 of text r6161 in the english short title catalog (wing q107). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 50 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a56832 wing q107 estc r6161 12636764 ocm 12636764 64887 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56832) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 64887) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 773:21) the loyall convert quarles, francis, 1592-1644. [4], 20 p. printed by henry hall, oxford : 1644. a plea for political and religious submission to the king as ruler by divine right. attributed to francis quarles by wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng divine right of kings. a56832 r6161 (wing q107). civilwar no the loyall convert quarles, francis 1644 8393 14 20 0 0 0 0 41 d the rate of 41 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2002-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-05 tcp staff (oxford) sampled and proofread 2002-05 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the loyall convert viro . improbus haec tam culta novalia miles habebit ? barbarus has segetes ? hom. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . oxford , printed by henry hall . 1644. to the honest-hearted reader . reader , ihere protest before the searcher of all hearts , that i have no end , either of faction , or relation in this ensuing treatise . i am no papist , no sectarie , but a true lover of reformation & peace : my pen declines all bitternesse of spirit ; all deceitfulnesse of heart ; and i may safely , in this particular , with saint pavl , say , i speake the truth in christ and lye not , my conscience bearing me witnesse in the holy ghost , that i neither walke nor write in craftinesse , nor handle the holy scriptures deceitfully : therefore if thy cause be iesus christ , in the name of iesus christ , i adjure thee to lay aside all wilfull ignorance , all prejudice , all private respects and interests , and all uncharitable censures : deale faithfully with thy soul , and suffer wholesome admonitions : search the severall scriptures herein contained , and where they open a gate , climbe not thou over a stile , consult with reason herein exerciz'd , and where it finds a mouth , find thou an eare : and let truth prosper , though thou perish ; and let god be glorified , although in thy confusion . the loyall convert . the kingdome of england , that hath for many ages continued the happiest nation on the habitable earth , enjoying the highest blessings that heaven can give , or earth receive ; the fruition of the gospell , which setled a firme peace ; which peace occasion'd a full plentie , under the gracious government of wise and famous princes , over a thriving and well-contented people , insomuch that shee became the earths paradise , and the worlds wonder , is now the nurcerie of all sects ; her peace is violated , her plentie wasting , her government distempered , her people discontented , and unnaturally embroyl'd in her owne blood , not knowing the way , nor affecting the meanes of peace ; insomuch , that shee is now become the by-word of the earth , and the scorne of nations . the cause and ground of these our nationall combustions , are these our nationall transgressions , which unnaturally sprung from the neglect of that truth we once had , and from the abuse of that peace we now want : which , taking occasion of some differences betwixt his majestie and his two houses of parliament , hath divided our kingdome within it selfe , which had so divided it selfe from that god , who blest it with so firme a truth , so setled a peace , and so sweet an unitie . at that sinne brought this division , so this division ( sharpned with mutuall jealousies ) brought in the sword . when the lyon r●●res who trembles not ? and when judgement 〈◊〉 , who is not troubled ? among the rest , i ( who brought some faggors to this combustion ) stood astonisht , and amazed ; to whom the mischiefe was farre more manifest then the remedy : at last , i laid my hand upon my heart , and concluded , it was the hand of god : where being plundered in my understanding , i began to make a scrutinie , where the first breach was made , that let in all these miseries . i found the whole kingdome now contructed into a parliament , which consisted of three estates ; a king , a house of peeres , and a house of commons ; by the wisdome and unitie whereof , all things conducible to the weale-publique were to be advised upon , presented , and established . i found this unitie dis-joynted , and growne to variance even to blood : the king and his adherents on the one party ; and his two houses and their adherents on the other . the presence of this division , was the true protestant religion , which both protested to maintaine ; the libertie of the subject , which both protested to preserve ; the priviledges of parliament , which both promise to protect : yet neverthelesse , the first never more profaned ; the second never more interrupted ; the third never more violated . standing amazed at this riddle , i turned , mine eyes upon his majesty ; and there i viewed the lords annointed , sworne to maintaine the established lawes of this kingdome : i turned mine eyes upon the two houses ; and in them i beheld the interest of my countrey sworne to obey his majestie as their supreme governour . i heard a romanstranoe cryed from the two houses i read it ; i approved it ; i inclined unto it : a declaration from his majesty ; i read it ; i applauded it ; i adhered to the justnesse of it : the parliaments answer : i turned to the parliament : his majesties reply ; i returned to his majestie . thus tost and turned as a weatherc●●k to my own weaknesse , i resolved it impossible to serve two masters . i fled to reason ; reason could not satisfie me : i fled to policies policie could not resolve me : at length , finding no councellour , but that which first i should have sought ; i hyed me to the book of god as the great oracle , and ushering my inquest with prayor & humiliation , i opened the sacred leaves , which ( not by chance ) presented to my first eye the 20 of the proverbs , v. 2. the fear of a king is as the roaring of a lyon , & who so provoketh him to anger , sinneth against his own soule . now i began to search , and found as many places to that purpose , as would swell this sheet into a volume ; so that in a very short space , i was so furnished with such strict precopts , backt with such strong examples , that my judgement was enlightned , and my wavering conscience so throughly convinced , that by the grace of that power which directed me , neither feare , nor any by-respects shall ever hereafter remove me , unlesse some cleaner light direct me . but , above all the rest , a precept and an example out of the old testament ( strongly confirmed by a precept and an example out of the new ) setled my opinion and established my resolution . the first precept out of the old , jeremy , 27. v. 6. where it pleased god to owne nebuchadnezzar his servant , ( although a a known pagan , a profest idolater , and a fierce porsecuter of all gods children ) concerning whom he saith , v. 8. they that serve not the king of babylon , and that will not put their necks under his yoak , i will punish them with the sword , pamine , and the pestilence , till i have consumed them . v. 9. therefore hearken not to your diviners and prophets , that say unto you , you shall not serve the king of babylon , for they prophosio a lye unto you , v. 10. but the nations that shall serve the king of babylon , and bring their necks under his yoak , those will i let remain in their own land , ( saith the lord ) and they shall till it , and dwell therein . can there be a stricter precept ? or could there be a more impious prince ? and yet this precept , and yet this prince must be obeyed nay , sub paena too ; upon the paine of gods high wrath , fully exprest in famine , sword and pestilence , not onely upon the people , but upon the priests also , that shall perswade them unto disobedience . the second precept is enjoyned us out of the new testament , rom. 13. 1. let every soule be subject to the higher powers , for there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god : whosoever therefore r●sisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , & they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation . this power , ( this king ) to whom s. paul commandeth this subjection , was nero , the bloody persecutor of all that honoured the blessed name of jesus christ . gods command should be a sufficient argument , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} is enough : but when he adds a reason too , he answers all objections : but when he threatens a punishment ( no lesse then damnation ) upon the resistance thereof , he hath used all means to perswade a necessitie of obedience . let every soule be subject . ) not equall , much lesse superiour . and what is taking up of armes , but an implyed supposition of at least equalitie ? what are the hopes of conquest but an ambition of superioritie ? what is condemning , judging , or deposing , but supremacie ? for it is against the nature of an inferiour to condemne , judge , or depose a superiour . and , lest the rebellious should confine his obedience to a good prince , the next words reply . for there is no power but of god . power in it selfe is neither good nor evill , but as it is in subjecto , the person ; if an evill king an evill power , if a good king , a good power : god sends the one in mercy ; and we must be subject ; the other in judgement , and we must be subject : in things lawfull , actively ; in things unlawfull , passively : if a good king , he must have our praise and our plyance ; if an evill king , he must have our prayers , and our patience . he that resisteth the power ( whether good or evill , for all power is of god ) resists an ordinance of god ( ordinances of men are not resisted without ruine ) and whosoever resisteth , shall receive , but what ? {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , damnation to themselves . now compare this place with th●t 1. cor. 11. 29. he that shall eat this bread , & drink this cup of the lord unworthily , eateth and drinketh , what ? {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , damnation to himself . if then there be proportion betwixt the sin and the punishment , you may hereby gather the heynousnesse of disobedience , the punishment whereof is the very same with his that is guilty of the body & blood of our lord ; to the one for not discerning the lords body , to the other for not discerning the lords annoynted . the lords annoynted ? and who is he ? none but the regenerate : christ is not christ to any , to whom jesus is not jesus . gods word answers your silly objection , not i : was not saul gods annoynted ? was not cyrus gods annoynted , and many more whom god acknowledges so & yet wicked kings ? cyrus is mine annointed yet he hath not known me . the first example for our obedience the old testament proposeth to our imitation , dan. 3. 16. nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon sets up a golden image , shadrach , meshach , and abednego , were commanded to fall down & worship it . the king a knowne pagan commands grosse idolatry , did these men conspire ? or ( being rulers of the province of babel ) did they invite the jewes into a rebellion ? did these to strengthen their own faction , blast their soveraignes name with tyranny and faganisme ? did they endeavour by scandals and impious aspersions to render him odious to his people ? did they encourage their provinces to take up arms for the defence of their liberties or religion ? did they seize upon or stop his revenues ? or annihilate his power ? did they estrange themselves from his presence ? murther his messengers . or would they have slighted his gracious offers ? no , being called by their prince , they came ; & being commanded to give actuall obedience to his unlawfull commands , observe the modestie of their first answer ; we are not carefull to answer thee in this matter ; and being urged , ma●ke their pious resolution in the second : be it knowne , o king , we will not serve thy gods , nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up . the king threatens the fornace , they yeeld their bodies to the fornane & say , god whom we serve wil deliver us out of thy hands , and not , he will deliver thee into our hands . they expect deliverance rather in their passive obedience , then in their actuall resistance . but they were few in number , and their forces not considerable . admit that , which all histories deny . was not god as able to subdue him with so few , as to deliver them from so many ? had their weaknesse lesse reason ( for the cause of gods apparent dishonour ) to expect a miraculous assistance in those daies of frequent miracles , then we after so long a cessation of miacles ? gods glory will not be vindicated by unlawfull means , or unwarrantable proceedings . i , but we take up armes , not against the king , but against his evill counsellours . adherents ye meane . a rare distinction ! and , tell me ; whose power have his adherents ? the kings : by which appeares , ye take up armes against the kings power ; he that resisteth the power ( it is not said the prince ) shall receive damation . againe , where the word of a king is , there is power . god joyned the king and his power , and who dare separate them ? they that take up armes against the parliaments power ( you say ) take up armes against the parliament ; doe not they then that take up armes against the kings power , by the same reason , take up armes against the king ? now , look back upon your intricate distinction , and blush . but , if the king betray the trust reposed in him by his subjects , they may suspend their obedience and resist him . kings are gods vicegerents , & cannot be compelled to give an accompt to any , but to god . against thee , against thee only have i sinned : that is to thee , to thee only must i give an accompt . though i have sinned against ●riah , by my act ; and against my people , by my example , yet against thee have i only sinned . you cannot deprive , or limit them in what you never gave them . god gave them , their power , and who are thou that darest resist it ? by me kings raigne . but , his crown was set upon his head by his subjects upon such and such conditions . why was the penaltie , upon the faile , not expressed them ? coronation is but a humane ceremonie . and was he not proclaimed before he was crowned ? proclaimed ? but what ? a king ? and did not you at the same instant by relative consequence , proclaime your selves subjects ? and shall subjects condition with their king , or will kings bind themselves to their subjects , upon the sorfeiture of their power , after they have received their regall authoritie ? but the king hath , by writ , given his power to his parliament , and therefore what they doe , they doe by vertue of his power . the king , by his writ , gives not away his power , but communicates it . by the vertue of which writ , they are called ad tractandum & consulendum de arduis regni , to treat and advise concerning the difficulties of the kingdome : here is all the power the writ gives them , and where they exceed , they usurp the kings power , being both against the law of god , and the constitutions of the kingdome . well , but in case of necessitie , when religion and libertie lye at the stake , the constitutions of the kingdome ( for the preservation of the kingdome ) may suffer a dispensation . admit that : but what necessitie may dispense with the violation of the law of god ? the deviation where from is evil , and thou shalt doe no evill that good may come thereon . but , we take not armes against the king , but only to bring delinquents to condigne punishment . and , who are they ? even those that take up armes for the king ; which an unrepealed statute , 11. hen. 7. acquits . but , admit statutes may be broken , and you seeke to punish them ; who gave you the power so to doe ? the law : and what law denyes the king power to pardon delinquents ? god that hath put power into the hand of majestie , hath likewise planted mercie in the heart of soveraigntie : and , will ye take away both his birth-right and his blessing also ? take heed , you doe not slight that , which one day may prove your sanctuarie . but , the king , being a m●●r monarch , is bound to his owne lawes . there be two sorts of lawes , directive and coercive : as to the first , he is onely bound to make his accompt to god ; so to the second , he is onely lyable to the hand of god : who shall say unto him , what dost thou ? but kings now adayes have not so absolute a power , as the kings mentioned in the scripture . who limited it ? god or man ? man could not limit the power he never gave : if god , shew me where ; till then , this objection is frivolous . but , when kings and their assistance make an offensive , and a destructive warre against their parliament , may they not then take up defensive armes ? it is no offensive warre for a king to endeavour the recoverie of his surrepted right ; however , are not the members of a parliament subjects to their soveraigne ? if not , who are they ? if subjects , ought they not to be subject ? gods people , the jewes , that were to be destroyed by the kings command , neither did not durst make a defensive warre against his abused power , untill they first obtained the kings consent . but admit it lawfull , ( though neither granted nor warranted ) that subjects may upon such tearmes make a defensive warre ; does it not quite crosse the nature of a defensive warre , to assayle , pursue , and dis-possesse ? when you shot five peeces of ordnance , before one was returned at edge-hill , was that defensive ? when you besieged redding , which you after slighted , was that defensive ? when you affronted basing-house , was that defensive ? the warrantable weapons against an angry king , are exhortation , disswasion , wise reprenfe ( by such as are nearest to him ) petition , prayer , and flight . all other weapons will at last wound them that use them . the second example was left us out of the new testament , by him that is the true president of all holy obedience , our blessed saviour ; whose humilitie and sufferance was set before us as a copie for all generations to practise by . the temporall kingdome of the jewes , successively usurpt by those two heathen princes , augustus & tiberius , two contemporaries , was his natural birth-right , descended from his type , and auncestor king david . had not he as great an interest in that crown , as we have in this common-wealth ? was not he as tender-eyed towards his own naturall people , as we to one another ? was not the truth as deare to him , ( who was the verie truth ) and the way to it as direct to him ( that was the only way ) as to us ? was not he the great reformer ? had the sword been a necessary stickler in reformation , how happened it that he mistook his weapon so ? in stead of a trumpet , he lifted up his voice . were plots , policies , propositions , prophanations , plunderings , militatie proparations , his way to reformation ? were they not his owne words , he that taketh up the sword , shall perish by the sword ? nor was it want of strength , that he reformed not in a martiall way : could not he command more then twelve legions of angels ? or had he pleased to use the arme of flesh ; could not he that raysed the dead , rayse a considerable army ? sure , s. john the baptist would have ventured his head upon a fairer quarrell , and s. peter drawn his sword to a bloodier end ; no question , but s. paul , the twelve apostles and disciples would have proved as tough colonels as your associated essex priests did captaines ; and doubtlesse s. peter , who converted 3000 in one day , would have raysed a strong army in six . our blessed saviour well knew , that caesar came not thither without divine permission ; in respect whereof , he became obedient to the very shadow of a king ; and whom he actively resisted not , he passively obeyed . i , but there was a necessity of his obedience , & subjection , to make him capable of a shamefull death . no , his obedience , as well as death , was voluntarie ; which makes you guiltie of a shamefull argument . but , he was a single person ; we a representative body : what is unexpedient in the one , is lawfull in the other . worse and worse ! if our blessed saviour be not representative , tell me where of art thou a member ? woe be to that body politick , which endeavours not to be conformed according to the head mysticall . he preacht peace ; your martiall ministers ( by what authoritie they best know ) proclaime warre : he , obedience ; they , sedition : he , truth ; they , lyes : he , order ; they , confusion : he , blessednesse to the peace-makers ; they , courage to the persecutors : he , blessednesse to the persecuted ; they brand them with malignitie that call them blessed . god was not heard in the whirlewind , but in the still voice . but , his thoughts are not as our thoughts , neither are our wayes like his wayes . but , whence proceeds all this ? even from a viperous generation ( which hath long nested in this unhappie island ) and those encreased multitudes of simple soules , seduced by their sceming sanctitie , who taking advantage of our late too great abuse of ceremonies , are turn'd desperate enemies to all order and discipline , being out of charity with the very lords prayer , because it comes within the popish liturgie . how many of these have lately chalenged the name of sanctified vessels , for containing the poyson of unnaturall sedition ? how many of these have usurpt the stile of well-affected , for dis-affecting peace ? how many of these have counterfeited the honour of good patriots , for largely contributing towards the ruines of their country ? how many does this army consist of ? how for their sakes is blasphemy connived at ! sacriledge permitted ! how , for their encouragement , are lyes and brasse-brow'd impudencies invented , nay publisht ( nay published in their very pulpits ) and tolerated ( if not commanded ) even by them , who ( pe●chance , were this quarrell ended ) would throw the first stone at them ! how many of our learned , religious , and orthodox divines ( who by their able tongues , and pens , have defended and maintained the true ancient and catholique faith and vindicated the reformed religion from the aspersions of her potent adversaries ) are now plundred in their goods , sequestred in their livings , imprison'd in their persons , ( if not forced in their consciences ) whilest their wives and poore children begging their bread , are left to the mercy of these , 〈◊〉 mercifull times ; even for the encouragement of them , whose pedantick learning durst never shew her ridiculous face before an easie school-man , whose livelyhoods they unworthily usurp , not dispensing the bread of life but the darnell of giddy-headed fancie and sedition , abhorring the way to peace , and maligning those that ensue it . i , but we desire peace , so we may have truth too . what meane ye by having truth ? the preservation of the old truth , or the institution of a new ? if ye feare the alteration of the old , ( having your soveraigns oath , which you dare not beleeve ) what other assurance can you have ? the blood you shed , is certaine ; the change you feare , is uncertaine : it is no wisedome to apply a desperate remedy to a suspected disease . if the enjoyment of peace depends upon a full assurance of truth , our discords may beare an everlasting date : god hath threatned to remove his candlestick and our wickednesse justly feares it ; and so long as we feare it , shall we abjure peace , the blessed meanes to prevent it ? he that seekes to settle truth by the sword , distracts it . or , is it a truth ye want ? if so , is it of doctrine , or of discipline ? if of doctrine , actum est de nostra religione , farewell our religion . or , is it of discipline ? discipline is but a ceremony . and did the lord of the sabbath dispence with a morall law , for the preservation of an oxes life , or an asses ? and shall we , to alter some few indifferent ceremonies ( allowed by the parliaments of three pious and wise princes , and the practise of many holy martyrs , who sealed the true protestant religion with their blood ) cry down peace , and shed the blood of many thousand christians ? our seduced protestants will have no set forms of prayer but what proceed immediatly from their owne fancies . this is their truth . our semi-separatists wil heare our sermons ( if they like the teacher ) but no divine service . this is their truth . our separatists will not communicate in our churches , nor joyne in our congregations . that is their truth . our anabaptists will not baptize till yeares of discretion , and re-baptize . that is their truth . our antinomians will have no repentance . this is their truth . our independents will have an universall paritie ; this their truth . good god , when shall we have peace , if not till all these truths meet ! but , christ sayes , i come not to bring peace , but the sword : therefore , for the propagation of peace , it is lawfull to use the sword . so , he is tearmed a stumbling block , and does that warrant us to stumble ? so , he sayes , all you shall be offended because of me ; and does this patronize our offences ? the law is good and just : because then we had not knowne sinne but by the law , is it therefore lawfull for us to sinne ? god forbid . our saviour brings the sword among us , as wholesome meat brings sicknesse to a weakely sick stomack , or physick to a body abounding with humours ; not intentionally , but occasionally . thus , by your erroneous and weake mistakes , you make the prince of peace the patron of your unnaturall warre ; and the god of truth , the president of your unexamined errors . but , almightie god , the champion of his owne truth , and maintainer of his own cause , hath ( to mere then common admiration ) appeared in this great enterprize . he that delivered israels handfull from the hand of pharoahs host , hath shewed himselfe in the ( almost incredible ) proceedings of this heaven-displeasing warre ; the brief relation whereof may move those hearts , that are not seated , or stone , to melt into a thankfull acknowledgement of his power , and remaine as monuments of his mercy , that children ( yet unborne ) may say hereafter , god was here : viz. the two houses of parliament made first a generall seizure of all the armes , ammunition , castles , forts , magazines , and ships , ( being the whole visible strength of this unhappie kingdome ) to whom ( having now setled the militia , both by sea and land , in their own hands ) tides of proposition-gold came in upon the publique faith ; money ( like blood from the liver , conveighed through all the veines ) issued to make a large supply , and where it stopt a while , mountains of massie plate , from the vast goblet to the slender thimble , this faith removed into their safe possession : and when the great milch-cow began to slake , they prest her nipples , and by hard streyning renew'd the stream . as physicians evacuate the body , sometimes by vomit , sometimes by purge , sometimes by phlebotomie , sometimes by sweating , sometimes fluxing , sometimes diuretically , yet purge but the same peccant humour ; so did they , first by proposition , then by way of contribution , now by way of loan , then by way of subsidie ( no lesse then 50 at one time ) here by way of assessement , there by way of twentieth part , then by way of excise , one while by way of sequestration , then by way of plunder , but still the issue , mony : and to work the better upon the affections of the multitude , all this for the behoof of king and parliament , for the pretended defence of ( god knowes what ) religion ; insomuch , that men came in like swarmes to the next tree , or rather like treacherous decoys , with their innocent multitude , into the net , and horses without number . thus were they supplyed with all necessaries which the arme of flesh could provide for the waging of an unconquerable war , whereon the money alreadie expended , makes no lesse figures then 17. millions ster. besides the revenues of the king queen , prince , duke of yorke , and the whole estates of all such as take up armes against them , besides free quarter , and souldiers yet unpayd . his majestie on the other side , driven away with a few attendants , not having among them so many swords and pistols as these had cannons , wanting both money , horses and ammution , onely what he received from the pietie of some beleeving subjects , ( whose eares were pamphlet-proofe against all defamations , and scandals cast upon sacred maiestie ) finding slender provision in his own dominions ; and that stopt or seized , which came from forreigne parts . no shipping , but what he purchast with the precious and extreame hazard of his few ( but valiant ) subjects : no armes , but what he gained by the couragious venture of his owne neglected life , the subject of our cortinuall prayers . yet , hath god covered his head in the day of battaile , and blest him with such successe , that he is ( by the divine providence ) become a great master of the field , and almost able to maintaine fight with his owne ships at sea . the god of heaven blesse him , and prosper him , and make his dayes as the dayes of heaven , that being here the faiths defender , he may still be defended by the object of that faith . nor is the providentiall hand of god more visible in prospering him then in punishing his enemies , whose ruines may remaine as sea-markes to us , and pyramids of gods power , whereof a touch . sir john hotham , then governour of hull , who first defyed and dared his soveraigne to his face , what is become of him ? how stands he a marke betwixt two dangers , having nothing left him but guile enough to make him capable of a desperate fortune ? master hampden , that first waged law & then war against his own naturall prince hath not he ( since these unhappy troubles began ) bin first punished with the losse of children , nay visited to the third generation , to the weakning ( if not ●●ining ) of his family , & then with the losse of his own life , in the same place where he first tooke up armes against his gracious soveraigne ? was it not remarkable that the lord brook who so often excepted against that clause in the lyturgie , ( from sudden death good lord deliver us ) was slaine so suddenly ? who was so severe an enemy against peace should perish in the same warre , ●e so encouraged ? who , so bitterly inveighed against episcopall government , should be so shot dead out of a cathedrall church ? who labouring to put out the left eye of establisht government , his left eye , and life were both put out together ? how is duke ham●l●on ( scarce warme in his new honour ) taken in his owne ●●re , having entangled his lord and master in so many inconveniences ? how is holland , whose livelyhood was created by his soveraigns favours , branded with a double treachery , and like a shittlecock fallen at the first returne , and scarce able to raise himselfe by a sorry declaration ? is not bristoll fines ( who at his councell of war condemned and executed innocent blood ) himselfe condemned , ( pleading innocence ) at a councell of war , from the mouth of his owne generall , though finding ( perchance ) more mercy then he either deserved , or shewed ? but that blood that cryed to him for mercy , will crie to heaven for vongeance . and are not many more ripe for the same judgement , whose notorious crimes have branded them for their respective punishments ? how many of those blood-preaching ministers have died expectorating blood , whilst others at this time labouring under the same disease , can find no art to promise a recoverie ? all whom i leave to possible repentance , and passe over . cromwell , that profest desacer of churches ( witnesse peterborough , and lincolne , &c. ) and rifler of the monuments of the dead , whose prphane troopers ( if fame has not forgot to speak a truth ) watered their horses at the font , and fed them at the holy table , that cromwell . sandes , whose sacrilegious troopers committed such barbarous insolencies , with his ( at least ) connivence , in the church of canterbury , and used such inhumane tortures on the tender brests of women , to force confession of their hidden goods , the golden subjects of their robberie . what can the first expect , and what reward the other hath found , i neither prophesie nor judge . if these and such as they , doe fight for the beformed religion , god deliver every good man both from them , and it : cursed be their wrath , for it is fierce ; and their anger , for it is cruell . these ( and of such many ) are they , that whilst they pretend a reformation , need first to be reformed . nor doe i , in tasking this army of such impious barbarismes , excuse or rather not condemn the other ; whereof no question , too great a number are as equally prophane ; whilst all together make up one body of wickednesse , to bring a ruine on this miserable kingdome ; for whose impieties his majestie hath so often suffered . i but his majesties army ( besides those looser sorts of people ) consills of numerous papists , the utter enemies of true religion . to whom the king hath sworn his protection , from those he may require assistance . but , unto all his people as well papists as protestants , he hath sworne his protection ; therefore from all his subjects , as well papists as protestants he may require assistance . neither does he call in papists as papists , to maintaine religion ( as himselfe hath often manifested ) but as subjects to subdue , or at least qualifie sedition . the ayd of the subject , is either in his person or in his purse ; both are requirable to the service of a soveraigne . put case his majestie should use the assistance of none but protestants ; tell me , would ye not be apt to cavill that he is favourable to the papists ; neither willing to endanger their persons , nor endamage their purses ; or , at least , that they are reserv'd for a last blow ? or , in case papists should largely under-write to your propositions , send in horses , armes , or other provisions , would you not accept it , and for its sake their persons too ? are you so strict in your preparations , as to catechize every souldier ? or , to examine first every officers religion ? or , having the proffer of a good popish , or debaucht commander , tell me , should he be denyed his commission ? remember sir arthur ashton , whom his majesty entertains by your example . these things indifferently considered , it will manifestly appeare , that the honest-minded vulgar aremeerly seduced , under the colour of piety , to be so impious , as by paysoning every action of their lawfull prince , to foster their implicite rebellion . but , in case , your side should prosper , and prevaile , what then ? would then our misertes be at an end ? reason tells us , no , god keeps us from the experience : think you , that government ( whether new , or reformed ) which is set up by the sword , must not be maintained by the sword ? and how can peace and plentie be consistent with perpetuall garrisons , which must be maintained with a perpetuall charge ; besides the continuall excursions , and conniv'd-at injuries committed by souldiers , judge you ? or , put the case , this necessary consequence could be avoided , think you the ambition of some new states-men accustomed to such arbitrary , and necessitated power , on the one side , and the remaining loyaltie of his majesties dis-inherited subjects watching all opportunities to right their injur'd soveraigne , and themselves , on the other side , would not raise perpetuall tempests in this kingdome ? or , if such an ( almost ) unpreventable evill should not ensue , think you , such swarmes of sectaries sweat for nothing ? are their purses so apt to bleed to no end ? will not their costs , and paines expect , at least , a congratulatory connivence in the freedome of their consciences ? or , will their swords , now in the strong possession of so great a multitude , know the way into their quiet scabbards , without the expected liberty of their religions ? and , can that liberty produce any thing but an establisht disorder ? and is not disorder the mother of anarchie ? and that , of ruine ? open then your eyes , closed with crasse , and wilfull blindnes and consider , and prevent that , which your continued disobedience will unavoidably repent too late . but , the truth is , they are all papists , by your brand , that comply not in this action with you : admit it were so ; are not papists as tolerable for his majesty , as anabaptists , brownists , separatists , atheists , antinomians , turks , and indeed all religions and factions , nay papists too , for his subjects ? these of his majesties side come freely , out of their allegeance , as subjects : yours , are preach'd in , comming out of obstinacie , as rebells : they , at their owne charges proportionable to their abilities ; these like iudas , selling their soveraignes blood for ill payd wages : yet , both sides pretend a quarrell for the true protestant religion . good god! what a monstrous religion is this , that seeks protection from the implacable opposition of her two champions ! his majesty protests to maintaine it : the two houses protest to maintaine it : o , for an oedipus to reade this riddle ! his majesty addes one clause more , wherein if the other party would agree , the worke would be at an end , which is : according to the establisht constitutions , by oath taken by him at his coronation ; and there the two houses leave him contending for a yet undetermined alteration . and , for my part , i dare not conceive such evill of the lords anointed , and my gracious soveraigne , as to feare him perjur'd . hatn not his majesty , in the presence of that god , by whom he reignes , imprecated the curse of heaven on him and his royall posterity , ( sub sigillo sacrament . too ) if he , to his utmost , maintaine not the true protestant religion exercised in that blessed queenes dayes , and propagated by the blood of so many glorious martyrs ( at which time god blest this island in so high a measure ) if he preserve not the just priviledges of parliament , and the liberty of the subject ? nay , more , did not his majesty so promise the severe execution of the statute against all recusants , that if he failed , he desired not the ayde of his good subjects ? what interiour person would not think his reputation wronged , not to take up considence upon such terrible termes ? what notorious evill hath his majesty perpetrated to quench the sparkles of a common charity ? consider , o , consider ; he acts his part before the king of kings , whose eye is more especially upon him ; he acts his part before his fellow princes , to whom he hath declared this his imprecation ; he acts his part before his subjects , whose stricter hand weighs his pious words with too unequall balances . were he the acknowledger of no god , yet the princes of the earth , ( if guilty of such a perjurie ) would abhorre him . or , were all the princes of the earth , blind , deafe , or partiall , would not he think his crown a burthen to be worne upon his perjured brow before his own abused people ? or , ( having renounced his subjects ayde , upon his fayle ) could he expect that loyalty , which now he wants upon a meere suspition ? but : he is a prince , whom god hath crowned with graces above his fellowes ; a prince , whom , for his piety , few ages could parallel . what vices of the times have branded his repute ? his youth , high diet , strength of body , and soveraigne power might have enclin'd , and warpt him to luxurious vanitie , as well as other monarchs , whose effeminacles have enerv'd the strength of their declining kingdoms ; how many would have held it a preferment to be attorny to his royall lust , or secretary to his li●some sinne ? yet , he remaines a president of unblemisht chastity . he might have pleasd and pamperd up his wanton palate with the choice of curious wives , to lighten cares which wait upon the regall diademe ; yet , he continues the patterne of a chaste sobriety : he might have magnifyed his mercie , and sold his justice , to reward a service , in pardoning offences ( committed by those of neare relation ) yet he abides the example of inexorable justice . these and many other eminent graces , and illustrious vertues can claime no birth from flesh and blood ; especially , in those , whose pupillages are strangers to correction ; nor is it safe divinity , to acknowledge such high gifts , from any hand , but heaven . which , being so , my conscience , and religion tells me , that almighty god , ( who is all perfection ) will not leave a work so forward . so imperfect ; but , will , from day to day , still adde and adde to his transcendent vertues , till he appeare the glory of the world ; and , after many yeares be crowned in the world of glorie . martial . llb. 8. ep. 66. rerum prima salus , & una caesar . post-script to the reader . now thou hast heard the harmony of scriptures , without corruption ; and the language of reason , without sophistry . thou hast not only heard divine precepts , but those precepts backt with holy examples : neither those out of the old testament alone , but likewise out of the new . being now no matter lest for thy exceptions , prevaricate no longer with thy own soule : and , in the feare of god , i now adjure thee once againe , as thou wilt answer before the tribunall at the dreadfull and terrible day ; that thou faithfully examine , and ponder the plaine texts which thou hast read , and yeelding due obedience to them , stop thine eares against all sinister expositions ; and remember , that historicall scripture will admit no allegoricall interpretations . if any thing , in this treatise , shall deserve thy answer , doe it punctually , briefly , plainly , and with meeknes ; if , by direct scripture , thou canst ( without wresting ) refute my error , thou shalt reforme , and save thy brother ; if not , recant thine , and hold it no dishonor to take that shame to thy self , which brings glory to thy god . 1 pet. 3. 15. be alwayes ready to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason , with meeknes and feare . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a56832e-240 pre. 1. pre. 2. ob. ans. 1 sam , 26. 9. example 1. dan. 3. 19. dan. 3. 18. dan. 3. 17. ob. ans. ob. ans. eccl. 8. ob. ans. psal. 51. 4. prov. ● , 15. ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. ans ob. ars. hester 8. example 2. 1 pet. 2. mat. 26. 52 ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. ans. ob. mar. 10. 34. ans. 1 co. 1. 23. mat. 26. 31. rom. 7. 7. ob. ans. observations upon mr. johnson's remarks, upon dr. sherlock's book of non-resistance sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. 1689 approx. 43 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59833 wing s3305 estc r9591 12029879 ocm 12029879 52740 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59833) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52740) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 878:8) observations upon mr. johnson's remarks, upon dr. sherlock's book of non-resistance sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. [2], 21 p. [s.n.], london : 1689. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. attributed to william sherlock. cf. nuc. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng johnson, samuel, 1649-1703. -remarks upon dr. sherlock's book, intituled the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved. obedience. divine right of kings. allegiance -great britain. nonjurors. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 mona logarbo and andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2004-12 mona logarbo and andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion observations upon mr. johnson's remarks , upon dr. sherlock's book of non-resistance . 1 samuel , chap. 26. verse 16. this thing is not good that ye have done , as the lord liveth ye are worthy to dye , because ye have not kept your master the lord 's anointed . london , printed in the year , 1689. observations upon the preface to mr. johnson's remarks , upon dr. sherlock's book of non-resistance . mr. johnson , my former knowledge of your person and manner of conversation , raised my desire of reading your life of julian , and the little piece you have since published against the learned dr. sherlock , and both together have confirmed me in this opinion , that you are certainly next mr. oats the fittest person in the world to write the life of julian , having so exactly transcrib'd it in your own , he being that to the catholick church , what you have so industriously approv'd your self to the church of england , a perfidious apostat . you are pleased to call your little book ( and such it is upon more accounts than one ) remarks upon dr. sherlock's book of non-resistance , and remarks indeed they are , but such as our young trifling novices , make in their journies through france or italy , which have no other effect upon a wise reader than to persuade a belief they have been there ▪ and scarcely that : they are such remarks as would tempt a man to think you were retain'd on both sides , or at least were in fee with your adversary , or bribed by a partial affection to his person and reputation ; but this conjecture you can easily confute . you are pleas'd to tell us ( page the 25th ) that you would run over all the doctors scripture proofs ( in the excellent management of which lies the strength of the cause , and the learning of the author ) whereas you have taken no notice of any more than two , and only nibled at them without any impression or hurt , but with what ingenuity is not easily comprehended , much less justifi'd without your old friend 's secret against blushing : and thus you have indeed rid your hands easily of the bafled cause of non-resistance ; which , if it receive no deeper wound than those your feeble passes yet have made , will outlive your forward triumphs , and conquer , as much as it despises , the insolence that fools and knaves have treated it withall ; a doctrine that commenc'd together with religion either jew or christian , ( as the pious and learned archbishop usher has irrefragably prov'd . ) a doctrine that shall know no end , but when all things must confess their ashes , and then it shall be swallowed up in the glorious rewards of confessors and martyrs . but you are pleas'd to give us another reason for publishing your book , that is , to offer your service to some men's new-fashioned loyalty , which , you say , must be adopted church of england doctrine too , as well as the other : this indeed gave me great hopes of finding from so clear a casuist , and so moderate a man , irresistible satisfaction of its being my duty to take the new-oaths , which piece of service would have bound me over to as great gratitude , as can be supposed due to the charitable and seasonable preserver of my little all i have in this world : but if instead of offering one single reason evincing the duty and obligation to take this oath ; you have advanced two or three considerably cogent reasons why i should not , then i hope the government will allow your argument in some abatement to the guilt , whatever they do to the punishment of my non-complyance ; for all good men fear the guilt more than they do the punishment , and this you have done as appears by what you tell us ( page the 55 ) no man can authorise himself ; if so , i desire you to tell us by what authority this new-oath is imposed ; for the compilers of this law either do authorise themselves , or else they receive their authority aliunde ; if the first , you have already determin'd against them ; if the second , pray shew us from whence ; taking this of our saviour along with you , if i bear testimony of my self , my testimony is not true . but in the second place you tell us , that king william is the rightfullest king that ever sat upon the english throne : when in that very breath you defeat the right you would maintain , and are a very traytor to the title you would advance ; and i am content with you never to desire a greater advantage than to reduce my adversary to this absurdity , of making no difference betwixt a title and no title , which is a rowland for the oliver you gave the doctor ; law and no law : and that you have done this appears thus ; if king william be the rightfullest king that ever sat upon the throne of england , then no king ever ascended the throne by the same right , and by the same hands that he does ; for every king that came by it as he does , was just as rightful a king as he is , and then consequently he is not the rightfullest : well then , if no king was ever plac'd upon the throne by the same hand and right as he , then it is very plain he can have no right at all by the common law of england ; for common law is common usage , and sure that 's a strange common usage , that cannot shew one president ; one example at least to warrant it , which your assertion plainly supposes and acknowledges : well then , besides the common law , england knows no other but that we call the statute-law , and by that he has no title , or else the convention did him a great deal of wrong , for they never declared the right to be his by succession , but by their donation : thus you defend the present title , just as you guided your unfortunate masters conscience and honour , by betraying both ; and if king william had no better title than what in this preface you have given him , he neither could nor would expect to be obeyed ; and now if any of my brethren should look upon our obligation to complyance to be less than it was before , through the insufficiency of the arguments you have produced in its behalf , you will be responsible to us for our livings , and to his majesty for the withdrawing the service of so many men of our condition ; for i am morally certain that were these words of yours ( king william is the rightfullest king that ever sat upon the english throne ) inserted , and made a part of the oath , there would not have have been found in the whole nation , as bad as it is , an hundred men of your swallow ; i am very well satisfied that the government is not so unreasonable ( however you represent them , ) as not to be glad that , the whole body of the clergy were satisfied as well as themselves ; and i hope you are not one of those malicious blades that would insinuate , as if this new act were made only to revenge the bartholomew act in 62 , and wish it might have the same effect ; yet you have given us a very fair specimen of your hatred to the present government , since you could never have wish'd for a more sweet , or taken a more effectual revenge than you have done , by turning such an hebrew advocate in their behalf ; methinks 't is great pity there is no law obliging all men to hang the keys of their consciences at your girdle ! and as it is to be hoped they will chastise the maliciously affected weakness of your defence , so it were seriously to be wish'd , that before the time comes , they would provide us some learned and conscientious casuist , that might be able by the conviction of scripture , reason and law , to promote those good inclinations we in the presence of god sincerely profess to have of living under our superiours , a sober and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty . and i do promise in my own , and ( as i believe i may ) in the name of all my brethren , that are yet unsatisfied , that our refusal to comply shall lie no longer hid in lurking scruples , and reasons best known to our selves ( as you out of your abundant charity would insinuate ) than till our superiours shall be pleased with indemnity to allow us to bring them forth , ( for though truth never seeks , it may be driven into corners ) to men of their own nomination and appointment , with an obligation to the severest penalties , if we can be prov'd to have divulg'd them any farther . therefore all the spiteful flourishes you make in the 2d . page of your preface , and the malicious as well as silly questions that you ask , are but so many instances of your natural incivility and rudeness towards us , as well as of an ungentile insolence in provoking him whose hands are tyed , which is very true in reference to the danger he must lye under , who dares be so hardy as to answer your questions , which yet i my self dare engage to do upon good security of freedom and indemnity , and to back those answers with such reasons as shall ensure me the priviledge of being ( for you ) unanswerable , or else i will forfeit my head where yours is due : you need not wonder at this caution in me ( in whom it is too seldom a fault ) who am not now to be told the danger of making my tongue or my pen too familiar with my thoughts ; i am not so much in love with jayls , and pilloreis , and whipping-posts , as needlesly to court mr. colliers first answer , or the no less pennance of reading his second ; besides mr. oats and your self have given us a fair instance what ineffectual methods those are of reducing men to sobriety ; if ever such or greater punishments should be our lot , our prayers are that god would enable us to bear them with such magnanimity , meekness , and resignation , as becomes those who profess the doctrine of passive obedience , taught and practised by christ and his apostles , the primitive and the best reformed christians ; but surely god has a very great controversie with this nation of ours , surely our sins are ripe for the severest judgments ; the land is divided into two extreme sinful parts , one by our sins are fitted to suffer under the doctrine of resistance ; others sinful enough to be permitted to preach , believe and prosecute it : i meekly thank god , that though my sins are strangely great , and deserve more than i can suffer , yet he hath not given me up to the latter judgment of teaching it , and i trust he never will. indeed mr. johnson , your apparently contrary behaviour in the very subject matter of this discourse , has not been so amiable and inviting as to render it exemplary , but has rather prejudic'd and hinder'd that enforcement , which your suffering name and fallacious reasons might otherwise have given it : no good christian can approve , or indeed with patience hear , and no crown'd head will endure your barbarous usage of king james , in which you have out-done your own forgeries and ill pack'd stories in your life of julian . is it thus that you curse not the king , no not in your heart ? is it thus that you commit your self and your cause to him that judgeth righteously ? is it thus that you heap coals of fire upon the head of your enemy ? and do you thus overcome evil with good ? no , no , the apparent marks of an unchristian resentment , and an ungenerous revenge make up the whole contexture of your preface , and by this means you have under your own hand renounc'd to the merits of your sufferings , forefaulted your right of compensation , abdicated your religion together with your king , and sign'd a kind of posthumous apology for your judges , and almost justify'd the inhumanity of your sentence . you say ( page the sixth of your preface ) that if king james had been a rightful king when he took possession of the crown ( as he was not but a publick enemy ) he has since that time broken the fundamental contract : in these words there is one of the boldest and most notorious falshoods that ever was broach'd , for he was certainly rightful king after the death of his brother , even though your malicious insinuation from his outliving him , had ( which it has not ) either weight or truth in it : the very votes of both houses of convention acknowledge so much when they insisted upon the abdication , without ever calling his title into question ; besides if he had no right to succeed in the throne , your lord and the other gentlemen of the exclusion were much in the wrong ; had you made as much appear then , as you confidently assert now , you had sav'd the two houses a great many angry debates , and the important fortress of tangier had been still in our hands , and undemolished ; and the lower house knew the importance of that place very well when they set the bill of exclusion upon it's head as the price of its relief or redemption rather ; and what necessity there was to shut out by law , one that by law had no right to come in , surpasses my discerning : yet farther , you prayed for him as king as oft as you did your duty in reading common-prayer ; now men of mettle are seldom hypocrites , and i cannot persuade my self you could in your prayers to god acknowledge him to be king , whom in your conscience you did not think rightfully and lawfully to be king : all prevarication is disengenuous and cannot become a christian , much less one that waits at the altar , and still less in the service of god ; so that this consequence is self-evident , either you were a hypocrite then , or worse now : as for what you say of his being excluded by three successive houses of commons , you might as well have told us that he was excluded by the diet at ratisbone , or the swiss cantons , for their power was as great to exclude him as that of the commons of england alone without the consent of the king and lords : you have made as much of it as the case will bear , when you tell us it was a caveat , and i suppose you know the nature of a caveat so well as not to stand in need of information what manner of treatment they commonly meet with in all places where they are entred . page the 11th . you say , the oath of allegiance is the counterpart of the coronation oath , and that it is of the nature of covenants , and that it is a conditional oath . now if all this could be substantially prov'd , it would go a great way towards a conviction of those whose consciences ( for want of information in this very point ) will not give them leave to take the new oath : now i could tell you this looks very like begging the question , or at least a haughty imposition of your sentiments upon other men , having not been pleased to produce one medium to prove so great an assertion by , but you pronounce magisterially your opinion and expect all your readers should subscribe to you , as to an infallible dictator ; but when we took that priviledge from the old gentleman at rome we did not intend to naturalize it at home , we have long since emancipated our selves from that piece of slavery , and are something unwilling to be brought again under the same yoke of bondage we so effectually cast off ; nullius addicti jurare in verba magistri , is our motto , and whatsoever conceit you may have of your own authority , you must not expect the same extravagant civility should be paid it by other men ; you have given us but too just a cause to examine a little narrowly into the very best reasons you have yet thought fit to produce , and having not found them sterling , you must not take it ill if we bring the rest to the touchstone . how pitifully you trifle with us in this paragraph with a silly instance of a master and an apprentice , where you wisely suppose the master to turn his apprentice out of doors , and yet expect the performance of his service ; did king james ever banish any man to mevis or the barbadoes , and yet at the same time expect his attendance , either in the court or camp ; or did he commit any clerk to jayl , and then punish him for non-residence ? your instances and your arguments are all of a piece , and you have very ill luck with both ; had you prov'd that a son's obedience to his father had held no longer than pater se bene gesserit , and then constituted the son the judge of his fathers good or male-administration ; or that the wife was discharged of her subjection to her husband , if she can plead actions of unkindness against him , then you had done something to the purpose , then you might have confuted the apostle and passive obedience , which have taught submission not only to the good and gentle , but also to the froward ; then you might have boldly deny'd the happiness the apostle tells us shall be the reward of them who suffer patiently in and for well-doing , since according to you , no man ought to suffer any longer than till he can either hinder or revenge his sufferings : i always thought religion had been intended to restrain and correct our unruly passions , not to give up the reins and let them loose ; such doctrine is neither the wisdom nor the peace that comes from above , nor the way thither , but comes from below , and is earthly , sensual , devilish . you tell us pag. 11 & 12 you are able to prove that the oath of allegiance taken to a tyrant , would be a void unlawful and wicked oath ; void , because it is an obligation to obedience according to law , which a tyrant makes it his business to destroy , so that it is swearing to things inconsistent ; unlawful , because the english constitution will not admit such a person to be king , it knows no king but such as can do no wrong ; wicked , because it strengthens his hands in the destruction of our countrey , so far you : now this needs only to be twice read to shew the absurdity , the weakness and the malice of it , especially if you design the application ( as by the drift of your discourse appears you do ) to be made to king james , and to all that swore allegiance to him , but especially to them ( if any such there be ) who think themselves still bound by that oath ; for we who swore allegiance to him at his first coming to the crown , did it to a king not to a tyrant ; nay , it was almost impossible he should be a tyrant when some of us took those oaths , unless susceptio coronae facit tyrannum , which for some body's sake i know you won't aver : he had then but just begun his reign , and had given us assurance of his intentions to govern according to law : nay , even they who swore allegiance to him after he had begun to break his word , and had made some inroads upon property and religion , still swore to a king and not to a tyrant ; for it would be a very difficult task even for you ( whose hatred to his person has given you the pen of a ready writer ) to assign by what individual action he commenc'd tyrant , and the very moment wherein he ceas'd to be king : vertue and vice dwell in each others neighbourhood , and their boundaries are to be distinguished by every eye : yet farther , what though my oath of allegiance be an obligation of obedience according to law ? and what though the king to whom i swear goes about to destroy the law ? is therefore my swearing allegiance to him , swearing to things inconsistent ? by no means : am i bound by that oath to be one of his instruments that shall help him to subvert the law , and enslave my fellow subjects ? or am i perjured if i refuse ? by no means ; i am indeed if i resist : and thus you may easily see the bafled doctrine of passive obedience would have found out an excellent medium betwixt these two , to suffer when according to conscience ( and that i will allow to be directed by law ) i can do no longer the pleasure of my king ; thus an oath to a king who afterwards proves a tyrant , is not void , because it is not swearing to things inconsistent . next you say , an oath of allegiance sworn to a tyrant is unlawful , and for so saying you give this merry reason , because the english constitution admits no such person to be king ; which takes away the very subject matter of our dispute ; for if this tyrant can be no king , i am as sure that no king can be no tyrant ; there can be no oath of allegiance sworn in a monarchy but to the king : so for once you are in the right ; for nullius juramenti nulla est obligatio . lastly you say , an oath of allegiance sworn to a tyrant is wicked , and for this reason , because it strengthens his hands in the destruction of our countrey : which i flatly deny , because ( as i told you before ) there is a medium betwixt a sinful obedience to an unlawful command , and perjury , which is passive obedience ; but that medium you don't love , and therefore won't admit it . again you say , as soon as the realm has declared him a tyrant , our oath of allegiance becomes void , but for what reason , according to what law , and by what authority , some body else must tell , for you cannot : what you say in this is gratis dictum , and must be swallowed upon your sole authority ; but that i do and always shall except against as insufficient , even if it could not be suspected of partiality , as in this last it vehemently is : pray what authority have you to affirm , which your readers have not to deny ? but your next is a delicate flight in these words , speaking about the oath of allegiance sworn to king james , an oath which ought not to have been made , and is now as if it never had been made , which was ill made , and would be worse kept , i suppose , than it was made ; now there seems no other answer required to this but a little of your own jargon , which a friend of mine has done to my hands — when a corder a cording , encord's him a cord , in cording that cord , he three cords doth encord ; but if one of the cords that encordeth , uncord , then the cord that uncordeth , uncordeth the cord. but to be serious , though it be very difficult amidst such stuff as this , let me ask you , do you seriously believe , that the oath of allegiance made to king james did never bind ? whom do you arraign when you say that oath ought never to have been made ? did he make or enact it himself ? or was it not made and enforced in the good days of queen elizabeth , and his grandfather king james the first ? or was the exacting that oath any part of the accusation laid to the charge of charles the martyr ? or did the bloody preachers of your doctrine of resistance in those days suppress any of his crimes out of a tender regard to his person or credit ? besides you say , it was ill made and would be worse kept , without considering the strange incongruity of that expression ; indeed a thing that is ill made may be ill kept , but how that which is ill made can be worse kept , i find not ; the guilt of keeping , must bear proportion to the guilt of making a law , because the effect must be commensurate to the cause ; and though the stream may fall lower , it cannot naturally rise higher than the fountain ; so that we who believe our selves under an obligation to keep it , are for so doing just as guilty ( and no more ) as those parliaments that made it : if then it was lawfully imposed , and lawfully taken ; then as there needs no angel to oblige us to keep it , ( our obligation arising from a greater authority than theirs , ) so none of that glorious order either can or will oblige us to break it , for they are the ministers of good , not evil . you say , page the 13th . the maxim of those you are pleased to call male-contents , is better popery than perjury . if my perfect agreement to the truth of that proposition will render me a male-content , i am and shall be , i hope , one all the days of my life ; nay , i will go one step farther , if there be any thing on this side hell worse than popery , i had rather it should befall me , than that it should be kept out , or prevented by any unlawful , unjust , or wicked means of mine whatever ; believe me , he is either a mean scholar in religion , or a very bold man that dares say god stands in need of our vertues ; but he must be a man of a more than ordinary assurance ( of your mettle , ) that dares say god stands in need of our vices . — si pergama dextra defendi possint , etiam hac defensa fuissent . with his own right hand , and with his holy arm , he can get himself the victory : if he sees it good for us to enjoy the blessing of a publick and free exercise of our religion ; he can do it without any offence or fault of ours at all ; but if not , we have been always taught , and will constantly maintain and teach , that we are in no case to do evil , that good may come of it ; not to break gods laws , to maintain his worship ; not to turn bankrupts to loyalty , to drive the greater trade in religion ; not to shake hands with the gospel , to take the firmer hold of christ ; not to forsake the church of england , to secure the reformation ; not to bring in a bill of exclusion of the next rightful heir , to secure an hereditary monarchy ; not to think the observation of the second and fourth , a valuable composition for the breach of the fifth and tenth commandments ; these are slow hebrew methods of divinity to me ; as if all religion were analytical , and the only way of progression in christianity , were to be retrograde in the duties of it : for what good can our religion do us , when we defend it by means that dishonour both it , and its author ? you desire us to remember that the popery and the perjury have gone always together , and have always been both of a side ; i agree with you entirely as to this matter ; and i have long fear'd the coming in of popery , and i thank you for discovering from what quarter we are to expect it ; i have in all places , and upon every fair opportunity freely declared , that popery could never come into england , unless carried upon protestants shoulders , and the four last years reign has not in the least confuted , but confirm'd and strengthned that opinion : alas ! what a silly poor feeble thing is popery in its proper colours ? how easily was it driven out without a blow ? did we not laugh at and despise , the reverse of fabius's wisdom manifested in their no less foolish than hasty and forward methods to bring popery in ? when all the protestants in the world could not have taken a more effectual course ( than themselves did ) to keep it out : but popery in its borrowed light confesses anack , whilst we protestants by our divisions lend it fatal colours , and a gigantick proportion , and power ; in this she boasts like archimedes , she is able to turn the world upside down , but she must sharpen her instruments at your forge , and our animosities must give her room whereon to set her foot : must the church of england be weakned for fear the protestant interest should be strong ? and will she not be weakned by the deprivation of so many as are resolv'd to make a conscience of keeping the oaths that they have taken , and from the obligation of which they have sworn , that no power upon earth is able to absolve them ? so that if perjury and popery go always together , and are of a side , you have fairly acquitted us from any share in the guilt of introducing it , unless refusing to swear to a new oath , in direct contradiction to one we have lawfully sworn already , be perjury , and methinks you might as well call it any thing else . see now what your argument will amount to : thus , the fears or interest of a roman catholick have overcome him , and prevail'd upon him to take an oath wherein he does from his heart acknowledge supremacy in all causes , and over all persons whether ecclesiastical or civil , to be lodged in the person of a protestant king in whose dominions he lives , and upon oath declares that he believes no person or persons upon earth have any power to release him from this oath , or from any part of it ; and that therefore as he ought , so he will bear faith and true allegiance to that king whilst he lives , and to his heirs and lawful successors when he is dead ; now comes julian johnson and tells him , after some other discourse , wherein he persuaded him not to think he lay under any obligation to that oath ; pish sir , you are a young christian , and a stranger to that liberty wherewith christ hath made you free ; the king you are sworn to , hates your religion and persecutes your person ; the church has declared him a heretick , and the state a tyrant , and an oath made to a tyrant is void , unlawful and wicked ; the time of our redemption is come , and redemption is a title though conquest is not , and will make your redeemer the rightfullest king that ever sat upon the throne : why man , are you not satisfi'd yet ? your want of satisfaction lies hid in lurking places , and reasons best known to your self , for i am able to prove if occasion required . ( non tali auxilio ne defensoribus istis tempus eget . ) — that your oath did never bind ; that it is an oath which ought not to have been made , and is now as if it were never made , which was ill made , and would be worse kept — and by this time my blade begins to relent ; truly sir , i have been always taught , and always believed otherwise , but for the preservation of catholick religion and the good of holy church , i must submit to your unanswerable arguments ; and then he breaks an oath , which he had but little inclination to keep . now let any man in the world judge , whether this be any more than fair turning of the tables , and giving just the same sauce to the goose , that you gave to the gander ; for what protestant king in the world has any reason to think this perjury in his popish , which any popish king has not to think this perjury in his protestant subjects , with this aggravation of the matter into the bargain , that the protestants have constantly accused the church as prevaricating in this matter , and have abhorr'd her upon that very score , which ought to set that example at the greatest distance from us ; and every word of this the catholicks in queen elizabeth's days might well have pleaded , if the spanish invasion had succeeded ; and no doubt they would have had their appointed days of thanksgiving also , and have celebrated philip of spain as their great and glorious deliverer from heresy and slavery : thus by laying the scene under another reign , we may take a just estimate of the unaccountable partiality we are guilty of in our own cause , whereas there ought to be legitima personarum mutatio in order to the true understanding and practising the greatest and the most comprehensive rule of righteousness , whatsoever you would that men should do unto you , do you even so unto them : now if all the priests in the church of rome were just such casuists as you are , and all the people of that communion could believe them , and would be directed by them , you might as well shackle the hellespont , and commit the sea to the gate-house , or make any other gotham-act to hedge in these cuckows ; for they upon this principle bid the same defence to any law , oaths or tests that the power or wit of man can make , that you have done ( with less reason ) to cambridge , and the church julia shall spead the rest ; the heathen poet corrects the christian priest. sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponunt , et nullo credunt mundum rectore moveri , fortuna volvente vices , & lucis , & anni , atque ideo intrepidi quaecunque altaria tangunt , hic putat esse deos , et peierat . — your 14 and 15 pages are a glorious apothesis of those men who were executed according to law , for the meritorious crimes of treason and rebellion . oh! that the mastership of the canonization-office were but divided betwixt mr. baxter and you , we must quickly reform and correct our calendar , and in the room of the twelve apostles , ( those church of england preachers of passive obedience , ) insert the names of cromwell , bradshaw , ravilliack , and milton , in the company of some now alive ; but , — quos dicere nolo , experiar quid concedatur in illos , quorum flaminia tegitur cinis atque latina . you have this expression concerning some you hate , — who shed that more than innocent blood ; without adverting , that every drop of blood in man that pretends to be more than innocent , is for that very reason , less ; you would do well to answer if you can , that which you ignorantly call an infamous libel , the magistracy and government of england vindicated , and then perhaps we may call the execution of that unfortunate , ( but by his own confession not very innocent ) lord , the murther of a great man : i cannot indeed blame your concern for the death of a man , whom you first seduced , ( as is credibly reported ) and then confirm'd in the fatal doctrin of resistance against the supreme power , in case the religion established by law were invaded , ( which i cannot but believe that lord then thought ) contrary to the then sentiments of dr. burnet , and the reverend dean of canterbury , as evidently appears by mr. deans letter to that unfortunate nobleman , — and in that letter he lays down these three propositions . first , that the christian religion doth plainly forbid the resistance of authority . secondly , that though our religion be established by law , ( which your lordship urges as a difference between our case and the case of the primitive christians , ) yet in the same law which establishes our religion it is declared , that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up arms : besides , that there 's a particular law declaring the power of the militia to be solely in the king. and this ties the hands of subjects , though the law of nature , and the general rules of scripture had left us at liberty ; which i believe they do not , because the government and peace of humane societies could not well subsist upon these terms . thirdly , your lordships opinion is contrary to the declared doctrin of all protestant churches ; and though some particular persons have taught otherwise , yet they have been contradicted herein and condemn'd for it by the generality of protestants ; — this is part of that excellent letter dr. tillotson wrote to my lord , to persuade him to repent of that dangerous mistake , by which he says , his lordship might prevent a mighty scandal to the reformed religion , — whether either or both of these great men have changed their opinion since , and upon what motives , is neither my duty nor my present business to enquire ; however no mans example shall shock me who know that truth , like its eternal author , is unchangeable , the same yesterday and to day for ever . what you seem to conjecture some few lines after , may for ought i know , come to pass . committunt eadem diverso crimina fato , and though we are indeed guilty of misnomers now , it is to be hoped we shall not be always so , but may enjoy the priviledge we claim from adam , of giving things names proper to their natures . — mentiri nescio , librum si malus est , nequeo laudare & poscere — besides , the holy scriptures pronounce a dreadful wo to all such as call good evil , or evil good. there are some persons in the world who will not thank you for the unseasonable mention you make of sheriffs de facto , and not de jure ; i am afraid there is a spice of malice or discontent upon some disappointment , that made you furnish us with such an ill natur'd hint , provoking us to an undutiful enquiry , what things there are else at present in the world that are de facto and not de jure , and how many and great things depend upon the solution of that question , no less than what the authority is of that court , which you say ( for i have no acquaintance there ; ) the black guard can make amongst themselves every day , ( pag. the 17th ) of your preface : surely he that writes as you do , must measure things as you do , by success ; i am not without hopes , that god will indeed restore justice to this lost nation , and make it run down like a mighty stream : for otherwise , as appears by the repeated choice of sir p. w. and others ; there are a set of men must have the priviledge of destroying this church and nation in 89 , only to justifie their having done it once before in 48. hoc ithacus velit & magno mercentur atridae , and then every honest man could repeat , and truly apply one of the greatest lines in the world. victrix causa diis placuit , sed victa catoni . now sir , i have run through some , if not most of the material passages in your scurrilous preface ; and upon the whole matter it plainly appears , that you hate even the very name of king , since you have as rudely treated , though more covertly , the title of king william , as you have done the person of king james ; and the boldest freedom that the late private pamphlets are furnished withal , comes very short of that with which you have treated the late proceedings . would not a man think you a great courtier when you tell us , the convention did not choose king william , as the persians did darius by the ' neighing of a horse , ( page the 3d. ) to their immortal honour : but you were resolved that their election should not want what confirmation could be given it , by the same instrument wherewith samson and you have slain your enemies . there are other things that need corrections , but neither the times nor you can bear them now ; but in reference to them i must only say as the governour did to st. paul , go thy way for this time , when i have a more convenient season i will send for thee . and after all , it would grieve me very much , were i conscious to my self that i had measured even to you the same measure that you measured to your , once at least , lawful king , and i should be very sorry that ever i descended to read your preface , fearing the infection of the example ; i cannot , ( though but for half an hour ) put on ill nature enough , to write up to that pitch of satyr , you have both deserved and provok'd , and am but hardly reconcil'd to my very ink , because like you 't is made of copperass and galls : but i dare not give way to the farther progress even of a just indignation , nor had i spoke so far , or in the least engag'd my self either with your book or you , could i have stood unconcern'd at the sight of a degenerous son , like nero , ripping , and like the vulture preyng upon the bowels of his two tender mothers , the university and the church : and here indeed i must break out and say , if grief , though silent , have a voice , if anguish without a tongue be vocal , if sorrow be loud to elah , or the groans of an expiring church , and a consumptive monarchy can be accented ; if a mighty amazement and consternation of an honest mind , but reasonably solicitous for my own and for the publick safety , may be allowed to have any emphasis ; then the injuries which religion and kings suffer from such doctrins , and such men as these , can never want arguments nor orators ; and he that pleads this cause shall sooner be at a loss where to begin , than what to say ; — inopem me copia fecit ; these are miscreant persecutors of crowns , who will not permit the primitive christians to wear those glorious rewards of their martyrdom , any more than they will let them sit quietly upon the heads of kings ; you take as much pains to justifie , as the apostles did to clear themselves of the imputation of being men , whose religion taught them to turn the world upside down ; and therefore before you undertake to answer dr. sherlock , you should do well to answer christ and his apostles in their doctrin and practice , and the truly primitive christians in their writings and examples , you should confute the apologies of tertullian and justin martyr , and the writings of the first and best reformers , the articles of the church of england in general , and in particular the canons of 40. you should answer bishop usher , sanderson , hammond , and a whole cloud of witnesses in the late rebellious times ; the judicium oxoniense drawn up by sandersou , the decretum oxoniense drawn up by dr. jane the present regius professor ; you should answer dr. scot's sermon at the assizes of chelmesford ; if you are not at leisure , get him to do it himself ; the forementioned letter to the lord russel , dr. falkner , sir robert filmer , the learned and brave judge jenkins , dr. hick's jovian in answer to your julian , and all the acts of parliament that lodge the supremacy and militia in the king alone : this when you have done fairly , and acquitted your self according to the merits of the cause , you shall know more of my mind : but let me advise you to be sincere in your quotations , candid in your inferences , close in your arguments , impartial in your determination , and very modest in your personal reflection ; envy no man who knows more , pity every man who knows less than your self , triumph over the infelicities of no man of what kind soever they be , especially such as are occasion'd by endeavouring to keep a conscience void of offence towards god and man : shun all prevarications in religion , and misrepresentations of persons and things ; it is disingenuously and barbarously done by the author of the history of the convention , he pretends word for word to quote mr. collier's desertion discuss'd , and yet in the twenty first section he has foisted in the word ( popish ) apply'd to judges and justices , and at once deprav'd his meaning , and weakned the force of his argument ; and nothing can be a greater evidence of a bad cause , than making it stand in need of lies and forgeries to support it , without which they could never have driven their master away . criminibus terrere novis , & spargere voces in vulgum ambiguas , & quaerere conscius arma. finis . the power of kings, particularly the british monarchy asserted and vindicated, in a sermon preached at wakefield in the county of york, sunday, october the 30th, 1681 by william clifford. clifford, william, a.m. 1682 approx. 52 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a33467 wing c4715 estc r18703 11751059 ocm 11751059 48578 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33467) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48578) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 486:25) the power of kings, particularly the british monarchy asserted and vindicated, in a sermon preached at wakefield in the county of york, sunday, october the 30th, 1681 by william clifford. clifford, william, a.m. [4], 31 p. printed by s. roycroft for robert clavell, london : 1682. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -o.t. -psalms li, 4 -sermons. divine right of kings -sermons. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2006-09 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the power of kings , particularly the brittish monarchy asserted and vindicated , in a sermon preached at wakefield in the county of york sunday , october the 30th 1681. by william clifford , a. m. london , printed by samuel roycroft , for robert clavell at the peacock in s. pauls church-yard , 1682. to all loyal subjects . gentlemen , being about to publish this sermon , i could not bethink my self how to make a more seasonable dedication of it , than to you all : being you are equally concerned , both as to your sacred , and civil interest , to maintain that greatest of priviledges which herein i have endeavoured to defend . that the well-being of this church and kingdom depends upon this , every one knows ; and i hope , we need not be admonished to look to the corner-stone . what it is that some men would have , god almighty only , and themselves ( if themselves ) do know : however it is to be wished , that whilst they are decrying of ours ( without doubt the best of governments ) for tyranny , oppression , and popery , they be not buoying of these up in the world , and bringing of them in ( which god avert ) under the mask of faction . may the great god of heaven and earth say amen to this sermon , and crown these mean essays ; by making of all those , whom nature hath made , and the law of nations declared , his majesties subjects , truly loyal . which , as it is the hearty prayer , so shall it be the sincere and perpetual endeavour of , gentlemen , your hearty well-wisher , william clifford . the power of kings asserted and vindicated . psal. 51. ver . 4. against thee only have i sinned — since it is become one of the great masterpieces of our incendiaries , to magnifie the power of the people , to break open the cabinet of state , to push forward the heady and raging multitude , with fictitious devices ; and to promote that diabolical dialect , of speaking evil of dignities ; i shall this day make it my business , to undeceive such as have been misled by those false fires . thou shalt not revile the gods , nor speak evil of the ruler of thy people , saith moses . curse not the king , no not in thy thought , saith solomon . and a greater than solomon was obedient to caesar . two of the twelve apostles bear record , that there cannot be a surer note of a schismatick , than to despise dominion , and to cast dirt in the face of our natural lord. it is not only the voice of our law , but we likewise have the unanimous astipulation , and suffrages , of the laws of god , nature , and all nations ; that a king ( being deo secundus , soloque deo minor , ) can do no wrong ; that is , no wrong for which he can be accountable to any but god , being only his ( and not the peoples ) vicegerent . and that i may evince this ( i hope ) beyond contradiction , i have made choice of holy davids case , as being the most apposite ( to the best of my judgment ) of any that i could meet withal . what st. hierom hath observed in the front of many of the psalms , ( which he probably had out of origen , with whose volumes his juvenile studies abounded ; and origen confesseth , that he had it by tradition from the jew his master ; ) is undoubtedly true : viz. titulum psalmi esse clavem , that the key of each psalm is the title . which , if we do consult , it directeth us to the second book of samuel , the 12th chapter , where we find the prophet nathan , in his message from god to david ; reproving him for his sin in the matter of vriah . whereupon the relenting prince ( being filled with the aggravating circumstances of so great a crime ) presently falleth into that pious confession , in the 13th verse of that chapter ; i have sinned against the lord. and , as if that had been too small a pennance , upon second thoughts ( which are always presumed , to be the most sound and searching ) he composeth this psalm ; sighing out his miserere mei deus , have mercy upon me , o god : for against thee only have i sinned . in doing right to this text , i shall omit the glosses of some later expositors , especially those of the geneva-faction ; and that i may the more exactly shew you , what was the judgment of the primitive christians in this weighty point of allegiance ; i shall cite the councils , and fathers , as being the surest witnesses in this particular : and having been approved by the universal church of christ , no good man can have the least occasion to doubt of their fidelity . and to these testimonies , i shall add the judgment of the immortal hugo grotius , to whose books , and memory , for his opinion in this point , all the princes of christendom do owe protection . and that these things may be the more perceptible , i shall move in this most easie , and natural method . wherein i shall shew , 1. that the defection of nature is so universal , that even kings can plead no immunity from it , no priviledge against it . 2. that althô the depravity of nature be general ; yet it is the sacred priviledge of kings only for their offences , to be exempted from all humane jurisdiction . 3. that such are the impetuosities of the vulgar , that notwithstanding this sacred reserve , majesty it self can scarce any where be inviolable . 4. that since the persons , and power of kings are esteemed sacred , both by the laws of god , nature , and all nations ; i shall exhort all men , that they be to the utmost of their power careful , not to violate so great a priviledge . 1. that the defection of nature is so universal , that even kings can plead no immunity from it , no priviledge against it . the empire of sin , after the fall of man , was so general , that no man can be excluded , that will not deny himself to be adam's off-spring . and thus we have the great apostle of the gentiles asserting , that in adam all died : and holy david confessing , in sin was i conceived , and in iniquity did my mother bring me forth . but it is needlefs to insist upon particulars , when as the wise man hath included all in his parenthesis , there is no man that sinneth not . the nature of this proposition is such , as you hear it is universally granted : therefore needeth it no further proof . neither will any one be so simple as to go about to exclude princes from it , till that day approach , when both they and we ( mortality being laid aside ) shall be equally exempted . till then both gratitude and interest , oblige us to cover the faults of our superiours . and therefore i shall proceed to shew , 2. that althô the depravity of nature be general ; yet it is the sacred priviledge of kings only , for their offences , to be exempted from all humane jurisdiction . in the former proposition we have seen , that they by whom the actions of men are weighed , and upon whom proemium & poena , the two hinges of all law do turn ; are not able so far to smother the embryon of original depravity , but that it will ( in spight of the utmost care and vigilance ) burst from the seed to the fruit , into actual impiety and transgression . but yet for all this are they not in the least liable to the censure of any man ; no tribunal under heaven hath power to take cognizance of them , or call them into question . the prophet in our text , tho a king , confesseth his transgression : but it is with reserve of justice unto none , but to him , whom alone he owned superiour ; and therefore he crieth , against thee only have i sinned . that some of our moderns might evade this plain sence of the text , they have invented one , which as they think will do the business . namely , that david sinned in a double respect ; one , as a king : another , as a private person . ( if these be not the notions of forty eight let the world judge . ) as he was a private person ( say they ) he was offensive to his neighbour , as well as to god , having been injurious to vriah . to which i answer : davids repentance here , was either feigned or sincere ; feigned it could not be , as appears by the circumstances ; neither will they suppose it . and if sincere , how cometh it to pass , that in his confession , he hath no respect to his injured neighbour ? but here lieth the bottom of the business ; if they could juggle the world into a belief , that david sinned as a private person , then the unavoidable consequence would be ; that he must be obnoxious to that law , which he had offended : and no man is ignorant , that the punishment of that sin whereof david was guilty , was death , by the mosaical statute . what is this , but to seek a pretence for regicide ? that david was injurious to vriah , i do fairly and readily grant . but , that he was a private person , neither they , nor all the world will ever be able to convince me , it being not only absurd , but impossible . to say , that such a one is a king , and a private person too , is a flat contradiction , which can never be reconciled : for wherever the one is , it is impossible for the other to be there also , at one and the same time . but whether david were private , or no , this was not the thing they aimed at ; which was , that he might be liable to terrestrial punishment : and then , whatsoever looked ( tho never so ill ) like an argument , must be brought to maintain it . thus do men become the patrons of error , and render themselves contemptible to all discerning persons . david was no private person after he was anointed : this was nothing therefore , but a distinction they had invented , and fitted for their purpose : and either it ( as i have shewed ) or our logic must be false , let them shew us one example , and it shall be enough , of any law , either divine , or humane , of any civilized nation in the world that owneth it : but this they cannot , being only ingaged to their own crazed heads for it . david was a king , and as such , was ( as other kings ) above the law. kings have power to dispence with the law at their pleasure : neither is there the severest punishment the law can inflict , but it is in the power of the king to remit it ; of this david could not be ignorant : nay , he seems to imply as much here ; and by how much the more he knew himself exempted from the mosaical law , by so much the more earnest here he seemeth to be with god for a pardon , to whose greater tribunal only he could be accountable . and of this his earnestness , the original is a sufficient witness , wherein the pronoun is twice repeated ; against thee , thee only have i sinned . but i hast to be more particular , wherein i shall undertake to prove , that for subjects to question the actions ( tho offensive ) or the authority of their princes , is a thing that is most clearly repugnant to primitive custom : inconsistent with the nature of the kingly office : and diametrically opposite to the liberty of the subject . 1. it is repugnant to primitive custom . that which men call religion , will in no wise allow the prerogatives of kings to be called in question . thus the thing was amongst the hebrews : when they requested for a king to rule over them , like as other nations had , the prophet answereth them , that they should have a king ; and that their king should take their wives and children , their servants and cattel , for his use and service ; as you may read at large sam. 1. 8. but that which is very observable , is , that the prophet in the whole description of that their king , who we know was none of the best , never so much as setteth the least bound or limitation to his power , maketh no observations of the extent of his authority . whereas , if either this , or any other of the precedent , or succeeding authors of the old testament , had but made any cases of resistance or restraint ; i make no question , but the antimonarchical spirits of these times would have been diligent in the search , and discovery of them . but so far was this from the business of samuel , and the rest of the prophets ; that they enjoyn obedience ( even to the worst of kings ) tho it be not only to the hazard of goods , but life . and we do find it twice pronounced ( to make the obligation greater ) concerning one of the most insolent , and unjust , of all their kings ; who can lift up his hands against gods anointed , and be guiltless ? that golden sentence of the psalmist therefore must of necessity have a like relation to all rulers ; touch not mine anointed . and as the law , so the gospel , runneth high concerning majesty . our saviour prohibiteth us from doing any man injury or injustice : but much more must we pay that reverence , and respect to caesar , which himself paid , and commanded us to do the like . you will never find him controverting the actions of caesar , or his delegates ; but willingly submitting to whatsoever they imposed : as you may clearly see in the case of tribute , wherein he proved to st. peter , that such as were freeborn were not liable to taxation : nevertheless ( saith he ) lest we be troublesom , go thou to the sea , and taking up a fish , in his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money , that give them for thee and me . nay , so far was christ satisfied of the power of the roman emperour , that he suffered death upon the sentence of pilate the governour ; not because he wanted power to make resistance , as porphyrius , julian , and some others , did vainly affirm against the primitive christians : but because he would not in the least seem to make any exception from that general rule of obedience to superiours , that he had laid down ; for otherwise , ( as he said ) he could pray to his father , who could send him more than twelve legions of angels , to be his assistants , and to rescue their sovereign lord , and creatour , from the violence of that hour . thus also we find the disciples treading in their masters steps , st. peter , and st. paul , those two great doctors of the circumcision and uncircumcision asserting this royal prerogative ; submit your selves unto every ordinance of man , ( saith peter , whatsoever some of his successours have to say to the contrary ) for the lords sake , whether it be unto the king , as supream , or unto governours substituted by him , for the punishment of wickedness and vice , and for the praise of them that do well : for so is the will of god , that in well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolishmen . answerably hereunto s. paul clearly evinceth the necessity of obedience to supream powers ; telling us , that such are ordained of god ; for which very reason ( saith he ) ye must needs be subject , not only for wrath , but also for conscience sake ; for he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. but notwithstanding all this , our enemies keep rubbing up the old sore , and in defiance of all our persuasions , and good councils to the contrary , they will understand st. paul , better than he understood himself . just in another case , like to andreas althamerus , who having taken up an opinion prejudicial to obedience , and good works ; and being not able to reconcile it with the doctrine of st. james , doth fairly therefore give st. james the lio , in a book printed , since mr. calvins reduction of geneva , at strasbourg . so they tell us , that they are willing to obey powers , could they have such powers as the apostle meant of , when he writ this epistle . wherein , alas , they are miserably mistaken , for the apostle writ this epistle to his romish converts , when they were under the government of a cruel heathen emperour . thus easily can mens fancies lead them to assert they know not what : both they and we have the greatest cause to bless god , that we are not under such a power as then was . and that which claimeth the next degree of our assent , after our saviours doctrine , and the apostles , is the suffrage of the universal church , together with the practice of primitive christianity , the best ( if not only ) interpreter of the new testament . he that consulteth these , will find them unanimously asserting the proposition we have now in hand . and what good laws were made for securing the royal rights of kings , i shall refer the more , intelligent to read in the universal code , wherein you have the four general councils of nice , constantinople , ephesus , and chalcedon ; with the five primitive synods , of ancyra , neocesaria , gangres , antioch , and laodicea ; all which have been all along received , and approved , by the universal church of christ . and as this was the opinion of the whole catholick church , so doth it still remain , ( and long may it do so ; ) there being no one church in the known world asserting otherwise ; nor any sound , and sober member of any church , as far as i was ever able to learn : except a few deluded creatures in the church of rome , and a handful of zealous fools in the reformed churches , who have made themselves ridiculous , and contemptible , in the eyes of all thinking , and judicious persons ; by asserting that , which the uninterrupted opinion , and universal practice of the christian church for fifteen hundred years , and upwards , hath flatly contradicted . and whether the judgments of a few , and those ( it may be ) for the most part ignorant ; or the opinions of thousands , who ( for their great piety and exemplary loyalty ) are of precious memory ; be in a case of so great moment as this , to be preferred , he must have abjured his reason , that cannot easily distinguish . however it be , we need go no further to learn loyalty , than our own church . all the laws of this realm , both sacred , and civil , do teach us what it is . the oath of fidelity , ( which i suppose ) most men have taken , is sufficiently plain , and obligatory ; to which i remit you . and let any man consult that , together with his own interest , and safety , and then let him be disloyal , if he can . neither did any of the ancient fathers recede one jot from the apostolical doctrine , and practice . it is the greatest wickedness in the world , to resist the supream power , saith clemens in his constitutions . and tho you blast our fame ( saith tertullian speaking to the romans ) by saying , we are injurions to majesty , yet can you find no such man amongst us ; for tho we have filled not only the country , but the court , yet are we averse to rebellion . our saviour hath taught us , and st. peter hath taught us ( saith nazianzen against julian ) not to resist lawful authority , ( meaning the emperour , ) but rather to suffer ; it is lawful for us to flee , our saviour hath permitted it , so did st. athanasius , so did st. cyprian ; neither have we any other remedy left us , but prayers and tears . and when an emperour offered violence to some of the christians , what pious advice doth ambrose , writing to auxentius ) give them : beware ( saith he ) of any weapons , but your tears ; with these you may , but with any other you may not resist . and that which will be the glory of the christian world , to the end of the world , as it will likewise be the shame of those that contrived , and acted that tragedy , an-indelible example of christian patience , is that of the theban legion ; which consisted of near seven thousand christian souldiers , who being in the field , and having their swords drawn in their hands , and of sufficient power to defend themselves , and rout the forces of the emperour ; yet suffered themselves quietly and calmly to be martyred , rather than to obey the severe and unmanly edict of maximian . i might give examples in every century down to these very times , and i might have done it without going far from home . it is not long since the whole church of england was martyred in the cause of her sovereign lord. let those who were the designers , and the actors of that unevangelical zeal , live unparallel'd , and die unpitied ! but i shall content my self , and ( i hope ) satisfie every honest man , and modest christian , with that which st. chrysostom hath said upon the words of st. paul , rom. 13. wherefore ye must needs be subject , whosoever ye be , tho an apostle , evangelist , prophet , or whoever else , you must needs be subject ; for , if christ and his apostles ( saith he ) thought it requisite to be subject to pagan , how much more requisite then must it needs be , to be subject to christian princes . ? besides the fathers , i promised you the judgment of the immortal grotius , who hath been miserably misunderstood by some in this point : no man ever yet having asserted , and defended the prerogatives of kings , with such strength of antiquity , such sober , solid , and substantial arguments , as that learned man hath done . and his observation ( amongst many others of great worth ) is this ; that the gospel is a more exact rule , and a more pure institution than ever yet appeared in the world , and consequently doth require a more perfect and intire patience , and obedience ; and therefore we cannot without great sin , and the highest injury to our blessed lord , and his gospel , recede from that exact obedience which he hath enjoyned , and whereof he hath made himself our example . and how he behaved himself , the apostle is the most credible witness , who telleth us , that he did no sin , neither was guile found in his mouth ; that when he was reviled , he reviled not again ; that when he suffered he threatned not , but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously , in all things leaving us his example , that we should tread in his steps . thus grotius . and as the law of moses , the gospel , and the laws and practice of all christian nations ; so the law of nature , and all civilized ( tho not christian ) nations , do assert this truth : whereof plato's books of his common wealth are an ample testimony . and in the twelve tables ( which are believed to be of grecian extract , greece having furnished all the heathen world with laws , as it is probably supposed , ) which contain the fundamentals of the old roman law , crimen laesae majestatis is the first , as being a guilt of the highest nature . hitherto we have seen what primitive custom hath for this assertion . it appears by what hath been spoken , that we must be so far from questioning the royal prerogatives , that we are obliged both by the law of god , nature , and all nations , to vindicate them though it be with peril of life . and if our superiours should command us any thing ( as god forbid they should ) contrary to any of these laws , you hear what is enjoyned us ; we must lay our hands upon our mouths , and suffer with that meekness which becometh our profession , remembring the examples of our saviour and the primitive christians , whereof i have given you a full ( and i hope satisfactory ) account . however , i am assured that i have spoken the judgment of the best , and purest ages of christianity ; neither can any thing be sound in contradiction to this doctrine in all the whole life , actions , or sufferings of christ ; nor in the constant and unerring practice of the primitive christians ; nor in any of the writings of the apostles , or apostolick men. i proceed therefore to shew , 2. that for subjects to question the actions ( tho offensive ) or authority of their princes , is inconsistent with the nature of the kingly office. the scepter is put into their hands by god almighty alone : and with that the power he giveth them is so great , as that he maketh them capable of being accountable to none , but himself only ; thus he saith , by me kings reign . of this power king solomons sentence is very absolute , who shall say to a king , what dost thou ? and of the unquestionableness , and uncontroulableness of his authority , he further addeth , the wrath of a king is as the roaring of a lion ; who shall stir him up ? things depending on another , are governed by that on which they depend : this is undeniable . thus the lives , and liberties of subjects , do depend upon the good , or evil will of their prince . and thus much pilate could alledge to our blessed saviour , that he had power to condemn him , and that he had power to release him ; whereupon our saviour replied , without any denial , or refusal of the power , that he had no power at all , but what was given him from above ; that is , that power wherewith he was invested , and which he then exercised , under the roman caesar , was not only by the permission , but also by the order , and institution of god. were it so , that the actions of kings , or their authority , could be swayed , or byassed , by any other terrestrial power whatsoever , except their own : how proteus-like would government be ? how would the laws of mercy , and justice , which are so essential to the being of a government , that it cannot subsist without them , be either wrested , or quite antiquated , by the prevalency of a party ? admit but this , and then we should soon be sensible of the prophets complaint , justice is gone away backward ; having instead of law , rule , and order , nothing but noise , distraction , and confusion . which brings me to shew . 3. that for subjects to question the actions , or authority of their prince , is diametrally opposite to the liberty of the subject . we are subjected unto lawful earthly powers , that under them we may lead godly , and peaceable lives , saith the great apostle . and that ( according to the prophet ) every man might fit under his own vine , and that none might make him afraid . the enjoyment of our lives , and our liberties too , as well in sacred , as secular things , next under god , we have from the prudence of our prince . that our lives have not hitherto been made a prey to our enemies , it is , because his sacred majesty maintaineth , and defendeth them . that our liberties , both in religion , and state , have not long since perished away in our bosoms , it is , because we have a king to actuate , and enliven them . in a word , that the allies of rome , or geneva , have not long ere this extirpated the best reformed church in europe , the church of england ; it is , because his sacred majesty , and his predecessors , ( and long may he , and his successors be equally prosperous , ) have hitherto dispelled all those abominable mists , of schism , sacriledge , and idolatry , which they raised amongst us . hitherto i have shewed you , that a king is the greatest of all earthly blessings , the defence of our lives , the bulwark of our liberties . surely i need not long stand to recommend it to you . how many hundreds yet alive , have not long since seen our tumultuous world ; wherein tho religion , and liberty were the pretence , yet prophanity , atheism , and slavery were the event ? wherein our greatest enjoyment was the blessed hotchpotch of democracy : and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our devotion ( instead of our pure , and primitive liturgy ) was exercised in an halting directory , not only destructive of , and contradictory to , all antiquity , but also to it self . and the wholsom laws of our gracious and natural sovereign , abrogated together with himself , to make way for worse . and that which crown'd the happiness , we had reformation thrown amongst us with a sword in its hand , to let us see how basely we had abused the power of the sword , in taking it from him , who alone ( by the law of god , nature , and nations , ) did justly challenge it . the abrogation of civil power makes every man sui juris : so that take away the supreme power , which is indeed the life of all laws , and then all manner of sins will be venial . heresie and schism , murder , conspiracy and rebellion , the blackest impieties , these will never be boggled at . for indeed , that many men abstain from the commission of these sins , it is not because they are so much afraid of the justice of god ; as of the severity of the king , who swayeth the sword of justice , as gods only vicegerent . and thus , at the long run , should we be brought into the lamentable condition of the wretched hebrews , of whom we find this melancholy complaint registred by the prophet no less than four times together : that in those days there was no king in israel , but every man did that which was right in his own eyes . which seasonably brings me to my third proposition , namely to shew , 3. that such are the impetuosities of the vulgar , that notwithstanding this sacred reserve , majesty it self can scarce any where be inviolable . altho god almighty hath made so good security for his anointed ; tho their crowns be established by the firm and perpetual decrees of all laws , both divine and humane : yet there are a sort of men in the world , and the very pest they are of all order and society , the great principles of whose religion , are to vilifie and blaspheme magistracy , and to trample upon and contemn all that is sacred and venerable ; purchasing to themselves the applause of the popularity by wild vtopian notions , wherewith they do easily prevail upon , and seduce the giddy multitude . and there is nothing vented , tho never so extravagant and phrenetical , but some will countenance it . the most lunatic fancies being once broached , do not long want abettors . and hence there are several objections raised , to strengthen this antimonarchical fabrick . 1. they object , regem esse infra non supra ecclesiam . this objection is equally asserted , both by the romish and reformed party : the one endeavouring hereby to magnifie the power of him who treadeth upon the necks of kings , tho he was anciently wont , and still his duty is the same , to embrace their feet : the other hereby striving to vindicate the supream power of classes and synods . and the answer of the one , will be the sufficient conviction of either . but first , it will be necessary to ask , whether by the church , they mean the catholic , or some part of it only ? if they mean the catholic church , then we must needs confess , that no king is above , but within it : seeing it never yet was , nor never can be under the power of any earthly monarch . when they have said what they can for the popes supremacy , we believe , that the catholic church oweth fealty to none , but only to him who rightly is the king of kings , and lord of lords , the lord jesus christ . neither can it be supposed to have any visible head , except in a council truly general , and that headship can only remain protempore concilii . but if by the word church be meant any part only of the catholic , as in particular the church of england : then we own no head but the king alone ; and so here will be no work for the superintendent and his classis . and if they demand our reason , for this we remit them to the canons of our church , which tell us , that the kings of england claim no more power in ecclesiastical matters , than the pious kings of israel , and the religious christian princes ( even the roman emperours , for some of the first centuries ) anciently had . and till they can shew us a more warrantable pattern , than the universal christian practice of fifteen hundred years , and more ; they must give us leave to prosecute our allegiance . taking this first for granted , they proceed without our allowance , or shew of reason . 2. to say , that a king must servire ecclesiae ; which phrase several ancient and pious authors have used , and to which we assent , if we may have leave to understand it as the ancients did . but if they go about by this phrase , to subject a king to the slavish humors of his people , we must take leave to dissent , servire ecclesiae , according to the mind of such authors as use it , is no more than necessitatibus ecclesiae consulere , and in this sence the greatest monarch will not refuse it : this is all that st. augustine meaneth by it ; witness himself , serviunt enim qui imperant , officio consulendi , & providendi misericordia . this is all that the pagan authors mean , when they render imperium , servitutem . thus therefore , if they will allow us to interpret we are agreed : but if they will not , we must needs say , they are very bad etymologists , in striving to frame such sences , with which antiquity is utterly unacquainted . 3. they allow a power , ( if the king do not in their sence , servire ecclesiae ) to subordinate magistrates , to correct the miscarriages of princes . a most unjust and unequal priviledge ! what is meant by subordinate magistrates , we suppose to be such persons as have received authority from the king ; let them act in what capacity soever , either in church , or state. and these inferiour powers are approved of god : yet so , as the apostle seemeth to make our obedience to the king , and those inferiour powers , two different things ; to the king we are so far enjoyned obedience , that we cannot possibly fail in it , without being absolutely guilty of sin ; to the inferiour magistrate , we are obliged , so far as his commands are the same with the kings , or not destructive of , or prejudicial to them ; which if they be , the same obligation is upon us not to obey , but to appeal to the greater , viz. the king. it is beyond all controversie with me , and i hope with all good men ; that tho inferiour magistrates , with respect to private persons , be publick , yet with respect to the king they are private persons . and as it is in the power of inferiour magistrates , to take cognizance of , and punish the offences of private persons , so doubtless is it in the power of the king , to take cognizance of , and punish the offences of inferiour magistrates ; with respect to whom , they are no more than private persons , ( as i have already shewed , ) and so liable to be by him punished , for their miscarriages , as private . it would certainly be no small paradox , to say , that the king , having the supream power in these kingdoms , ( and long may he , and his lawful successors , enjoy and exercise it , ) might not invest such persons as he should think fit , with inferiour magistracy , and punish them for the abuse , or neglect of the exercise of the power he hath given them ; or degrade , and devest them of their authority . 4. if the inferiour magistrates be negligent , then the pastors , and people , have solemn leave to depose ( nay martyr ) kings , to defend themselves ( in such unchristian actions ) with the power of the sword , if their lives and consciences ( as they do most preposterously term it ) cannot be otherwise safe from the tyranny of kings . a most antichristian principle , and such as might defile the very mouth of beelzebub to pronounce it ! horresco referens . this , and much more such horrid stuff , may be found in the commentaries of pareus , upon the 13th chapter to the romans . neither could it ever have been better confuted , than it was by king james of blessed memory , and the loyal university of oxford , who gave order , that the commentaries of pareus should be hurnt ( as they well deserved ) in public , by the hands of the common hangman . and for the utter extirpation of such seditious , impious , and antimonarchical doctrines , it was decreed by the oxonian university , in a full convocation , june the 5th , 1622. that every person that was to be honoured with a degree , in any faculty whatsoever , should before admission swear , ( in an oath framed for that very purpose ) to alienate such principles : as may be seen at large in the decree , and oath . 5. according to these infernal principles ( in the late times of distraction ) this was usually their ( most illogical ) assertion ; that it was lawful to fight against the kings person , with his power ; and that the king might be killed in his personal , or private capacity , ( as they called it , ) and yet his power never the worse for it , his authority not suffering . a strange metaphysical notion ! and so likewise , that st. paul speaking of kings , meaneth the kingly office , not his person ; with much more of this nature . thus do they make the king a meer platonical idea , a quality , not a personal subsistence : as if the king of england were nothing but carolvs rex written in court-hand , without either flesh or blood. if it be so , to what purpose are those significant solemnities used at the coronations ? why are they crown'd , inthroned , inoyled ? but to shew their personal , and imperial power and supremacy : in military , judiciary , and religious matters . that the kings authority may be where his person is not ( if this be their meaning ) is most true ; but , that his person may be where his authority is not , is most false : and a king without personal authority , is a contradiction , and no king. how dull were the primitive christians , that could not bethink themselves of this distinction ! what blood and martyrdom might it have saved ? but let these faint chimera's vanish . 6. they say , that if we ascribe so much power to the king , religion cannot be safe , but that he may alter it at his pleasure . and so he may : neither is the power of kings in any thing more visible , than in establishing such modes of public worship , as they think fit . this is sufficiently asserted , and maintained by the most political authors that hitherto i have met withal . were not the religious rites in judea altered , according to the genius of the prince ? thus we find the rites of ahaz altered by his son ezechias , which manasses his nephew again restored , but by josias they were again abolished . thus , if they demand , why in the reign of queen mary the romish religion , and in the reign of queen elizabeth the reformed religion , prevailed ? there can be no other reason be given , but that ( next under god ) it was ex reginarum arbitrio . it is an old ( and unanswerable ) maxim , qualis rex , talis lex . and if every magistrate must be devested of his power , because it is possible he may abuse it , then should we have no power at all , at least no exercise of power , there being the same reason to fear every man alike , because the axiom ( nemo est qui falli neque at ) includeth all . but why our king may not be intrusted with the same power ( seeing he cannot well use it worse ) wherewith they durst intrust their protector , is a paradox to me . or , suppose this should fall out ( which always doth not ) that a king should alter the received religion ; yet may we have sufficient comfort , if we consider , that the hearts of all men are in the hand of the lord , but more especially are the hearts of kings in his power , and as the rivers of water , he can turn them as he pleaseth . it is gods work ( you hear ) to sway the inclinations of kings , let us then beware how we meddle in it . his power is so unspeakable , that he can equally effect his will , as well by evil , as by good kings . sometimes prosperity , and sometimes adversity is more profitable for the church . and if the prince be pious , then the truth flourisheth under him : and if he be ungodly , it will be evil for the church , but worse for him , whose condemnation shall one day be augmented , answerably to the greatness of his charge . and in the mean time , rebellion will be so far from being agreeable , that it will every way be contradictory to a christian profession . well said saint augustine , reges cum in errore sunt , pro ipso errore leges contra veritatem ferunt ; cum in veritate sunt , similiter contra errorem pro ipsa veritate decernunt ; ita & legibus malis probantur boni , & legibus bonis emendantur mali . but i hast to my fourth and last proposition , namely , 4. that since the persons , and powers of kings are esteemed sacred , both by the laws of god , nature , and all nations ; to exhort all men , that they be to the utmost of their power careful not to violate so great a priviledge . the duty of obedience to kings , was a thing so well known , and so firmly believed in the primitive times , that the christians then stood in need of no other arguments to perswade them to it , but such as christ and his apostles left upon record . and seeing that those who lived so near the apostles days , were so extraordinarily tenacious of this duty : it raiseth admiration in me , to consider , that some men amongst us , who do ( at least ) pretend to as great sanctity as ever any primitive . christian had , should go about to raise arguments , to defend their taking up of arms against their lawful ( and christian ) princes , from the same sacred scriptures , which the ancients thought laid sufficient obligation upon them ( as i have largely shewed in the preceding parts of this discourse ) to obey even the worst of heathen powers . that both god , nature , and nations , have priviledged kings , i have already fully shewed , and i trust so fully , as to render it ( however to all good men ) indubitable ; the authorities that i have made use of , are such as are altogether unquestionable . for next to the sacred scriptures , which we all equally own , and adhere unto , i have urged only such general councils , and ancient synods , as have hitherto been approved by the whole christian world. and for the testimonies of the fathers , or others that i have used , they are from the best and most authentic editions . however therefore this discourse may relish , it concerneth not me ; seeing that i am assured , that i have all along impartially spoken the mind of the catholic church . and that to this very day , there hath not been a general council , truly so named ; or any other ancient ( tho not oecumenical ) synod , duly , and regularly called , and debating ; or an authentic copy of any father ; that have delivered otherwise . if our adversaries can produce the contrary , we challenge them in the name of god to do it : if they cannot ( which is i am certain much more easie , ) then let their brainsick notions cease to be imposed upon the vulgar multitude ; who are more apt to be taken with flatteries of their chimerical greatness , and supremacy ; with noise , and impudence ; than with any sober reason , or sound arguments . but let us , who have so good authority for our warrant , as the voice , and universal practice of the primitive church , resolve ( in spight of all contradiction ) to be ever conscious of our duty . methinks , the very consideration of our interest , and society , should put us in mind of subjection : for what a polity else should we make ? what greater soloecism could we grant in nature , than that the head should give place to the supremacy of the foot ? tho it be true ( as the apostle observeth ) that in the body , no one member can be without antoher ; yet for the inferiour to go about to usurp the office , and power of the superiour , must needs make a privation , and so leave some place unfilled ; to which philosophy will in no wise yield . there are not the most uncivilized of all people , but they have something of subordination : how much more then ought we to do that , which not only nature , but god , and the law of nations , have enjoyned . and if our interest cannot draw us , let the examples of our saviour , and the primitive christians , persuade us ; and if these be not sufficient to sway us , let the eternal rewards of grace entice us ; nay , since god almighty hath made such sacred defences for kings , let the majesty of their countenances dash our daring fancies into due allegiance and subjection . a good christian , and a good subject , are reciprocals ; the one being not possible to be found without the other . and if we have love for our great master , we can no way better manifest it , than by yielding a full subjection to such powers as he hath ordained to fill his room , till himself come , whose all power truly is , and to whom all authority doth rightly belong . let us therefore strive by obedience to our prince , to regain that honour and credit , which our nation by disobedience hath so lately lost . we may justly say , that ( with our royal prophet ) we are become the very scorn and derision of them that are round about us ; but let us beseech god ( with our royal charles the martyr ) not to lay that innocent blood unto our charge . and for the future , let us be active in repairing those breaches of loyalty , which the father most rightly claimed , for the son. and let us not suffer our selves any more to be deluded , with the vanities of those men , who ( under the empty notions , and specious titles of christs kingdom , liberty , and reformation , ) preached up nothing amongst us , but hypocrisie , rebellion , and confusion . lastly , let these miserable calamities , under which we so lately groaned , be a further incentive of loyalty to us . let us think of them , and i question not , they will be a means to make us resolve , to stand by our prince with our lives and our fortunes . and to animate us in so indispensible a duty , let us beg of god to continue us in the true religion , which at this day by law we profess ; and then we need not to question , but the sence of our duty , will add strength and perseverance to our loyalty . which ( that it may do ) god of his great mercy grant for jesus christ's sake : to whom with thee , o father , and thee , o blessed spirit ; three persons , but one immutable god , be given of the holy catholic church , all power , praise , and glory , world without end , amen , amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a33467-e300 exod. 22 28. eccles . 10. 20. 1 king 8. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 sam. 24. 7. & 25. 9. psal . 105. 15. 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14 , 15. rom. 13. tertul. ad scapul . & in a pologeticis saepissimè . nazianz. orat . 1. adversus julian . ambros . lib. 5. orat in auxentium . grot. de jur . belli , &c. lib. 1. cb . 4. fusissimè ; & in annotat. sacris passim . 1 pet . 2. 21 , 22 , 23. judg. 17. 6. & 18. 1. & 19. 1. & 21. ult . 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14 , 15. for further sati●faction in this point of the authority of supreme , and subordinate magistrates ; i shall refer the more curious , to mine annotations upon the church-catechism ( in the fifth commandment , ) now under the hands of the amanuensis ; and will ( bono cum deo ) be ere long ready for the press . rom. 13. prov. 21. 1. august . adsus crescon . l. 3 ch . 51. children of beliall, or, the rebells wherein these three questions are discussed : i. whether god or the people be the author and efficient of monarchie? ii. whether the king be singulis major, but universis minor? iii. whether it be lawfull for subjects to beare armes or to contribute for the maintenance of a warre against the king? t. s. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a58824 of text r8516 in the english short title catalog (wing s2082). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 59 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a58824 wing s2082 estc r8516 13247454 ocm 13247454 98669 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a58824) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98669) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 438:10) children of beliall, or, the rebells wherein these three questions are discussed : i. whether god or the people be the author and efficient of monarchie? ii. whether the king be singulis major, but universis minor? iii. whether it be lawfull for subjects to beare armes or to contribute for the maintenance of a warre against the king? t. s. scott, thomas, 1580?-1626. swadlin, thomas, 1600-1670. [4], 23 p. s.n.], [london? : 1647. "to his honoured friends" signed: t.s. variously attributed to thomas scott and thomas swadlin. cf. wing; nuc pre-1956. place of publication from wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. marginal notes. eng divine right of kings. monarchy. great britain -politics and government -1642-1649. a58824 r8516 (wing s2082). civilwar no children of beliall, or, the rebells. wherein these three questions are discussed: i. whether god or the people be the author and efficient swadlin, thomas 1647 10489 21 45 0 0 0 0 63 d the rate of 63 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion children of beliall , or , the rebells . wherein these three questions are discussed : i. whether god or the people be the author and efficient of monarchie ? ii. whether the king be singulis major , but universis minor ? iii. whether it be lawfull for subjects to beare armes , or to contribute for the maintenance of a warre against the king ? mat. 12.30 . hee that is not with me , is against me , &c. printed in the yeere , 1647. to his honovred friends , sr. g. c. and his vertuous ladie , a. sir , madam , you have beene informed of my loyalty , and beleeve it ; i have felt your charity , and acknowledge it : that the world may say , i dyed a loyall subject , and a thankefull servant , i have left these lines as a testimony of both , from him that was while he lived , sir , madam , your beads-man , t. s. some few faults have escaped , which the reader is intreated thus to correct . pag. 13. line 26. read sine . ibid. l. 36. r. distinction . p. 14. ult. r. ipse . p. 15. l. 3. r. regali . p. 16. marg. pars for ps. 1 sam. 10.27 . the children of belial said , how shall this man save us ? and they despised him , and brought him no presents . this latter , and therefore this wicked age , hath broached three seditious questions : the questions were heretofore brewed by bellarmine and his fellow jesuites , by buchanan and his fellow schismaticks : and this age , this jesuiticall , schismaticall age hath practically broached , what they but speculatively brewed . viz. 1. whether god or the people bee the author and efficient of monarchy ? 2. whether the king be onely singulis major , but universis minor . 3. whether it be lawfull for subjects to beare armes , or to contribute for the maintenance of a warre against the king ? and this age , this wicked age , resolves these questions just to the peoples humour ; and saith , 1. the people are the author of monarchie : 2. the people represented , are greater then the king . 3. it is lawfull to contribute for the maintenance of a war , or to beare armes against the king . but to make good that old adagie , quod vulgo placet , sapienti displicet , the prophet samuel , in this chapter , in this verse , resolves cleane contrary , and tells us , 1. that god , and not the people , is the efficient of monarchie : so he saies , v , 24. see yee him , quem populus elegit ? at no hand ; but quem elêgit deus , see ye him whom the lord hath chosen : the king hath his power , not precario , by the peoples curtesie , but dei gratiâ . 2. that the king is greater then the people , not only in piece-meale and particulars , but also in grosse , and generall ; so he saies againe ; v. 23 24. he , the king , stood amongst the people and was higher then all the people by the shoulder and upwards ; not only in stature , but also in power , and therefore all the people shouted and saied , god save the king . 3. that contributions to maintaine a war , or to war against the king , are unlawfull , utterly unlawfull , because the king is to be assisted in his wars by the people ; and they are here marked carbone , for children of belial , who brought him no presents : certainely they are ten times more the children of belial , who bring presents against him . indeed this text within its owne verge resolves these three questions . 1. in the description of rebells ; they are children of belial . 2. in the expostulation , the saucie expostulation of rebells , how shall this man save us ? 3. in the condition of rebells , the condition positive , and the condition privative ; positively , they despise the king , and privatively , they bring him no presents . 1. the result of the whole falls into these particulars . ● . they account the king but as one of themselves , and as one chosen by themselves ; and therefore they saied , how shall this man save us ? and therefore they are called the children of belial : had they looked a little higher , and observed how god chose him out of them , they would then have believed , that god by him would save them ; because god chose him out of them for this very end and purpose , to be the king over them , and protectour of them . 2. they looked upon themselves aggregation , and in conjunction , and thought themselves in that bulke and collection greater then him ; and therefore they despised him ; and therefore they are called the children of belial : had they looked upon him as the head of that body , whereof themselves were our members , they would have confessed , that neither some of the principall members representatively , nor all the members collectively had been worthy of comparison with him ; and that he , the king , had been greater , not only then any one asunder , but then all together also . 3. they looked upon their enemies , how strong they were , and upon themselves , how numerous , how copious , and therefore how well able to defend themselves ; and therefore they brought him no presents , and therfore they are called the children of belial ; and therefore not only by symbolical , but also by rationall divinity : it is unlawfull to contribute for the maintenance of a war , or to beare armes against the king . i begin with the first , the description of rebels , in the first words ; the children of belial saied : and first , what is here meant by belial ? why , as christ tacitely tells his disciples there are many kindes of divells , when he saies expressely , this kinde goes not out , but by fasting and prayer ; so the prophet samuel here tells us , that there are divers names of divells , or the devill hath divers names , and this of belial is not the best . v. g. sometimes he is called daemon , for his knowledge ; sometimes satan , for his malice ; sometimes beelzebub , for his filth ; sometimes diabolus , for his traduction and accusing of man ; sometimes as heere , belial , for his rebellion , and casting off the yoke of obedience , for contending against him , as much as in him lyes , by whom he should , and shall at last be controuled ; for belial signifies absque jugo , or absque dominio , a masterlesse imp , and it is not unworthy your remembrance ; that wheresoever people are so called , children of belial ; disobedience and rebellion are the ground of it . but what then ? did the divel beget these men in my text ? or else , how and why are they called the children of belial ? no , the divell cannot beget children ; neither , 1. as the common cause ; for so sol in concurrence with man generat hominem ; nor , 2. as the proper cause , either a sirvile genere , or a simile specie ; nor , 3. as the materiall cause ; for he is not spermaticall . they are then here called the children of belial , not by any naturall or virtous generation , but by a vitious and sinfull imitation : as christ told the jewes , that they were of their father the divell , because they sought to kill him , and belye him , and gives the reason of it , for the divell is a murtherer from the beginning , and the father of lies : so here the prophet samuel calls these men the children of belial , i. e. of the divell , because they by his example and tentation sought to shake and cast off the yoke of obedience : and therefore they barely apprehended the king , as a creature of their owne , and chosen by themselves , or of faction amongst themselves , saying , how shall this man save us ? and this brings me to the examination of the first question , viz. whether god or the people be the author of monarchie ? to this is is answered by the children of belial for the people ; saying , how shall this man , this man , and no more , save us ? but by the prophet of god , it is resolved for god , saying , see you him whom the lord hath chosen ? and now , beloved judge your selves , whether it is fitter to obey god or man , as the apostles spake in another case ? whether it be fitter to believe the children of belial , who from their father have learnt to speake nothing but lies , or the prophet of god , who from the spirit of god can speake nothing but truth ? if i thought there were any children of belial here , i would for their sakes examine this question to the full , either to call them by repentance to acknowledge the truth , and doe their duty , or that they might with more security , and lesse excuse wander to hell : if there be any such divell in samuels mantle here , any complyer here with the children of belial , elsewhere , let him at least know the truth , and if he will be blessed , let him doe it too . the very worke of creation speaks this truth ; god made many angels , he made but one man , and yet he could , if he would have made as many legions of men upō earth , as of angels in heaven : he could , but he would not ; would you know the reason of it ? truely i dare not prie into this cabinet ; such secrets of state are not for the commons ; yet according to my evidence , i shall dare shew you the outside of it ; thus : god found not heaven it selfe free from mutinie amongst a multitude of inhabitants , and therefore to take off all colour of rebellion , and to prevent all pretence to disobedience against soveraignty , he made but one man ; one , and no more ; hereby teaching us , that the power of a king over his subjects is as naturall as the power of a father over his children ; that the power and person of a monarch is from god , and not from the people , and so to be acknowledged by the people : sic fuit ab initio . and this is acknowledged by aristotle , who was led only by the light of nature , and saw as far into the lawes of nature , as ever man did : at first , saith he , regall power belonged to the father of the familie , and he gives this reason for it ; because in the infancie of the world , the fathers were so grandevous & lived so long , that each father begot such a numerous posterity as might people a whole country : and therfore regal power over them as subjects was no lesse from god , then paternall power over them as children . will you heare another naturalist , little inferiour to this , say the same ? principio rerum , gentium nationumque , imperium penes reges erat ; the rule of nations , of all nations , was in the hands of kings from the beginning , and the people had no more right to chuse their kings , then they had to chuse their fathers , because the kingly right appertained to the father of the family : sic fuit ab initio . and so it hath continued ever since , and in all places . looke else upon moses the first catholick and visible king of the jewes ; ( the sanhedrim was but his great counsell ) he was fully perswaded that god had appointed him to be israels deliverer : and when god called him , he alone called him , not with the people , not to the people , for their approbation by vote , but to pharoh for the execution of his owne justice : and all this to tell the people , that yet they had nothing to doe in the appointment of a king : that god himselfe and he only , he inclusively , and he exclusively , is the efficient of monarchie . when afterward god left them to themselves , and gave them no kings , and that monster the multitude took the power into their owne hands ; o , what hideous births did they produce ? licentiousnesse instead of the subjects libertie , rapes , and rapines , instead of the subjects propriety ; enough to affright people from affecting any kinde of government whereof god himselfe is not the immediate efficient : and he is not so the immediate efficient of any kinde of government as of monarchy . well , afterwards when god in mercy looked upon their misery , and gave them a little refreshment in the succession of two judges , eli & samuel , & they were weary of this government , and would needes have a king to governe them , as the nations had : why , even then god did not give them leave to chuse one themselves ; but he himselfe appointed one over them , even saul , of whom samuel saies , see yee him whom the lord hath chosen ? it is still to tell them , that god is the author of monarchie , and not the people . and was it not so afterwards ? what else meanes solomons per me reges regnant ? that 's for the jewes , you le say ; it is true , and it is as true of the nations too ; what else meanes isaiah's vnctus cyrus ? daniel speakes them both : the most high ruleth in the kingdome of men , and giveth it to whomsoever he will ; marke it , god gives it , not the people , and god gives it to whomsoever he will , not to whomsoever the people will . thus it was in the daies of moses and the prophets ; and was it not thus in the dayes of christ and his apostles ? why else did christ acknowledge pilates power to be de super ? why else doth st. paul say , the powers that bee , are ordained of god . that objection of jeroboam , that he was a king of the peoples making , doth not soile this truth a jot , for jeroboam confesses himselfe to be but an usurper , saying , this people will returne to their owne lord , if they doe sacrifice in jerusalem : we have good hope , if ever our old religion be set up , this new rebellion must goe downe : and it concernes you , gentlemen , to looke to it to the establishing of our religion , nor does that reply from saint peter any more helpe this lame cause ; where he calls monarchie the ordinance of man . for saint peter speakes of the finall cause of monarchie : it is for the good of man ; and saint paul speakes of the efficient cause ; it is ordained of god . pareus himselfe , pareus confesseth as much , saying , the very word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ad deum primum authorem nos revocat ; this word creation , shewes plainely that god is the author of monarchie . thus it was in the dayes of moses and the prophets ; thus it was in the dayes of christ and his apostles ; and hath it not been so in the dayes of christians ever since . looke else upon athanasius for the primitive fathers ; the power of kings is of god : looke else upon aquinas , for the schoolemen , all kings are gods ordinance , even wicked kings to punish the peoples sinnes : looke else upon luther , for the moderne writers ; yee ought not to reject the prince whom god hath set over you : it was his answer to the assembly of the german rebells . thus it was in the dayes of moses and the prophets ; thus it was in the dayes of christ and his apostles ; thus it was in the dayes of athanasius and the primitive fathers ; thus it was in the dayes of aquinas , and the subtle schoolemen ; thus it was in the dayes of luther , and our honest grandfathers . but hath it beene so with the kings of england ? looke else upon his rights , looke else upon his power . 1. his right to the crowne is by birth , not by election : he hath it not by the peoples votes , but by gods blessing , and hereditary succession : king charles that now is , and long , and long may he so be , was king of england , scotland , and ireland , so soone as ever king james was dead , by the law of birth-right ; and so had beene , though he had not yet received the ceremonie of coronation : henry 6. was not crowned untill the ninth yeare of his raigne , and yet he was king the eight preceding yeares . 2. his power is universall , in all causes , over all persons , both ecclesiasticall and civill : so is his power military ; he may , the people may not , ( de jura ) proclaime war , and establish peace : so is his power curiall ; no court , not the court of parliament can meet , but by the kings authority ; yea , the court of parliament it selfe was at first devised , framed , and instituted by the kings of england ! o fortunatos anglos bona si sua nô rint : so is his power officiall ; he bestowes all offices , the lord keeper , the lord treasurer , the lord chamberlaine , and all the rest acknowledge the king their only patron and donor ; and lastly such is his power origenall , and that runs thus , carolus dei gratia , not , carolus electione populi . the king hath under him free-men and slaves , saies bracton , but he is under none but god : and it may be said of our king in his chaire-royall , as it was said of solomon , that he then sits , not in solium populi , as if they made him king ; but in solium domini , because he is , what he is , charles , by the grace of god , of england , scotland , france , and ireland , king , &c. and may almighty god with his grace , by which he made him king , continue him in his kingdomes , and restore him to his power , that he may punish all those men of belial , who say , they made him king , and he shall no longer raigne over them ; yea , o god , let all those children of belial taste of thy mercy , and the kings justice , who say , how shall this man save us ? and so deny his authority to come from thee , and despise him because they conceive him lesse then the whole body , though greater their particular members . amen . it is my second part , and i am now to discusse it ; i called it the positive condition of rebells : they despised him : and first what is the meaning of these words , they despised him ; why the meaning of this consists in these three branches . 1. they did malè cogitare , and so came within the compasse of solomons prohibition , curse not the king in thy thought . a thought of despising the king is treason , as well as a word , and a word as well as an action : so it is said of the intentions of bigthan and texesh , traitors they were , and yet they never came to an insurrexerunt , or any act of treason , but only to a voluerūt , a bare intention , they sought , or , they thought to lay hands upon king abasuerus , and for this very thought they were hanged : and as the law of god , so the law of this kingdome construes a bare purpose against the king , a despising thought of the king , to be treason , and makes it deadly my prayer therefore is : convert them o god ; if they will not bee converted , confound them o god , as many as have evill will against my lord the king , and do malè cogitare , despise him in their thoughts . 2. they did malè dicere , saying , how shall this man save us ? and so came within the compasse of moses his prohibition , thou shalt not speake evill of the ruler of thy people : a word against the king is treason , as well as a thought , or action ; greater treason then the thought , and lesser then the action : and they that now word it against the king , if they be of the clergy , they are of balaams ordination ; because they curse whom god hath blessed : and he was killed with the sword ; if they be of the laietie , they are of shemeies condition , because they revile whom god hath anointed ; and he was put to a violent and shamefull death : and at this time by the law of this kingdome , there stands one pym endited and arraigned for saying , he would , if he could , embrue his hands in the bloud of king charles ; my prayer againe is : convert them , o god , convert them , if they will not be converted , confound them o god , and let them perish , as many as speake evill of my lord the king , and doe malè dicere , despise him with their tongues . 3. they did malè facere ; for they brought him no presents , and so came within the compasse of king davids prohibition , thou shalt not stretch forth thy hand against the lords anointed ; ( and drawing our hand back from the lords anointed is equivalent ) i know king david there speakes by an interrogative , quis , who can ? but i know withall that that interrogation , quis , is a most tryumphant negative , and saies nullus , no man can , unlesse he will bring guilt upon his owne soule : absolon did against his father the king , and was both hanged and stabbed for it ; robert late earle of essex did , and was beheaded for it , and how many in the same conspiracy were hanged , you may reade in that story ; my prayer againe is : convert them , o god , convert them , and returne them to their duety of loyalty to thine annointed ; if they will not be converted , confound them o god , as many as lift up their hands against , or withdraw their hands frō my lord the king . you see what is meant by these words , they despised him ; will you now see why they despised him ? why , it was because they looked on him as a single man , how shall this man save us ? happily they thought him greater then any one of themselves in particular ; but they thought themselves in a collective or representative body greater then the king ; and this brings me to my 2a . 2ae . and the unfolding of my second question , which is , whether the king be singulis major , but vniversis minor ? but of the first branch of this question , i shall not neede to speake ; for that the king is singulis major , no man denies ; or if any , onely such as are more beasts then men , and live more by sense then reason , or rather , have lost both their sense and reason . my enquirie therefore is upon the other branch of this question : viz. whether the king bee universis minor , lesse then the body representative ? this is the thing in agitation in this wicked age , and affirmed by wicked men , the children of belial . but how truely they affirme it , you may see : first , by their sophistrie : and secondly , by our verity grounded upon scripture , fathers , reason , and the law of england . 1. they tell us , the fountaine or cause of the king is greater then the king ; but the people representative is the cause and fountaine of the king . but with their favour , that axiome upon which they build , quicquid efficit tale est magis tale , though it bee alwayes true , ante effectum productum , yet it is often false , post effectus productionem : v : g : the fountaine was once more water then the river , the sparke was once more fire then all the wood in the chimney , but it is not so . and indeed , the assumption is never true , for the people is not the fountaine or efficient of the king , god is ; i have shewed it before , and thither i referre you . and yet , were it true , why , yet it would not follow , that therefore the people are greater then the king : for that axiome is true onely in those agents , in whom the quality by which they worke is inherent , and from whom it cannot be separated : but the people ( if they had power to make the king ) have by that act divested themselves of that power ; and the king is not under them , but over them ; and not onely over them , sigillatim , but also conjunction ; else the body representative need not petition him ; for they might command him , they need not else call him their soveraigne , but their fellow-subject , they need not else write , to the kings most excellent majestie ; but , to our very loving friend : but you know the usuall style of the body representative ; to the kings most excellent majestie ; we your majesties most humble subjects in this present parliament assembled ; and this i hope is no complement , or pro formâ tantum : sure i am they call god to witnesse it , and so by their owne practise and confession , the king is , not onely singulis , but also universis major . 2. and so secondly , the scripture sayes as much ; for when that army royall was to joyne battell against absolon the generall of the rebels , and his rebell-armie ; and david the king had appointed his three chiefes over all his cavalrie and infantrie , joah , abishai , and ittai , and said , hee would go forth himselfe to battell , no said the people , the people represented the great councell , the councell of warre , and the councell of state : they all desire him to forbeare , and tell him , it is not safe for him to go along with them ; and why ? what reason have they for it ? marry the best reason in the world , salus populi , salus regui , both depending upon the safety of the king : if we flie away , they will not care for us , neither if halfe of us die , will they care for us but now thou art better then 10000. of us : id est , thou art worth us all , thou art better then us all , thou art over and above us all . and so much sayes god himselfe , when speaking of the king , he sayes , i have exalted one chosen out of the people ; marke it , it is vnum electum è populo , not a populo ; and that one so chosen by god , god hath exalted ; and over whom hath god exalted him ? over the people sure , or over no body , and not over this or that part of the people , but over the people indefinitely : i.e. over all the people generally and universally . the new testament too speakes the same , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . in which words the body collective , and the body representative , are both subordinated to the king : the body collective is the people ; and sayes saint peter to them , submit your selves , the body representative is the inferiour magistrates , the peers , nobles , and counsellors , call them what you please , the house of peeres , and the house of commons ; and saies saint peter of them , they are governours sent by him , id est , by the king : for {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} cannot here relate to any word but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , else there had beene an absurditie , and if there were a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , there were an impossibility too , as absurd to suppose one kingdome to have two supremes , as one firmament to have two sunnes , and as impossible to grant obedience to two supremes commanding contrary things , as to serve two masters . in a word , the inferiour governours are made by the cheife , and who is the chiefe but the king ? god only made the king , and the king only makes inferiour magistrates ; ( for they are sent , or made only by him ; ) god only can de jure unmake the king , and the king only can de jure unmake the inferiour magistrates ; and therefore , they are not coordinate with him , but subordinate to him . if now you believe samuel the prophet , or st. peter the apostle , or god himselfe , the king is as well universis , as singulis major : id est , in plaine english , greater then people , or parliament : viz. where the king and parliament are distinguished ; for the parliament is sent , or made , or calld to be a parliament by the king . and hath it not been so ever since ? looke else upon tertullian for the primitive fathers , we account the emperour soveraigne over all , and acknowledge him subject to god alone : looke else upon aquinas for the schoolemen , if a successive king , or king by inheritance turne tyrant , recurrendum est ad omnium regem , deum , we must have recourse to god alone , because god onely hath power over kings . and sayes gregory turonensis to childerick that king of france , you may chastise us if we transgresse , but if you exceed your limits , who may chastise you ? none , no man , no assembly of men , who but god ? surely then the king is above all men in the judgement of divinity . and is he not so in the judgement of reason ? why else doe we call the ring sponsus regni ? and at his coronation he is wedded to the kingdome with a ring : why else doe wee call the king caput regni ? not of these or those perticular members , but regni , of all the members in the kingdome : for all the members in their politick capacity make but one body , and hath one body any more then one head ? and hath not every body a head ? else it is a monster , or a carkasse : nec populus acephalus corpus vocari meretur ; quia ut in naturalibus capite detruncato , residuum non corpus , sed truncum appellamus ; sic in politicis sive capite communitas nullatenus corporatur : and certainely if the king makes the community a body , and the community without the king is not a boby , the king is above the community , for the head is above the body . to these two denominations , i adde a third ; the king is oecenomus , or pater familias : the kingdome is familia , the king is dominus , the kingdome domus , and that criticisme is ● truth ; dominus domni praeest , as well in universis , is singulis . agesilaus foresaw the danger of this destruction and therefore to a citizen of sparta , that desired , an alteration of government , he returned this answer , that kind of rule which a man disdaines in his owne house , is very unfit to govern a kingdome by : you disdaine that your wife , children , servants , the representative body of your little kingdome , should carry themselves over you , and command you ; it is a gracelesse familie that does so , and they are gracelesse and rebellious subjects , that say , they are , or esteeme themselves to be above the king . they that say so , speake against reason , for the king is sponsus , and the people sponsa ; for the king is caput , and the people corpus ; for the king is pater , and the people filij ; for the king is dominus , and the people servi . they that say so , speake against divinity : for it hath been the universall opinion of all the fathers , of all , i bate not one till the yeare 1300. and odde ; that the king is inferior to none but god ; and they speake against the letter and sense of the scripture too , for the scripture calls such despisers of the king , children of belial : and lastly , they speake against the letter and sense of the common lawes of england too . omnis sub rege , saies bracton ; parem non habet in reg●● de chartis regiis , & factis regum , neo privatae personae , 〈◊〉 justiciarii debent disputare . notorium est , saies walsingham ; it is beyond all doubt , th●● the kings of england are of an unbounded preeminence , and ought not to answer before any judge ecclesiasticall or civil . it was an answer of that parliament to a popes demand , and for such demands our forefathers accounted the pope to be antichrist ; i wish they had not sent that reason of antichrist from st. peters in rome to st. peters elsewhere ; for some wise men doe not now stick to say , if this be his badge , populus is antichristus ; it is an ordinary thing for antichrist to lye , and i take this for one ; for if the king be of an unbounded preeminence , then by no meanes under the peoples girdle . that objection is of no force ; ad tutelam legis , subdit●rum , ac eorum corporum & honorum rex erectus est , & hanc potestatem affluxam ipsa habet : for fortescue there speakes of a king meerely politick , saying , rex hujusmodi , whereas regnum anglia in dominium politicum & regal● prorupit , & in utroque , tam regalè , quàm politico , populo suo dominatur ; the sence of this great lawyer is , in reference to his power , he is a regall king , & rex naturalis , and a king by birth ; in reference to his duty , he is a politick king , or rex nationalis , a king by law ; but in both , a king ; and therefore universis major in both respects . nor does that reply from bracton or fleta , ( for they both have it ) doe any more harme ; rex sub lege est , for howsoever the king be under the directive power of the law , as the law is the rule of justice ; yet he is above the corrective power of the law , as the law is the instrument of justice . in a word , the law declares the kings right , the people admit him to the possession of that right , the counsell advise him in the safest way of governing his people ; and so they use all but as instruments and servants to him , and he is above them all . the king is the life , the head , and authority of all things that are done in the realme of england , saies sir thomas smith in his common wealth of england . summam & supremam potestatem habet in omnes regni or●●●s ; nec praeter deum superiorem agnoscit , sayes master cambden ; and if he be under none but god , he is above all the people , unlesse they be god . and to all this you have all sworne in the oath of allegiance , some of you in the oath of supremacie , and the late protestation , viz , to maintaine the kings supremacie in all causes , and over all persons , ecclesiasticall and civill : a soveraignty then hee hath , and you have sworne to maintaine it , not onely over singular persons , but over all persons , and as you endeavour it , so helpe you god . but you may justly feare , if now you unsweare that , or sweare , or doe against that which you have so solemnly sworn to doe ; that god will , not onely not helpe you , but wound you , wound you while you live with the infamie of rebells , and a tormenting conscience , and wound you when you are dead with the eternity of fire , and all the torment of hell . from both which almighty god deliver you for jesus christ his sake : and from both which that you may be delivered , i pray god to give you grace to acknowledge and esteeme the king to be universis as well as singulis major ; amen . they that thinke lesse of him , doe despise him , and are therefore the children of bellal ; and so are they that bring him no presents . it is my last consideration ; i called it the privative condition of rebells , and children of belial , they brought him as presents . i need not spend any time in the explication of these words , they are obvious to the thinnest understanding , and they intend thus much ; these men , these children of belial , did not contribute to the maintenance of the king in his warres , they did not ayde him , they did not assist him , they ayded him not with armes , they assisted him not with money , they withheld his vectigalia from him , they brought him not his customes , his crowne-revenues , his subsidies , and his pollmonies . i shall therefore spend my ensuing discourse , in resolving that question , which doth even naturally arise from these last words , viz. whether it be lawfull to beare armes , or to contribute for the maintenance of a warre against the king ? and this text resolves it negatively , and sayes , it is not lawfull ; for they who brought the king no presents , were sonnes of belial ; and therefore much more are they the sonnes of belial , who fight against , or contribute to maintaine a fight against the king . and to make this good , i shall take leave , 1. removere , to remove those objections , those grand objections which seem to check this truth . 2. movere , to commend to you a choise and pregnant place of scripture , or two , which give the checkmate to those objections : 3. perpendere , to waigh some speeches of the fathers , and so make it good by their theorie and practise : and 4. proponere , to lay before your face some of those fearefull judgements , which have befallen some men that have borne armes against their kings , as fearefull examples for them , who now contribute for the maintenance of such warres . and first , for the objections ; i meet but with two that carrie any seeming validitie with them , many more there are : as 1. the peoples rescuing jonathan from saul : 2. elisha's shutting the doore , and holding fast the messenger that came from king joram : 3. jebues killing that king joram : 4. ahikams defending the prophet from the tyrany of king jehoiakim : 5. the withstanding of vzziah the king by azariah the priest : 6. the deposing of athaliah the queene : but they are all frivolous , and want weight , et eâdem facilitate repelluntur , quâ proponuntur . the first that carries any shew with it , as i conceive , is davids taking up armes against king saul ; and hence the rebells argue thus : david the subject tooke up armes against saul the king , and was not rebuked for it , either by divines , lawyers , or states-men ; many of his fellow-subjects tooke up armes with him , to the number of 600. and very likely , many more contributed to the maintenance of that army ; nor yet were they reprehended by divinity , law , or pollicie : and therefore subjects may in some cases take up armes , and contribute to the maintenance of a warre against their king , ( if he be an oppressour of their properties , liberties , or religion . ) and to this colourable objection it is answered , the allegation is false , false and absurd both ; false , because david was so farre from taking up these armes against king saul , that he continually fled from him , and never fought with him : yea , so farre from fighting with king saul he was , that when god had delivered him two several times into his hands , once at the edge hill of hackilah , and once in the wildernesse of eugedi , he durst not himselfe , nor would hee suffer any man else to stretch forth his hand against king saul , and for this onely reason , because he was the lords annointed , false therefore : and absurd too , to imagine that david should raise or entertaine 600. men to fight against king saul , who never went without 3000. men at his heeles : impar congressus , and very unlearnedly is david with his 600. men urged as an example or argument , to justifie disloyalty . nor will that addition helpe it , viz. that king david was 40000. strong ; for he was not so strong till after sauls death , as appeares in the story : but admit it for truth , that david was 40000. strong in the dayes of saul , yet this is so farre from being an argument to justifie rebellion , or taking up armes against the king , as that it doth altogether condemne it ; for notwithstanding so great strength , yet david never pursued saul , never let flie any murthering arrowes , dart , ston● , at or against king saul , but still fled from him ; and to put him out of all such feares and jealousies , hee got himselfe with all his forces out of his kingdome , and begged a place for his habitation of achish king of gath. let all our rebells follow david in the whole example , and wee shall both allow this quotation , and also commend their imitation ; yea , and pray they may have so many followers , that there may not bee one rebell left to lift up his hand against king charles the lords annointed . object . 2 the second objection of any colourable strength , is that of jeroboam ; from whence it is thus argued : rehoboam the son of solomon refused to ease the people of their burthens , and therefore the people tooke up armes , and set up jeroboam to be king over them ; and this was so farre from being a sinne that the text sayes , it was from the lord ; and therefore subjects may in some cases beare armes against their king . it was answered , the scripture here sets downe , rei gesta veritatem , non facti aequitatem ; and hereupon sayes saint austin , quia factum legimus , non ideo faciendum credimus , s●ctando enim exemplum violimus praeceptum , nor can wee any more free our selves from the breach of the fift commandement , if wee take up armes against our king upon this example , then wee can from the breach of the eight commandement , if wee plunder and robbe our neighbours upon the example of the israelites spoyling the egyptians . true , jeroboam was king , and that was from the lord ; but by permission onely , not appointment ; and god in that permission at once punished solomons idolatry , and rehoboams follie ; but notwithstanding this , that act of the people , in revolting from rehoboam , was rebellion , and so called by god himselfe in two severall places , and god punished this rebellion of theirs so fearefully , that he first gave them up to idolatry , and afterwards drove them out into captivity ; and this is commonly the reward of rebells : first they turne idolaters , or what is tantomount ; irreligious , ( let any one say what religion the rebells are of ) and so are hated by god , and afterwards are made slaves , and so are hated by men ; that we may never fall into the one or the other , either idolatry , or captivitie , almightie god keepe us from rebellion . amen . the scripture affords not one more colourable example to justifie the taking up of arms against the king , and therefore the rebells of this age borrow one from our owne country . object . 3 richard the second was deposed by parliament , and therefore a king of england may be resisted . i answer it , infandum scelerate jubet renovare pudorem : if the rebells were not past all shame , they would never have remembred this factum , since it is without all aequum , and to this day remaines the blemish of our nation ; and this very act brought such miseries upon this kingdome , that untill two kings , one prince , ten dukes , two marquesses , 21. earls , 27. lords . 2. viscounts , one lord prior , one judge , 139. knights , 421. esquires , gentlemen of a vast number , and 100000. common people were slaine in these civill warres , england never saw happy dayes ; this repetition hath rethorique enough to stirre you up to sorrow , i say no more of it therefore ; but , that we may againe see peace and happinesse in our dayes , god put a period to them that beare armes against king charles : amen . for it is unlawfull , as appeares . 2. by scripture , i will name but two instead of two hundred : the first is that of solomons , whose precept is , that we keepe the kings commandement : id est , whatsoever he commands , so it be not against the word of god : the reason of this precept is double : 1. in regard of conscience , because of the oath of god , we have sworne to it , and we have called god to witnesse to the truth of our intention and endeavour to performe this oath ; and accordingly we may expect god● rewarder , or a revenger : the second reason is , in regard of power , for where the word of a king is there is power : q. d. for a while , the word of a king , like the word of god , may be sleighted , but in the end , it will appeare a word of power , and shall be suffered with death , where it was not obeyed with duety : for against the king there is no rising up : nemo qui insurgit , sayes junius ; nemo qui insurgat , sayes clarius , ( i wish hee had beene a prophet : ) by solomons rule , it is unlawfull to beare armes against the king . and so it is by saint pauls rule too , his precept is obedience to the higher powers , not to the naked authority , as mr. burrowes would make that man beleeve , that is given over to beleeve a lye , but to the person cloathed with that power : for if {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} may signifie power in the abstract , or the power of the law , without relation to the person that made that law ; yet {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} must of necessity note the person , and the superiority of the person , that hath this power conferred upon him ; and such power no person in england hath , but onely the king of england : his great counsell may ju● dicere , he onely can jus dare ; and therefore to him must every english soule be subject ; subject actively , licitis , and subject passively , in illicitis ; both wayes so farre subject , as that we may not resist : the reason is , for if we doe , we shall receive damnation : the word is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and that signifies , not the plundering of the goods at home , not the hanging of the body abroad , but the everlasting damnation of the soule and body in hell , notwithstanding mr. marshals new lexicon . if now you beleeve solomon , or saint paul , ( i could add moses and all the other prophets , saint peter and all the other apostles ) it is not lawfull for any man , for any sort of men to beare armes against the king : yea , therefore every man must assist the king with armes , and contribute to the maintenance of his warres , for they that doe not are the children of belial : the children of belial said , how shall this man save us ? they despised him and brought him no presents . and doe not the fathers assent to the same ? why else did justin martyr say ; for our religions sake , and preservation of publike peace , we christians , o emperour , yield you our helpe and assistance : it was tertullians glory , that christians were never found albinians , nigrians , cassians , or any other sort of traytors : athanasius professed it not lawfull to say or speake otherwise then wel of majestie : nazianzen knew no meanes lawful to restrain the persecutour , but tears : st. ambrose knew no other way to resist then with teares : st. austine commended the christians for obeying julian , i could name st. gregory , fulgentius , st. bernard , and many more : for all , heare the anathema of a full assembly of bishops in the conncell of toledo , whosoever shall violate that oath which he hath taken for the preservation of the king's majesty ; whosoever shall attempt to destroy or depose the king , whosoever shall aspire to the regall throne , let him bee accurst , cast out of the church , and together with his complices bee condemned with the devill and his angels eternally ; let them be all tyed in the bond of damnation , who were joyned in the society of sedition . here now let no man say , that these fathers command obedience to good kings onely ; for some of those kings , whom they command to obey , were hereticks , some idolaters , some apostata'es , some tyrants , most of them bad enough . let no man say , the christians did not resist , because they had not strength and power enough ; for tertullian tells you , they had ; cyprian tells you , they had ; saint gregory the great tells you , they had ; the number of christians was a principio , from a few yeares after the apostles . nimius & copiosus , both strong and numerous . let no man say , christian religion , and their priviledges were not yet established , for they were : constantine the great , and his successors established them , and daily added to their immunities . and now , judge your selves , beloved , whether you were better beleeve the scriptures , and the fathers , then some yong teachers , and schismatical divines crept up but yesterday , and never durst appeare in old england till now ; and now they doe appeare , they dare not dispute verbis , but verberibus , and god first or last will give them their belly full . certainely if our brethren were not wilfully blinde , they would joyne with us , and conclude , it is not lawfull to beare armes , or contribute to maintaine a warre against the king : they were children of belial that brought king saul no presents ; and to belial they all must ( without gods infinite mercie and their owne repentance ) who now maintaine a warre , or beare armes against king charles . and this is evident , fourthly and lastly , by those fearefull punishments and judgements , which god and man from time to time have inflicted upon rebells and traytors , even such as have borne armes , and maintained war against their kings . looke else upon those intentionall rebells , corah the clergie rebell , dathan and abiron the laie-rebells ; the one by a fire from heaven is sent into the fire of hell , the other through the earth fall into the pit of the damned : so saint basil . looke else upon that verball rebell , shimei , hee is put to an untimely and ignominious death . looke else upon those actuall rebells , achitophel a great polititian , absolon a favourite of his fathers , and of the peoples affections ; the one hangs himselfe , the other is hanged in a tree : and sheba for but blowing a seditious trumpet , for but striking up a rebellious drumme hath his head cut-off . see my beloved , see if yee can finde but one , even but one rebell , either in holy , or humane histories that ever escaped unpunished , either by the hand of god , in a troubled and perplexed conscience , or by the hand of man , in an untimely and odious death : brutus with the same hand and dagger , hee stabbed his king caesar , he kils himselfe . that seditious ring-leader of the jewes against adrian the emperour , who called himselfe ben-chobab , or filius stellae , is suddenly kild , and ever after scornfully remembred by the name of ben-c●zba , or the sonne of a lye . i have heard of a certaine commander , whose name i am not willing to remember , who often wisht he might rot , if ever he lift his hand , or drew his sword against the king ; notwithstanding he did both , and god answered his wish , hee rotted within , and dyed . a certaine lord i have likewise heard of , a great ring-leader in a rebellion , yet a great pretender to a reformation , who in his exercises of devotion would often desire god ; if the cause he took were not right , if the cause he managed were not just , he would take him away suddenly ; god heard him , and answered him , for by the shot of a musket he is killed so suddenly , that he had not so much time , as to say , god be mercifull unto me , and so without signe or symptome of repentance dyed . i need not remember you of pausanias , ariobarzanes , rodolph duke of suevia , catiline of rome , and many of england . not one of them all , nor any other that i remember , or have read of , but if he lived , he lived the scorne of honest men , and if he dyed , he dyed the shame of his friends , the mirth of his enemies , and the example of all ; god in the shamefull and fearefull punishments of them , telling us , that to beare armes , or contribute to maintaine a warre against the king is utterly unlawfull : that the people of this kingdome may no longer do it : with the church i pray , from all sedition and privy conspiracie , from this present dangerous rebellion , from all false doctrine and heresie , from hardnesse of heart , and contempt of thy word and commandement , good lord deliver us . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a58824e-360 questions . resol. populi . resol. s●muelis . division . ps. 1. mat. 17.21 . belial , what ? children of belial , how ? job . 8.44 . ● a. ● ae . act. 4.19 . pol. l. 1. c. 8. exod. 2.12 14. act. 7.25 . judg. 19.8.10 . 1 sam. 8.4 . pro. 8.15 . isay . 45 1. dan. ● . 25 . joh. 19 . 1● . rom. 11.1 . object . 1 reg 12 . 2●0 answ. replie . 1 pet. 2.13 . resol. ad antioch . q 55. de reg. pa. l. 1 c 6. speed . l. 9. c. 26. polyd. virg. l. 11. smith . c. w. l. 2. c 4. fol. 34. ab . ps. 2. eccles. 10.20 . est . 2.21.23 . deut. 27.16 . num. 23. 2. sam. 16.5 . 1. sam. 2a . 2ae . or quest . 2. 2 sam. 18.2 . ps. 89.20 1 pet. 2.13 ad scap. 2 a. 2 ae . q. 104. ar. 6. fortesacut . l. 2. c. 8. object . answ. replie . resol. l. 2. c. 4. elisab . pag 391. brit. pag. 132. ps. 3. ●● . 3 ae . 1. mediatione non rebellione : junius , borth●ius , osiander , willet : non fustibus , sed precibus : peter martyr . 2. revelatione , non oppositione . 3 speciali jussu , non lege . 4. a populi tumultu non regis tyrannide . 5. verbis , non gladits ; persuasione , non insurrectione : & leprosus fuit . 6. usurpatrix fuit . object . 1 sam. ●2 . 1.2.24.28 . answ. 1 sam. 26.1 . 1 chr. 12.22 . 1 reg. 12. answ. 1 reg. 12.19 . 2 cro. 10.19 . answ. 4 a. 3 ae . eccles. 8.2.3.4 . pro. 30.31 rom. 13.1.2 . 5 a. 3 ae . apol. 2. ad ant. imp. pag. 113. ad scap . apol. ad const. orat . in julian . 1. contr. auxent . ep. 31.32.33 . in ps. 114. conc. 5. canc. 2. in apol. ep. l. 7. ep. 1. 6 a. 3 ae . hom. 9. euseb. l. 4. c. 7. god and the king, or, monarchy proved from holy writ to be the onely legitimate species of politick government, and the onely polity constituted and appointed by god wherein the phantasied principles of supereminencing the peoples welfare above the kings honour, and popular election of kings are manifested to be groundless and unseasonable / briefly collected by robert constable. constable, robert. 1680 approx. 58 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a34365 wing c5935 estc r24780 08488458 ocm 08488458 41399 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34365) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 41399) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1253:7) god and the king, or, monarchy proved from holy writ to be the onely legitimate species of politick government, and the onely polity constituted and appointed by god wherein the phantasied principles of supereminencing the peoples welfare above the kings honour, and popular election of kings are manifested to be groundless and unseasonable / briefly collected by robert constable. constable, robert. [2], 31 p. printed for w.l., london : 1680. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng monarchy. divine right of kings. 2006-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 jason colman sampled and proofread 2006-09 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion god and the king : or monarchy proved from holy writ , to be the onely legitimate species of politick ▪ government , and the onely polity constituted and appointed by god. wherein the phantasied principles of supereminencing the peoples welfare above the kings honour ; and popular election of kings , are manifested to be groundless and unreasonable . briefly collected , by robert constable , m. a. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . rom. 13. 1. vvherefore we must be subject , not because of wrath onely , but also for conscience sake , rom. 13. 5. london , printed for w. l at the crown in cornhill near the stocks-market , 1680. to the reverend , and his loving father , robert constable . dear father , how much i am obliged to you both for my being and well-being , i desire now to testifie unto the world ; for though to requite your love , and bounty be not within the sphere of my * ability , yet since the † apostle commandeth children to learn to requite their parents , and nature it self hath taught unreasonable ( a ) creatures this lesson , i shall endeavour ( by gods help ) to pay that threefold debt of obedience , reverence , and gratitude , which all children owe to their parents . and therefore i shall ever devote my self unto your service , to whom ( next under god and my king ) i owe my self , and those abilities i have , both natural , and which through gods blessing upon your liberal education , by a double apprentiship , in two * famous and flourishing societies , i have acquired . to express therefore my due observance , and gratefull recognition of your former care , and cost ; i here present you with ( the first = born of all my labours ) a brief collection of the divine right of monarchy , evidently deduced ( e sacris paginis ) to be the onely species of politique government , and that the people have no right in the collation of their king , or any colour to presume to the same . the undeniable right of this subject absolutely lessens my endeavours ; because to prove a principle is to deny it the force of a principle : but , because some in the world are not ashamed to make this case disputable , therefore , ( pregnant with zeal , though weak in the delivery ) i brought this into the world , presuming that the alwaies assented to truth hereof would strengthen me in my travel . and thus brought forth i beg for it ( as a true born son ) your baptism . hoping that for the fathers sake , qualis qualis est , aequo animo consules : and so to the world , under your protection , it is committed , by reverend sir , your ever obedient son , and humble servant . robert constable . god and the king . government , in general , is , the administration and exercise of that power and authority which the superiour hath over the inferiour ; which , at the very instant of the creation of the world , took beginning ; for the very first creatures which god made , being inferiour to him both in glory and power , became subject unto his guidance , rule , and government . and god , who is a god of peace and unity , to the end to establish and preserve peace and unity amongst his creatures of different kinds and natures , did by his providence and wisdom create all their kinds in several degrees of superiority and subordination , that as one kind did naturally exercise a rule , so the other might as naturally yield submission and obedience . so that government , being a word of relation , necessarily requires a correlatum , which is subjection , the one not existing without the other . and therefore as government is an undeniable institution of god ( as in the series of the whole universe is most evident and clear , every creature having a certain rule dominion , and dependancy one of anoher ) so subjection or obedience , being its necessary correlate , is as undeniably requisite and necessary . for the wisdom of god which saw the preservation of the universe , to have a necessary dependance upon the mutual peace and unity of these three several kinds of creatures , ( viz. the angelical , intellectual , and natural agents ) whereof the universe was composed , and that peace and unity to have the like dependancy upon their order and government , did likewise see it necessary that the same means should have the same efficacy in the particulars of each of these three species , lest confusion in particulars should produce the distruction of the species , and by consequence of the universe . for most true is that saying of nazianzen , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . order is the mother and preserver of all things . therefore the lord did not terminate the influence of order and government in the species of any of the three several sorts of creatures , but did also originally constitute the particulars of each in different degrees of superiority and subordination or subjection . as amongst the holy angels we find arch-angels , 1 thess . 4. 16. and , jude v. 9. and amongst the devils belzebub , the prince of devils , matth. 9. 34. and the obedience of angels ( i mean not that of the whole species unto god , but their obedience unto one another , ) is strongly intimated by christ in the third petition of that prayer ( which he gave to all christians as a precept , luk. 2. 11. ) wherein we desire that our observance of gods will here on earth , may be such as the angels perform in heaven : but our observance of gods will is not terminated in the obedience of the species unto god , but further comprehends the performance of those duties , adhibited in the fifth commandment between inferiours and superiours , whether it be in political or paternal government . and amongst the natural agents which by a natural instinct are dependant and subservient one to another ; as the heavens to the earth , the earth and heavens to the plants and these three to sensible creatures ; amongst whom the lyon is invested with a certain natural power and authority over the beasts of the field ; the eagles over the fowles of the air , and the leviathan or whale over the fish of the sea. and jerome affirmeth the same order to be observed amongst every particular society of sensible creatures . the dumb beasts and wild herds ( faith he ) do follow their leaders ; the bees have their king , and the cranes flye after one another like an alphabet of letters . but this wisdom and providence of god in the constitution of degrees of superiority and subordination amongst the particulars of the immediate species of the universe , is most manifest and perspicuous in the species of the rational creatures . for god , in the very first beginning of the world invested adam , gen. 1. 26. not onely with the rule and dominion over all the other creatures of the world , but likewise with a monarchical supremacy ; not onely oeconomical over the one created family in paradise , but political over a society consisting of many families , which were to descend of adam . for the same law which commanded obedience to parents did oblige all adams posterity to the performance of this monarchical obedience to adam . now although this government be styl'd most commonly paternal , because all adams subjects could derive their pedigree from the blood royal ; yet is it the very same with that we term regal . therefore the holy ghost , to demonstrate unto us that the name did not create any real difference between this paternal and regal government , did afterwards in the penning of the decalogue , use onely the word , father , to express all sorts of government . and this indeed is the ground of monarchy : which , as a learned divine hath well described , is a politick government instituted and approved by god , consisting in the prudential administration and exercise of the supreme power and authority of one person over all other within the same society , for the preservation of peace and vnity in order to god's glory , the kings honour , and the peoples welfare . where we may observe , 1. the efficient cause of monarchy . 2 the end or final cause thereof , the efficient cause of monarchy , is , either principal or instrumental . the principal efficient cause of monarchy is god , by whom all power is ordained , rom. 13. 1. for god is the universal , principal , and primary efficient cause of all things ( sin only excepted ) rom. 11. ult . and gen. 14. 18. there we find a king of gods own making , and his regal power of god's own institution . for sem ( alias melchisedec ) was by gods special ordinance a type of christ , both in his regal and sacerdotal office , heb. 7. 12. and therefore is stiled by the holy ghost , the king of righteousness , and king of salem , which is jerusalem , where this melchisedec raigned until jacob's time . and also several persons receiv'd their regal investiture from gods immediate and particular consignation , who had no other title to that monarchical honour and supremacy ; as , saul , 1 sam. 10. 1. david , 1 sam. 13. 14. and solomon , 1 king. 1. 30. kings of israel , jeroboam , 1 king. 11. 30. jehu , 2 king. 11. kings over the ten tribes ; and amongst the heathens , hazael , 1 king. 19. 16. was made king of syria by gods particular appointment ; and cyrus , isa . 45. 1. who , although a heathen , is there called gods annointed , ergo. obj. but it may be objected . that when the people of israel asked god for a king , he was very angry with them , and did declare his dislike thereof by a miraculous thunder and rain , 1 sam. 12. 18. ergo. sol. to this i answer ; that god was not angry with the peoples desire of a king , as in relation to the object of their desire , viz. monarchy , but rather was well pleased therewith , being the very ordinance of god himself , deut. 17. 14 , 15. and therefore was sanctified to the people with the promise of a blessing , 1 sam. 12. 14. and further confirmed unto them by god himself in his own particular election of another king , viz. king david , a man after gods own heart : but as in relation to the end of their desire , which was idolatrous and sinfull , laying the hopes of their deliverance , from those pressures under which they then groaned , upon the king , looking for deliverance from him , and not from god , he was angry with them ; as god deolared unto samuel , 1 sam. 1. 7. they have not rejected thee , but they have rejected me ; imputing more to the power of a king for their deliverance than unto my power , so forgetting me their creator and preserver . and for the further manifestation of the divine right of monarchy god was pleased to sanctifie it with the blessing of divine prescription . for monarchy began in adam , and so continued in his posterity successively until the flood ; and after the earth was again replenished , the church was limited to sem ( as aforesaid ) king of jerusalem , where he reigned till jacob was fifty years of age. who went down to egypt with all his posterity , and there lived in bondage and slavery , till god raised up moses their monarch and ruler , by whose hand he delivered them , and after successively continued that monarchical rule over them ( as is manifest in the holy history of the israelites ) even from moses unto our saviour christ , king of kings , and the true king of the jewes , matth. 2. 2. except where their sin and ingratitude made them incapable and unworthy of the great blessings and favour of the monarchical government , and brought that heavy curse of anarchy upon them . for whilst there was no king in israel , in those dayes every man did what was right in his own eyes , measuring their actions by the law of their own lusts . all which enormities the holy ghost justly imputeth to the want of a king and regal government in israel . although they had their synedrim and great council amongst them ; yet it pleased god in all their captivities and distresses during those sinful times wherein they wanted a king and regal government , to raise them up occasional judges and monarchs for their occasional deliverances ; thereby to manifest to them the benefit of monarchy , and how conducent regal and monarchical government was to their constant security and happiness ; god himself honouring this blessing of monarchy with many gratious pactions and promises , as to david , 2 sam. 7. to solomon , 1 king. 3. yea and to wicked saul , 1 sam. 12. and idolatrous jeroboam , 1 king. 11. and therefore a token of gods approbation of that calling of monarchy , as a natural gift and blessing ▪ requisite to humane perfection , for the lord did never thus directly declare his approbation of any curse or privation of these blessings , which was an effect of sin ; nor of any calling which was grounded thereupon , such as that monkish mendicancy which is used in the church of rome . for that command of christ to the young man in the gospel was principally probatory ; and all christs promises made , either to him , or his disciples for remuneration of their piety , who forsake all for his sake , relate primarily and properly to the love of christ , and to such disvaluations and desertions of worldly and natural gifts and blessings , onely accidentally and in a secundary sense , when they come in competition with christ , who is to be preferred above all other things whatsoever , although never so dear unto us , matth. 16. 25 : but i say such curses and privations of worldly and natural gifts and blessings were never directly and positively honoured with a sanction of a remunerative promise , as monarchy is in the prementioned texts . and this i hope may suffice to evidence the primary and principall cause of monarchy , to be god alone . now it rests to speak of the secondary or instrumental cause thereof . in crowns as in all other ( nay much more than in any other ) possessions , he that entreth not in by the door of right and justice is a thief and a robber whose intent is but to rob and steal , whereby to satisfie his own ambition and avarice , as the constant event hath manifested in all usurping traitors , abimelech , absalom , baasha , zimri , omri , and many others both antient and modern , as that traitor the bane of our english nation o. cromwell , whose wickedness ( i fear ) hath drawn those national judgements upon us , which since we have suffered : whose name ( i call god to record with me ) when i remember , makes my flesh tremble , stupifies all my senses to think flesh and blood should be guilty of such execrable acts , the perpetration whereof hell with all its damnable crue scarcely could or ever did exceed . but the prodigious guilt of this miscreant so much exceedeth the mild point of my pen , that in the further process , i should but lessen my own resentments , and seem to favour that which is the fittest subject for the greatest satyre in the world . the instrumental cause of monarchy , is the secondary means which god makes use of , for the immediate collation of this supremacy upon any man , whereby to intitle him to the regal diadem , and that , either extraordinary , when god doth declare his will by extraordinary revelation , and that either for a blessing to his people , over whom he placeth him , by making him a minister of his favours and mercies , or for the executioner of his judgements for the punishment of the peoples sins . or ordinary , when god doth advance a man to this regal dignity and honour by those ordinary wayes and means , which are constant rules for us to judge of , whereby to acknowledge this soveraignty and yeild our obedience ; and this likewise either , when the soveraign power is attained by those ordinary wayes and means which are approved and warranted by the word of god , and the rules of reason and equity : or when the same is attained by violence and injustice , and such cursed wayes and means , as are repugnant to the word of god , and the rules of justice and equity . the dispute of the former would be arrogant and impious ; for the extraordinary wayes of god , are far above our judgement , and further above our imitation : god never intending such for a president whereby to frame our actions , but onely our submissions thereunto . and therefore i shall insist upon those ordinary wayes and means which are the rule of our actions in this kind ; which ( as i have said ) is twofold . either when attained by violence and injustice , and repugnant to the word of god , and the rules of justice and equity ; which is called vindicative : or when it is attained by those ordinary means which are approved and warranted by the word of god ; and this is called gratious . concerning which , there are two opinions , the one , propugned by some , that the right of the royal investiture pertaineth to the people . the other , and that most certainly , is imputed to birthright and hereditary succession . their arguments , whereupon they ground the former opinion , are , partly instantial , and partly rational . the instances alleadged for the propugnation hereof , are the inaugurations of those kings which the scriptures mention , to be made or annointed by the people ; as saul , 1 sam. 11. 15. all the people of the land came to gilgal to make him king. and david whom all the men of juda annointed king at hebron , 2 sam. 2. 4. and afterwards was annointed king over israel at hebron by all the tribes of israel , 2 sam. 5. 3. and solomon who was likewise annointed by the people , 1 chron. 29. 20. and jeroboam , whom the people made king , 1 king. 12. 20. and vzziah , whom the people of the land made king , 2 king. 14. 21. and jehoahas , who ( although he was the second son of joshuah ) was made king by the people in his fathers stead , 2 chron. 23. 20. the reason , they ground this opinion upon , is taken from that aristotelian principle , honor est in honor ante , & non in honorato . and therefore the honour ( say they ) and submission , which kings receive , is originally in the people . and therefore they think it not reasonable , that the people should be obliged to give obedience and yield honour to any person but him whom they think and judge worthy of it , and so manifest their judgement of his worth , by their election of him to be their king and soveraign . and lastly , they add st. peters testimony , 1 pet. 2. 13. who terms regality an ordinance of man , which were false , if it did proceed from god , and not from the people ; for then it were an ordinance of god and not of man. now from these grounds they deduce two damnable ( because rebellious ) consequences and corollaries . 1. that though the king be major singulis , yet he is minor universis ; and therefore that is no rebellion , but duty in the people , to resist and oppose the king , nay to depose and dethrone him , where the people judge it necessary in relation to the defence of their own safety . 2. that the king doth receive and enjoy this honour onely by vertue of a stipulation or covenant between himself and the people . and therefore if the king do violate this covenant and break the trust reposed in him by the people , by any acts which are destructive , ad salutem populi , ( whereof they presuppose themselves to be judges : ) that then the people are absolved from their allegiance grounded upon that trust and covenant , and may lawfully provide for their own safety and welfare , either by resistance , deposition , dethronement , or any such means as themselves shall judge thereunto conducent . now to confute this opinion concerning the peoples right and power in this regal investiture , and in answer , to the arguments alleadged for the propugnation thereof , and to those damnable and execrable inferences grounded thereupon ; we must know , that these acts of the people , mentioned in the premised instances of scripture of making and annointing kings , are , either acts of homage and duty , by way of acknowledgement and testification of the supremacy already legally confirmed upon the person to whom these duties are performed ; which in scripture are expressed upon two several occasions ; the one , where god did confer this supremacy and regal honour , by any extraordinary wayes and means , as in saul , david , solomon , and jeroboam . the other , where god used their means for the vindication of the kings just title against an usurper , as in joas , whom jehoida the priest , and the captaines , and the people crowned and annointed king in the temple ; restoring him to his just rights which had been usurped by his grandmother athaliah , 2 king. 11. 12 , 13. and in hosiah the son of amaziah whom the people restored to his just power , which the conspirators ( who slew his father ) had usurped : and in both these cases , the acts of the people are good and lawful , and approved by god ; being declared to be the will of god , upon the former occasion , extraordinarily ; upon the latter , ordinarily . and indeed is nothing else , but the peoples necessitated assent and manifestation of joy , for that blessing which god hath bestowed upon them ; and therefore bound to perform all acts of obedience and loyalty to him so invested , whereunto they do by this act of theirs silently and implicitely promise and engage . and not by this act of theirs stipulating ▪ or adding any authority or supremacy to the person so inaugurated ; as in those instances , if severally and seriously considered , will appear : for , 1 sam. 10. 1. we find saul , and that by gods appointment ( where the text faith ) hath not the lord annointed thee to be governour over his inheritance ? as also david , who was annointed king by samuel , according to gods command , 1 sam. 16. 13. solomon by zadoc the priest and nathan the prophet , 1 king. 1. 34. jeroboam , by the prophet ahijah , 1 king. 11. 30 , 31. all which being performed by the immediate command of god , declaring his will and pleasure concerning the advancement of them to their several power and preheminence by extraordinary revelations , do evidence , the right of royal investiture , to pertain onely to god ; by whom kings raign : and that , not onely when he doth so declare his will by those extraordinary means ; but also , when that power is attained by those ordinary wayes and means , which are warranted by gods word and the rules of reason and equity ; as in joas whom jehoida the priest made king in pursuance to the promise of god to his servant david that his house should be established for ever . or else these acts of the people are acts of seeming power or authority , collating this supremacy and regal power upon some person , who hath no other right or title thereunto , neither of birth-right , nor of revelation from god ; as upon absalom , adonijah , jehoadas , judas , theudas , and barchozba , ( who professed himself the messiah , and drew the people into rebellion against the roman emperor ▪ which occasioned those wars wherein jerusalem and the jewes were destroyed , ) and these acts of the people are execrable , sinful , and rebellious , and so declared by gods judgements thereupon , for wheresoever the scriptures mention the constitution of a king after this manner , you shall find that they likewise record ( not onely the frustration of the peoples endeavours , but also ) that they were frustrated by some heavy and sudden judgements of god , both upon the usurper ( whereby he was degraded from his undue honour ) and the people , who presume to confer that honour upon him without a warrant from god , and so by that means to obtrude a deputy upon god of their own and not of gods election . whereof we have a lively instance in the madnesse of the people of england in these late times , placing forsooth their ( lord protector ) by those horrible sins of rebellion and sacriledge , not onely perpetrated against the right and power of our late dread soveraign , but even against his sacred and most royal person . o heaven ! o earth ! what satisfaction can be made for that sacred blood , shed , to satiate the gluttonous and sacrilegious lust of traytors and rebells , who build up sion with blood , and jerusalem with iniquity ? but surely god will avenge the blood of his servant , crying ( like the blood of abel ) for vengeance . these acts of the people in annointing of kings are onely mentioned where some of these occasions happened ( that is ) where there was an interruption of the ordinary means of conferring the supremacy by birth-right and hereditary succession ; either by the interposition of gods just prerogative in the advancement of some person by extraordinary and immediate revelation , or else by the usurpation of some who had no right or title at all , but force and violence , ( either private of themselves and some few partners , wherein god stirred up the people to vindicate the kings right ; or publick of the people ) but where the supremacy and soveraign power ( with all the appendages ) descended by birthright ; there is no mention at all made of the people ; though the act of duty and homage was as necessary to be performed to all who enjoyed the crown by hereditary succession ( as to abijah , asa , jehosaphat , jehoram , and the rest , to whom the people were no less obedient and subject than to those who were appointed by god ) but i say in those cases , the peoples acts of submission and homage are not expressed but presupposed , as known acts of duty to those kings who attained the supremacy by those ordinary and known means of birthright . and how many instances are there in scripture of the inefficacy of the peoples endeavours in this kind , as in aarons and the israelites honouring and proclaiming the golden calf , to be a god and guide in moses stead , yet did not that popular election legitimate that calfes power and title , exod. 32. and absalom was proclaimed king by all the thousands of israel , yet did not that act of the people legitimate absaloms title to the crown . for the holy ghost termeth it a conspiracy when it was at the very height , 1 sam. 15. 12. shcba had ten tribes for him , when david had but one , and yet was he never termed a king , but a man of belial , 2 sam. 20. adonijah confesseth that ( although the faces of all israel were set on him to make him king , yet ) he never had any just title or right to the kingdom ; for the lord had designed it for his brother solomon , 1 king. 2. 15. upon all which god manifested the guilt of their sin , by sending those fearful judgements both upon the people and the traitors so exalted . to the reason grounded upon that principle ( quod honor est in honorante & non in honorato ) let it be premised ; that honour involves a twofold relation : the one primarily and per se to that quality or excellency which is found in the person , for which he is honoured and esteemed . the other secondarily and virtute prioris to the act of honour and estimation whereby we judge well of the person so and so qualified ; and therefore all acts of honour in the secondary sence are acts of duty , as being the effect of that qualification in the person so magnified and honoured . so that it is evident the honour and submission which the people exhibite to their king , even from this ground and principle of aristotle , are not acts of favour to be conferred and disposed voluntarily at their own will and pleasure , but acts of duty , not onely morally , as the acts of honour in the premised principle meerly intimates ; but also by a divine necessity , being thereto obliged by the law of god. and therefore must be performed to such , as god esteems worthy of the honour to be his deputies ; and not upon such as themselves judge worthy to be their rulers : for you know the people are obliged to exhibite acts of honour and reverence to a judge ; but it doth not therefore follow ▪ that the people make that man a judge , but he is made such by letters patents from the king , without asking any consent from the people . to st. peters testimony i answer , that the apostles expression there , relates to the subject of soveraignty and power , which is the king , and those who are over us under him ; as manifestly appears by the immediate following words of the text , 1 peter 2. 13 , 14. submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the lords sake , whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governours as them that are sent by him : ( as if he had said ) submit your selves to every humane power and authority that god hath set over you , not onely to the king himself , but also to his ministers and magistrates , although they are his subjects as well as you : for there is no power but of god , and whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation , &c. rom. 13. but it doth not at all relate to the original and efficient cause of that power , which is god , and neither king nor people . and now ( i hope ) the profanity of that former inference of theirs is perspicuous , appearing most damnable being directly contradictory to that express rule , which god himself hath prescribed in this case , exod. 23. 2. thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil , neither agree in a controversie to decline after many . where god plainly declares that the universality of the offenders cannot legitimate the fault ; as appears in the sin in erecting the golden calf , and absaloms conspiracy . for though it be a maxime in policy , that multitudo peccantium tollit peccatum ( i. e ▪ ) poenam peccati : and therefore in crimes of the blackest dye the offenders often times escapes their due punishment . it is as true a maxime in divinity , that multitudo peccantium aggravat peccatum ( i. e. ) culpam peccati ; and the more i seduce the more guilt i contract : although the multitude of partakers may secure me from punishment , in foro judicii humani , yet i am sure to receive the just reward of that sin at gods tribunal ; from which the whole society of men and devils , cannot secure me . but not to bind these nice disputants to an argument of conscience ( which indeed is scarce to be found amongst them ) to evince their error , let us consider the absurdity and sencelesness of their opinion both in policy and reason . for if the major part of the people be superiour to the king , then the government is not monarchical , but democratical , every species of policy deriving its denomination and nature from those that are invested with the supremacy : but that democracy is the basest kind of policy ( confusion and destruction being the conclusion of such a government ) both experience , and the general consent of all politians do declare and so asserted both by jerome , and cyprian , and even calvin himself ( although a favourer of the peoples right , in appointing of their king and monarck ) * divers men have divers minds and meanings , and therefore amongst a multitude of governors , emulation and dissention are no rare springs . nay ( both jerome and cyprian ) record it for a probatum in daily experience , that so many leaders , so many followers , so many rulers , so many factions , do tear and rent in pieces the peace and vnity of all societies . to which agrees calvin , affirming , an equality amongst governours to be the mother of factions . it 's one of our saviours own maximes , matth. 3. 24. that a kingdom divided against it self cannot stand ; but every democracy must necessarily divide a kingdom against it self , ergo , &c. that democracy must necessary divide a kingdom against it self , is proved from another of christs own maximes , matth. 6. 24. no man can serve two masters ( much lesse three or four hundred masters ) but in every democracy there are ( at least ) two masters . and therefore no man can be a true subject or servant in such a common-wealth ; but ( as christ faith ) must necessarily be factious , by loving one and hating all others , and adhering to one , and rebelling against others . and therefore it is observed , that in christs time , when esay had prophesied , that there should be an universal peace over the whole earth ; that then , there was not any kind of polarchy in any kingdom in the world ; because in its own nature every polarchy is inconsistent with peace and unity ; the end and conclusion thereof being absolute ruine and desolation ( the common fate of all divided kingdoms ) except god in his mercy , prevent the same by the reducement of such a government to a monarchy ; a manifest experience whereof we have both in the athenian , syracusan , lacedemonian , and roman common-wealths ; whose polarchical dissentions occasioned many intestine wars and tragical conflicts , which in fine must necessarily have produced the ruine and desolation of them all , if the opportune reducement of those polarchies to a monarchy had not prevented it . lastly , every individual member of the same society is obliged to exhibit acts of obedience and loyalty to their lawful prince ( as the former part of this distinction of these subtile logicians intimate ) allowing the king to be major singulis , but upon what grounds they deny his authority in vniversis , i leave to the censure of every rational judgement seriously considering this deduction , peter is obliged to exhibit acts of obedience to his prince , so paul , so john , and so every individual member of the same society ; ergo , ( according to that logical maxime , a particularibus ad universale valet consequentia ) they all in universal , are obliged to exhibit acts of obedience to their king. to the second inference ( viz. ) that the king doth receive and enjoy this honour onely by vertue of a stipulation or covenant between himself and the people ; and therefore if the king doth violate this covenant , and break the trust reposed in him by the people ; that then the people are absolved from their allegiance , grounded upon that trust and covenant , and may lawfully provide for their own safety and welfare , either by resistance , deposition , dethronement , or any such means as themselves judge to be most conducent to their own security . to this i answer that this covenant ( its true ) implyeth a mutual engagement of the parties therein concern'd ; but the parties primarily and originally concerned are , god upon the one party , and the people upon the other party , as moses declareth , when he reciteth that original and general covenant ( which is indeed the ground of all other particular covenants ) lev. 26. deut. 28. and therefore solomon , eccles . 8. 4. maketh this covenant a ground why people should obey the kings commandments , not as the kings , but as gods commandments ▪ whose vicegerent the king is ; for where the word of the king is there is power , and who shall say unto him what doest thou ? for the kings heart is in the hand of the lord , as the rivers of water he turns it which way soever he will , prov. 21. 1. and therefore the king is onely the deputative party assigned by god , and intrusted by him for the performance of the covenant upon gods part , either for a vengeance , or recompence to the people , as the lord himself judgeth of their merits . and though the king may spare the wicked and persecute the righteous even unto death , as pilate did our saviour , yet even in that the king doth but execute gods decrees , as the holy ghost doth declare concerning that unjust judgement of pilates , acts 4. 28. for pilate did nothing but what god had determined before to be done , for every mans judgement is from the lord , prov. 29. 26. and not from the judge or ruler . so that ( in a word ) the king may do male ( that is ) a wrong to himself , ( for which he is accountable to god ) but he cannot do malum ( that is , any wrong to us ) by inflicting any thing upon us , which is not just and according to our deserts from god , whose place the king supplies in judgement , which is the ground of solomons assertion , that , the kings lipps do pronounce divine sentences , and that his mouth transgresseth not in judgement , proverbs 16. 10. now therefore upon these grounds of solomons it is manifest , that there is no sence , why the people should claim any power over the king by vertue of this covenant . first , because the king is not their deputy , but gods , and every man must accompt to him for his actions , who doth constitute and depute him ; as when the king doth depute a judge for any province or city , the people under his command have no power to question him for any act which they conceive unjust , but either by petition to that judge , or else by their addresses to the king his master , whose trust all corrupt judges do deceive , and not the trust of the people ; for they receive not any power or authority from the people , but from the king : and in like manner the people for redress of their grievances from the kings oppressions , must address themselves to the king by petition , and if that prevail not , then to god by prayer , ( who is the kings sole lord and master , and from whom he receives his power , and whose trust all tyrannical kings break by acts of injustice ) which is the ultimum refugium , as samuel declares when he prophesieth of sauls tyranny , whereby the people should be grievously oppressed ; for redresse whereof the people ( when the king would not hear ) should cry unto the lord , 1 sam. 8. 18. other means of remedy than which , the prophet samuel did not dream of , nor could prescribe to the people to make use of ; and whereas if he had conceived resistance to be lawful , he might soon have found out that way , and have the people so to provide for their own security . secondly , because the people never receive injustice from the king , if they look upon themselves ; for the judgment is the lords , who cannot do injustice , nor break the covenant upon his part ; although his minister and deputy may fail and offend in the execution of his office in his own particular , which is his own guilt . as a hangman that executes the just sentence of death upon a malefactor , if in doing his office , his intentions have not reference to the sentence of justice , but the satisfaction of some private grudge , or some covetous design or the like , that officer is guilty of murther , although the malefactor receive from his hand nothing but his due deserts . and thus much ( i hope ) sufficiently declares the error and vanity of that opinion , that the peoples consent and approbation , are the ordinary and instrumental means and causes of that supremacy and soveraign power , which doth preheminence the monarch above all others within the same society . now it rests to speak of that opinion , which ( and that most certainly ) imputeth the secondary and instrumental cause of monarchy and regal dignity to birth-right and hereditary succession ; the efficacy whereof holy writ doth manifest , preheminencing , the first born above all his brethren in honour and possessions , as the lord declared to cain , gen. 4. 7. nor was it in the fathers power , either for love or hatred , to alter the law of the first born , and to transmit the honour and inheritance due to him , to his younger brother , deut. 21. 15. and in that statute , which the lord himself made , ordering the descent of honours and possessions , num. 27. the lord doth direct that they be conferred by birthright and hereditary succession ; and not by the election or discretion either of moses or the people . but more specially to our case , the lord was pleased to honour it with the promises of perpetuating these honours and royal dignities unto any family , which were alwayes grounded upon the perpetuation of the royal issue , in giving sons that should sit upon the throne , as appears in his promises to david , 2 sam. 7. 12. to solomon , 1 king. 9. 4. to jehu , 2 king. 10. 30. and most manifestly upon jacobs prophesie , which upon this very ground entailed the crown and scepter unto judah , until shiloe came , gen , 49. 10. the performance of which gratious promise was executed in abijam , who succeeded rehoboam , and asa him , jehosaphat him , and jehoram him , and so in the rest , as the sacred chronicle doth at large relate , who all inherited the crown by vertue of this birth-right , without the concurrence of any other cause or meancs . and this may suffice as touching that instrumental and ordinary means ( viz. gratious ) whereby god doth advance a man to the regal diadem , dignity and honour , and which is a constant rule for us to judge of whereby to acknowledge this soveraignty and yield our obedience . the other instrumental means of this supremacy , which creates a right and title to the crown , is vindicative , and that is sword and conquest , which the lord declareth to be one of the severest and heaviest of his curses and judgements upon a nation , lev. 26. 25. and the lord styled the victorious king of assyria , isa . 10. 5. the rod of his wrath , and staffe of his indignation ; because by his sword he was resolved to pour out the vials of his fierce wrath upon the ten tribes , for their idolatries and abominations . quest . it may be here demanded , whether conquest be a lawful and good title , and whether any king who doth claim from thence , be a lawful king , or onely an usurper . answ . conquest in it self makes no better title to a crown , than ahab had to naboths vineyard , or than the robber hath to the travellers purse : for as it is an affliction and punishment to the passive party , so it is a sin and injustice in the active party ; and directly contrary to the law of god which prohibits all injuries to our neighbours ; but yet such a title may be legitimated and made lawful by the declaration of gods will concerning the same . now gods will in this case is declared two wayes . first , extraordinarily , by immediate revelation ; and so jeroboams , jehues , and nebuchadnezzars titles were legitimated . the second ordinarily , by the extinguishment of the royal family , which is a declaration of his wrath and vengeance upon that house ; and so the lord did legitimate baasha's title , as himself acknowledgeth by the extinguishment of jeroboams house , 1 king. 15. 29. now where the lord hath declared his will by either of these wayes , the conquerers title is good and legal , and all those who claim from that conquerer are lawful kings . but where the conquerers . title is not legitimated by one of these two wayes , the conquerer is but a meer usurper , and it is not onely lawful , but a necessary duty in the people to resist him , and to use their utmost endeavours for the deposition of that usurper , and the restitution of their lawful soveraign to his just rights , as jehojada , and the people restored jehoash , by the deposition and murther of athaliah , after she had raigned peaceably for six years , 2 king. 11. and as the people restored vzziah by the deposition of those conspirators , who slew his father amaziah , after they had raigned peaceably eleven years , 2 chron. 26. quest . if it be not lawful for a people to elect their own king , nor any means assigned by god for collation of this honour , but either birth-right or conquest ; what is to be done when the royal family is extinct , and no conquerer doth claim ; and where a mixt multitude ( amongst whom there is no relation of blood to preheminence one above the rest ) do consent to make a plantation , and to erect a new commonwealth ? ans . samuel hath set us a president in this case , 1 sam. 10. 20 , 21. for though the lord had revealed his will to samuel concerning his own election and appointment of saul to be king , 1 sam. 9. 15. yet because samuel foreknew that king should be a tyrant , to plague the people for their idolatrous trust in a king , he concealed that revelation , and would not nominate their king , lest the people should afterwards ( when they suffered by sauls oppression ) blame samuel for appointing him : but used the means of lots , to declare the will and pleasure of god in electing of a king unto the people . and the like was used by the eleven apostles , when they had no warrant from god to appoint or elect another apostle , nor durst presume to confer that high calling upon any man without a warrant from god , as you may read , acts 1. 23. so that in both those cases mentioned in this question , we are to use the means of lots ; for that means is likewise warranted by god , where his will is not otherwise known and declared , prov. 16. 33. but the peoples election is absolutely unlawful ( as the premises , ( i hope ) have sufficiently manifested ) either in those or any other cases . and this of the efficient causes of monarchy . the end or final causes thereof , are , either principal , and that is gods glory and the kings honour ; or less principal , and that is , the subjects welfare . the principal end of monarchy is , either , ( as the schoolmen term it ) originans , which is gods glory ; or originatus , that is , the kings honour . now concerning the original principal end which is gods glory , it is to be understood that we do not speak of it here in its extent and latitude , as it is the universal end of all things , but onely as it is limited to monarchical actions and duties ; in which sence , gods honour and the kings , are not really , but modally onely different , both of them consisting in the very same duties , and are of the same nature in reference to monarchy . for all excellency , worth and goodness is radically and essentially in god , from whom is communicated personae honoratae that worth and goodness for which he is honoured and esteemed . and therefore this politick honour which preheminences the monarch above all others in the same society , is that excellency which god communicates to him , enabling him for the execution of the duties of his calling , in the rule and government of his people and subjects ; and with a power to constitute and enact laws and statutes for the publick good , and benefit of the common-wealth ; and with power to execute the same lawes , either by remunerating the integrity of pious and just men , according to the merits of their service and obedience ; or by correcting and punishing the delinquences of disobedient and evil men : for a seditious person seeketh onely evil , and a cruel messehger shall be sent against him , prov. 17. 11. obj. but it may be objected , that seeing the kings honour is subsequent to gods glory ( it being the chief principal end of monarchy ) that then when the kings commands are contrary to gods , we may resist . sol. we may resist his commands , but not his power , for in those cases we must obey god by an active , the king onely by a passive obedience : for which we have the president of the apostles themselves , acts 4. 5. who did refuse to obey the commands of the rulers , prohibiting them to preach in the name of jesus , but yet submitted to their power , in yeiding themselves to be imprisoned and beaten , according to the commands of the rulers . so that they obeyed both god and the magistrate ; the first by doing , the latter by suffering . for rom. 13. we must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , but also for conscience sake , by christs example , who needed not to have submitted to pilate , or the jews for wrath ( for he was able to overthrow them all with a blast of the breath of his mouth ) but yet to honour the substitute and deputy of his father , he submitted to their power , acts 4. 28. which is the ground of nazianzens advise , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; we must submit to good kings , as to the lord himself ; to bad kings , for the lords sake . and solomon , eccles . 10. 20 ; makes this more evident , where he extends the honour and reverence due to kings , unto the very thoughts and imaginations of the heart ( notwithstanding they were both fools , tyrants , and idolaters ) for when solomon prohibited the cursing of the king , yea even in the thought , he was not ignorant that saul had been a tyrant , himself an idolater , and that his son rehoboam , who should succeed him , was a fool . object . you will say , what ? must men then think and believe manifest lyes ? must we neither say nor think that those kings are evil and wicked , which manifest themselves to be such in all their actions , such as the scriptures record for most infamous and notorious finners ? sol. kings in reference to their duty towards god , may be more wicked than other men , because they may offend in a double capacity . first , in their natural , by transgressing gods commandments , which do oblige them equally ▪ as they do other men . secondly , in their politick , as gods deputies by breach of that trust , which god hath reposed in them , for ruling and governing of his people according to justice and equity . but in reference to their duty towards us , they cannot do wicked things , ( as before shewed : ) so that the words of solomon are to be understood onely of kings , in reference to the exercise of their power upon us ; which whether it be for good or hurt , is still from god : and therefore we may not think them evil and unjust to us ; for the judgement is not theirs but gods , prov. 26. 29. who cannot be unjust . now as god did deligate unto kings a power over our persons in his ordinance , for their primary power and authority ; so did he likewise give them a power over our estates , for the magnificent maintenance and support of that honour , which is their secondary honour of maintenance and revenue : which was the ground of christs command , matth. 22. 21. to render a tribute of our goods to caesar , intimating that this temporal honour of tribute , was ( by vertue of gods deligation ) as due unto caesar , as the spiritual honour of praise and worship was unto god. and upon the same ground st. paul commands to render custome and tribute to kings , not as a gift and favour , but as a due and just debt , rom. 13. 7 ; and gives this reason for it , because they are gods ministers , appointed to supply his place in ruling and judging us . and seeing god hath transferred the greater power to kings , ( viz. ) over our lives , by putting the sword into his hands ; the apostle thence concludes their investiture with the less , ( viz. ) a power over our estates , and the like power we see exercised by pharao in that ordinance for storeing up a fifth part of all the corn in egypt for seven years together ; which law was enacted by pharao upon the single counsel of joseph , with the approbation onely of pharao's servants , or council , and not by the general consent of the people , gen. 41. 34. neither can we pretend this law to be tyrannical , for it proceeded from the wisdom of god , who in this business directed the mind of joseph , gen. 45. 57. nor can any man imagine , but the state and magnificence of saul , david , jeroboam , and others , who of private persons and others , were advanced by god himself to regal honour and dignity , was supported by this means of custome and tribute , nor do i find any particular law or statute for the particular endowment of those kings , but onely that general right and prerogative , which they derive from god , investing them with a power over both our persons and estates . and now ( i hope ) our obedience ( either active or passive ) being a necessitated duty and incumbency upon us ( as the premises do sufficiently declare ) to be performed ( both from our persons and estates ) to our lawful king and monarch , doth absolutely manifest the peoples welfare to be the less principal end of monarchy ; which ( though it be really distinct from the kings honour , yet ) is indeed a meer result and product of the same . for salus populi can never be effected or energated by any other means , but those which in the first place do effectuate and energate the kings honour , whether we look upon the monarchical actions of king or subjects , both which are versant about the same object and matter , onely in a divers manner . for the king is interested onely in the active part of government , by enacting , and duly executing of lawes for gods glory , his own honour , and the peoples welfare ; the people in the passive part of government , by their obedience and submission to such laws and commands of the king , the violation whereof is a direct means of dishonour to god and the king , and of ruine and of destruction to the people . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a34365-e180 * quicquid est quod dat patri filius , utique minus est , quia hanc ipsam dandi facultatem patri debet . seneca , lib. 3. † 1 tim. 5. 4. ( a ) the stork . * st. leonards colledge in st. andrews in scotland , and graies inne in london . notes for div a34365-e370 lib. de moderatione in disp . servand . ad rusticum monachum . * jerom. cap. 1. ad titum ep. ad evagrium . a sermon preached before the kings most excellent majestie, in the cathedrall church of durham upon sunday, being the fifth day of may. 1639. by the right reverend father in god, thomas lord bishop of duresme. published by his majesties speciall command. morton, thomas, 1564-1659. 1639 approx. 64 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a07819 stc 18196 estc s112915 99848156 99848156 13234 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a07819) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 13234) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1282:3) a sermon preached before the kings most excellent majestie, in the cathedrall church of durham upon sunday, being the fifth day of may. 1639. by the right reverend father in god, thomas lord bishop of duresme. published by his majesties speciall command. morton, thomas, 1564-1659. [2], 42 p. by robert barker, printer to the kings most excellent majestie: and by the assignes of john bill, imprinted at london : 1639. probably printed later than stc 18196a.5 (stc addendum). reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sermons, english -17th century. divine right of kings -early works to 1800. government, resistance to -great britain -early works to 1800. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-02 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a sermon preached before the kings most excellent majestie , in the cathedrall church of durham . upon sunday , being the fifth day of may. 1639. by the right reverend father in god , thomas lord bishop of duresme . published by his majesties speciall command . ¶ imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent majestie : and by the assignes of john bill . 1639. rom . xiii . i. let every soul be subject to the higher powers , &c. this argument of subjection is the subject matter of the epistle read this day , 1. pet. 2. which i have transferred to this text of s. paul , only for more apt method and manifestation sake ; which how seasonable it is for the occasions of this unseasonable and dismall time , alas ! it is too evident : a time , i say , wherein the seditious faction professeth forcible resistance against soveraignty for defence of religion . now therefore this text being a divine canon of christian subjection , it will be easie hereby ( through gods assistance ) to pull off the vizard of pretence of religion from the visage and face of rebellion it self . i propound to my self this theme to be discussed , to wit , that arms are not to be taken up by subjects , for defence of religion : for the canon it self teacheth us , 1. who is the subject ; [ let everie sovl be subject . ] 2. to whom ; [ to the higher powers . ] 3. the why , [ for there is no power but of god , and the powers that be , are of god. ] next , because contraries , being compared together , illustrate each other , the apostle useth this art ; for having prescribed subjection , he delivereth the contrary , which he calleth resistance , [ whosoever resisteth . ] this he sheweth what it is , both in the heinousnesse of the crime , [ he resisteth the ordinance of god : ] and also in the dreadfulnesse of the iudgement , [ he shall receive to himself damnation . ] these are the five stages of our future proceeding , which i therefore so name , because my purpose is ( god willing ) to hasten thorow them with all convenient speed i. part , who , [ every soul . ] every soul . ] by soul understanding ( by a senechdoche , as all know ) the whole person of man , as often else-where in holy writ . but what , every soul subject ? not i , saith the pope , and so all popes of after-times , for we have power over all powers , be they emperours themselves , to kick off their crowns with our feet ; to depose their persons , and to dispose of their kingdoms . nor we , say the popish clergy , for our function is spirituall , and therfore doth in it self , in all cases , challenge exemption . nor we , say the seditious conspirators , in the case of defence of our religion . i have therefore joyned the romish , and these other factious together , that it may be known , that although the romish , and the church of scotland , whereof these conspirators would be members , do dissent in religion , no lesse then antiquity and novelty ( for those points , whereof the new romane church have made a new creed of mo then xii . new articles of faith ) and differ also as much in some parts of gods worship , as religious from superstitious and idolatrous : notwithstanding they agree in this one conclusion of professing violent resistance , for defence of religion ; and in the most * principles conducing thereunto : insomuch that the conspirators , who otherwise hate our church ceremonies ( albeit most indifferent , and in use laudable ) even because they seem to them papisticall ; do neverthelesse , for confirming their seditious conclusions , alledge ; saying in these very termes ▪ the papists are witnesses , &c. howbeit this canon doth , in effect , give them both the lie , because the word soul signifieth the whole man ; and seeing there is no man either so spirituall , or secular , but he hath an immortall soul , incorporate in a mortall body ; it must follow that every man is obliged both body and soul to subject himself to the higher powers . and what powers these are , the context pointeth out by their symbol and ensigne , namely of him that carrieth the sword , even the temporall magistrate . and that this doctrine was both professed and practised thorowout the whole christian church for above 600. yeers , is manifoldly manifested by evidences registred in all ecclesiasticall records , whether they concern the greek or romane church . but we , at this present , may content our selves with two kindes , one from the greeks , even in their * commentaries upon this text [ let every soule , &c. ] that is , say they , every apostle , evangelist , prophet , &c if every apostle must be subject , then peter , then his successor , ( every pope ) then every popish ecclesiastick . as for the secular , it followeth in chrysostome , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. every other whosoever , &c. which is an acknowledged truth even of their own espensaeus , saying , * what greek authors did not hold , that the apostle hereby taught , that all the faithfull were to be subject to worldly governours ? ii. concerning the romane church , what need more then the * epistles of ancient popes , yet extant , which they writ to the emperours of their severall ages for above 700 yeers , all * agreeable to the stile of pope gregory the first , sirnamed the great , in his epistle unto the emperour mauritius , one somewhat vexatious unto him , after this tenour , * ego indignus famulus tuus jussioni tuae subjectus . i. i your unworthy servant am subject to your command . here you hear his profession , will you see it in his practise ? the same holy pope being commanded by the same emperour to proclaim an edict , which although gregory thought it to be unlawfull in it self , yet held it necessary for himself to publish it thorowout his diocesse ; that done , he rendreth the emperour this his account , * serenissimis iussionibus tuis obedientiam praebui . i. i have obeyed your majesties commands . as for the other romane , both people and clergie , one would think that the dedication of this epistle [ to the romanes ] might instruct them to know their duties , thus , * to all that are at rome , beloved of god , called saints . what ? ( even this canon as well as any of the epistle els ) [ let every soul be subject to the higher powers . ] thus , then , but contrarily now ; and therefore so much is the church of rome , in point of subjection , degenerated from it self , so farre as that ( divers hundred yeers after this pope gregory ) when the archbishop of sens in france challenged the priviledge of immunitie from all subjection to the king , he was encountered by s. bernard , and arrested by vertue of this canon of [ omnis ●●ima ] saying , forget you what is written ? let every soule be subject to the higher powers . [ qui te tentat excipere , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decip●re . ] i. he that seeks to exempt , doth but labour to delude and seduce you . finally , whenas the pastors of the church catholike performed subjection themselves , for more then ●00 . yeers after christ , it can be no question but they catechised their people in the same canon and article of christian loyalty . this case being so plain , that any man may understand the necessitiy of subjection in everyman , our next quaere must be , to whom ? and the canon saith in the next , ii. part. [ to the higher powers . ] there were almost in all ages of the world divers kindes of powers and governments , which i need not rehearse , but the principall ever was the monarchicall ; whether it were by conquest , election , inheritance ( as the firmest ) or otherwise : and in the monarchicall have alwayes been divers degrees of powers yet so , that one was supreme , and the other subordinate ; which s. peter doth distinctly exexpresse , * be ye subject to the king 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the supreme : and to ( his ) governours , as them that are sent of him . i should now proceed , but the conspiratours do interrupt me , saying , that a difference would be put between private persons , taking arms for resistance , and inferiour magistrates , judges , counsellers , nobles , peers of the land , barons , burgesses , &c. where they confesse , that the magistrates , judges , nobles , &c. are all inferiour to the king : and yet argue , from the combination of all these , for resistance by arms . now hearken we to the canon , [ let every soul be subject to the higher powers ] but inferiors are under the monarch , as the higher , and so are they confounded out of their own mouthes . but they and the romish descend yet lower , as we shall finde , in discussing the reason why we ought to be subject to the higher powers , which is the next point , and ▪ iii. part , [ for there is no power but of god : the powers that be are ordained of god. ] therefore it is plain ( say we ) god requireth a loyall subjection . here again both the romish seducers , and these conspirators conspire together in defence of another principle , to wit , when they have no power of resistance in themselves , then to envenome and intoxicate the braines of the people with an opinion that the power is in them to resist by violence , when there shall be occasion . so say the romish , but why ? because , forsooth , * majestie is seated in the people , because the princes are made by consent of the people , and because st. peter calleth them humane creatures . accordingly the conspirators , as if they meant to be the disciples of papists ; their words are these : the people originally make the magistrate , and not the magistrate the people . and ( all this being supposed ) their conclusion is , for defence of religion against magistrates by the power of the people . then which there could not be uttered a more fo●d , false or pernicious conclusion , as the canon it self will shew from point to point . i. fond , for what saith the canon ? the powers that be are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ordained of god , that is , orderly constituted : but if , when the people have constituted a ruler over them , there remaineth in them a power dormant , upon occasion , to over-rule , and un-king , and un-make him , to whom they are subjects ; this were as unorderly and ougly a confusednes , in the bodie politique , as it would be in the body naturall to stand on it's head with the heels upwards ▪ their other objection is out of s. peter , for calling magistracie an humane creature , because of the choise of the people ; as if therefore by it the same humane and popular libertie might be dissolved : it is frivolous , because s. peter addeth there , be ye subject unto ( the same ) humane creature , for the lords sake . ii. if the doctrine be fond , it must needs be false ▪ and that more evidently by that which shal be opposed against it in the canon , which saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the powers that be are of god ▪ [ powers that be ] are they then once established ? then whatsoever the government be , they are of god , god owneth them , they may not be disturbed . for as silver , whilest it is mere plate , if it be tendred for exchange , may be either taken , or not , by the partie to whom it is offered : but if it once receive the kings stampe , and be coyned , it is currant money , and may not be refused . or as acts of parliament , whilest they are but voted , are but only consents , but after they have the kings royall assent , they become statutes , which may not be transgressed . so is it in governments ; as soon as any is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created by man ( as s. peter calleth it ) it becometh ( thus saint paul ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gods ordinance , and may not be resisted . this lesson our saviour christ taught all christians , by his own example , who although he were lord of lords , and king of kings ; yet making himself ( as man ) subject to higher powers , he would acknowledge them , both in the supreme magistrate , and therefore he paid * tribute to caesar : and in his deputy pilate , as subordinate , to whom he giveth testimonie of his divine right , that he had his power from above , namely from god. which thing is so evident , that some * popish divines could not but perceive it . lastly here is made visible the pernitiousnesse of this infatuation by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fourth verse , [ he carrieth the sword , ] to wit , one chiefe governor , but one sword : for albeit there be governours under governours , moe or fewer , yet because the subordinate are dependant , all upon the chiefe one , and doe execute capitall punishment in the name and authority of the highest , all are accounted but one sword ; and subalterna non contradicunt . but when as the people shall be making forceable resistance , there must be clashing of sword against sword. nay , and by this their learning , which we now hear , the sword is wrested out of the hand of the king , & put into the power of the people , that is , into the hand of a mad man. i have said this , and have good warrant for it ; for when king david , in the like case , — ( like case ? nay never was the like case heard of , namely , that a king was so injuriously cheated of a kingdome ) when king david , i say , was delivered from the contradiction of his people , he giveth thanks to god , that as he * stilled the raging waves of the sea , so he repressed the tumults of the people . comparing hereby the tumultuousnesse of the people to the raging waves of the sea ; and is therefore translated in our church-book more emphatically , the madnesse of the people . o mercifull , and powerfull god! grant , we beseech thee , the like experience of thy deliverance , out of the outragious contradiction of the people , unto our gracious soveraign , that he may likewise praise thee , the lord of hosts , in the great congregation ! i proceed unto the contrariety to loyall subjection , which is called resistance in the iv. part of this canon ; [ whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. ] in these words you may perceive an act , which is resistance of magistracie , and the crime therein , which is resisting the ordinance of god. it is not , he that obeyeth not , but , [ he that resisteth : ] for there may be a lawfull , yea and a necessary not-obeying , as whensoever the immortall god shall command any thing , and any power on earth shal give it a countermand , then must the law of the earthen and mortall god be rejected justly . to this purpose the example of daniel is registred in holy writ . a law was signed by king darius , that none should make any petition to god , for certain dayes . daniel disobeyeth this law , he is cast to the lions to be devoured , he is delivered by gods angel : darius congratulateth his deliverance , and daniel justifieth his former disobedience , saying , vnto thee , o king , have i done no hurt . kings are not to think it any injury , or derogation to their royalty , that the king of kings be rather obeyed . king solomon saw the equity hereof , when distinguishing of heights of powers ( in the case of oppression of the people by unjust judges ) he said , there is higher then they : meaning the king , whom in that respect also he calleth the highest on earth , to whom the subject might appeal : but if the king will not , then to know that there is one higher then the highest , even god. thereby teaching inferiours that they must still vail to the highest . and our canon , which will have us subject to the higher powers , before the lower among men , doth by analogie instruct us principally to be subject to that higher power , by whom these powers are , namely ( as saith the canon ) by the ordinance of god. a case clearly resolved long since by the apostles ; for christ had commanded his disciples , to goe , and teach in his name ; the jewish sanhedrin inhibiteth them , saying , * teach no more in that name : they rejoyne , whether it be better to obey god or man , judge you . an answer so rationall , conscionable , and irrefragable , by referring it to the judgement and conscience of whatsoever adversary , that had any knowledge of god , as that it was an impregnable convincement . but we never reade of a lawfull resistance to governours , whereof the canon here speake●● ▪ for it is called a resistance of powers , and therefore it intimateth and withall condemneth a powerfull violent resistance , whether it be made by persons invaded , or else by persons invading ; for these two are to be differenced . the conspirators ( whatsoever else they might inwardly intend ) doe openly professe not to use any violence by armes , untill they shall be invaded : and therefore it is , that they palliate this their opposition with the name of a defensive resistance ; repeating againe and againe the word , defence . hereupon i am compelled to take up that out-cry of tully against tubero , for bringing men into the field , armed with speares and swords , quis sensus armorum ? ( saith he . ) what other meaning can mortall weapons have then mortall wounds ? except the conspirators would have us thinke , that there is more mercy in muskets and canons , then there could be in swords and speares : or that , if our king should be constrained ( which god forbid ! ) to dispute his right by armes , they would defend themselves without blowes and bloodshed . it will be no excuse for them , that there is a generation more rebellious then they , who invade before they be invaded , and that also in pretence of religion . these i need not name , they are to all the world so visible , both by publike invasions , and treacherous assassinations . for it is needlesse to reckon up unto you the romish often machinations to raise publike insurrections : the curse of god upon the last northerne rebellion is felt of this countrey inhabitants even at this day . as for assassinates , by popish and jesuiticall suggesters , the miseries of france , and horror at the sight of their kings , wallowing in their gore-blood ; the joy of england , for gods manifold and miraculous deliverances to our last queene , and king of blessed memory , together with the whole state of this kingdome , do fully proclaime . o that both these spirits of rebelliousnesse would now at the last abhorre the mischiefe of all violent resistance , by consideration of the grievousnesse of the crime ! which in the next place is to be spoken of , [ he that resisteth the power , ] what ? [ resisteth the ordinance of god ] that is , resisteth god himselfe . whence we collect a condemnation both of actuall resistance , and an habituall purpose of resisting . touching the former , both the romish seducers and the conspirators oppose , affirming and teaching , viz ▪ if that kings shall proove either tyrants to their owne people , or else persecuters of the professors ▪ of religion , then subjects may arme themselves , and make hostile resistance . this doctrine is most notorious in the romish schooles . the conspirators , inspired with the same spirit , will needs be thought to have an advantage from the verses following , because the subjection , here required , is prescribed in behalfe of governors ; who are said to be such rulers , who are not a terrour to good workers , but to evill : who are ministers of god for good , and revengers to execute vengeance on them that doe evill . hence the conspirators ; but tyranny and unjust violence ( say they ) is not the ordinance of god , and be that resisteth it , resisteth not the ordinance of god : for such rulers are a terrour to good workers , but not to evill . and the whole course of the apostles argument runs against resistance of lawfull power , commanding things good . we must therefore acknowledge tyranny to be the ordinance of god , and for good , or extrude it from the apostles argument . thus we see the ministers among the conspirators , as drummers in the campe , strike up their alarme to war and violence , and bewitch mens soules with that sophistication , which is called ignoratio el●nchi . and this poyson likewise they have suckt out of the quils of romish sophisters . that this may appeare to very novices in religion , i shall give to our adversaries their foure objections foure punctuall answers . the first is , that the powers , to whom subjection is required , by this canon , were indeed tyrants to their owne subjects , and persecuters of the christian professors . for were not these powers heathen governors ? were not the most of them cruell tyrants ? were they not all professed enemies to the christian faith ? and persecuters of the professors thereof ? this cannot be denyed ; but if any mans ignorance should gainsay it , we might instance in the emperour nero , who was the highest power in the world at this time . he , after the fift yeare of his empire , became so bloody a tyrant , even to his owne heathenish people , that they branded him with the blacke marke of a monster . and he was so vile and violent an opposer of christian religion , that his raigne hath beene registred ever since by christians to have beene their first fierie persecution ; whereof the holy pen-man of this epistle felt some sparkles : for ephes . 3. he displayeth himselfe , saying , i paul a prisoner of iesus christ . whence was that epistle written ? the subscription thereof saith , from rome . and the like we reade in the epistle to philemon . all this notwithstanding , s. paul requireth subjection to this , and to all other never so tyrannous governours . with what front or face then could these romish , and other seducers distort this text , for proofe of a rebellious conclusion ? their second ignorance ( if yet it may be called ignorance ) is , that they discerne not this their inconsequence , viz. the canon exacteth subjection to governours that are no terrour to good workers . ergo , to those that are a terrour to good workers , they owe no subjection . just as if , in chatechizing children in their duty to their parents , they should instruct them , saying , divine scripture commandeth you to reverence your parents , who bring you up in the feare of the lord : ergo if your parents shall vexe you , in your good doings , you must not yeeld any reverence unto them . thirdly , they will not see , that there is a temporall good redounding unto subjects , even under most tyrannous governours . i say againe , they will not see it , who name calvin , as standing for them : but onely name him , alleaging no place . now , will any doubt but that when they argued from this text , they did consult with calvin upon it , then whom ( upon this place ) they could not have a greater adversarie ? he saith , indeed , that the text requireth subiection to governours , for the good-sake that government bringeth : but doth hee contrarily conclude a no subjection , if they shall peradventure degenerate and turne tyrants ? his words are , * et ●amsi non rarò degenerant , qui principatum tenent , nihilominùs deferenda est eis obedien●ia , que principibus debetur . that is , although they should degenerate from the office of good magistrates , yet is the obedience due unto princes to be performed to them . but our conspirators acknowledge no good in the government of any tyrant ; notwithstanding that , calvin instructeth his reader in this point also , * quanquàm nè sic quidem abutuntur potestate suâ principes , bonos innocentésque vexando , ut non aliquandò ex parte speciem aliquam justae dominationis retineant . nulla ergo tyrannis esse potest , quae non aliquâ ex parte subsidio sit , ad tuendam hominum societatem . this his judgement is worth the translating . neverthelesse ( saith he ) princes , in vexing good and innocent subjects ▪ doe not so farre abuse their authority , but that they preserve some part of just government . therefore there can be no tyranny , which may not in some degree be an helpe and aid to the common-weale . so peter martyr , commenting upon the same text , hath these words ; nisi tyranni saevissimi aliquam habeant rationem juris , potentiam illam suam retinere non possent . and it is very true ; for if tyrants should not uphold the publike justice and peace , in some degree , they themselves could not subsist or support themselves . he instanceth in nero , cùm ipse imperio suo opprimeret orbem terrarum , tamen jus dicebatur , nec vis legum funditus eversa erat è rebus humanis . the difference therefore , in this case , between the incendiaries and calvin , is no more nor lesse then this ; they say that the argument of the apostle extrudeth ( it is their own word ) subjection to tyrannous governours : but hee denyeth this . and they reject the said governours , as if they were void of all publike justice : but he saith , there was never any such tyranny heard of . a fourth crotchet they have , namely , that if we be subject to tyrants , then must we confesse that tyrannie is the ordinance of god. so they collect , for want of spectacles , for so may we call a distinction ; ordinatio commissionis & permissionis ; one and the same man having both. n●r● a king , by gods ordinance of commission ; the same nero a tyrant , by gods permission ; yet permission not speculative onely , but ordinative , which useth a tyrant for to bee his flagellum , a whip for scourging the wicked ▪ as scripture teacheth ▪ and as god himselfe avoucheth of himselfe , by his prophet , saying ; * i gave them a king in my wrath . take you , for instance , unjust pilate ▪ ( of whom you have heard ) who albeit , by gods permission , an unjust governour , yet is acknowledged to be , by gods commission and ordinance , a governour , as one * having his power from above . and thus is the maine fort and bulwark of both the romish and seditious conspirators utterly demolished , touching actuall resistance , even against tyrants themselves ; how much more against the nursing father of our church , who is no way liable to so wicked an imputation ? as will hereafter appeare . the second kinde of resistance is that which we called habituall , in a purpose of resisting ; of which now . this i note , because of another notorious principle , held by both our conspirators . for the romish , they allow their professours sometime to performe subjection to protestant princes , but it is under this parenthesis of onely * the case thus standing : and , untill there be force to resist . which lesson the conspirators may seeme to have learned , who , whilest they wanted force , stood upon good termes of peace and subjection : but no sooner were they furnished with armes , but they began to threat ; which is as wilde and vile a piece of learning as the former , and commeth now to bee confuted both by text and context . the text saith ( omnis anima ) let every soule be subject : the reason why the denomination of the whole man is given ( animae ) to the soule , ( as aquinas glosseth ) is , because subjection should be ex animo . secondly , it is called the ordinance of god , who is the searcher of the heart , because he saith , concerning obedience to himselfe , give me thy heart . and that he will have as due subjection to cruell governours , as obedience of servants to their froward masters , none will make question . but concerning the du●y of servants towards their masters ; saint peter enjoyneth them to bee * obedient ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) to their froward and perverse masters . and s. paul , that they * serve not onely the eye of the master , but in singlenesse of heart , as unto christ : for otherwise it is but brutish , like to the service of * horse and mule , whose mouth must be holden with bit ▪ and bridle . lastly , the context acknowledgeth , concerning subjects ; it is necessary you bee subject , not for feare onely ( namely , of the temporall sword ) but for conscience ▪ sake also : that is , for feare of gods vengeance , which this canon denounceth against obstinate resistants , as is now to be unfolded in the last part of this ▪ canon . v. part. they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation . the transgression being so hainous , the judgement must needs bee grievous ; and so ( indeed ) it is thrice-dreadfull : once , as being intolerable , signified in the word damnation ; wherein are comprised the two extremities of punishment : one of paine , which in scripture is shadowed under the metaphor of fire ; the other the extremity of continuance , for time ▪ expressed in the epithe● everlasting . next is the unavoidablenesse thereof , as it is in the canon , ( shall receive damnation . ) to wit , although such resistants shall escape the edge of mortall powers , yet if giant-like they will needs ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) resist god , he will at length be too hard for them , they shall in●allibly receive damnation . lastly , the judgement will be most just , to make them inexcusable , for so saith the canon , ( they shall receive damnation to themselves . ) that is to say , they shall be found guilty of their owne danmation , be their pretences in this life never so specious , as indeed they are . for both the romish and the conspiratours hold ( respectively ) that they , who shall die in their quarrels , are in the state of martyrs . their principles likewise agree , first , because they fight for conscience-sake . but why this ▪ because it is in ordine ad deum . yet why thus ? because in the defence of religion . so they ▪ and so their many deductions are so many seductions and delusions , as the canon will particularly and plainly discover . 1. to pretend conscience for resistance , albeit the apostle here in ver . 5. teacheth , that it is necessary to be subject even for conscience-sake . 2. in ordine ad deum , that is , in zeale to gods glory : as if that could be called ( in ordine ad deum ) which ( as the canon hath it ) is a resistance against the ordinance of god. lastly , to say that they resist for religion-sake , knowing that religion is in adherence to the revealed will of god , and that there can be nothing more revealed then this canon of a generall subjection to the highest powers : as also the reason against resistance , in respect of the crime , which is , resisting gods ordinance : and much more in regard of the judgement , which is damnation it selfe . and therefore can such resistants , dying in their rebellious quarrels , be but black-saints or martyrs : even as divers in the church of rome have been , whom ( notwithstanding ) their writers doubt not to beatifie in their books at large , even in these our times . one i dare be bold to name , garnet the jesuite , whom i knew at his arraignment to confesse , that he heard of the powder-treason out of confession ▪ and therefore was worthy of judgement ; and at his death he publikely exhorted the romish professors to avoid all acts of treason . now therefore it being confessed on all sides , that it is not poena , but causa that canonizeth a martyr ; we see by this one instance how prone the romish professors are to adopt for martyrs , as dying for conscience-sake , those who confessed themselves to die for guilt against their conscience : except , in so confessing , they doe but aequivocate ; and if so , then but aequivocall martyrs . but to come to the determination of the present cause , by two positions against aswell the intituled romish holy-leaguers , as the religious covenanters . the first is , that the souldier of christ his fight , for religion , must not bee by worldly force . the word sacrament originally among the romans was a militarie terme , signifying the sacred oath taken by the souldier , to be faithfull in his service under his generall ; and after translated , to notifie our sacred mysteries : as , at first , our holy vow in baptisme , for professing of our faith in christ , by holines of life , in imitation of our generall , christ jesus . he in generall proclaimeth , saying , * my kingdome is not of this world , else would my servants fight : which was spoken in relation of himselfe to his disciples ; and therefore wee see hee would not have them fight , no not for himselfe . but would any of his servants seeke to destroy any for his sake ? yes , the boanerges ( sonnes of thunder ) would have done so for his honour , when they desired fire from heaven to destroy the samaritans , for their contempt against their master ; because of his religion , for that he seemed to them to have set his face towards jerusalem ; that is , to have a purpose to goe up to the feast , there to solemnize the worship of the true god ; but notwithstanding were corrected by our generall , saying , * ye know not of what spirit ye are of ; i came not to destroy ▪ and what then shall the romish answer for their boanerges ▪ sonnes of powder , who not asking for , but acting and working a fornace of fire in a hollow vault , as from hell , to consume at once the king , and the whole representative state of this kingdome with a blast ▪ * a treason ( saith one of their owne historians ) of all other which either in our , or in any former age , hath been recorded : for immanity most monstrous , no age ever hatched the like . so he ▪ or what will they answer for the patron of all assassinates , pope urbane the second , ( called by the nickname of turbane ) who made a publick edict against those who should be excommunicated by the r●●ish church , ( ●● * all protestants are at this day ) authorizing private persons to murder them , saying , * non enim eos homicidas arbitramur , quos adversus excommunicatos , zelo catholicae matris ardentes , eorum quoslibet trucidasse contigerit , &c. another servant of christ , to rescue his master , would needs draw his sword , strike and wound an officer of the jewes , but was rebuked thus ; * put up thy sword , for all that take the sword , shall perish by the sword : that is , ought to perish by it . the second position may be this , that christians ought , in defence of their christian profession , to imitate christ their generall in passive obedience , in resisting the wicked world , by dying for the christian faith and religion , whensoever the alarme for martyrdome shall be ●eard . that one instruction of saint peter may alone suffice for this point : * if yee suffer for well doing , happy are yee , for hereunto are yee called , because christ suffered for us , leaving us an example , that we should follow his steps . here is as much as need be said : our vocation whereunto we are called , is to be souldiers of christ ; our warfare is by suffering ; our example is our generall , who suffered for us ; our victory is , as his was , the conquering of the world by an innocent death ; our end is blessednesse , for so it is said , happy are ye , &c. vpon which contemplation we are bold to affirme , that we have all this by the covenant of baptisme , ( the epitome of christian religion ) which appeareth to differ as much from the covenant of violent resistance , for religion , as doing resistance , and suffering ; as vocation and transgression ; as happinesse and damnation . it will be worth the while , to consider the good of persecution , for the profession of the true christian religion . the first is that miraculous good , which experience of the sufferings of the primitive martyrs hath brought forth , according to that saying , sanguis martyrum semen ecclesiae ; when the more the christians were massacred , the more they increased : and to work a multiplication of christians , out of the destruction of christians , is not this miraculous ? another good , wrought by god through persecution , is a vertuous and spirituall good , not only by way of purging the soul , but even by a spirituall power of christian warfare ; saint peter speaketh of the first , when he compareth persecution to * triall by fire , and the operation thereof to a purging , as gold is purged . and thus we may say , that thereby the ●oule of a christian is purged from the drosse of hypocrisie , and of carnall securitie . but our discourse is of a spirituall warfare , and such are our enemies , * we fight not against flesh and blood , but against , &c. and such are our weapons , * the weapons of our warfare are not carnall . and such our fight , * i have fought a good fight , speaking of his manifold afflictions . and such is our victory against all worldly force , even in suffering for the faith of christ , as is signified by that saying of s. iohn , * this is the victory which hath overcome the world , even your faith . and indeed this particular vertue and spirituall good is graphically set out by the apostle , ephes . 6. in the panoplie and spirituall furniture of a christian souldier : for , without that , the lustre of spirituall graces could not be glorious ; not the girdle of veritie , which we professe , nor the brest plate of righteousnesse , and sinceritie of a good conscience ; nor the sword of the spirit , which is an animositie in professing the same truth ; nor the shield of faith , which without persecution seemeth outwardly conspicuous sometime in an hypocrite ; not the helmet of salvation , which is hope , by a constant endurance of death in despight of the world , which is christian conquest it selfe . let not the conspirators say now ( as they have done ) that they who will not now take up corporall armes , for defence of their religion , they endanger their owne soules : and they are but worldly men ; they are gallio's , not caring for these things ; they are like festus , holding difference of religion to be but certaine questions , &c. for i shall aske them but two questions , one , whether they , who preach suffering for religion , rather then to rebell against soveraigntie ; or they that cry , arma virúmque , to preserve their bodies , be the more spirituall , and consequently more religious ? next , i demand , if that primitive christians ( who were innumerable ) had turned worldly souldiers , how should they have become those souldiers of christ , in remembrance of whom the church glorieth in her prai●e● , and glorifying of christ , chanting and singing , the noble armie of martyrs praise thee ! for , i hope , they will not dare to put on the rom●sh face , as to say they of the primitive church resisted not , because they wanted force ; whereof something is to be said by and by . in the interim , i would be rightly understood in this discourse ; my theme is directly against their pretence of hostile weapons for defence of religion : for though ( to speake in the generall ) it be lawfull for one kingdome to defend it selfe from the invasion of another kingdome , for religion-sake , where they are paris juris ▪ yet not here , where the condition of subjects to the higher powers is considered . againe , if such a case ( as hath been knowne ) be propounded , when the king or state shall give forts and castles to some subjects , for to defend and secure their profession of religion ; i may say , these cautions fight not at all with my former conclusion , grounded upon the divine canon of [ omnis anima . ] i cannot sufficiently discharge my taske , except i may be permitted to deliver three briefs ( that i may so call them . ) 1. a briefe confirmation of the former doctrine by antiquitie . 2. a briefe contestation , in behalfe of protestants . 3 a briefe application to the person , who is now principally engaged . 1. the ancient catholike church , and mother of all churches christian , ought also to be acknowledged our blessed nurse , from whom we may suck the most pure and wholsome milke , which the innumerable multitudes of martyrs , confessors , and professors did ; who , notwithstanding the 300 yeeres persecution for religion , never used , or professed any forcible defence . to this our romish adversaries , in behalfe of their parricides , shape us a briefe answer , to wit , that the martyrs , who suffered for christ , did want force of armes to resist ; which their answer they * themselves knew to be as false , as they would have it seeme to be true : because they could not be ignorant that divers apologies were then made , in the name of all christians ▪ unto those persecuting emperours , to remove from them all jealousie and suspition of disloyaltie , principally by this reason , that they having warlike power enough , yet held it a part of christian religion not to make any forcible resistance . * tertullian in his apologie beginneth with an absit ! god forbid ( saith he ) that the christian profession should revenge it self by humane force , although there can be no war made against us but we are fit and sufficient for it , if we would seeke revenge of our persecutors : nor should we suffer our selves to be slaine , unlesse that our christian discipline and profession , were rather to be slaine than to slay . so he. saint cyprian expressed the same christian profession ; * not to seek revenge against unjust violence , but to leave that to god : although ( saith he ) our people be excessive in number , &c. greg. nazianz. expostulateth thus against the persecuting heathen , * who is there of you all , whose life any of our people have endangered , albeit otherwise boyling with heat and anguish . saint ambrose , when the emperor invaded his kyrk , and the people were ready to make rescue , so farre as that the invaders could not have sustained their force ; * i restrained them ( saith saint ambrose , ) for prayers and teares are my armour , and i neither ought nor may make other resistance . in a word , the universall christian resolution was proclaimed in these words ; precamur , auguste , non resistimus ; which resolution of not-resisting our saviour confirmed , when he allowed his disciples not so much as any outward buckler , excepting onely * [ fuga ] flight from one citie to another : which is , by consequence , flie ; and therefore , not resist and fight . and , for the integrity of subjection and true loyalty , arnobius was bold to preferre christians before all the heathen subjects , even in the dayes of persecution , in the name of the catholike church of christ , in the point of true loyaltie ; vos conscios timetis , nos conscientiam . that is , in true sence , you gentiles performe your subjection , onely for feare your disloyaltie should be knowne of others , but we christians feare lest our conscience should accuse us before god. we may seale up this truth with the confession of three learned romanists . * the christians ( saith one ) did not abstaine from violence against their persecutors , because they wanted force . another , * it is not to be read , for two hundred yeers after christ , that christians used any forcible resistance against their persecuting emperours , though they were equall in strength ▪ yea , christians then held , that hereby they did prove their religion to excell all others in the world , and thought themselves therefore to be called christians of christ , whose doctrine this was , to obey magistrates . a third , and so i have done . christian martyrs ( saith he ) when , for multitude , they might easily have conspir'd against their cruell persecutors , yet bore such honour to kings & higher powers , that they chose rather to dye then to resist . and the consequence will hold , that if there were an obligation in christians , to professe subjection to heathenish powers , then are they tyed much more to be subject to christian magistrates , seeing that ( as the romish jesuite acosta confesseth ) omnes fatemur , & est per se certum , etiamsi barbari ad christum convertātur , eos tamen non iure suo excidere . the briefe of contestation , in behalfe of protestants , is an additionall , which the importunitie of the conspirators compell me unto , who * think they have the right hand of fellowship , in this their sinister cause , with those who are accounted amongst protestants , stellae primae magnitudinis inter suos ; luther , calvin , beza . concerning calvin , i shall desire any covenanter to answer but this one question , whether they thinke it any-way lawfull for any subjects to make resistance against such their tyrannous governours ? and we may heare calvin answer , that * the word of god teacheth , that howsoever it is that governours be established , yet being once constituted , they are to be obeyed , although they do nothing lesse then that which appertaineth to their office ? and are to be held in the same honour and dignity ( in respect of publike obedience ) as if they were of the best , so he , and , for example , he instanceth in nabuchodonosor , whom god commanded his people to obey , albeit he was a most wicked and cruell tyrant . then applying this to all after times , he admonisheth all subjects , to have alwayes this example in their remembrance , to the end , that they may thereby extrude all seditious fancies out of their mindes . and , for a better impression ; this reverend and pious affection ( saith he ) we are continually to bear to them , whatsoever they themselves be ; because ( which i do ( saith he ) again and again repeat ) they carry that person upon them by the will of god , whereon god hath imprinted and ingraven an inviolable majestie , so he . * iii. a brief application . the necessity of the matter exacteth of me the heads , which are to be mentioned , and the proportion of a sermon commandeth me not to exceed . cankred jealousie , the stepdame of vnity and verity , hath so transported these conspirators , that they have all this while laboured , by arguments taken from the condition of impious , irreligious , and tyrannous kings , to justifie their rebelliousnesse against the mirror of morall vertuousnesse , the lamp of religiousnesse , and miracle of clemency and patience : besides , ( in morality ) his wisedom , temperance , charity , iustice , conjugall fidelity . each of which radiant and excellent vertues , if they were in any one eminently , would greatly enoble him in the estimation of all good men . now all these being conspicuous in this one , what but black malice can cast a cloud upon such brightnesse ? but to return to the points in question . the principall oppositions they here make , are an empeachment of their liberty and religion . where could ever that exclamation more justly have place , prob hominum fidem ! they will grant ( i dare say ) that his royall father , our late gracious soveraign king james of blessed memory , did deserve , before any other prince , in his time , the title and sweetest of posies , rex pacificus ; of which the orator said , dulce quidem nomen pacis , res verò ipsa longe jucundissima . but our king , having inherited this his fathers vertue , hath so improved it by his clemency ▪ in publishing a late proclamation , with such conditions of peace and graciousnesse towards these conspirators , as may ( if comparison should be made ) put all former ages to silence , and be an astonishment to all posterity . 2. we have referred the contemplation of religion to the last place , to the end it may be more lasting in the memory of the hearer , concerning a prince so religious in himself , that if we shall call him the most religious of kings , what king could take exception ? and then so favourable towards the conspirators themselves , as to yeeld unto them whatsoever they have called religion , excepting onely the extruding of episcopacy ; which nothing but ignorance , irreligiousnesse , and heresie can condemn , as unlawfull . volumes might be written in the justification of it ; i will epitomize all that i might say hereof in one sentence of s. hierome ( a father who wrote sparingly of the dignity thereof ) who speaking of the apostles times , saith , that it was then instituted , * vt capite constituto schismata tollerentur . that is , that a bishop being made an head in his diocesse , schismes , which are ingendred in parity , might be removed for the time past , and prevented for the future . but how now ? episcopacy by these conspirators must be taken away , although two most pernicious vipers shall take life by this their resistance , schisme in the church , and sedition in the common-wealth . the god and lord of hosts , who hath in his hands the hearts of kings and subjects , still incline our soveraign to love and graciousnesse ; and those his subjects to remorse and thankfulnesse ; and crown this his expedition with an honourable , dry , and peaceable victory , for his sonne iesus christs sake ! to whom be all glory , praise and thanksgiving , now , and for ever . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a07819-e60 * principles which have been collected out of the books of the romish sect , and papers of the conspirators , received from an authentique hand of an honourable lord in scotland , and intituled , the times require that the points following be pressed upon the people , &c. * chrysost . and after him , theod. euthem . oecum . theoph. * apostolus docet omnes credentes mundi potest●…ibus esse subjectos , nempe , sive apostolus , &c. — ut tenet chrysost . euthem . theod. & qui non graeci ? espen . in tit. 3. 1. digress . 10. pag. 5. 13. paris anno 1568. * epistles , which are recorded by b●nius , as of pope leo the first , epist . 26. & 35. of simplicius the first , ep. 4. of felix the third , ep. 2. of anastasius the first , ep 78. of pelagius the first ▪ 1 p 16. these before gregory , and after him martinus the first , ep 3. agatho the first , 1 p. ad heraclium , hadrian the first . ep. ad constant . anno 770. * as is to be seen in my book intituled , causa regia . * greg. lib. 2 epi. 21. * idem ibid. ep. 32. * rom. 1. 7 bern. ep. ad epi. senonensem . 1. pet. 2. 13 * p●rsons in his dolman , the french jes . lib. de jure abdicationis ; majestas regni sita est magis in populo ▪ quàm in persona regis . pag. 36. didymus non populus in principum gratiam factus , sed principes in populi gratiam creati . rainoldus de justa authoritate ; rex humana creatura est , quia ab hominibus constituta . the moderate answer to doctor morton ; people made election of kings , &c. ● ▪ pet. ● ▪ 13. * matt ▪ 17 ▪ 27. joh. 19. 11 ▪ * royard in dom . in 1. advent . rege constitute , non potest populus jugum subjectionis repellere ▪ et cunerus lib ▪ de offic. . princip●● ▪ sive electione , sive postulatione , vel successione , vel belli jure princeps fiat , principi tamen facto divinitus potestas adest . * psal . 65. 7. dan. 6. eccles . 5 8. * act. 4. 18 , 19. * calvin in locum . * ibid. * os● 13. 11. * joh. 19 11. * sit cautio ad●ibenda , ut vires 〈…〉 nt ad ●oc idon●a● s●bd●●● , alioqu● in ●eli●ion●● catholicae praej●●i●tum ●●d 〈…〉 . cr●●well in his philopater . ●gaine , sub●●●● obe●i●n●●am s●am praeb●ant r●●i●ae pro praesent●●●●u● statu . ibid. modo vi●●s ●is s●pp●●unt . bannes in thom. 2. qu 12. art. 2. so also others of them . * 1 pet. ● . 1● . * ephes . 6. 6. * psal . 32. ●0 . * joh. 1● . ●6 . * luk. 9. 55 56. thuanus anno dom. 1605 * bulla caenae . nos excommunicamus omnes lu●herano● , h●g●notto● , zu●ngl●●nos , &c. * urban 2. papa r●sc●●pt . de occiso●i●us excommunicatorum , ad god●● idum : extat ap●d ●vonem . * ma● . 26. 5● . * 1 pet. 2. 21. * 1 p●● ▪ 1. 7. * 〈…〉 * 〈…〉 * 2 〈…〉 4. 7. * ● 〈…〉 . ● . 4. * b●ll●r . l. 5. d● po●ti● . ● . ● . & ● . alan ●● his moderate defence , and others commonly . * t●rt . apol . 37. * 〈…〉 * 〈…〉 * ambr●● lib. 5. ●pist . ●● auxent . * 〈…〉 10. ●3 . a●●ob . con . g●●te● . * b●●●laius lib. 3. contra monarchom . c. 5. * tol●ssanu● lib. 26. de r●p●b . cap. 7. cunerus de offic ▪ p●ine c. 7. aco●ta j●s . de indor . salut . lib. 2. cap. 7. * see his majesties large declaration ; where the confessions of all the reformed churches are alleadged against them : pag. 4. and pag. 75. where the profession of the present reformed churches of gen●●● , 〈…〉 , and others , is avouched , ●● 〈…〉 dislike of this scottish covenant , as being to them offensive , and scandalous , and of dangerous consequence to religion . * ●●b . 4. iust . ca. 20 sect . 22. * as for luther , methinks the conspirators should stand to their own collection out of luther , in his determination of this question ; whether it were lawfull for the germanes to resist the unjust violence of the emperour ? and his resolution is , they may ▪ but mark his reason ; because his authority is limited by a joynt power of the princes electors : wherein ( saith luther ) it differeth from the monarchicall government , such as is that of france and england . and will any scottish have scotland go for lesse ? beza also teacheth it to be the duty of every man to suffer injury , and to know that there is no other remedy for those that are subject unto tyrants , but prayers and tears , and amendment of life . adding , that in this case , a privatis lominibus non multùm absunt inferiores magistratus . beza confess . fidei . * hieron ▪ the necessity of christian subjection demonstrated, and proved by the doctrine of christ, and the apostles, the practice of primitive christians, the rules of religion, cases of conscience, and consent of latter orthodox divines, that the power of the king is not of humane, but of divine right, and that god onely is the efficient cause thereof : whereunto is added, an appendix of all the chief objections that malice is selfe could lay upon his majestie, with a full answer to every particular objection : also a tract intituled, christvs dei : wherein is proved that our soveraign lord the king is not onely major singulis, but major universis. morton, thomas, 1564-1659. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a51425 of text r232334 in the english short title catalog (wing m2842). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 61 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a51425 wing m2842 estc r232334 12496813 ocm 12496813 62522 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a51425) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62522) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 769:8) the necessity of christian subjection demonstrated, and proved by the doctrine of christ, and the apostles, the practice of primitive christians, the rules of religion, cases of conscience, and consent of latter orthodox divines, that the power of the king is not of humane, but of divine right, and that god onely is the efficient cause thereof : whereunto is added, an appendix of all the chief objections that malice is selfe could lay upon his majestie, with a full answer to every particular objection : also a tract intituled, christvs dei : wherein is proved that our soveraign lord the king is not onely major singulis, but major universis. morton, thomas, 1564-1659. [2], 22 p. [s.n.], oxford : 1643. includes bibliographical references. imperfect: the appendix and "christus dei" are lacking in filmed copy. not the same as m2842 at reel 2791:1; this is a defective copy of m2844. cf. wing (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in huntington library. eng divine right of kings. a51425 r232334 (wing m2842). civilwar no the necessity of christian subiection. demonstrated, and proved by the doctrine of christ, and the apostles; the practice of primitive chris morton, thomas 1643 11269 16 95 0 0 0 0 99 d the rate of 99 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the necessity of christian subjection . demonstrated , and proved by the doctrine of christ , and the apostles ; the practice of primitive christians , the rules of religion , cases of conscience , and consent of latter orthodox divines , that the power of the king is not of humane , but of divine right ; and that god onely is the efficient cause thereof . whereunto is added , an appendix of all the chief objections that malice it selfe could lay upon his majestie , with a full answer to every particular objection . also a tract intituled , christvs dei , wherein is proved that our soveraign lord the king is not onely major singulis , but major universis . 1 pet. 2. 17. feare god , honour the king . oxford printed in the yeere . 1643. the necessity of christian subjection . rom. 13. 5. wherefore ye must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , but also for conscience sake . would men but meditate , or were they perswaded of the truth of the prophets speech , ( 1 sam. 15. 22. 23. ) behold to obey is better then sacrifice , & to hearken then the fat of rams ; for rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft , and stubbornnesse is as iniquity and idolatry . ( were they i say perswaded of this truth ) there would not be so little hearkening to the commands of authority , nor so little obeying what they heare ; nor would men runne so fiercely into the fearefull sin of rebellion , onely to maintaine and justifie their owne sacrifice of fooles ; which is indeed no other then their foolish imaginations have devised , and their vaine thoughts have set up as an idoll to themselves . or were wee not fallen into those last and worst of times prophecied of by the apostle ( 2 tim. 3. 1. 5. ) wherein men that make shew of godlinesse ( yea many that most shew of it ) have onely a shew , but deny the power of it , being proud , cursed speakers , disobedient to parents : proud indeed , when they dare exalt themselves against gods vicegerent ; cursed speakers , when they dare libell and slander prince and prelate ; disobedient to parents , naturall , ecclesiasticall , and politicall ; were we not i say fallen into such times , i should not need to urge the apostles inference , which the unseasonable sins of these seasons make so seasonable : [ wherefore ye must needs be subject , &c. ] in which words , infert conclusionem principaliter intentam , aq. wherein , concludit paraenesi● subjectionis ejusque necessitatem , rol. shewing that we must obey the magistrate , not onely for feare of punishment , but much more because that ( although the magistrate hath no power over the conscience of man , yet seeing he is gods minister ) he cannot be resisted by any good conscience , gen : notes , ex calv , & bez. in qua duas potissimum urget causas ob quas potestatibus necessariò obediendum , marlor . first their power to cause feare of wrath . secondly our conscience to obey gods ordinance ; in respect of both which we must be subject not onely for wrath , but also for conscience sake : wherein i shall consider these 5 particulars . 1. the illation , [ wherefore , ] 2. the duty , [ subject ] 3. the necessity , [ must needs ] 4. the persons obliged , [ ye ] 5. the reasons perswading , and those twofold : 1. from feare of wrath , although [ not onely for wrath . ] 2. for conscience , [ but also for conscience sake . ] 1. the illation and inference in this word [ wherefore ] being a conclusion , wherein quod initio praeceperat de praestandâ magistratibus obedientiâ , nunc per modum collectionis repetit , sed cum expositione : calv. it will be convenient for conceiving fully the apostles meaning , and the force of his arguments , and the drift of this conclusion , that we reflict back as farre as the beginning of this chapter ; where ( besides those two mentioned , verse . 4. of 1. terror to the ill , which i reserve to be handled under that of wrath . 2. and reward to the good , which i referre to that of conscience . ) we shall finde foure reasons premised to inforce this conclusion , [ wherefore ye must needs be subject , &c. ] 1. first , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ( v. 1. ) for there is no power but of god . how much soever we may perhaps dislike them , and how ill soever they may sometimes use their power ; as pilate did his , in crucifying him whom he should have loosed , and loosing him whom he should have crucified ; yet out saviour himself acknowledgeth , that even this abused power was {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , given him from above ; ( ioh. 19. 11. ) for misery comes not out of the dust , neither doth affliction spring out of the earth : ( iob. 5. 6. ) but as omne bonum desuper , every good gift is from above , ( iam. 1. 17. ) so is there no evil in the city , and the lord hath not done it , ( amos 3. 6. ) ( i. e. ) ma●um poena , no evil of punishment . per me reges regnant , by me kings raigne , is the generall ground of the charter , both of good and evil princes , and nobles , and all the judges of the earth , ( prov. 8. 15. 16. ) he it is that raiseth unto david a righteous branch , a king who shal raigne & prosper , and execute judgement and justice upon the earth , in whose dayes the people shal be safe ; and he it is that gives an evil king in his anger , & takes a good king away in his wrath ▪ qui regnare facit hominem hypocritam propter peccata populi . ( iob. 34. 30. ) vulg. . so that whether they be good or evil , we must be subject , sithence there is no power but of god ; {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , lest we will be found fighters against god , whose power none is able to resist , whether it bee for protecting or for punishing ; [ wherefore we must needs be subject . ] 2. secondly , they are not onely not without god , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and so of him permissivè ; but they are the ordinance of god himself , and so of him positivè , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ordained of god ( v. 1. ) whereupon they worthily use in their stile , not onely permissione divinâ , or providentiâ divinâ , although those be good titles taken in a good sense ; ( yet they imply some intermediate meanes betwixt god and those who beare them : ) but princes write dei gratiâ : for by the grace of god ( no favour of man ) they are what they are ; so that i may say of their government , as saint paul said of his apostleship , it is not of man , nor by man , but by jesus christ , & god the father , for , cujus jussu homines nascuntar , hujus jussu & reges constituuntur ; apti his , qui in illo tempore ab ipsis regantur . ( iren. lib 5. cap. 24. ) which may be demonstratively evidenced , if we shall take a survey of the series , and succession of governours , from the first man that was placed upon the earth , whom we finde created with an intention to make him gods vicegerent ; ( gen. 1. 26. ) and at his very first setting foot upon the earth , actually invested with monarchicall government ; ( ver. 27. 28. ) that government being indeed the speciall forme , whereby he could resemble the image of god who is in heaven , as he made him upon earth the sole unequalled monarch , from whom alone quicquid est ab uno est , & est id quod est ; and therefore he is worthy to receive glory , and honour , and power , for of him , and for him , and through him are all things . nor was it his intention that hee should onely governe the beasts already created , but also he made him to be the monarch , and confirmed his authority lure naturali , potestate patriâ , over all mankinde , which should be propagated after him ; who as the angels and those of heaven , had their beginning from god by creation , and therefore were subject to him ; so all the armies upon earth were to deduce their off-spring from that one adam by generation , and so to owe to him subjection ; whereas had not god intended to have principality , depended onely upon his own institution and not upon the subordinate nobles ▪ nor the multitudes of popular election , it had beene as easie for him , to have created a company , a colony , a countrey , a nation , a world of men upon earth , with his own faciamus , as it was , and as he did , so many legions of angels in the heavens ; that so out of those choice colonies themselves might have made choice of a commander . but he , who found the heavens not free from mutiny , when he produced a multitude of inhabitants there , although all were his off-spring , would not give the least colour to contention , for superiority or equality , nor pretext of disobedience against his monarch upon earth , whilst he suffers no subject to be set by him but such as owed the subjection and duty of a sonne in descending from him ; thereby teaching all posterity , how the power of a prince over his subjects is , and ought to bee acknowledged , as naturall , as the power of a father is over his sonne ; yea and also thereby signifying , that as naturally there can bee but one father of one childe , so politiquely there should be but one prince and monarch of one people and nation . whereupon god did not create two men ( no nor eve , but out of the rib of adam ) that so from them all others should issue , and they might rule promiscuously , or that each of them should rule such as would make choice to be under his government , rather then under the others , ( although perhaps propagated of the other ) nor that the mightiest hunter , he , that could get most , should governe most , as afterwards it fell out in the degenerating dayes of nymrod . but he created onely one , thereby to intimate , how far monarchicall government is to be preferred before any other , aristocraticall , democraticall , oligarchicall , or the like . this and this alone of man on earth , being an idea or resemblance of gods government in heaven ; and we pray daily , that his will may bee done on earth as it is in heaven ; and how can it be so , if we reject or resist that forme of government ? as also , thereby he implies , that all other lormes of government are against the course of nature , different from the patterne of heaven , diverse from divine institution , and indeed punishments rather then blest governments , if they be compared with monarchie ; which made the wisest of kings affirme , that many princes are imposed for the transgression of a land , but that realme onely indures long which is ruled by one man of understanding and knowledge ( prov. 28. 2. ) which doctrine seemes to bee squared to gods own practice throughout all ages , whensoever he designed any government over his people the jews ( after they were taken notice of for his peculiar ) although for a long time he retained the royall supreame title of king to himselfe , ( during which time , he oft times immediately delivered his regall mandates by urim , thummim , visions , oracles , prophesies . &c. ) yet hee appointed one supreme vicegerent over them , and not many ( for as for the sanhedrim they were but as moses or the high priests privie councell , or as delegated judges because of the multiplicity of businesses ) one i say and not many , witnesse moses 40. yeares betwixt egypt and canaan , ioshua neere 60. yeeres settling them in canaan , after them iudah , after him othniell , then ehud , then shamgar , then deborah , then gideon , then tolah , then iair , then iephthah , then sampson , but never above one at one time . and how lamentable the times were when there was not one supreame , but the multitude tooke power into their own hands ; that hideous story of the licentious danites , and the ravished levites wife , and the revenge of one upon another may serve to astonish all posterity , and affright them from affecting anarchie ; yea & when god , afterthat he had in mercie looked upon their misery , sent them new judges , hely , and samuel successively , and they not therewith satisfied would have a king like other nations , he doth not set several kings over them , as ioshua found 31. over the land at their enterance , but hee appointed them onely one king ( 1 sam. 8. 22. ) as being safest for his people , best resembling his government and most agreeable to his ordinance ; wherefore wee must needes bee subject to such form of government , for it is the ordinance of god . oh! how much therefore are those too blame who goe about to alter this forme of government , and to introduce a new deformed device of their own ambitious invention , wherein they are not agreed , whether they shall be stiled , 1. the states of england as some of their preachers ( forgetting the king in their praiers ) have sycophantically phrased them ; 2. or whether they shall be entituled , the perpetuall senate , or assessours of the kingdom , as some have endeavoured to derive their stile , as the impresse of a republick ; 3. or whether they shall be dignified with the princely attribute of gentlemen of the crowne of england ( to which should be annexed the power of electing their king although hereditary ) as some of themselves have ambitiously expressed their affectation in assimilation to that of poland ; onely to the end that themselves might be sharers in supremacy . a government which admitting a monarch whom yet they dare not deny , is neither monarchie , aristocracy , democracy , nor oligarchie ; and anarchie , i dare say , they would not have it intituled ; a government which if aristotle himself were to sit in councel at their close committees , he could not yet resolve what to cal it , a government never grounded on the ordinance of god , nor practised in any established common-weale . and what fearfull effects must necessarily follow it , besides , that it is to conjecture when men leave the fountaines of the living waters , and take themselves to cisterns of their own digging . it may also be apparent to any indifferent understanding who reads or heares the story of hen. 3. when there was an attempt of 24. assessours and a trayterous appointing les douze piers , far short of this confused insolency , what robberies , what rapes , what murthers , what burglaries , what extortions , what exactions followed , ( every one shrouding himself under that assessour , which he followed , yea and every one of the assessours after a little time , bandying himself against another , either for their own faction , or favouring of their followers ) is rather to be imagined then reported , yet those times too really felt it , and all must necessarily taste the like bitter fruit , who wil plant & nurse the tree of popular faction . and alas how foolish and fond of flitting ( to use king iames his scottish proverbe in another case ) are those people which will be bewitched to follow these many-headed hydra's , before the voice of the lambe , and never consider that old adage citius impletur unus saeceus , quàm plures ? hath there been so much paines bestowed in vaine , if it be in vain , ( as the apostle speaks in another case ) to bring this kingdome from an heptarchie to a monarchie ; that now one part of this island should be turned from a monarchiy to a roman decemvirate , a venetian senate , a low-countrey state , nay to the government without a name , god forbid : vi●●●ita fortior , but a kingdome divided cannot stand . i beseech you therefore brethren marke them diligently which cause divisions amongst you , and avoid them : ( rom. 16. 17. ) for those who at first cause divisions , in opinion , in doctrine , and in religion , wil at the length attempt divisions in government , in policie , in countries and kingdomes . let us in the feare of god consider with our selves , that if there be no power but of god , even the punishing and persecuting power , and if we must be subject even to that , lest we should fight against god , oh howmuch more then , where kings are nursing fathers , ought we to shew our subjection with all readinesse and chearfulnesse ? if saint paul inforce obedience to the prince with so many forcible arguments , when that tyrant nero ( who devoured christians like a lyon ) raigned and raged . oh how should we urge & presse this point , when a constantine , a patron of the church , and pattern of piety is our president in religious exercises , as well as president over us with righteous government : for certainely , [ they that resist , resist the ordinance of god ] which is the third reason whereupon our apostle grounds this inference , wherefore ye must needes be subject . for as in his church christ gave some to be apostles , some prophets , some evangelists , some pastors and teachers , for the gathering together of the saints , and for the worke of the ministery : so god in the common-weale appointed some to bee kings {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , most eminent and excellent above all other , some to be governours under them {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , sent by commission from them : amongst whom some are nobles , some judges , ( prov. 8. 16. ) some priests ( for those howsoever some conceive of them , were not incapable of government in the common-weale : ) yea , some things there are which could not be decided without them . ( deu. 17. 8. to 12. ) some are governours of cities , ( deut. 21 , 3 , 4. ) some rulers of thousands , some of hundreds , some of tens , ( exod. 18. 25 , 26. ) and some live meerely in subjection , as the inferior poore servant , &c. whom aristotle that linceus of nature affirmeth , nature it selfe framed onely to that use ; and every man bound in conscience by the law of god to abide in that state wherein god hath placed him , and to be contented , with his vocation , degree , and calling , ( 1 cor. 7. 20 , 21 , 22. ) unlesse hee will bee as guilty of confusion in the body politique , or ecclesiasticall , as the members should bee in the body naturall , if one should strive to usurpe anothers place ; the foote the head , the eare the eye ; and unlesse we will be as guilty in resisting the ordinance of god , as they should bee of deferming the act of his creation . submit your selves therefore to all manner of ordinance of man for the lords sake , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , take that which is thine own and goe thy way . if thou beest a ruler , do it with diligence : if an officer , wait on thy office : if a teacher , attend to teaching : if but a servant , doe that without slothfulnesse , ( rom. 12. 7. to 11. ) if a judge , be learned , ( psal. 2. 11. ) yea , and upright too , ( psal. 58. 1. ) if thou art to be judged , be obedient , or else thou must be cut off , both for thine owne sin , and also for others example . nor must thou be obedient onely when superiours be good and courteous , but even when they are cruel and froward : nor onely when they punish thee justly for ill doing , but even when thou sufferest wrongfully , yet must thou endure for conscience sake , ( 1 pet. 2. 18 , 19. ) which the apostle confirmes by the example of our saviour christ , to ( vers. 25. ) who when he suffered resisted not , no nor so much as threatned , ( vers. 23. ) although he could have had more then twelve legions of angels , ( mat. 26. 53. ) teaching us , that we must not resist authority , although unjustly oppressing : ( muchlesse iustly ruling although punishing . ) first , neither offending it , ( mat. 17. 27 ) secondly nor defending our selves against it , ( mat. 26. 52. ) what specious pretences soever we may make for it . for who might have pretended fairer in that kinde , than the primitive christians against idolatrous persecutors ? yet they professe , that arma sunt preces & lachrimae ; so that nemo nostrum quando apprehenditur reluctatur ; nec se adversus injustam violentiam vestrum , quamvis nimius , & copiosus noster sit populus , ulciscitur : cyprian . who might have pretended more rightly the defence of himself , of his fellow disciples , of his master , yea of religion , that saint peter ? yet heare our saviours mandate and his menace , his mandate : [ put up thy sword into thy sheath : ] his menace , [ for all they which strike with the sword , shall perish with the sword . ] [ all ] whosoever clergie or laity , strike against authority , or without the licence of it , in what case soever without exception of 1 , se defendendo , or a maintenance of a covenant , or 3. defence of religion . and what manner of christians those men are who dare resist their rightfull , righteous , religious sovereigne : or what manner of religion that is , which they pretend gives priviledge to such rebellious practises , i leave to every good christian to consider : onely give me leave to tell you , sure i am , it is not such as was known to primitive christians : it is not such as was allowed by our saviour to his apostles , nor is it such as the apostles taught the people of their times : for they without any cloake , sub moderamine inculpatae tutelae ( which indeed never can be by arms but onely by laws ) howsoever pontificians and consistorians conspire : as buchanan laboured to beguile his nation , and some of our countrey-men have beguiled themselves , and jesuites would have beguiled the whole world , and without any distinction so offensive and defensive disobedience , the apostles taught the church of god , that he which resists , ( be it how it will ) resists the ordinance of god . [ and he that resists purchaseth to himself damnation . ] which is the fourth reason to inforce this [ wherefore , &c. ] and beares a threefold reading , 1. iudicium , judgement : tremel . 2. condemnationem , condemnation : beza & tompson . 3. damnationem , damnation : vulgar & kings bible . all which are but the graduations of the punishments , implied by the originall , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ; for not onely {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ( matth. 5. 22. ) they shall be in danger of the judgement of censure and condemnation of the censorious : although this be a punishment which an ingenious spirit would willingly escape , which made david pray , ( psal. 39. 8. ) let me not be made a rebuke unto the foolish , whilest they censure , reprove , condemne my actions in their assemblies , much more a man that is shot through the head with popularity , as his majestie saith of the then revolted rolloc , as indeed all factious persons in church and common-weale are , especially if they aspire by , or adhere to the popular faction ; for such , like the camelion , which turnes to all colours save white , lives onely by the aire , and delights rather in breath then other , ac si mallet coctam quam crudam ; so they who apply to popularity , and suit themselves to all company , saving the innocent , can live no longer ( at least not with delight ) then they sucke the breath of applause from the multitude . but behold , not onely those which sit in the gate ( the rulers ) speak against such disobedient persons , but if they escape the songs of the drunkards ( who perhaps may whoop on their sides ) yet shall very babes and sucklings chant their disloyalty , and the vipers tongue shall slay them , ( iob. 20. 16. ) thus an evil condemnation shall fall upon them , whereby their name shall rot , and their memoriall shall stinck , even {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , under the censure of those who are as censorious as themselves : nor onely so , but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , they shall receive judgement , and condemnation : 1. both judgement before the tribunall of men , where the sentence of guiltinesse shall proceed against them ; and when sentence is given upon them , they shall be condemned , for such ungodly persons shall not be able to stand in judgement , neither these sinners in the congregation of the righteous . 2. and also they shall receive condemnation from the justice of god , who stands in the congregation of princes , ( as to survey , so to assist ) and is a judge amongst the earthly gods , yea even of those whom they sometimes cannot come by to judge according to their deservings ; who when he shal arise ( as he will arise ) to judge the earth , he will recompence such wicked persons after their deservings ; he will reprove them , and set before them , even in order , the things that they have done : as first their pride , next their covetousnesse to maintaine it , after that their rebellion to declare it , then their hypocrisie and counterfeiting religion to vaile and defend it , & at the length he will bring death hastily upon them , and they shall go down into hell , sithence such wickednesse is in their dwellings and amongst them ; and is not this a fearefull judgement and condemnation ? so fearefull , as what can be conceived to be added ? and yet behold , 3. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , rom. 14. 23. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the judgment , condemnation , yea , damnation of an accusing conscience shall consummate their misery , even such as drave iudas to be his own executioner upon earth ; this shall do continuall execution of gods just judgement upon them in hell , by that worme that never dies , and that fire which never shall be quenched , where their rebellious carkasses shall be an abhorring to all flesh ; wherefore for the escaping such fearfull . 1. judgement . 2. condemnation , 3. damnation here , and hereafter from god and man ; we must needs be subject . 2. [ subject ] which is the duty ; that as the devil overcame man by his disobedience to god , so man may return to god and overcome the devil , by obedience to man for the lords sake . christianity is a schoole of humnity , and we must not look every one upon our own excellencies , but upon other mens ; having the same minde in us , which was in christ jesus , in giving ( not in taking ) honour , preferring one before another , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , humbling our selves as little children ; as they submit to their parents , so must we be subject to our prince , for he is the person to whom principally the apostle presseth this subjection ; as aquin. dion . carth. bruno . and claud. glosse it . the subjection to others being for his sake , as the subjection to him is for the lords sake ; which that we may performe aright , let us consider these three particulars : 1. qualibus , to what manner of princes we must be subject . 2. in quibus , in what things we must be subject . 3. quomodo , how we must expresse our subjection . 1. qualibus , to what manner of princes we must be subject . as the apostle injoynes servants concerning obedience to their masters , so say i to subjects concerning their soveraignes ; let as many as are under the yoke count their governours worthy of all honour , ( sive fideles , sive infideles , whether they be gentle , or whether they be cruell ) that the name of god and his doctrine be not ill spoken of : 1. and if they be believing , let us not despise them because they are faithfull and beloved , and partakers of the benefit , to wit redemption . 2. or if they be unbelievers , let us not rebell , nor resist them ; because although , 1. quidam illorum dantur ad timorem & poenam , & increpationem , some of them are sent meerely for a terrour and a punishment . 2. yea , quidam ad illusionem & contumeliam , & superbiam ; some of them set up themselves in pride , meerely to contemne , and scorne , and scofte at their subjects , as the persecuting emperours did , when they exposed the christians naked to fight with beasts and beastly heathens . 3. aswell as quidam ad correctionem & utilitatem subjectorum , & conservationem iustitiae ; for a fatherly reformation of offendors , a loveing protection of the obedient , and the preservation of justice for both : yet we must consider and confesse , that ad utilitatem gentilium terrenum regnum positum est à deo , non à diab●lo , qui nunquam omnino quietus est ; imo qui nec ipsas quidem gentes vult in tranquill● agere , ut timentes regnum humanum : earthly kingdomes are erected by god , not by the divel , who as he is never quiet himself , so would he not have the people live in peace , ( as appeares by his late practices ) which government is the meanes to procure and preserve , preventing men from devouring those that are more righteous then themselves : and for being like the fishes of the sea , or the creeping things who have no ruler over them : for , per legum positiones repercutiant multiplicem gentilium injustitiam , kings and princes by their laws restraine and bridle the fury and violence of our naturall corruptions : yea , and the worst of princes is never worse then quemadmodum populi digni sunt dei justo judicio in omnibus aliqualiter superveniente : iren. l. 5. c. 24. such as the people have provoked god to set to afflict them , whose just judgement alwayes interposeth it self in such weighty cases . although sometimes we know it not , oft-times we will not acknowledge it : which being so , may oblige every one of us to be subject to all powers , of all qualities , conditions , dispositions , tempers , religions , under whom the lord hath placed us : sive 1. nutriciis , sive 2. hypocritis , sive . 3. haeroticis , sive 4. tyrannis : whether they be noursing fathers , for whom we must praise god : or dissembling hypocrites , or obstinate heretickes , or bloudy tyrants , for all which we must pray to god : whatsoever sanders , allen , stapleton , parsons , mariana , boucherius , santarellus , &c. on the romish part : and knoxe , buchanan , gilbey , goodman , and daneus , on the other extreame have formerly taught , calderwood hath followed , and some too fiery spirits of late have seditiously and scandalously put in practice , of whom i may say in the apostles language , if any man teach otherwise ( then what i have affirmed ) he consenteth not to the wholsome words of our lord jesus christ , and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse : but is puffed up & knoweth nothing as he ought to know , but doateth about questions and strife of words , whereof commeth envy , strife , railings , evil surmiseings , froward disputations of men of corrupt mindes , and destitute of the truth , which think that gaine is godlinesse , ( howsoever they pretend godlinesse rather then gaine ) from such separate thy selfe : for howsoever we must performe active obedience to such princes onely so far as lawfully we may , calv. bez. marl. roloc. g●●●v . usque a●ara● , so long as cum deo non comparabuntur , they are not set in competition with god : tertul. yet we must performe passive obedience and absolute subjection , suffering without resistance , being subject without rebellion , even if they should command the most unjust superstitious , idolatrous , prophane , or irreligious things which can be imagined ; yet i say we must not rebell , unlesse we will renounce christianity , but we must let this be probatio subjectionis , the touch-stone of our subjection , even our patient and constant sufferings : for , quae passos apostolos scimus manifesta est doctrina , the truth of this doctrine is sealed by the apostles sufferings , who indured of heathen princes , and for not renouncing christianity , carceres , vincula , flagella , saxa , gladios , impetus iudaeorum , coetus nationum , & tribunorum elogia , & regum auditeria , & proconsulum tribunalia , & caesaris nomen interpretem non habent : imprisonment , bonds , stripes , stoning , wounds , violence of the jews , conventing before the gentiles , questioning in the courts of tribunes , examinations and answers before kings , arraignments at the tribunals of proconsuls , yea and could not find an appeale to the emperour , any protection for their innocencie ; yet they not onely submitted themselves , and possessed their own soules with patience , but also taught all pious people so to doe ; as here our apostle makes it apparent , and ( titus 3. 1 , 2. ) presseth it to all posterity : put them in remembrance ( for indeed we are too apt to forget ) that they be subject to the principalities & powers , and that they be obedient , & ready to every good work ; that they speak evill of no man , ( much lesse of princes and prelates , as some of late have done ) that they be no fighters , ( much lesse armed rebels ) but soft , lowly , gentle , shewing all meeknesse to all men , much more to rulers ; yea , and such effect did this doctrine produce , that sanguis martyrem semen ecclesiae , cypr. the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church . the bloud , not the sword , that were too turkish . and however , circa majestatem imperatoris infamemur , tert. ad scap. l. 2. they were slandred as disloyall to the emperour ; yet , nunquam albiniani , vel nigriani , vel cassiani inveniri potuerunt christiani : never any nigrian , who made religion the stalking-horse for rebellion ; nor never any cassian who assaulted his soveraign by assassination , could be found amongst the christians : christianus nullus est hostis nimirum imperatoris , quem sciens à deo suo constit●i , necesse est ut & ipsum diligat , & rever●atur , & honoret ▪ & salvam velit , cum toto romano imperio , quousque seculum stabit , tam diu enim stabit : colimus ergo imperaborem , sic quomodo & nobis licet , & ipsi expedit , ut hominem à deo secundum , & quicquid est à deo consecutum , & solo deo minorem : for no true christian can be an enemie to his king or emperour , whom he knows to be placed over him by god , and therefore upon necessity must love him , reverence him , honour him , pray for him , and desire and indeavour his safety as the safety of the kingdome ; as being next to god , lesser onely then god , and endowed with the power which he hath from god , over all the men in his dominions . hereupon was it that the christians fought so many valiant battels , and obtained so many glorious victories , even for heathen and persecuting emperours , yea even for iulian the apostata himselfe : but never did they fight any battel , pitched any field , arrayed any army , armed any legions , or so much as entred into consultation against their emperour . and thus you see , qualibus , to what manner of princes we must be subject . and i think all will willingly conclude , si parendum est magistratui prophane , certè multo magis obedire oportet sancto & christiano , bez. if heathens were thus obeyed , much more should christians ; if persecuting , much more pious princes , such as our gracious soveraigne , whose clemencie may challenge our love , as wel as his power command our duty , whom god preserve , and prosper long over us in honour and felicity , and give us the grace and gratitude to be subject , not onely for feare , but even for conscience sake . and so i come to consider 2. in quibus ? in what things we must be subject ? wherein the true stating of the question is much differenced from the mistaken and mistaking tenents of many of these times , who conceive and would beare the world in hand . 1. that they are bound no further to subjection , then with a rightly regulated conscience , they may performe active obedience to all their superiours edicts and commands . 2. that they are not bound to active obedience , where they have a doubting conscience , although not fully informed by the right rule of reason , or expresse authority of gods word . 3. that the supreame magistrate , must have expresse affirmative warrant in the word of god for all his injunctions , or else the subject needs not obey them . whereas the truth is , 1. concerning the first , that although active obedience binds onely in the lord , yet absolute subjection is due without any resistance for the lords sake , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , to humane ordinances ( 1 pet. 2. 13. ) even when man ordaines ; not the load ( 1 cor. 7. 12. ) yet such a man as is ordained of the lord , and so presumed to ordain according to the lord , wee may not in any wise resist . 2. and as concerning the second , although when man is left to his own liberty , the rule is to be observed , quod dubitas ne feceris , because he that doubteth is condemned of his own conscience , yet when we are commanded by authority , and wee onely doubt in our selves whether that bee good and lawfull which is comanded , or not , the rule of saint augustine must be observed si dubitas feceris , if you onely doubt doe it , except you have expresse warrant out of gods word , or the analogie of faith , and undeniable necessary consequence to the contrary ; authority must turne the scale of thy doubting conscience , and weigh downe thy judgement to active obedience , so that 3. the magistrate is not bound to expresse text for warrant of each of his particular edicts ; it is sufficient that it is contained in his generall commission dixi dii estis , i have said ye are gods . ( psal. 82. 6. ) and therefore have committed my delegated power to you , per me reges regnant , by me kings raigne ( pro. 8. 15. ) and therefore by my authority may lay injunctions upon their subjects , and they are obliged to active obedience , except they can produce a negative act of parliament out of the high court of heaven ; for princes are not onely instead of god by representation ( exodus 4. 16. ) but they have the power of god over those to whom they have commission ( exod. 7. 1. ) i have made thee pharoahs god , yea and put case the subject could produce a contradictory command of god to that of his king , yet is not his passive obedience dispensed withall , nor any part of his absolute subjection dissolved or cancelled , but wee must needs be subject , ( at least by suffering if not by doing ) in all things , even against the dictate of a doubting , yea , or a discerning conscience . 3. but then in the next place it remains to be resolved by what meanes , or in what manner this subjection is to be expressed , which must be by these seven meanes following ; where there are not iura regni by mutuall consent of prince and people to supersede them , or dispence with any of them . 1. first by praying for them ( 1 tim. 2. 1. 10. 4. ) i exhort therefore that first of all , supplications , prayers , intercessions , and giving of thankes , be made for all men , for kings and all that are in authority , that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty , for this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our saviour , who wil have all men to be saved , and to come unto the knowledg of the truth . where observe we must pray , 1. to the end that we may live godly and peaceably , when we did not live so before : 2. that they may come to the knowledge of the truth , when they knew it not before : 3. and that they may be saved , when they were not in that state before . none so bad then , to and for whom we are not to expresse our subjection by this duty . 2. secondly , we must speake no evill of them ; ( exod. 22. 28. ) thou shalt not revile the gods , nor curse the ruler of the people . is it fit to say to a king , thou art wicked ; and to priuces ye are ungodly ? ( iob. 34. 18. ) no certainly , nothing lesse , and therefore follow the counsel of m●rtialis , who lived in the primitive times , learned of the apostles , and taught to succession a murmuratione custodite corda vestra ; keepe not onely your hands from mutiny , and your tongues from muttering , but even your hearts from repining . 3. thirdly , we must not dispute their commands , for where the word of a king is , there is power , and who may say unto him , what doest thou ? ( eccles. 8. 4. ) ( i. e. ) not publikely and illegally to raise opposition against him , onely we may privately informe our own judgement , to prepare as peaceably either for active obedience or for martyrdome . 4. fourthly , we must expresse our subjection by doing all their commands which are not directly against god , resolving with the israelites , all that thou commandest us we wil do , and whithersoever thou sendest us we will goe , onely the lord thy god be with thee . fiftly , we must expresse it by suffering all punishments patiently without any resistance ; for those things which we dare not do when they command them , because they appeare ( not seem ) to be directly against god , ( as hath been before demonstrated ; ) imitating s. chrysostome , ( epist. ad cyriacum ) cum à civitate fugarer , dicebam intra meipsum , si quidem vult regina me exulem agere , agat in exilium ; domini est terra & plenitudo ejus ; & si vult secare , secet ; idem passus est isaias , &c. et si substantiam auferre , auferat nudus exivi ex utero matris meae , nudus etiam revertar ; if the queene will have me go into banishment , let her banish me ; the earth is the lords , and all that therein is . if she will have me sawen in sunder , i submit my self ; isaias suffered so before me . if she will confiscate my goods , i am contented ; naked came i out of my mothers wombe , and naked must i returne again . behold , this must be the patience of the saints . sixtly , by supplying meanes , ad necessaria secundum statûs sui conditionem ; lyr. paying due tribute to our princes ; for this is the manner , quomodo velit te subjici protestatibus , redere jubens cui tributum , tributum : cui vectigal , vectigal ; ( i.e. ) quae sunt caesaris , caesari , & quae dei deo. tertul. which tribute must be paid without limitation of the quantity before , or accompt of the disposing of it after payment , gloss. ordinar , if calvin understand it aright , ( which i dare not assure , nor will i dispute ) for ▪ neque nostrum est vel principibus praescribere , quantum in res singulas impendant , vel eos ad calculum vocare : we have no power to prescribe to princes what they shall expend upon occasions , nor to call them to accompt for their imployment of what is expended which i conceive to be intended where there are not pacta inter principem & populum : nor fundamentall lawes of the land to the contrary . seaventhly , we must expresse our subjection by guarding of the princes person , fighting for him upon occasion , and sparing him from going out with us to battell , lest he should quench the light of israel , ( 2 sam. 21. 17. ) and what kind of consciences those men have , who can let their leige lord go out to battell without them , ( they being required ) or who can leave him in his tents in the field , when they return to their own houses , i leave both to men experienced in the word , and practiced in the sword to consider : and so proceed . 3. to the third part of my text , which is the necessity of this duty of subjection , implyed in these words [ must needs . ] must is for the king , and so it is indeed : and so is this : and therefore implies a double duty by these two words [ must ] and [ needs ] termes of double necessity ; dominus opus habet , our lord the king , the lord of us and all we have hath need , and who will not then let all go presently ? he must have it : in case of true absolute , imminent necessity , to save our selves and the publique , according to the laws of the land . the supporting of his state is that vnum necessarium for our safeties , and the safety of the whole kingdom ; and therefore the apostle doth not onely say , 1. it is convenient that we be subject ( i.e. ) for ornament sake . 2. or it is fit that we be subject ( i.e. ) for order sake . 3. or it is profitable that we be subject ( i.e. ) for providence and discretion sake . 4. or it is contenting that we may be subject ( i.e. ) for peace and quiet sake . 5. but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , it is necessary obligationes juris & propter vim coactivam superioris , viz. quia tenemini & potestis ad hoc compelli ad profitendam veram subjectionem . [ we must needs be subject ] for absolute necessity sake : necessitate salutis , aq. even for the necessity of our salvation in heaven , and of our safety upon earth . what is it but subjection which continues the blessed harmony in heaven amongst the angels ? what is it but rebellion which bred that confusion in hell amongst the damned spirits ? what is it but subjection which can continue peace , plenty , piety , order , and unanimity amongst men upon earth , whereas rebellion brings forth war , waste , wickednesse , confusion ; desolation , and destruction : wherefore for avoiding these , and preserving those , we must needs be subject . and so i come 4. to the persons obliged , which is the fourth thing proposed in my text , in this word [ ye ] {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , theoph. and so saint chrysostome before him , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . with whom consent theodoret and oecumenius amongst the greeks , and greg. mag. and s. bernard amongst the latines , expresse themselves both in opinion and phrase to the selfe same purpose ; we the clegy , ye the laity ; we the priests , ye the people ; or ye the mighty peeres , we the many multitude . 1. for neither are peers excepted and reserved like the lacedemonian ephori , romane tribunes , or athenian demarchi , to restraine the insolencies or exorbitances of princes oppressions . 2. nor are the priests exempted like the roman hierarchie , to be insolent and exorbitant in the common-weale . 3. nor are the people priviledged ( as is pretended by some schismaticall demagogi ) to carry all by force of their collective body ; but we and ye , 1. peers , 2. priests , 3. people , must all needs be subject : and that 5. [ not onely for feare , but even for conscience sake . ] which is the last member proposed for prosecution . [ not onely for feare ] and yet we must be subject for feare too , which , cogit vel invitos , marlorat . compels those that have no conscience ; imo & possunt potestates etiam sine causa irasci , hieron. and yet we must feare and be subject too ( though they oppresse our tender conscience ) for feare of punishment from god , and from the prince . 1. from god , who will not suffer his ordinance to be contemned ; non enim privati est hominis abrogare imperium ei quem dominus cum potestate nobis praefecit . calv. 2. from the prince ; for , vltionem reposcere possunt magistratus ob dignitatis suae contemptum . idem . they may justly avenge the contempt of their authority , 1. either by their laws , by which in legum transgressores & inobedientes severiter animadvertunt : marlorat . or else by armes ; for , portat gladium , he bears the sword , ( vers. 4. ) and if he draw it against schismatiques , heretiques , or rebellious persons , magistratus justè punit gladio , aug. they must not cast off feare , and incourage themselves and their company against his commands , as if resisting for the cause of god ( as they pretend ) they were to be accounted martyrs ; for they are no more capable of martyrdome , dying in contempt of lawfull magistracie , then the idol priests , or the devils themselves were by the subversion of their temples , or ceasing of their oracles , by vertue of our saviours incarnation ; or by the command of the emperour , converted to christianity : aug. ubi supra . but on the contrary it may be verified , that they who under the royall command of a rightfull king , obediently , conscionably , zealously , and couragiously fight against a schismaticall , or hereticall rebellious people , ( who make religion the pretext for rebellion ) if they die , they dye martyrs , if they live , they live confessors : and therefore we must feare even the princes sword . that i may not insist upon losse of favour , friends , honour , credit , and the like ; although a wise man will consider even in this , that the indignation of a king is as the roaring of a lion ; and if this lion roare , who can but be afraid ? for he that provoketh him to anger , sins against his owne soule ; and what then shall become of his body ? or if any be so fool-hardy as not to feare , yet must he be subject neverthelesse , not onely for feare , [ but even for conscience sake . ] non solùm , quia resistere potentioribus & armatis impunè non liceret , quemadmodum tolerari solent injuriae quae propulsari nequeunt : sed sponte docet obeundam hanc submissionem , ad quam verbo dei obstringitur conscientia : cal. not onely because they are armed and can over-master us , for so men suffer injuries from private men , because they cannot withstand them : but the apostle teacheth , that a christian is bound to subjection to his soveraigne by the word of god ; and the tye of conscience more firme and close , then by a souldiers belt , or jaylors boles and manacles : so that , etiamsi certò constaret nos manus illorum ( alioqui valde longas ) posse effugere : marlorat . although we were assured that we could scape their reach , or oppose their power : yea , etiamsi exarmatus esset magistratus quem impune lacescere , & contemnere liceret , nihilo magis id tentandum quàm si poenam statim imminere cerneremus . although the magistrate had neither armes , nor armies , so that men might provoke and contemne his power in respect of punishment , must we not presume to neglect him any more , then if we did see armes and armies , racks and gibbets , and all engines for execution prepared before us : quia nisi omnino subjiciamini principi polluta esset conscientia vestra obvians divinae ordinetioni , bruno . because unlesse we be absolutely subject to our prince ( pretend what purity we will ) our conscience is defiled , and every step wee march against him , we set our selves in battell array against the ordinance of god : and indeede i cannot but wonder what hard hearts and cauterized consciences those men have , who doe not presently smite themselves , and their hearts die within them like nabals when they find themselves guilty of subtracting subjection from their prince , ( a greater ingratitude then which cannot be excogitated , and ingratitude is one of the greatest sinnes ; ) for subjects are obliged . 1. by the rule of right reason , to obey him , without whom we cannot be safe ; but without the king the common-weale cannot bee safe , nomore then a ship without a pilot in a stormy ocean ; and therefore by the rule of right reason we must obey him . 2. by naturall equity , which bindes to do good to them which do good to us , but kings and princes do good to us , for by their meanes we obtaine great quietnesse , and by their providence many worthy things are done to our nation : by them we receive honour , enjoy riches , peace , plenty , and freely professe and practice piety : and therefore even for naturall equity , we must needs be subject , which is the least good we can doe to them . 3. by morall civility we are bound to be subject to him who protects us : but kings and princes protect us from evill doers , who would violently take away our lives , insolently usurpe our lands , prodigally mispend our goods , laciviously deflowr ' and ravish our wives , & mercilesly slave our children , yea , they are the protectors and defenders of our faith , and therefore we are bound at least not to rebell sithence all these mischiefes have been , are , & will be the effects of such disobedience , from which good lord deliver us . 4. by christian religion and conscience , which enjoyns , that we must not resist the ordinance of god : but kings and princes are the ordinance of god , and therefore we must not resist them . vers. 1 , 2. and doe 1. right reason , 2. naturall equity , 3. morall civility , 4. christian religion and conscience oblige us to subjection ? oh then take heed , and never trust any ( though never so faire professors ) who pretend conscience to countenance disobedience , at least to cast off subjection , as it is hard to disobey and not to rebel . yet such alwayes have been the faire pretence of the foulest practises . thus the colour of the common good to free the people from subsidies , taxes , and oppressions ( which then seemed by their governours to lye upon them ) led the people of the iews , yea and some romans too , to follow theudas , iudas of galile , catiline , and their companions . thus the rebels of elder times in this island , christned their insurrections , the army of god & the holy church , making religion the patronesse of their impiety . iack straw , iack cade , wat tyler , fryer ball , alias wall , and such others , made 1. the oppression of the commons , 2. the insolencie of the nobility , 3. the covetousnesse of the priests , and the inequality of men of equall merit , the vail of all their violence and villany . thus the rebellion in the nortb , lincolnshire , and norfolke , were raised under pretence of 1. reforming religion , 2. freedome of conscience , and 3. bettering the common-weale , yea , and they are alwayes masked under the vizard of , 1. pro lege , 2. pro grege , 3. pro rege ; whereas indeed they are against the king , break the laws ; and make spoile of the people , as iosephus relates the story of the rebellious iews , pretending onely against florus harsh , unjust , and cruell usage , and not against the romanes : but as king agrippa cleares it by his remonstrance , they did but onely say so ; for their actions were such as worse could not have beene done by the greatest enemies of the romane empire , for they sacked the townes , robbed the treasuries , burnt the houses , wasted the fields ; neither were they the townes , the treasuries , the houses , the fields of florus , but of the roman empire . i will not make application , but sithence these things have ever been so , i will onely conclude with solomons admonition : my son , feare god and the king , and meddle not with them that are seditious ; for suddenly shall their destruction come , and who knoweth the ruine of them ? yet certaine it is that ruined they shall be , and perhaps when themselves least suspect it , suddenly as with the arrow of lightning shot from the bow of god , which may serve as a corollary to our apostles premises to inforce this conclusion , [ wherefore ye must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , but even for conscience sake . ] which god grant us all grace to be , for jesus christs sake , the patterne and patron of perfect obedience ; to whom with the father and the holy ghost , be all honour , glory , power , might , majesty , and dominion , from this time forth for evermore . amen . fjnjs . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a51425e-160 eccle. 5. 1. olympio . dor . in loc. his majesties large declaration , p. 12. 13. 225. 256. 257. &c. aquin. lyr. calv. bez. marlor . rolloc . jo. 19. 20. matth. 27. 26. august . de civitat . dei , l. 5. c. 21. jer. 33. 5 , 6. hos. 13. 11. act. 5. 39. citat . gal. 1. 1. boet. de unit . & uno . apoc. 4. 11. rom. 11. 36. theophil . l. 2. chrysost. ho● . 34. in 1 cor. apoc. 12. theophil . chrysost. ubi supr. gen 10. 9 , 10. dan. aphoris . polit. p. 402. 24. marth. 6. 10. 1 sam. 8. judg. c. 10 c. 15. judg. 19 , & 20. 2 sam. 8. 5 josh. 12. speed h. 3. p. 635. ex . mat. west monast . martin . h. 3. p. 66 , 67 , 70 , 71 , 73 , 74. vpon the lords prayer . mat. 12. 25. esay 49. 23. 2 tim. 4. 17. ephes. 4. 11 , 12. 1 pet. 2. 13. ver. 14. exod. 40. 15. heb. 7. 8. polit. l. 1. c. 3. 4. 1 cor. 14. 12. to 31. 1 pet. 2. 13. to 17. mat. 20. 14. deut. 17. 9. to 13. ambros. aug. l. 22. cont. faust , c. 75. his majesties proclamation and declaration , &c. larger declaration . p. 25. 405. ps. 69. 12. prov. 10. 7 ps. 41. 8. ps. 109. 6. ps. 1. 15. ps. 82. 1. vers. 8. ps. 50. 21. ps. 55. 16. matth. 27. 3 , 4 , 5. esay 66. 24. matth. 20. 27 , 28. philip . 2. 4 vers. 5. to 9. rom. 12. 10. matth. 18. 2. 1 tim. 6. 1 , 2. hab. 1. 13. 14. 1. tim. 6. 3 , 4 , 5. scorpias . act. 4. 19. gloss. interlin . tertul. ubi supr. his majesties declaration ubi supra . in matth. 22. 21. ephes. 6. 1. rom. 14. 23. ambros. to . 3. epis. l. 5. orat. li. tit. 3. 1 , 2. citat . josh. 1. 16 , 17. apoc. 13. 10. calv. in ver. 6. 2 sam. 8. 11 , 12. et 10. 26. 2 sam. 2. 2 sam. 11. 11. matth. 21. 3. luke 10. 42. dion : carth : calv. inst. l. 4. c. 20. buchan . theophylact . lombard . lib. 1. & parmon . c. 7. prov. 20. 2. amos 3 ▪ 8. ambros. theophylact . calv. 1 sam. 25. 37. act. 24. 2. iosep. antiq. iudai . l. 18. c. 1. & l. 20. c 6. salust conjurat . catilin . speed . hollinshed rich. 2. p. 429. grafton p. 330 , 331. l. 2. de bello iudaic . c. 16. naucler . prov. 24. 21 , 22. the case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers further consider'd, and defended with a more particular respect to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive-obedience : together with a seasonable perswasive to our new dissenters / by will. sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. 1691 approx. 68 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59803 wing s3277 estc r13361 12389301 ocm 12389301 60955 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59803) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60955) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 878:4) the case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers further consider'd, and defended with a more particular respect to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive-obedience : together with a seasonable perswasive to our new dissenters / by will. sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. [3], 27, [1] p. printed for w. rogers, london : 1691. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. allegiance -great britain. great britain -history -william and mary, 1689-1702. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-02 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-02 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers , further consider'd , and defended : with a more particular respect to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive-obedience . together , with a seasonable perswasive to our new dissenters . by will. sherlock , d. d. master of the temple . london , printed for w. rogers , 1691. d r. sherlock's defence of his case of allegiance , &c. the case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers , defended , &c. there is nothing more evident , than that god set up a supreme and soveraign power in the jewish nation , as could not , and ought not to be resisted by the fundamental laws of their government ; not that the supreme and soveraign power is alwaies to be in a single person , but that where-ever it is , it is irresistible ; and that whenever this supreme power by the laws of the nation is invested in a single person , such a prince must not , upon any pretence whatsoever , be resisted . to prove this , i shall begin with examples out of the old testament . the first governour god set over the children of israel , when he brought them out of the land of egypt , was moses ; and i think i need not prove how sacred and irresistible his authority was . this is sufficiently evident in the rebellion of korah , dathan , and abiram , against moses and aaron , when god caused the earth to open her mouth and swallow them up , numb . 16. and least this should be thought an extraordinary cafe , moses and aaron being ●xtraordinary persons , immediately appointed by god , and governed by his immediate direction , the apostle st. jude alledges this example against those in his daies , who were turbulent and factious , who despised dominions , and spake evil of dignities , jud. v. 11. which he could not have done , had not this example extended to all ordinary as well as extraordinary cases ; had it not been a lasting testimony of god's displeasure against all those who oppose themselves against the soveraign powers . but moses was not alwaies to rule over them , and therefore god expresly provides for a succ●ssion of soveraign powers , to which they must all submit . the ordinary soveraign power of the jewish nation aft●r moses's death , was devolved either on the high priest , or those extraordinary persons , whom god was pleased to raise up , such as joshua , and the several judges , till in samuel's days it settled in their kings . for , as for the jewish sanhedrim , whose power is so much extolled by the jewish writers , who are all of a late date , many years since the destruction of jerusalem , and therefore no competent witnesses of what was done so many ages before ; it does not appear from any testimony of scripture , that there was any such court of judicature , till after their return from the babylonish captivity . but yet god took care to secure the peace and good government of the nation , by appointing such a power as should receive the last appeals , and whose sentence in all controversies should be final and uncontroulable ; as you may see in the 17th . of deut 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. ver . there were inferiour magistrates and judges appointed in their several tribes and cities , which moses did by the advice of jeth●o his father-in-law , and by the approbation of god , exod. 18. but as the supreme power was still reserved in the hands of moses , while he lived , so it is here secured to the high priest or judges after his death ; for , it is expresly appointed , that if those inferiour judges could not determine the controversie , they should come unto the priests and levites ; that is , the priests of the tribe of levi , ( who by the 12. ver . appears only to be the high priests ) ●nd to the judge that shall be in those days ; that is , if it shall be at such a time , when there is an extraordinary judge raised by god ( for there were not alwaies such judges in israel ; as is evide●t to any one who reads the book of judges ) and of them they should enquire , and they shall sh●w the sentence of judgment , and thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place ( which the lord shall chu●● ) shall shew thee ; and thou shalt observe to do according to all they shall inform thee . where the place which god shall chuse , signifies the place which he should appoint for the ark of the covenant , and for the l●vitic●l worship ; which was the place where the high priest , and the chief judge or ruler of israel , when there was any such person , had their ordinary residence ; which was first at shilo , and afterwards at jerusalem . the authority of the chief priests , or of the judge , when there was one , in those days , was as absolute authority as the most absolute monarch in the world can challenge , v. 12. that disobedience to their last & final determination , whatever the cause be , shall be punisht with death : and what place can there be for resistance in such a constitution of government as this ? it is said indeed , in v. 11. according to the sentence of the law , which they shall teach thee , and according to the judgment that they shall tell thee , thou shalt do . and hence some conclude , that they were not bound to abide by their sentence , nor were punishable if they did not , but only in such cases , when they gave sentence according to the law of god. but these men do not consider , that the matter in controversie is supposed to be doubtful , and such as could not be determined by the inferiour courts , and therefore is submitted to the decision of the supreme judge , and as he determined , so they must do , and no man , under the penalty of death , must presume to do otherwise : which takes away all liberty of judging from private persons , though this supreme judge might possibly mistake in his judgment , as all human judicatures are liable to mistakes ; but it seems god almighty thought it necessary , that there should be some final judgment , from whence there should be no appeal , notwithstanding the possibility of a ●istake in it . so that there was a supreme and soveraign , that is , unaccountable and irresistable power in the jewish nation appointed by god himself ; for indeed it is not possible that the publick peace and security of any nation should be preserved without it . and i think it is as plain , that when the jews would have a king , their kings were invested with this supreme and irresistible power ; for when they desired a king , they did not desire a meer nominal and titular king , but a king to judge them , and to go out before them , and fight their battels ; that is , a king who had the supreme and soveraign authority , 1 sam. 8.6 , 19 , 20. a king who should have all that power of government , excepting the peculiar acts of the priestly office , which either their high priest or their judges had before . and therefore , when samuel tells them what shall be the manner of their king , v. 11. though what he saies does necessarily suppose the translation of the soveraign and irresistible power to the person of their king , yet it does not suppose that the king had any new power given him , more than what was exercised formerly by their priests and judges . he does not deterr them from chusing a king , because a king should have greater power , and be more unaccountable and irresistible than their other rulers were ; for samuel himself had had as soveraign and irresistible a power as any ki●g , being the supreme judge in israel , whose sentence no man could disobey or contradict , but he incurred the penalty of death , according to the mosaical law. but the reason why he dissuades them from chusing a king , was because the external pomp and magnificence of kings was like to be very chargeable and oppressive to them . he will take your sons , and appoint them for himself , for his chariots , and to be his horsemen , and some shall run before his chariots . and he will appoint him captains over thousands , and captains ov●r fif●ies , and will set them to ear his ground , and to reap his harvest . and thus in several particulars he acquaints them what burthens and exactions they will bring upon themselves by setting up a king , which they were then free from : and if any prince should be excessive in such exactions , yet they had no way to help themselves : they must not resist , nor rebel against him , nor expect , that what inconvenience they might find in kingly government , god would relieve and deliver them from it , when once they had chose a king : ye shall cry out in that day , because of your king which ye have chosen you , and the lord will not hear you in that day , v. 18. that is , god will not alter the government for you again , how much soever you may complain of it . this , i say , is a plain proof that there kings were invested with that soveraign power which must not be resisted , though they oppress their subjects to maintain their own state , and the grandeur and magnificence of their kingdom . but i cannot think that these words contain the original grant and charter of regal power , but only the translation of that power which was formerly in their high priests or judges , to kings . kings had no more power than their other governours had ; for there can be no power greater than that which is irresistible ; but th●s power in the hands of kings was likely to be more burthensome and oppressive to them , than it was in the hands of their priests and judges , by reason of their different way of living ; which is the only argument samuel uses to dissuade them from transferring the supreme and soveraign power to princes . and therefore i rather chuse to translate mishpat , as our translators do , by the manner of the king , than as other learn●d men do , by the right of the king , thereby understanding the original charter of kingly power : for it is not a regal power which samuel here blames , which is no other but the very same which he himself had , while he was supreme judge of israel ; but their pompous way of living , which would prove very oppressive and burthensome to them , and b● apt to make them complain , who had not been used to such exactions . let us now proceed to consider , how sacred and irresistible the persons and authority of kings were under the jewish government ; and there cannot be a plainer example of this , than in the case of david . he was himself anointed to be king after saul's death , but in the mean time was grievously persecuted by saul , pursued from one place to another , with a design to take away his life . how now does david behave himself in this extremity ? what course does he take to secure himself from saul ? why , he takes the only course that is left a subject ; he flies for it , and hides himself from saul in the mountains and caves of the wilderness ; and when he found he was discovered in one place , he removes to another : he kept spies upon saul , to observe his motions , not that he might meet him to give him battel , or to take him at an advantage , but that he might keep out of his way , and not fall unawares into his hands . well , but this wa● no thanks to david , because he could do no otherwise . he was too weak for saul , and not able to stand against him ; and therefore he had no other remedy but flight . but yet we must consider , that david was a man of war , he slew goliah , and fought the battels of israel with great success ; he was an admired and beloved captain , which made saul so jealous of him ; the eyes of israel were upon him for their next king , and how easily might he have raised a potent and formidable rebellion against saul ! but he was so far from this , that he invites no man to his assistance ; and when some came uninvited , he made no use of them in an offensive or defensive war against saul . nay , when god delivered saul two several times into david's hands , that he could as easily have killed him , as have cut off the skirts of his garment at engedi , 1 sam. 24. or as have taken that spear away which stuck in the ground at his bolster , as he did in the hill of hachilah , 1 sam. 26. yet he would neither touch saul himself , nor suffer any of the people that were with him to do it , though they were very importunate with him for liberty to kill saul ; nay , though they urged him with an argument from providence , that it was a plain evidence that it was the will of god that he should kill saul , because god had now delivered his enemy into his hands , according to the promise he had made to david ▪ 1 sam. 24.4.26 . ch . ver . 8. we know what use some men have made of this argument of providence , to justifie all the villanies they had a mind to act : but david , it seems , did not think that an opportunity of doing evil , gave him license and authority to do it . opportunity , we say , makes a thief , and it makes a rebel , and it makes a murderer . no man can do any wickedness , which he has no opportunity of doing ; and if the providence of god , which puts such opportunities into mens hands , justifies the wick●dness they commit , no man can be chargeable with any guilt whatever he does ; and certainly opportunity will as soon justifie any other sin as rebellion , and the murder of princes . we are to learn our duty from the law of god , not from his providence ; at least , this must be a settled principle , that the providence of god will never justifie any action which this law forbids . and therefore , notwithstanding this opportunity which god had put into his hands to destroy his enemy , and to take the crown for his reward , david considers his duty , remembers , that though saul were his enemy , and that very unjustly , yet he was the lord's anointed . the lord forbid , saies he , that i should do this unto my master , the lord 's anointed , to stretch forth my hand against him , seeing he is the lord 's anointed . nay , he was so far from taking away his life , that his heart smote him for cutting off the skirt of his garment . and we ought to observe the reason david gives , why he durst not hurt saul , because he was the lord's anointed ; which is the very reason the apostle gives in the 13. rom. 12. because the powers are ordained of god , and he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. for to be anointed of god , signifies no more , than that he was made king by god. thus josephus expounds beinganointed by god , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one who had the kingdom bestowed on him by god ; and in another place , one who was ordained by god : for it seems by this phrase , he looked upon the external ceremony of anointing , to be like imposition of hands , which in other cases consecrated persons to peculiar offices : for this external unction was only a visible sign of god's designation of them to such an office ; and when that was plain , they were as much god's anointed without this visible unction as with it . cyrus is called god's anointed , though he never was anointed by any prophet , but only designed for his kingdom by prophecy , 45. isa. 1. and we never read in scripture , that any kings had this external unction , who succeeded in the kingdom by right of inheritance , unless the title and succession were doubtful ; and yet they were the lord 's anointed too , that is , were placed in the throne by him . so that this is an eternal reason against resisting ▪ soveraign princes , that they are set up by god , and invested with his authority , and therefore their persons and authority are sacred . but yet there are some men , who from the example of david , think they can prove the lawfulness of a defensive , though not an offensive war. for david , when he fled from saul , made himself captain of four hundred men , 1 sam. 22.2 . which number soon encreased to six hundred , 1 sam. 23.13 . and still every day encreased by new additions , 1 chron. 12.1 . now , why should he entertain these men , but to defend himself against the forces of saul ? that is , to make a defensive war whenever he was assaulted by him . 1. in answer to this , i obs●rve , that david invited none of these men after him , but they came voluntiers after a beloved captain and general ; which shews how formidable he could have made himself ▪ when such numbers resorted to him of their own accord . 2. when he had them , he never used them for any hostile acts against saul , or any of his forces ; he never stood his ground , when he heard saul was coming , but alwaies fled , and his men with him ; men who were never used to flee , and were very ready to have served him against saul himself , would he have permitted them . and , i suppose they will not call this a defensive war , to flie before an enemy , and to hide themselves in caves and mountains ; and yet this was the only defensive war which david made with all his men about him : nay , all that he would make , according to his professed principles , that it was not lawful to stretch out his hand against the lord 's anointed . and when these men are pursued , as david was , by an inraged and jealous prince , we will not charge them with rebellion , though they flie before him by thousands in company . 3. yet there was sufficient reason why david should entertain these men , who voluntarily resorted to him , though he never intended to use them against saul : for some of them served for spies , to observe saul's motions , that he might not be surprized by him , but have timely notice to make his escape . and the very presence of such a number of men about him , without any hostile act , preserved him from being seized on by some officious persons , who otherwise might have delivered him into saul's hands . and he being anointed by samuel to be king after saul's death , this was the first step to his kingdom , to have such a retinue of valiant men about him ; which made his advancement to the throne more easie , and discouraged any opposition which might otherwise been made against him ; as we see it proved in the event , and have reason to believe that it was thus ordered by god , for that very end . it is certain , that gad the prophet , and abiathar the priest , who was the only man who escaped the fury of saul , when he destroyed the priests of the lord , were in david's retinue ; and that david enterprized nothing , without first asking counsel of god : but he who had anointed him to be king , now draws forces after him , which after saul's death should facilitate his advancement to the kingdom . 2 dly , it is objected further , that david intended to have stayed in keilah , and to have fortified it against saul , had not he been informed , that the men of the city would have saved themselves , by delivering him up to saul , 1 sam. 23. now , to maintain any strong hold against a prince , is an act of war ; though it be but a defensive war. and i grant it is so , but deny that there is any appearance , that david ever intended any such thing . david and his men , by god's appointment and direction , had fought with the phil●●tins , and smote them with a great slaughter , and saved keilah from them ; and as it is probable , did intend to have stayed some time in keilah : but david had heard that saul intended to come against keilah , to destroy the city , and take him , and enquires of the lord about it , and receives an answer , that saul would come against the city . he enquires again , whethe● the men of keilah would deliver him up to saul , and was an●wered , that they would . and upon this , he and his men leave keilah , and betake themselves to the strong holds in the wilderness . but now , it is likely , that if david had had any design to have fortified keilah against saul , he would have been afraid of the men of the city : he had six hundred men with him in keilah , a victorious army , which had lately destroyed the philistines , who oppressed them ; and therefore could easily have kept the men of keilah too in awe , if he had pleased , and have put it out of their power to deliver him to saul . but all that david designed was , to have stayed there as long as he could , and , when saul had drawn nigh , to have removed to some other place : but when he understood the treacherous inclinations of the men of keilah , and being resolved against all acts of hostility , he hastened his remove , before saul drew near . so that these men must find some other example than that of david , to countenance their rebellion against their prince : for david never rebelled , never fought against saul ; but when he had a very potent army with him , he and his men alwaies fled , and ●●d themselves in the wilderness and places of difficult access . the sum is this : god , from the very beginning , set up such a supreme and soveraign power in the jewish nation , as could not , as ought not to be resisted . this power was at ●●rst in the hands of moses , and when korah and his company rebelled against him , god vindicated his authority by a miraculous destruction of those rebels ; for the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up . afterwards , when they came into canaan , the ordinary exercise of his power was in the high priests and judges , whom god raised up , whose sentence and judgment was final , and must not be resisted , under penalty of death , when the children of israel desired a king , this soveraign and irresistible power was transferred to him , and settled in his person . saul was the first king who was chosen by god , and anointed by samuel ; but for his disobedience , was afterwards rejected by god , and david the son of jess● , was anointed king to succeed after saul's death : but in the mean time david was persecuted by saul , who sought after his life . and though he himself was anointed by god , and saul rejected by him , yet he durst not p●rsist nor oppose him , nor defend himself by force against the most unjust violence , but fled for his life , and hid himself in caves and mountains . nay , when saul was delivered into his hands by god , he durst not stretch out his hand against the lord 's anointed . let us now consider what christ and his apostles taught and practised about obedience to soveraign princes ; whereby we may learn how far christians are obliged by these laws of subjection and non-resistance . 1. i shall consider the doctrine of christ , while he lived on earth : and here are several things very fit to be obser●●d . first , we have no reason to suspect , that christ would alter the rights of soveraign power , and the measures of obedience and subjection , which were fixt and determin'd by god himself . this was no part of his commission , to change the external forms and polities of civil governments , which is an act of secular power and authority , and does not belong to a spiritual prince . he who would not undertake to decide a petty controversie , or to divide an inheritance between two contending brethren , 12. luk. 13 , 14. can we think that he would attempt any thing of that vast consequence , as the changes and alterations of civil power , which would have unsettled the fundamental constitutions of all the governments of the world at that time ? our saviour tells us , that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets , but to fulfil it ; to fill it up , to compleat and perfect it ; mat. 5.17 . that is , to fulfill the anci●nt types and prophesies in his own person , to perfect an external and ceremonial by a real and evangelical righ●●ousness ; to perfect the moral laws with new instances and degrees of vertue ; but he abrogated no moral law , and therefore not the laws of obedience and subjection to princes , which has alwaies been reduced to the fifth commandment . nay , he abrogated no laws , but by perfecting and fulfilling them ; and therefore he could make no alteration in the doctrin of non-r●sistance , which is as perfect subjection as can or ought to be paid to soveraign princes . his kingdom was not of this world , as he told pilate : though he was a king , he neither was an enemy nor rival to caesar ; but had he absolved his disciples from their obedience to princes , had he made it in any case lawful to resist ( which was so expresly forbid the jews by god himself , and which is such a contradiction to the very nation of soveraign power ) he had been somewhat worse than a rival to all the princes of the earth ; for though he had set up no kingdom of his own , yet he had pulled down theirs . whereas he took great care that his religion should give no disturbance to the world , nor create any reasonable jealousies and suspicions to princes , who had been very excusable for their aversion to christianity , had he invaded the rights and royalties of their crowns . this makes it very improbable , that our saviour should make any alterations in civil powers , or abridge the rights of soveraignty ; which is so foreign to his design of coming into the world , and so incongruous to the person which he sustained ; and yet he could not alter the duties of subjects , but he must alter the rights of princes too ; he must take away the soveraign power of princes , at the same time that he makes it lawful for subjects in any case whatsoever to resist . we may safely then conclude , that our saviour has left the government of the world as he found it : he has indeed given such admirable laws , as will teach princes to govern , and subjects to obey better ; which is the most effectual way to secure the publick peace and happiness , to prevent the oppression of subjects , and rebellions against princes : but he has not interposed in new modelling the governments of the world , whic● is not of such consequence as some men imagine ▪ it is not the external form of government , but the fatherly care , and prudence , an● justice of governours , and the dutiful obedience of subjects , which can make any people happy . if princes and subjects be good christians , they may be happy ●nder most forms of government ; if they be not , they can be happy under none . had our saviour given subjects liberty to resist , to depose , to murder tyrannical princes , he had done them no kindness at all ; for , to give liberty to subjects to resist , is only to proclaim an universal license to factions and seditions , and civil wars ; and if any man can think this su●h a mighty blessing to the world , yet methinks it is not a blessing proper for the prince of peace to give : but he who instructs princ●s to rule as god's ministers and vicegerents , and to express a fatherly care and concernment for the happiness of their subjects , and that teaches subjects to reverence ▪ and obey their princes , as the image of god , and quietly submit and yield to his authority , and that enforces these laws , both on princes and subjects , in the name and authority of god , and from the consideration of the future judgment , when princes who abuse their power , shall give an account of it to their great master , when subjects who resist , shall receive to themselves damnation ; and those who patiently and quietly suffer for god's sake , shall have their injuries redrest , and their obedience rewarded ; i say , such a person as this takes a more effectual course to reform the abuses of the civil power , and to preserve good government in the world ▪ than all our wise politicians and state-menders , who think to reform the government of the world by some state-spells and charms , without reforming those who govern , and those who are governed . this our saviour has done , and this is the best thing that could be done , nay , this was all that he could do in this matter . he never usurpt any civil power and authority , and therefore could not new model the government of the world : he never offers any external force and compulsion to make men obey his laws , and therefore neither forces princes ▪ to rule well , nor subjects to obey ; but he has taken the same care of the government of the world , as he has done of all the other duties of piety and vertue ; that is , he has given very good laws , and has threatned those that break them with eternal punishments ; and as the laws and religion of our saviour prevail , so will the governments of the world mend , without altering the model and constitution of them . 2. but yet we have some positive evidence what our saviour taught about obedience to the higher powers ; i shall give you two instances of it , which are as plain and express as can be desired . first , the first is that answer our saviour gave to the pharisees and herodians , when they consulted together to intangle him in his talk , mat. 22.15 , &c. they come to him with great ceremony and address , as to an infallible oracle , to consult him in a very weighty case of conscience . they express a great esteem and assurance of his sincerity , and faithfulness , and courage , as well as of his unerring judgment , in declaring the will of god to them . master , we know that thou art true ▪ and teachest the way of god in truth , neither carest thou for any man , for thou regardest not the person of man : that is , thou wilt not conceal nor pervert the truth for fear nor favour : and then they propose an insnaring question to him ; tell us therefore , what thinkest thou ? is it lawful to give tribute to caesar , or not ? they thought it impossible that he should give any answer to this , which would not make him obnoxious , either to the roman governours , if he denied that the jews might lawfully pay tribute to caes●r , or ●o the pharisees and people if he affirmed that they might : for there was a very potent faction among th●m , who thought it unlawful for the jews to own the authority or usurpations of any foreign prince , or to pay tribute to him , as to their king ▪ they being expresly forbid by their law , to set a stranger over them for their king , who is not their brother , ( i. e. ) who is not a natural jew , deut. 17.15 . and it seems they could not distinguish between their own voluntary act in chusing a stranger for their king , ( which was indeed forbid by their law ) and their submitting to a foreign prince , when they were conquered by him . our saviour , who knew their wicked intention in all this , that they did not come with an honest design to b● instructed in their duty , but to seek an advantage against him , expresses some indignation at it ; why tempt ye me , ye hypocrites ? but yet , to return them an answer to that their question , he bids them shew him the tribute-money , that is , the money in which they used to pay tribute , and enquires whose image and superscription it had ; for coining of money was as certain a mark of soveraignty , as making laws , or the power of the sword. well , they acknowledg that the image and superscription on the tribute-money was caesar's ; upon which he replies , render therefore unto caesar the things that are caesar's , and unto god the things that are god's . the plain meaning of which answer is this , that since by the very impres●ion on their money , it is evident , that caesar is their soveraign lord , they must render to him all the rights of soveraignty , among which , tribute is one , as st. paul tells us , render therefore unto all their dues , tribute to whom tribute is due , custom to whom custom , fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour , rom. 13.7 . whatever is due to soveraign princes , and does not interfere with their duty to god , that they must give to caesar , who at this time was their soveraign . in which answer there are several things observable . 1. that our saviour does not examine into caesar's right , nor ●ow he came by this soveraign power ; b●t as 〈◊〉 found him in possession of it , so he leaves him , and requires them to render to him all the rights of soveraignty . 2. that he does not particularly determine what the things of caesar are , that is , what his right is ▪ as a soveraign prince . hence some men conclude , that this text can prove nothing ; that we cannot learn from it , what our saviour's judgment was in this point ; that it is only a subtil answer , which those who ask the question could make nothing of ; which was a proper return to their ensnaring question . this i think is as great a reproach to our saviour , as they can well cast upon him , that he , who was the wisdom of god , the great pro●het and teacher of mankind , should return as sophistical and doubtful answers as the heathen oracles and that in a case , which required , and would admit a very plain answer . it is true , many times our saviour , when he discourst of what concern'd his own person , or the mysteries of his kingdom ▪ which were not fit at that time to be publisht in plain terms , used a mistical language ; as when he called his body the temple , or he taught them by parables , which were not obvious at the first hearing , but still what he said , had a certain and determined sense , and what was obscure and difficult , he explained privately to his apost●es , that in due time they might explain it to others ; but to assert , as these men must do , that christ gave them such an answer as signified nothing , and which he intended they should understand nothing by , shews that they are not so civil to our saviour as these pharis●es and herodians were , who at least owned in compliment , master we know that thou ar● true . and teachest the way of god in truth , neither carest thou for any man , for thou regard●st not the person of men. but certainly the pharisees did believe , that there was something in our saviours answer , for they marvelled , and left him , and went their way : and yet those who had wit enough to ask such ensnaring questions , could not be so dull as to be put off wi●h a sophistical answer , ( an art below the gravity of our saviour's pers●n and office ) but would have urged it a little f●r●her , had they not been sensible , that they were sufficiently answered , and had nothing to reply . for indeed can any thing be plainer than our saviour's answer ? they ask him whether it were lawful to pay tribute to caesar ? he does not indeed in express words say , that they should pay tribute to caesar , but he gives them such an answer , as withal convinc'd them of the reason and necessity of it . he asks whose image and superscription was on the tribute-money ; they tell him caesars ; from whence he infers , render therefore unto caesar the things that are caesar's . therefore ? wherefore ? because the tribute-money had caesars image on it ; therefore they must render to caesar the things that are caesars ; which certainly signifies that tribute was one of those things which belonged to caesar , and must be rendred to him , as appeared by having caesar's image : not as if every thing that had caesar's mark and stamp on it , did belong unto caesar , and must be given to him , ( as some men profanely enough , how wittily soever they imagine , burlesque and ridicule our saviour's answer ) for at this rate all the mony of the empire , which bore his image , was caesars ; but the money which was stampt with caesar's image , and was the current money of the nation , was a plain sign , as i observed before , that he was their soveraign , and paying tribute was a known right due to soveraign princes ; and therefore the very money which they used , with caesar's image on it , resolved that question , not only of the lawfulness , but the necessity of paying tribute : and this was so plain an answer , that the pharisees were ashamed of their question , and went away without making any reply ; for they no more dared to deny that caesar was their king , than they thought he dared either to own or deny the lawfulness of paying tribute to caesar. and this was all the subtilty of our saviour's answer but then , our saviour not confining his answer meerly to the case of paying tribute , but answering in general , that we must render to caesar the things that are caesar's , extends this to all the rights of soveraign princes , and so becomes a standing rule in all cases , to give to caesar what is caesar's due . and when our saviour commands us to render to caesar the things which are caesar's , w●thout telling us what caesar's things are , this is so f●r from making his answer doubtful and ambiguous , and of no use in this present controversie , that it suggests to us three plain and natural consequences , which are sufficient to end this whole dispute . 1. that our saviour did not intend to mak●●ny alteration in the rights of sove●aignty , but what rights he found soveraign princes possest of , he leaves them in the quiet possession of ; for had he intended to make any change in this matter , he would not have given such a general rule , to render to caesar the things which are caesar 's , without specifying what these things are . 2. and therefore he leaves them to the known laws of the empire , to determine what is caesar's right . whatever is essential to the nation of soveraign power , whatever the laws an● customs of nations determine to be caesar's right , that they must render to him ; for he would make no alteration in this matter . so that subjection to princes , and non-resistance , is as plainly determined by our saviour in this law , as paying of tribute ; for subjection and non-resistance is as essential a right of soveraign power , and as inseparable from the notion of it , as any thing can be . so it is acknowledged by the laws and customs of nations ; and so it is determined by the apostle st. paul ; as i shall shew hereafter . 3. i observe farther , that when our saviour enjoins our duty to our prince , with our duty to our god , render to caesar the things which are caesar 's , and to god , the things which are god's . he excepts nothing from caesar's rights , which by the laws of nations is due to soveraign princes , but what is a violation of , and an encroachment on god's right and soveraignty ; that is , we must pay all that obedience and subjection to princes , which is consistent with our duty to god. this is the only limit our saviour sets to our duty to princes . if they should command us to renounce our religion , and worship false gods ; if they sho●ld challenge divine honours to themselves , as some of the roman emperors did ; this we must not do , because it is to renounce obedience and subjection to god , who has a more soveraign power , and a greater right in us than our prince : but all active and passive obedience , which is consistent with a good conscience towards god , and required of us by the laws of our country , and the essential rights of soveraignty , is what we owe to our prince , and what by our saviour's command we must render to him . this , i hope , is sufficient for the explication of our saviour's answer to the pharisees and herodians ; which evidently contains the doctrin of obedience and subjection to princes , enforced on us by the authority of our saviour himself . having seen what the doctrin of our saviour was , let us now consider his practice : and we need not doubt , but our saviour lived as he preacht . he taught his disciples by his example , as well as by his laws . his life was the best comment upon his sermons ; was a visible lecture of universal righteousness and goodness ; and it is impossible to conceive a more perfect and absolute example of subjection and non-resistance , than our saviour has set us . when our saviour appeared in the world , the jews were very weary of the roman yoke , and in earnest expectat●on of their messias , who , as they thought , would restore the kingdom again unto ifrael ; and this expectation of their messias , whom they mistook for a temporal prince , made them very apt to joyn with any one , who pretended to be the messias , and to rebel ag●inst the roman government . su●h most likely were th●●d●s and judas of galilee , of whom we have mention , ast. 5.36 , 37. an● it is not impossible , but the egyptian , who led 4000 men into the wilde●n●ss , act. 38. either pretended to be the messias , or some fore-runner of him : to be sure , such were those false christs , and false p●ophets , of whom our saviour warns his disciples , mat. 24.23 . then if any man shall s●y unto you , lo , here is christ , or there ; be●ieve him not . this being the temper of the jewish nation at that time , so extreamly inclined to s●ditions and rebellion against the roman powers , how easie had it been for our saviour , had he pleased ; to have made himself very potent and formidable ? how easie cou●d he have gained even the scribes and pharisees to his party , ( whose great quarrel was at his meanness and poverty ) would he once have declared himself a temporal prince , and invaded the throne ? but he was so far from this , that when he perceived the people had an intention to take him by force ; and make him a king , he withdrew himself privately from them , and departed into a mountain himself alone , john ▪ 6.15 . and yet i presume there might have been as many plau●●ble preten●es to have justi●ied a rebellion then , as ever there were in any nation since . he had at that time fed five thousand men besides women and children , with five barly loaves , and two small fishes : and what a formidable enemy would he have been , who could victual an army by miracles , and could , when he pleased , conquer by the same miraculous power also ? this the people , whom he had miraculously fed , were very sensible of , and did hence conclude , that he was the prophet that should come into the world , and that it was time to take him , and set him upon the throne : but though our saviour was indeed the messias , yet he was not such a messias , as they expected ; he was not a temporal prince , and therefore would not countenance their rebellion against caesar , though it were to make himself a king. it is sufficiently known , that christ submitted to the most unjust sentence , to the most ignominious and painful death , rather than resist the higher powers , though he could so easily have called for legions of angels to his rescue ; but he went as a lamb to the slaughter , and as the sheep before the shearer is dumb , so he opened not his mouth : when he was reviled , he reviled not again : when he suffered , he threatned not , but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously . he rebuked peter when he drew his sword in his defence , and tells pilate the reason why he was so easily apprehended , and used at their pleasure , without any resistance and opposition , though he had been formerly attended with such crowds of his disciples ; because he was no temporal prince , and therefore did not require his disciples to fight for him , as other temporal princes used to do . iesus answered , my kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world , then would my servants fight , that i should not be delivered to the jews ; but now is my kingdom not from hence , joh. 18.36 . which plainly shews , that our saviour's subjection was not matter of force and constraint , because he wanted power to resist ; but it was matter of choice , that which was most agreeable to the nature of his kingdom , which was not to be propagated by carnal weapons , but by suffering and death . and when our saviour has set us such an example as this , it is wonderful to me , that any , who call themselves his disciples , can think it lawful to rebel against their prince , and defend themselves from the most unjust violence , by a more unjust resistance . but there are few men , who are contented to follow christ to the cross ; they do not like that part of his example , and are willing to perswade themselves , that they are not bound to imitate it . and there are two things which i find urged by some men to this purpose , which must be briefly considered . 1. that it is no wonder , that christ suffered patiently and quietly , without resisting the most unjust violence , because he came into the world to die , and to make his soul an offering for sin. and how could so innocent a person die , but by the hands of vnjust and tyrannical powers ? and it was inconsistent with his design of dying for sin , to resist and oppose . this is the account our saviour himself gives of his patient suffering . when st. peter drew his sword in his defence , he tells him , thinkest thou that i cannot now pray to my father , and he sha●l pres●ntly give me more than twelve legions of angels ? but how then sh●ll the scriptures be fulfilled , that thus it must be ? mat. 26.43 , 54. and the cup which my father has given me , shall i not drink it ? john 18.11 . having thus concluded what the doctrin and example of o●r saviour was , about subjection to the higher powers , let us now consider the doctrin and example of h●s apostle st. paul ; not as if the authority and example of our saviour were not sufficient , of it self , to make a law , but stood in need of the confirmation and additional authority of his own apostles ; but we might justly suspect our selves mistaken in the meaning of our saviour's words , or in the intention and design of his sufferings , had none of his apostles , who were immediately instructed by him●elf , and acquainted with the most secret mysteries of this kingdom , ever preacht any such doctrine as this , of subjection to princes . and therefore to give you the more abundant assurance of this , i shall plainly shew you , that the apostles taught the same doctrin , and imitated the example of their master . st. paul has as fully declared himself in this matter , as it is possible any man can do by words , rom. 13.1 , 2. let every soul be subject unto the higher powers , for there is no power but of god : the powers that be , are ordained of god. whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god ; and they that resist , shall receive to themselves damnation . this is a very express testimony against resistance , and therefore i shall consider it at large ; for there have been various arts used to pervert every word of it and to make this text speak quite contrary to the design and intention of the apostle in it : and therefore i shall divide the words into three ge●eral parts . 1. the doctrine the apostle instructs them in : le● every soul be subject to the higher powers . 2. the reason why he proves and forces this doctrin : for there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god. whoso●v●r therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. 3. the punishment of such resistance : and they that resist , shall receive to themselves damnation . 1. i shall begin with the doctrin , that every soul must be subject to the higher powers . and here are three things to be explained : 1. who are contained under this general expression of every soul. 2. who are meant by the higher powers . 3. what is meant by being subject . 1. who are contained under this general expression of ●v●ry soul , which by an ordinary hebraism , signifies every man ; for m●n is a compounded creature of body and soul , and either part of him is very often in scripture put for the whole . some●imes flesh , and sometimes soul signifies the man ; and when eve●y soul is opposed to the higher powers , it must sig●ifie all men , of what rank or condition soever they be , who are not invested with this higher power . popes and bishops , and bishops and priests , as well spiritual as secular persons ; the whole body of the people , as well as every single individual : for , when every soul is commanded to be subject , without any exception or limitation , this must reach them in all capacities and conditions . the design of the apostle , as you shall hear more presently , was to forbid all resistance of soveraign princes ; and had he known of any men , who might lawfully r●sist , he ought not to have exprest it in such general terms , as to forbid all without exception . had st. paul known the prerogative of st. peter , and his successors the bishops of rome , would he have written to the c●ristians of rome , to be subje●t to their emperors , without making any provision for the greater authority of their bishops ? the reason he assigns why every soul must be subject to the higher powers , is , becaus● all powers are of god ; so that whosoever is bound to be subject to god , must be subject to their prince , who is in god's stead . and this , i think , will reach the pope of rome , as well as any private christian ; unless he will pretend to have more authority on earth than god himself has ; for the prince has god's authority , and therefore cannot be resisted , but by a greater authority than god's . and , by the same reason , if the whole body of the people be subject to god , they must be subject to their prince too , because he acts by god's au●hority and commission . were a soveraign prince the peoples creature , that might be a good maxim : rex major singulis , sed minor universis ; that the king is greater than any particular subject , but less than all together : but if he be god's minister , he is upon that account as much greater than all , as god is . and that the whole body of the people , all together , as well as one by one , are equally concerned in this command , of being subject to the higher powers , is evident , from this consideration : that nothing less than this will secure the peace and tranquility of human societies : the resistance of single persons is more dangerous to themselves than to the prince , but a powerful combination of rebels is formidable to the most puissant monarchs . the greater number of subjects rebel against their prince , the more too they distress his government , and threaten his crown and dignity , and his person and authority be sacred , the greater the violence is which is offered to him , the greater is his crime . had the apostle exhorted the romans after this manner : let no private and single man be so foolish , as to rebel against his prince , who will be too strong for him ; but if you can raise sufficient forces to oppose against him ; if you can all consent to depose or murder him , this is very innocent ▪ and justifiable , nay , an heroical atchievement , which becomes a free born people : how would this secure the peace and quiet of the world ? how would this have agreed with what follows , that princes are advanced by god , and that to resist our prince , is to resist the ordinance of god , and that such men shall be severely punisht for it , in this world or the next ? for , can the apostle be thought absolutely to condemn resistance , if he makes it only unlawful to resist , wh●n we want power to conquer ? which yet is all that can be made of it , if by every soul , the apostle means only particular men , not the united force and power of the subjects . nor can there be any reason assigned , why the apostle should lay so strict a command on particul●r christians , to be subject to the higher powers , which does not equally concern whole na●ions ; for if it can ever be lawful for a whole nation to resist a prince , it may , in the same circumstances , be equally lawful f●r a particular man to do it . if a nation may conspire against a prin●e , who invades their rights , their liberties ; or their religion , why may not any man , by the same reason , resist a prince , when his rights and liberties are invaded ? it is not so safe and prudent indeed , for a private man to resist ▪ as for great and powerful numbers ; but this makes resistance only a matter of discretion , not of conscience : if it be lawful for th● whole body of a nation to resist in such cases , it must be equally lawful for a particular man to do it ; but he does it at his own peril , when he has only his one single force to oppose aga●nst his pri●ce . so that our apostle must forbid resistance in all or none ; for , single persons do not use to resist or rebel , or there is no grea● danger to the publick if they do ; but the authority of princes , and the security of publick government , is only endangered by a combination of reb●ls , when the whole nation , or any considerable part for numbers , power , and in●erest , take arms against their prince . if resistance of our prince be a sin , it is not the less , but the grea●er sin , the greater , and the more formidable , the resistance is ; and it would very much unbecome the gravity and sacredness of an apostolical precept , to enjoin sub●ection to private christians , who dare not , who cannot resist alone , but to leave a powerful combination of rebels at liberty to resist : so that every soul , must signifie all subjests , whether single or united : for , whatever is unlawful for every single person , considered as a subject , is unlawful for them all together ; for the whole nation is as much a subject to the higher powers , as any single man. thus i am sure it is in our government , where lords and commons assembled in parliament own themselves the subjects of the king , and have by publick laws disclaimed all power of raising any war , either offensive or defensive against the king. having heard what st. paul's doctrine was , let us now consider what st. peter taught about this matter : he had as much reason to learn this lesson as any of the apostles , our saviour having severally rebuked him for drawing his sword against the lawful powers , as you have already heard . and indeed his rash and intemperate zeal in this action cost him very dear ; for we have reason to believe , that this was the chief thing , that tempted him to deny his master . he was afraid to own himself to be his disciple , or that he had been in the garden with him ; because he was conscious to himself , that by drawing his sword , and smiting the servant of the high-priest , he had incurred the penalty of the law , and had he been discovered , could expect nothing less , but to be severely punish'd for it , it may be to have lost his life for his resistance . and indeed , this has very often been the fate of those men , who have been transported with a boistrous and intemperate zeal to draw their swords for their master and his religion , against the lawful powers , that they commonly deny their master , and despise his religion , before they put their swords up again . but st. peter having , by our saviour's reproof , and his own dear-bought experience , learnt the evil of resistance , neve● drew his sword more , and took great care to instruct christians , not to do so ; 1 pet. 2.13 , 14 , 15 , 16. submit your selves to every ordinance of man , for the lord's sake , whether it be to the king , as supreme ; or unto governours , as to them that are sent by him , for the punishment of evil-doers , and for the praise of them that do well . for so is the will of god , that with well-doing ye may put to sil●nce the ignorance of foolish men . as free , and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness , but as the s●rvants of god. this is the very same doctrin which st. paul taught the romans : let every soul be subj●ct to the higher powers ; for the same word is used in the original , and therefore to submit , and to be subject , is the same thing , which , as st. paul tells us , signifies non-resistance ; only st. paul speaks of not resisting the higher powers ; that is , emperors and soveraign princes , herein including all those who act by their authority ; s. peter , to prevent all cavils and exceptions , distinctly mentions both , that we must submit to all humane power and authority , not only to the king as supreme , that is , in st. paul's phrase , to the higher powers , to all soveraign princes , who are invested with the supreme authority ; but also to those who are sent by him , who receive their authority and commission from the soveraign prince . st. paul tells us at large , that all power is of god , and that the power is the minister of god ; and he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordin●nce of god ; and therefore we must needs be subjest , not only for wrath , ( that is , for fear of being punisht by men ) but also for conscience sake , out of reverence to god , and fear of his judgment . this st. peter comprises in one word , which includes it all ▪ submit your self to every ordinance of man , for the lord's sake : for , how is god concerned in our obedience to princes , if they be not his ministers , who are appointed and advanced by him , and act by his authority , and if it be not his will and command that we should obey them ? and therefore he adds , for this is the will of god , that with well-doing , ( that is by obedience and subjection to princes ) ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ; that is , that you may put to silence those foolish men , who ignorantly accuse you , as fond of changes , and troublesome and dangerous to government . but then , st. peter observing , that christian liberty was made a pretence for seditions and treasons , he cautions them against that also ; as free , but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness ; that is , to cover and excuse such wickedness as rebellion against princes , but as the servants of god : you must remember whatever freedom christ has purchased for you , he has not delivered you from obedience and subjection to god ; you are his servants still , and therefore must be subject to those , who receive their power and authority from god , as all soveraign princes do . this is as plain , one would think , as words can make it ; but nothing can be so plain , but that men , who are unwilling to understand , and who set their wits on work to avoid the force and evidence of it , may be able to find something to say , to deceive themselves , and those who are willing to be deceived : and therefore it will be necessary to consider what false colours some men have put upon these words , to elude and baffle the plain scope and design of the apostle in them . as , first , they observe , that st. peter calls kings and subordinate governours an ordinance of man , or a human creature , and from hence they conclude , that kings are only the peoples creatures ; they are made by the people , and receive their power from them , and therefore are accountable to them if they ●●use their power . in answer to this , we may consider , 1. that this interpretation of st. peter's words , is a direct contradiction to st. paul , who expresly asserts , that there is no power but of god , the powers that be , are ord●ined of god ; but , according to this exposition of hu●an creature , or the ordin●nce of man , there is no power of god , but all pow●r is derived from the people . kings and princes may be chosen by men , as it is in elective kingdoms , and as it was at that time in the roman empire , but they receive their power from god : and thus st. paul ▪ and st. peter may be reconciled . but to affirm , that st. peter calls kings an ordinance of man , because they receive their ower and authority from men , is an irreconcilable contradiction to st. paul , who affirms , that they ●eceive their power from god ; that they are god's , and not the peoples ministers . now , though st. peter and st. paul did once differ upon a matter of prudence , it would be of ill consequence to religion , to make them differ in so material a doctrine as this is ; and yet there is no way to reconcile them , but by expounding st. peter's words , so as to agree with st. paul's ; for st. paul's words can never be reconciled with that sence which these men give of st. peter's ; and that is a good argument to me , that is not the true interpretation of st. pe●er ; for i verily believe , that these two great apostles did not differ in this point . 2. st. peter exhorts them to submit to every ordinance of man ; for the lord's sake ; which plainly signifies , that whatever hand men may have in modelling civil governments , yet it is the ordinance of god , and princes receive their power from him . for it is no act of disobedience to god , to resist our prince , nor of obedience to god to submit to him , if he does not derive his power from god , and act by his authority and commission ; especially in such cases , when he opposes the government of god , and the interest of rel●gion , and oppresses not only god's creatures , but his most faithful and obedient people , who are his peculiar care and charge : in such cases as these , if princes do not receive their power from god , they are oppo●●te and rival-powers , and we can no more submit to them for god's sake , than we can submit to a reb●l , for the sake of — that is , out of duty and loyalty to our natural prince . and therefore , when the apostle exhorts them , for god's sake , to submit to their king , he plainly supposes what st. paul did particularly express , that kings receive their p●wer from god , and therefore are god's ministers , even when they abuse their power ; and he that resists , resists the ordinance and authority of god. 3. but suppose we should grant , that when st. peter calls kings the ordinance of man , he means , that they receive their power and authority from men ; yet i cannot see what good this will do them ; for he plainly disowns their consequence , that therefore princes are accountable to the people , as to their superiors , and may be resisted , deposed , and brought to condign punishment , if they abuse this power ; as will appear from these two observations . 1. tha● he gives the king the title of supreme , who is above them all , and is invested with the supreme and soveraign power . now , the supreme power , in the very notion of it , is i●resistible and unaccountable ; for otherwise it is not supreme ▪ but subject to some superiour jurisdiction ; which , it is ev●dently known , the roman emperors , of whom the apostle here speaks , were not . and , 2. that he requires subjection to this human ord●nance ; which , as appears from st. paul , signifies non-resistance : so that tho' we should grant , that the king derives his power from the people , yet , it seems , god confirms and establishes the crown on his head , and will not suffer people to take it off again , when the● please . a seasonable admonition to our new dissenters . let us have a care of our zeal , that we may not mistake an earthly fire , which burns and consumes , for that divine and harmless flame , which is kindled at god's altar . a true zeal for religion is nothing more , nor less , than such a hearty love for it , as makes us very diligent in the practice of it our selves , and very industrious to promote the knowledg and practice of religion in the world , by all lawful and prudent means . a true christian zeal will not suffer us to transgress the strict bounds of our duty to god , or of our duty to men , especially to kings and princes , whatever flattering prospect of advantage it may give . to lye , to forswear our selves , to hate and revile each other ; to reproach and libel governours in church and state ; to stir up or countenance , with the least thought , any seditious practices against the king or government , is not a zeal for god , nor for religion ; for , this wisdom is not from above , but is earthly , sensual , and devilish ; for where strife and contention is , there is c●nfusion , and every evil work . let us be wary how we begin to entertain , or to whisper our discontents ; how we begin to listen to suspicions of our prince , or of his government , and to hear with pleasure any scandalous stories or reflections on either . god , of his infinite mercy , preserve our king and queen , and these kingdoms , our liberties , laws , and religion , from the wicked conspiracies of all our enemies . which is the last thing i shall recommend to you , to praise god for his preservation of our king hitherto , and earnestly beg , that the same providence would still watch over him for the time to come . let us bless god , and let us honour our king , and receive him with joy and thanksgiving , as a new gift and present from the hands of god. when we are heartily thankful for the mercies we have already received , this will ma●e our prayers more effectual for the continuance of them . o lord ▪ save the king and queen , who putteth their trust in thee ; send them help ●rom thy holy place , and evermore mightily defend them : let their enemies have no advantage against them , nor the wicked approach to hurt them . which god of his infinite mercy grant , through our lord jesus christ , to whom , with the father , &c. finis . the kings cavse rationally, briefly, and plainly debated, as it stands de facto against the irrationall, groundlesse misprisions of a still deceived sort of people. doughty, john, 1598-1672. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a36385 of text r8760 in the english short title catalog (wing d1962). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 78 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 25 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a36385 wing d1962 estc r8760 12818325 ocm 12818325 94185 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36385) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94185) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 712:3) the kings cavse rationally, briefly, and plainly debated, as it stands de facto against the irrationall, groundlesse misprisions of a still deceived sort of people. doughty, john, 1598-1672. [2], 47 p. printed by henry hall], [oxford, eng. : 1644. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng charles -i, -king of england, 1600-1649. divine right of kings. great britain -politics and government -1642-1649. a36385 r8760 (wing d1962). civilwar no the kings cause rationally, briefly, and plainly debated, as it stands de facto. against the irrationall, groundlesse misprisions of a still doughty, john 1644 13365 16 125 0 0 0 0 105 f the rate of 105 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2007-08 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the kings cavse rationally , briefly , and plainly debated , as it stands de facto . against the irrationall , groundlesse misprisions of a still deceived sort of people . 2. sam. 2. shall the sword devoure for ever ? know yee not that it will be bitternesse in the end ? heu quantum potuit terrae pelagique parari , hoc quem civiles hauserunt sanguine dextrae ? printed ann. dom. 1644. the kings cause rationally , and plainly debated , as it stands de facto . &c. concerning the nature or quality of these unhappy distractions we have long groaned under , & consequently by what name or title we may best decipher them , i need not to speake much : a civill warre it is , who sees not , yea plusquam civile , more then so ; an unnaturall , bloodie warre , wherein friend stands engaged upon tearmes of defiance against his friend , brother against brother , even father against the sonne , making good by this meanes in these last and dreggish times of the world that inevitably true prediction of our saviour , luk. 12. 13. what the event or issue of this warre so unluckely begun , and as obstinately still maintained , may be , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , god he knoweth . the best we can probably expect ( unlesse the same god be pleased by a timely prevention to make up the breach , must needs be a speedy overwhelming of this once flouris●ing island in the generall deluge of ruine and destruction . but enough of this ; the truth herein is too notoriously apparent to our extreame sorrow , and rather requires the helpe of some kinde of healing salve ▪ then of a farther corrosive ; it may be worth our consideration then in the first place to observe , against whom namely be these warlike armes taken up ; against the king questionlesse , patrem patriae , our lawfull soveraigne , the lords annointed : that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , as one expresseth it , that supream power placed in so neer a distance under god himselfe , that whereas we in modesty terme kings or rulers here upon earth , his vicegerents only , he hath pleased to advance them to an higher title , and plainly stiles them gods , i have said yee are gods . ps. 82. 6. and hence further is it that we find in scripture the seat of royall judicature , as usually termed the throne of god , as the kings throne ; nor themselves barely the deputies or ministers of men , but gods ministers , his peculiar substitutes . all power is from god , i willingly acknowledge , by some way of derivation or other : but this for certaine more immediatly and in a neerer degree , as being the supreme , 1. pet. 2. 15. more determinatively too in that he alone is the disposer both of kings and kingdomes saith the prophet , dan. 2. 21. dan. 4. 17. 25. even to a particular designation of the person frequently , as we finde it to have been ( not to speake ought of exoticke governments ) in the iewish commonwealth . the heathen anciently by the very light of nature found out this truth . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , saith the poet , and another yet more closely {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . the king ( saith he ) is the truest and liveliest reflex or image of god upon earth that may be ; humani ioves , as the latine comoedian speaking of such persons in a straine beyond them both . and surely for this reason particularly amongst other ( in my poore fancie ) is that very title above mentioned of being called gods bestowed upon them , to wit in regard of their dominion and soveraignetie over the rest , which they still retaine as a maine relique as it were of that gods image at first stampt , and engraven upon the soule of man . now as ' i said , against this soveraigne power neverthelesse be these armes lifted up : a power so sacred , it seemes , as not to be touched or but roughly medled with ; since touch not mine annointed ( not the chiefe then be sure ) is the interdictive expresse caution of the almightie ; david thus did but touch saul by cutting off the skirt of his garment , and we see how his heart smote him streight ; in as much , as , who can stretch forth his hand ( saith he ) against the lords annointed , and be guiltlesse ? for however to colour and disguise the businesse , the king hath been all along pretended to these harsh unusuall proceedings of late , as if what were done , were not against him but for him , yet is this in truth such a strange peece of state-sophistry , that men , though of meane capacitie cannot i suppose at last but discerne easily and see through it ; nuga & quisquiliae , unlesse they can possibly shew pro & con : with and against , termes so widely opposite to be one and the same , which yet will neither good logick admit in the former , nor scripture phrase acknowledge in the latter : that saying of our saviour , mar. 10. touching matrimoniall union , quos deus iunxit nemo separet , is in a good sense if read backwards appliable to the present divisions , q. d. s. n. jung : whom god in his secret displeasure , as here , hath a while really divided & set at distāce , let none go about in pursuance of their close unjustifiable designes by bare and emptie termes to ioyne together . you say you are for the king , entitle him to every act , the king saith no , disclaimes it utterly , often and againe hath protested against it : whō may we in reason rather beleeve ? especially considering those grosse & monstrous inconsequences which follow hereupon , as that thereby he is made to set forth edicts , levie monies , wage war , and all against himselfe . it is true ( i confesse ) in some cases , as where the prince is a minor and under age ; or where he is not compos sui through weaknesse of his intellectualls , this may well hold , and the seeming contradiction be easily closed up : the reason is , for that there the party is not master of his own actions , nor can he , in a legall consideration be reckoned amongst those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} whether in art , or nature , which move of themselves , but as one rather who is moved from without . there both law and equitie justly commit such a one to the tuition and guidance of another . but where there rules a iudicious and discerning prince , able to steere by the conduct of his own reason , there to plead your being for him , and yet goe crosse to his commands , is such a fine peece of artifice , as may serve perchance to ensnare the simple , but withall occasion the wise to smile . if it be here replied ( as some have done ) that this resistance of theirs is meerely against the king his private , not his publique , his personall , not his royall commands ( for as so , say they , he must be supposed alwaies to speak in the voice of his parliament , or else that of the law . ) a poore shift , when as they are faine to shape on this manner their evasions at the romish forge ; for thus deale they , labouring by a like art of sophistrie to set up monarchicall government in the church , as these endeavour to pull it downe in the commonwealth . to this end have they divided ( who knowes not ? ) the pope even from himself , by considering him as he is a man , & as he is pope ; as hee is a private man , say they , he may erre , but as he is pope and sitting in the chaire , he is infallible . such cob-web thin-spun distinctions as these , i have ever thought fitter for speculative disputes , then at any hand to bee drawne into outward practise . they carry somewhat with them , the sound , but are altogether void of substance . otherwise by the same rule i might slay my brother , not apprehending him as one of adams progenie , as my selfe am , but under the common notion of some sensitive kinde of creature , or say i le rob him of his substance , not conceiving of him as my neighbour , but as of some professed enemie : and yet againe when or where will they be able , i mervaile , to finde the king on this wise divested of a royall influence into all commands of state , not repugnant to the lawes already being ? or moreover not alike stil , whether placed in his throne or out of it , representative of a publike person : these are nicities that require a ray or two of further illustration from them . be it further urged , that notwithstanding this their resistance to his commands , yet they love and honour his person , as in duty they are bound to doe . not so certainely neither ; i am sure our saviour , io. 5. 15. teacheth another doctrine , if yee love me , saith he , keep my commandements . mark the consequence : and iehu , 2. kings 9. 30. about to destroy wicked iezabel who is on my side , saith he , who ? and immediatly wee finde his commands fulfilled , v. 13. true love towards our governours ever begets an inward obedience or subjection of the soule , & obedience straight breaks forth into outward performances . obedientia according to the etymologie quasi obaudientia : the word imports a willingnesse of hearkning and ready submitting our selves to the commands of our superiours . in briefe it is our duty not over hastily to dispute , but obey their mandates : otherwise of subjects wee become iudges both of them and their actions . being thus driven from either of those two former holds , they betake themselves for refuge to a third , and that indeed the weakest . we have not taken up armes plead they , against the king , but against the malignants and evill councell which is about him . here i cannot but remember the manner of certaine fencers or swash-bucklers in rome , anciently called the retiarti , whose fashion it was in fight , when as pressing eagerly upon the adversary , and endeavouring to cast their net ( wherewith they were fitted for the purpose ) upon him , that so they might entangle him , to crie piscem peto , non tepeto , i make at the fish ( a fish it seemes there being engraven on the others helmet ) and not at thee . so these men , they pretend a war against the malignants , but they pursue the king ; yet doth not the king write them friends whom they terme malignants ? doth he not owne and uphold them in their proceedings ? so as their being against them , argues manifestly their being against him . it is a gospell inference , mat. 25. 40. for in as much as yee have done it to one of these litle ones , the least of these my bretheren , saith our saviour speaking of his poore distressed saints , yee have done it unto me , so likewise ; v. 45. act. 9. 4. howbeit they still goe on , seize on his ships and magazines , force his townes and castles from him , yea shut the gates against him ; unlesse happily , as it befell phaedria in the comoedian from his kind mistris , who pra amore exclusit foras , as it is there , they likewise may be thought to have done whatsoever hath been acted in these affronting waies , meerely out of the zeale and tendernesse of their pure affections . this was the first consideration i made chice of to propose , concerning the person , namely against whom this war is undertaken , the king ; next i would have it considered that as it is the king , so he is a king interressed to his crowne by virtue of inheritance , a king , as i may say , natus , non factus , borne so , not made ; what the difference in this ease may be , as touching the validitie of interest or right to their dominions , between an elective and hereditary king , ( this for certaine being the more absolute and unconditionall of the two ; moreover the conditions what ere condescended to essentiall there and necessary constitutive to the very essence of soveraigntie ; here for the most part meere volun●ary and subsequent acts of grace , and so lesse censurable ( by man ) upon the breach and forfeiture , then there they are ) i will not make it the argument of my present discourse ; nor doe i produce this topick as meaning thereby to adde any strength of supportance to his sacred title ; that needs not ; but only as willing upon all true just grounds , to improve that dutie and loyall respect in the mindes of reasonable men , which they owe to their soveraigne ; it was somewhat surely ( at leastwise the poet thought it so ) that agamemnon doth so boast of the antiquitie and descent of his scepter , fetching it downe from vulcan to jupiter , from jupiter to mercury , from mercury to pelops , and so onwards . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} — we behold with a kind of reverence some high and loftie long growne oake , yet not so much for its height , as for its continuance , and as it were conquest gained upon time ; which since man himselfe by reason of his naturall frailtie cannot attaine to , we reverence it in his off-spring . thus it fares in private families , and thus should it be much more in the line of princes , who are patres familiarum , and so commended to us in scripture under the title of being the heads of their tribes . the point i drive at is this : princes by inheritance , as they have taken deep root , and are firmely seated in their throne , through virtue thereof , accordingly may they challenge a firmenesse of duty and alleagiance in the hearts of their people . in the third place let it be considered , that as he is an heaeditarie king ; so hee is a good and gracious king ; a prince singularly accomplisht throughout , malice her selfe , for ought i could ever heare , hath not in this particular whereon she can justly discharge her envenomed rancour ; look upon him in his owne line up to the top of his ancient and long renowned pedigree , treading through the whole series of his famous predecessours ; or look upon him in a collaterall line , and compare him with the neighbouring princes about , and without offence , i suppose , ( take him but in all respects ) i may parallel , if not preferre him to the best . quaeris alcidae parem ? nemo est nisi ipse ; what zenophen hath delivered of princes in the idea for morall virtues requisitely behoofefull in them , and what synesius with others for christians , we have here in some sort fulfilled in the history . but i must be sparing in the point for feare of censure ; nor needs in truth a gemme so resplendent and eminently apparent of it selfe much labour in the setting of ; it is no more then whatinteffect i have observed to drop from the pen of one of their own party ; omni exceptione major , grants he : a prince in his own naturalls or proper constitution beyond all exception ; only thus much then by way of aphorisme . o fortunati nimium bona si sua ! thrice happy we of this nation , if we rightly knew how to value herein and esteem our own happinesse ; which on the by might well give check to many of our seditious pamphleters & others in their crude indigested pasquils , who notwithstāding the scripture its so frequent caveats in this kinde against despising dominions , speaking evill of dignities , nay but ill thinking of them , they as it were , carried aloft in the strength of their unmannerly brain-sick zeale , make at the highest , and as the iewes once dealt by our saviour christ , forbeare not to spit in the face of majestie it selfe . vpon such as these hath the apostle st iude pronounced that heavie doome ( which i could wish they did seriously consider of ) allotting them as a just reward of their ill demeanours the blacknesse of darknesse for ever iud. 13. fourthly , i wish it may be considered how that he is a peacefull king : peace doubtlesse is a great blessing to a kingdome , and so is a peacefull king : o pray for the peace of ierusalem , saith holy david , and st paul , follow peace ▪ heb. 12. ver. 13. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the word implying thus much , that men should pursue and hasten after it , like as they doe for the prize in some race or game of contention , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , in some such sense ofttimes in homer . now hath not the king been thus zealous for the peace of our ierusalem ; hath not he likewise ( though in vaine ) thus pursued and hasted after it ? witnesse the manie overtures or rather entreaties for peace made by him : and all this really , unfainedly ; not dissemblingly , or under a vizard , as those of davids enemies , whō therefore he deservedly complained of , that whilst they spake of peace , they had war in their hearts , ps. 110 7. had others been as forward as he , to imbrace termes of peace , to tread in that viâ lacteâ , wee had ere this ( my conscience gives me ) all closed in a peacefull end : yet no mervaile in it , for a peacefull sonne to proceed out of the loynes of a peacefull father ; his motto was pacificus ; neither doth our soveraigne ( i confidently beleeve it ) desire rather to have his browes encircled about with the lawrell of victory , then of peace and concord with his people . the fifth consideration shall be , whether these armes so taken up , be offensive , or defensive , defensive ( say they ) and will not be perswaded to the contrary ; there is the maine {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of the businesse with them , a speciall point indeed ; let us a litle examine it ; civilians teach us that a defensive resistance is , when as the defendant is no way the cause or occasion of the conflict , by some kinde of former provocation , and then afterwards in the very act , he doth but propulsare injuriam , stands meerly upon his guard as ▪ t were , ayming rather at his own safetie , then the others ruine ; in a word neither provokes , nor pursues his enemie . this is the nature of a true defensive resistance , otherwise suppose i kill a man , to say i did it in mine owne defence , having yet provoked , pursued , and then assaulted him , would prove , i feare me , but a slender kinde of plea , even at the barre of common justice . the case comes neerly home to our purpose , for be it examined on gods name with an impartiall judgement , and let not actions so apparently done in the face and eye of the world be either grossely denied , or cunningly shifted off . who first ministred the occasion of this unnaturall war , by tumults and seditious riots , in the open streets ? next , who first drew sword , & gave the onset , as it were , thus putting fire to the fuell now prepared and laid together ? who lastly hath ever since most hotly pursued and followed the businesse at first so unfortunately begun ? the king all this while almost , sueing and intreating for peace , if so peace might have been obtained upon faire and honourable termes consistent with majestie : what town or sort at the beginning did , or at least needed to have feared his entrance ? nay , what towne or fort may yet justly feare it , if as they have unwarrantably taken up armes , so in acknowledgment of their error ; they shall submit , & peaceably lay thē down — civilia bella — vna acies patitur gerit altera , all the offensivenesse i can descry in the king as touching the whole matter is , that being at length enforced thereto , he would not suffer himselfe and his good subjects to be overborne with a tempest , and not make head against it : if this be it he is censured for , it calls to minde that story of him , who having first smitten his neighbour with his fist , afterwards sueth him , because his head was hard and hurt his hand : passion , say philosophers , in any subject is not without some manner of reaction joyned to it : nor can we defend our selves but it is most likely we shall in some sort or other offend the assaylant . but the nature ( as i said ) of a simply defensive resistance , is to be tried at the test of the premised circumstances . sixthly and lastly , it will be worth our consideration to examine upon what grounds these armes be lifted up ; ●t is an axiome in state policie , and ever hath been , that better to connive at and suffer some inconveniences in a church or common-wealth , then to expose either to the manifold dangers of alteration . and one of their own outlandish doctors in a tract of his upon the like argument ( though pleading for resistance ) yet layes it downe for a principle or sure maxime without all peradventure : i must confesse mine owne ignorance , as not having lynceus his eyes about mee ; and therefore desire to be informed by others , whereupon this so urgent necessitie of a civill war may be thought to have been grounded ; otherwise i shall easily be induced to beleeve , that with him in the history , they doe but pursue their owne shadowes , or shoot at a mark which themselves through the errour of their weake fancies have set up . is it for matter of religion , as it was maintained in the best and purest times of a reformation . the king hath promised it , himselfe doth practise it , and i heartily wish the best of his ill-affected subjects were but herein followers of his good example . is it for the libertie and freedome of our persons ? the king hath likewise passed his word upon it ; is it for a property in our goods and estates to be enjoyed by us according to the established wholsome lawes of the kingdome ? i must returne the same answer . for what then ? davus sum , non oedipu● : i desire that some good men or other would be pleased to help me out ; where there occurres not danger of our religion , nor of our liberties , nor yet of our estates to be invaded or trenched upon ( as neither can the master architects of these miserable distractions , i suppose , though having artificially perswaded others , fully perswade themselves there is ) there to take up hostile armes , you may if you please , stile it a just resistance , but what terme it deserves of right , let the world judge . besides then the groundles surmises , feares & jealousies of certaine melancholy overworking heads , as may be well imagined , since , prona est timori semper in pejus fides . and those too many of them , it is to be thought , like false fires , raised of purpose , by the industry of cunning projectors , only to amuze the simpler people : no other ground or reason can i finde of these publique commotions , unlesse what remaineth , it may be the distemper'd and perverse ambition of some particular person ; i burthen none with this heavie charge ; but so it is in the generall , that men of discontented humours , or otherwise ambitiously disposed had at all times rather hazard the common peace and safetie of the whole , then fayle of their proposed private designes ; publicis incendiis patriae clarescere , as he speaks hath alwaies been more for encouragement then a stop to the proceedings of such kinde of spirits ; chiefly whēneed & a decayednes of fortune , help to sharpen and whet on this froward ambitious humour of theirs ; and as there ; so likewise is it where men have casually embarqued themselves further , into great affaires , then that they are able with safety to come off ; there they stagger and faulter up and downe , as much uncertain what course to take , yet still make onwards , and rather then perish alone , desperately put all into a generall confusion : with sampson taking his last revenge against the philistines , they pull down the house , though necessarily it fall upon their own heads , causing thus the guiltlesse ruine of a whole nation oftimes to wait upon the herse of their deserved overthrow . notwithstanding all this the king , say they , for certaine , hath formerly tran●gressed in the premises by declining from the manifest and knowne rules of the law . i will not here argue the just prerogative of kings , what they may happily challenge to themselves , either praeter or sup 〈…〉 a , besides or above the law . this would be censured streight ( such is the malitious wit of jealousie ) as a plea made for the establishment of an arbitrary goverment ; yet so machiavell may teach , or his associates perchance , but not i : thus much only then i shall say in this matter ; what ere priviledges the prince is possessed of , whether derived unto him by custome , or as grounded upon the law it self , favore amplianda sunt , is an authentique saying borrowed from canonists ; they ought of right rather to bee improved , then any way diminished by us ; without any curb or boūds at all imposed frō law to regulate them by , did kings ( we find ) anciently and in those heroick purer times of the world ( thence rightly termed {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} with the like ) governe the people subjected to them . but and this farther : there can be no state so exactly framed & composed according to the rule of law , but that it will require some kinde of a moderating dispensative power left in the hands of the supreame magistrate ; since the law is generall , nor can it therefore possibly extend to a through determination of all particulars : and in such a case i had rather ( if i needs must ) be under the power & governance of one , then of many . easier was it for athens to suffer the arbitrarie dominion of one tyrant , then as they did a while , of thirty : and for rome upon emergent occasions the dictatorship , or absolute government of a single magistrate , then that of the decemviri . it is confest that where the way is plaine and open , no obstructions or difficulties to hinder , there for the magistratet o walk {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , as the philosopher prescribeth , is the safest course : but this cannot alwaies be , i presume , in the best commonwealth , though never so well ordered by the square and advice of the wisest lawgiver . and now for their objection more particularly . grant the king hath heretofore somewhat swerved from the knowne dictates of the law ( yet not to that height , neither will themselves say , as either of tyrannie , or grosse idolatry , howbeit the onely just causes of resistance doubtlesse , were there any just ) what ? finde we not david and solomon , the best and wisest of kings to have digressed oftimes into sundry by-paths of sin , and errour from the law of god , even to the highest pitch ? take in ahab , manasses , with others of the worser sort ( nor yet questioned thereupon by their subjects streight for their fowle and truly insufferable misdemeanours in point of regall government ; yet were they as strictly bound by solemne covenant , both towards god and man , entred into at their severall inaugurations , to a performance of certaine conditions , as kings at present be ; nor doe we generally finde gods priests and prophets then , the ordinary sole interpreters of his hidden pleasure , upon any termes what ere freeing the people in the least degree from that indissoluble tye of their duty and subjection to their lawfull soveraigne : unlesse occasionally , by virtue of some particular expresse , or other from the very mouth of the almightie , as it happened in jehues case rising up against ioram . 2. kings 9. or in that of jeroboam doing the like by his liege lord , 1. kings 11. which with the like extraordinary and immediate commands from god ( unusuall for these times ) our enthusiastis thēselves will not , i hope , in modesty offer to pretend to in their present undertakings . and say , must princes then be brought upon the stage , and subjected to the danger of being resisted by the people , upon a supposall of every slip or petty errour committed by them ? princes ( they may be pleased to know ) as they are {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or patres familiarum , as was said before , so have they a large family to governe and supervise . adde hereto the many intricate and perplext mysteries , those arcana imperii , which they have to deale with in the management of the sate ; so as they see not alwaies what they doe ( neither can they ) but by other mens eyes , nor heare they , but by the eares of others , but are forced to use the subservient help and assistance of their ministers . can they shew me wherein the king hath knowingly and willingly broken in upon the received lawes of the land , and that without a full perswasion of what he did , to be just and warrantable ; hic nodus vindice dignus ; for as so , i am confident , hee may safely proclaime it aloud with old 1. samuel . 22. 3. whose oxe have i taken , or whose asse have i taken , or whom have i done wrong to ? and with st paul , though in another sense , i am pure from the blood of all men , acts. 20. 26. errors till now of late were not wont to be accounted crimes , not in the meanest , much lesse in princes , wholy so high , at leastwise should doe , above the levell & pitch of common censure . and yet againe , hath not the king long since been pleased to descend , as t were , from his throne of majestie , yeelding to a gracious revocation of whatsoever but suspectedly might seeme heretofore to have been carried in a wrong course ? hee who by virtue of his place is , & hath been alwaies so esteemed of in former times , not only {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the chiefe framer and withall dispenser of lawes , but also {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the very life and soule of the law : a point therefore which maiestie useth but seldome to stoop to ; princes accounting of none as competent judges of them and their actions , save god alone ; since it is a true saying , rex est qui regem , maxime , non habeat , he is truely a king who acknowledgeth no commanding power upon earth above himselfe . against thee , thee onely have i sinned ; we know whose submission it was , and to whom he tendered it ; neverthelesse our king he hath done it , his royall declarations on the one hand , and his reall transactions on the other , extant in so many gracious bills passed for the good of his subjects , may serve as a sufficient pledge of this truth . had but rehoboam done the like , notwithstanding his precedent so offensively grosse extravagancies indeed , mentioned . 1 , kings , 12. the revolted tribes , ( as it is imagined by the best ) had soone returned to their due obedience ; even among private persons a mans word backed with reall performances hath ever been esteemed of as a sure testimonie of his true and sincere intendments . for all this , there be some so impudently fearefull that they dare not trust his maiestie ; and it is this diffidence , amongst other things , which hath been a chiefe incentive to these publique disturbances ; although a vaine one , if rightly considered of : when as men shall goe about to undoe a commonwealth , onely because they feare and weakly suspect , it may be undone , furor est , ne moriare mori : there being moreover provided , as there is , a most sure and soveraigne remedie against all such danger , an effectuall {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for what ere distempers casually arising or happening in the state , that of a trienniall parliamentarte convention ; but say , i beseech you , not trust him ? not your king ? so religious and just a king ? not him whom the lord himselfe hath trusted ? whom god and the law both have entrusted with the charge , of so great a people ? whence kings they are usually stiled in scripture , pastors , fathers , termes of themselves importing much trust and affiance to bee had in them : that too after such solemne protestations , such effectuall imprecations made to this purpose , and published by him ? lastly , after the many acts of grace ; done by him already , as sure pawnes of his reall intentions for the time to come ? yet after all , not to afford your soveraigne so much credit , as but what either turke , or pagan upon like termes might rightly challenge at your hands ? wonderously strange ! especially that men so credulously given in matters of highest consequence , should prove so diffident and distrustfull here ! so confident god-wards , and so suspicious of his vicegerent . strange if not an offence , happily , ( besides its arguing further , some {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or innate fraudulency of selfedisposition ) against the rule of common charity , which lessoneth us to entertain a favourable conceit of all men , 1. cor. 13. nay a trespasse against the knowne lawes of nature , that prompts us to deale with other men , as we would be dealt with our selves , to mete out to them the same measure , we desire should be meted back to us . the truth is , yeeld them so much power into their hands , whereby they may be inabled to command if not as masters of the kingdome , yet as the masters mate , keeping the scales upright in an equall poize , readie to turne at their own pleasure . in a word , able when they list , to binde their kings in chaines , and their nobles with links of iron , as the psal. mystically deliver it . and then t is probable they will be induced to trust him , but not till then . i may adde it as a corollary here : never better prince , upon no better grounds , so harshly and uncivilly intreated by his subjects . yet some moreover there bee , who stick not to complaine , that he is still misled ; so runs the phrase ; but for gods love by whom , or how ? doe they meane so , as each man is drawne away and tempted , as s. iames teacheth , of his own lusts and untamed desires ? his knowne moderation and temperance in all respects will free him , as much as may bee , from this imputation ; by those then in private which are about him ? if it be so , without more adoe ; and that the old pernicious stratagem of galing and wounding the prince through the sides of his neerer attendants , be kept up ; ( although this exception might now at leastwise well be spared , a greater part of the two houses being present to assist him ) howbeit were it so , as they pretend , it seemeth in time it may prove a criminall offence to be nigh his sacred person ; and that which hitherto hath beene accounted an honour , shall be imputed as the greatest aspersion ; and so by degrees every loyall true subject , at what distance so'ere shall in fine become a delinquent ; time was when disloyalty or but disaffection towards the soveraigne was made to be crimen crimine vacantium , saith the observant historian ; a punishable fault in such that wanted faults of accusation besides : but now we may expect and justly feare the contrary ; it hath already thus befallen the ministry in their kind , most of the conformable worthyer sort of them in all places , being thereupon , and for no other reason commonly , strangely metamorphized , through a wrong interpretation , into a new shape , and so presented to the world under the title of popish or scandalous ; but therefore let us rather know in what ? why thus , as farre as my weake apprehension will carry me . the king is not pleased to grant whatsoever is demanded of him though never so unreasonable , ergo he is misled ; because his majesty will not yield to an hocksing and laming of his owne reg●ll authority transmitted unto him entire from the hands of his illustrious predecessours : to a new moulding of the state after the venetian platforme : to a new building of the church suitable to the genevian modell . in breife to the creating of a new heaven and a new earth here amongst us , that is a new church and a new commonwealth , he is misled , he is seduced by wicked counsell . this is the summe and totall of the businesse , as farre as i can understand , or if there be more in it , i wish it may be made appeare , and the mindes of the moderater sort of people thereby better satisfied ; neither yet would i be so understood in these last passages , as if i desired that matters whether in church or common wealth should altogether stand as they have done , unmoved , unquestioned . not so perchance , ( albeit this be a poynt without the retch of my decision , ) since what church or state was ever knowne to have long continued free from the creeping in of sundry pernicious and destructive abuses . like as some garden or other , we see how it becomes overgrown with weeds streight , if not carefully and often looked to or as the body which quickly superabounds with noxious humors , unlesse now & then it be cleansed by wholsome physick . but there is , i conceive , a wide difference to be found betweene a reforming of what is amisse in either , and the absolute transforming the whole into a new shape ; betwixt pruneing or lopping off the excrescencies of some over luxuriant vine , and a quite digging of it up by the rootes ; this is destructive , that usefull , the former may well be tolerated , nay is some times very requisite . but it is this latter which sober understanding men do so abominate , whereby not only the old and soure leavin is to be purged forth , , as saint pauls counsell is , but both batch and laevin , are in danger to be done away together ; and now a little to recollect in one those short imperfect considerations , which have hitherto beene deliverd upon this argument , as 't were gathering together the dispersed handfulls , and making them up into one entire bundle . here is you see a warre continued , a cruell bloudy warre , this too against the king without question ; yet this king an hareditary , a good , and peacefull king ; withall the armes taken up and used in this warre , they are not , as it is pretended defensive , but offensive plainely ; then lastly upon what occasion or ground ariseth all this ; certainely upon none as yet , that hath not at leastwise beene graciously retracted to the full : and as for the future there 's none imaginable , unlesse the bare furmises and lealousies of men , as was formerly sayed , working them into a needlesse distrust of the kings fidelity towards a performance of his promises , may be held a lawfull and sufficient ground ▪ and tell me , what soule endued but with common reason can approve of such irregular horrid proceedings , which no age , i beleeve , since the times of christian rule and subjection first instituted amongst men ( if taken with all circumstances of aggravation ) looke over the remaining annals , peruse the choycest records , can fully patterne or exemplifie ; what heart can chuse but bleed upon a serious consideration of these groundles intestine broyles , broken forth within the bowells of this once flourishing common wealth , which ( as that ignis sacer with physitians , rageing in the bones ) of all diseases and annoyances to a state , is the most dreadfull . i have done with the first branch of my intended discourse , concerning the king ; i come next to speake somewhat of the 2d , the people ; the king and his people as subjects , are relatives , and so may well be comprized within the lists of the same argument ; now the people may be considered either disjoy ntedly and apart , or else as they make up one entire representative body in that highest court : in this latter capacity or consideration i shall not say much of them : i love not walking upon precipices , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} things above us deserve rather to be reverenced by us , then over boldly medled with ; but yet this i may safely say , and without offence , i imagine , that the wisest assemblies in this kind that may be , cannot amongst the rest of their priviledges what ere challenge to themselves a priviledge of being altogether free from errors and mistakes . it hath beene so in the gravest councells of the church as hitherto ; ( true councells indeed , and those truely and legally summoned together ) one solely accepted , and that the first , wherein the holy ghost after a more immediate manner did sit at sterne , moderateing and directing their present consultations . to pretend either here or there to an absolute infallibility would ●avour too much of popish arrogancy : yet a blemish which neither the lay nor ecclesiasticke part of this kingdome will be willing i hope , in any considerable number to acknowledge themselues much guilty of . againe we find in councells how there hath swayed oftimes a prevailing faction or party : so as they deserved not so much to have beene termed concilia , as conciliabula , rather conventicles then lawfull assemblies , and accordingly the result of their consultations hath usually tasted strong of the prevailing side : nay , we have heard of councells or synods , that for a great part there sitting , in the first choice or constitution of them , have not alwayes beene , 't was thought , so impartially assigned to the place , as not consisting of the best , the ablest , and every way fittest for the worke that might be found : witnesse the many examples of councells both ancient and moderne too , which might be called upon in attestation of these truths ; i apply not the one , nor the other : but this i may perhaps inoffensively say : what hath often happen happened to a councell , may at some time be fall a senate : those of the short robe are not more exempted then those of the long ; howbeit i wave the point , with a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} there , wishing , though no wayes hoping , all to be well . yet one thing more , which i had almost forgotten , & it is this ; what power soever the representative body hath at best , questionlesse it hath it from the body at large , the people ; as the sunbeames contracted into the narrow concave of some burning glasse , they are the same with the beames in open aire , though some what more vigorous and active by reason of this contraction ; not boundlesse or uncontrouleable can such a power then be , for that were more then the people have in themselves under any capacity , as being subjects still . and nihill dat quod non habet , is a maxime in philosophy , as true , as common ; should the people pretend to the bequeathing of such an unlimited power , as our saviour bespake the two bretheren sueing for preceducy of place in heaven , ye aske ye know not what ; the like might i say of them , ye presume to give ye know not what : so then the power both inherent and derived from the people , is bounded , and ought to move regularly ; not beyond the scope it was intended for ▪ i gave my vote to the erecting of this power , not meaning it should recoyle upon my selfe , to the subversion either of my estate or liberty ; nor yet against the soveraigne power whereto it is subordinate , as being absolutely the highest , if saint peter mistake not . 1 peter 2. 15. to talke of a coordination hereof the three estates ( as some have wisely done ) making the king one of them , ( who yet indeed is none , but properly and truly ( will the learned in law soone tell us ) head of those three , viz. the lords spirituall , temporell , and commons of this land , according to the ancient usage and contrivance heretofore of parliaments . ) but grant it were as they would have it , to talke i say , of a coordination of the 3 estates in this case , were in effect , besides other absurdities following thereupon , ( if the result be throughly lookt into ) to constitute a supreame without inferiours , a king for the time not having subjects ; the people all of them ( as it must needes follow ) being implicitly involved under the other two ; how much better would a soft complyable motion do betwixt the three , and forward the dispatch of businesses most effectually : it should be like that motion in the prophet ezekiels vision rota in rota ; or as of the sphaeres above , which move one within another . that crosse contrariant motion of the neather sphaeres to the first moveable , we know how it begets a slownesse or tardity in them of their proper and naturall procession ; and we see by wofull experience what a stop , if not a retrograde declination of civill affaires , the clashing or banding of one power against the other hath wrought of late in this miserably distracted common-wealth . but falling downe , as i was about , to a lower pin , let us next consider the people in a disgregative sence or notion : those who hitherto upon all occasions have so firmely every where ( whether voluntarily or invited to it , i meddle not ) adhaered as a strong support to the higher powers ; i meane not here to enter the lists of a particular comparison , by poysing man with man , person with person on either side ; but as we may find divers of good note ( be it confessed ) on that part , so are there many more , let me say it , on this : if saul hath slaine his thousands , david can boast of his ten thousands : the muster rolle if lookt over would better determine this quaere , then i can ; well may they confide and rest themselves upon the affections of the vulgar sort who ( besides their naturall pronenesse towards innovations ever ) as most an end they understand but little , so are they easiliest seduced , and engaged in preposterous undertakeings : but for those of better ranke , such as be either knowing , or otherwise of more considerable qualitie , here they must needs acknowledge themselves to be upon termes of disadvantage ; some hereupon i have heard to terme this warre with reference to the opposite side , as that of old , bellum rusticum , the helio●s or the pesants warre . and questionlesse it is some encouragement when as it chanceth thus , we excel not only in the goodnesse of the cause , but likewise in the worthinesse of the abettors . but passing by what ere other sorts of men in their severall ranks and stations as they might be summoned up , let us in our passage touch at the divine . can they shew mee any of their chiefe scribes or teachers ( take him forth of the highest classis with them ) that may be thought in point of sound and deep knowledge an equall march for divers but of the second or third here : yet is resistance ( the center namely whereunto this whole discourse doth bend it selfe ) not meerly a point of state-policie , but of conscience also , even in the highest degree : and being so , who so fit to direct the conscience , as is the divine , and of divines the learnedst , the best able ? next take but into consideration the zeale , or rather the fury of many of their chiefe ministers or agents in these affaires ; religion is pretended , but certainly malice acts the businesse : or if it be zeale , it is a zeale i feare set on fire by a coale from beneath . those who have felt their scourge can best judge of it , and had rather , i beleeve , fall into the hands ( if they needs must ) of some unbeleeving ismaelite , then of a too too beleeving zelot : no spleene or bitternesse of spirit like that of your hot professour ; none more cruell , because he persecutes & wrongs his neighbour , yet thinks he does god good servicein doing so ; paul was not more paul afterwards in the waies of truth & sinceritie , then he was saul before , a fierce & eager persecuter of the church ; such was the bitter rage or fury of the circumcelliones or preciser sort of donatists heretofore , against their dissenting , yet orthodoxe brethren of the african church , as sundry of the fathers make mention , not without their deserved censures thereupon : although they be not all saints neither i conceive , who appeare on that behalfe . many there are , doubtlesse , who doe but denis in diem assibus vitam aestimare , as the saying is , fight for pay and no more . and some , i understand , that are not of the protestant religion ( object they back what they please branding their adversaries with the opprobrious nick-name of popish armie ; and yet were it so , neverthelesse true native subjects they must needs confesse them ; enough to justifie both the tender and acceptance of their bounden service in a time of exigency ) nor for it therefore more then others . fourthly , observe their manner of proceeding in furtherance of the publique cause , what by forging , by falsifying , & then imposing their falshoods upon the world ; the presse with them of late hath been so inured to this cretian dialect ; that there is question , when or whether happily it may hereafter recover its ancient guise of speaking truth : newes of plots and dangerous conspiracies one while ( those too most an end strained to a very ridiculous height of panick affrightments ) which yet as hitherto , god be thanked , neither wee nor they have felt , nor had at first , it may be , much cause to feare ; newes of some notable victorie , or other atchieved every day . yet as it hath proved afterwards got ofttimes ( if not by treachery ) then in a dreame , without a battle . lying wonders , i have often read of , but not of lying victories till now . newes of popery and popish ceremonies begun of late to be set up , and countenanced in severall places . a fiction , in truth , well befitting the popish legend , and thither i commend it ; what may wee thinke of these men , with their mountebansk-like devices , who under a masque of pretended zeale , thus shamefully trade in falshoods ( all to cheere up their poore deluded followers , and keepe them still in heart ) but that even their profession it selfe is but a kinde of lye or grand imposture . nor can they therefore , if they marke it well , so safely taxe their adversaries , as they doe , with those haynous crimes of swearing & prophanesse , since lying & swearing are sinnes surely neere allyed , and yet lying too ( it may seem ) carries a more immediate relation to satan the author of all sinne , who for this , is expressely entitled the father of lyes . io. 15. 44. vnto this moreover note in the fifth place their bitter raylings and invectives usually against church and state , which is another by-path they use to tread in , thereby labouring to stick an indeleble character of disgrace upon the present government in either ; ere while the bishops miter shrewdly troubled them , and now the neerer interest and powerfulnesse with the king of some our new state pilots . ( not the faults of either , it may be giving so much offence , as the eminency of their places . ) now the prelates , then the statists . what can i say more or lesse concerning this unquiet barking humour of theirs , but this , the lord rebuke them ? especially for some among them , and those of the leviticall tribe too , the firebrands and chiefe incendiaries , to speake truth , in these bloody disturbances . those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or certain minor prophets of the times , as the great criticke was wont to terme such . indeed the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the chaffe & out-cast of the clergie . those pulpit barraters , i meane , whose religion usually is faction , and zealous ignorance . that have turned preaching into flat rayling , and insteed of disseminating the word of saving truth in the eares of their hearers , doe nought but sowe sedition ; forcing them on by their powerfully delusive perswasions , like sillie sheep as they are ( almost without the help of a metaphor ) into daily slaughters , and unlesse god of his mercy shall please to intercede , certaine destruction at once ) ( i feare ) both of soule and body . if then what philosophie hath taught us , the end may be guessed at by the meanes conducent thereunto , for that the meanes and end be wontedly inter se commensurabilia , as they say , and do each answer one another i know not how i may conceive or hope well of the end in this case , where i see the meanes to be so foule and altogether unwarrantable . last of all , let it be laid to heart the many unspeakable miseries , which these unhappie differences insteed of a redresse of some former sufferings have brought upon us ; quite contrary , as it were ex professo , to what we had reason to expect : the remedy as hitherto proving much worse , then the disease was . losse in the libertie of our persons . for as now what man can be securely safe in any place ? and which is the truest symptome ( as the oratour some where tells us ) of a people or nation , running further into slavery , wee groane and complaine under the burthen , as sensible of it , and yet contend not against it with an unanimous consent , as it were benummed in our resolutions . losse in the property of our goods . for as times are , ius omne in ferro est , not the law but the sword is made the master of our estates . to speak nothing of the new aegyptian burdens or taxes beyond all sufferance daily encreasing upon us . losse in the purity of our religion . so many brainlesse impious positions are crept in , which like that abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet daniel , dan. 9. 27. have greatly polluted the house of god . great care of late hath there beene taken for the suppression and avoidance of poperie , and 't is well , if so it end not ( which yet may be feared ) in making roome for the introducement of senselesse anabaptisme , or utter libertinisme . losse in the beautie of our discipline , or liturgy ; no decency of order observed now . every mans private spirit , or rather fancy , will needs be a rule unto it selfe . and how far this irregularity may chance to proceed is hard to determine , since conscience not ballanced with a sound judgement is commonly boundlesse , and never ceaseth till it shut up its progresse in a plaine phrensie ; i remember to this effect a remarkable passage in that storie of those mad anabaptists of munster in germanie . they began at first upon pretence of reforming somewhat amisse in luthers doctrine , about certaine few articles there . thence they goe on to an utter abolishing of the then present liturgie . that would not serve the turne , but ere long the written word must bee th●owne by as too straight , and concludent to the spirit , and this moreover with a scoffe by crying bibel , bubel , babel ; a scheme much like to that in the old poet , titi , tute , tati , tibi , &c. now againe , as before , let us put the premises together ; the infallibilitie , as hath been argued of the greatest assemblies , the partialitie ofttimes apparent in some , the bounded and circumscribed limitednesse of all , the fuller concurrence of able personages on this side ; the preposterous indirect waies of proceeding by the fomenters , and other agents on that ; the inexpressible calamities , which have and are like to fall upon us in liew of an hoped for reformation . joyne hereto as a close of the rest , that which yet indeed fills up the ephath of these mischiefes full , the bringing in of a forraigne power : as if the fire of dissention our selves had kindled , were not speedy enough to consume a state , unlesse others from abroad be solemnly invited , and drawne in , under pretence of quenching the flames , to pull downe the house . and the scale methinks seemes still and still to weigh downe lower : the kings cause more cleared , and the peoples more liable to just misprision . thus have i in short drawne forth , as 't were , a true coppy of the businesse , as it stands de facto between the king , and some of his people . should i now put from shore a litle , and goe on further from the thesis to the hypothesis , from the history of the matter to a probleme , as whether supposing the king were truly misled , and that he did notably fayle the trust reposed in him , whether in such a case hee might be lawfully resisted , would be a point as easily argued , and polemically concluded on the kings part , as it hath been hitherto treated of in a plaine and positive discourse ; for at a word , take but away that grand phenomenon of theirs , that regall power is originally from the people , and therefore upon occasion may be reassumed by them ( which yet both in the antecedent and consequent is utterly false . ) this principle too as it is further backed with certaine generall maxims , as quicquid efficit tale est majus tale , and , totum est majus suis partibus ; againe , salus populi suprema lex , with the like . axiomes , as it is evident of large extent or compasse , subject to divers and sundry limitations , and accordingly as so , fitter for young sophisters to wrangle out their disputes with , then as meet engines to overturne monarchicall government ; take away , i say , but these and the like supposita laid downe as an unshaken foundation by them ( which yet hath been a taske already sufficiently performed , by the lernd industry of divers worthy undertakers in that kinde ) and the whole frame of their weak built discourses quickly fals to ground . what they urge concerning the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome ; what likewise touching the usage and customary manner of proceeding by generall assemblies in such like cases heretofore , both at home and abroad , trusting to these amongst the rest , as forts of safe retirement ; breifly for the former ( if so it be not a meere chimera of imagination barely ) it is to be wondred at that lawes of so high concernement in the present businesse , should lie hid so low under ground , as not to be found out & produced all this while ; whereas the contrary , i understand , have beene and many be still exhibited , without any such labour or paines of disquisition ; or grant such lawes might be produced and made appeare , yet surely with me the law of man shall evermore submit to the law of god ; this is , or should be , i am sure , the touch-stone for all lawes ; where the divine law and humane chance to crosse & thwart each other , my conscience directs me the safer way ; and tells me i had best keepe close to the former : it is so in the discipline or outward forme of church-governement : i appeale to themselves for a testimony ; there they cry up to a tittle verbum domini : still the word , the word . and why not so according to some proportion , at least , if occasion require it , in the rectifying of secular and state affaires , i see not the least shew of reason , that can be yeilded to the contrary ; yet now for the word of god they have so little comfort thence , such small hopes of any expresse warrant for their proceedings ( savouring over strongly of jesuitish principles ) to be found there , as that they scarcely meddle with it , unlesse as they be casually drawne thereto , in their replyes and unsatisfactory answers , nothing to be heard of there , more then prayers and patience in such cases ; god as then must be intreated to incline the heart of the soveraigne , not the people incouraged to inforce him ; little mention made of resistance , except it be against the devill , or so ; but still of obedience and christian-like subjection ; for the latter , that of practise and example , it is an anthenticke classicall saying , exempla paucorum non sunt trahenda in leges vniversorum : we must if we do well , not suffer our selves to be governed altogether so much by presidents or examples , as by reason . and it is cheifely true of the examples of latter times , where they recede from the fountaine , the purity of ancienter and better ages , and so grow more suspiciously corrupt : if some before us have done amisse , we must not straight make their example the rule or patterne for us to erre by . by resistance so often forementioned ( to goe no further at present ) i meane an active resistance first undertaken , and then pursued in an hostile offensive way : for and such a resistance is this , say they what they please , both deluding themselves and others . and yet such a resistance none of them of the later hach ( as farre as i have seene yet ) dare in their writings offer to maintaine with open face . just in the method of those of rome ( whom they so much abhorre ) their practise here no way keepes pace with their doctrine : for why ? neither scripture nor reason , nor yet any president of the primitive or better times , they know could be brought with the least semblance to speake for them : they are for the king too ( if we may beleeve them ) as well as we , and meerly stand upon their owne defence ; nor this neither against the king in his owne person , but against some invisible enemies of the common-wealth about him ; so as to enter the lists of a dispute by putting the businesse to an ungranted height on the kings side ; where yet the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or maine point in controversie , as things do stand in themselves , is ( though but for credits sake ) denyed on theirs , were ( as they say ) to beat the aire , or for want of other worke to seeke out an adversary . let the premisses be duely observed , being no otherwise then according to the true condition of the present affaires , and the question if rightly propounded would be this ; whether or no , it may be lawfull to take up compulsory or offensive armes , against a rightfull gracious prince , professing to governe in all respects by the knowne established lawes of the land , only upon termes of meere jealousie ; and distrust to his regall promises , thereby imbroyling broyling their native country in a bloody and miserably destructive warre . quod restat probandum . besides that such scholastick hypotheticall velitations as these one way or other , howbeit they right the king in point of due obedience , yet by reason of the supposall they take in , malitious and captious heads may be apt to misconstrue them to somewhat a prejudiciall conceipt of him in matter of his goodnesse and integritie ; whereas , god bee thanked ; non defensoribus istis , we need no such strained helps , having so religious , so iust , so vnderstanding , so every way compleat a prince ; be this ground firmely and strongly still maintained ; what needs much arguing the lawfulnesse , or vnlawfulnesse of resistance in some dioclesian his time , when as there raigneth a good and godly constantine ? or of clashing and banding together in set disputes , the supreme soveraigne power residing in the king , ( a point sufficiently evidenced by the severall , and those publique acts of state extant to this purpose : as also farther confirmed by the very title of majestie appropriated unto him as chiefe : this having been in all states evermore the peculiar badge or cognizance of soveraignty wheresoere it lay ) with that of parliaments ; where the prince freely and ex mero motu denies them nothing , that either reason , law , or his owne just rights may give way to ? a prince whose heart is truely in the hands of god ( not of evill councellours ) to order and dispose of , if any kings upon earth be ; of whom briefly it may be said perhaps without our better deservings , as the apostle speakes , heb. 11. of some especiall saints and servents of the almighty in times past , that this island of ours , or lesser world will prove it selfe unworthy . meane while the premised considerations , as i have committed them to paper for mine owne satisfaction , so shall they suffice mee untill a surer and more reall ground be offered of a disputative enquirie . and did others , i wish , whom it may concerne , propose the like to themselves , annexing them as a labell to that sacred oath of allegiance they have taken ; adde hereunto the late solemne protestation made for defence of his royall person & dignitie , either of which how they can possibly dispense with in their proceedings so diametrally opposed ( maugre their sundry senselesse evasions ) be it between god & their owne consciences : for my part i must professe , i am yet to learn ; let them consider the sacriledge , the murders , the rapines done ( nay commanded , iustifiable legall offences you may now call them , as far as an humane ordinance will carry ) in these wild licentious times of anarchy ; strange beginnings of an intended reformation , one would think ; i have read of religion in the primitive times planted , yea propagated in blood , under pagans and infidells : but for christians amongst themselves , professing one and the same faith , to advance the supposed purity of gods worship by such harsh meanes , i have not so frequently heard of , untill these later and frantick daies of ours ; it is the fruit of a doctrine well becoming the turkish alcoron , and there accordingly ofttimes inculcated , but no where surely to be found in the gospell of christ : not taught by his apostles , nor afterwards abetted by any of the orthodox fathers ; {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , prayer and preaching were the appointed weapons of their warfare ; notwithstand●ng more outrages , i dare say , more heynous and crying sinnes in all kinds unpunishably cōmitted under this pretext chiefly these last two yeares , then have bin acted formerly , ( set them altogether ) within the circuit of this our english clime , since the first establishment of the protestant religion here amongst us ; as if with us now indeed were the time when satan that great master of misrule and of all impietie were let loose into the world , according to st iohn that his apocalypticall prediction , rev. 20. 7. consider they , i say , and that seriously , lest as our saviour speakes concerning the iewes , mat. 22. 34. burdening them with all the righteous blood which was shed upon earth , from the blood of abel , unto the blood of zacharias ; so ( in as much as between two parties disagreeing , the one must needs be faulty ) all the crimes fore-mentioned may come upon them likewise , and be added to the score of their offences . and yet if one small transgression , in any of the premisses bee , as it is , enough to sinke the guilty ; what will an huge heape doe ? if caines own sinne alone was heavier then he could beare , what may we thinke of the numerous sinnes of a whole nation ? these or the like considerations then , if throughly & impartially weighed , might be of great force in rectifying the praecipitate disloyall inclinations of a still misguided sort of people ; certainly it hath beene want of a serious animadversion on this behalfe , which hath hitherto blindly led them on : a strong though groundlesse conceit with manie of the justice , nay necessarinesse of the cause , swaying them aside from the course of their bounden duty : as if their religion , their lawes , and liberties , lay all at stake , ( true for certaine , it is to be feared the contrary side ) which yet as here , god knowes is nothing so : when absolon rose up in armes against his lord and father david . 2. sam. 15. no question but the heads of the then devised conspiracie made good use ( the text insinuates as much ) of some such specious pretences , wherewith to cozen the weake and ignorant people ; so , for that causelesse insurrection of corah with his complices against moses and aaron together , num. 16. thereby at once discovering their rancorous disaffection towards the established government both in church and state ; yee take too much upon you , cry these discontented reformers , ye intrench too close upon our pretended priviledges , our liberties , our consciences ; never any rebellion wanted a cloake or cover of this kind of making . and therefore men should have done well , carefully to have pondered aforehand , by debating over and againe , a businesse of so high consequence ( as that whereon depends the hazard of eternall damnation , rom. 13. 2. ) before they had rashly ingaged themselves in a blinde and obstinate defence of the same ; or if it hath been duely perpended , as it ought , yet without effect : then naught to bee said but this , quis furor o cives , god , i feare , as his usuall way of proceeding is in such like cases , hath strangely besotted and infatuated the understandings of this sinfull nation , meaning to scourge us still after a most severe manner , with the rodde of our own fury ; like as it befell the ammonites , and moabites , in fight against the israelites , who helped thus to destroy one another , as we finde it recorded , 2. chron. 20. 23. exemploque pari ruit anglica turba , suoque marte cadent coefi per mutua vulnera fratres . i conclude the whole with that sage advice of the wisest of men next to christ himselfe , prov. 24. 21. worthy of a deliberate poising by all , but especially those of the disaffected partie . feare god and the king , and meddle not with them that are given to change : for their calamitie shall rise suddenly , and who knoweth the ruine of them both ? where it is to be observed , how you have god and the king set a brest as 't were , the obedience we owe to the king joyned with that duty which we owe unto god : & sutably a neglect of our performance in the one , threatned with certaine destruction alike , as in the other . and the reason for both holds parallell still , because as by the former we offend god in his owne person , so by the later we injure him in the person of his substitute or immediate vicegerent here appointed over us . finis . gildas de excidio britanniae . moris continui gentis erat , sicut & nunc est , ut infirma esset ad retundenda hostium tela , & fortis ad civilia bella : infirma , inquam , ad exequenda pacis ac veritatis insignia , & fortis ad scelera & mendacia . the tenure of kings and magistrates proving that it is lawfull, and hath been held so through all ages, for any who have the power, to call to account a tyrant, or wicked king, and after due conviction, to depose and put the author, j.m. milton, john, 1608-1674. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a50955 of text r21202 in the english short title catalog (wing m2181). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 73 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 23 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a50955 wing m2181 estc r21202 12296190 ocm 12296190 59034 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50955) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 59034) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 155:12) the tenure of kings and magistrates proving that it is lawfull, and hath been held so through all ages, for any who have the power, to call to account a tyrant, or wicked king, and after due conviction, to depose and put the author, j.m. milton, john, 1608-1674. [2], 42 p. printed by matthew simmons ..., london : 1649. attributed to john milton. cf. halkett and laing (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in huntington library. eng political science -early works to 1800. divine right of kings. a50955 r21202 (wing m2181). civilwar no the tenure of kings and magistrates: proving, that it is lawfull, and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to ca milton, john 1649 14149 7 0 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2002-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-08 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-08 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the tenure of kings and magistrates : proving , that it is lawfull , and hath been held so through all ages , for any , who have the power , to call to account a tyrant , or wicked king , and after due conviction , to depose , and put him to death ; if the ordinary magistrate have neglected , or deny'd to doe it . and that they , who of late , so much blame deposing , are the men that did it themselves . the author , j. m. london , printed by matthew simmons , at the gilded lyon in aldersgate street , 1649. the tenure of kings and magistrates . if men within themselves would be govern'd by reason , and not generally give up their understanding to a double tyrannie , of custome from without , and blind affections within , they would discerne better what it is to favour and uphold the tyrant of a nation . but being slaves within doores , no wonder that they strive so much to have the public state conformably govern'd to the inward vitious rule , by which they govern themselves . for indeed none can love freedom heartilie , but good men ; the rest love not freedom , but licence ; which never hath more scope or more indulgence then under tyrants . hence is it that tyrants are not oft offended , nor stand much in doubt of bad men , as being all naturally servile ; but in whom vertue and true worth most is eminent , them they feare in earnest , as by right their masters , against them lies all their hatred and suspicion . consequentlie neither doe bad men hate tirants , but have been alwaies readiest with the falsifi'd names of loyalty and obedience , to colour over their base compliances . and although sometimes for shame , and when it comes to their owne grievances , of purse especially , they would seeme good patriots , and side with the better cause , yet when others for the deliverance of their countrie , endu'd with fortitude and heroick vertue , to feare nothing but the curse written against those that doe the worke of the lord negligently , would goe on to remove , not onely the calamities and thraldomes of a people , but the roots and causes whence they spring , streight these men , and sure helpers at need , as if they hated onely the miseries but not the mischiefes , after they have juggl'd and palter'd with the world , bandied and borne armes against their king , devested him , disanointed him , nay curs'd him all over in thir pulpits , and their pamphlets , to the ingaging of sincere and reall men , beyond what is possible or honest to retreat from , not onely turne revolters from those principles , which onely could at first move them , but lay the staine of disloyaltie , and worse , on those proceedings , which are the necessarie consequences of their owne former actions ; nor disllik'd by themselves , were they manag'd to the intire advantages of their owne faction ; not considering the while that he toward whom they boasted their new fidelitie , counted them accessory , and by those statutes and laws which they so impotently brandish against others , would have doom'd them to a traytors death for what they have done alreadie . 't is true , that most men are apt anough to civill wars and commotions as a noveltie , and for a flash , hot and active ; but through sloth or inconstancie , and weakness of spirit either fainting , ere their owne pretences , though never so just , be halfe attain'd , or through an inbred falshood and wickednesse , betray oft times to destruction with themselves , men of noblest temper join'd with them for causes which they in their rash undertakings were not capable of . if god and a good cause give them victory , the prosecution whereof for the most part , inevitably drawes after it the alteration of lawes , change of government , downfall of princes with their families ; then comes the task to those worthies which are the soule of that enterprize , to bee swett and labour'd out amidst the throng and noises of vulgar and irrationall men . some contesting for privileges , customes , formes , and that old intanglement of iniquitie , their gibrish lawes , though the badge of their ancient slavery . others who have been fiercest against their prince , under the notion of a tyrant , and no meane incendiaries of the warre against him , when god out of his providence and high disposall hath deliver'd him into the hand of their brethren , on a suddaine and in a new garbe of allegiance , which their doings have long since cancell'd ; they plead for him , pity him , extoll him , protest against those that talke of bringing him to the tryall of justice , which is the sword of god , superiour to all mortall things , in whose hand soever by apparent signes his testified wil is to put it . but certainely , if we consider who and what they are , on a suddaine growne so pitifull , wee may conclude , their pity can be no true and christian commiseration , but either levitie and shallownesse of minde , or else a carnall admiring of that worldly pompe and greatness , from whence they see him fall'n ; or rather lastly a dissembl'd and seditious pity , fain'd of industry to beget new commotions . as for mercy , if it bee to a tyrant , under which name they themselves have cited him so oft in the hearing of god , of angels , and the holy church assembl'd , and there charg'd him with the spilling of more innocent blood by farre , then ever nero did , undoubtedly the mercy which they pretend , is the mercy of wicked men ; and their mercies , wee read , are cruelties ; hazarding the welfare of a whole nation , to have sav'd one , whom so oft they have tearm'd agag , and villifying the blood of many jonathans that have sav'd israel ; insisting with much nicenesse on the unnecessariest clause of their covnant ; wherein the feare of change , and the absurd contradiction of a flattering hostilitie had hamperd them , but not scrupling to give away for complements , to an implacable revenge , the heads of many thousand christians more . another sort there is , who comming in the course of these affaires , to have thir share in great actions above the forme of law or custome , at least to give thir voice and approbation , begin to swerve and almost shiver at the majesty and grandeur of som noble deed , as if they were newly enter'd into a great sin ; disputing presidents , formes , & circumstances , when the common wealth nigh perishes for want of deeds in substance , don with just and faithfull expedition . to these i wish better instruction , and vertue equall to their calling ; the former of which , that is to say instruction , i shall indeavour , as my dutie is , to bestow on them ; and exhort them not to startle from the just and pious resolution of adhering with all their assistance to the present parlament and army , in the glorious way wherein justice and victorie hath set them ; the onely warrants through all ages , next under immediate revelation , to exercise supreame power ; in those proceedings which hitherto appeare equall to what hath been don in any age or nation heretofore , justly or magnanimouslie . nor let them be discourag'd or deterr'd by any new apostate scar crowes , who under show of giving counsell , send out their barking monitories and momento's , emptie of ought else but the spleene of a frustrated faction . for how can that pretended counsell , bee either sound or faithfull , when they that give it , see not for madnesse and vexation of their ends lost , that those statutes and scriptures which both falsly and scandalously , they wrest against their friends and associates , would by sentence of the common adversarie , fall first and heaviest upon their owne heads . neither let milde and tender dispositions be foolishly softn'd from their dutie and perseverance with the unmasculine rhetorick of any puling priest or chaplain , sent as a friendly letter of advice , for fashion sake in private , and forthwith publish't by the sender himselfe , that wee may know how much of friend there was in it , to cast an odious envie upon them , to whom it was pretended to be sent in charitie . nor let any man bee deluded by either the ignorance or the notorious hypocrisie and selfe-repugnance of our dancing divines , who have the conscience and the boldnesse , to come with scripture in their mouthes , gloss'd and fitted for thir turnes with a double contradictory sense , transforming the sacred veritie of god , to an idol with two faces , looking at once two several ways ; and with the same quotations to charge others , which in the same case they made serve to justifie themselves . for while the hope to bee made classic and provinciall lords led them on , while pluralities greas'd them thick and deepe , to the shame and scandall of religion , more then all the sects and heresies they exclaime against , then to fight against the kings person , and no lesse a party of his lords and commons , or to put force upon both the houses was good , was lawfull , was no resisting of superiour powers ; they onely were powers not to be resisted , who countenanc'd the good and punish't the evill . but now that thir censorious domineering is not suffer'd to be universall , truth and conscience to be freed , tithes and pluralities to be no more , though competent allowance provided , and the warme experience of large gifts , and they so good at taking them ; yet now to exclude and seize on impeach't members , to bring delinquents without exemption to a faire tribunall by the common nationall law against murder , is now to be no lesse then corah , dathan , and abiram . he who but erewhile in the pulpits was a cursed tyrant , an enemie to god and saints , laden with all the innocent blood split in three kingdomes , and so to bee sought against , is now though nothing penitent or alter'd from his first principles , a lawfull magistrate , a sovrane lord , the lords annointed , not to bee touch'd , though by themselves imprison'd . as if this onely were obedience , to preserve the meere uselesse bulke of his person , and that onely in prison , not in the field , and to disobey his commands , denie him his dignitie and office , every where to resist his power but where they thinke it onely surviving in thir owne faction . but who in particular is a tyrant cannot be determind in a generall discourse , otherwise then by supposition ; his particular charge , and the sufficient proofe of it must determine that : which i leave to magistrates , at least to the uprighter sort of them , and of the people , though in number lesse by many , in whom faction least hath prevaild above the law of nature and right reason , to judge as they finde cause . but this i dare owne as part of my faith , that if such a one there be , by whose commission , whole massacres have been committed on his faithfull subjects , his provinces offerd to pawne or alienation , as the hire of those whom he had sollicited to come in and destroy whole cities and countries ; be hee king , or tyrant , or emperour , the sword of justice is above him ; in whose hand soever is found sufficient power to avenge the effusion , and so great a deluge of inuocent blood . for if all humane power to execute , not accidentally but intendedly , the wrath of god upon evill doers without exception , be of god ; then that power , whether ordinary , or if that faile , extraordinary so executing that intent of god , is lawfull , and not to be resisted . but to unfold more at large this whole question , though with all expedient brevity , i shall here set downe , from first beginning , the originall of kings ; how and wherefore exalted to that dignitie above their brethren ; and from thence shall prove , that turning to tyranny they may bee as lawfully deposd and punishd , as they were at first elected : this i shall doe by autorities and reasons , not learnt in corners among schismes and herisies , as our doubling divines are ready to calumniate , but fetch 't out of the midst of choicest and most authentic learning , and no prohibited authors , nor many heathen , but mosaical , christian , orthodoxal , and which must needs be more convincing to our adversaries , presbyterial . no man who knows ought , can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were borne free , being the image and resemblance of god himselfe , and were by privilege above all the creatures , borne to command and not to obey : and that they livd so , till from the root of adams transgression , falling among themselves to doe wrong and violence , and foreseeing that such courses must needs tend to the destruction of them all , they agreed by common league to bind each other from mutual injury , and joyntly to defend themselves against any that gave disturbance or opposition to such agreement . hence came citties , townes and common-wealths . and because no faith in all was found sufficiently binding , they saw it needfull to ordaine some authoritie , that might restraine by force and punishment what was violated against peace and common right : this autoritie and power of self-defence and preservation being originally and naturally in every one of them , and unitedly in them all , for ease , for order , and least each man should be his owne partial judge , they communicated and deriv'd either to one , whom for the eminence of his wisdom and integritie they chose above the rest , or to more then one whom they thought of equal deserving : the first was calld a king ; the other magistrates . not to be thir lords and maisters ( though afterward those names in som places were giv'n voluntarily to such as had bin authors of inestimable good to the people ) but , to be thir deputies and commissioners , to execute , by vertue of thir intrusted power , that justice which else every man by the bond of nature and of cov'nant must have executed for himselfe , and for one another . and to him that shall consider well why among free persons , one man by civill right should beare autority and jurisdiction over another , no other end or reason can be imaginable . these for a while governd well , and with much equitie decided all things at thir owne arbitrement : till the temptation of such a power left absolute in thir hands , perverted them at length to injustice and partialitie . then did they who now by tryall had found the danger and inconveniences of committing arbitrary power to any , invent lawes either fram'd or consented to by all , that should confine and limit the autority of whom they chose to govern them : that so man of whose failing they had proof , might no more rule over them , but law and reason abstracted as much as might be from personal errors and frailties . when this would nor serve , but that the law was either not executed , or misapply'd , they were constraind from that time , the onely remedy left them , to put conditions and take oaths from all kings and magistrates at their first instalment to doe impartial justice by law : who upon those termes and no other , receav'd allegeance from the people , that is to say , bond or covnant to obey them in execution of those lawes which they the people had themselves made or assented to . and this oft times with express warning , that if the king or magistrate prov'd unfaithfull to his trust , the people would be disingag'd . they added also counselors and parlaments , not to be onely at his beck , but with him or without him , at set times , or at all times , when any danger threatn●d to have care of the public safety . therefore saith claudius sesell a french statesman , the parlament was set as a bridle to the king ; which i instance rather , because that monarchy is granted by all to be a farre more absolute then ours . that this and the rest of what hath hitherto been spok'n is most true , might be copiously made appeare throughout all stories heathen and christian ; eev'n of those nations where kings and emperours have sought meanes to abolish all ancient memory of the peoples right by their encroachments and usurpations . but i spare long insertions , appealing to the german , french , italian , arragonian , english , and not least the scottish histories : not forgetting this onely by the way , that vvilliam the norman though a conqueror , and not unsworne at his coronation , was compelld a second time to take oath at s. albanes , ere the people would be brought to yeild obedience . it being thus manifest that the power of kings and magistrates is nothing else , but what is onely derivative , transferrd and committed to them in trust from the people to the common good of them all , in whom the power yet remaines fundamentally , and cannot be tak'n from them , without a violation of thir natural birthright , and seeing that from hence aristotle and the best of political writers have defin'd a king , him who governs to the good and profit of his people , and not for his owne ends , it follows from necessary causes that the titles of sovran lord , naturall lord , and the like , are either arrogancies , or flatteries , not admitted by emperors and kings of best note , and dislikt by the church both of jews , isai. 26. 13. and ancient christians as appears by tertullian and others . although generally the people of asia and with them the jews also , especially since the time they chose a king , against the advice and counsel of god , are noted by wise authors much inclinable to slavery . secondly , that to say , as is usual , the king hath as good right to his crown and dignitie , as any man to his inheritance , is to make the subject no better then the kings slave , his chattell , or his possession that may be bought and sould , and doubtless if hereditary title were sufficiently inquir'd , the best foundation of it would be found but either in courtesie or convenience . but suppose it to be of right hereditarie , what can be more just and legal , if a subject for certaine crimes be to forfet by law from himselfe and posterity , all his inheritance to the king , then that a king for crimes proportionall , should forfet all his title and inheritance to the people : unless the people must be thought created all for him , he not for them , and they all in one body inferior to him single , which were a kinde of treason against the dignity of mankind to affirm . thirdly it followes , that to say kings are accountable to none but god , is the overturning of all law and goverment . for if they may refuse to give account , then all covnants made with them at coronation ; all oathes are in vaine , and meer mockeries , all lawes which they sweare to keep , made to no purpose ; for if the king feare not god , as how many of them doe not ? we hold then our lives and estates , by the tenure of his meer grace and mercy , as from a god , not a mortall magistrate , a position that none but court parasites or men besotted would maintain . and no christian prince not drunk with high mind , and prouder then those pagan caesars , that deifi'd themselves , would arrogate so unreasonably above human condition , or derogate so basely from a whole nation of men his brethren , as if for him onely subsisting , and to serve his glory , valuing them in comparison of his owne brute will and pleasure no more then so many beasts , or vermine under his feet , not to be reasond with , but to be injurd ; among whom there might be found so many thousand men for wisdome , vertue , nobleness of mind and all other respects , but the fortune of his dignity , farr above him . yet some would perswade us that this absurd opinion was king davids ; because in the 51 psalm he cries out to god , against thee onely have i sinn'd ; as if david had imagind that to murder uriah and adulterate his wife , had bin no sinne against his neighbor , when as that law of moses was to the king expresly , deut. 17. not to think so highly of himself above his brethren . david therefore by those words could mean no other , then either that the depth of his guiltiness was known to god onely , or to so few as had not the will or power to question him , or that the sin against god was greater beyond compare then against uriah . what ever his meaning were , any wise man will see that the patheticall words of a psalme can be no certaine decision to a point that hath abundantly more certaine rules to goe by . how much more rationally spake the heathen king . demophoon in a tragedy of euripides then these interpret●s would put upon king david , i rule not my people by tyranny , as if they were barbarians , but am my self liable , if i doe unjustly to suffer justly not unlike was the speech of traian the worthy emperor , to one whom he made general of his praetorian forces . take this drawne sword , saith he , to use for me , if i reigne well , if not , to use against me . thus dion relates . and not traian onely , but theodosius the younger a christian emperor and one of the best , causd it to be enacted as a rule undenyable and fit to be acknowledgd by all kings and emperors , that a prince is bound to the laws ; that on the autority of law the autority of a prince depends , & to the laws ought submit . which edict of his remaines yet unrepeald in the code of justinian . l. 1. tit. 24. as a sacred constitution to all the succeeding emperors . how then can any king in europe maintaine and write himselfe accountable to none but god , when emperors in thir owne imperiall statutes have writt'n and decreed themselves accountable to law . and indeed where such account is not fear'd , he that bids a man reigne over him above law , may bid as well a savage beast . it follows lastly , that since the king or magistrate holds his autoritie of the people , both originally and naturally for their good in the first place , and not his owne , then may the people as oft as they shall judge it for the best , either choose him or reject him , retaine him or depose him though no tyrant , meerly by the libertie and right of free born men to be govern'd as seems to them best . this , though it cannot but stand with plaine reason , shall be made good also by scripture , deut. 17. 14. vvhen thou art come into the land which the lord thy god giveth thee , and shalt say i will set a king over mee , like as all the nations about mee these words confirme us that the right of choosing , yea of changing thir owne goverment is by the grant of god him self in the people . and therefore when they desit'd a king , though then under another forme of goverment , and though thir changing displeasd him , yet he that was himself thir king , and rejected by them , would not be a hindrance to what they inended , furder then by perswasion , but that they might doe therein as they saw good , 1 sam. 8. onely he reserv'd to himself the nomination of who should reigne over them . neither did that exempt the king as if hee were to god onely accountable , though by his especiall command anointed . therefore david first made a covnant with the elders of israel , and so was by them anointed king , 1 chron. 11. and jehoiada the priest making jehoash king , made a cov'nant between him and the people , 2 kings 11. 17. therefore when roboam at his comming to the crowne , rejected those conditions which the israelites brought him , heare what they answer him , what portion have we in david , or inheritance in the son of jesse . see to thine own house david . and for the like conditions not perform'd , all israel before that time deposd samuell ; not for his own default , but for the misgovement of his sons . but som will say to both these examples , it was evilly don . i answer , that not the latter , because it was expressely allow'd them in the law to set up a king if they pleas'd ; and god himself joynd with them in the work ; though in some sort it was at that time displeasing to him , in respect of old samuell who had governd them uprightly . as livy praises the romans who took occasion from tarquinius a wicked prince to gaine their libertie , which to have extorted , saith hee , from numa or any of the good kings before , had not bin seasonable . nor was it in the former example don unlawfully ; for when roboam had prepar'd a huge army to reduce the israelites , he was forbidd'n by the profet , 1 kings 12.24 . thus saith the lord yee shall not goe up , nor fight against your brethren , for this thing is from me . he calls them thir brethren , not rebels , and forbidds to be proceeded against them , owning the thing himselfe , not by single providence , but by approbation , and that not onely of the act , as in the former example , but of the fitt season also ; he had not otherwise forbidd to molest them . and those grave and wise counsellors whom rehoboam first advis'd with , spake no such thing , as our old gray headed flatterers now are wont , stand upon your birth-right , scorne to capitulate , you hold of god , and not of them ; for they knew no such matter , unless conditionally , but gave him politic counsel , as in a civil transaction . therefore kingdom and magistracy , whether supreme or subordinat is calld a human ordinance , 1 pet. 2. 13. &c. which we are there taught is the will of god wee should submitt to , so farr as for the punishment of evill doers , and the encouragement of them that doe well . submitt saith he , as free men . and there is no power but of god , saith paul , rom. 13. as much as to say , god put it into mans heart to find out that way at first for common peace and preservation , approving the exercise therof ; els it contradicts peter who calls the same autority an ordinance of man . it must be also understood of lawfull and just power , els we read of great power in the affaires and kingdomes of the world permitted to the devill : for saith he to christ , luke 4. 6. all this power will i give thee and the glory of them , for it is deliverd to me , and to whomsoever i will , i give it : neither did hee ly , or christ gainsay what hee affirm'd : for in the thirteenth of the revelation wee read how the dragon gave to the beast his power , his seat , and great autority : which beast so autoriz'd most expound to be the tyrannical powers and kingdomes of the earth . therfore saint paul in the forecited chapter tells us that such magistrates hee meanes ' , as are , not a terror to the good but to the evill , such as beare not the sword in vaine , but to punish offenders , and to encourage the good . if such onely be mentiond here as powers to be obeyd , and our submission to them onely requird , then doubtless those powers that doe the contrary , are no powers ordaind of god , and by consequence no obligation laid upon us to obey or not to resist them . and it may be well observd that both these apostles , whenever they give this precept , express it in termes not concret but abstract , as logicians are wont to speake , that is , they mention the ordinance , the power , the autoritie before the persons that execute it , and what that power is , lest we should be deceavd , they describe exactly . so that if the power be not such , or the person execute not such power , neither the one nor the other is of god , but of the devill , and by consequence to bee resisted . from this exposition chrysostome also on the same place dissents not ; explaining that these words were not writt'n in behalf of a tyrant . and this is verify'd by david , himself a king , and likeliest to bee author of the psalm 94. 20. which saith , shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee . and it were worth the knowing , since kings , and that by scripture boast the justness of thir title , by holding it immediately of god , yet cannot show the t●me when god ever set on the throne them or thir forefathers , but onely when the people chose them ; why by the same reason , since god ascribes as oft to himself the casting down of princes from the throne , it should not be thought as lawful , and as much from god when none are seen to do it but the people , and that for just causes . for if it needs must be a sin in them to depose , it may as likely be a sin to have elected . and contrary if the peoples act in election be pleaded by a king , as the act of god , and the most just title to enthrone him , why may not the peoples act of rejection , be as well pleaded by the people as the act of god , and the most just reason to depose him ? so that we see the title and just right of reigning or deposing in reference to god , is found in scripture to be all one ; visible onely in the people , and depending meerly upon justice and demerit . thus farr hath bin considerd briefly the power of kings and magistrates ; how it was , and is originally the peoples , and by them conferrd in trust onely to bee imployd to the common peace and benefit ; with libertie therfore and right remaining in them to reassume it to themselves , if by kings or magistrats it be abus'd ; or to dispose of it by any alteration , as they shall judge most conducing to the public good . wee may from hence with more ease , and force of argument determin what a tyrant is , and what the people may doe against him . a tyrant whether by wrong or by right comming to the crowne , is he who regarding neither law nor the common good , reigns onely for himself and his faction : thus st. basil among others defines him . and because his power is great , his will boundless and exorbitant , the fulfilling whereof is for the most part accompanied with innumerable wrongs and oppressions of the people , murders , massacres , rapes , adulteries , desolation , and subversion of citties and whole provinces ; look how great a good and happiness a just king is , so great a mischeife is a tyrant ; as hee the public father of his countrie , so this the common enemie . against whom what the people lawfully may doe , as against a common pest , and destroyer of mankinde , i suppose no man of cleare judgement need goe surder to be guided then by the very principles of nature in him . but because it is the vulgar folly of men to desert thir owne reason , and shutting thir eyes to think they see best with other mens , i shall shew by such examples as ought to have most waight with us , what hath bin don is this case heretofore . the greeks and romans as thir prime authors witness held it not onely lawfull , but a glorious and heroic deed , rewarded publicly with statues and garlands , to kill an infamous tyrant at any time without tryal ; and but reason , that he who trod down all law , should not bee voutsaf'd the benefit of law . insomuch that seneca the tragedian brings in hercules the grand suppressor of tyrants , thus speaking , — victima haud ulla amplior potest , magisque opima mactari jovi quam rex iniquus — — there can be slaine no sacrifice to god more accetable then an unjust and wicked king — but of these i name no more , lest it bee objected they were heathen ; and come to produce another sort of men that had the knowledge of true religion . among the jews this custome of tyrant-killing was not unusual . first ehud , a man whom god had raysd to deliver israel from eglon king of moab , who had conquerd and rul'd over them eighteene yeares , being sent to him as an ambassador with a present slew him in his owne house . but hee was a forren prince , an enemie , and ehud besides had special warrant from god . to the first i answer , it imports not whether forren or native : for no prince so native but professes to hold by law ; which when he himselfe overturnes , breaking all the covnants and oaths that gave him title to his dignity , and were the bond and alliance between him and his people , what differs he from an outlandish king or from an enemie ? for looke how much right the king of spaine hath to govern us at all , so much right hath the king of england to govern us tyrannically . if he , though not bound to us by any league , comming from spaine in person to subdue us or to destroy us , might lawfully by the people of england either bee slaine in fight , or put to death in captivity , what hath a native king to plead , bound by so many covnants , benefits and honours to the welfare of his people , why he through the contempt of all laws and parlaments , the onely tie of our obedience to him , for his owne wills sake , and a boasted praerogative unaccountable , after sev'n years warring and destroying of his best subjects , overcom , and yeilded prisoner , should think to scape unquestionable , as a thing divine , in respect of whom so many thousand christians destroy'd should lye unaccounted for , polluting with thir slaughterd carcasses all the land over , and crying for vengeance against the living that should have righted them . who knows not that there is a mutual bond of amity and brotherhood between man and man over all the world , neither is it the english sea that can sever us from that duty and relation : a straiter bond yet there is between fellow-subjects , neighbours , and friends ; but when any of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to another so as hostility 〈…〉 doth the law decree less against them , then oepn enemies and invaders ? or if the law be not present , or too weake , what doth it warrant us to less then single defence or civil warr ? and from that time forward the law of civill defensive warr differs nothing from the law of forren hostility . nor is it distance of place that makes enmitie , but enmity that makes distance . he therefore that keeps peace with me neer or remote of whatsoever nation , is to mee as farr as all civil and human offices an englishman and a nighbour : but if an englishman forgetting all laws , human , civil and religious offend against life and libertie , to him offended and to the law in his behalf , though born in the same womb , he is no better then a turk , a sarasin , a heathen . this is gospel , and this was ever law among equals ; how much rather then in force against any king whatsoever , who in respect of the people is coufessd inferior and not equal : to distinguish therfore of a tyrant by outlandish , or domestic is a weak evasion . to the second that he was an enemie , i answer , what tyrant is not ? yet eglon by the jewes had bin acknowledgd as thir sovran , they had servd him eighteen yeares , as long almost as wee our vvilliam the conqueror , in all which time he could not be so unwise a statesman but to have tak'n of them oaths of fealty and allegeance by which they made themselves his proper subjects , as thir homage and present sent by ehud testifyd . to the third , that he had special warrant to kill eglon in that manner , it cannot bee granted , because not expressd ; t is plain that he was raysd by god to be a deliverer , and went on just principles , such as were then and ever held allowable , to deale so by a tyrant that could no otherwise be dealt with . neither did samuell though a profet , with his owne hand abstain from agag ; a forren enemie no doubt ; but mark the reason , as thy sword hath made women childless ; a cause that by the sentence of law it selfe nullifies all relations . and as the law is between brother and brother , father and son , maister and servant , wherfore not between king or rather tyrant and people ? and whereas jehu had special command to slay jehoram a successive and hereditarie tyrant , it seemes not the less imitable for that ; for where a thing grounded so much on naturall reason hath the addition of a command from god , what does it but establish the lawfulness of such an act . nor is it likely that god who had so many wayes of punishing the house of ahab would have sent a subject against his prince , if the fact in it selfe as don to a tyrant had bin of bad example . and if david refus'd to lift his hand against the lords anointed , the matter between them was not tyranny , but private enmity , and david as a private person had bin his own revenger , not so much the peoples ; but when any tyrant at this day can shew to be the lords anointed , the onely mention'd reason why david with held his hand , he may then but not till then presume on the same privilege . we may pass therfore hence to christian times . and first our saviour himself , how much he favourd tyrants and how much intended they should be found or honourd among christians , declares his minde not obscurely ; accounting thir absolute autoritie no better then gentilisme , yea though they flourishd it over with the splendid name of benefactors ; charging those that would be his disciples to usurp no such dominion ; but that they who were to bee of most autoritie among them , should esteem themselves ministers and servants to the public . matt. 20. 25. the princes of the gentiles exercise lordship over them , and mark 10. 42. they that seem to rule , saith he , either slighting or accounting them no lawful rulers , but yee shall not be so , but the greatest among you shall be your servant . and although hee himself were the meekest , and came on earth to be so , yet to a tyrant we hear him not voutsafe an humble word : but tell that fox , luc. 13. and wherfore did his mother the virgin mary give such praise to god in her profetic song , that he had now by the comming of christ cutt down dynasta's or proud monarchs from the throne , if the church , when god manifests his power in them to doe so , should rather choose all miserie and vassalage to serve them , and let them still sit on thir potent seats to bee ador'd for doing mischiefe . surely it is not for nothing that tyrants by a kind of natural instinct both hate and feare none more then the true church and saints of god , as the most dangerous enemies and subverters of monarchy , though indeed of tyranny ; hath not this bin the perpetual cry of courtiers , and court prelates ? whereof no likelier cause can be alleg'd , but that they well discern'd the mind and principles of most devout and zealous men , and indeed the very discipline of church , tending to the dissolution of all tyranny . no marvel then if since the faith of christ receav'd , in purer or impurer times , to depose a king and put him to death for tyranny hath bin accounted so just and requisit , that neighbour kings have both upheld and tak'n part with subjects in the action . and ludovicus pius , himself an emperor , and sonne of charles the great , being made judge , du haillan is my author , between milegast king of the vul●zes and his subjects who had depos'd him , gave his verdit for the subjects , and for him whom they had chos'n in his room . note here that the right of electing whom they please is by the impartial testimony of an emperor in the people . for , said he , a just prince ought to be prefer'd before an unjust , and the end of government before the prerogative . and constantinus leo , another emperor in the byzantine laws saith , that the end of a king is for the general good , which he not performing is but the counterfet of a king . and to prove that some of our owne monarchs have acknowledg'd that thir high office exempted them not from punishment , they had the sword of st. edward born before them by an officer who was calld earle of the palace eev'n at the times of thir highest pomp and solemnitie , to mind them , saith matthew paris , the best of our historians , that if they errd , the sword had power to restraine them . and what restraint the sword comes to at length , having both edge and point , if any sceptic will needs doubt , let him feel . it is also affirm'd from diligent search made in our ancient books of law , that the peers and barons of england had a legall right to judge the king : which was the cause most likely , for it could be no slight cause , that they were call'd his peers , or equals . this however may stand immovable , so long as man hath to deale with no better then man ; that if our law judge all men to the lowest by thir peers , it should in all equity ascend also , and judge the highest . and so much i find both in our own and forren storie , that dukes , earles , and marqueses were at first not hereditary , not empty and vain titles , but names of trust and office , and with the office ceasing , as induces me to be of opinion , that every worthy man in parlament , for the word baron imports no more , might for the public good be thought a fit peer and judge of the king ; without regard had to petty caveats , and circumstances , the chief impediment in high affaires , and ever stood upon most by circumstantial men . whence doubtless our ancestors who were not ignorant with what rights either nature or ancient constitution had endowd them , when oaths both at coronation , and renewd in parlament would not serve , thought it no way illegal to depose and put to death thir tyrannous kings . insomuch that the parlament drew up a charge against richard the second , and the commons requested to have judgement decree'd against him , that the realme might not bee endangerd . and peter martyr a divine of formost rank , on the third of judges approves thir doings . sir thomas smith also a protestant and a statesman in his commonwealth of england putting the question whether it be lawful to rise against a tyrant , answers that the vulgar judge of it according to the event , and the learned according to the purpose of them that do it . but far before those days gildas the most ancient of all our historians , speaking of those times wherein the roman empire decaying quitted and relinquishd what right they had by conquest to this iland , and resign'd it all into the peoples hands , testifies that the people thus re-invested with thir own original right , about the year 446 , both elected them kings , whō they thought best ( the first christian brittish kings that ever raign'd heer since the romans ) and by the same right , when they apprehended cause , usually deposd and put them to death . this is the most fundamental and ancient tenure that any king of england can produce or pretend to ; in comparison of which , all other titles and pleas are but of yesterday . if any object that gildas condemns the britanes for so doing , the answer is as ready ; that he condemns them no more for so doing , then hee did before for choosing such , for saith he , they anointed them kings , not of god , but such as were more bloody then therest . next hee condemns them not at all for deposing or putting them to death , but for doing it over hastily , without tryal or well examining the cause , and for electing others worse in thir room . thus we have here both domestic and most ancient examples that the people of britain have deposd and put to death thir kings in those primitive christian times . and to couple reason with example , if the church in all ages , primitive , romish , or protestant held it ever no less thir duty then the power of thir keyes , though without express warrant of scripture , to bring indifferently both king and peasant under the utmost rigor of thir canons and censures ecclesiastical , eev'n to the smiting him with a final excommunion , if he persist impenitent , what hinders but that the temporal law both may and ought , though without a special text or president , extend with like indifference the civil sword , to the cutting off without exemption him that capitally offends . seeing that justice and religion are from the same god , and works of justice ofttimes more acceptable . yet because that some lately with the tongues and arguments of malignant backsliders have writt'n that the proceedings now in parlament against the king , are without president from any protestant state or kingdom , the examples which follow shall be all protestant and chiefly presbyterian . in the yeare 1546. the duke of saxonie , lantgrave of hessen , and the whole protestant league raysd open warr against charles the fifth thir emperor , sent him a defiance , renounc'd all faith and allegeance toward him , and debated long in counsell whether they should give him so much as the title of caesar . sleidan . l. 17. let all men judge what this wanted of deposing or of killing , but the power to doe it . in the yeare 1559. the scotch protestants claiming promise of thir queen regent for libertie of conscience , she answering that promises were not to be claim'd of princes beyond what was commodious for them to grant , told her to her face in the parlament then at sterling , that if it were so , they renounc'd thir obedience ; and soone after betooke them to armes . buchanan hist. l. 16. certainely when allegeance is renounc'd , that very hour the king or queen is in effect depos'd . in the yeare 1564. john kn●x a most famous divine and the reformer of scotland to the presbyterian discipline , at a generall assembly maintaind op'nly in a dispute against lethington the secretary of state , that subjects might and ought execute gods judgements upon thir king ; that the fact of jehu and others against thir king having the ground of gods ordinary command to put such and such offenders to death was not extraordinary , but to bee imitated of all that prefer'd the honour of god to the affection of flesh and wicked princes , that kings , if they offend , have no privilege to be exempted from the punishments of law more then any other subject ; so that if the king be a murderer , adulterer , or idolater , he should suffer not as a king , but as an offender ; and this position hee repeates againe and againe before them . answerable was the opinion of john craig another learned divine , and that lawes made by the tyranny of princes , or the negligence of people , thir posterity might abrogate , and reform all things according to the original institution of common-wealths , and knox being commanded by the nobilitie to write to calvin and other learned men for thir judgements in that question refus'd ; alleging that both himselfe was fully resolv'd in conscience , and had heard thir judgements , and had the same opinion under hand-writing of many the most godly and most learned that he knew in europe ; that if he should move the question to them againe , what should he doe but shew his owne forgetfulness or inconstancy . all this is farr more largely in the ecclesiastic history of scotland l. 4. with many other passages to this effect all the book over ; set out with diligence by scotchmen of best repute among them at the beginning of these troubles , as if they labourd to inform us what wee were to doe and what they intended upon the like occasion . and to let the world know that the whole church and protestant state of scotland in those purest times of reformation were of the same belief , three years after , they met in the feild mary thir lawful and hereditary queen , took her prisoner yeilding before fight , kept her in prison and the same yeare deposd her . buchan . hist. l. 18. and four years after that , the scots in justification of thir deposing queen mary , sent embassadors to queen elizabeth , and in a writt'n declaration alleag'd that they had us'd towards her more lenity then shee deservd ; that thir ancestors had heretofore punishd thir kings by death or banishment ; that the scots were a free nation , made king whom they freely chose , and with the same freedome un-kingd him if they saw cause , by right of ancient laws and ceremonies yet remaining , and old customers yet among the high-landers in choosing the head of thir clanns , or families ; all which with many other arguments bore witness that regal power was nothing else but a mutuall covnant or stipulation between king and people . buch. hist. l. 20. these were scotchmen and presbyterians ; but what measure then have they lately offerd , to think such liberty less beseeming us then themselves , presuming to put him upon us for a maister whom thir law scarce allows to be thir own equall ? if now then we heare them in another straine then heretofore in the purest times of thir church , we may be confident it is the voice of faction speaking in them , not of truth and reformation . in the yeare 1581. the states of holland in a general assembly at the hague , abjur'd all obedience and subjection to philip king of spaine ; and in a declaration justifie thir so doing ; for that by his tyrannous goverment against faith so oft'n giv'n and brok'n he had lost his right to all the belgic provinces ; that therfore they deposd him and declar'd it lawful to choose another in his stead . thuan. l. 74. from that time , to this no state or kingdom in the world hath equally prosperd : but let them remember not to look with an evil and prejudicial eye upon thir neighbours walking by the same rule . but what need these examples to presbyterians , i meane to those who now of late would seem so much to abhorr deposing , whenas they to all christendom have giv'n the latest and the liveliest example of doing it themselves . i question not the lawfulness of raising warr against a tyrant in defence of religion , or civil libertie ; for no protestant church from the first waldenses of lyons , and languedoc to this day but have don it round , and maintaind it lawfull . but this i doubt not to affirme , that the presbyterians , who now so much condemn deposing , were the men themselves that deposd the king , and cannot with all thir shifting and relapsing , wash off the guiltiness from thir owne hands . for they themselves , by these thir late doings have made it guiltiness , and turnd thir owne warrantable actions into rebellion . there is nothing that so actually makes a king of england , as righful possession and supremacy in all causes both civil and ecclesiastical : and nothing that so actually makes a subject of england , as those two oaths of allegeance and supremacy observd without equivocating , or any mental reservation . out of doubt then when the king shall command things already constituted in church , or state , obedience is the true essence of a subject , either to doe , if it be lawful , or if he hold the thing unlawful , to submit to that penaltie which the law imposes , so long as he intends to remaine a subject . therefore when the people or any part of them shall rise against the king and his autority executing the law in any thing establishd civil or ecclesiastical , i doe nor say it is rebellion , if the thing commanded though establishd be unlawfull , and that they sought first all due means of redress ( and no man is furder bound to law ) but i say it is an absolute renouncing both of supremacy and allegeance , which in one word is an actual and total deposing of the king , and the setting up of another supreme autority over them . and whether the presbyterians have not don all this and much more , they will not put mee , i suppose , to reck'n up a seven yeares story fresh in the memory of all men . have they not utterly broke the oath of allegeance , rejecting the kings command and autority sent them from any part of the kingdom whether in things lawful or unlawful ? have they not abjur'd the oath of supremacy by setting up the parlament without the king , supreme to all thir obedience , and though thir vow and covnant bound them in general to the parlament , yet somtimes adhering to the lesser part of lords and commons that remaind faithful as they terme it , and eev'n of them , one while to the commons without the lords , another while to the lords without the commons ? have they not still declar'd thir meaning , whatever their oath were , to hold them onely for supreme whom they found at any time most yeilding to what they petitiond ? both these oaths which were the straitest bond of an english subject in reference to the king , being thus broke and made voide , it follows undeniably that the king from that time was by them in fact absolutely deposd , and they no longer in reality to be thought his subjects , notwithstanding thir fine clause in the covnant to preserve his person , crown , and dignitie , set there by som dodging casuist with more craft then sinceritie to mitigate the matter in case of ill success , and not tak'n i suppose by any honest man , but as a condition subordinate to every the least particle that might more concern religion , liberty , or the public peace . to prove it yet more plainly that they are the men who have deposd the king , i thus argue . we know that king and subject are relatives , and relatives have no longer being then in the relation ; the relatiō between king and subject can be no other then regal autority and subjection . hence i inferr past their defending , that if the subject who is one relative , takes away the relation , of force he takes away also the other relative ; but the presbyterians who were one relative , that is to say subjects , have for this sev'n years tak'n away the relation , that is to say the kings autoritie , and thir subjection to it , therfore the presbyterians for these sev'n yeares have removd and extinguish the other relative , that is to say the king , or to speake more in brief have depos'd him ; not onely by depriving him the execution of his autoritie , but by conferring it upon others . if then thir oathes of subjection brok'n , new ` supremacy obey'd , new oaths and covnants tak'n , notwitstanding frivolous evasions , have in plaine tearmes unking'd the king , much more then hath thir sev'n yeares warr not depos'd him onely , but outlawd him , and defi'd him as an alien , a rebell to law , and enemie to the state . it must needs be cleare to any man not averse from reason , that hostilitie and subjection are two direct and positive contraries ; and can no more in one subject stand together in respect of the same king , then one person at the same time can be in two remote places . against whom therfore the subject is in act of hostility we may be confident that to him he is in no subjection : and in whom hostility takes place of subjection , for they can by no meanes consist together , to him the king can bee not onely no king , but an enemie . so that from hence wee shall not need dispute whether they have depos'd him , or what they have defaulted towards him as no king , but shew manifestly how much they have don toward the killing him . have they not levied all these warrs against him whether offensive or defensive ( for defence in warr equally offends , and most prudently before hand ) and giv'n commission to slay where they knew his person could not bee exempt from danger ? and if chance or flight had not sav'd him , how oft'n had they killd him , directing thir artillery without blame or prohibition to the very place where they saw him stand ? have they not converted his revenue to other uses , and detain'd from him all meanes of livelyhood , so that for them long since he might have perisht , or have starv'd ? have they not hunted and pursu'd him round about the kingdom with sword and fire ? have they not formerly deny'd to treat with him , and thir now recanting ministers preach'd against him , as a reprobate incurable , an enemy to god and his church markt for destruction , and therfore not to bee treated with ? have they not beseig'd him and to thir power forbid him water and fire , save what they shot against him to the hazard of his life ? yet while they thus assaulted and endangerd it with hostile deeds , they swore in words to defend it with his crown and dignity ; not in order , as it seems now , to a firm and lasting peace , or to his repentance after all this blood ; but simply , without regard , without remorse or any comparable value of all the miseries and calamities sufferd by the poore people , or to suffer hereafter through his obstinacy or impenitence . no understanding man can bee ignorant that covnants are ever made according to the present state of persons and of things ; and have ever the more general laws of nature and of reason included in them , though not express'd . if i make a voluntary covnant as with a man to doe him good , and hee prove afterward a monster to me , i should conceave a disobligement . if i covnant , not to hurt an enemie , in favor of him and forbearance , and hope of his amendment , and he , after that , shall doe me tenfould injury and mischief to what hee had don when i so covnanted , and stil be plotting what may tend to my destruction , i question not but that his after actions release me ; nor know i covnant so sacred that withholds mee from demanding justice on him . howbeit , had not thir distrust in a good cause , and the fast and loos of our prevaricating divines oversway'd , it had bin doubtless better , not to have inserted in a covnant unnecessary obligations , and words not works of a supererogating allegeance to thir enemy ; no way advantageous to themselves , had the king prevail'd , as to thir cost many would have felt ; but full of snare and distraction to our friends , usefull onely , as we now find , to our adversaries , who under such a latitude and shelter of ambiguous interpretation have ever since been plotting and contriving new opportunities to trouble all againe . how much better had it bin , and more becomming an undaunted vertue to have declard op'nly and boldly whom and what power the people were to hold supreme , as on the like occasion protestants have don before , and many conscientious men now in these times have more then once besought the parlament to doe , that they might go on upon a sure foundation , and not with a ridling covnant in thir mouthes , seeming to sweare counter almost in the same breath allegeance and no allegeance ; which doubtless had drawn off all the minds of sincere men from siding with them , had they not discern'd thir actions farr more deposing him then thir words upholding him ; which words made now the subject of cavillous interpretations , stood ever in the covnant by judgement of the more discerning sort an evidence of thir feare not of thir fidelity . what should i return to speak on , of those attempts for which the king himself hath oft'n charg'd the presbyterians of seeking his life , whenas in the due estimation of things they might without a fallacy be sayd to have don the deed outright . who knows not that the king is a name of dignity and office , not of person : who therfore kils a king , must kill him while he is a king . then they certainly who by deposing him have long since tak'n from him the life of a king , his office and his dignity , they in the truest sence may bee said to have killd the king : nor onely by thir deposing and waging warr against him , which besides the danger to his personal life , set him in the fardest opposite point from any vital function of a king , but by thir holding him in prison vanquishd and yeilded into thir absolute and despotic power , which brought him to the lowest degradement and incapacity of the regal name . i say not whose matchless valour next under god , lest the story of thir ingratitude thereupon carry me from the purpose in hand , which is to convince them that they , which i repeat againe , were the men who in the truest sense killd the king , not onely as is provd before , but by depressing him thir king farr below the rank of a subject to the condition of a captive , without intention to restore him , as the chancellour of scotland in a speech told him plainly at newcastle , unless hee granted fully all thir demands , which they knew he never meant . nor did they treat or think of treating with him , till thir hatred to the army that deliverd them , not thir love or duty to the king , joyn'd them secretly with men sentencd so oft for reprobates in thir owne mouthes , by whose suttle inspiring they grew madd upon a most tardy and improper treaty . whereas if the whole bent of thir actions had not bin against the king himselfe , but against his evill councel , as they faind , and publishd , wherefore did they not restore him all that while to the true life of a king , his office , crown , and dignity , when he was in thir power , and they themselves his neerest counselers . the truth therefore is , both that they would not , and that indeed they could not without thir own certaine destruction , having reduc'd him to such a final pass , as was the very death and burial of all in him rhat was regal , and from whence never king of england yet revivd , but by the new re inforcement of his own party , which was a kind of resurrection to him . thus having quitc extinguisht all that could be in him of a king , and from a total privation clad him over like another specifical thing with formes and habitudes destructive to the former , they left in his person dead as to law and all the civil right either of king or subject the life onely of a prilner , a captive and a malefactor . whom the equal and impartial hand of justice finding , was no more to spare then another ordnary man ; not onely made obnoxious to the doome of law by a charge more then once drawn up against him , and his owne confession to the first article at newport , but summond and arraignd in the sight of god and his people , cutst and devoted to perdition worse then any ahab , or antiochus , with exhortation to curse all those in the name of god that made not warr against him , as bitterly as meroz was to be curs'd , that went not out against a canaanitish king , almost in all the sermons , prayers , and fulminations that have bin utterd this sev'n yeares by those clov'n tongues of falshood and dissention , who now , to the stirring up of new discord , acquitt him ; and against thir owne discipline , which they boast to be the throne and scepter of christ , absolve him , unconfound him , though unconverted , unrepentant , unsensible of all thir pretious saints and martyrs whose blood they have so oft layd upon his head : and now againe with a new sovran anointment can wash it all off , as if it were as vile , and no more to be reckn'd for then the blood of so many dogs in a time of pestilence : giving the most opprobrious lye to all the acted zeale that for these many yeares hath filld thir bellies , and fed them fatt upon the foolish people . ministers of sedition , not of the gospell , who while they saw it manifestly tend to civil warr and bloodshed , never ceasd exasperating the people against him ; and now that they see it likely to breed new commotion , cease not to incite others against the people that have savd them from him , as if sedition were thir onely aime whether against him or for him . but god as we have cause to trust , wil put other thoughts into the people , and turn them from looking after these firebrands , of whose fury , and sals prophecies we have anough experience ; and from the murmurs of new discord will incline them to heark'n rather with erected minds to the voice of our supreme magistracy , calling us to liberty and the flourishing deeds of a reformed common-wealth ; with this hope that as god was heretofore angry with the jews who rejected him and his forme of government to choose a king , so that he will bless us , and be propitious to us who reject a king to make him onely our leader , and supreme governour in the conformity as neer as may be of his own ancient government ; if we have at least but so much worth in us to entertaine the sense of our future happiness , and the courage to receave what god voutsafes us : wherin we have the honour to precede other nations who are now labouring to be our followers . for as to this question in hand what the people by thir just right may doe in change of government , or of governour , we see it cleerd sufsiciently ; besides other ample autority eev'n from the mouths of princes themselves . and surely they that shall boast , as we doe , to be a free nation , and not have in themselves the power to remove , or to abolish any governour supreme , or subordinate with the government it self upon urgent causes , may please thir fancy with a ridiculous and painted freedom , fit to coz'n babies ; but are indeed under tyranny and servitude ; as wanting that power , which is the root and sourse of all liberty , to dispose and oeconomize in the land which god hath giv'n them , as maisters of family in thir own house and free inheritance . without which natural and essential power of a free nation , though bearing high thir heads , they can in due esteem be thought no better then slaves and vassals born , in the tenure and occupation of another inheriting lord . whose government , though not illegal , or intolerable , hangs over them as a lotdly scourge , not as a free goverment ; and therfore to be abrogated . how much more justly then may they fling off tyranny , or tyrants ? who being once depos'd can be no more then privat men , as subject to the reach of justice and arraignment as any other transgressors . and certainly if men , not to speak of heathen , both wise and religious have don justice upon tyrants what way they could soonest , how much more mild and human then is it to give them faire and op'n tryall ? to teach lawless kings and all that so much adore them , that not mortal man , or his imperious will , but justice is the onely true sovran and supreme majesty upon earth . let men cease therfore out of faction and hypocrisie to make outcrys & horrid things of things so just and honorable . and if the parlament and military councel do what they doe without president , if it appeare thir duty , it argues the more wisdom , vertue , and magnanimity , that they know themselves able to be a president to others . who perhaps in future ages , if they prove not too degenerat , will look up with honour and aspire toward these exemplary , and matchless deeds of thir ancestors , as to the highest top of thir civil glory and emulation . which heretofore in the persuance of fame and forren dominion spent it self vain-gloriously abroad ; but henceforth may learn a better fortitude to dare execute highest justice on them that shall by force of armes endeavour the oppressing and bereaving ofreligion and thir liberty at home : that no unbridl'd potentate or tyrant , but to his sorrow for the future , may presume such high and irresponsible licence over mankind to havock and turn upside-down whole kingdoms of men as though they were no more in respect of his perverse will then a nation of pismires . as for the party calld presbyterian , of whom i beleive very many to be good & faithful christians , though misled by som of turbulent spirit , i wish them earnestly and calmly not to fall off from thir first principles ; nor to affect rigor and superiority over men not under them ; not to compell unforcible things in religion especially , which if not voluntary , becomes a sin ; nor to assist the clamor and malicious drifts of men whom they themselves have judg'd to be the worst of men , the obdurat enemies of god and his church : nor to dart against the actions of thir brethren , for want of other argument those wrested lawes and scriptures thrown by prelats and malignants against thir own sides , which though they hurt not otherwise , yet tak'n up by them to the condemnation of thir owne doings give scandal to all men and discover in themselves either extreame passion or apostacy . let them not oppose thir best friends and associats who molest them not at all , infringe not the least of thir liberties ; unless they call it thir liberty to bind other mens consciences , but are still secking to live at peace with them and brotherly accord . let them beware an old and perfet enemy , who though he hope by sowing discord to make them his instruments , yet cannot forbeare a minute the op'n threatning of his destind revenge upon them when they have servd his purposes . let them feare therefore , if they bee wise , rather what they have don already , then what remaines to doe , and be warn'd in time they put no confidence in princes whom they have provokd , lest they be added to the examples of those that miserably have tasted the event . stories can inform them how christiern the second , king of denmark not much above a hundred yeares past , driv'n out by his subjects , and receavd againe upon new oaths and conditions , broke through them all to his most bloody revenge ; slaying his chief opposers when he saw his time , both them and thir children invited to a feast for that purpose . how maximilian dealt with those of bruges , though by mediation of the german princes reconcil'd to them by solem and public writings drawn and seald . how the massacre at paris was the effect of that credulous peace which the french protestants made with charles the ninth thir king : and that the main visible cause which to this day hath sav'd the netherlands from utter ruine , was thir finall not belei●ing the perfidious cruelty which as a constant maxim of state hath bin us'd by the spanish kings on thir subjects that have tak'n armes and after trusted them ; as no later age but can testifie , heretofore in belgia it self , and this very yeare in naples . and to conclude with one past exception , though farr more ancient , david after once hee had tak'n armes , never after that trusted saul , though with tears and much relenting he twise promis'd not to hurt him . these instances , few of many , might admonish them both english and scotch not to let thir owne ends , and the driving on of a faction betray them blindly into the snare of those enemies whose revenge looks on them as the men who first begun , fomented and carri'd on beyond the cure of any sonnd or safe accommodation all the evil which hath since unavoidably befall'n them and thir king . i have something also to the divines , though brief to what were needfull ; not to be disturbers of the civil affairs , being in hands better able and more belonging to manage them ; but to study harder and to attend the office of good pastors , knowing that he whose flock is least among them hath a dreadfull charge , not performd by mounting twise into the chair with a formal preachment huddl'd up at the od hours of a whole lazy week , but by incessant pains and watching in season and out of season , from house to house over the soules of whom they have to feed . which if they ever well considerd , how little leasure would they find to be the most pragmatical sidesmen of every popular tumult and sedition ? and all this while are to learne what the true end and reason is of the gospel which they teach ; and what a world it differs from the censorious and supercilious lording over conscience . it would be good also they liv'd so as might perswade the people they hated covetousness , which worse then heresie , is idolatry ; hated pluralities and all kind of simony ; left rambling from benefice to benefice , iike ravnous wolves seeking where they may devour the biggest . of which if som , well and warmely seated from the beginning , be not guilty , t were good they held not conversation with such as are : let them be sorry that being call'd to assemble about reforming the church , they fell to progging and solliciting the parlament , though they had renouncd the name of priests , for a new setling of thir tithes and oblations ; and double lin'd themselves with spiritual places of commoditie beyond the possible discharge of thir duty . let them assemble in consistory with thir elders and deacons , according to ancient ecclesiastical rule , to the preserving of church discipline each in his several charge , and not a pack of clergie men by themselves to belly cheare in thir presumptuous sion , or to promote designes , abuse and gull the simple laity , and stirr up tumult , as the prelats did , for the maintenance of thir pride and avarice . these things if they observe and waite with patience , no doubt but all things will goe well without their importunities or exclamations : and the printed letters which they send subscrib'd with the ostentation of great characters and little moment , would be more considerable then now they are . but if they be the ministers of mammon instead of christ , and scandalize his church with the filty love of gaine , aspiring also to sit the closest and the heaviest of all tyrants , upon the conscience , and fall notoriously into the same sins , whereof so lately and so loud they accus'd the prelates , as god rooted out those immediately before , so will he root out them thir imitators : and to vindicate his own glory and religion , will uncover thir hypocrisie to the open world ; and visit upon thir own heads that curse ye meroz , the very motto of thir pulpits , wherwith so frequently , not as meroz , but more like atheists they have mock'd the vengeance of god , and the zeale of his people . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a50955e-120 jer. 48. 10. prov. 12. 10. the ancient liberty of the britannick church, and the legitimate exemption thereof from the roman patriarchate discoursed on four positions, and asserted / by isaac basier ... ; three chapters concerning the priviledges of the britannick church, &c., selected out of a latin manuscript, entituled, catholico-romanus pacificus, written by f.i. barnes ... ; translated, and published for vulgar instruction, by ri. watson. de antiqua ecclesiae britannicae libertate. english basier, isaac, 1607-1676. 1661 approx. 82 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26737 wing b1029 estc r9065 11985427 ocm 11985427 51928 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26737) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51928) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 52:13) the ancient liberty of the britannick church, and the legitimate exemption thereof from the roman patriarchate discoursed on four positions, and asserted / by isaac basier ... ; three chapters concerning the priviledges of the britannick church, &c., selected out of a latin manuscript, entituled, catholico-romanus pacificus, written by f.i. barnes ... ; translated, and published for vulgar instruction, by ri. watson. de antiqua ecclesiae britannicae libertate. english basier, isaac, 1607-1676. barnes, john, d. 1661. catholico-romanus pacificus. english. selections. watson, richard, 1612-1685. [24], 55, [6], p., [12], 48, [12] p. printed for john mileson, to bee [sic] sold by elisha wallis ..., london : 1661. first ed. of this translation of: de antiqua ecclesiae britannicae libertate. reproduction of original in british library. imperfect: first ([24], 55, [6]) pages only appear on the film. "select discourses" by f.i. barnes and "a letter written by the reverend dr. basier to the honourable sir richard brown" are lacking. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church and state -england. popes -temporal power. divine right of kings. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-03 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the ancient liberty of the britannick church , and the legitimate exemption thereof from the roman patriarchate , discoursed on four positions , and asserted by isaac basier , d.d. and chaplain in ordinary to his late majesty of great britain , charls the first . three chapters concerning the priviledges of the britannick church , &c. selected out of a latin manuscript , entituled , catholico-romanus pacificus , written by f. i. barnes , of the order of st. benedict , yet living [ as is said ] in the roman inquisition . translated , and published , for vulgar instruction , by ri. watson . london , printed for iohn mileson , to bee sold by elisha wallis , at the horse-shooe in the great old-bayley , 1661. to my worthy good friend mr. richard watson , &c. at caen. sir , the cause why the abundant satisfaction i inwardly conceived , at the receipt of your most obliging letter , and reading of that excellent diatribe of doctor basiers , which accompanied it ( by mr. coventrie's favour ) according to your direction , hath no sooner thus dilated it self on paper , hath been that ingenious young gentlemans absence these holy-daies , as hee himself will ( i doubt not ) for my further justification , testifie ; i do therefore , sir , with all gratitude , acknowledge both dr. basier's , and your ample favours , in this whole design , no less relating to what is already so worthily performed , than to what is also so meritoriously projected and intended , as that i should do my self great wrong to refuse the annex of my name ; where it should rather be my ambition to have it appear ; but , on the other side , give mee leave , sir , to suggest one caution , that you take heed ( since you intend it should pass currant in england ) the stamp of my name do not , in regard of my relation to my royal master , ( i will not say , adulterate the coin , or abate the intrinseck value , but ) make it less welcome to praeoccupated and misperswaded readers . the doctor 's english letter , to mee , i hold not only fit for the press , as a testimony of the authors eminent industry and merit , but also as it is useful to the publick , indeed , such a one , written with so apostolical a spirit , as that i have been often heard to say , that i could never read it , but as a kinde of nine-and-twentieth of the acts ; use therefore i beseech you , sir , my name with all freedome , as you think good , you cannot entitle mee to any thing of this kind , which doth not add , as to my honour , so to my obligation to you ; whose prone , and undeserved , favour herein i shall , upon all occasions , ambitiously endeavour to requite by some more solid acknowledgement , than this bare signing my self , most worthy sir , paris , this first day of the year , 1658. which i heartily wish you most happy . your most humble and obliged servant richard brown. to the honourable , sir richard brown , clerk of the right honourable privy-council to his majesty of great britain , &c. sir , though i took the liberty , some years since , to publish the latin diatribe of the worthy doctor , which i found in my * lords cabinet , after his decease ; yet i could not so well presume to address it , as , i am confident , intended by the learned author , unto your noble self ; by my adventure in the translation i have somewhat improv'd my title , to a degree of propriety , and can so far justifie yours , at least to what is mine , if you please to own a patronage of the work , under so much disadvantage , as the change of language puts upon it . your approbation of it in the design gives mee no full assurance of your satisfaction at sight and reading ; but your ability to judge the difficulty of englishing such matters , in such a stile as they require , and your incouragement of all that aims at the publick good , yeeld mee hopes of your acceptance , and dispensation with whatsoever unavoidable defects ; that it was presented to you no sooner , you in part know the reason ; until of late it hath been as hard to finde a press for any treatise that vindicated our church , as for a dedicatory epistle to any resident of our king : but my long frustrated attendance for a supplement from mr. justell was the first dilatory it had , and very lately , i think , it hath been discountenanced by an aversion , if no more , of some private inquisitours , where you are , from all that hangs the church of england on this hinge of primitive antiquity , or the authority of ancient councils . it waits on you now , accompanied with somewhat i communicated not before , obtained by the friendly industry of that * ingenious gentleman , who sent mee f. barnes's manuscript , whence i selected what ( and more than what ) the doctor directs us to , though hee survives not to entertain the duplicate of my thanks , nor to take pleasure in the effect of his own pains , or mine , and to actuate further the most commendable quality , which happily discoverd it self very early in him , a singular complacency in accommodating a private friend , and a generous promptitude to advance any thing wherein publick interest was concerned . i must needs , in gratitude , do him the honour of laying this leaf of lawrel on his hearse , which hath passed through several hands of our reverend clergy , and gentry , * where hee died , recommended , sir , with your own serious condolence unto mine , that he acquired the character of a prudent exemplary young gentleman in his life , and a very pious christian in the self-discerned approaches to his death . sir , for printing the doctors letter , i should apologize ( unto him ) if you lent mee not yours to countenance it ; as your permitting it before to be read and copied , had signified your inclination to have some such right done to our church , and him , which could not better be than in company with another work of his own , and what his approves . the advertisement you further gave mee , that his additional relations were addressed to sir george radcliffe , came too late for mee to recover them , by the means i used , out of his papers ; as the notice of his death did for some other letters that had passed , to my knowledge , between my lord , and sir george , upon theological points of controversie , wherein they differed , and which they discussed with some little earnestness , yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; if the former be not irrecoverably disposed of , sir , you have now a fair opportunity to secure them ; though , if the good doctor himself be living , the late misfortune befallen the country learned * travellers , not to exercise their function where the duty of praying for the king should be prohibited ; and a signal instance it was of christian courage in our reverend author , when an exile , to refuse the offer of a plentiful support , where that would not be allowed ; yet it had been worth his journey to smyrna , to convert the consul , who now , i hope , hath more than the merchants argument ( which many times is more prevalent with men of business , than the divines ) i mean , that of interest , to convince him . sir , the benediction the doctor gives to you and yours , in allusion to that which issued from the ark to obed edoms house , i have a very particular obligation to suffrage in , though so long after the date of his ; it was testimonium dei faventis , saith grotius ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith philo , of the propitiatory , or cover to it , a testimony or symbole of gods favourable and powerfull mercy to the good man ; not so restrained to the presence , but , even after its removal to the city of david , no doubt , he and his family were blessed by it . sir , the publick exercise of our liturgy , is the antitype we reflect upon , which , by gods singular indulgence to you , hath , when chased out of the temple , took refuge in your house , so that we have been forced many times to argue from your oratory for a visibility of our church ; your easie admission of mee to officiate in it for some months , and your endeavours to have such an establishment made for mee , as whereby , in the most difficult of times , i might have had a comfortable subsistence , and a safe protection under your sacred roof , beside the other graces and civilities i had from you , exact this open retribution of my thanks ; as the character of my holy order , impressed on mee in your chapel , may have consigned mee , somewhat peculiarly , to be your priest , when any emergent may require the canonical performance of my ministery within your walls ; however , sir , i shall not offer the holy sacrifice at any of gods altars ( which are now again erecting by a most miraculous mercy to his king and people ) but i shall commemorate , in your behalf , the little emblem you preserved of them , when they lay in their dust and ruines ; nor shall the cloud of sacred incense ascend in the sanctuary without the mixture of my breath , while i have it , to ask a return from heaven , in showers of blessings to you , and your posterity , whose name , & memory , must be ever venerable to the english clergy , as your person hath been most obliging to many of us , among whom , though the unworthiest of them , i pray assist and honour with the continuance of your patronage , noble sir , your most grateful , and very humble servant , ri. watson . caen , aug. 12. 1660. positions . i position . the rights of patriarchates . custome introduced ; councils confirmed ; emperours established . ii position . the britannick church , as being alwaies placed without the suburbicaries of the italick diaecese , in the time of the nicene council , was in no case subject to the roman patriarchate , but enjoyed a patriarchate of its own ( as to the substance of the thing ) so as did the other churches placed in the rest of the free diaeceses . iii position . the britannick church was , with very good right , restored by her soveraign , to her ancient ecclesiastical liberty , and that according to the rule of the ancient catholick canons , by which the word ) the metropolitick rights custome hath introduced , appears from the very words in the sixth canon of the first great nicen council , wherein the confines of the three chief patriarchs are determined , and the origin of the roman metropolitan , as also the alexandrian , antiochian , and those of other provinces ( which at that time did alike enjoy , each its own . ) i say , the origin of every one of these , is referred by the council ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to custome ; and moreover the synod doth decree a religious observation of that custome in these solemn words , which the church truly catholick did perpetually reverence as an oracle , viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . let ancient customes be in force ; commanding likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that churches should have their priviledges preserved . the same is clearly evident from the words in the second canon of the first constantinopolitan council , which most expresly commands each church in every diocess to be governed according to that custome of the fathers which had prevailed , the priviledges being preserved which by the nicen canons have been granted to the churches . the second part of the position ( viz. that councils have confirmed the rights of patriarchates ) is manifest both by the former paragraph , and principally by that illustrious canon , which is the last save one of the oecumenick council at chalcedon ( that is the 206 canon of the universal church ) a neither the truth nor validity whereof hath any one questioned , unlesse carried away violently with an affection to the roman partie . the words of the said canon are most emphatical . behold the very marrow and vigour of it express'd . first , the catholick ancients do assert , that they in this decree , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and every where follow the definitions of the holy fathers . secondly , that the priviledges of the elder rome , they say not ( are founded by christ , or by peter , or by paul , but ) are indulged by the fathers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . thirdly , they adjust the reason of this prerogative , and that not divine , nor indeed so much as ecclesiastical , but meerly secular , to wit ( as wee shall demonstrate in the third paragraph ) the imperial authority , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because that city was emperesse of the rest . fourthly , the fathers , moved by the same consideration , declare , that they ( as much as lyes in them ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , will communicate equal priviledges to the most holy throne of new rome . rightly judging ( they are the words of the very canon ) that constantinople , which they call new rome , being honoured both with empire and senate , may enjoy equal priviledges with the elder rome ; and in ecclesiastical affairs , no less than she , be extolled and magnified , as her second , or next unto her : hitherto the canon , second , to wit , in order , but no way obnoxious in jurisdiction to rome , as is plain by her equality with rome , every way asserted in the canon , and will afterward more clearly appear both out of the 8th . canon of the first ephesine council , as also the ninth canon of the council of chalcedon ; both which canons are cited and illustrated in the following position . the third part of the position , viz. the rights of patriarchates emperours have established , is confirmed both by reason and by practice ; and that first general , then special likewise . the general reason , being as it were the foundation of this whole discourse deeper laid , is farther to be reached . first , therefore wee say , that fathers of families were at first both princes and priests . moreover , as the supplicate of the whole gallick people , to * king philip the faire , almost four hundred years since , very rightly observeth against pope boniface , melchisedec is expresly said to be king before priest , and consequently the king taketh not from the priest , nor ought to acknowledge that hee owes unto the priest his crown , or the rights thereof ( such as the external regiment of the church is proved to be afterward . ) secondly , wee say , that by propagation of families , and their amplification into cities , and communities , the oeconomick authority in process of time , became politick . thirdly , wee assert , that in the first institution of the priesthood , moses took away no part of the supream jurisdiction from the politick authority ; therefore the royal power remained the same it was before , both legislative and iudiciary , as well in sacred as civil affairs . for moses , as * king in iesurun , was constituted by god himself , the keeper as well of † both trumpets , as tables ; now what pertained to moses as king , is every kings due . this very comparative argument , as rightly consequent from moses to constantine the great , after the revolutions of so many ages , eusebius five or six times applies to establish the imperial authority about the convocation and confirmation of the first nicene council . fourthly , as moses , not aaron , delivered the ceremonial law : so , long after moses , king david instituted the courses of the priest , and solomon thrust out abiathar the high priest. fifthly , when christ inaugurated his apostles , hee furnished them with great powers of his own , such as are the administration of sacraments , and power of the keyes ; but all that christ bestowed on his apostles cumulatively , nought at all privatively : for indeed our lord christ would neither by the evangelical priesthood , nor his whole first advent , have any thing detracted from the jurisdiction or authority of the civil powers ; nor that kings , because christians , should have their prerogative abated . sixthly , wee say , that kings , as kings , ought to be the liturgick officers of christ ; and so far kings in their degree may , yea ought to be ministers of the church , and , as it were , external bishops of the ecclesiastick government , ( as s constantine the great said wisely of himself ) that same the magnificent title of christ himself , prince of the kings of the earth , seems to erect for all kings of right , although in fact most of kings are not , yet by vertue of this title they are obliged all to bee christians . seventhly , we say , that there are very many things pertaining to the external polity of the church , which although they belong properly and primarily to the king alone , yet in case of necessity , as they say , and secondarily are out of course devolved upon the clergy . for instance , to call synods ; ordain fasts or festivals ; distinguish parishes into diocesses , or provinces ; to fix and ratifie the hierarchical degrees of bishops , so as this man is a bishop , that a primate , the third a metropolitane ; that this bishop should be under the jurisdiction of that metropolitane , and contrarily , upon some weighty or lawful either occasion , necessity , or publick commodity of the church , that this should be exempt from the other under whom hee was before . these , and very many of like sort , according to the various state of the church , pertain both to the king and priest. for those two most different times of the church's condition ought not to be confounded , i mean of persecution , and peace . because in time of persecution under infidel kings , so long as princes are altogether and every way dis-joyned from the church , and the church from princes , the divine order ceaseth , and the royal succession suffer's necessarily interruption ( i say interruption , not abolition ) for so long the case is plainly extraordinary , and , while so , the woman is in the desart , and the church supplies this defect of princes as she can . as when the husband is absent or sick , the matron governs the family . but the divine positive order re-entring , the ordinary state of the church returneth also ; so soon as kings resume the christian religion , the partition-wall presently falls down , and then by due right kings take again their exteriour power over the christian church . otherwise we should say , that in order to the government of the church , there ought to be no difference between pharaoh and moses , between nero and constantine ; nor , as to dominion in sacred affairs and the right use thereof , that this emperour communicates any more with the church , than the other ; which would be dissonant , not onely from right reason , but also from holy scripture . therefore the emperour , so soon as hee becomes christian , ought to obtain his restitution intire . and this in this argument is the matter of right , or general reason , which wee lay down as the base of that right which belongs to the emperour in establishing the external limits of the ecclesiastical government . as to the matter of fact , or practice , that is both general or catholick , and also special . the general practice ( beside the assumption of the second argument which was proved before ) consists in an induction of councils , as well general as provincial , all which as they supplicate from the emperour himself the very convocation of councils : so do they submit to the same emperour every one of their decrees , even those in matters of faith , which although , as to their intrinsec authority , they depend onely on the word of god , and truth it self ; yet , as to their extrinsec authority , they depend on the imperial sentence : but if those of faith , how much more those which are onely of the bare regiment of the church , such as is the establishment of patriarchates , lye all under the imperial decrees ? to wit , in this sense , that the canon of the church may have the force of a law , that wholly proceeds from the authority of the prince . thence is it , that every one of the ancient councils , all the ancient catholick bishops ( even the bishop of rome himself ) present them alwaies to the emperour to be supplied , amended , perfected ; and so humbly petition from the emperour , not a naked protection , or late execution ; but an intire ratification and confirmation of every council , without which , as to the external effect , they are to become unattired , void , and plainly of no force . concerning this truth , i appeal not onely to the councils of cavalion , mentz and toures , with the rest of the less sort ; but i produce the very four general councils , concerning the first of which , viz. that of nice , eusebius expresly relates , that the emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , confirming the decrees of the synod , did fortifie them , as it were with his seal . i appeal also to the first council of constantinople , and the very epistle of the council to the emperour theodosius , wherein all the holy fathers petition the emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. to have the suffrage of the synod confirmed . yea , i appeal to leo himself pope of rome , ( whom i beleeve not to have been of the most abject spirit among those in that pontificate ) who in every one of his † letters to three emperours , humbly petitions ( not commands , much less decrees ▪ but ) beseecheth , supplicates , that the emperour would command , &c. but it may suffice to have declared these things , though somewhat at large , yet but by the way , to the evincing ( by a general rule from the whole to the part ) that the rights of patriarchates introduced by custome ▪ confirmed by councils , were established by emperours , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which was the last lemme of our position . the same will appear more evidently in the special practice of the catholick emperours . for by what authority iustinian the emperour erected iustiniana prima to a new patriarchate , and indulged unto the same ( they are the words of his eleventh novel ) the highest priesthood , the highest authority , and ordained that that should have the place ( not onely vicegerency , but place ) of the apostolical see , so as it should be , saith nicephorus , a free church , and head unto it self , with full power , &c. ( what could be said more amply , what more magnificently of rome her self ? ) so likewise by the same imperial authority , the very same emperour iustinian , novel . 131. ch . 1. restored the african diocess to its ancient patriarchal prerogative ( which the invasion of the vandals had interrupted ) and so by his imperial writ did hee constitute the bishop of carthage absolute primate of whole africk . lastly , this is the very thing which in the last age the emperour of britain king henry the eighth by the like right imitated in his diocess , viz. not by erecting it anew ( which yet in the case of iustiniana prima iustinian did ) but onely restoring the same britannick diocess unto the ancient liberty it enjoyed in the primitive times of the ancient oecumenick councils , viz. the * nicene , constantinopolitane , and ephesine ( concerning which more hereafter ) and thus much more than needs , of our first position , because that is , as it were , the foundation laid for the rest that follow . the second position . 1 the britannick church 2 as being alway placed without the suburbicaries of the italick diocess , 3 in the time of the nicene council , was in no case subject to the romane patriarchate , but enjoyed a patriarchate of its own ( as to the substance of the thing ) so as did the other churches , placed in the rest of the free diocesses . the structure , or proof . to the first wee must observe , that the britannick diocess was one of the thirteen , into which , according to the computation of some , the whole roman empire , but the very praefecture of rome it self , was anciently a distributed . we must also observe that the britannick diocess had been one of the six diocesses of the western empire , among which it appears to have excelled out of tacitus , spartian , and the other more famous roman historians . to the second , wee must mark , that by the nicene council every province had its metropolitick bounds set . certain it is , i say , that therein were fixed the ecclesiastick limits to the three chief metropolitanes , that is , to the roman , alexandrian , and antiochian , the right alwaies of the other provinces being preserved , which were no way subject to these metropolitanes . b it matters not whether wee call them patriarchs , or primates ( the origin of which terms , as the amplitude of their office , wee owe rather to the following ages ) whether wee call them exarchs , as the council of chalcedon , can. 9. or arch-bishops , as iustinian promiscuously , or metropolitans , or onely bishops , as this very nicen council , all is one , so long as it effectually appears , that by patriarchs , wee understand them to whose both ordination and jurisdiction the provinces of intire dioceses were attributed , and who had the hearing and judging of all ecclesiastick causes in the last reference , so that , according to e iustinian the emperour , yea according to the very oecumenick council of chalcedon from the patriarchal sentence out of council was allowed no regular appeal . wee call , with the lawyers , those suburbicary provinces , which were concluded in one diocese , the law term , because of the manifest coextension of both , being translated from the republick to the church . thirdly , let us grant ( which yet is undetermined ) that the roman patriarch had obtained an extraordinary or patriarchal jurisdiction over all the provinces of the italick diocese , as his suburbicaries , and that they were those ten in number , viz. the three islands of sicilie , corsica , and sardinia , and the seven other placed on the continent . which ten provinces some do assign to the same diocese , induced by that ancient observation , from which it appears , that the ecclesiastick jurisdiction of the dioceses , both for the beauty and benefit of order and unity , as also to insinuate a mutual harmony ( which ought , as much as may be , to be cherished between the church and republick ) in a certain accurate imitation , was so coextended with , and adjusted to , the temporal regiment of the secular vicars , that the ecclesiastick patriarchates or primacies were not enlarged farther than the temporal jurisdiction of the vicars , that is , to the limits of those dioceses , the cities whereof , in which resided the vicars , were metropolies , where was fixed the praetory it self , which was the highest tribunal of all causes , and all appeals likewise in the provinces subject thereunto . the very same government of the church was retained for the conservation of ecclesiastick unity , unto which was had special regard by that singular and excellent subordination of the lesser clerks to their bishops in every city ; of the bishops unto their metropolitanes in every province ; and of the metropolitanes to their patriarchs in every diocese . but in case either of heresie or schism , the church was succoured by councils , either provincial , which were rightly called by the metropolitane , or patriarchal , which by the patriarch , or lastly general , which by the emperour himself . now as this premised general coextension of the ecclesiastick jurisdiction with the civil government appears by comparing the second canon of the constantinopolitan council with the very code of the provinces : so that particular definition of the italick diocese may bee fetcht out of ruffinus d the best interpreter of that very sixth nicene canon , who expresly mentions the suburbicaries in that place , where he professedly interprets the said canon ; who being both an italian , and near the age of the nicene council , was able clearly to distinguish the proper limits ( as then fixed ) of the italick patriarchate . howsoever it is evident to any man , that even in this sense , from the jurisdiction of all those ten italick provinces , as — penitus loto divisos orbe britannos . from the whole world the britains were divided . to the fourth , viz. that in the time of the nicene council the britannick diocese was subject neither to the roman patriarchate ( as some of yesterday , grosly suppose ) nor yet to any forein jurisdiction ; shall presently appear , when wee shall shew , that the britannick churches enjoyed their own primate or patriarch . that being all matter of fact , is to be fetched out of the britannick history it self , which is written by venerable bede , the chief historiographer of the said britain , and a catholick priest too . in him therefore wee may read the huge difference of the britannick church ( howsoever e most catholick in other things ) from ( that i say , not with the same bede , contrariety to ) the roman church , both in the different observation of easter , wherein the britains following the use of anatolius the constantinopolitane patriarch , and not that of the bishop of rome , conformed themselves to the eastern , not western churches , as also in the different administration of holy baptism , and in many other things ( witness augustin himself , who was legate of gregory the roman bishop ) the same also appears out of the constancy of the britains in their rejection of the said augustin , whom although sent express by the roman pontifie , that hee might preside over the britains ; yet , saith bede , all the britain bishops refused to acknowledge him for their arch-bishop , as who had an arch-bishop of their own ; whosoever hee then was , whom it would not bee hard to know from the prerogatives of his metropoly , and priviledge of his seat in councils . as for the state of the britannick churches , and their partition , it will bee worth our pains to search it in the undoubted records of the british antiquity . from the very time therefore of constantine the great , and so of the nicene council , all britany was in times past canton'd into three onely provinces , * over which were , after the romane manner , in temporal affairs , three romane proconsuls or praesidents ; as likewise in spiritual there praesided as many arch-bishops commonly called metropolitans from their metropolies , or principal cities wherein were resident both the secular and sacred provost , or metropolitane . the first of these three provinces was called maxima caesariensis , the greatest caesarian [ or inverted if either way to be englished ] the metropolitan whereof was the bishop of york . the second was called britannia primo , the first britain , the metropolitane , of which was the bishop of london . the third was britannia secunda , the second britain , called the legionary metropoly , and thereof the is●ane bishop , or bishop of ca●ruske in the tract or county of monmouth . that was the state of this metropoly from lucius unto king arthur , in whose time the metropolitical dignity was transferred to the bishop of st. davids , to whom were subject , as suffragans , the welch bishops , until in the time of henry the first , or as some will have it , henry the third , the same metropolitane was reduced under the obedience of the arch-bishop of canterbury . now whatsoever either in the provinces themselves , or churches , was afterward irregularly parjeted from abroad , that cannot prejudice the imperial authority , to which belongs , as we have before shewed , both to dispense the external government of the church , and to establish the jurisdictions which it limits . much less can a usurpation , advanced by force or fraud , derogate from the oecumenick decrees of the ancient fathers , or frustrate so many most grave canons , venerable for their age , published thereupon , such as is the premised 6th canon of the nicene council for the ancient prerogatives , and the second canon of the constantinopolitan , by which is charged , that no bishop approach any churches situate without his bounds ( which most grave canon i wish the bishop of rome had religiously observed , the peace of the church had been better assured ) the council goes on , commanding , that all bee kept according to what was defined at nice . and that these may not seem too remote from our britain , the canon concludes in a general sanction , that all things ought to be done according to that custome of the fathers in force . but that such had been the custome of the britains , as to have all weighty affairs synodically disputed within themselves , appears out of bede . † moreover , to have been in use , that the bishops of that nation were consecrated by one bishop , baronius himself somewhere observes . at that time truly so beautiful was the state of affairs in britain , until some ages after the council of nice , augustin the monk was sent by gregory , who , what hee could not by right , first by fraud , then by the armed assistance of ethelbert , and his new-converted anglo-saxons , indeavoured to force the catholick bishops of britain to acknowledge and receive him for their arch-bishop ; but they couragiously replied , that they could not abandon their ancient priviledges , and subject themselves to the mandates of strangers . f that any other custome had been in the sacred government of the british church , no man can ever evince out of genuine antiquity . and so much concerning the second position . the third position bearing proportion to the second . the britannick church was 1 with very good right 2 restored by her soveraign to her ancient ecclesiastical liberty , 3 and that according to the rule of the ancient catholick canons , by which was confirmed for the future the intire liberty of the churches . to the first , whatsoever the rebels at this day on either side falsely alledge to the contrary , it appears out of very many histories , and the authentick chronicles , that the kingdome of england hath been an empire , and so accounted in the world , which was governed by one supream head , or king , both in spirituals and temporals , and that wholly independent of any forein prince or supremacy whatsoever on earth . this is the very marrow expressed from the formal words of a statute at large set out to this purpose by the assembly of parliament , that is , of the whole kingdome in the 24th . year of king henry the eighth , chap. 12. at which time the three estates of england , to wit , the clergy , nobility and commons , willing to recall the ancient rights of the kingdome , taken away rather by force and power , than any rule of the canons , decreed to have controversies ended within the bounds of the kingdome , without any appeal to foreiners ( which indeed is one principal prerogative of a patriarchal jurisdiction . ) but upon this whole britannick affair , the thing most worthy our observation is , that this decree , for the liberty of the britannick churches was not introductive of a new law , as in spight to the kings of britain new upstarts calumniate , who are either ignorant of , or opposite to , the britannick priviledge : but the said decree was onely declarative of an ancient custome , which had constantly prevailed in england , eight hundred years since , and so many ages before : yea and was intirely renewed as often as occasion required . concerning this most g just assertion , wee attest the ample margin filled with a long train of the ancient britannick statutes , which the ingenuous reader may be pleased at leisure to view and consider . whence by induction of parts will appear , that this was no new enterprize , nor a single irregular act of henry the eighth alone ; but that long before the time of henry the eighth , this had been the ancient supremacy of all the kings of england , over all persons , and in all causes whatsoever , so well ecclesiastick as temporal . wee proceed to the second , and prove the ancient state of the church to have been such , out of the undoubted monuments of the britannick church ; where first wee may collect out of the fore-cited * venerable bede , as also † henry of huntington no less than the rest , that augustine the monk stirred up ethelbert king of kent against the bishops of the britains , because they in behalf of the ancient britannick liberty denied to subject themselves and their churches unto the roman legate . yet further , huntington adds , that neither the britains nor scots ( that is the irish ) would therefore communicate with the english , and h augustine their bishop , more than with pagans ; the reason was , because augustine did seem to deal uncanonically with them , by constraining them to receive him for their arch-bishop , and subject themselves to the mandates of strangers ; when as the ancient manners of the britannick church required , that all things should be synodically transacted within themselves . hence is it , that the britains did alwaies celebrate their ordinations within themselves , and this is also another honorary priviledge of the patriarchal jurisdiction , and concerning this wee again appeal unto * bede in his history of aidan the bishop ; yea to baronius himself , where quoted before , who relates , out of lanfranke , the custome of the kingdome to have been , that the bishops thereof were consecrated by one single bishop ; but that these ancient customes of britain were abrogated by the force rather , and power of the anglo-saxons , than by any synodical consent . the said † bede testifieth the same , where hee relates that colman the bishop ( finanus's successour in the pontificate of the northymbrians ) with his fellows , chose rather to desert episcopate and monastery , than their ancient manners . which fact of bishop colman is worth observation , lest , what some falsely pretend , onely the monks of bangor may seem to have rejected augustin , against whom , charged upon them , this was the legitimate defence of the ancient britains , these being their very words out of * beda before , that they could not abandon their ancient manners , without the consent and license of their own bishops . and truly this answer of the britains was grounded on very irrefragable , very catholick reason , and that because this unwonted subjection had contradicted the sixth oecumenick canon of the council of nice , which expresly commands the ancient manners to bee kept . this had also destroyed the eighth canon of the first ephesine council , by which first such usurpation , to wit , in the case of the cyprian church , is called in hypothesis , a thing innovated beside ecclesiastick constitutions and canons of the holy fathers , which , as common diseases , therefore needs a greater remedy , because the dammage is greater which it brings . secondly , therefore the holy synod ( in thesi , as they say , or in general ) commands , that that should be observed in all dioceses and provinces wheresoever ( behold the authentick charter of the britannick liberty . ) thirdly , that no bishop ( the roman not excepted ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should invade any other province , which from the beginning hath not been under his , or his predecessours jurisdiction ( as , for instance , did augustin the monk. ) fourthly , the oecumenick canon goes on , and a hundred and fifty years , more or less , before augustins invasion of the britannick church , as it were fore-seeing it , by provision declares it to be void , in these most weighty words . that if any one shall invade it , and make it his own by force , hee shall restore it . fifthly , yet further ( for the following words are most emphatical , and which , as by and by shall appear , seem chiefly to regard the roman bishop himself . ) the holy synod warneth , that the canons of the holy fathers be not passed by , nor that the pride of secular power creep in under the specious pretence of administring sacred affairs , and by little and little unawares wee lose that liberty which our lord iesus christ , the deliverer of all men , hath purchased for us by his blood . yea the holy oecumenical synod , for the greater enforcement , yet again repeats the decree . it hath therefore pleased the holy and universal synod [ to decree ] that to every province be preserved pure , and inviolate , the rights which it had from the very beginning , according to ancient custome , every metropolitane ( and so the britannick ) having liberty to take copies of the act for his security . yet the holy synod concludes according to its oecumenical authority : if any one shall bring any sanction ( every word is most general ) repugnant to those which now are defined , it hath pleased intirely the holy and universal synod , that it bee void . hitherto for the liberty of the churches [ extends ] the most express canon of the catholick church , which after the matter of fact first declared , completes the matter of right in favour as well of the britannick , as cyprian church . for since , as out of the praemises appears , the britannick church in the west enjoyed the same priviledge wherewith the cyprian church was honoured in the east , why may not shee lawfully resume what is her own , in time of peace , which was taken from her , by tumult and force , in a turbulent time of the wars ? the sum of the whole most inculent canon is this ; the ancient and truly catholick church would have the rights of every church preserved , not taken away , and if they be taken away by force or fraud , what patriarch soever doth it , his fact is declared void , and moreover hee is commanded to restore that province which he hath made his own . now that this canon was establisht in a tacite opposition to the roman bishop himself , is , not obscurely , to bee collected out of the * acts of that council ; for it is evident from them , that the canon prevailed , notwithstanding the epistle of innocent the first to alexander , wherein the roman bishop declared , that the cyprians were not wise according to faith , if they subjected not themselves to the patriarch of antioch , when as , notwithstanding , wee see the decree of the universal synod plainly contrary to the papal sentence , wherein namely it was judged that this was attempted by the antiochian , beside the canons , and that therefore all the letters brought by him against the cyprians were of no effect . hitherto the third position . the last followeth . the fourth and last position . the britannick church persevering in its primitive exemption from the roman patriarchate , so far is it from that it ought , or can be therefore called schismatical , that rather in the very same respect ( before truly catholick iudges ) that church appears both to have been , and yet really to bee , by so much the more every way catholick , by how much that church , more than others , is an assertour of the whole ancient catholick liberty , which by so many sacred canons of four general councils , the nicene , constantinopolitan , ephesine and chalcedonian , the catholick fathers have decreed , and antecedently declared to remain ratified for ever against all future usurpations . since the time that the ancient liberty of the britannick church , was by right resumed ( as before ) with the solemn consent of the whole kingdome , the i britannick church ( now truly catholick in the rest ) can by a like right retain the same without the loss of her catholicism , without any brand of schism , much less of heresie . we do willingly owe the proof of this assertion to barns , a most learned and peaceable man , at the same time [ when hee writ it ] a roman priest ; a monk in the order of the benedictins , a britain , and therefore no unfit arbiter of this britannick cause . first , therefore , whether the causes of our withdrawing were sufficient , is no way a matter of faith , but wholly matter of fact , whereto the roman bishop himself ( that i may speak the truth as gently as may be ) was at least accessory , and therefore can be no competent judge of the cause , but rather , if the business would bear a controversie , it were to be presented to a truly oecumenical or general free council , rightly and legitimately called . now so far is it from that the britannick church even refused to present her self , or her cause , before the tribunal of such a council , that the britannick church rather holds a general council to be above any patriarch ( even the roman himself ) according to that pair of councils held at basil , and constance . this the britannick holds together with the gallican church , a renewing of the ancient concord with which church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so far as conscience permits , were even at this time much to be wished , it being k manifest that above a thousand years since , much friendship passed between the gallican and the britannick church , even at that time when the britannick church did not communicate with the roman : and certainly if both parties would mutually understand one the other , without prejudice , and that of the two , which is in the extream , would remit of its rigour , that consent of the britannick church with the gallican would not be so improbable as it seems at the first aspect to them that are ignorant of both , or either . but this onely by the way . to our purpose again . wee say the britannick church doth so reverence the general councils , that she hath provided by a special statute , that not any one endued with spiritual jurisdiction , shall declare or administer his ecclesiastical censures , or adjudge any matter or cause to be heresie , but onely such as before had been determined , ordered , or adjudged to be heresie by the authority of the canonical scriptures , or by the first four general councils , or any of them , or by any other general council . this was in the reign of queen elizabeth the very catholick sense of the britannick church , and her due esteem of general councils , which the old parliament openly testified in the solemn assembly of that whole kingdome , for we disdain to make mention in this place of the cabals or conventicles now adayes , which reign in the turbulent rebellious state of that church and republick : for those swarms of sects are onely the cancers and impostemes of that lately famous church , which no more belong to the sacred body of the britannick church , than a wenn doth to the body natural : and truly if heretofore the great mother of us all , the catholick church seemed almost universally to be utterly swallowed by a sudden deluge of l arrianism , what wonder is it if the britannick church , but one of her daughters , lye under the same fate for a time ? this for the first point . concerning the second , it is to be very much observed , that the britannick church , at the time of her withdrawing , was not truly in fact , much less by right , subject to the bishop of rome , having been — years before her reformation under edward 6. altogether exempt from the roman patriarchate , to wit , by the imperial authority , and by that of prince henry the eighth , whom to have been impowred to do it by right appears before in the first position . but what occasion soever of the withdrawing at that time shall bee pretended , it cannot prejudice the royal right , or any way derogate from the ancient custome of the britannick church . nay , the british nation could not have opposed either of the two , without being hainously guilty both of rebellion and schism , especially since that whole business of the church's restitution was transacted with the express consent of the britannick clergy ( then romane ) a provincial council of which alone , in defect of a general ▪ was at that time the supream meerly ecclesiastick tribunal of the britannick nation , whereunto , onely , the britannick church ought to be , or indeed could be subject , because in that article of time , no council , truly general , sate . as for that of trent , which afterward followed , it was at highest onely patriarchal , to which consequently the britannick church , before exempt by lawful authority from the romane patriarchate , was no way subject . whereas therefore the britannick church can be said to have opposed it self to no lawful ecclesiastick authority at all , which notwithstanding inseparably is of the essence of schism , certain it is , that church is no way schismatical , but , on the contrary side , the britannick church , according to the singular moderation and christian love she perpetually sheweth toward all christians , as she keeps off from her external communion no christian of what ever communion he be ( so that he hold the foundation intire ) but ( unless a most just excommunication put a bar ) opens her catholick bosome , and draws forth her holy breasts to any genuine nursling of the catholick church ; so as well in faith , as the internal communion of charity , as likewise in the external communion of the catholick hierarchy and liturgy , yea and ceremonies also , she yet cherisheth and professeth an undivided peace and consent with the catholick church , from which the britannick church never did , nor ever will separate her self , as being alwaies most tenacious of the whole truly catholick foundation . for one thing it is ( on the hinge of which just distinction is the whole state of this great controversie turned ) one thing , i say , it is , to separate her self from the catholick or universal church , and to form to her self a congregation or religion apart different from the catholick church , as in times past the donatists did ; another , not to communicate in all with some one particular church ( as for instance , the latine ) or rather to abstain from the external worship which is used by some persons , in some places , under an express protestation ( for thence is sprung the modest and innocent title of protestants ) under protestation , i say , so soon as the occasion of scandal should be taken away , of reconciliation , and under a vow ( not so much out of any absolute necessity , as for publick peace , and catholick unity's sake ) of returning to the communion of that particular church , from which that the protestants were estranged , yea in the latter age violently driven away by thunder , and sword , and fire , is better known out of history , than to want any proof , or further amplification . it appears therefore out of the premises , that the britannick church constituted in this , as i may say , her passive state of separation from the communion of the bishop of rome , is wholly free from all blemish of schism , by reason that the m bishop of rome himself first of all interrupted christian communion with the britannick church , and yet further inderdicteth the britannick church his communion , and in that again the pope extolleth himself above a general council lawfully called ( unto which the britannick church hath ever attributed the decisive judgement ) while in his n bull of the lords supper , he forbids an appeal from himself to a general council . to all these add ( what in conclusion is principally necessary ) to wit , that the britannick church , after the very sacred canon of the scriptures ( such as is defined in the † † conc. laodic . can. ult . ancient councils ) adheres closely unto tradition truly universal , as well ecclesiastick as apostolical , both which lean on the testimony or authority of the truly catholick church , according to that in vincentius of lirinum , his fam'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or essay of ancient catholicism , quod ubique , quod semper , quod ab omnibus , &c. that which every where , which alwaies , which by all , &c. it appeareth that the britannick church bears upon these two catholick principles , to wit , holy scripture , before and above all ; and then universal tradition ; not onely because the general council of nice , wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ancient customes are underset and established ; but also the britannick church , in a * * the first synod . after her articles of religion were fixed . an. 13. regin . elizab. provincial council of her own , hath most expresly ordained by a special canon . wee conclude therefore , that the britannick church , such as shee was lately under episcopacy rightly constituted , was no way schismatical , neither materially , nor formally , since that she neither erected unto her self chair against chair , which is the foul brand of schismaticks , in st. cyprian ; nor did that church cut her self off from episcopacy , or made a congregation at any time unto her self against her canonical bishops ( which ever is the formal character of schismaticks , by the definition of the o o concil . constantinop . 1. can. 6. vel . 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. woe call them hereticks which rend themselves from , and set up synagogues , or conventicles against , our canonical bishops , &c. constantinopolitan council ) much less did she shake off her bishops , and with the continued succession of bishops , by consequence , the succession of her priests , not interrupted ( as i may say ) from the very cradle of her christianism . and as for lawful ordination ( as well in the material part , the imposition of hands , as in the formal , wherein signally , by a set form of words , both praerogative of ordination , and also jurisdiction is conferred on the bishops ) this her ordination , i say , rightly and canonically performed by the catholick bishops , shee proves out of the very records or monuments of consecrations : so that no man can by deserved right charge upon the britannick churches , that ancient reproach of schismaticks in p p matthew parler , a godly and learned man , &c. who was chaplain to henry the eighth , &c. being duly elected to the arch-bishoprick of canterbury , after a sermon preached , the holy spirit invoked , and the eucharist celebrated , by the imposition of hands of three bishops in former times , william barloe of bathe , iohn scory of chichester , miles coverdale of exceter , and iohn suffragan of bedford , was consecrated at lambeth ; hee afterward consecrated edmund grindal , an excellent divine , to bee bishop of london , &c. see camdens annals of the affairs of england , part . 1. ad an . 1559. tertullian , vos ex vobis nati est is ; you are new upstarts , born yesterday of your selves . nay so tenacious are the genuine britains of the ancient religion , and by consequence of her catholick discipline , that for the intire restitution of their bishops , their most gracious king himself charls , emperour of great britain , chuseth rather to suffer so many , and so most undeserved injuries ( even which is horrid to be spoken , to death it self , which in dishonour and contempt of all q q in good earnest , this hainous fact so strikes at all monarchs through the side of one king of great britain , that unless it incense all kings and princes whatsoever , as to a most just indignation , so to a serious revenge ▪ it may be feared that the contagion of such a damnable example , will diffuse its infection into neighbour-kingdomes , it so threatneth and menaceth the destruction and ruine of monarchy it self ; since that in the most seditious epilogue of the perfidious covenant , in most express words , they exhort and animate other christian churches , as they love to speak , which either groan under the yoak of antichristian tyranny , or that onely are in danger of it , that they would joyn in the same , or like association , and covenant , with them , forsooth , to the enlargement of the kingdome of iesus christ , &c. you hear the words , yee christian princes , yea , and you see their deeds . it is the affair of you all that is acted , but of such among you especially , whom particularly they will seem to have marked out with that black character of antichristianism , which in the sense of these traitours , is not so common to every meridian , but that it seems to threaten some region before other , with its malignity . god avert all of that nature portended by it . christian monarchs , those most desperate rebels threaten to their king , and not long since potent monarch ) then abolish episcopacy , as mindful of that r r at the coronation of the king of england , the arch-bishop consecrating , in the name of the whole clergy , twice adjures the king in these words . ss . 1. † † this is translated out of the latin copy . my liege , will you grant , conserve , and by your oath confirm the laws , customes , and liberties , given unto your clergy by the glorious king , st. edward your predecessor ? the king answers , i do grant , and take upon mee to keep them . also . ss . 5. the arch-bishop advertiseth the king in these words . my lord , the king , wee beseech you , that you will conserve to us and the churches committed to our trust , all canonical priviledges — and that you will protect and defend us , so as every good king ought to be a protector and defender of bishops , and churches put under his government . the king , almost in the same words promiseth , that hee , to the uttermost of his power , god helping him , will keep the canonical priviledges of the churches , and that hee will defend the bishops themselves . afterward the king being lead to the altar , there touching with his hand the holy bible , solemnly swears , that hee will perform all these things , adding moreover this imprecation to be trembled at . so help mee god , and the contents of this holy book . i thought fit to insert here this form of the kings oath , taken out of the royal records themselves , that it may bee made manifest to the whole christian world , that his majesties magnanimity and constancy hitherto , is to be imputed not to pertinacy , but religion , whatsoever otherwise is said by such as blaspheme , or reproach him with their 〈◊〉 language . oath , to be trembled at , whereby hee religiously bound himself to god and the church at his coronation . the clergy , and likewise better part of the nobility , as also the britannick people , dispersed here and there ( rivals with their king in this part of his religion ) refuse not to undergo the loss of all their estates , persecutions , banishments , yea are ready to indure all kindes of extremity , to their very last breath , rather than consent to the schismaticks , in the extermination of catholick episcopacy , which under a most false pretence of religion , stubborn traiterous persons , sworn enemies of the whole catholick church , of religion it self , and christian truth , as also of all empire and monarchy , attempt by force of arms , abandoning the whole royal authority : whom , the best and greatest god , the severe assertour of catholick unity , vouchsafe to disperse in his own time , and recollect at length the britannick church , heretofore a very illustrious part of the christian world , yea , the whole christian universe it self , as one flock under one shepheard . amen . s. d. g. can. vi. concil . nicaen . i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a letter to the right honourable , the lord hopton , importing the occasion of writing the fore-going treatise . to the right honourable , the lord hopton , baron of straton , &c. my lord , the inclosed from dr. basier was left with mee when he took his journey toward italy ; hee acquainted mee with part of the contents , which may put your lordship in present expectation of two manuscripts , one of which is intended to sir george radcliffe ; i shall avoid all occasions , i can , of detaining them , being loath to deprive your lordship , for an hour , of the benefit which may be assuredly reaped by two tracts , so good in their several natures ; but the doctors commands , imposed upon another gentleman and my self , to search , & secure , divers quotations in his own , and the liberty hee granted of the other to be communicated for a time , necessitate mee to crave your lordships pardon , and forbearance a little while , one of the books cited by him , being not yet to be met with , and the transcription not to be done in haste . the occasion of the doctors setting pen to paper , was taken from a work which mr. chr. iustell ( he who put out the greek and latine councils your lordship hath ) is about , which he means to entitle geographia sacro-politica , making clear the distinctions of several dioceses , &c. and asserting the priviledges of some churches , exempted from the supremacy of the roman . the doctor hath importuned him to enlarge somewhat about our church , and i think ( in my hearing ) prevailed with him for a promise . this diatribe hath prepared the way a little for him , & given him a sight of what he did not so particularly understand , in reference to us . the main businesse is , the parallel of our , with the cyprian priviledge , which i wish they may sufficiently prove , to the satisfaction of the world. i shall be very glad to hear your lordships approbation of what the learned doctor hath done toward it , in the reading whose book , if any scruple retard you , i may chance to remove it , knowing the authors meaning by the daily conversation and conference i had with him . if i thought your lordship had not the lord montrosse's history , and sr. balthazar iarbiers vindication of the king ( as hee pretends ) already dispatched to you by another hand , i would use all diligence to procure , and send you them , by the first , being very ready , wherein i may , to express my self , my lord your lordships very faithful , and most obsequious servant , ri. watson . paris , march 17. 1648. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26737-e450 * lord hopton . * mr. thomas coventry . * paris . * dr. basier dr. duncon notes for div a26737-e1210 a this very 28th . canon appears in all greek copies , and although controverted by pope leo , whom it seemed to concern , yet we have seen , and read the very same canon likewise in an excellent latine copy , the quadrate characters whereof , and other marks of antiquity , argue the book to bee about one thousand years old . this copy is in the rich library of the famous ●ustell , who heretofore gave mee the liberty of seeing it . there is also another ancient latine copy in the famous library of the noble th●●●nus , wherein yet the same canon is to bee read ; so that wee may justly question the fidelity of the later roman copies , which have it expunged . * acta inter philip . pulch. & bonifac . 8. * deuter. 3● . 5 . † numb . 10.1 . rom. 13.6 . s you are bishops as to the interiour , i , as to the exteriour . isa. 49.23 . † lett. 23 , 24 , 25. achrida , now ochrida . novel . 131. c. 3. * nicene can. 6. constantinop . can . 2. ephesin . can . ult . hierocl . notit . provinciar . occidental . in append. geogr. sacr. carol. à s. paul. edit . paris . 1641. a the ordinary jurisdiction of the praefecture over the city was concluded within the hundredth mile from the city . b this difference seems to be between patriarchs and primates ; they [ that is , the patriarchs ] had ever the preference and precedence in councils , when as out of the councils was little other than an identity of their offices . there are they who , in a strict way of speaking , will haw rather the rights of metropolitans fixed in the council of nice ; but those of the patriarchs after the dioceses designed in the following councils , and namely in the council of chalcedon . however that be , it nothing retards our opinion concerning the ancient exemtion of the britannick , whether metropolitane , or patriarch . e the exarchs of dioceses are patriarchs , to whom intire dioceses were attributed . that zonaras testifies upon this canon . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . further , the definition of this canon , concerning the order of judgements iustinian confirms . l. 46. c. de episc. et cler. et l. 2. c. de episc. audi et novel . 123. cap. 22. these things chr. iustell ; the most famous searcher of ecclesiastick antiquities , learnedly observes , ad can. 187. concil . chalcedon . d an ancient translation of these canons hath mentioned those suburbicaries expresly in a latine copy about eight hundred years old , which is also extant in the library of the famous iustell . the words of the translation are , ut episcopus romanus suburbicaria loca gubernet . e that the british nation had been converted to christian religion many ages before augustin the monk was sent into britain by gregory the great , appears out of the holy fathers , as well greek , as latine , the chief of whom are athanasius in secunda epist. contra arian . tertul. advers . iudaeos , num . 43. apud pamel . it appears likewise out of the ancient gildas de exidio britanniae ; for hee refers the birth of christianism in britain to the highest time of tiberius , that is , about the year 135. according to the computation of baronius , who confesseth that britain was nine years elder than rome , in her christianism , vid. euseb. pamphil. in chronico . moreover augustin the monk himself acknowledgeth the bishops of the britains for truly catholick , notwithstanding their difference in rites from the romans , yea , and that when they refused to subject themselves to the roman bishop . beda lib. secundo hist. cap. secundo . * beda antiq. britan . p. 11. & passim . † bed. hist. l. 2. c. 2. f there are not wanting very ancient historians , who impute the slaughter of the britains to augustine , by whose instigation they say ethelbert slew one thousand two hundred of them , because they would not obey augustine in the council . essebicus . monach. in merlin . comment . nicolaus trivet . citat . a do ▪ henr. spelman . concil . p. 111. galfrid . monumet . g 1. the king is a mixt person with the priest , because hee hath as well ecclesiastical as temporal jurisdiction statut. anno decimo h. 7. fol. 8. 2. anno christi 755. king kenulphus exempteth the abbot of abbington from episcopal jurisdiction ; and the fact of the kings was judged for legitimate . 1. h. 7. fol. 23 , 25. 3. among the laws of edward the confessor , chap ▪ 19 it is said , that the king is constituted chief vicar , that hee may rule the kingdome and people of the lord , and , above all , the holy church . 4. in the time of edward the first , one had brought a bull , derogatory to this right of the crown , for which he was condemned to exile , and it was judged , that his crime had the nature of treason . 5. 4 ed 1. the king in parliament ( as they speak ) himself expounded the canon made at the council of lions , de bigamis . 6. 16. ed. 3. the excommunication of the arch-bishop of canterbury was judged valid , notwithstanding the contrary sentence of the roman pontifie . 7. 17. ed. 3.23 . the king by his supremacy ex-exempts the archdeacon of richmond from episcopal jurisdiction , as also all ecclesiastick colledges , and even monasteries , which the king founded , were exempt by the same right . 8. 27. ed. 3.84 . the king and supream ordinary present by lapse . 9. 33. ed. 3. aide du roy. 103. kings anointed with sacred oyl are capable of spiritual jurisdiction . 10. 11. h. 4 37. the pope cannot change the laws of england . 11. 12. ed. 4.16 . a legate , coming into england , ought to take an oath , that hee will attempt nothing in derogation to the rights of king and crown . 12. 2. rich. 3.22 . the excommunications and judgements of the roman pontifie are of no force in england . 13. 1. h. 7.20 . the pope cannot erect the prviledge of a sanctuary in england . 14. 25. ed. 3. it is determined , that the pope hath no right in england of conferring archbishopricks or bishopricks . 15. 27. ed. 3. whosoever , by summons or sute , shall trouble any of the subjects of the king of england , without the realm of england , shall incur the loss of all his goods ( which the law of england calls praemunire . ) 16. 16. rich. 2. cap. 5. it is provided by law , that because the king of england holdeth his crown immediately from god , therefore if any one shall pursue in the court of rome any translation whatsoever of process or excommunication , &c. hee shall incur the same forfeiture of his goods , being beside put out of the kings protection . 17. 2. h. 4. it is decreed , that the popes collectours , by vertue of his bulls , have no authority nor jurisdiction in england ; but that the archbishops and bishops of england are the kings spiritual judges . 18. 11. h. 4.69.76 . the commission of judges pronounceth with one mouth , that the premised statutes are onely affirmative of the common custome of england , but not introductive of a new law. it were an easie thing to accumulate six hundred more of this sort , but these will bee enough for the reader nor prejudicate , yet hitherto perchance ignorant of these statutes . * hist. eccl. l. 1. c. 27. et 2. c. 4. ad annum 883. † hist. l. 36. h hence is that sad complaint [ apud bed. l. 1. c. 27. ] of gregory himself in his epistle to augustin . in anglia , inqut , tu solus episcopus , &c. in england , saith hee , thou art the only bishop . how the onely ? since out of the historical context [ bed l. 2. c. 2. ] it appears clearer than the mid-day light , that there were at that time other bishops in britain beside augustin ; but yet in very deed augustin was alone , because neither the britains , nor the scots , would communicate with augustin , as who accounted him a notorious violatour of the ancient ecclesiastick liberties of the britannick island . * bed. histor. eccl. l. 3. c. 3. † lib. 3. c. 36. * lib. 2. c. 2. * tom. 2. ephesin . synod . append . 1. cap. 4. ep. 18. i let the reader see if hee can get barnes's manuscript , the title whereof is , catholico-romanus pacificus chap. 3. de insulae magnae brittanniae privilegiis ; for which his sober work that good irenaeus , although hee were of an unblameable life , and entire fame , yet some years since was , as they say , carried out of the midst of paris by force , devested of his habit , and like a four-footed brute , in a barbarous manner , tied to the horse , and so violently hurried away , first into flanders , afterward to rome , where being first thrust into a dungeon of the inquisition , and then into the prison for madmen , * hee died . yet those fierce people not content with his death , have indeavoured to extinguish his fame , boldly publishing , that hee died distracted . this chapter is one of the three translated out of the said manuscript , and herewith published . * some of his own order suppose him to be still living . notes for div a26737-e8520 k hence is it , that wini being ordained by the gallick bishops , is received by the britains , even then when they rejected augustin the roman bishop . witness bede . lib. 3. c. 7. l so that g. nazianzens church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noah's ark ; and st. hierom breaks out into these horrid words ; ingemuit orbis , & se arrianum factum esse miratus est . the world groaned , and wondred , that shee was become arrian . m for full ten years after the reformation , under queen elizabeth , the roman-catholicks , without scruple , communicated with the protestants , until pius the sixth by his interdictory bull disturbed all . n how well this new interdiction agreeth with the ancient oath of the pope , the reader may judge , when ( as cardinal deus-dedit very well notes in his collection of the canons ) the ancient form of the popes oath , which is yet extant , canon . sanct. dist. xvi . quia papa jurabat , se 4. concilia servaturum usque ad unum apicem , was that wherein the pope sweared , hee would observe the four councils to a title . whence the most learned laschasserius very wittily infers , in consult . venet. thus , non potest igitur pontifex romanus jure contendere , &c. the roman pontifie cannot therefore by right contend that hee is superiour to those canons of the councils , unless hee will arrogate a power unto himself over the four evangels . to this oath of the pope agrees the ancient profession of pope zozimus , can. conc. statut. 5. q. 5. to decree , or change any thing contrary to the statutes of the fathers , is not in the power or authority of this see. see more at large concerning this subject * barnes's manuscript , quo supra , paralipomen . ad ss . 2. de conciliis , papa , schismate . * that chapter is likewise herewith printed . political aphorisms, or, the true maxims of government displayed wherein is likewise proved ... : by way of a challenge to dr. william sherlock and ten other new dissenters, and recommended as proper to be read by all protestant jacobites. harrison, thomas, fl. 1690. 1690 approx. 83 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70333 wing h917c estc r35445 15305734 ocm 15305734 103398 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70333) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103398) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1189:4 or 1672:21) political aphorisms, or, the true maxims of government displayed wherein is likewise proved ... : by way of a challenge to dr. william sherlock and ten other new dissenters, and recommended as proper to be read by all protestant jacobites. harrison, thomas, fl. 1690. [8], 31, [1] p. printed for tho. harrison ..., london : 1690. attributed to harrison by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. advertisements: [1] p. at end. item at reel 1189:4 identified as h140 (number cancelled). reproduction of original in the cambridge university library and university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. -case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved. jacobites. divine right of kings. great britain -politics and government -1689-1702. 2004-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-07 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-07 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion political aphorisms : or , the true maxims of government displayed . wherein is likewise proved , that paternal authority is no absolute authority , and that adam had no such authority . that there neither is or can be any absolute government de iure , and that all such pretended government is void . that the children of israel did often resist their evil princes without any appointment or soretelling thereof by god in scripture . that the primitive christians did often resist their tyrannical emperors , and that bishop athanasius did approve of resistance . that the protestants in all ages did resist their evil and destructive princes . together with a historical account of the depriving of kings for their evil government , in israel , france , ●●●in , portugal , scotland , and in england before and sin●● the conquest . by way of challenge to dr. william sherlock , and ten other new dissenters , and recommended as proper to be read by all protestant iacobites . he that being often reproved , hardneth his neck , shall suddenl● be destroyed , and that without remedy , prov. 29. 21. london , printed for tho. harrison at the west end of the royal exchange in cornhill . 1690. the preface . after all the signal deliverances god hath vouchsafed to these brittish islands , and the many eminent appearances of divine providence in our late happy revolution , even to this day , one would think no protestant should repine at this happy and advantageous change , from an arbitrary to a legal monarchy , but reckon it his felicity to have lived to this day , to see the imperial crown of england worn by a protestant king and queen ; an happiness which our fathers wished and longed for in king charles the first 's and second 's time , but could not obtain , the evil consequence thereof this nation hath sufficiently felt ; therefore i may well say , o thrice happy england , didst thou know thy happiness , and hadst an heart to be thankful for it ! who could have thought , that notwithstanding the visible hand of god in this unparallel'd revolution , we should still have amongst us a korah , a dathan , and an abiram , a murmuring still in our streets ? our fore-fathers never bought their liberty at so cheap a rate as we have done now , which makes it so much despised and slighted at present , as if liberty could never be good without wading through a sea of blood to obtain it . we commend our fore-fathers for standing up for their rights and priviledges , ( without which we should have been slaves to this day ) and yet that we should condemn one another for the same thing , though our religion , which is infinitely more dear to us than a few worldly liberties , lies at stake , is such an intollerable folly that succeeding ages will hardly give credit to . but what is more strange , is , that some protestants are for the restauration of the late king james , with the young impostor , the consequence whereof can be nothing less than slavery , and the total subversion of the protestant religion in england , as well as the endangering it throughout the world. but that the world may see what rare notions of civil government our murmurers have , i shall here set down some of the sayings of one of their mighty pillars of passive obedience , dr. william sherlock , as they are in his case of resistance of the supreme powers . no man wants authority ( says the dr. pag. 59. ) to defend his life against him who has no authority to take it away ; but yet he tells you most learnedly , p. 113. that the prince is the powers or authority ; ( not the laws ) and in p. 198. that the king receives not his sovereign authority from the law ; and in p. 89. he sayes , that there could not be greater nor more absolute tyrants than the roman emperors were , and yet they had no power over the meanest christian , but by an express commission from heaven : and he tells you further , p. 116. that when we resist our prince , we resist the ordinance , constitution and appointment of god. what invincible arguments are these for passive obedience , which makes god the author of all the outrages , cruelties , rapin●s and blood-shed that have been committed in the world by sovereign princes ! but i think the dr. has taken the right way ( if there be any ) to establish the doctrine of passive obedience without reserve . st. peter exhorted the christians to submit to every ordinance of man for the lords sake ; which plainly signifies ( sayes the ingenious dr. p. 146. ) that whatever hand men may have in modelling civil governments , yet it is the ordinance of god , and princes receive their power from him : what a rare argument is this for tyranny , oppression , and idolatry , &c. for according to the doctor 's notion , if the legislative authority of a nation should abolish the christian religion , and set up paganism , mahometanism , and popery , and make never such unjust and tyrannical laws , yet it would be the ordinance of god. since i can hardly find throughout all the doctor 's book , he knows what any part of civil government is , and least he should take an established religion to be no part thereof , i shall make bold to tell him , that when a religion is established by the legislative authority of any nation , it becomes part of the civil government , and is to be defended and supported by the administrator of that government . the dr. hath many more as rare arguments as these , but for brevity sake i omit them , these being sufficient to shew upon what rock this sort of men build their notions of passive obedience . i challenge all the new dissenters in england , and all the conformists who have sworn allegiance to their majesties only as king and queen de facto : but more particularly , dr. will. sherlock , shadrach cook , john leke , dr. francis thompson , person , dr. — audley , will. gefford of suffolk , john hart of tanton , wood , cuff , john norris of cambridge , richard stafford , and the author of the history of passive obedience , together with sir r. lestrange and all his pupils , to answer the following tract . i desire these learned men to resolve me this case of conscience , whether or no those who joyned with or assisted the prince of orange , upon his arrival , are not guilty of rebellion ? and whether or no those divines and laicks who invited him over , are not more guilty of rebellion , ( according to the doctrine of passive obedience , without reserve , as being the first cause thereof ) than they that joyned with him upon his first arrival ? and whether upon the bishops refusing to disown their inviting him over , it does not follow that they did invite him over , and upon their refusing to subscribe to the form of an abhorrence of the invitation , it did not plainly imply , that they disowned the doctrine of passive obedience , and allowed the resisting of arbitrary power ? and when they desired the prince of orange ( our present king ) to take upon him the administration of the government , it did not imply that king james had deserted the government , and that the throne was thereby become vacant ? the reason why i take this unusual way of writing by way of challenging of particular men , is , because in a general challenge no man would reckon himself concerned in it : for what is every ones business , is no body's business ; and because the dissenters from the present government do assert , that ( the late ) king james is de jure still , and that obedience is due to him during his life , and that dr. sherlock and many others can prove the doctrine of passive obedience , without reserve , to be a true doctrine , and they hope to hear it preach'd with as much zeal as ever . these are the reasons that induced me to challenge particular men , and to write this tract , that there might be no plea for the resurrection of this absurd , nonsensical , sheepish , slavish , inhumane , bow-string doctrine , which one sucks in with his milk ; another he takes it to be the distinguishing doctrine of the church ; and another believes it , because it has been told him from the pulpit ; and a fourth because a great many ingenious and learned men have declared it to be a true doctrine : thus we become wise by tradition and example , having an implicit faith to believe whatever our guides declarr to be the doctrine of the gospel , though it be never so contrary to the iustice and goodness of almighty god , and to undenyable reason . if the church in its reformation from popery had retained transubstantiation , no doubt but we should have had as many and as zealous asserters of that doctrine as of passive obedience without reserve , the one being as false as the other is impossible . i remember the saying of a passive obedience man , if an angel ( sayes he ) came down from heaven , and preacht any other doctrine than passive obedience , as it was lately taught us , i would not believe him . o what a commendable thing is it to be true to ones principle , though it be never so ridiculous or false , or tends never so much to the inslaving or destruction of our countrey ! i have hitherto ( says cato ) fought for my countreys libety , and for my own , and only that i might live free among free-men . i wish that every english-man could say that he had either sought or done something else for the good of his countrey , which is the ambition of t. h. political aphorisms : or the true maxims of government displayed . it is evident that no rule or form of government is prescribed by the law of god and nature ; for that then they would be both immutable , and the self-same in all countries . for the better proof whereof , it is necessary to shew , how far government proceeds from nature , and how far from man ; to wit , that man is sociable , and inclined to live together in company , which proceeds from nature , and consequently also from god , that is author of nature ; from whence do proceed all private houses , then villages , then towns , then castles , then cities , and then kingdoms and common-wealths ( as aristotle saith in his book of politicks ) . tho government in like manner , and jurisdiction of magistrates , which does follow necessarily upon this living together in company , be also of nature ; yet the particular form or manner of this or that government , in this or that fashion , as to have many governors , few , or one , and those either kings , dukes , earls , or the like ; or that they should have this or that authority more or less , for longer or shorter time , or be by succession , or election themselves and their children , or next in blood : all these things ( i say ) are not by law natural or divine ( for then , as hath been said , they should be all one in all countries and nations ) for god said , gen. 2. 18. it is not good that man should be alone , i will make him an help-meet ( or assistant like unto himself ) : so that as this first society of our first parents was of god , and for so great purpose as the one to help and assist ( not destroy or inslave ) the other : so all other societies , as proceeding from this first , stand upon the same ground of god's ordinance , for the self-same end of mans utility or happiness ; all which is confirmed by the consent and use of all nations throughout the world ; which general consent cicero calleth ipsam vocem naturae , the voice of nature her self . for there was never yet any nation found either of ancient times , or of later days , by the discovery of the indies , or else-where , where men living together , had not some kind of magistrate , or superior to govern them ; which evidently declareth , that magistracy is also from nature , and from god that created nature ( though not in this or that particular form : ) which point our civil law doth prove in like manner , in the beginning of our digest , do origine iuris civilis & omnium magistratuum , of the beginning of the civil law , and of all magistrates , which beginning is referred to the first principle of natural instinct , and god's institution . though common-wealths and government of the same by magistrates are of nature ; yet the particular forms or manner of governments are not of nature , but are lest unto every nation and country to chuse what form of government they like best , and think most fit for the natures and conditions of the people . by the state of nature we are all equal , there being no superiority or subordination one above another ; there can be nothing more rational , than that creatures of the same species and rank promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature , and the use of the same faculties should also be equal one amongst another , without god by any manifest declaration of his will had set one above another , and given him superiority or soveraignty . were it not for the corruption and viciousness of degenerate men , there would be no need of any other state ; for every one in that state being both judg and executioner of the law of nature , which is to punish according to the offence committed . men being partial to themselves , passion and revenge is very apt to carry them too far in their own cases , as well as negligence and unconcernedness makes them too remiss in other mens . this makes every one willingly give up his single power of punishing to one alone , or more , as they shall think most convenient , and by such rules as the community , or those authorized by them to that purpose , shall agree on , with intention in every one the better to preserve himself , his liberty and property . what is it but flattery to the natural vanity and ambition of men , too apt of it self to grow and increase with the possession of any power , who would perswade those monarchs in authority , that they may do what they please , because they have authority to do more than others ; since rational creatures cannot be supposed , when free , to put themselves into subjection to another for their own harm , which were to put themselves in a worse condition than in the state of nature , wherein they had liberty to defend their lives and properties against the invasions of any man or men whatsoever ; whereas by giving up themselves to the absolute arbitrary power of any man , they have disarm'd themselves , and armed him to make a prey of them when he pleases . i have been the longer in speaking of the state of nature , and the natural instinct to society and government , for that it is the fountain of all the rest that ensueth in a common-wealth , but if we respect god and nature , as well might all the diversity of governments , which have been , and now are in the world , have followed one law , as so different , but that neither god , nor nature ( which is from god ) hath prescribed any of those particular forms , but concurreth or permitteth such which the common-wealth appoints . can any man say that god and nature did not concur as well with italy when it had but one prince , as now when it hath so many , and the like with germany , and also with switzerland , which was once one common-wealth under the dukes and marquesses of austria , and now are divided into thirteen cantons or common-wealths , under popular magistrates of their own ? england also was first a monarchy under the britains , and then a province under the romans , and after that divided into seven kingdoms at once , under the saxons , and after them of the danes , and then the normans , and then the french , and now a monarchy again under the english ; and all this by god's providence and permission , who suffered his own peculiar people the jews to be under divers manner of governments at divers times ; at first under patriarchs , abraham , isaac and jacob ; then under captains , as moses , ioshua , and the like ; then under judges , as othoniel , ehud and gideon ; then under high priests , as eli and samuel ; then under kings , as saul , david , and the rest ; then under captains and high priests again , as zorobbabel , iudas maccabeus , and his brethren ; until the government was lastly taken from them , and they brought under the power of the romans . and last of all that god does concur with what magistrate or magistrates the community thinks fit to appoint , is plain by the testimony of holy scripture , as when god said to solomon , by me kings rule , and nobles , even all the iudges of the earth , prov. 8. 16. that is , by his permission they govern , tho chosen by the people ; and st. paul to the romans avoucheth , that authority is not but of god , and therefore he that resisteth authority , resisteth god , rom. 13. which is to be understood of authority , power and jurisdiction in it self according to the laws of every country . all politick societies began from a voluntary union and mutual agreement of men , freely acting in the choice of their governours , and forms of government . all kings receive their royal dignity from the community by whom they are made the superiour minister and ruler of the people . aristotle , cicero , augustin , fortescue , and all other politicians agree , that kingdoms and common-wealths were existent before kings ; for there must be a kingdom and society of men to govern , before there can be a king elected by them to govern them ; and those kingdoms and societies of men had ( for the most part ) some common laws of their own free choice , by which they were governed , before they had kings , which laws they swore their kings to observe , before they would crown or admit them to the government , as is evident by the coronation-oaths of all christian and pagan kings continued to this day . the safety of the people is the supreamest law ; and what they by common consent have enacted , only for the publick safety , they may , without any obstacle , alter when things require it , by the like common consent . the lawful power of making laws to command whole politick societies of men , belongeth so properly unto the same intire societies , that for any prince or potentate , of what kind soever upon earth , to exercise the same of himself , and not by express commission immediately and personally received from god , or else by authority derived at first from their consent , upon whose persons they impose laws , it is no better than meer tyranny . laws they are not therefore , which publick approbation hath not made so . hooker 's eccl. pol. l. 1. § . 10. whosoever ( says aristotle ) is governed by a man without a law , is governed by a man , and by a beast . as every man , in the delivery of the gift of his own goods , may impose what covenant or condition he pleases ; and every man is moderator and disposer of his own estate . so in the voluntary institution of a king , and royal power , it is lawful for the people , submitting themselves , to prescribe the king and his successors what law they please , so as it be not unreasonable and unjust , and directly against the rights of a supream governour . no man can be born an absolute king ; no man can be a king by himself ; no king can reign without the people . whereas on the contrary , the people may both be , and are by themselves , and are in time before a king. by which it appears that all kings were and are constituted by the people , because , by the law of nature , there is no superiority one above another ; and god has no where commanded the world , or any part thereof , to be governed by this or that form , or by this or that person ; therefore all superiority and authority must , and does proceed from the people , since , by the law of god and nature , there is no superiority one above another . aristotle saith , that the whole kingdom , city , or family , is more excellent , and to be preferred before any part or member thereof . succession was tolerated ( and appointed in the world ) to avoid competition , and inter-regnum , and other inconveniences of election . 't is plain , from what hath been said , that all government proceeds from the people . now i will prove that they have authority to put back the next inheritors to government , when unfit or uncapable to govern : and also to dispossess them that are in lawful possession , if they fulfil not the laws and conditions by which , and for which their dignities were given them ; and when it is done upon just and urgent causes , and by publick authority of the whole body , the justice thereof is plain ; as when the prince shall endeavour to establish idolatry , contrary to the laws of the land ; or any religion which is repugnant to the scripture , as popery , &c. or to destroy the people , or make them slaves to his tyrannical will and pleasure : for as the whole body is of more authority than the head , and may cure it when out of order ; so may the weal-publick cure or purge their heads , when they are pernitious or destructive to the body politick ; seeing that a body civil may have divers heads by succession or election , and cannot be bound to one , as a body natural is : which body natural , if it had ability to cut off its aking or sickly head , and take another , i doubt not but it would do it , and that all men would confess it had authority sufficient , and reason so to do , rather than the other parts should perish , or live in pain and continual torment : so may the body politick chuse another head and governour in the room of its destructive one ; which hath been done for many ages , and god hath wonderfully concurred therein ( for the most part ) with such judicial acts of the common-wealth against their evil princes ; not only prospering the same , but by giving them commonly some notable successor in place of the deprived , thereby both to justify the fact , and remedy the fault of him that went before . first , king saul was slain by the philistines by god's appointment , for not fulsilling the law and limits prescribed unto him . ammon was lawful king also , yet was he slain , for that he walked not in the way prescribed him by god , 2 king. 21. and david and jesiah were made kings in their rooms , who were two most excellent princes . shal●m , pekahiah , and pekah , three wicked and idolatrous kings of israel , were , by god's just judgment , slain one after another . and all the kings of israel , who violated the covenant and conditions annexed to their crowns , did , for the most part , lose their lives , and underwent the utter extirpation of their posterities from the crown . rehoboham ( for only ) threatning to oppress the people , was deserted by them , who chose jeroboham his servant in his stead , which was approved on by god. if i should instance all the kings over the children of israel whom god permitted ( and appointed ) to be slain , and those that were carried away captive by the heathens for their unjust government , i should be too copious . but i will leave the hebrews , and give you several examples of the depriving of evil princes of the government , in france , spain , portugal , &c. and last of all in scotland and england ; and of the happiness and prosperity that did attend those kingdoms upon such acts , which can be imputed to nothing but the blessing of almighty god which attended those proceedings ; and by consequence he approved thereof , and does approve of such acts. there has been two great changes made of the royal line in france ; the first from pharamond to the line of pepin , the second from pepin to hugo capet . childerick the third was deprived for his evil government , and pepin was chosen king in his stead , whose posterity reigned for many years after him , and were brave kings , as history doth testify . lewis the third , and charles sirnamed le-gross , were both deprived by the states of france for their ill government , and such who were thought more worthy , appointed in their stead . all french histories do attribute to these great changes that have been made by the people , the prosperity and greatness of their present kingdom . henry the third , before he was king of france , was chosen king of polonia : but for departing thence without leave , and not returning at his day , was deprived by publick act of parliament . if i were to mention all the acts of this nature throughout europe , i should be too tedious , therefore i will mention only some few . in spain , flaveo suintila was deprived for his evil government , together with all his posterity , and sissinando chosen in his room . don pedro , sirnamed the cruel , for his injurious proceedings with his subjects , they resolved to dethrone him ; and to that intent sent for a bastard brother of his , named henry , that lived in france , desiring him to come , with some french men , to assist them in that act , and take the crown upon himself . which he did , by the help of the spaniards , and slew him in fight hand to hand , and so enjoyed the crown , as doth his off-spring to this day . this henry was a most excellent king , as well for his courage in war , as for his other brave qualities . in portugal , don sanco the second , was deprived , by the universal consent of all portugal , and don alanso his brother set up : who , amongst other great exploits , was the first that set portugal free from all subjection , dependance , and homage to the kingdom of castile . and his son , who was his successor , builded and founded above forty great towns in portugal : who was likewise a most rare prince , and his off-spring ruleth there to this day . cisternus , king of denmark , for his intolerable cruelty , was deprived , and his wife and three children disinherited , and his uncle frederick was chosen king in his stead , whose off-spring remaineth in the crown . in scotland , the nobility and gentry , &c. took arms against durstus their king , for his intolerable cruelty , and slew him and his confederates in battel , ( and put by his sons , lest they should imitate their father's vices ) and elected even , his brother , king ; who leaving a bastard son , the kingdom was conferred on him . crathy cinthus having surprized and slain donald for his tyranny , he was unanimously elected king. ethus was , for his evil government , deprived , and gregory made king in his stead . buchanan , a scots-man , speaking of his country , saith , that it was free from the beginning , created it self kings upon this very law , that the empire being conferred on them by the suffrages of the people ; if the matter required it , they might take it away by the same suffrages . of which law many footsteps have remained even to our age. i will end this narration with examples out of england , ( before and since the conquest ) archigallo , emerian , vortigern , sigibert king of the west-saxons ; beornred , and alured king of northumberland , were all deprived of their thrones for their evil government , and such who were thought more worthy preferred in their stead . king edwin being deprived for his unjust government , the crown was given to his brother edgar , who was one of the rarest princes that the world had in his time , both for peace and war , iustice , piety , and valour : he kept a navy ( saith stow ) of three thousand and six hundred ships , distributed in divers parts for defence of the realm , and he built and restored forty seven monasteries at his own charge , &c. the crown of england hath been altered by the community , and settled upon those from whom they expected more justice than from the right heirs ; witness the electing and crowning of edelwald and casebelian ; egbert not next in blood , edward , adalston , and harold , who were all illegitimate ; and edred , against the right of his two nephews , canutus a foreigner , and hardiknute , without title , and edward the confessor , against the right heirs . after the conquest , anno. 1087. robert the elder brother was put aside , and william rufus , the third son of william the conqueror , was elected : after whose death , henry the first , his younger brother ( though not next heir ) was chosen by the people , not summoned by writ . after the death of henry the first , stephen was chosen king against the right of mand , the daughter of henry the first . after his death henry the second was admitted king , against the right of his mother maud. after the death of richard the first , king john ( earl of morton ) was elected , and arthur the right heir disinherited . henry the third was chosen against the right of eleanor prince arthur's sister . at the death of henry the third , the states of the kingdom met and setled the government , by appointing officers , and what else was necessary for the defence of the realm , and edward the fourth was set up by the people during the life of henry the sixth . now it is plain , that the kings and queens of england , ever since william rufus's time , have proceeded from those who were set up by the people against the next heirs . king edward the second , richard the second , and richard the third , were , for not governing according to the laws of the land , deprived of the government , and edward the third , and henry the fourth and seventh , were preferred in their rooms , which were most rare and valiant princes , who have done many important acts in this kingdom , and have raised many families to nobility , put down others , changed states both abroad and at home , altered the course of descent in the blood royal , and the like ; which was unjust , and is void at this day , if the changes and deprivations of the former kings were unlawful , and consequently all those princes that have succeeded them ( which yet never failed of a constant lineal descent ) were usurpers ; and those that do pretend to the crown of england at this day , have no title at all , ( which was yet never denied ) for that from those men they descended , who were put in the place of the aforementioned , deprived by the common-wealth : and this is , and hath been the custom and practice of all kingdoms and common-wealths , to deprive their princes for their evil government ; and that god hath , and does concur with the same , is plain from the examples before-mentioned , of the prosperity and happiness that hath attended those acts. the barons , prelates , and commons took a solemn oath , that if king john should refuse to grant and confirm their laws and liberties , they would wage war against him so long , and withdraw themselves from their allegiance to him , until he should confirm to them by a charter , ratified with his seal , all things which they required : and that if the king should afterwards peradventure recede from his oath , as they verily believed he would , by reason of his double-dealing , they would forthwith , by seizing on his castles , compel him to give satisfaction . he afterwards breaking his oath and promise , the barons said , what shall we do with this wicked king ? if we let him thus alone he will destroy us and our people ; it is expedient therefore that he should be expelled the throne , we will not have him any longer to reign over us : and accordingly they sent for lewis the prince of france , to be their king , and swore fealty to him , but they afterwards discovering that he had sworn that he would oppress them , and extirpate all their kindred , they rejected him , and set up henry the third . the bishops of hereford , lincoln , and several earls , barons and knights for each county , being deputed to go to edward ii , and demand a surrender of the crown , said to him , that unless he did of himself renounce his crown and scepter , the people would neither endure him , or any of his children , as their soveraign ; but disclaiming all homage and fealty , would elect some other for king who should not be of the blood ; upon which the king resigned his crown , &c. by the common usage of england , which is the common law of england , kings may be deprived for evil government , and others set up in their stead , is plain from the afore-going examples . richard the first being taken prisoner by the emperor in his return from the holy land , it was decreed , that the fourth part of all that year's rents , and of all the moveables , as well of the clergy as of the laity , and all the woolls of the abbots of the order of cistersians and of semphringham , and all the gold and silver chalices , and treasure of all churches , should be paid in towards the ransom of the king , which was done accordingly . if all this was given for the liberty of one man ; certainly much more ought to be given now , when all our liberties and properties , and even our religion too lies at stake , if necessity required it , which god forbid . by the law of nature , salus populi , the welfare of the people , is both the supream and first law in government , and the scope and end of all other laws , and of government it self ; because the safety of the body politick is ever to be preferred before any one person whatsoever . no human law is binding which is contrary to the scripture , or the general laws of nature . religion doth not overthrow nature , whose chiefest principle is to preserve her self ; and god doth not countenance sin in the greatest , but rewards the punisher , witness jehu , &c. the end for which men enter into society , is not barely to live , but to live happily , answerable to the excellency of their kind , which happiness is not to be had out of society . all common-wealths are in a state of nature one with another . as magistrates were designed for a general good ; so the obligation to them must be understood so , as to be still in subordination to the main end ; for the reason of all law and government is the publick good. government being for the benefit of the governed , and not for the sole advantage of the governours , but only for theirs with the rest , as they make a part of that politick body , each of whose parts and members are taken care of , and directed in their peculiar function for the good of the whole , by the laws of the society . the end of government being the preservation of all as much as may be , even the guilty are to be spared where it can prove no prejudice to the innocent . the publick power of all society is above every soul contained in the same society ; and the principal use of that power is to give laws unto all that are under it , which laws in such cases we must obey , unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce that the law of reason or of god doth injoyn the contrary . hooker eccl. pol. l. 1. §. 10. t. cicero saith , there is one nature of all men ; that even nature it self prescribes this , that a man ought to take care of a man who ever he be , even for this very cause , that he is a man. if otherwise , all human consociation must necessarily be dissolved ; therefore , as there are two foundations of justice : first , that no hurt be done to any ; next , that the profit of all , if it can be done , be advanced . that all magistates and governours do proceed from the people , is plain from the following examples in scripture ; deut. 16. 18 , 19. the children of israel are commanded to make judges and officers throughout their tribes . deut. 17. 14 , 15. when thou art come into the land , &c. and shalt say , i will set a king over me , like as all the nations that are about me : thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee , whom the lord thy god shall choose : one from among thy brethren shalt thou set over thee ; thou mayst not set a stranger over thee . so god did only reserve to himself the nomination of their king ; by which he designed to make his people more happy than they could expect by their own peculiar choice ; he knowing the heart of man , and corruption of his nature , would be sure to nominate such who was most fit to govern his people . god did not require the jews to accept of him for king whom he should chuse , but left it to their own free will , whether they would accept him or no , is plain from the following examples . upon the death of saul , david was set up by the appointment of almighty god , yet there was only the tribe of judah that followed david and made him king , eleven tribes following ishbosheth , saul's son , whom they made king ; and though david had a long war against the house of saul , yet he calls them not rebels , neither do we find that god punished them , or sent any judgment upon them for not accepting of david as king ; and when rechab and banah had slain ishbosheth , and brought his head to david at hebron , saying , behold the head of thine enemy ! yet david , instead of rewarding them , caused them to be slain for killing of ishbosheth , whom he calls a righteous person , not a rebel : after whose death all those tribes came to david , and made a compact with him for the performance of such conditions which they thought necessary for the securing of their liberty before they made him king : 2 sam. chap. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. the making of solomon king by david his father , was not thought sufficient without the peoples consent , else why did the people anoint solomon , and make him king the second time . we read , judg. 8. 21 , 22 , 23. that after gideon had slain zebah and zalmunna with the midianites , the children of israel said unto gideon , rule thou over us , both thou and thy sons , and thy sons son also ; for thou hast delivered us from the hand of midian . but he refusing their offer , they afterwards made his bastard-son abimelech king , though he had threefoore and ten lawfully-begotten sons . zimri having slain baasha king of israel , reigned in his stead , but the children of israel hearing thereof , rejected him , and made omri the captain of the host king of israel , 1 kings 16. 15 , 16. the kingdom of edom appointed a deputy to rule over them instead of a king , and gave him royal authority , there being then no king in edom , 1 kings 22. 47. see macchab. 9. 28 , 29 , 30. & 13. 8 , 9. & 14. 41 to 49. by which it is further apparent that their kings and governours were chosen by the people . as propinquity of blood is a great preheminence towards the attaining of any crown , yet it doth not bind the common-wealth to yield thereto , and to admit at hap-hazard every one that is next by succession of blood , ( as was falsly affirmed by r. l'estrange and many others , when the parliament would have disinherited the duke of york as unfit to govern this nation , he being a papist ) if weighty reasons require the contrary , because she is bound to consider well and maturely the person that is to enter , whether he be like to perform his duty and charge to be committed to him : for to admit him that is an enemy or unfit to govern , is to consent to the destroying of the common-wealth . see how god dealt in this point with the children of israel , 1 sam. 8. after he had granted to them the same government as the other nations round about them had , whose kings did ordinarily reign by succession as ours do at this day , and as most of the kings of the jews did afterwards : yet that this law of succeeding by proximity of birth , though for the most part it should prevail , yet he shewed plainly that upon just causes it might be altered , as in the case of saul , who left behind him many children , yet not any of them succeeded him , except ishbosheth , who was not his eldest son , who was anointed king by abner the general captain of that nation , to whom eleven tribes followed , until he was slain ; and then they chose david . and jonathan , saul's other son , so much praised in holy scripture , being slain in war , his son mephibosheth did not succeed in the crown , though by succession he had much greater right to it than david . god promised david that his seed should reign ( for ever ) after him — yet we do not find this performed to any of his elder sons , nor to any of their offspring , but only to solomon his younger and tenth son. rehoboam , the lawful son and heir of king solomon , coming to shichem , where all the people of israel were assembled together for his coronation and admission to the crown , ( for until that time he was not accounted true king ) who refusing to ease them of some heavy impositions which they had received from his father , ten tribes of the twelve refuse to admit him their king , and chose jeroboam his servant , and made him their lawful king , and god allowed thereof ; for when rehoboam had prepared an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men , who were warriours , to reduce those ten tribes to the obedience of their natural prince , god commanded them to desist by his prophet shemaiah , and so they did . these and the like determinations of the people about admitting or refusing of princes to reign or not to reign over them , when their designments are to good ends , and for just causes , are allowed by god , and oftentimes are his own special drifts and dispositions , though they seem to come from man. he who is set up or made king by the consent of the people , hath a just title against the next heir of the blood and his issue , who are put by the crown ; else most of the princes now reigning in europe would be usurpers , and want good titles to their crowns , they or their ancestors being set up by the people , which were not the right heirs of the royal stock . the laws of the commonwealth is the very soul of a politick body . kings and emperors always have been , are , and ought to be subject to the laws of their kingdoms ; not above them , to violate , break or alter them at their pleasures , they being obliged by their coronation-oaths , in all ages and kingdoms , inviolably to observe them : for st. paul saith , a prince is the minister of god for the peoples good , and tribute and custom are paid to him , that he may continually attend thereto . the defence and procuration of the common-wealth is to be managed to the benefit of those who are committed , not of those to whom it is committed . a just governour for the benefit of the people , is more careful of the publick good and welfare , than of his own private advantage . allegiance is nothing but obedience according to law , which when the prince violates , he has no right to obedience . there is a mutual obligation between the king and people , which whether it be only civil or natural , tacit , or in express words , can be taken away by no agreements , violated by no law , rescinded by no force . a kingdom is nothing else but the mutual stipulation between the people and their kings . the supream authority of a nation belongs to those who have the legislative authority reserved to them ; but not to those who have only the executive , which is plainly a trust when it is separated from the legislative power ; and all trusts by their nature import , that those to whom they are given are accountable , though no such condition is specified . if the subject may in no case resist , then there can be no law , but the will and pleasure of the prince : for whoever must be opposed in nothing , may do every thing ; then all our laws signify no more than so many cyphers : and what are the law-makers but so many fools or mad-men , who give themselves trouble to no purpose ? for if the king is not obliged to govern by those laws that they make , to what purpose are the people to obey such laws ? whether another has right to my goods , or , if he demand them , i have no right to keep them , is all one . if the king sue me by pretence of law , and endeavour to take away my money , my house or my land , i may defend them by the law ; but if he comes armed to take away my liberty , life and religion , which are mine by the laws of god and man , may i not secure them with a good conscience ? every man has a right to preserve himself , his rights and priviledges , against him who has no authority to invade them : and this was the case of moses , who seeing an egyptian smiting an hebrew he slew him . and samson made war upon the philistines for burning his wife and her father , who were both but private persons , who knew they could have no other kind of justice against them , but what the law of nature gives every man. we ought ( saith the learned junius brutus in his discourse of government ) to consider that all princes are born men. we cannot therefore expect to have only perfect princes , but rather we ought to think it well with us if we have gained but indifferent ones : therefore the prince shall not presently be a tyrant if he keep not measure in some things , if now and then he obey not reason , if he more slowly seek the publick good , if he be less diligent in administring justice . for seeing a man is not set over men as if he were some god , as he is over , beasts , but as he is a man born in the same condition with them : as that prince shall be proud , who will abuse men like beasts ; so that people shall be unjust , who shall seek a god in a prince , and a divinity in this frail nature . but truly if he shall wilfully subvert the republick ; if he shall wilfully pervert the laws ; if he shall have no care of his faith , none of his promises , none of justice , none of piety ; if himself become an enemy of his people , or shall use all or the chiefest notes we have mentioned , then verily he may be judged a tyrant , that is , an enemy of god and men : and by how much longer he is tolerated , the more intolerable he becomes , and they may act against him whatever they may use against a tyrant either by law or just force . tyranny is not only a crime , but the head , and , as it were , the heap of all crimes ; therefore is he so much the more wicked than any thief , murtherer , or sacrilegious person , by how much it is more grievous to offend many and all , than particular persons . now if all these be reputed enemies , if they be capitally punished , if they suffer pains of death , can any invent a punishment worthy so horrid a crime ? the laws are the nerves and sinews of society ; and as the magistrate is above the people , so is the law above the magistrate , or else there can be no civil society . he who makes himself above all law , is no member of a common-wealth , but a meer tyrant . if a magistrate , notwithstanding all laws made for the well-governing a community , will act plainly destructive to that community , they are discharged either from active or passive obedience , and indispensibly obliged by the law of nature to resistance . is it not reasonable and just i should have a right to destroy him who threatens me with destruction ? for by the fundamental law of nature , man being to be preserved as much as possible , when all cannot be preserved , the safety of the innocent is to be preferred ; i say , he who having renounced his reason , the common rule and measure god hath given to mankind , by endeavouring to destroy me , is thereby become as a beast of prey , and ought to be treated accordingly . the laws ( says tully ) are above the magistrates , as the magistrates are above the people . he who is destructive to the being of another , hath quitted the reason which god hath given to be the rule betwixt man and man of justice and equity , hath put himself into the state of war with the other , and is as noxious as any savage beast that seeks his destruction . no man in civil society can be exempted from the laws of it : for if there be no appeal on earth , for redress or security against any mischief the prince may do , then every man in that society is in a state of nature with him , in respect of him . thucidides l. 2. saith , not only those are tyrants who reduce other into servitude , but much rather those , who when they may repulse that violence , take no care to do it ; but especially those who will be called the defenders of greece and the common country , but yet help not their oppressed country . if a man may be a wolf to a man , nothing forbids but that a man may be a god to a man , as it is in the proverb . therefore antiquity hath enrolled hercules amongst the number of the gods , because he punished and tamed procrustes , busyris , and other tyrants , the pests of mankind , and monstets of the world. so also the roman empire , as long as it stood free , was often called the patrocine against the robberies of tyrants , because the senate was the haven and refuge of kings , people and nations . it is as lawful , and more reasonable , to prevent the overthrowing of our religion , laws , rights and priviledges , fro● any man or men whatsoever amongst our selves , as from a foreign power ; because one acts contrary to the laws of god and the country , and the other being not subject to the laws of the country , can be no ways bound by it . it was thought no injustice in the ship to call out the prophet , when they found he was likely to prove the wrack of them all ; and the almighty shewed he approved of their act , by quieting the storm when he was gone . the scripture , that hath set us none but good example , tells us , that some princes should not have one of their race left that pisseth against the wall : now what were their faults but idolatry and oppression of their people ? then how can it be a sin in a nation to free themselves from an idolatrous and oppressing king ? when it is done by the greatest and most considerable part thereof , it does silently imply a consent of god ; for it cannot be covetousness or ambition that moves such a multitude . when once the christian religion is become a part of the subjects property by the laws and constitutions of the country , then it is to be considered as one of their principal rights : and so may be defended as well as any other civil right ; since that those different forms of government that the jews were under , is no rule for the government of any nation or people whatsoever . the principles of natural religion give those who are in authority , no power at all , but only secure them in the possession of that which is theirs by the laws of the country . that cause is just which defends the laws , which protects the common good , which shall preserve the realm : and that cause is unjust which violates the laws , defends the breakers of the laws , protects the subverters of the country . that is just which will destroy tyrannical government ; that unj●st which would abolish just government ; that lawful which tends to the publick good , that unlawful which tends to the private . but alas , that bug-bear dagon of passive obedience , is a notion crept into the world , and most zealously , and perhaps as ignorantly defended : here all our laws and decrees , by which we are governed , are of the peoples choice ; first made by the subject , and then confirmed by the king. here a king cannot take our sons and daughters , our fields and vineyards away , unless we please to give him them . where was the doctrine of passive obedience , when elisha prayed for blindness to come upon those who were sent by the king of syria to fetch him ? and when he commanded the door to be shut , and the messenger to be held fast who was sent for his head by the king of israel ? and when azariah , with fourscore valiant priests , thrust out uzziah , their lawful king , out of the temple ? and when elijah destroyed the two captains with fire from heaven , with the hundred men under their command , who were sent at twice , by king ahaziah , to fetch him ? and when the children of israel slew amasiah , their lawful king , for his idolatry , without any appointment in scripture , or prophecy of his downfal ? and yet that is no where called rebellion , neither were they punished by his son , whom they had made king in his father's stead . and when mattathias slew the king's commissioner , for compelling men to idolatry ? and when mattathias and his friends pulled down the altars which were adapted to idols , 1 macc. 2. 25 , 45. where was the doctrine of passive obedience when the edomites revolted from jehoram , and made themselves a king ? and libnah did also revolt , because of his evil government , 2 chron. 21. without any appointment , or foretelling of their revolt by god in scripture , or being call●d rebels . and when saul's subjects swore that saul should not kill jonathan ; and they reseued him that he died not ? 1 sam. 14. 45. and when david ( though a private man ) armed himself with six hundred men , no doubt but he designed to have fought saul and his army , if the men of keliah would have assisted him , and have been true to him ; when he enquired of the lord , whether the men of keliah would deliver him and his men into the hands of saul ? upon the lord 's answering , they would deliver them up , he and his men departed the city , 1 sam. 23. can any man imagine their meaning was to run up and down the country together , and fly before saul and his army , if they had been able to cope with any number he could bring or send against them ? if resistance was unlawful , and a sin , surely david , a man after god's own heart , would have known it ; and then he would not have involved the six hundred men that came to his assistance in the sin of rebellion , but have told them , that the prince was not to be resisted , though never so great a tyrant . where was the doctrine of passive obedience , when constantine the great aided the oppressed christians and romans , against the tyranny and persecution of the emperors , maxentius and maximinius , with force of arms , with which he conquered those persecutors in several battels , fought against them at the christians earnest importunity ? and when the primitive christians resisted lucinius their emperor , for persecuting them contrary to law ; and constantine the great joined with them , who held it his duty , saith eusebius , to deliver an infinite multitude of men , by cutting off a few wicked ones , as the pests and plagues of the time. and when the primitive christians of constantinople opposed asper's being made emperor ; but leo being named , they consented thereto . and when the christians , under the king of persia , resisted him for persecuting them , and was assisted by theodosius the roman emperor , who told the king of persia , he was ready to defend them , and no ways to see them suffer for religion ? and when the christians of armenia the greater , made a league with the romans for the securing of their persons and their religion , against the persians under whom they lived ? and when the novatians , assisted by the orthodox , resisted and beat the macedonians , though they were assisted by constantius the emperor , with four thousand men to drive them from paplelagonia ? and when the primitive christians destroyed julian's idolatrous temple in his reign ? where was the doctrine of passive obedience , when the lutheran churches defended themselves against the emperor charles the fifth ? and when the protestants of austria took up arms , anno 1608 , against matthias king of hungaria , for denying them the free exercise of their religion ? and when queen elizabeth assisted the hollanders against their lawful soveraign ? and when she assisted the protestants of france , against their lawful soveraigns charles the ninth , and henry the third ? and when king charles the first , and the bishops and clergy of england assisted the protestants of france ? and when the protestant princes of germany invited gustavus adolphus , king of sweeden , to come into germany to assist the protestants against their lawful prince for persecuting them ? and when the protestants joined with him upon his arrival ? and when king charles the first assisted them with men from england ? so that , according to this christian doctrine of passive obedience , queen elizabeth , and king charles the first , with the bishops and clergy of england , and several other princes and states , have been guilty of st. paul's damnation ; for they that are a ding and assisting to rebels , are as guilty as those that are actually in it . lucifer calaritanus , a famous christian , wrote a book against constantius the emperor , which he sent him to read ; wherein he calls him , and his idolatrous bishops , blasphemers ; and charges him with inviting the christians to idolatry , and tells him , he ought to be put to death for so doing , by the command of god , in deut. 13. where god says , that he that ( but ) intices secretly to idolatry , shall be put to death . and this was approved on by the great bishop athanasius , and those christians that were with him , who calls it , the light of truth , the doctrine of the true faith : how came you ( says he to calaritanus ) to understand the sense and meaning of the scripture so perfectly , if the holy ghost had not assisted you in it ? now i would sain know , whether he that is aiding and assisting towards the bringing in of idolatry , ( as the popish religion is ) is not as worthy of death , as he that only inticeth to idolatry ? and this is the case of many who call themselves of the church of england , who are for the restoration of king james , and by consequence of idolatry . surely if god had commanded the yoke of subjection to the tyrannical will of princes , 't is strange that neither the prophets , elisha and elijah , nor azariah , nor david with his followers , nor the jews under their kings , nor the primitive christians after their religion was established by laws , nor any of the reformed churches , should not have known this doctrine of passive obedience . in the barons wars , under simon of monfort , the king and his sons were taken prisoners ; but the prince escaping , fights simon and kills him : the historians of those times calls him not a rebel or a traytor , but a martyr for the liberties of church and state. if resistance be unlawful upon any account whatsoever , then were all those people guilty of rebellion , who in all ages have resisted or turned out their evil and destructive kings and governours ; and then the jews were guilty of this sin , for slaying and turning out several of their kings , without any appointment from god in scripture . so likewise the primitive christians did involve themselves under the guilt of st. paul's damnation , for resisting of their kings and emperors ; and likewise the christians in all ages since , who have resisted their princes by turning them out , &c. and then bishop athanasius , ( author of our creed ) and those christians with him , did also come under the guilt of st. paul's damnation , for approving of calaritanus's book , which , according to the doctrine of passive obedience , was a treasonable and rebellious book ; for the incendiaries to rebellion , are as guilty as they that are actually in it . and then all those princes that have been set up by the people , in the room of those whom they have turned out , ( for their evil government ) were usurpers ; and consequently all those who have succeeded them , where the descent of the blood is altered , are intruders , usurpers , and no lawful kings . were the doctrine of passive obedience , without reserve , a true doctrine , no doubt but we should have had a better account thereof than from a few court-divines , who have most learnedly interpreted the will and pleasure of the prince against the laws of nature , or of the country , to be the powers which st. paul requires obedience unto , under the pain of damnation . so by consequence the law ceaseth to be the powers ; then we are in a worse condition than in the state of nature . with what face can any man assert that passive obedience , without reserve , is the doctrine of the gospel ? which is charging god with as palpable a contradiction as any two things can be , it being diametrically opposite to the law of self-preservation , which is the law of nature , and the decree of the almighty , which law is sacred , and not to be infringed by any man. god never commanded any thing contrary to the law of nature , unless it were in the case of abraham in commanding of him ( as a tryal of his faith ) to offer up his son isaac . protection is the only cause of allegiance and obedience , is plain , from the example of david and his six hundred men , who were protected from saul and his army , by achish king of the philistines , who gave them ziklag to live in , and david and his men fought for the philistines against the geshurites , gezrites and the amalekites . and subdued them . david owed no allegiance to saul , who sought his destruction , is plain ; for when achish told david that he and his men should go with him to fight against the children of israel ; david offered his service , and said to achish , surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do . then achish said unto david , therefore i will make thee keeper of my head for ever . so david and his men went in the rear of the army ; and when the lords of the philistines would not let david and his men fight for them , lest they should betray them into the hands of saul and his army , then david expostulated with achish , and said , what have i done ? and what hast thou found in thy servant , so long as i have been with thee unto this day , that i may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king ? 1 sam. chap. 27 , 28 , 29. this is a plain case , that david intended to fight saul and his army . now the intention of the mind is as bad as the act ; and yet it is no ways said , that david repented thereof , or of his arming the six hundred men ( before mentioned ) with design to sight his lawful soveraign king saul . the primitive christians took protection to be the only cause of allegiance : for when julian the apostate was chosen emperor of the romans , ( not by the free consent of the people , but ) by the souldiers , during the life of constantius the lawful possessor of the throne . the christians did not reckon themselves obliged to fight for constantius against julian ; for they troubled not their heads with the rights of princes . agustus , tho he had violently usurped the throne , yet he was confirmed in it by the people and senate of rome , who established it in his family by a long prescription , when st. paul's and st. peter's epistles were wrote , of obedience to the laws to kings and magistrates : so that we see that obedience was required to an usurper under the pain of damnation , when the government was confirmed to him by the people , that is , by the majority , for it cannot be thought that every body consented thereto . apolonius thyanaeus , writing to the emperor domitian , saith , these things have i spoken concerning laws ; which if thou shalt not think to reign over thee , then thy self shalt not reign . in matrimony , which is the nearest and strictest obligation of all others , by which those who were two , are made one flesh , if one party forsakes the other , the apostle pronounceth the party forsaked to be free from all obligation , because the party deserting violates the chief conditions of marriage , &c. 1 cor. 7. 15. and shall not the people be much more absolved from their allegiance to that king who has violated his oath , and the laws of the land , the very cause for which they swear allegiance to him ? absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society ; and therefore can be no form of civil government , which is to remedy the inconveniencies of the state of nature . no man , or society of men , have power to deliver up their preservation , or the means of it , to the absolute will of any man ; and they will have always a right to preserve what they have not power to part with . no power can exempt princes from the obligation , to the eternal laws of god and nature . as no body can transfer to another more power than he has in himself , and no body has an absolute arbitrary power over himself , or over any other , to destroy his own life , or take away the life and property of another ; therefore a man cannot give such authority to any , or subject himself to the arbitrary power of another : for the law of nature is an eternal rule to all men , whose actions must be conformable to that law , which is the will of god. for the fundamental law of nature being the preservation of mankind , no human law can be good or valid against it ; and much less the will and pleasure of a prince against the law and custom of the country , which shall be prejudicial to the subject . as the happiness and prosperity of kingdoms depend upon the conservation of their laws ; if the laws depend upon the lust of one man , would not the kingdom fall to ruin in a short space ? but the laws are better and greater than kings , who are bound to obey them . then is it not better to obey the laws , rather than the king ? who can obey the king violating the law ? who will or can refuse to give aid to the law when infringed ? it is impossible any body in a society should have a right to do the community harm . all kings and princes are , and ought to be bound by the laws , and are not exempted from them , and this doctrine ought to be inculcated into the minds of princes from their infancy . let the prince be either from god , or from men , yet to think that the world was created by god , and in it men , that they should serve only for the benefit and use of princes , is an absurdity as gross as can be spoken ; since god hath made us free and equal : but princes were ordained only for the peoples benefit , that so they might innocently preserve human and civil society with greater facility , helping one the other with mutual benefits . in all disputes between power and liberty , power must always be proved , but liberty proves it self ; the one being founded upon positive law , the other upon the law of nature . with what ignorance do some assert , that adam was an absolute monarch , and that paternal authority is an absolute authority ? for that the father of a family governs by no other law than by his own will , and the father is not to be resisted by his child ? and that adam had a monarchical , absolute , supream , patornal power ? and that all kingly authority is a fatherly authority , and therefore irresistable ? and that no laws can bind the king , or annul this authority ? how could adam be an absolute monarch , when god gave him the herbs but in common with the beasts ? gen. 1. 29 , 30. can it be thought that god gave him an absolute authority of life and death over man , who had not authority to kill any beast to satisfy his hunger ? certainly he had no absolute dominion over even the brutal part of the creatures ( much less over man ) who could not make that use of them as was permitted to noah and his sons , gen. 9. 3. where god says , every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even , as the green herbs , have i given you all things . is it not as reasonable to believe , that god would have cursed adam if he had killed his son abel , as cain for killing him ? cain was very sensible every one had , by the law of nature , a right to kill him for being guilty of blood , when he said , every one that found him should slay him , gen. 4. 14. god made no exemption to the greatest man living who should be guilty of innocent blood , when he said , he that sheddeth mans blood , by man shall his blood be shed , gen. 9. 6. neither noah or his sons were exempted from this great law ; and therefore could have no absolute authority : since god has no where given any man such authority , there can be no such authority ; for the community cannot make themselves slaves by investing such an authority in any man : should they do it , it is not binding , it being against the law of nature . if noah was heir to adam ( i ask ) which of noah's sons was heir to him ? for if by right it descended to all his sons , then it must have descended to all their sons , and so on ; if so , then are all men become equal and independent , as being the off-spring of adam and noah : if it descended only to the eldest , and so on , then there can be but one lawful monarch in the world , and who that is , is impossible to be found out ; so that paternal monarchical authority , take it which way you will , it comes to just nothing at all . where human institution gives it not , the first-born has no right at all above his brethren . no man has an absolute authority over the creatures ( much less over mankind ) because they were given ( for the use of all men ) as occasion should serve : should any man or men destroy them for their will and pleasure , beyond what is necessary for the use of man , or for his preservation , it would be a sin , and therefore could be no authority ; for god authorizes no man to commit a sin , tho he often permits it . the law of god and nature gives the father no absolute dominion over the life , liberty or estate of his child , and therefore he can have no absolute authority ; and where there is no absolute authority , there can be no absolute subjection due . there is an eternal obligation on parents to nourish , preserve , and bring up their off-spring , and under these circumstances obedience is due , and not otherwise . what is a father to a child more than another person , when he endeavours to destroy him ? nay , is he not so much the more odious as the act is more barbarous , for a father to endeavour to destroy his own off-spring , than for another person endeavouring it ? certainly in such a case no passive obedience can be due , it tending to his destruction ( not for his good ) which is no fatherly act , and therefore not to be submitted to . he that lets any person whatsoever destroy him , when it is in his power to preserve his life by defending himself , does tacitly consent to his own death , and therefore is guilty of his own blood as well as he that destroys him : whereas by defending himself , there can be but one guilty of blood , ( which is the invader ) in which defence , if he kills the other , his blood lies at his own door : by which it follows , that passive obedience to unjust violence is a sin , but resisting such violence is no sin , but the duty of every man. the first duty that i owe is to god , the second to my self in preserving my self , &c. the third to my parent and soveraign , in obeying them in all things reasonable and lawful . by all the precepts in scripture which require obedience to parents , homage and obedience is as due to the one as to the other ; for 't is nowhere said , children obey your father , and no more ; the mother is mentioned before the father in lev. 19. 3. ye shall fear every man his mother , and his father . sure solomon was not ignorant what belonged to him as a king , or a father , when he said , my son , hear the instructions of thy father , and forsake not the law of thy mother : and our saviour says , matth. 15. 4. honour thy father and mother . and ephes. 6. 1. children , obey your parents , &c. if paternal authority be an absolute authority , i ask , whether it be in the eldest of the family ? if so , whether a grandfather can dispense with his grand-child's paying the honour due to his parents by the fifth commandment ? 't is evident in common sense , the grandfather cannot discharge the grand-child from the obedience due to his parents , neither can a father dispense with his child's obedience due to the laws of the land ; therefore the obedience required to parents in scripture is not to an absolute authority , for there can be no absolute authority where there is an authority above it . with what folly and ignorance do some assert , that the kings of england are absolute , as proceeding from william the conqueror ? to which i answer , that a conqueror has no right of dominion ( much less any absolute authority ) over the wife and children of the conquered , or over those who assisted not against him . conquest may claim such a right as thieves use over those whom they can master , which is a right of tenure , but no tenure of right . conquest may restore a right , forfeiture may lose a right , but 't is consent only that can transact or give a right . there is no other absolute power , than over captives taken in a just war. if the possession of the whole earth was in one person , yet he would have no power over the life or liberty of another , or over that which another gets by his own industry , for propriety in land gives no man authority over another . william the conqueror made a league or compact with the nobles and lords of the land , to the performance of which , he takes an oath to observe the ancient laws of the realm , established by his predecessors the kings of england , and especially of edward the confessor ; as likewise did henry the first , with the emendations his father had made to them . stephen who succeeded henry , made a compact , and promiseth a meloration of their laws according to their minds . william rufus , henry the first , and stephen get the consent of the people by promising to grant them their usual laws , and ancient customs . henry the first , richard the first , king john , and richard the second , oblige themselves at their coronations to grant them , and then the people consented to own them as their king ; and richard the first , and king john were conjured by the arch-bishops not to take upon them the crown , unless they intended to perform their oaths . if any king refused so to do , the nobles thought it their concern to hinder his coronation , till he had either made or promised this engagement . what can be more absurd than to say , that there is an absolute subjection due to a prince , whom the laws of god. nature and the country , have not given such authority ? as if men were made as so many herds of cattel , only for the use , service and pleasure of their princes . but some do object , that the anointing of kings at their coronations makes their persons sacred , unquestionable and irresistable , for any tyrannical or exorbitant actions whatsoever . to which i answer , that every christian's baptism is a sacrament of christ's institution ; a spiritual unction and sanctification which makes a person as sacred , yea more holy than the anointing of kings can or doth of it self , ( that being no sacrament ) a truth which no christian can , without blasphemy , deny : and yet no christian is exempted from resistance , censure , or punishments , according to the nature of his crime ; and therefore the anointing of kings at their coronations cannot do it ; it being a ceremony of the jews , not instituted by christ , or any ways commanded to be continued by the apostles , or their successors ; it signifying only the chusing or preserring one before another , and so became the ceremony of consecrating to any special office , and so was ordinarily used in the enstalling men to offices of any eminency . the reign of a good king resembles that of heaven , over which there is but one god , for he is no less beloved of the vertuous than feared of the bad ; and if human frailty could admit a succession of good kings , there were no comparison , power being ever more glorious in one , than when it is divided . 't is not the title of a king , but the power ( which is the laws ) which is invested in him , which makes the difference betwixt him and other men in the executing of this power : his person is sacred , and not to be resisted , he being above every soul contained in the same society , and therefore cannot be resisted , or deprived of his office by any part , or by the whole community , without the greatest sin of robbery and injustice imaginable . if a government ( say some ) may be disturbed for any unlawful proceedings of the governour , or his ministers , how can any government be safe ? to which i answer , that it is not lawful for every private man to fly into the bosom of his prince , for he is no competent judg , be he of never so great a quality ; else a king was the most miserable man living , lying at the mercy of every desperate fellow's censure . it is impossible for one , or a few oppressed men , to disturb the government , where the body of the people do not think themselves concerned in it , and that the consequences seem not to threaten all ; yea when it does , yet the people are not very forward to disturb the government ; as in king charles the second's time , when the charters were condemned , and seized upon in order to make us slaves , and the laws perverted to the loss of many innocent lives , and many other oppressions too many to insert , and yet no body offered to disturb the government ; i say , till the mischief be grown general , and the designs of the rulers become notorious , then , and then only , will the people be for righting themselves . whosoever , either ruler or subject , by force goes about to invade the rights of either prince or people , and lays the foundation for overturning the constitution and frame of any just government , he is guilty of the greatest crime , i think , a man is capable of , being to answer for all those mischiefs of blood , rapine and desolation , which the breaking to pieces of governments brings on a country ; and he who does it , is justly to be esteemed the common enemy and pest of mankind , and is so to be treated accordingly ; and how far the late king james was guilty of this , i leave the world to judg . finis . the author's advertisement . just as i had finished this book , i received a reply to my former book , which i thought to have answered ; but finding the arguments to be frivolous and weak , and my necessary avocations allowing me but little time , therefore i forbore answering it . advertisements . the doctrine of passive obedience , and jure divino disproved . price 1 d. the letter which was sent to the author of the doctrine of passive obedience and jure divino disproved , &c. answered and refuted . wherein is proved , that monarchy was not originally from god. that kings are not by divine appointment , but that all government proceeds from the people . that the obedience required in scripture , is to the laws of the land , and no otherwise . that resisting of arbitrary power is lawful . that the oath of allegiance to the late king james was dissolved before the prince of orange ( our present king ) landed . that upon the non-performance of an oath on one side , the other becomes void , is plainly prov'd from several examples in scripture . that protection is the only cause of allegiance ; and that obedience or allegiance is due to the present government , is proved from scripture , law and reason : and those texts of scripture which relate to government , or monarchy , are explained . price stitch'd 6 d. both written by the same author , and printed for tho. harrison . remarks upon dr. sherlock's book intituled the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved, according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures written in the year 1683, by samuel johnson. johnson, samuel, 1649-1703. 1689 approx. 76 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46961 wing j839 estc r32984 12820271 ocm 12820271 94197 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46961) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94197) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1035:16) remarks upon dr. sherlock's book intituled the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved, according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures written in the year 1683, by samuel johnson. johnson, samuel, 1649-1703. [6], xviii, 56 p. printed by the author, and are to be sold by richard baldwin, london : 1689. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. -case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved, according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures. divine right of kings. church and state -england. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion remarks upon dr. sherlock's book , intituled the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved , according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures . written in the year 1683 , by samvel iohnson . london ; printed for the author , and are to be sold by richard baldwin , 1689. to the right honourable wriothesly lord rvssel . my lord , your lordship has the largest inheritance of honour of any englishman besides , and your very early years promise to the world , that you will rather improve than waste your patrimony . i hope your great father will live in you , and that there never will be wanting a great lord russell in succession , which is the only way wherein mortal men can stay any while here upon earth . that you may follow him in his piety , in his devotedness to his religion and countrey , in his integrity , wisdom , magnanimity , constancy , and all the parts both of a christian and a nobleman : and that you may be the joy and delight of your countrey ( as he was , ) but never their grief , is the hearty prayer of my lord , your lordship 's most humble and most obedient servant samuel johnson . the preface . i have published these papers , which i had not seen for above five years before , to rid my hands of the baffled cause of non-resistance , and to offer my service to do as much for some men's new-fashioned loyalty , which is in election likewise to be adopted for church-of england-doctrine , as the other was . it consists in being discontented with the present government , in loathing our late and wonderful deliverance , and in hankering after egypt again ; in refusing to swear allegiance to the king , and in effect forbidding him to be king without their leave : and after all it lies hid in lurking scruples , and in reasons best known to themselves . now till we are worthy to know to whom these persons think themselves under engagements , whether to the late king , or to the prince of wales , or to tyrconnel , or to what foreign prince or potentate it is , and for what reasons they are not free to take the present oaths , it is impossible to say any thing in particular to them . for the errors and windings of ignorance and interest are intricate and endless : and the reasons of a self-willed obstinacy , which is in it self an unreasonable principle , must needs be incomprehensible . if any man had told me seven years ago , that the doctrine of passive obedience should be maintained by such arguments as i have since met with , i could not have believed him : for no man , who has used his thoughts to evidence and coherence , could possibly foresee or forestall those arguments . and therefore till these reserved persons will please to let their scruples see the light , and bring forth all their strong reasons , they must enjoy the priviledg of being vnanswerable . but in the mean time we are able to prove , if the nation wanted any satisfaction in that point , that king william ( a prince of god's sending , and whom he have in his especial keeping ! ) is the rightfullest king that ever sat upon the english throne . for he is set up by the same hands which made the first king , and which hereafter will make the last , and which have always unmade all tyrants as fast as they could : and the realm has not chosen him like a persian king , by the neighing of an horse , or by some light accident ; but in the wisest way , and upon the most weighty and valuable considerations . for if he had not come , there had not been a kingdom for him to govern ; england had now been a wilderness of howling irish , a rendevouz of french apostolick dragoons , a nest of priests and iesuits , and any thing but a kingdom . so that he is a prince who governs his own kingdom , which he first saved from perishing ; and though conquest never was a title , yet redemption is . in such cases men used heretofore to become slaves to their deliverers : now this indeed is a thing impossible for english-men , but they never had such a temptation to it before . the least they can do , is to make him a present of their lives and fortunes , not in foolish and flattering addresses , but in real services ; and to perpetuate his benefits to this nation to the world's-end , by passing them into such advantageous laws for the publick , as could not be had in other reigns . we are able to prove likewise , that if the realm has a right to provide themselves of a king when they have none , much more they may do so when they have one , who has made himself a thousand times worse than none . one who was long since known to be a publick enemy to this kingdom , and had utterly unqualified himself for the government , and forfeited his remainder in the crown , by rendring himself uncapable of the regal office. for we knew before-hand that he was not capable of taking the coronation-oath , with any other intention than to break it ; and that he wanted to be let into the government , only to spoil and subvert it . and therefore in pursuance of the ancient rights of the realm , ( whose consent is the foundation of all government , and who never made any establishment of the crown for the destruction of the nation , nor ever intailed the government but upon the terms of the government , ) he was excluded by no less than three successive houses of commons : which was such a caveat entred by all the counties and boroughs of england against his succession , as never was against any other . this had passed into an act of parliament , had it not been for the mean and indirect practices of some persons , who owed their native country better offices , than to bring the calamity and vengeance of a popish successor upon it . after this successor , with the help aforesaid , had paved his way to the throne upon the ruins of the franchises of most corporations , and upon the heads of the best men in england , of a sudden , when for many years before the king was to out-live the duke , on the other hand the duke out-lives the king , and makes himself king. but if he had been a rightful king when he took possession of the crown ( as he was not , but a publick enemy ) he has since that time broken the fundamental contract , or covenant of the kingdom , or coronation-oath , ( for they are but several names for the same thing ) with that perjury and perfidiousness as never any prince did before him . i will not mention his smothering of all the laws against popery and priests , whom he ought immediately to have apprehended , prosecuted , and hanged , if he had taken the oath in good faith , which according to the constitution he was bound to do . for according to ancient custom he was to be adjured not to meddle with the crown , unless he would take his oath , sine fraude & malo ingenio , and mean honestly . neither need i say any thing of his holding correspondence with the foreign tyrant , vsurper , and publick enemy of this kingdom , by sending a pompous embassy to rome , and by obtruding a nuncio upon the nation , with that insolence that he must dine at guildhall . but the things i shall mention are , the keeping a mercenary in constant pay , to deprave , ridicule , and pervert the english constitution , and to banter the nation out of all their laws , by two or three authorized observators every week : the murthering of great numbers in the west in cold blood , without any process of law : the garbling of iudges , and perverting of all iustice in westminster-hall : the breaking the peace of the nation , ( the keeping whereof was a principal part of his office ) by keeping up a standing army , for several years together , in the bowels of the kingdom , not only at the charge , but to the terror and disherison of his people : whereas , as i remember , it was a considerable article in the deposing of edward the second , that he went into glocestershire with a thousand horse . the five positions of the eleven iudges ; the yearly declarations of dispensing with the laws , that is , violating them by whole-sale , instead of annual parliaments : the high-commission court ; and at the latter end of the day the tyranny and oppression was coming home to those , who had long been made the instruments of oppressing and destroying all others . besides , these were all of them instances of an open and avowed tyranny , which was to have been the inheritance of our miserable posterity , under a pretence of prerogative , soveraignty , imperial laws , dispensing power , and the like ; so that our children should never have known , but that they had been born slaves at common-law , and so never have aspired after their english freedom more : and to make all sure , by packing the only parliament in that reign , by closetting the members of it , by regulating corporations , and by their last project of a supernumerary nobility , we were likewise in a fair way to have been made slaves by statute . i have not mentioned his desertion all this while , neither will i take any advantage of it , because i look upon it as the very best action of his whole life , and the stopping him in it was an ill day 's work : and if he had absented himself for-ever , as for me , he had carried his tyranny and all the faults of his mis-rule along with him , neither should i ever have mentioned them in this manner . but being he has altered his measures , and deserted his desertion , and wants more blood , and is come back in a war upon the kingdom , whereby the subjects of england will have occasion to stake down their lives in the field against him ; i thought it necessary , thus far , to open the merits of our country's cause against him : and to shew , that we shall venture our lives in the best cause in the world , against the very worst ; in defence of our religion and countrey , against the irreconcileable enemy of both ; who has been just such a father of our countrey , as he was a defender of our faith. besides , we are able to produce the original of an english king , and the very fundamental contract made with him before they made him king , out of the 8th page of the mirror , out of the saxon history and laws , out of bracton and chancellour fortescue , who writ his book on purpose to shew the english constitution ; where it is demonstrated to be a perfect stipulation and a down-right english bargain . part of which was , for the king to be obeysant to suffer the law as others of his people ; and it is likewise declared , to be the first and soveraign fraud , abusion and perversion of the law for the king to be lawless , whereas he ought to be subject to it as is contained in his oath . and he that makes strange , and wonders at such a national covenant , never yet knew where he lived , whether here or in turkey , or at algiers ; neither could he ever tell , whether he and his children were born freemen or slaves . and tho the phrase and form of this contract has varied upon occasion in the coronation-oath , yet the effect and substance of it has always been preserved . we are able further to prove , that the oath of allegiance being the counterpart of the coronation-oath , and containing the subjects duty as the other does the king's , is of the nature of all covenants , and is a conditional oath . suppose , in a lower instance , an apprentice were sworn to his indenture , would he be bound in conscience to perform his master's service , when his master instead of finding him maintenance and lodging , would allow him neither , but turned him out of doors ? such a master must even do his own business himself , or travel abroad to find him out a new apprentice , if he can , notwithstanding his former apprentices oath . moreover , we are able to prove , that the oath of allegiance taken to a tyrant would be a void unlawful and wicked oath ; void , because it is an obligation of obedience according to the laws , which a tyrant makes it his business to destroy , so that it is swearing to things inconsistent ; vnlawful , because the english constitution will not admit such a person to be king , it knows no king but such a one as can do no wrong ; and wicked , because it strengthens his hands in the destruction of our countrey . he that swears allegiance to a known publick enemy , and engages to be aiding and assisting to him , is so far a publick enemy himself . if some persons knew him not to be a tyrant when at the first they were sworn to him , yet as soon as they do know him to be such , or especially if the realm declare him to be such , their oath of allegiance becomes a void , unlawful and wicked oath to them , and they cannot possibly keep it any longer if they would . and therefore to ask , who shall absolve us from our oath to king james ? is to ask , who shall absolve us from an oath which cannot bind ; from an oath which ought not to have been made , and is now , at least , as if it had never been made ; which was ill made , and would be worse kept . such an oath is so far from needing any absolver , that on the other hand an angel from heaven cannot oblige us to keep it . and whereas it is the maxim of the malecontents to the same purpose , better popery than perjury ; they may remember if they please , that the popery and the perjury have always gone together , and have been both of a side . they may remember , that their popish king , while he was duke , was the cause of almost an vniversal perjury in corporations by delivering up their charters ; and that he got the best franchises of his greatest village in europe to be betrayed and surrendred , by the help of such another maxim , better half a loaf than no bread. that he was perjured in the very taking of the coronation-oath , which he did not and could not take in good faith , and all the world knows how well he kept it . that he likewise by his own perjury-prerogative of a dispensing power , brought an vniversal perjury upon the magistrates of england , who were sworn to the execution of the laws . and throughout the late reign of treason , i would fain know the man that kept his oath of allegiance , in discovering to a magistrate the high-treason against the king and the realm , of persons being reconciled to the church of rome , and of those who endeavoured to reconcile others ; and that did not conceal these treasons which he knew of , and thereby make himself guilty of misprision . no , they were happy men who laid down their lives betimes , and did not stay to see the guilt and misery in which a popish successor has since involved their country , the foresight of which made them not count their lives dear to them , but they endeavoured to prevent such a calamity at the expence of their last blood , and died the true martyrs of their religion and countrey . but as for us who are left behind , we must see the wretches , who shed that more than innocent blood , wash their hands in it , and justify the shedding of it , and cause it to cry afresh . this is particularly done in an infamous libel , entituled , the magistracy and government of england vindicated ; wherein the murthering of the greatest english-man we had , for endeavouring to save his country , is still avowed . if these men had the trying of causes once more , no doubt we should have our late deliverance arraigned for an invasion , and every brave english-man , who joined with that unexpected helping hand out of the clouds , indicted and condemned for a traytor . i shall only say in general , that that vindication wants another , as much as the magistracy and government which it pretends to vindicate ; for there is not one material word of it true . for instance , a consult to levy war is not an overt act of compassing the death of the king , because the actual levying of war is often done without any such tendency ; as i could instance over and over again in former times , but i love to quote what is fresh in memory . my lord delamere ( whom i mention out of honour to him ) did very lately levy war , and when he had the late king in his power at whitehall , was so far from compassing his death , that he only delivered him a message to remove in peace . and being that illegal tryal is still justified , i must needs add this , that if there had been law enough left to have tried a felon in the counties of london and middlesex , that great man had never been brought upon his tryal . but because the parties concern'd desire to answer it only in parliament , i only desire that there they may be put to make out , how known vnlawful sheriffs , de facto , obtruded upon the city of london against their own lawful choice , on purpose to be instruments of destroying the lives , liberties and estates of the best subjects , could be at the same time lawful sheriffs de jure : and on the other hand it is easy to make it good , that the validity of that tryal and proceedings depending upon the legality of the sheriffs and iury , that pretended court was of no authority , and was such another low court of iustice , as the black-guard are able to make among themselves every day . perhaps they may plead ignorance of so notorious a matter , and that they could take no cognizance of it , because it did not come iudicially before them : but that cannot be said , for the nullity of those very sheriffs was before that brought in that very place , in a special plea , and over-ruled . their best and their truest plea is this , that they never dreamed of the prince of orange's coming over to restore iustice to this lost nation , which we doubt not he will cause to run down like a mighty stream : for otherwise ( as appears by the repeated choice of the never-to-be-forgotten sir john moor ) these men must have the destroying of their countrey over again , only to iustify their having destroyed it once before . remarks upon dr. sherlock's late book , entituled , the case of resistance of the supreme powers ; stated and resolved , according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures . the case which the title of this book promises to resolve , is a very plain case , and soon resolved : for it never was made a question , whether men might lawfully resist any legal subordinate powers , much less the supreme powers ; and they are ordinary readers indeed , that are to be instructed , that resistance is unlawful in this case . but under the shelter and countenance of this plain and unquestioned case , and under the covert of these names , sovereign , king , prince , authority , and the like , this author has slily convey'd into his book the resolution of another case , of a far different nature ; and determines , that as well inferiour magistrates as others , imploy'd by a popish or tyrannical prince in the most illegal and outragious acts of violence , such as cutting of throats , or the like , are as irresistible as the prince himself , ( under pretence of having the prince's commission and authority to do these acts ) and must be submitted to , under pain of hell and eternal damnation . i fully agree with this author in his resolution of the first case , but i crave leave to dissent from him in the resolution of the latter case ; and to enter the reasons of my dissent . but though i agree with him in his resolution of the first case , yet i do not in his reasons of that resolution , which are utterly insufficient , and betray the cause which he seems to maintain . his reasons why the king is irresistible in all cases , are such as these : 1. that the king has a personal authority , antecedent to all the laws of the land , independent on them , and superiour to them . which is not true ; for the king is king by law , and irresistible by law , and has his authority from the law. indeed our author says , that the great lawyer bracton , by those very words of his , lex facit regem , was far enough from understanding that the king receives his sovereign power from the law. i confess i never was so well acquainted with bracton , as to know what secret meanings he had , contrary to the sense of his words , and therefore cannot tell how far he was from understanding that the king receives his sovereign power from the law ; but i am sure he was not far from saying so ; for he says it in the very next words : attribuat igitur rex legi quod lex attribuit ei , videlicet , dominationem & potestatem . he proves , that the king is under the law , and ought to govern by law , because he is made king by the law , and receives his power and authority from the law ; and then adds what this author is pleased to cite , non est enim rex , ubi dominatur voluntas , & non lex : he is no king who governs by arbitrary will , and not by law ; that is , no lawful english king , bracton must mean ; for still he may be a good outlandish and assyrian king , and no tyrant , though his arbitrary will does all . for our author ( pag. 41. ) quotes out of dan. 5. 18 , 19. that god gave nebuchadnezzar such an absolute kingdom , that whom he would he slew , and whom he would he made alive ; and whom he would he set up , and whom he would he pulled down . and i hope no man tyrannizes over his people , who uses the prerogatives which god has given him ; tho' he does over authors , who quotes what he will , and suppresses what he will , and construes them how he will , and renders lex facit regem , to govern by law , makes a sovereign prince a king , and distinguishes him from a tyrant ; which will pass with none but such ordinary readers as he writ his book for , and who never saw bracton . chancellor fortescue likewise says , that a limited monarch receives his power a populo efluxam , which unriddles our author's riddle in the same place , how the law can make the king , when the king makes the law ? but is it such a wonderful thing , that there should be a law to create a king , and to enable him so far in the making of laws , as to make his consent necessary to the being of all future laws ? was it not thus when the two houses were erected , and endowed with the like power ? for our author says amiss , when he says , the law has no authority , but what it receives from the king : for the laws are made authoritate parliamenti , which is by the authority of the king , lords , and commons . but , to lay aside bracton and fortescue at present , let us a little reason the matter . this personal authority of the king , antecedent to all the laws of the land , independent on them , and superiour to them : whence is it ? has he a throne like god ? is he of himself , and for himself ? or has he a personal authority from god , antecedent to laws , to be a king ? then shew a revelation from god where he is named . or has he the natural authority of a father to govern his children ? then it must be proved that he has begotten his three kingdoms , and all the people in all other his majesty's dominions ? or has he a personal patriarchal authority , which is set up as a shadow of the authority of a father , whereby the eldest son is his father by representation ? then it must be proved , that the king is the eldest son of the eldest house of all the families of the earth . or were mankind made in the day of their creation , by nations , and created prince and people , as they were created male and female ? but if none of these things can be said , then it remains , that a civil authority , that is , a mutual consent and contract of the parties , first founded this civil relation of king and subject , as we see it every day does of master and servant , which is another civil relation ; and that the consent of a community or society , is a law , and the foundation of all civil laws whatsoever , is proved beyond all contradiction by mr. hooker , eccl. pol. lib. 1. cap. 10. and as this personal authority of the king , which is antecedent to all the laws of the land , and independent on them , is airy and imaginary , and has no foundation , but is of this author 's own making : so he has been pleased to make it very large and lawless ; and though he be but a subject , yet , like araunah the iebusite , he gives like a king. for it is a personal authority superiour to the laws of the land , whereby all manner of arbitrary acts are binding ; whereby the prince may trample upon all the laws , and in vertue whereof he still governs , in the violation of all these laws , by which he is bound to govern : whereas the law of england absolutely denies that the king has any such personal authority . for , not to mention king edward's laws , chap. 17th , de officio regis , which were confirmed by william the conqueror , and sworn to by all succeeding kings ; nor to mention the mirror , which page 8. gives us a far different account of things ; nor to mention magna charta , which chap. 37. says , that if any thing be procured by any person , contrary to the liberties contained in that charter , it shall be had of no force or effect : so that a personal authority , which can trample upon the liberties of the subject , and violate the laws , is an authority of no force nor effect , a void authority , or , in other words , it is nothing . i say , not to insist upon any of these , i shall quote some passages out of my lord chancellor fortescue , where he professedly handles the difference betwixt an absolute monarchy , and a limited monarchy ; and after he has shewn the different original of them , he thus proceeds in the 13th chap. now you understand , most noble prince , the form of institution of a kingdom politick , ( or limited monarchy ) whereby you may measure the power , which the king thereof may exercise over the law , and subjects of the same . for such a king is made and ordained for the defence of the law of his subjects , and of their bodies and goods , whereunto he receiveth power of his people ; so that he cannot govern his people by any other power . to whom the prince thus answer'd , in the 14th chap. you have , good chancellor , with the clear light of your declaration , dispelled the clouds wherewith my mind was darkened ; so that i do most evidently see , that no nation did ever of their own voluntary mind incorporate themselves into a kingdom , for any other intent , but only to the end that they might enjoy their lives and fortunes ( which they were afraid of losing ) with greater security than before . and of this intent , should such a nation be utterly defrauded , if then their king might spoil them of their goods , which before was lawful for no man to do . and yet should such a people be much more injured , if they should afterwards be governed by foreign and strange laws , yea , and such as they peradventure deadly hated and abhorred ; and most of all , if by those laws their substance should be diminished , for the safegaurd whereof , as also for the security of their persons , thcy of their own accord submitted themselves to the governance of a king. no such power for certain could proceed from the people themselves ; and yet unless it had been from the people themselves , such a king could have had no power at all over them . now this discourse of the institution of a political kingdom was to shew the prince of wales , that he ought to study the laws of england , and not the civil laws , by which an english king cannot govern ; whereof the prince stood in doubt , chap. 9. but now you see that cloud is dispelled , and he is convinced by this , that a political kingdom cannot be govern'd by foreign and strange laws , which had signified nothing toward his conviction , if england were not a political kingdom . and i think there cannot be a plainer comment upon those former words of bracton ( lex facit regem , attribuat igitur rex legi quod lex attribuit ei , videli et , dominationem & potestatem , &c. ) than this discourse of fortescue is . 2. another reason which he gives why the king is irresistible in all cases , is , because he is a sovereign , and it is essential to sovereignty to be irresistible in all cases . which is false : for the king of poland is a sovereign ; he coins money with his own image and superscription upon it , which according to our author , p. 50. is a certain mark of sovereignty ; and p. 51. by the very impression on their money it is evident that he is their sovereign lord : he stiles himself by the same grace of god with any king in christendom , and wears the like crown : he assembles dyets ; he disposes of all offices ; he judges the palatines themselves , and is full of the marks of sovereignty . and yet he that shall take a polish peny , and make such work with it as our author does with the roman tribute money , and out of it read lectures either of active or passive obedience in all cases , will read amiss . for , in case he break his coronation-oath , they owe him no obedience at all , of any kind ; for this is one clause in it : quod si sacramentum meum violavero , incoloe regni nullam nobis obedientiam praestare tenebuntur . so that in case he violate his oath , his irresistibility departs from him , and he becomes like other men. 3. a third reason is , because the iewish kings in the old testament , and caesar in the new testament , were irresistible in all cases . now that is more than i know , and i leave it to divines to examine , whether it was so or no , as also to enquire why the christians of nero's houshold did not shew their loyalty in defending their master , after the senate had pronounced , that he was hostis humani generis ? but this i say , that if they were thus irresistible , and if this be a good argument here , it is a good argument in poland ; and thither i would desire our author to send it by the next shipping , for the law of the land has furnish'd us with those which are much better . i come now to the second case ; which , as i said before , is resolved under the covert and countenance of the former , that as well inferiour magistrates , as others imploy'd by a popish or tyrannical prince in the most illegal and outragious acts of violence , such as cutting of throats , &c. are as irresistible as the prince himself , ( under pretence of having the prince's authority to do these acts ) and must be submitted to , under pain of hell and eternal damnation . now this resolution is very false ; which i shall shew , 1. by confuting all the reasons which are brought for it ; and , 2. by producing some reasons against it . his reasons are , 1 st , a personal authority in the prince , antecedent and superior to all laws , which makes himself inviolable , tho he trample upon all laws , and exercise an arbitrary power , and makes all others inviolable under him , who act by this authority . but i have shewed already , that this personal authority is false and groundless , and that the king is inviolable by law , and that this prerogative is highly just and reasonable , and can never prejudice the subject , for the king can do no wrong . and it is plain , that he cannot give such an illegal and miscalled authority to others , if he have it not himself . to shew that the authority , to which we are bound to submit , is not in laws , but in persons , tho acting contrary to law , he has brought this following argument , which is the most laboured of any in his book . nay , it is very false and absurd to say , that every illegal , is an vnauthoritative act , which carries no obligation with it . this is contrary to the practice of all humane iudicatures , and the daily experience of men , who suffer in their lives , bodies and estates , by an unjust and illegal sentence . for the most illegal iudgment is valid , till it be revers'd by some superior court ; which most illegal , but authoritative iudgment , derives its authority not from the law , but the person of him whose iudgment it is . now to use his own words , this is very false , and absurd all over . for 1 st , legal and authoritative are all one ; and illegal authority is in english unlawful lawful power . 2 dly , it is not true , that an illegal judgmen is valid , till it be revers'd . for the judgment of a man to death in an arbitrary way , either contrary to the verdict of his jury , or without a jury , is not authoritative nor valid at all , no not for an hour . but , i suppose , by illegal iudgments , this author means legal judgments which have error in them ; and if these should not be valid , and stand good , till that error be found in some higher court , there could not be legal , nor illegal , nor any judgments at all , but all humane judicatures must come to an end . for if judgment cannot be given , till we have judges who are not subject to error ; the laws must lie by and rust , and there can be no administration of justice . 3 dly , the authority of a judgment which is erroneous , is not from the judges personal authority above the law , nor from his mistakes beside the law , but from that jurisdiction and authority which the law has given to courts and judicial proceedings which , if they be in due course o● law , are legal , and are presumed to be every way right , and as they should be , and free from error , til● the contrary appears in some highe● court. but if the judges in westminster-hall should use a personal authority superiour to law , in judging men to death without a jury , or in condemning a man when his jury acquits him , or the like , the law having given no authority to any such proceedings , these judgments would be illegal and void , and have no authority at all . and herein i say no more than this author himself has said in another place . for where he professedly lays down the difference betwixt an absolute monarchy , and the english constitution , pag. 208 , 209. he has these words : an absolute monarch is under the government of no law but his own will , and is not ty'd up to strict rules and formalities of law in the execution of iustice ; but it is quite contrary in a limited monarchy , where no man can lose his life or estate , without a legal process and trial. but thus do men contradict themselves , who write by rote , and without considering things ! and thus does their blind passive obedience tie us up to impossibilities , and oblige us to lose our lives and estates without a legal process and trial , where , even as this author confesses , no man can lose them in such a way . 2 dly . another reason why we must submit to illegal violence , is this : because though they have no legal authority for it , yet we have no legal authority to defend our selves against it . but he himself has given as full an answer to this as can be desir'd , in these words , pag. 59. for no man can want authority to defend his life against him that has no authority to take it away . 3 dly . we must submit to illegal violence , because the people cannot call inferiour magistrates to an account , page 191. but sure the people may defend themselves against the murderous attempts of inferiour magistrates , without pretending to call them to an account , or sitting in judgment upon them : and when they themselves are called to an account for this defence , they may give a very good account of it , by the 24 h. 8. cap. 5. 4 thly . we must not defend our selves when we are persecuted to death for our religion contrary to the laws of england , because we must not defend our selves when we are thus persecuted contrary to the laws of god and nature , which are as sacred and inviolable as the laws of our countrey . answ. i grant that the laws of god and nature are more sacred and inviolable than the laws of our countrey ; but they give us no civil rights and liberties , as the laws of england have done . every leige-subject of england has a legal property in his life , liberty , and estate , in the free exercise of the protestant religion established amongst us ; and a legal possession may be legally defended . now the laws of england in queen maries time were against the protestants , and stript them of this unvaluable blessing ; and therefore , tho they chose rather to observe the laws of god and nature , than those of their countrey , which at that time violated both the other : yet withal they submitted to the laws of their countrey , which alone give and take away all legal rights and titles , and , when all is said , are the only measures of civil obedience . 5 thly . men must not defend their lives against a lawless popish persecution , when they are condemned by no law , because they must not defend their lives when they are condemned by a wicked persecuting popish law. for such a lawless persecution has as much authority as such a wicked persecuting law. this is manifestly false : for a lawless popish persecution has no authority at all , but has all the authority of heaven and earth against it ; whereas a wicked popish persecuting law , tho as it is wicked it cannot command our obedience , yet as it is a law it may dispose of our civil rights . if queen maries laws were no laws , because they were wicked persecuting laws , why were they repealed ? why were they not declared to be null from the beginning ? i know the protestants in her time , and in queen elizabeths time before they were repealed , disputed the validity of them , and would not allow them to be of any force or authority , as appears particularly from mr. hales oration to queen elizabeth , fox vol. 3. p. 997 , 978. but their reasons were , because the parliaments were not legally constituted . queen maries first parliament was of no authority , because , as his words are , the commons had not their free election for knights and burgesses : for she well knew , that if either christian men or true english men should be elected , it was not possible that to succeed which she intended ; and therefore in many places divers were chosen by force of her threats , meet to serve her malicious affections . also divers burgesses being orderly chosen , and lawfully returned , as in some places the people did what they could to resist her purposes , were disorderly and unlawfully put out , and others without any order of law in their places placed . for the which cause that parliament is void , as by a president of a parliament holden at coventry in 38 h. 6. appears , and the third parliament he says was void , because the writs of summons were contrary to a statute . now these were needless and frivolous exceptions , if a wicked persecuting law were no law , without any more ado . and i desire no greater advantage in a civil question , than to reduce an adversary to this absurdity , of making no difference betwixt laws and no laws . 6 thly . that non-resistance of illegal violence is the best way to secure the publick peace and tranquility , and the best way for every man's private defence : for self defence may involve many others in blood , and besides exposes a man's self . that is to say , when the publick peace is violated in an high manner , the best way to secure it , is quietly to suffer it still to be broken further ; a man's best defence is to die patiently , for fear of being killed ; and when murtherers are broke loose , the only way to prevent the effusion of more christian blood , is to let them alone . now in opposition to this doctrine i shall only remember our author , that if there had not been a defence made against the irish cut-throats in forty one , though they had the impudence to pretend the king's commission , there had hardly been a protestant left , but the pestilent northern heresie had been throughly extirpated in that kingdom . 7 thly . another reason is , because non-resistance is certainly the best way to prevent the change of a limited into an absolute monarchy . now this is so far from being true , that , on the other hand , absolute non-resistance , even of the most illegal violence , does actually change the government , and sets up an absolute and arbitrary power , in the shortest way , and by the surer side . for a prince , whom the laws themselves have made absolute , has thereby no more than a right aud title to an absolute subjection ; but non resistance puts him into the actual possession of it . our author himself has made this out beyond all contradiction ; for , pag. 44. he says , that non-resistance is as perfect subjection as can be paid to sovereign princes ; and , pag. 115. he calls it , the only perfect and absolute subjection we owe to princes . now the most perfect and absolute subjection that can be paid , erects the most absolute government that can be devised . for those words are of eternal truth , which we read in pag. 63. of this book : for authority and subjection are correlates ; they have a mutual respect to each other , and therefore they must stand and fall together : there is no authority , where there is no subjection due ; and there can be no subjection due , where there is no authority . and is not this as bright and as evident a truth : there is no absolute authority , where there is no absolute subjection due ; and there can be no absolute subjection due , where there is no absolute authority ? i shall now briefly run over his scripture-proofs , so far as they concern this second case : for if he had multiplied his texts of scripture , to shew that kings are irresistible , i should have had nothing to say to it , because the law has made our king so ; but if the law had not made him so , all his texts would never have done it , as i have instanced in the kingdom of poland . for the scripture does not erect new polities , as st. chrysostom long since observed ; nor does the gospel bar or abolish any politick laws , as luther's constant position was , which bishop bilson thought was undeniable . in the old testament his two examples of non-resistance are , david , and the iews under ahasuerus ; which are the untowardest for his purpose that he could have pitch'd upon . for as for the former of them , if the duty of passive obedience may be practised by a subject at the head of an army , and if to decline engaging the king's army only when it is six to one , ( which always , at the least , was the odds between saul's : forces and david's ) be an example of nonresistance , i am sure it is such passive obedience , and such nonresistance , as if it were acted over again in the highlands of scotland for half the time , that it was in the wilderness of zìph , would occasion new sermons against rebellion , even in the same pulpit where the substance of this book was preach'd . the other , he says , was as famous an example of passive obedience as can be met with in any history ; and yet it amounts to no more than this , that the iews being doomed to utter extirpation by a law , and delivered up as a prey to their enemies ; thinking a defence either unlawful or impossible ( for the scripture does not say which ) did look upon themselves as lost men , till they afterwards had procured a law , which in effect reversed the former , by publishing it to all people , that the iews might stand for their lives , to destroy , to slay , and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them , both little ones , and women , and to take the spoil of them for a prey , esth. 8. 11. upon which they made a vigorous and successful defence against their enemies , who were so hardy as to take no warning by this law , but continued maliciously resolved to destroy the iews , though they were thus expresly threatned that they must do it at their utmost peril . and may not those men then be as famous examples of passive obedience , who , if the laws were against them , would readily submit ; but having the laws on their side , shall defend themselves against the illegal violence of any evil disposed persons , that never were , nor ever could be , authorized to destroy them ? as for st. peter's case in the new testament , it was the resistance of lawful authority , and therefore justly condemned by our saviour . for the apprehending our saviour was not an act of unjust and illegal violence , as our author there says ; but was done by proper officers , by vertue of a warrant from the chief priests and elders ( the lords spiritual and temporal among the iews ) who were aided by the roman guards for fear of a rescue . as this author says , our saviour is our example in not resisting a lawful authority ; but what is that to the resisting of those that have no authority ? and yet if our saviour had practised non-resistance towards persons having no authority , it had not been binding to us , no more than his not appealing to caesar hindred st. paul of his appeal . in a word , there is not a case or a text , which he has argued from , in scripture , which he has not perverted and abused . i shall answer the arguments used in this question , which are taken out of the acts concerning the militia , and which are mentioned by this author , p. 111 , 112. by giving the reader a particular and distinct view of those acts : whereby it will appear that we are not enslaved by those acts , neither are the subjects hands tied up from making a legal defence against illegal violence . there are three statutes concerning the militia . the first , 13 car. ii. cap. 6. which was an interim or temporary provision till the militia act could be perfected , entituled , an act declaring the militia to be in the king , and for the present ordering and disposing the same . the second is 14 car. ii. cap. 3. to establish the militia ; entituled , an act for ordering the forces in the several counties of this kingdom . and the third is an explanatory and supplemental act ; entituled , an additional act for the better ordering of the forces in the several counties of this kingdom ; 15 car. ii. cap. 4. the two former of those acts have the very same preamble , in these words . forasmuch as within all his majesty's realms and dominions , the sole supreme government , command and disposition of the militia , and all forces by sea and land , and of all forts and places of strength , is , and by the laws of england , ever was the undoubted right of his majesty , and his royal predecessors , kings and queens of england ; and that both , or either of the houses of parliament cannot , nor ought to pretend to the same ; nor can , nor lawfully may raise , or levy any war offensive or defensive against his majesty , his heirs , or lawful successors ; and yet the contrary thereof bath of late years been practised almost to the ruine and destruction of this kingdom ; and during the late usurped governments , many evil and rebellious principles have been instilled into the minds of the people of this kingdom , which unless prevented , may break forth to the disturbance of the peace and quiet thereof . this preamble consists of five clauses , of which the three first are concerning matter of law , and the two last concerning matter of fact. in the first clause there are these two things evidently contained . first , that the militia is in the king by law. secondly , that the militia's being in the king , is no new power , but was ever the undoubted right of all the kings of england . conclusion ; therefore , unless the people of england , were ever slaves under all former kings , they are not made slaves by this declaration . the two next clauses say , that both , or either of the houses of parliament , cannot pretend to the sole supreme government , command , and disposition , of the militia , forces , forts , and places of strength . nor can raise or levy any war against the king ; but neither is it here said , that the king can or lawfully may raise or levy any war against both , or either of the houses of parliament , or any of his liege subjects . the two last clauses are concerning matter of fact ; in these words , and yet the contrary thereof hath of late years been practised ; that is , the houses did pretend to the sole supreme government , command , and disposition of the militia , forces , forts ; and did raise and levy war against the king. and during the late usurped governments , many evil and rebellious principles were instilled into the minds of the people ; such , i suppose , as asserted the militia to be in the parliament , &c. as to the body of the first act , it is all of it either repeated in the second , or else superseded by it , and therefore we are next to consider what is enacted in the 14 th . car. 2. cap. 6. and immediately after the preamble before recited , there are these words . be it therefore declared and enacted by the king 's most excellent majesty , by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons in parliament assembled , and by the authority of the same , that the king 's most excellent majesty , his heirs and successors , shall , and may from time to time , as occasion shall require , issue forth several commissions of lieutenancy to such persons as his majesty , his heirs and successors shall think fit to be his majesties lieutenants for the several and respective counties , cities , and places of england , and dominion of wales , and town of berwick upon tweed ; which lieutenants shall have full power and authority to call together all such persons at such times , and to arm , and array them in such manner as is hereafter expressed and declared ; and to form them into companies , troops , and regiments ; and in case of insurrection , rebellion , or invasion , them to lead , conduct , and imploy , or cause to be led , conducted , or imployed , as well within the said several counties , cities , and places for which they shall be commissionated respectively , as also into any other the counties and places aforesaid , for suppressing all such insurrections and rebellions , and repelling of invasions as may happen to be , according as they shall from time to time receive directions from his majesty , his heirs and successors ; and that the said respective lieutenants shall have full power and authority from time to time , to constitute , appoint , and give commissions to such persons as they shall think fit to be colonels , majors , captains , and other commission-officers of the said persons so to be armed , arrayed and weaponed , and to present to his majesty , his heirs and successors , the names of such person and persons as they shall think fit to be deputy-lieutenants , and upon his majesties approbation of them , shall give them deputations accordingly ; always understood that his majesty , his heirs and successors , have power and authority to direct and order otherwise , and accordingly at his and their pleasure , may appoint and commissionate , or displace such officers ; any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding : and that the said lieutenants respectively , and in their absence , out of the precincts and limits of their respective lieutenancies , or otherwise by their directions , the said deputy-lieutenants , during their said respective deputations , or any two or more of them , shall have power from time to time , to train , exercise , and put in readiness ; and also to lead and conduct the persons so to be armed , arrayed and weaponed , by the directions , and to the intents and purposes , as is hereafter expressed and declared . here you see all is regulated and limited ; and the lieutenancy have no other powers nor authorities , nor can execute them but by the directions , and to the intents and purposes , expressed and declared by law. consequently , the lieutenancy have no power to raise insurrections or rebellions , or to assist invasions , for that is directly contrary to the intent and purpose of this act , which is , in case of insurrection , rebellion or invasion ( whereby occasion shall be to draw out the militia into actual service ) to imploy these forces for suppressing all such insurrections and rebellions , and repelling of invasions , as it is frequently repeated in this act. nor , secondly , have they power to act contrary to the directions of these acts , as for instance , to search for arms in the houses of persons judged to be dangerous , without a constable or parish-officer ; nor to search in villages or country-towns ( other than within the bills of mortality ) between sun-setting and sun-rising ; nor have the commissioned peers power to imprison a peer , where he is expresly excepted from that penalty . the rest of this act is spent in charging the quota's and proportions of men and arms , in setling pay for the souldiers , and in declaring what powers and authorities shall be executed in all cases relating to the militia : and to the persons concern'd we leave them , only taking notice of this oath , which is directed by the act to be administred to all officers and souldiers in the militia , in these following words . i a. b. do declare and believe that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take arms against the king ; and that i do abhor that traiterous position , that arms may be taken by his authority against his person , or against those that are commissioned by him , in pursuance of such military commissions . but , as i said before , neither are the people of england enslaved by this oath . for as for the first clause , it never was lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up arms against the king , for that , in other words , is to levy war against him. and as for the first part of the position to be abhorred , that arms may be taken by the king's authority against his own person , it was always traiterous non-sence , and fit to go along with the other proposal in the oxford expedient , of inthroning the name of a prince , but banishing his person 500 miles off under pain of death . and so the other part of the position , that arms may be taken by the king's authority against those who have received authority from the king , in the execution of that very authority , is stuff as ill put together as the other ; for it makes the king's authority to supplant and destroy it self . and therefore the renouncing and abhorring of such positions can never be interpreted to be parting with our english liberties , which having been all along preserved by our ancestors , at a vast expence both of blood and treasure , must needs be presumed to be something that was more valuable than barbarous nonsence . but because there are many men , who ( like trouble-all in bartholomew-fair ) take two or three words under the hand of a magistrate to be a sufficient warrant for any thing , and think all to be commissions which are so called , whether they be so or no , it will be necessary to take into consideration this last part of the oath , and to shew , 1. what a commission is . and , 2. who act in pursuance of such commission . 1. a commission is the legal appointment of a legal person to execute or exercise some legal power or authority . and therefore the first thing requisite to a persons being commissionated , is , that he be legally appointed . so dr. falkner commenting upon this clause of the oath , by a commission , understands a commission regularly granted . book 2. chap. 1. sect. 6. but though , as he says , that be the true sense of the clause , yet it is not the whole truth . for tho a commission may be issued in due form of law , and be regularly granted , yet the incapacity or disability of a person to receive a commission , or the illegal powers of the commission it self , may render it void . 2. the next thing requisite to a persons being commissionated is , that he be a legal person . for first , a person may be uncapable by law of being commissionated ; as he that was not a natural-born subject of england , was uncapable of being an high-commissioner . or secondly , a person may be disabled by law from having a commission , by being convicted of some offence against the laws , which is punished by such a disability . or 3 dly , which we may likewise refer to this head , a person may be unqualified by law , to execute a commission , or act by virtue of it , till he have perform'd some condition required by law : as for instance , till he have taken his corporal oath for the due and impartial execution of the trusts committed to him ; or as in the militia-act every lieutenaut , deputy-lieutenant , officer and souldier remains unauthorized till he have taken the oath . for in all these cases , where the law says no man shall be enabled or impowered , he is not impowered . the third requisite to a person 's being commissionated , is , that he be appointed to execute or exercise some legal power and authority . no man can be commissioned to exercise powers which are illegal and arbitrary , and which the law says shall not be exercised . and therefore all such commissions are null and void , that is , they are no commissions . as for instance , letters patents , or commissions to erect a court with such powers and authorities as the high commission court had ; or because we are speaking of military commissions , a commission for proceedings by martial-law , contrary to the laws and franchises of the land. the next thing is to consider , when a man acts in pursuance of his commission . and first , it is plain that he does not act by virtue nor in pursuance of his commission , who exceeds the legal powers and authorities of his commission . for in those acts he is not authorized and impowered , but acts of his own head. secondly , much less does he act in pursuance of his commission , who acts quite contrary to the intents and purposes of his commission . as for instance , he who in case of insurrection , rebellion or invasion is commissionated to lead & imploy the militia for the suppressing such insurrection , or rebellion , or for repelling such invasion , if instead of this he himself shall raise an insurrection or rebellion , or assist an invasion , he pursues his commission to death , and acts in direct opposition to the end for which the law has impowered him , and does that which he neither is , nor can possibly be authorized to do . but because no commission can be given , no power can be granted , no authority can be entrusted with any person , but may be unfaithfully discharged , yea though men be sworn to the due and impartial execution of it ; it may be made a question , whether legal powers and authorities which are not duly and truly and impartially executed , are authoritative , and consequently must be submitted to ? to which it must be answered , that a trust is inseparable from an office or commission , and that no legal power or authority can be so cautiously regulated , but that still something that is within the compass of that power and authority , must be left to the honesty and integrity of him that executes it . only it is the perfection of the english laws , whereby they have preserved the franchise of the land , that they have left very little to the discretion of those who are intrusted with the execution of them , but in all cases have secured the main . as where they have left fines at the will of the king , still it is salvo contenemento . but where the law has expresly intrusted a commissioner with the exercise of some power , while he acts within the bounds and limits of his authority , there he is to be submitted to , though he should exercise that power amiss . as for instance in this act , the said respective lieutenants and deputies , or any three or more of them , shall have power to hear complaints , and examine witnesses upon oath , ( which oath they have hereby power to administer ) and to give redress according to the merits of the cause , in matters relating to the execution of this act. now if they do not faithfully discharge this power , nor give redress according to the merits of the cause , a man must even put his complaint in his pocket , till he can have legal redress elsewhere . this act likewise inables the lieutenants , or any two or more of their deputies , to warrant the seizing of all arms in the possession of any person , whom the said lieutenants or any two or more of their deputies , shall judg dangerous to the peace of the kingdom . now if they shall abuse this power , which is for securing the peace of the kingdom , to the disarming the loyalest and best subjects the king has ; and will not restore these arms to the owners again , ( nor they be able to recover them by replevin ) it cannot be help'd ; nor indeed is it of very great importance , because they may buy more . but , as i said before , where the property or liberty or lives of the subject are concern'd , this very act has been careful to secure them ; so as to forbid searching for arms in the night-time ( unless within the bills of mortality , cities , & market-towns ) and every where has required it to be done with a parish-officer ; whereby both the persons and goods of the subject are least exposed . it has likewise been careful to provide , that neither this act , nor any matter or thing therein contained , shall be deemed , construed or taken to extend to the giving or declaring of any power for the transporting of any of the subjects of this realm , or any way compelling them to march out of this kingdom , otherwise than by the laws of england ought to be done . and yet some men , i cannot say have deemed and taken , but i am sure have wickedly construed this act to extend much farther , even to a power of destroying the liege subjects of this realm , and marching them out of the world , otherwise than by the laws of england ought to be done . but this last proviso has sufficiently confuted all such mischievous doctrine . where is arbitrariness then ? it is excluded . by what law ? even by the imperial law , or law of the prerogative : for though the power of the sword is declared in these acts to the full , yet they have taken care to prevent all such dangerous mistakes , as if thereby those that are commissionated by the king had any power of transporting his liege subjects , or compelling them to march out of the kingdom ; and much less have they any power to destroy them at home , as both magna charta , and the petition of right , 3 car. intituled , a declaration of divers rights and liberties of the people to the king 's most excellent majesty , do fully declare . now i would fain know wherein those who transport the king's liege subjects , without any power to transport them , differ from kidnappers ? or those that destroy them , without any power to destroy them , differ from murderers ? and surely the people of england have a legal right , and several legal ways , to rescue themselves from kidnappers and murderers , without pretending to the command of the militia ! but though the last mentioned proviso was twice enacted , yet comes the pulpit law and utterly repeals it ( as it does the 13 th of eliz . ) and says the subjects of england must be compelled , and shall be compelled to march out of the kingdom , if those that are commissionated by the king shall think fit . for though these have no power to compel , yet the subjects of england are bound in conscience to know their duty and their drivers , and to supply this lack of legal power by the inward impulses of their own spiritual , and never-failing passive obedience ; and must either go out of the kingdom upon this occasion , or go to the devil for their wicked and rebellious refusal . it likewise repeals all the legal limitations , which have ascertained penalties for the several offences committed against the laws . as for instance in this act , whereas the law says , that the chief commissioned officer upon the place may imprison mutineers , & such souldiers as do not their duties , and shall and may inflict for punishment for every such offences any pecuniary mulct , not exceeding five shillings ; or the penalty of imprisonment without bail or mainprise , not exceeding twenty days . the doctrine of passive obedience makes nothing of these legal restrictions , and says , that men must submit to perpetual imprisonment , or to be hanged for such offences , or for no offence at all , if those that are commissioned will have it so . i humbly submit it to the wisdom of our legislators when they shall be assembled in parliament , whether they will endure to have all their laws thus used , and suffer them to be put into a bottomless bag ( as the poets say iupiter disposes of lovers vows ) of a boundless and endless passive obedience . but because some men have moved another question , who shall be judg when there is an insurrection , rebellion or invasion ? and consequently , whether there be occasion or not , according to law , to imploy the militia , and to draw them forth into actual service ? it is fit to say something to it . to which i answer , that the law has judged already , and determined the matter to our hands ; and all english-men know as well , as if they had the opinion of all the judges , that going peaceably to market , or to their parish-church , is neither insurrection , rebellion , nor invasion . but i have long since observed , that those who would inslave men , either under an implicit faith , or a blind obedience , are very pert in putting such questions ; the scripture is the rule of faith , but who shall be iudge of the sense of it ? and when you have once allowed them that point of an absolute judg , then presently an apple shall be an oyster , bread shall be flesh and blood and bones , pig shall be pike , and a dog shall be a catawimple . now , i humbly conceive , there is no need at all of constituting a judg to resolve that the barbar's bason is not mambrino's helmet , when none but a madman who is bent upon seeking adventures , and is ready to pick quarrels with all mankind , will say it is . as to the third act concerning the militia 15 car. 2. c. 4. i shall only take notice of one clause of indemnity in these words . and it is further declared and enacted , that all and every person and persons which since the five and twentieth day of march , one thousand six hundred sixty and two , have acted or done any thing in the dismantling of any cities or towns , or demolishing of walls and fortifications thereof , or relating thereunto , shall be , and are hereby indempnified and saved harmless . now this was long after the militia had been declared to be in the king , & yet these persons having exceeded their legal powers , stood in need of an indemnity by act of parliament : which had bin vain , if the king's command , or their own commission would have justified them , and born them out in it . i come now in the 2 d place to produce some reasons to prove the lawfulness of defending our selves against illegal violence ; which is a truth so obvious and so agreeable to the common sense of mankind , that even those men who set themselves to oppose it , do oftentimes assert it unawares , and give unanswerable reasons for it . i shall therefore first set down those concessions which the force of truth has extorted from this author , and 2 dly add some other arguments to them . 1 st . no man wants authority to defend his life against him who has no authority to take it away . p. 69. but no man whatsoever has any just and legal authority ( that is , any authority at all ) to take it away contrary to law. p. 190 , 191. and from these premises it is easy for any man to infer the conclusion . 2dly . he that resists the vsurpations of men , does not resist the ordinance of god , which alone is forbidden to be resisted . but acts of arbitrary and illegal violence are the vsurpations of men. therefore , &c. these again are our author's doctrines , the former p. 128. l. 15. the other p. 211. l. 11. as likewise 212. l. 22. he acknowledges , that the assuming of an absolute and arbitrary power in this kingdom would be vsurpation ; tho he says at the same time that no prince in this kingdom ever usurped such a power : which is notoriously false : for richard the 2 d by name did , not to mention any other . 3 dly . a 3 d argument which this author furnishes us withall , is this , p. 164 , 165. the reason why we must submit to governours , or subordinate magistrates , is , because they are sent by our prince , and act by his authority ; and we must never submit to them in opposition to our prince . now nothing is better known in this kingdom , than that those who commit illegal violence , do not act by the princes authority ; for , as our author says , p. 190. he himself has no just nor legal authority to act against law ; and therefore we need not submit to them in such acts. nay , farther , according to this author , we must never submit to them in this case because they are in opposition to our prince ; for they act against the peace of our soveraign lord the king , his crown , and dignity ; as the law has evermore interpreted such acts. 4 thly . our author , p. 126. has these word . every man has the right of self-preservation , as intire under civil government , as he had in a state of nature . vnder what government soever i live , i may still kill another man , when i have no other way to preserve my life from unjust violence by private hands . now the hands of subordinate magistrates , imployed in acts of illegal violence , are private hands , and armed with no manner of authority at all ; of which this is a most convincing proof , that they may be hanged by law for such acts , which no man can or ought to suffer for what he does by authority . they are no officers at all in such acts , for illegal violence is no part of their office. this is sufficient to shew , that this author holds so much truth , as would have led him to his own conviction , if he had but attended to the immediate consequences of it , instead of blending it with a great many falshoods : and after he has answered his own arguments , i shall desire him to do as much for these which follow . 1. no man can authorize himself . but in acts of illegal violence if a subordinate magistrate have any authority at all , he must authorize himself . for it is a contradiction to say the law authorizes him to do an illegal act , as our author well observes p. 195. and it is as false to say , that the king who can do no wrong , can authorize another to do it . in the great conference of the lords and commons , 3 o caroli , concerning the contents of the petion of right , the law was held to be , that if the king command a man to do injury to another , the command is void , & actor fit author , and the actor becomes the wrong-doer . that is , he acts of his own head , and authorizes himself . 2 dly . the illegal violence of subordinate magistrates cannot be more irresistible , only by being more criminal than it is in other men ; for that would be to make a man's crime to be his protection . but illegal violence done by subordinate magistrates , is not only as inauthoritative , as if it were commited by private persons , but likewise more criminal ; as being done with a face and colour of authority , and under pretence of law , making that partaker of their crime , violating and blemishing the law at once . i might multiply such arguments ; but if this author will please to give a full and clear answer to these only , i here promise to be of his opinion . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a46961-e910 pag. 196 , 197 , &c. pag. 196. page 54 , 55 , &c. pag. 193 , 194 , 195. page 192. page 191. p. 200. ●age 202. page 205 , 206. page 212. pag. 32. pag. 41. pag. 61. page 79. ephemeris parliam . a visitation and presentation of love unto the king, and those call'd royallists burrough, edward, 1634-1662. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a30561 of text r14966 in the english short title catalog (wing b6054). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 103 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a30561 wing b6054 estc r14966 12035084 ocm 12035084 52872 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30561) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52872) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 861:29) a visitation and presentation of love unto the king, and those call'd royallists burrough, edward, 1634-1662. 39 p. printed and are to be sold by robert wilson, london : 1660. reproduction of original in huntington library. signed at end: e.b. attributed to edward burrough. cf. bm. of an answer to several queries proposed to the people (called quakers) from a (supposed) royallist -of an objection answered, concerning the kings supremacy -of an epistle directed to the king, & those that go under the name of royallists -of certain queries returned to them (called royallists) to answer. eng society of friends -great britain. divine right of kings. a30561 r14966 (wing b6054). civilwar no a visitation and presentation of love unto the king, and those call'd royallists; consisting i. of an answer to several queries proposed to burrough, edward 1660 18378 7 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-04 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-04 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a visitation and presentation of love unto the king and those call'd royallists ; consisting i. of an answer to several queries proposed to the people ( called quakers ) from a ( supposed ) royallist . ii. of an objection answered , concerning the kings supremacy . iii. of an epistle directed to the king , & those that go under the name of royallists . iv. of certain queries returned to them ( called royallists ) to answer . london , printed and are to be fold by robert wilson , 1660. an ansvver to divers queries superscribed thus , to the quakers some queries is sent to be answered , that all people may know your spirit , and the temper of it , and your judgment concerning the times and seasons ; and subscribed , let your answer be directed , tradite banc amico regis . as concerning the quakers , that are scornfully so called , we are at this day , and have been ever since we were a people , a poor despised and contemptible people , in the eye of this world , and deep sufferers under the injustice , and cruelties , and oppressions both of rulers teachers and people , and we have been a prey to the wicked , and troden down under the feet of ambitious men , that have been in power in this nation , and have ruled in force and cruelty over us , and this hath been ever since the lord raised us up to be a people , though we have not been offensive to any just law , or government , or to any sort of people , otherwise then that we have given our witness against sin and wickedness in all people ; but we have not been oppressors of others , neither have we envied the persons of any , but in all good conscience have we walked towards all men , doing no otherwise to any , than we would be done unto ; and this is the very law we walk by towards all men , desiring the good of all , and that all may come to repentance and be saved ; and what we are as unto the lord , if i should declare , it could not be believed by many : but we are his people , and he hath chosen us , and he is our god , and we have believed in him , and walked with him in the uprightness of heare , and we have this testimony in our own hearts , if we die it is for him , and if we live it is to him ; and though we have been and may be clouded with the reproaches and persecutions of an uncircumcised generation , yet in the lords season it shall be manifest , even to the world , and to our very enemies , that we are his people and chosen of him , and he in the midst of us , whom we serve and worship in spirit , in truth , and in righteousness , and this shall be manifest in the day of the lord , and in the mean time we are willing to bear , and to suffer all things that is put upon us , for the name of the lords sake . query 1. whether you , or any of you , that pretend to inspiration and revelation , did foresee , or was it revealed to you , that ever charles stuart should be proclaimed king to reign in england , ever any more ? or , whether or no any of you did believe it , or could have believed it by your great faith which you profess , if it had been told you long ago ? answ. as for the proclaiming of charles stuart king , to reign in england , it was not improbable unto our faith , neither is it contrary unto that which some of us hath seen ; for we know that god respecteth neither persons nor names , but doth give the kingdoms of this world to whomsoever he will : and thus much was said as may be seen in a book , called , good counsel and advice , reiected , ( and divers other papers ) &c. p. 17. in a letter to oliver cromwell , it is said concerning you that are commonly called cavaliers ; but what and if , for and because of thy wickedness in the sight of god , he should raise them up , and make them instruments in his hand to accomplish his wrath upon thee , even like as he made thee once his instrument to overthrow them , &c. and here the thing was believed to be possible , that the lord might raise you up again for his pleasure , to fulfil his will , because of the wickedness of the army and nation ; and it is now come to pass even as was seen and believed . and also it was expressed in a letter , written in the tenth month , 1659. concerning them that were your enemies , and that were at first raised against you , the very same spirit of pride , and oppression , and idolatry , is entred into them , ( meaning your enemies ) and now lives in them in as high a measure as ever it lived amongst you ; and their iniquities are well nigh finished , and the lord will one way or other correct and reproue them , and they shall be dealt with in like manner as they have dealt with you ; for they were no more than a rod in the hand of the lord for a season , and they must also be broken and cast into the fire , and whether the lord may ever make use of you to reprove them , as he did of them to reprove you , this i determine not ; but leaves it to him who can do whatsoever he will by what instruments he pleaseth : it is true you have made many attempts to be revenged upon them , but you have not hitherto prospered ; but could you be humbled and come into the meek spirit of the lord , then might you prosper , but hitherto the lord hath alwayes defeated you , and bowed you down under a people as unworthy at others , but their time will come to an end : and submit unto the will of the lord in what is come to pass , and seek not vengeance to your selves , and then the lord will avenge your cause for the iniquities of your adversaries are ripe , &c. and charles stuart must either be converted to god , and ruled by him , or else he can never rightly rule for god in this nation ; though this i believe it is not impossible but that he may be a rod upon them that once smote him , and their oppressions and ambitions may receive a check through him , &c. these things were written in a letter to all the people of your part , long before there was any visible appearance , of that which is now come to pass : whereby it doth appear that these things in a great measure were foreseen and prophesied of , and it was believed as a thing very possible , that thus it might be as is already come to pass : and as for visions , they are for an appointed time , there is a time to see , and a time to speak what is seen ; and revealed things belongs to us , and when we declare them then you may take notice of it ; but it was verily believed as a thing possible , that such a thing would be , and also by the proceedings and transactions as they have fallen out , for your very enemies have so acted and proceeded as to destroy themselves , & to bring you in over their heads , though they little intended the thing , yet the effect of their proceedings could hardly prove otherwise than to destroy themselves , and make room for you , and these things i observed ; and also thus far we did fore see and it was revealed to us , and believed by many of us fully , and we did often prophesie it , that the lord god of heaven & earth would destroy and bring down the government , & authority as they have stood in this nation for divers years , and that he would bring iudgment upon the rulers , and upon many of the teachers , & people of this nation , because of their oppressions and unfaithfulness , and treachery , & hypocrisie , & wickedness , which abounded amongst them , which we have felt and seen , and been sensible of ; and we have often given our witness against them , because of their guiltiness in their sinful waies ; oh it hath been loathsome unto the lord , even the oppressions & treacheries of the rulers ! oh how hath cruelty and injustice abounded in their government ! & their hypocrisie hath been evident in our sight in many particulars , & even in that they have cryed against and overthrown king and kingly government , charging them with oppression and cruelty , and pretended to ease the people in a better way of government , when as though governors and names , & titles of government , were changed and altered , yet oppression ceased not , neither was injustice forsaken , nor was the heavy yoakes of great bondage removed : but the rather these things were increased upon many good people in these nations , and herein was the unfaithfulness , and treachery of the rulers very great in the sight of god , and their government unjust and unequal , wherefore the lord hath been provoked against them to confound them , and overturn them , and we have often told it them , and also the hypocrisie and deceits , and sinfulness of teachers , we have seen & testified against , & our witness to them both is and will be found true , and gods justice will be fulfilled upon them both , & these things we have observed , even the heinous guilt of sin against god in both rulers and teachers , & the abominations that have been committed both in civil , and church government ( so called ) also , and many people have loved to have these things so , and we have been sensible how the lord hath been provoked to overthrow the governors of this nation , because hereof ; and this we have foreseen and prophesied of , even that iudgement and confusion would come upon the government , the rulers , and the teachers ; but particularly when and after what manner , judgment & overthrow should come upon them , was left to the lord , who hath brought to pass his own will according to justice , and it may prove to be a just jugdment from the lord , upon the unfaithful and treacherous , and unjust rulers , and teachers , and people which i have mentioned , and the lord may justly avenge himself upon them who have abused his mercies , and not improved his deliverance to his glory , but perverted the end wherefore they were at first raised up , i say the lord may justly be avenged of them by this means , of this mans comingin , and he may be in the hand of the lord a very smiting rod to correct and rebuke , and may be a heavy judgment upon many in this nation , even from that cause , and for that end as before i have expressed . quer. 2. whether you , or any of you , do adjudge it reasonable and equitable , that he should come & inherit the nations of which he is born the right heir ? or whether or no it is just or unjust to god and men , that he should reign king over these nations ? if you walk & judg by the law of god which is equal , then judge of this whether he hath been kept out this many years , & now is brought in again reasonably & iustly , or unjustly & contrary to reason ▪ answ. that he should come in , is reasonable and equitable , because through the purpose of the lord , his coming in is accomplished , who effecteth nothing but what is equal & reasonable , & there is cause in god sufficient wherefore it should thus be , & there is sufficient cause & reason appearing to us in this matter ; & upon the very account as laid down in my answer to the first query , it is equal as in the lord , that he should be restored who hath been removed & cast out by such as have pretended to govern & rule better than he , but have ruled in oppression & injustice , & not answered the cause wherefore he was cast out ; & that he should come in to be a scourge upon these , this is just , and in this particular doth lie the reason & equity of his coming in to inherit this nation . and as for reigning justly over this nation , that may better be answered when we have had experience of his reign , for if he reign & rule in truth & righteousness , in mercy and in iustice , and by and according to the iust law of god , if thus he reign , then he reigneth justly , & it is just to god and men that he should reign , and this the law of god which is equal , judgeth , by which we walk in all things , & do judge of all things : and as for his being kept out this many years , we do judge that the hand of the lord is in these matters , & they were done & suffered to be done by him , in which he will be glorified , yet , thus far i say , they that have kept him out , in pretence that they would rule better than he , & yet have ruled in oppression & injustice , as much more ( may be ) then he would have done , they have dealed unjustly and contrary to reason , both to him , and much more to the people of these nations , while they have made and had new names and titles of government and governors , but have continued the old oppressions , and not releived the oppressed according to their own vows and promises , which they have broken , and it is but just they should be punished for it ; but if he render not evil for evil , he doth well . quer. 3. whether or no ye can judge that his reign and government shall be blessed to himself , and these nations , or the contrary ? or whether shall peace or trouble be in the land in his dayes ? and shall his dayes be many , or shall his time be short ; if this be revealed to you let us know ? answ. we do judge that his reign and government may be blessed to himself and these nations , or not blessed ; and peace may be in the land , or trouble in his dayes ; and his time may be long , or it may be short ; according as he walketh in the fear of the lord , or as he walketh wickedly , and according as his reign and government is in righteousness , mercy , and truth , or in oppression and injustice , accordingly do i judge may he be blessed & may have peace , and long dayes , or the contrary , if he walk in the way which brings contrary effects : and we take not upon us to judge any thing before the time , but as thorow time he discovers himself , so we may judge of him , ( for we desire well for him and all men ) that he may so reign and govern as to be a blessing to himself and these nations , that peace may be in his dayes , and his time may be happy : and this we certainly know that there is an eternal god , who is over all , and that can do whatsoever he will , even set up and pull down whomsoever he will , and though his strength now be great , and his number very many , yet there is an eternal god above all , who is mighty to save , and mighty to destroy , and if he please no god in his wayes , and in his reign , but be an oppressor , and walk in evil wayes , we certainly believe he cannot be blessed , nor have peace , nor long time , but the lord may bring to pass the contrary ; for as the scriptures say , it is by him that kings reign , and he makes kings blessed or miserable , the scriptures gives much evidence concerning the good and the bad kings of israel , they that were good men and ruled well , they were blessed and had long dayes , and people were happy under them ; and to the kings that were idolaters and oppressors , and walked in wickedness , and vexed the lord , it was contrary , for the lord cut them off and destroyed them , and delivered the oppressed ; and god is the same now as he was then , as powerful to save the righteous , & as mighty to destroy the wicked , & we rather desire that he may follow the example of the good kings of israel , that the good effects may follow , & that he may not follow the evil example of tyrants & oppressors : but & if he do , the effect and reward will certainly be upon him , and the lord will rebuke him , and this we know by the spirit of the lord . quer. 4. whither may he justly forgive , or avenge himself , of his and his fathers enemies , and if he do avenge , whether or no can that be called persecution ? and if any or many suffer death , or otherwise on that account because they destroyed his father , & sought to destroy him also ; do such suffer for righteousness & good conscience or no ? if some of you suffer , for that cause shall you have peace with god in it , or is it for the name of christ , as ye often say ? answ. he may justly in the sight of god forgive his , and his fathers enemies , and he will be the more blessed if he do it , for it is a happy thing to forgive enemies , and it is christs doctrine also to forgive enemies , and it would be a good report unto him among his friends , and it would win his enemies , or be a good means towards it , if he do forgive all enemies , and it will be a good beginning of his government to remit offences ; though yet in his heart he may be perswaded , that he and his father have been much injured , yet i say , justly he may forgive all in the sight of god , and also in the sight of men , as many wayes may appear ; even in as much as his father and he , did flie to the sword to determine their controversie in this nation , and the sword went against them , and did determine the controversie even against them ; and that whereby they thought to stand , they did fall , and that which they chused for their defence , did destroy them , and who then shall they blame for that which befel them , seeing the sword destroyed them , * which themselves did chuse & thought thereby to stand , but it determined the controversie against them : and if you cannot own it , as that the hand of the lord went against you in battel , yet you must confess that the fortune of war ( as some call it ) went against you ; and must such now suffer because hereof ? nay they ought not , but may rather be spared by the king ; & in as much as he is restored again without blood or loss of lives , it may be very just for him not to take away any mens lives , but it will be more just to pass by all old things ; and if he have a deliverance , let him turn it into the praise of the lord in holiness , and not into the shedding of blood in the way of a fierce revenge ; and let him leave it to the lord to avenge himself upon such as have been his enemies , and upon such as have cast out king and kingly government , and pretended to a better government , and to govern more righteously , and yet have been oppressors , and not answered their own pretences and engagements , but broken them and acted contrary , by their unfaithfulness and hypocrisie ; and in that doth lie the justness of punishment if it come upon them , and if they be punished with death , or otherwise if they suffer on that account ; i say , because they destroyed kingly government in name and title , and pretended better things , & to govern better , and did not make reformation , but were oppressors , as i have said , suffering for that cause cannot be called persecution , nor is it for good conscience , nor righteousness sake that such do suffer : but none of us can suffer for that cause , as not being guilty thereof , as in the answer to the next querie , i shall have full occasion to shew you ; but and if we suffer in your government , it is for the name of christ , and we shall have peace with god in it ; because nothing can be charged against us in this capacity as we now stand , and in this state into which we are now gathered and changed ; not in any matter of action or rebellion against him nor his father , nor any thing but concerning the law and worship of our god , and the matters of his kingdome , and our pure consciences ; and if upon this account we are made to suffer by him and for this cause , the reward will be sad and heavy upon him , in the day of the lord : and if any that are now amongst us , were any way engaged in the parliament service in the wars , it was not in rebellion against him or his father , as that we sought their destruction as men , but upon sober & reasonable principles , & not for corrupted ends , nor to get honour & riches to our selves , as some others might do , who went in the war for self ends , & continued in action after the cause ( which was once engaged for ) was utterly lost , as we have long seen it ; and that principle which some time led some in action to oppose oppression & seek after reformation , we never have nor shall deny , but that principle is still justified ; though we are now better informed than once we were , for though we do now more than ever oppose oppression , and seek after reformation , yet we do it not in that way of outward warring , & fighting with carnal weapons , & swords ; & you , and the king ought to put a difference ( both in their guilt & suffering ) between such as some time acted in the wars against you , in and upon sober & reasonable principles , & that did not make themselves rich and high in this world thorow your sufferings ; and between such as have acted against you for self ends , and have insulted over you , and have made themselves great and rich in this world , thorow your afflictions and sufferings ; for they who have walked in that way , & are hereof guilty , they havenot acted righteously , nor walked in good conscience ; & if such suffer by you for that cause , it cannot be called persecution , nor is it for the name of christ , nor can such have peace with god : but we being clear from the sin of such , we cannot suffer as such , but if we suffer by you it is persecution , and our sufferings will be upon you . quer. 5. whether the great afflictions and sufferings sustain'd by him this divers years , from the subjects if his own nation , and the guilt thereof , do lie upon all the subjects in general ? or whether upon any , or some pa●icular sects and sorts of people ? ( many which now are arisen ) and if upon any particular sect and sort , who are such more than others ? distinguish them from others , and clear your selves if you can from the guilt of his sufferings . answ. as for the afflictions and sufferings sustained by him , so far as they were iust and righteous iudgment from god , because of iniquity , can no man be charged with , but that is on gods account , who was pleased to chastise with afflictions and sufferings , and no man can be blamed with injustice for that affliction which cometh from the hand of god , upon whom injustice may not be charged by any one whatsoever ; and so far as his sufferings were unjust , the guilt thereof doth not lie upon all the subjects in general , nor upon every particular sort of people alike , but upon some more than others , and such are easie to be distinguished from others , if it be considered who they are that first raised the war in this nation against the king , and who was it that first preached and prayed up the war , and prosecuted it against his father ? and who is it that cast out the bishops and prelates from their places , and took their revenues and benefices , and are become men as corrupted , as covetous , and self-seeking , as proud and ambitious , as unjust persecutors as ever the men were which they cast out ? and the guilt is partly upon such who cast out others in pretence of refarmation but did it not : and who is it that hath gotten great estates in this nation , and worldly honour , and raised themselves from nothing by the wars , and by your suffering , and became ambitious and insulting over others , though they first began the war in this nation , and pretended great reformation in the civil state , as well as the other had done in church state ? and who get the estates & titles of their enemies , & pretended to free this nation from all oppressions , but have not done it , but have continued the old oppressions , and have been striving among themselves who should rule , and who should be great , but have not ruled for god , nor in iustice and equity , though they first warred against the king , and carryed it on , and removed the king and lords , and that government , and all this in pretence of ruling better , and in a better government , and yet kept not engagements , nor promises made in that case ? upon such is the guilt of the suffering of the king , so far as his sufferings are unjust , even upon hypocrites , who have ●alked in these steps , who as i have said , first made war against the king , and got great estates , and quite forgotten the cause once pretended by them , and now in flattery , cries up king and kingly government again , though this many years they have seemed to be opposite against it ; upon such as these may the guilt aforesaid in measure be charged : and though there are risen many sects and sorts of people since the beginning of the wars , yet in the beginning there was but one sort that were in a capacity to raise and prosecute war against the king ; and upon such there is guilt to be charged in the sight of god , who have foregone their principles , and been deceitful both to god and men : and as for us who are called quakers , we are clear from the guilt of all his sufferings , and in the present capacity wherein we now stand , and under the actings of that spirit which now we are of , we have no part in the guilt of these iniquities ; we have not cast out others , and taken their places of great benefices , neither have we made war with carnal weapons against any , never since we were a people , ( mark ) neither have we broken oaths and engagements , nor promised freedome and deliverance , and for self ends , and earthly riches betrayed , as others have done , what we pretended to ; and in many particulars it doth appear , that we are clear from his sufferings , for we have been a suffering people as well as they , by the same spirit which caused them to suffer , which hath been much more cruel , wicked , and unjust towards us , than it hath been towards them , though our persecution hath been in another manner ; but what they have done against us we can freely forgive them , and we would have you to follow the same example ; and if you could accuse them in many things , so could we ; but this is not a time to accuse one another , but to forgive one another , and so to overcome your enemies , or else you will appear in the same spirit , that so he that condemns them cannot justifie you , though we do condemn as well as you , them that have pretended reformation , and warred against you upon that account : and when they had gotten victory did not reform , but became oppressors themselves , as well as others , and became cruel towards others , that would not say and do as they ; and for this cause the lord hath brought them down , and may justly suffer others to deal with them as they have dealt with others ; yet notwithstanding i must still say , and it is my judgment , that there was very great oppressions and vexations under the government of the late king , and bishops under his power , which the lord was offended with , and many good people oppressed by , for which cause the lord might and did justly raise up some to oppose , and strive against oppressions and injustice , and to intend and press after reformation in all things , and that principle of sincerity which god did raise in many in the beginning of the wars , which in some things acted them forth , and carryed them on in opposing oppressions , and pressing after reformation , this principle i can never deny , but acknowledge to it , though many soon lost it , and became self-seekers , forgetting and foregoing the cause pretended to , having lost sincerity , and became corrupted in their way , and injustice and oppression abounded by them , and because hereof are they condemned in the sight of the lord , and not by me iustified , because they have lost sincerity , and turned the war , and all the proceedings into self-seeking ; and therefore is god provoked against them , though had they continued in their integrity , and had really performed what some time they pretended , and had forsaken all sin , it had not been thus with them , neither had this guilt been upon them , which now they are like to be accountable for : and this is my judgment concerning these things . quer. 6. whether or no he may justly ( think ye ) and with more safety to himself , and happiness to the kingdoms , tollerate and allow liberty of conscience , ( so called ) to all the many sects and sorts of people , and worshippers that are now in being in these nations ? or whether he may tollerate some and not all ? or whether he may tollerate none , but reduce the government of the church into the way of bishops and prelates , as it was in his fathers dayes ? which of these may he do justly , and with more safety to himself , and happiness to his government and kingdoms ? answ. we do believe he may and ought justly , and with most safety to himself , and happiness to the kingdoms , tollerate and allow free liberty of conscience in all the matters of faith and worship towards god ; for liberty in exercise of conscience , in the matters of gods kingdom , is a very precious thing to the lord , and very dear in his sight , and he is tender of it ; and i do stedfastly believe , he will not bless the rulers of this nation , that shall deny ( to the people of this nation ) and oppose liberty of conscience in the exercise of faith and worship towards god ; for i do know it is not given of god to any earthly king or ruler whatsoever , to exercise lordship over the consciences of people in the matters of faith and worship , and the things pertaining to gods kingdom ; for kings and rulers , are but to rule over men in a nation , in the matters between one man and another , in outward things and worldly affairs ; and therein only men ought to rule in equity over a nation , or city , or country ; and magistracy in this state , and for such an end is gods ordinance appointed of him , for the preserving of peace and good order among men in outward things ; and it is a priviledge of the crown of christs spiritual kingdom , to be lord and ruler over and in mens consciences , in faith and worship , and all the matters of his kingdom , even as and according to his pleasure , and as his spirit leads and guids ; for , and if any man shall assume to prescribe god a way how he must be worshipped , and shall limit his spirit from this , or to the other way of religion , and think to be lord in mens consciences in religious matters , such are but usurpers , and are not well-pleasing to the lord ( in such their way and government ) if they oppress mens consciences , by limiting from , or compelling to any such way of worship or kind of religion ; neither are they ordained to rule among men for that end , not to be king and iudge , and law giver in heavenly and spiritual matters ; and this ought not charles ( the king ) to do : but and if he do it , and will not let christ alone be the head over his church , it cannot be with safety to himself , nor happiness to the kingdoms , nor justly in the sight of god , but it will work contrary effects : and he may and ought to tollerate and allow liberty of conscience in the matters of gods kingdome , to all sorts of people , and worshippers , that are in this nation ; and let him mind gods wisdom , how to keep the nations in peace and good order , in all outward and civil affairs , between man and man , and between one sort of people and another , that none destroy each others persons or estates , nor be oppressors one of another in outward and earthly matters ; and that is the place and priviledge of a just king and ruler upon earth ; and to leave faith and worship , and duty towards god , as every one is perswaded in their own consciences is the right way ; whether they will read the common-prayer , or preach and pray after the order of the directory , or otherwise ; or whether they will meet in silence without words ; and let all these enjoy their way of religion and worship in outward peace , and not kill one another about their religion , worship , church and ministry , nor imprison and persecute one another about these things ; but let them all be preserved as men , living in peace one with another in all outward relations , and yielding subjection to good laws which concerns their outward man , and their peace and well-being as subjects of a nation ; but there ought to be no law of bondage and force , nor violent impositions by any man concerning religion , for the lord alone is sufficient to give prescriptions and laws to his peop●● how he may be served and worshipped ; and this is the way of good government in this nation , that only the outward man in outward things be governed , and all matters of conscience in spiritual things be left unto god , that his spirit may therein only rule and have the preheminence ; and if the king do rule thus , he may be more blessed , and in that this nation hath his word , for liberty of conscience , it is expected ; for because this hath been wanting , ( to wit ) the allowance of liberty of conscience in spiritual matters , because of this , have been much strife and contention , and heart-burnings in the nation , while some sects of people have been tollerated and upheld , and others persecuted for their religion-sake by law ; and this was one of the chief causes wherefore the presbyterians ( so called ) first raised war against the bishops , even because they could not be tollerated , but were persecuted , while the other were guarded and defended by law ; and this was a great cause of enmity , which if the presbyterians ( so called ) could have had liberty and tolleration at that day , for their worship and faith , it is possible the war against the bishops had not so far proceeded ; though when they had gotten victory , they were no less furious towards the bishops to destroy them , than the other had been once against them ; and this arose by reason of persecuting for conscience sake , because all had not liberty in the exercise of spiritual things , which if the king had declared at that day equal liberty to both , in matters of their faith and religion , and yet ruled over both in outward affairs , and had authority over the persons and estates in matters not related to spiritual worship , but left them therein free , and in their religion ; by such means the war might have been stopped , and not proceeded so far as it did , and into such destruction ; and this being now well considered , may be an example to prevent the like hereafter : so that i say , it cannot be for his safety , nor for the good of the kingdoms , to tollerate some sorts of people , and religions , and persecute others , for that will be the very cause of strife among men , it will provoke one sort to destroy another , and it will provoke the lord god against the king and his government , to destroy them both ; therefore to reduce the government of the church into the state , as it stood under the bishops in his fathers dayes , and to prohibit all others that may differ in judgment from that , this is not the way for peace and happiness in these nations , nor the way that will be blessed to the government ; neither can the bishops and prelates justly themselves desire it , that only they and their church-government , should be imposed and tollerated , and all besides prohibited ; for this is not doing to others as they would be done unto ; and i may hope that their suffering this divers years , may have taught them the worth of liberty to themselves , and so , that they will allow to others ( if it be in their power ) the same which they have desired themselves , in their time of suffering ; and they having tasted of some subjection in adversity , they know the better how to behave themselves in time of prosperity ; and they may compare others with their own states , and may judge that others will as much desire liberty , and from as good principles , in their worship and faith , as themselves would have enjoyned it in times past ; and they may have learned to be good to others in that case , for which themselves have suffered , and not cause others to suffer for that thing about wch themselves have suffered : and i do conclude , that he may justly & with more safty & happiness to his government , tollerate and allow liberty of conscience in the exercise of faith and worship towards god , in all spiritual matters , even to al sorts of people in this nation , and let him defend their persons & estates , from the wrong one of another , by wholsome laws ; and let each sort defend themselves in their faith and worship , in their church and ministry , by their soundest arguments , and the best spiritual weapons they have ; and thus should it be blessed to the government : and whatsoever sort or sect of people are not contented with this , that is to say , to allow the same liberty to others in faith and worship , which they do desire themselves , are not worthy themselves to be allowed liberty unto ; and this every reasonable man may judge . quer. 7. lastly , what is your iudgement ; ( if ye dare declare it ) concerning the times and seasons , and the present motions of them ? and what are your observations of the present proceedings ? are the present times and seasons , and the proceedings , and transfactions in mercy , or in iudgment to the king , and his subjects ? if in mercy , to whom is it mercy ? and if in iudgment who are they to whom these things are so ? if ye be not faint-hearted declare your minds , now in your last daies ( as many think ) for many say , that your ruin is nigh come , and if it be not so , many are deceived ? answ. yes we dare declare our iudgment concerning the times and seasons , for we have received the iudgment of truth in our spirits , and never have been , nor are we afraid to declare the truth , so far as truth is necessary to be declared ; and we say the times and seasons are in the hand of the lord , and the motions of them are very swift , and the lord gives to whom , and takes from whom , ( times and seasons ) as he pleaseth , even as it were in an instant doth the lord give , and change , and alter , times , authorities , and things ; and mortal man ought not to glory in times or seasons as if they were certain and unchangable to him ; for behold the motions of times flyeth away , and seasons removeth their course , and the most confident of men have no certainty thereof , and that because they are in the hand of the lord that turneth them about , and often contrary to mens will and pleasure ; and therefore let every man be good in his time , and fulfill the will of the lord in his season , before time and season be no more , but removed from them . and as for our observations , they are very many of the present proceedings and transactions ; first , we do observe that there is not any thing of all these transactions that are come to pass , but there is a secret hand of the lord god , through them , and in them ; either doing of them , or suffering of them to be done ; and either as the cause by secret purpose , or as the means of their accomplishment ; it is not without him that these things cometh to pass , but his eye & his hand is over them , & that man is only blesed which hath respect unto him in all these things , that he may do or suffer for the lord , and that he may not rebell against him , in what is brought to pass by him . secondly , we observe how that the lord hath given unto many men a day and a time , and tryed them what they would do for him , and whether they would rule in righteousness , and in equity , but many have proved deceitful , and not answered to the lord what he expected from them ; and therefore the lord hath confounded them in their counsels , and suffered them to clash one against another , and made them overthrow one another ; and one self-seeking man hath been the ruin of another ( as bad as himself ) and even many by their own proceedings have prepared a rod and judgment , even for themselves , and through their blindness of heart , which they have been given up to , because of their wickedness , they have destroyed themselves , and given their very enemies advantage over them to afflict them , and this we have observed of present proceedings . thirdly , we observe that there is a rude prophane spirit , highly abounding throughout this nation , that brings forth much bad fruit , as drunkenness and wickedness in a great measure , which may justly provoke the lord to wrath and indignation against the land , if it be not forsaken , though it be lifted up in this wonderful rudeness in a pretence of glorying on the behalf of the king , and his government ; yet it vexeth the lord and it works sorrow in the hearts of many sober people , who are pondering what the end of this government may be , that is thus rude and prophane in its beginning , saying in their hearts , how shall the lord blesse these proceedings , and make the end of them happy , which are thus void of the fear of god in the first part of them ; and if a stop be not put and a limitation upon the spirit , it will provoke the lord to work sudden destruction , and overthrown the nation . fourthly , we observe , that many hypocrites and dubble minded men , are afraid , and terror hath surprized them , who have taken the profession of such or such a religion , on them for a cloak , and hath been in the shew of righteousness for earthly ends , such are afraid , and their ends are frustrated , and they are turned into confussion , and a prophane spirit abounding over their hypocrisie , and such will deny their principles and their faith , and will fawn & slatter to save themselves , & this is abominable ; but men that have been and are upright and sincere towars god in their way , they are not afraid , but are confident in the lord , and are given up in his will , whether to do or suffer for his names-sake , and they have no terror upon them because of any guilt , because they have been upright , in that way which they were perswaded to be right , and such lives in a patient and quiet life , and are contented whatsoever comes to pass , because they have the witness , that they have not followed their religion for self ends , nor taken the name of righteousness for a cloak as many others have , upon whom this overturning falls very heavy : and these things with many more the like , we do observe from the present transfactions , which are fallen out in mercy to some , and in iudgment to others , even a iudgment upon all that do not fear the lord , but walk in wickedness , and that have been hypocrites , and hard-hearted , and cruel , and to all that doth not repent of their sins , these things , and the end of them , are , and shall be great iudgments , and shall be turned into bitterness , even their joy , and rejoycing , into howling , and great lamentation , this shall be the end unto all the ungodly : but unto all that fear the lord and departs from iniquity , even unto such the end of all these things shall be good , even mercy , and peace , and their sorrow shall be turned into joy . and as for us , we are not faint-hearted , though it be supposed that we are in our last dayes , and as though our ruin were nigh to come , but we believe other wise , for we have clearness of conscience towards god and all men , and walks in faith and patience , and knowing this assuredly , that if we be persecuted and afflicted in person or estate by you that now are in power , yet it is for righteousness sake , and for the lords sake , and not for the guilt of any rebellion against you , that you have or ever can have to charge upon us , for we cannot befound in these things for we can neither secretly flatter to make peace with you , neither can we openly rebell against you , or resist you ; but as our right from god and you , we claime the liberty of the exercise of our consciences , in the matters of faith and a holy life towards god , that we may mind the things of gods kingdome , and may so walk and worship , as to have peace with god in our consciences , that no burden of sin and iniquity may lye upon us , but that we may live and dye in peace with god , this is all we claime of you ; but and if you will not allow it us , but will persecute us , and seek to destroy us only for our conscience-sake , and because of our faith and religion , if you do make and execute laws against us , in opposition to the law of our god , that you may take an occasion against us to destroy us because thereof , then innocent blood and cruel suffering will be upon you , and the weight of it will sink you into confussion , when your measure is full ; and if you should destroy these vessels , yet our principles you can never extinguish , but they will live for ever , and enter into other bodies to live , and speak , and act through other vessels , for our principles are standing and unchangeable through ages , and generations , and may be clouded but can never be extinguished , for every man hath a light in his conscience which christ hath inlightened them withal ; which light reproves men for sin and with it they know they should not lie , nor swear , nor be drunk , nor deal doubbly , nor walk in any sin : but and if they do these things , and live contrary to the light in their own consciences , then they deny christ and are unbelievers , and they are condemned , and have trouble in their consciences ; but if men do own that light in their consciences which doth reprove them for sin , then it leads them to repentance , and to the forsaking of all sin , and they cease from all iniquity , and receive iesus christ and his blood to cleanse them . and the light of the spirit of god leads them into all truth , to do , and speak the truth in all things , and then he hath peace with god in his conscience : and these are some of our principles , which can never be subdued by all the powers of the earth , though the vessels which now retain these were out off , yet these principles are unchangeable in themselves , and can never be extinguished ; so that this our religion cannot come to ruin , but they that think so , they are indeed deceived , and whosoever shall seek to destroy that which gods purpose is to exalt , woe shall be unto them ; and as they purpose towards others so shall it come upon them , from the lord in his day and season . and thus i have answered the queries directed to the quakers , and subscribed , tradite hanc amico regis , and i do desire that the friend of the king , and all his friends , and he himself , may receive and road over these my answers , and may consider them in coolness and moderation , for they may be to their edification if they be sober minded . i am a friend unto all men as men and creatures , and a lover of all souls , and am in principles and practises one of them scornfully called , a quaker . e. b. an objection answered , concerning the kings supremacy . and whereas it is objected by some , whether or not we will be obedient subjects , accepting of him as our lawful king , and own his supremacy , and will obey him willingly or unwillingly , and be subjects in conscience , or against our consciences ? answ. it is our principle , and hath ever been our practise , to be obedient subjects to whatsoever power or authority of man , or men , as have been in being over us , either by doing and fulfilling their just commands , or by suffering under their commands which have been unjust , and thus we are perswaded and resolved in the lord to continue , even to be obedient to the commands of men in authority , which are just and according to our consciences ; but and if any thing or matter be required of us , and imposed upon us , which is contrary to the law of god and our consciences , that we must fulfill by suffering whatsoever is put upon us by him ; or any under him ; and so we own him and accept him , as knowing and believing that he is set to rule in this nation , not without , but by , and according to the purpose of the lord , and that he hath secretly purposed and suffered the accomplishing of these things ; and thus we account that he is cheif magistrate , because these things are effected through the lords power , who doth whatsoever he will , and we do own that he is set and proclaimed to be the head and supream over this nation , in civil & outward affaires and matters , and in those things that are related to the outward man ; & all his commands which are just we can willingly be subject unto , even in conscience , and all his commands which are otherwise , we are willingly and in our consciences contented in patience to bear what men shall put upon us ; and thus we do accept of the king and his government , as he , & it , are according to god , and answerable unto him , if it be so , we are willingly and in conscience accepting thereof , and shall be obedient subjects thereunto ; but if it be otherwise , that is to say , if he rule in tyranny and oppression , and his government be unjust and unrighteous , and contrary to god , then we must give our witness against him , and it ; yet not so , as by outward opposition , and rebellion , to seek the overthrow of him or the government by carnal weapons ; but shall patiently bear , and that for conscience sake , all that cruelty or injustice , and suffering , which can be imposed upon us : and as for owning his supremacy , if it be meant his supremacy over the church , as if he were head of the church , and were supream law-giver and iudge , and king in church-state , as to give and prescribe laws for worship and faith , and to pass all judgement in matters that are spiritual , and appertaining to conscience , & about the things of the kingdome of god ; if by his supremacy this be meant , and intended thus , we cannot own his supremacy but must deny it , and we do ascribe supremacy only to iesus christ , in , and concerning all these things mentioned , and that he alone is iudge , and king , and law-giver in all the matters concerning his own spiritual king dome , and he must prescribe for us faith and worship , and must be the only iudge in all cases of conscience and spiritual matters , and not charles stuart king of england , &c. nor any other man upon the earth ; for let it not be understood that we deny his supremacy in opposition to the pope of rome , as if we should own the popes supremacy over the church , for that we do not , nor any man upon the earth , as i have said , but only iesus christ is principal in that relation , and to him we give the dominion in all the cases of his own kingdom ; but if owning his supremacy it be intended , whether we will own him to be head and ruler , as in the affairs of this nation , pertaining to mens persons and estates , without any relation to the worship of god , or matters of conscience , so we own him as i have before mentioned , and must be subject for conscience-sake in fulfilling all his commands whatsoever , either by doing or suffering ; and this is our principle which we are perswaded in , and resolved herein to continue and abide . e. b. to charles stuart , who is proclaimed king , and to all you that are called and known by the name of royal party & cavaleirs , and who have suffered in your cause , & for your principle . friends , the lord god who is greater than all , that doth whatsoever he will , hath given you a day , and you are raised up again out of your suffering state ; oh that you would consider the end of it , and wherefore the lord hath done , and suffered it to be done ; and that you would make right use and improvement unto god and this nation , of this your deliverance and promotion ; for certainly there hath been an absolute purpose in the counsel of the lord , that these things should be thus , and his hand hath even suffered it to be accomplished , even in a strange and marvellous way , through the confounding of your enemies , and giving of them up to the folly of their own hearts in their councils , that they should destroy themselves , and bring in you over their heads , and make you a mountain , and break down their mountain , and make it as a low valley ; and certainly these things are in the iustice of the lords hand , and it will be well for you if you can consider it , and acknowledge it : you have been a suffering people it is true , for these divers years , and orignally your suffering was partly just as from the lord , for there was a great measure of iniquity and oppression fulfilled in this nation , on the part of kings , and your sins were great against god ; wherefore the lord was iust in bringing affliction and tribulation upon you , to humble you , and he might iustly raise up others to reprove you , and to subdue you before them for a season ; and thus far even because of your iniquities which were great in the sight of god , your sufferings and afflictions were iust : but as for those that the lord made use of in the execution of your afflictions ; they are not justified in all what they did towards you , but they went beyond ( in violence and cruelty upon you ) what the lord called them unto ; and thereby they brought a great measure of guilt of injustice and cruelty upon their own consciences , in proceeding towards you beyond iustice and equity : though some of them might be more sincere and upright in the beginning of these things , when they began to war against you ; yet it too well appears that many of them soon lost the iust cause , and began to have respect to your estates and titles of honour , more than to free the nation from oppressions and vexations , though they pretended much thereunto , yet so it was that they became fouly corrupted in their way ; and though they subdued you , yet did they not free the nation , but became oppressors themselves no less than others before them , and they possessed your riches , and titles , ( yea and in great measure unjustly ) and then were exalted in ambition and vain-glory , and began to strive amongst themselves who should be the greatest , and set up this , and the other , and some cryed one way of government , and others another , and they pulled down and set up as they would , and cast down and exalted whom they would ; and thus they continued for some years , rowling up and down in confusion , and yet the nation under very great oppression and vexations , each one crying his burthen was the greatest , while they were exalted in their pride and riches , and lived at ease , notremembring the end wherefore they were first raised , nor keeping to sincere principles , but caused them to suffer deeply that were faithful to the lord , and walked with him in sincerity ; and all this while you were as asleep , and not thought upon by them , as if ever you should call them to an account ; but they thought that their strength was great , and their number many , and therein they gloryed having no true respect unto the lord ; and because hereof the lord justly confounded them in their counsels , when their measure was full , and made them weak as water ; and you are now justly raised up to reprove and correct them , even those , that have abused gods mercies to them , and that have forgotten god and sought to exalt themselves for ever , and had no respect unto the lord and his people ; though these things are not said of them , to upbraid them , nor to kindle your fury against them , to add misory upon their affliction , but they have already been told of their treachery , and what would come to pass ; and oh that they could now humble themselves before the lord , and confess to the iustice of this their affliction ; they might yet partake of his mercy , through great iudgments . and as for you , oh that you would consider these things , and by whose purpose you are restored , and from what cause , and for what end it is accomplished ! oh that you would mind what your work now is , and that you would not exceed your permission ! for you are raised up for an end , and there is a work for you to do , oh that you could do it with respect unto the lord , it should be the better for you ; oh those men that have long sate as princes in this nation , and pretended , and vowed , and promised reformation in church and state , but they have not done it as they ought , but as great oppressions and injustice , as great superstitions and idolatries , both in church and state , were continued and carried on in their dayes , as in dayes before them ; oh how abominable have these things been ! ( multitude of words might demonstrate ) but now their reproof and iudgment is come , and their fall is just upon them ; who should pitty them , or mourn for them , seeing they have deserved all this and much more which has yet happened unto them ? as some of them may confess ; and those things ( their treachery , unfaithfulness , & oppressions i mean ) must needs be avenged one way or another : how often hath it been foretold them , yea it hath been often said unto them , that god would bring them down and destroy their power ? they have been told that these things were not right , neither could they escape unavenged , and it new appears as if the day were come ; and if you must be their executioners , and must execute the wrath upon them , who shall prevent you ; or say unto you , stay your hand ? or rather who of them that sees these things , shall not be patient while you take vengeance for ths lords sake , and for the sake of his people , whom they have long vexed and opppessed ? nay , who of the lords people shall not say , let the lords will be done , and his iustice executed upon his enemies ? if this be your work that you are called to , must it not go on till it be finished ? they have been hard-hearted , and oppressors towards others ; and by a hard-hearted people , may not the lord justly deal with them , and be a plague unto them in that very manner , that they have sinned against him ? for this is usual with the lord , even to destroy oppressors by the wickedness of others , and often he rebukes the sin of a people , by a people as bad as themselves ; he may justly give unto men from the hands of others , what they love in their own hearts ; and even as those men have loved pride and ambition over others , and oppression and hard-heartedness towards others ; even so , and much more may justly be done unto them , and that according to the will of the lord ; and if this be your work designed you by the eternal hand , who shall prevent you ? but yet , oh that you would consider , and that you would have some respect unto the lord , lest you out-go the end of your restoration : you would indeed be happy , if you could forgive your enemies , if you could reward them good for their evil ; and you would be happy if you could not exceed the measure of your permission ; be not too hard-hearted towards them but shew mercy : and oh you must take heed lest you cause the righteous to suffer with the wicked , and that you cause not the innocent to groan and mourn in your execution of gods purpose upon the ungodly , you must be a ware lest while you punish offenders , you smite not them that are free ; oh that you had hearts this to understand , and that you could walk in the path of fulfilling gods pleasure , and not go further , ( i mean ) though you may be raised to be a plague upon hypocrites , and disobedient and treacherous men , and to avenge gods cause and his peoples ; but you are not raised to be oppressors of the lords people , nor to destroy his heritage , this is not your work ; god hath not called you to destroy and persecute them that fear his name , and tremble at his word , though you have power to be avenged on your enemies : and oh that your hearts could understand this , that you might distinguish in your proceedings , between executing of iustice upon transgressors , & persecution for conscience-sake ; the one you have to do , but the other is forbidden you of the lord , and you ought not to do it ; for if you persecute any for good conscience-sake , or because they are of such and such an assembly of people , and worships in such a way ; if you inflict tribulation upon any because hereof , or because they are such or such in their profession and religion , then you persecute for conscience-sake , and you go beyond the end , and by the path for which you were raised ; and if you turn your hand and power to persecute for good conscience-sake , then you divert the end and purpose of this your restoration , and the lord will require it of you , if that you go beyond his permission and assignment , and go beyond his pleasure in persecuting his people , and so turn your power to a wrong use and end ; o then the lord shall suddenly confound you , and he will find out instruments that shall fulfil his wrath , and iustice upon you , as he hath found you fit to execute wrath upon others ; and therefore do not , o do not persecute any for conscience-sake , if you have nothing against them but concerning their faith and worship , and their religion , do not lay your hand upon them , nor let them be touched ; for if you do , the lord will take it as a heinous offence against him , and in this life , or hereafter , he will plague you for it , and you shall not escape unpunished : and therefore i say once more to you , as the advice of your friend , let no man be persecuted for his faith , and for his religion-sake , but make a distinction between inflicting wrath upon offenders that have been hypocritical and deceitful , and that have made themselves rich through the ruins of others , and that will how to any thing , or any kind of worship for their own ends ; and between such who have a principle and do stand by it , and are humble and acted in the principles of sincerity , and follows that way of religion which they suppose and are perswaded is the best , and the rightest ; all such ought to have their liberty under you in their profession , and faith , and worship , and ought not to be persecuted while they live peaceably as men with one another , and towards all men ; and the god of heaven requires it of you , and your standing , or your fall , the blessing or the curse unto you , depends hereupon ; and this you shall find to be true unto you in the day of gods righteous iudgments : o therefore be not stout against the lord , but fear and tremble before him ; let his dread be upon your spirits , and do not offend him , nor provoke him against you and this nation , lest he tear you to pieces , and number you for destruction , lest he overturn you suddenly , and deface your glory in its morning : oh how happy would you be if you would regard the lord and reverence him , and take him before you , and not go beyond in any thing what his purpose and pleasure is , who hath given you this one day to try you , if so be that any of you shall learn his fear and turn from your iniquities , that you may be blessed and not confounded ; oh therefore consider what the will and purpose of the lord is towards you , and wherefore you are raised up , and may fulfil his purpose , and not your own : oh then this day should be made happy unto you ; but the contrary works , i mean , if you do oppress , and persecute , and seek to destroy his heritage , and rule in oppression and tyranny , then the god of heaven shall cut your day short , and diliverance he will bring to this poor nation without you , and even contrary to you , and his hand shall be turned upon you , and your mountain though never so great , and high , shall be laid low , and an infant of the heavenly birth shall leap over it , and shall say , where is that lofty babel that exalted it self ag●●●● my god ? and as for us , we are a very poor , contemned and despised people , even since we were a people unto this very day , and have nothing at this present , nor heretofore to glory in from any power that hath ruled ; but the power , spirit , and presence of god in our tribulations , afflictions , persecutions and unjust sufferings , these things have been our portion , even from all ; all have troden upon us in contempt and scorn , and accounted us as sheep for the slaughter , and we have not to glory in , any government that hath been since we were a people ; we cannot justifie one or another , but we say they have all been oppressors , and we have groaned with deep sighs unto the lord under the burden of their unrighteous dealing ; and herein we assent with you , if you say they have been unjust men , we say the same ; and if you say their government hath been oppression and unequal , we say the same ; if you say you have suffered cruelty and unrighteously by them , we say the same ; if you lay they have ruled by will and forci , more then by law and equity , we verifie the same ; and if you can say you have suffered afflictions and tribulation by them , so have we in another manner , and far more unjustly : wherefore we cannot justifie them , nor will not plead for them in opposition to you ; but we partly beleive we may receive as much equity and good reason from some of you , as we did from some of them ; and thus we have been a suffering people even without cause : and at this day we are threatned by the rage of men as if we should be cut off and destroyed ; but we regard not those things , but do respect the lord , whom we fear and worship in our hearts ; and if we outwardly perish among them that may perish , yet it is for righteousness sake , and because of the matters of gods kingdom , which we hold ; and if you do destroy us for this cause we are clear , and innocent blood will be upon you , and the guilt thereof will sink you into misery here , or hereafter . oh take heed and desilenot your selves , nor load your consciences with our guiltless sufferings as many others have done before you , even to their ruin and wofull destruction ; you are yet in a great measure clear from our oppressions ; we have not much iniquity yet to charge upon you in our cause of afflictions : oh it will be well for you if you keep your selves clear , the less will be your iudgement , and the better success will you have in your cause ; for friends , the weight of innocent blood it hath a loud cry , and god will hear it ; and if you burthen yourselves with it , it will soon overweigh you , therefore keep clear , and condemn them by your practises , that have said they would not persecute for good conscience sake , but have done it , even contrary to all pretences and engagements ; and if you who professe not so much in words towards that thing , would do it , how should your practise condemn their hypocrisie in the sight of god , men , and angels ? but however i warn you , and do leave it at your door ; and do say unto you , persecution for conscience sake , is the crying sin , which drawes down vengeance upon kings and governments , be you warned through the fall of others least confusion come upon you , as it hath come upon many others for that cause ; and be not too confident in your way , nor too furious against your enemies , but remember your breath is in your nostrils , and he that gave it you , can soon take it away . and as for you , we have no enmity towards any of you , nor do we sick the hurt of your persons , nor can we rise up in rebellion against you , or seek your destruction by craft or policy , neither indeed can we seek covenant or league with you by flattery ; it is true you are yell in authority over us outwardly , and as you are so , we shall ●d subjection to you in any of your just commands ; and in all things it is our principle to obey you , either by doing or suffering ; yet we cannot bow , nor fawn nor flatter , nor deny our principle , nor our religion of which we are perswaded by the spirit of god in our consciences , that it is right and according to god ; but i say , we cannot revoke our principle , neither for advantage to our selves , nor yet to save our lives ; you must find us constant , & not changeable as others are , who turn every way for their own advantage , and ery up this or the other , and pray and fight on the behalf of any thing which may make for their advantage , but god is grieved with such spirits ; yet we are otherwise minded , and must only own your government and authority as it is just and brings forth righteousness , so we can own it , and bow before it ; but as otherwise , if it be unjust and oppression , we must patiently suffer under it , whatsoever you have power to do ; and this is all the peace we can make with you , or the engagement that we can bind our selves in towards you , though we cannot but own that this day is given you , either in mercy or in judgement to you , yea , and we cannot but own that you may be gods executioners ; yea , what if we say , that you may be raised up to avenge our cause upon our oppressors , though still we must bear witness against that wicked , loose , prophane spirit , that lives and abounds in some of you , and among you , and workes unrighteousness even to the dishonour of god , throughout this nation ; this spirit we bear witness against that it is evil , and brings forth bad effects in every city , and town , throughout the land , whereby the lord is provoked against you , and this nation in an high measure ; oh that you would consider of it while there is time to be corrected and amended ! before it have brought forth unpardonable iniquities , which it hastens to fulfill , and draws down wickedness as with cords ; oh the excessiveness in drinking and other vanities ! oh what destroying of the good creatures ! it greives the hearts of the righteous , and vexeth the sober minded to consider it ; and also their is a great deal of hipocrisie and deceitfull-heartedness amongst many : i have considered this thing , and it is a vexation to the lord , and cannot but be detestable to you ; even in that many contrary to their principles , engagements , and promises , covenants , do now cry you up for to save themselves , their lives and estates , who have been deeply engaged against you publiquely and privately , and yet now in hypocrisie are fallen in with you ; such their proceedings are loathsome to god , and your present cause is no better because of such ; though as for some of you that have stood to your principle , and suffered for it this long while , in your state , you are more honourable and rather justified . oh , let the king fear and reverence the eternal god , knowing he is but mortal man , and his breath in his nostrils , and let him keep himself clear from persecution for conscience-sake , for that will destroy kings and governments who are guilty thereof ; and let him be meek and sober , and take the lord before him in all his proceedings , or else he cannot prosper ; his day , and time is now present , that gods purpose is to try him , if he rule in righteousness and truth , in equity and iustice , he may be blessed ; but if otherwise he govern , and walk not in reverence to the lord and spare his people ; the god of heaven shall rebuke him , and deliver his people another way . consider of these things in a sober mind , read them over in meekness . this was written about the middle of the 3d. month called may . from a lover of your souls , edw. burrough . a few queries i do return to you , for you to consider and answer , relating to the present affairs and proceedings in this nation , even to all you , that are called and known by the name of royallists and cavaliers , that are really so , and have suffered for that cause . query 1. to what do you attribute the first cause of the advancement of this present government ? and whether or no ye believe , that there was any thing of the purpose and hand of the lord , by intending and bringing these things about , without expectation by you , and contrary to the great strength of your enemies , who are suddenly of a great and high mountain , made a low valley ; and you of a low and troden down valley , suddenly raised up into a great mountain ? and to what do you attribute this changing and overturning of power , and authority , and rulers , even them that have been as princes and potentates , to be rebels ; and them that have been accounted as rebels and traitors , to be rulers and governours ; i say , to what do you attribute these things , on their first cause , whether to the pollicy of some , or to accident . or to good fortune ( as some call it ? ) or whether you believe in your consciences , that the lord god by his secret power hath purposed and suffered the effecting and accomplishing of these things ? quer. 2. and if you believe that there is any thing of the band and purpose of the lord , in doing , or suffering these transactions ; then wherefore , and for what cause do you believe hath he done these things ? is it because you are more righteous in the sight of god than they who are cast out before you ; and because he loveth you , and hateth them ? or whether it is not because they have proved treacherous and deceitful , and not answered unto the lord what he requireth of them , but sought themselves , and forgot the lord , and took your estates and titles of honour upon them , and pretended a better government , and to govern better than that way of monarchical government , but did not , but were oppressors even as others before them ? and is not this the iust cause , wherefore the lord hath suffered these overturnings ? may not we justly ( that are neither of you ) attribute this to be the very cause , wherefore the lord hath brought them down , and raised up you over them ; whereas if they had repented of their sins , and been faithful to what the lord required of them , and what themselves pretended to , and had indeed governed iustly and righteously , and freed the oppressed , and answered unto the lord in an equal government according to his law ? whether may it not be believed , that these things had never thus been brought to pass ? quer. 3. whether or no you believe that there is a god so mighty in power , and so wise in counsel and purpose , that can turn , and overturn you and your power , and lay you low even as others ; and raise up others who are now as low as you hàve been for divers years , whether you believe that there is a god , that by his power can effect such a thing , and accomplish it in his wisdom ? and whether do you not believe in your consciences , that he will do it , if you do not please him and fear his name , and forsake allwickedness ; and if you be oppressors and cruel-heated as others have been , and do not rule in righteousuoss and equity ? and whether you believe not , that the lord doth watch over you , with his eye that sees you , and marks all your wayes ? whether do you consider , that the lord looks for good fruit from you , and that you should free the land from oppression ? which if you answer not the will of the lord in what he requires , whether do not you believe , that he is so wise in counsel , and mighty in power , that he can and will , whether by means , or without means , overturn and confound you and your government ? quer. 4. whether you believe in your consciences , and do acknowledge unto god , that there was any thing of his iustice in your late sufferings for these divers years ? or whether all of them , or no part of that suffering , which hath been upon you , were any whit iust as from the lord ? and whether there was not a great measure of iniquity filled up in monarchical government ; and a great measure of oppression upon the poor people of this nation , by their lords and great men ? and whether this rebuke and reproof that you have had in this measure of suffering that hath been upon you , was not in some measure iust as from the lord ; that you might be humbled before him ; though it is by me acknowledged that your enemies ( these i mean ) who are now cast out before you ; brought great guilt upon themselves , in executing wrath upon you , in that , and because they proceeded further , and into more bitterness , and cruelty towards you , then they had either commission or authority from god ; but whether there was not a iustice as from the lord in that which partly befel you ? and was not his hand many times against you in battel , though number nor valour was not wanting on your part , yet are not you sensible how by a secret hand you were often defeated , and victory given to your enemies , though the less in number ? and were not these things in the iustice of the lords hand ? whether do you not believe it , and acknowledge it ? quer. 5. whether or no you do intend any reformation from old oppressions ? or whether you intend to tread in the very steps and to walk in the very path in every particular of government , as it stood & was carryed on in the beginning of charles the first his dayes ? and whether you ought not in the sight of god and before him , to consider how to relieve the oppressed , and break off all cruel bonds of injustice , & how a government may be set up , which may be answerable to the lord , & not unto your own and other corrupted mens ends ? but if you shall do so , whether do you answer the end or deny the end , wherefore the lord hath thus dealt with you , in giving of you this day unexpected , and contrary to all your enemies ? and whether do you not believe , that god hath set you between good and evil , between right and wrong , between doing of his will and the will of the devil , in the doing and fullfilling one or the other by you , whether doth not depend happiness and blessedness upon you ; or the woe and the curse , your standing or your fall , your renown or your dishonour perpetually ? quer. 6. whether or no you do not believe in your consciences , that the prosperity , and continuance , and happiness of this your government to your selves , the king , and kingdomes ; or the unhappiness , overthrow , misery , and confusion of the government it self , the king and these nations , doth not stand and wholly depend upon the government and authority , as it proceedeth in iustice , righteousness and equity , or as it is , and proceedeth contrary , and is injustice , oppression , and unrighteousness ? and if therein it stand , whether do you believe in your consciences that god shall bless it , and prosper it ; or he shall destroy it , and confound it ? for is not the hand of the lord stretched forth in mercy , or in iudgment accordingly as men walketh in his fear , or without his fear ? and whether if your cause be iust in it self , yet if-you walk in unrighteousness , and ungodliness , and oppression , and cruelty , whether may not you thereby destroy your cause and loose it , and provoke the lord to anger against you , and your cause , to confound you , and destroy you ? and whether you do seriously consider of this ? and is it not your duty so to do ? and ought you not to endeavour to stop this flood of wickedness that is broken out ? which if it it be not stopped may provoke god against you , to overthrow your proceedings . quer. 7. what is the very end of rule and government outward in this world ? and for what cause did god at the first ordain it ? whether upon this , or not , really consider ; was it not that evil doers might be punished ; and them that did well , might be praised ? and was not the outward law added because of transgrssion , and to punish transgressors ; but for the preserving of the peaceable and meek , who walked in the law of god ; and when the people had forgotten god , and his law in their hearts , and his power that executed iudgment and meroy ; was it not then that the law outward was added , and committed into the hands of men to execute upon such as regarded not the law of god in their hearts ? and is not this the very end of rule and government , and magistracy , at this very day ? whether ought it to be extended further than only over and concerning the affairs of the outward man , to keep that in good order , not to be a load and burthen , and vexation , and bondage upon a nation and people ; but to suppress that which would load and burthen , and oppress the creation and people , that all men may be preserved in their just right , and not vex and oppress one anothers persons and estates ? and if your government be not from this ground and for this very end , shall it ever be blessed and happy , either to the governors or governed ? quer. 8. what do you believe of , and concerning liberty of conscience , in all matters appertaining to the kingdome of god ? whether ought not you to give that liberty in your government , that every man and all sorts of people may believe in god , and worship god according as he or they shall suppose and be perswaded in his or their consciences ; provided still , that he and they annoy not , or oppress his or their neighbors person or estate ? for if he or they do that , then he and they go out of the true faith , and breaks the law of god ; and the outward law is to take hold of him and them : but whether it is not a just right , and may justly be allowed from you , to all the people of this nation , to live under what ministry , and under what worship , and to go to what assemblies , as they shall suppose or be perswaded in their consciences is the best and rightest ? and whether or no it be not gods proper right alone to be ruler and lord over mens consciences , and that he alone should prescribe , instruct , and teach faith , worship , and duty , in all things in the matters of his own kingdome ? and whether god hath committed that power and authority , ever since the dayes of christ , to any emperor , king , or other ruler whatsoever , to be lord , and to exercise lordship , in , and over mens consciences in the matters appertaining to gods kingdome ? and whether it is not gods only and alone peculiar priviledge to be lord there ; and not any man to impose one upon another in spiritual matters ? and whether you your selves would be imposed upon in such case ? ( that is ) whether you would have such a church-government and ministry , imposed upon you , upon such or such a penalty , which you know , or believe , or suppose is not right , nor according to god , nor suiting with your own consciences ? and then how can you with good conscience in the sight of god , impose upon others , whenas your selves would not be imposed upon in such a case ? quer. 9. whether or no , if that you cause any to suffer loss , or be afflicted in person , or estate , for and because of their conscience sake ( that is ) because they are of such a faith , and of such a worship , and of such a principle in religious matters , though different from others and from you ; yet if they walk honestly , and soberly , and peaceably as men , and not plotting and contriving any mischief in the nation : i say , if you cause any such to suffer upon that account , while you can charge nothing against them , but matters of faith and iudgment , and opinion in spiritual things ; again i say , whether or no such suffering is not absolute persecution , ( and innocent on his or their part that so suffereth any injustice , cruelty , tyranny , and oppression ) on your part that doth inflict ? and will not the lord require it of you , if you bring innocent blood , and cruel sufferings upon your selves ? and is not that innocent blood which is spilt , and unjust , and cruel sufferings which is inflicted upon a man or a people , for his and their conscience , and religions-sake , when no matter of wrong or evil dealing amongst men , and in that relation , is , or can be charged upon them ? and whether do you not believe , that god will avenge such a suffering , which is for conscience sake , upon the heads of the causers and inflictors of it in his day and season ? quer. 10. whether or no you have not so much reason and conscience in you , as will give you to descern , and cause you to put a difference between such , who have acted and been zealous against you , from corrupt principles of self-seeking , and have raised themselves into worldly honour , and great estates through your suffering and losses , and have lorded it over you in ambition ; though now such may bow under you , and fawn upon you ? i say ; whether will you not , or whether ought you not , to put a difference both in respect of guiltiness in your cause of suffering , and in respect of your dealing towards them in reward , and between such as have formerly acted against you , upon sober , reasonable principles , and have not raised themselves to honour and great riches , not by your afflictions , but ceased to act against you , when they perceived the wickedness , and injustice , and evil proceedings of your enemies ? ( and many such there are ) and whether or no you have not so much reason and equity in your consciences , as to put a difference between such in your proceedings towards them ? quer. 11. what is the truest honour that can be given to the king , and his government ; and wherein , and in what kind of words , and actions , and practises , doth true honour consist ? and whether or no you do believe in your consciences , that these kind of practises , as drinking healths , and bonfires , and this exceeding lewdness , and wickedness brought forth in the nation , by way of rejoycing for the king , and his government , be true honour , and rightly honourable proceedings , and practises , to him and his government ? or whether these things and wayes be not wofully dishonourable unto you and him , and this whole nation : and the cause wherefore the wrath of god may justly come upon the whole nation it self ; if these things be not speedily repented of , and forsaken ? and whether the life and practise , and subjection of an upright qvaker ( so called ) whose principle is to obey all just commands , and patiently to suffer under all that which is unjust , and that lives in meekness , and fear , and soberness , and love towards all men ; whether or no such men , and such practises , are not more honourable , and blessed in the sight of god and men , than this kind of rudeness and wickedness , singning , and drunkenness , ringing , and swearing , and 〈◊〉 ribbins and feathers about themselves , and their horses , and many other things which are said to be done in honour to the king and his government ? but whether there be not a principle in your consciences , which dothrather condemn your selves , ●han iustifie you for these things , and rather iustifies a sober life , and is not that more blessed ? quer. 12. whether or no all that cry you up , and your government , do it really , and out of good conscience , and from principles of sincerity ? or whether they are turned to you in feignedness , and hypocrisie , and to save their heads and estates , which some of them have gotten , even such as have been your enemies , and preached , and prayed , and fought against you , and now cryes you up , and prayes for you ; but whether can you trust that these will be faithful to you , that thus denies their former wayes , and religion , and worship ? and whether thus to deny their principles , their faith , their religion , their former oaths , and engagements , is commendable , and iustifiable in the sight of god and you ? or whether a quaker ( so called ) that will stand to his principles , and not deny his faith , nor religion , though he suffer for it , nor will bow and bend in hypocrisie under every sort of men , is not more iustifiable and commendable in the sight of god and your consciences also ? i say , do they not condemn these hypocrites , that have fought against you , and prayed against you , and yet now bowes under you with deceitful hearts in the time of their danger ? quer. 13. whether or no you do not believe , and know in your consciences , that the quakers ( so called ) are a sober , innocent , and harmless people , and of an upright conversation , dealing justly towards all , and such as doth not envy the persons of any , not plot and project mischeif towards you or any ? and whether if you should proceed to persecute , and seek to destroy such a people , concerning whom you have such a witness in your consciences , iustifying them as aforesaid , would not be greatly unjust in the sight of god , and the very cause , to provoke god to destroy you , and your proceedings , if so be that you persecutethem for their conscience sake , while they live soberly and uprightly as men , and injureth no mans person or estate by their religion ? quer. 14. whether or no you do not believe , or may not have just cause to believe , that your present proceedings are not , and may not prove to be the very natural cause of outward , visible , external iudgements upon you and the nation , even iudgments of pestilence and famine ? and do not you proceed in the very path hereof ? is not your spending the creation in such excessive manner , in eating and drinking , and wasting the good creation after this manner as you do ; whether is not this a natural cause to bring want and poverty , and also oppressing your very bodies with excessiveness in drunkenness , inflaming your selves through excessiveness of wine and beer , and through the abounding of lust , and uncleanness , through excesse ; and as well defiling , and oppressing your very persons , as wasting the creation by so doing ; whether this is not a very natural cause to bring and beget pestilence and famine ( besides your provoking the lord through this means ) as being works in themselves hateful and abominable in his sight , and for which cause he may justly bring wrath and iudgements , even plague and famine , if there were no other cause for it ? and whether you ought not seriously to consider of this thing , and to turn from these transgressions , which are natural causes of great iudgements , and also provokes the lord to hasten and inflict iudgement : oh that the sober minded among you would lay this to heart . consider these queries in the spirit of soberness , for they are worth your regarding , & be not high-minded , nor wicked in your way , least the lord who hath all power in his hand meet you , and bring you down and destroy your cause , which he can do , if you provoke him . this was written in the middle of the 3d. month called may . 1660. e. b. the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30561e-170 see g. fox his paper directed to the parliament and army so called . * but this is not meant of the kings's death . the resolving of conscience upon this question whether upon such a supposition or case as is now usually made (the king will not discharge his trust, but is bent or seduced to subvert religion, laws, and liberties) subjects may take arms and resist, and whether that case be now ... / by h. fern. ferne, h. (henry), 1602-1662. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a41219 of text r25400 in the english short title catalog (wing f802). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 104 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 35 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a41219 wing f802 estc r25400 08950924 ocm 08950924 42062 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41219) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 42062) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1284:4) the resolving of conscience upon this question whether upon such a supposition or case as is now usually made (the king will not discharge his trust, but is bent or seduced to subvert religion, laws, and liberties) subjects may take arms and resist, and whether that case be now ... / by h. fern. ferne, h. (henry), 1602-1662. [11], 50 p. printed by stephen bulkley, york : 1642. reproduction of original in the british library. eng divine right of kings. great britain -history -charles i, 1625-1649. a41219 r25400 (wing f802). civilwar no the resolving of conscience, upon this question, whether upon such a supposition or case, as is now usually made (the king will not discharg ferne, h 1642 19134 10 0 0 0 1 0 10 c the rate of 10 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2007-02 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the resolving of conscience , upon this question , whether upon such a supposition or case , as is now usually made ( the king will not discharge his trust but is bent or seduced to subvert religion , laws , and liberties ) subjects may take arms and resist ? and whether that case be now ? resolved , i. that no conscience upon such a supposition or case can finde a safe and clear ground for such resistance . ii. that no man in conscience can be truly perswaded , that the resistance now made is such , as they themselves pretend to , that pleade for it in such a case . iii. that no man in conscience can be truly perswaded that such a case is now , that is , that the king will not discharge his trust , but is bent to subvert , &c. whence it followeth . that the resistance now made against the higher power is unwarrantable , and according to the apostle damnable , rem . 13. also that the shedding of bound in the pursuit of this resistance is murder . by h. fern , d. d. &c. wo unto them that call evill good , and gool evill , that put darknesse for light and light for darknessae , isa. 5. 20. o my soule come not thou into their secret , gen. 49. 6. printed at york by stephen bulkley , 1642. to all misse-led people in this land . he that in these times will speak any thing to the people in behalf of the king , is likely to doe it upon disadvantage , and be heard with prejudice : but they that would be profitably informed by what they heare , must lend an equall eare to what is spoken ; which i hope you will do , being such , for the most part , as professe to make a conscience of your wayes , i desire therefore of you ( into whose hands this treatise shall come ) that you would receive it with mind and affection , answerable to that wherewith it is offered to you , free from partiality and private respects ; that you would consider cases of conscience are written out of conscience : and were a distressed prince a fit object for flattery , or this kind of instruction capable of such language , yet is this a time for every man to informe and speak his conscience ; and as many of you as shall reade me in this book , will , i hope , conceive , i had no other purpose in the publishing of it , then to give testimony to the truth for the directing of your consciences and the discharge of mine own . i have therefore written it plainly without affectation of curiosity , having a respect onely to your profit ; the learned through the land are sufficiently persawded , and i may asure you all ages have asserted this truth , out of which i could have drawn a cloud of witnesses and presented them to your sight , but thought it more expedient for your direction , to shew you the cleare light of divine scripture and rectified reason , the onely rules of conscience ; and if by these you shall be brought to see the crookednesse of the new doctrine of these times , and the uneven dangerous windings of this way of resistance , i have gained the end of my desires , and you have not lost by it . one thing i must note as strange , that to discourse upon this argument shouldbe thought ( as it is by many ) a worke altogether beyond the profession of the divine . indeed popular states-men have alwayes held it very impolitick and unreasonable , that subjects should not in dangers imminent have means to save themselves by a power of resistance , and accordingly framed their principles and grounds of state as unquestionable . we examine not the power or wisdome of law-makers , but when we receive their law , declaration , or command , and know it in terminis , understand it in the sense it be its , certainly it belongs to the divine to consider whether it be against gods law , and accordingly to instruct his people . if it be agreed upon as a thing known in this state , that the king is the higher power according to st. paul , the supreme according to st. peter , the father of the commonwealth according to the fifth commandement , surely it belong to the divine to urge obedience , honour , and subjection according to those place , and reprove resistance forbidden there : which obedience we acknowledge to be limited and circumscribed by the established laws of the land , and accordingly to be yeilded or denyed to the higher power , if those laws be not repugnant to the law of god : and for resistance , as we have not yet heard of any law of the land that commands or warrants it , so we know that were there any law or ordinance made to enjoyn it , such would not bind , being against the apostles expresse prohibition , back'd with arguments drawn from the very reason of goverment , as shall be shewen in this following treatise . be they who they will that present you with imminent dangers , and work upon your fears , that tell you of fundamentall lawes , and give you rules of policy to captivate your reason ; when all that 's done , it is the divine that must settle the conscience , which will not be quiet , if in yeilding obedience to any law or ordinance , it comes to a suspicion , that such an ordinance of man entrencheth upon the word of god . let me tell you ( for i suppose you follow this way in the simplicity of your hearts ) how you are wrought upon by them that mis-leade you . you are dealt with according to your generall desire of the continuance of true religion and the subjects liberty , not according to the particular grounds of safety , which conscience doth require : you are told , the gospel and your liberties , and all you have , are in most imminent danger , and without taking arms for the defence , irrecoverably lost ; and that this is lawfull by the fundamentals of this kingdom : you must take all this upon trust , without an expresse and particular warrant , to rule and secure your conscience against the expresse words of the apostle forbidding resistance , rom. 13. you professe your selves enemies to popery , and good reason for it , but why should you therfore be enemies to your king that declares against it too . i would you could observe how , under pretence of keeping out popery , you are led in this way of r●sistance by the like steps that brought popery in . for examine your hearts and try if the name of parliament ( which is of honourable esteem with all ) be not raised to the like excesse of credit with you , as the name of the church is with the papists ; if you have not within you a silent thought of infallibility in that great councel , and so with an implicit faith are ready to receive and maintaine what ever is concluded there ; if you be not drawn to believe your prince is minded to overthrow religion , and upon such a supposall or beleif ( according to the very method of jesuitical practises ) to take up arms against him . if you do not rest satisfied with your generall intention of a good end , that is , the defence of religion , not examining the meanes , you now use , to compasse that end ; like those that for the advancing of the catholick cause , as they call it , attempt any thing however unjust , even to the destruction of kings , that are set over them ; this blindnesse is popish , and practice jesuiticall . lastly , examine your hearts , if you be not confirmed in your way by the number of your professour , like as they are by the universality of their church , resting upon the person of men , not trying the cause it selfe by the touchstone of divine scripture and rectified reason . i know it prevails with many thousands of you , because you see , as you thinke , and use to say , all good people that have sense of religion , and conscience of their wayes , do go along with you , and you cannot beleive that god would suffer them to be so generally deluded ; let me tell you , you do hereby very uncharitably conclude upon all those that run not with you to the like excesse , and i may say without breach of charitie , they that appear with you in the cause , would not all be found such , as you conceive them to be , if they were examined by the true marks of christian profession , that is , by the true doctrine of faith , by their charitie , honestie , obedience , meeknesse of spirit , and the like ; without which your religion is vain , whatever your exercises , or performances of duties be ; the pharisees righteousnesse will exceed yours , and his frequency and length of prayer will be as sure a mark as yours ; nay the anabaptist , at this day will out-do you in any of your forms of godlinesse . i do not speake this against the frequent and sincere performance of holy duties : god forbid i should . nor do i speak it of you all : i know there are many good and conscientious men that go your way in the simplicitie of their hearts , as those did that followed absolom ; whom the just god suffers hitherto to be deceived , that even by their example this power of resistance may gather strength to the just punishment of this sinfull land , and that they themselves when their eyes shall be opened ( which , i hope , will be ere long ) may see their own weaknesse , and be so much more humbled for it . in the meane time you are according to the blindnesse of a popish way in all the former respects , carried on against all rule of conscience ; for you have neither certain knowledge of your princes heart , to resolve for resistance upon a supposall of such intentions in him ; nor have you any certain rule to warrant the lawfulnesse of resisting upon such supposall , and to secure you against the apostles prohibition , and damnation laid upon it ; nor have you any judgement of charity , in concluding such intentions in your prince against his deepest protestations made in such times of his distresse , and without that , all is nothing , though you lay down , as you think , your life for religion . how much safer would it be for you to be guided by the sure rules of conscience , and ( if it should please god to bring upon you what you fear ) to suffer unjustly , then in the unwarrantable prevention of it to do unjustly . to this purpose shall you have this treatise speaking to you for the direction of your consciences . if you think it strikes too boldly upon any thing concerning the parliament , i desire yours and their favourable interpretation , fain would i silence every thought and word that may seem to reflect upon that high court ; but what is necessary , i must speak for truth and conscience sake , from which neither king nor parliament should make us swerve . we are taught that kings must not be flattered ; and the people ought to learn , that parliamens must not be idolized : that has been often charged as a fault upon the clergy , and this i fear is that sinne of the people , which , together with the licentiousnesse indulged back again to them , ha's moved god to blow upon that wish'd for fruit we might have reaped by this so desired a parliament . for when i see man is more sensible of every breach of his own rights and priviledges , then of those unparallel'd breaches so frequently made upon gods publike worship , i cannot but think the lord will require it of this land ; and when i see right and just subverted , property and liberty exposed to the will and power of every one that is pleased to conceive his neighbour a malignant , and able to make him so by commanding his . goods and person , i cannot but complain with the psalmist , the foundations of the earth are out of course ; and appeal to heaven , arise o god , judge thou the earth . and i trust , that albeit this spirit of seduction may prevaile a while , and this way of resistance prosper , for the great , but just punishment of this sinfull land , the lord will look downe from heaven , and make truth and peace again to flourish out of the earth , will look upon the face of his anointed , and by this affliction , as by a loving correction make him great . great to the maintenance of gods true religion , and to the restoring of the peace and prosperity of this kingdom ; and , let all the people say , amen . the contents . sect. i. the explication of the question , and generall resolution of it . sect. ii. the principle or ground on which they goe for resistance examined by scripture . their chief examples , ( to which should have been added libnah's revolt , answered now in the last sect. ) scriptures against them , especially that of the 13. to the rom. urged and cleared : where shewed , the king is that higher power . that all are forbidden to resist , even the senate , which by the fundamentalls of that state might challenge as much as our great councell can . that prohibition concerns all times ; and was good , not onely in that state , because they were absolute monarches , but in all states because of the preservation of order which should be in all , and was good not onely against the christians , because their religion was enected against by law , but also against the senate and people , though they were enslaved . sect. iii. their principle examined by reason . of fundamentalls , their ground-work according to the pleaders for resistance , is the originall of power from the people , and their re-assuming it , when the prince will not discharge his trust . the power it selfe , ( distinguished from the designing of the person , and the qualification of it in severall forms of government ) is from god as an ordinance or constitution under that providence whereby god rules the whole world , creatures reasonable as well as unreasonable . sect. iv. that power cannot be forfeited to the people or re-assumed by them . they cannot prove it by vertue of the first election , or by any capitulations or covenant , or the oath between prince and people . sect. v. nor can it be proved by that necessity of means of safety which should be in every state to provide for it self : but greater dangers and inconveniences would follow by such means of safety as are pretended to by resuming the power . sect. vi . the examination of the resistance now made . where shewen , that it is not so much as they themselves pretend to , who plead for it ; either for the generall and unanimous consent of the kingdome ; for it was not so agreed upon : or for the defensive way of it ; because the king is upon the defensive , for he was not first in arms , and the contentiom must needs appeare to be for something the king hath right to hold , or is bound by oath to maintain . also because to any mans conscience it will appeare to he an oppugnation , rather then a resistance or meere defence . sect. vii . the case is not in being . no conscience can conclude the king to be , what they would have him supposed : because the jealousies are groundlesse . the king hath done sufficient to clear them , by promises , protestations , acts of grace . and conscience if it hold the rule of charity , will not against all those conclude contrary intentions in him , upon them to ground resistance ; but will , if it will not not be partiall , judge the king hath offered such reasonable meanes of securitie to this state as ought to have been apprehended , rather then this kingdom embroyled in a civil war , and ireland neglected . lastly , a conscience that concludes for resistance , wants the perswasion of faith , and the judgement of charity in an high measure , and cannot appeare safely at gods tribunall . the resolving of conscience , touching the unlawfulnesse of the war and resistance now made against the king . lamentable are the distractions of this kingdome , and the more , because they gather strength from the name and authority of ( that , which as it is of high esteeme with all , so should it be a remedy to all these our distempers ) a parliament : and from the pretended defence of those things that are most dear unto us , religion , liberties , laws . whereupon so many good people , that have come to a sense of religion and godlinesse , are miserably carried away by a strange implicit faith to beleive , that whatsoever is said or done in the name of a parliament , and in the pretended defence of religion , liberties , laws , to be infallibly true , and altogether just . but he that will consider , men are men , and would seek a surer rule for his conscience then the traditions or ordinances of men taken hand over head , shall upon reasonable examinations find upon what plausible , but groundlesse principles , upon what fair but deceiving pretences , upon what greivous but causelesse imputations laid upon majestie it self , poore people are drawn into arms against the duty and allegiance they owe to their prince by the laws of god and man . for directing the conscience in such an examination this ensuing discourse is framed , as briefly and plainely as the matter will permit . sect. i conscience in resolving upon a question , first layes down the proposition or principle or ground , on which it goes ; then it assumes or applyes to the present case ; then it concludes and resolves : as in this question , affirmatively for resistance , thus , subjects in such a case may arm and resist : but that case is now come : therefore now they may and doe justly resist . or negatively against resistance , either by denying the principle : subjects may not in such a case arm and resist , therfore now they do not justly resist . or by admitting the principle and denying the case , subjects in such a case may arm and resist . but that case is not now . therefore now they do not justly arm and resist . what it is that conscience is here to admit or deny , and how it ought to conclude and resolve , this ensuing treatise will discover : which that it may more clearly appeare , we will premise . first , that in the proposition or principle by the word resistance is meant , not a denying of obedience to the princes command , but a rising in arms , a forcible resistance ; this though clear enough in the question , yet i thought fit to insinuate , to take off that false imputation laid upon the divines of this kingdome , and , upon all those that appeare for the king in this cause , that they endeavor to defend an absolute power in him , and to raise him to an arbitrary way of government ; this we are as much against on his part , as against resistance on the subjects part . for we may and ought to deny obedience to such commands of the prince , as are unlawfull by the law of god , yea , by the established laws of the land : for in these we have his will and consent given upon good advice , and to obey him against the laws were to obey him against himselfe , his sudden will against his deliberate will ; but a far other matter it is to resist by power of arms , as is in the question implyed , and as we see at this day to our astonishment , first the power of arms taken from the prince by setting up the militia , then that power used against him by an army in the field . secondly , we must consider , that they which pleade for resistance in such a case as is supposed , do grant it must be concluded upon , omnibus ordinibus regni consentientibus , that is , with the generall and unanimous consent of the members of the two houses , the representative body of the whole kingdome : also they yeild it must be onely legitima desensio , a meer defensive resistance ; and this also conscience must take notice of . thirdly , it is considerable , that in the supposition or case it is likewise granted by them , that the prince must first be so and so disposed , and bent to overthrow religion , liberties , laws , and will not discharge his trust for the maintaining of them , before such a resistance can be pretented to . and although the question is , and must be so put now , as that it seems to straiten the case , and make it depend upon the supposall of the people ; yet it so much the more enlarges the falshod of the principle , for it plainly speaks thus ; if subjects beleive or verily suppose their prince will change religion they may rise in arms ; whereas all that have pleaded for resistance in case of religion , did suppose another religion enjoyned upon the subject first . we will therefore endeavour to cleare all for the resolving of conscience in these three generalls . i. that no conscience upon such a case as is supposed can find clear ground to rest upon for such resistance as is pretended to , but according to the rules of conscience what is not of faith is sinne : and , in doubtfull things the safer way is to be chosen ; conscience it will find cause to forbeare and to suffer , rather then resist ; doubtfull , i say , not that a conscience truly informed will not clearly see the unlawfulnesse of this resistance , but because no conscience can be truly perswaded of the lawfulnesse of it , and so that conscience that resolves for it , must needs run doubtingly or blindly upon the work . ii. that the resistance now used and made against the prince is not such as they pretend to , either for that generall and unanimous consent that should precede it , or that defensive way that should accompany it , according to their own grants that plead for it , and therefore conscience cannot admit such a resistance as is made now adayes . iii. if conscience could be perswaded , that it is lawfull in such a case to resist , and that this rising in arms is such a resistance as they say may in such a case be pretended to , yet can it never ( if it be willing to know any thing ) be truly perswaded that such a case is now come , that i● , that the king refuse to discharge his trust , is bent to overthrow religion , &c , and therefore conscience cannot but resolve this opposition and resistance to be unlawful , unwarrantable , and ( according to the apostle ) damnable ; and that people , running into arm without sufficient warrant , commit murder if they shed blood in the pursuit of this resistance , and perish in their own sinne , if die in the cause . sect. ii. first then , that the principle is untrue upon which they go that resist , and that conscience cannot find clear ground to rest upon for making resistance : for it heares the apostle expressely say , whosoever resist shall receive to themselves damnation , and it cannot find any limitation in scripture that will excuse the resistance of these dayes . the exception or limitation that is made , is taken from the persons resisting , and the causes of resistance , thus , they that are private persons and do resist upon any cause receive damnation , but the states or representative body of the whole people may resist upon such or such causes . but how will this satisfie conscience , when every distinction or limitation made upon any place of sripture , must have its ground in scrpture ; this has onely some examples in scripture that come not home to the cause , and some appearances of reason ; which are easily refuted by clearer scripture and reason . the examples alledged are , i. the peoples rescuing of jonathan out of the hands of saul . answ. here the people drew not into arms of themselves , but being their at sauls command , did by a loving violence and importunitie hinder the execution of a particular and passionate unlawfull command . ii. davids resisting of saul . answ . 1. davids guard that he had about him was onely to secure his person against the cut-throats of saul , if sent to take away his life . 2. it was a meere defence without all violence offered to saul ; therefore he still gave place as saul pursued , and did no act of hostility to him or any of his army when they were in his power , 1. sam. 26. but thirdly , because they gather out of the 1. sam. 23. 12. that david would have defended keilah against saul , if the inhabitants would have been faithfull to him , we say that 's onely an uncertain supposition , not fit to ground conscience in this great point of resistance ; also to this and all other davids demeanours , in his standing out against saul , we say his example was extraordinary ; for he was anointed and designed by the lord to succeed saul , and therefore he might use an extraordinary way of safeguarding his person . these are the cheif examples . they make use also of the high preists resisting the king in the temple , and elisha's shutting the doore against the kings messenger that came to take away his head ; and the like ; which speake not so much as the two former , having no appearance of such resistance as is implyed in the question . 〈◊〉 we answer . 1. that of the high preist is more pertinently applyed to the popes power of excommunicating and deposing kings , then to this power of resisting now used ; but truly to neither . for he did no more then what every minister may and ought to do if a king should attempt the administration of the sacrament ; that is , to reprove him , to keepe the elements from him . ambrose bishop of milan withstood the emperour at the entrance of gods house , not by excommunication , much lesse by force of arms , but by letting him understand he was not fit for that place , there to be made partaker of the holy things , till he had repented of that outrage and bloudshed at thessalonica . upon which the emperour withdrew . the preists here are said to thrust him out of the temple , but we must note gods hand was first upon him smiting him with leprosie , and by that discharging him of the kingdome also . it is added in the text , yea himselfe also hasted to go out . but enough of this 2. elisha's example speakes very little . but let us thence take occasion to say , that personall defence is lawfull against the sudden and illegall assaults of such messengers ; yea of the prince himselfe thus far , towards his blow , to hold his hands , and the like : nor to endanger his person , not to return blows , no ; for though it be naturall to defend a mans selfe , yet the whole commonwealth is concerned in his person , as wee see in the commonwealth of the creatures , one particular nature will defend it selfe against another , but yeild to the universall . if this be drawn from personall defence to the publick the argument thus ; if the body naturall then the body politick may defend it selfe , if a private person much more the whole state may ; and they do but shut the way up against the king that comes to destroy his parliament , and take away their heads . we answ : as the naturall body defends it self against an outward force , but strives not by a schisme or contention within it selfe ; so may the body politick against an outward power , but not as now by one part of it set against the head and another part of the same body ; for that tends to the dissolution of the whole . again : personall defence may be without all offence , and does not strike at the order and power that is over us , as generall resistance by arms doth , which cannot be without many unjust violences , and does immediately strike at that order which is the life of a commonwealth . and this makes a large difference twixt elisha's shutting the doore against this messenger , and their shutting up the way against the king by armed men ; nor can they conclude upon such an intention in the kings heart without the spirit of elisha . he professeth he intends no violence to his parliament nor has be taken away the head of any of theirs that have fallen into his power , nor does desire any other punishment inflicted upon any that do oppose him , then what a legall triall shall adjudge them to , which no good subject ought to decline . now let us see how scripture excludes this , and all other exceptions , giving no allowance to resistance , in regard of persons or causes , or other pretenses , and this not onely by examples , but by precept , conclusions , resolutions , which are more safe . first , we have the two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation , gathering the people against moses and aaron , numb. 16. 3. and perishing in their sinne . if it be replyed , the persons indeed were publicke , but there was no cause for it ; moses and aaron did not deserve it . i answer , but the other supposed , they did , and that is now enough , it seems , to make people not onely say to their prince , you take too much upon you , but therfore to rise in arms also , which i hope will appeare to be without cause too in the end of this treatise . secondly , see for the cause of resistance , 1. sam. 8. 11. there the people are let to understand how they should be oppressed under kings , yet all that violence and injustice that should be done unto them is no just cause of resistance , for they have no remedy left them but crying to the lord , v. 18. thirdly , we have not onely example , but resolution and conclusion our of scripture , the people might not be gathered together either for civill assemblies , or for war , but by his command that had the power of the trumpet , that is , the supreme as moses was , numb. 10. also when david had saul and his army in his power , he resolves the matter thus , who can stretch out his hand against the lords annointed and be guiltlesse , 1. sam. 26 , 9. if replyed , now they intend not hurt to the kings person ; yet might nor they as well have hurt his person in the day of battell , as any of them that were swept away from about him by the furie of the ordinance , which puts no difference 'twixt kings and common souldiers ? this also i must observe concerning this point of resistance , out of the old testament ( for from thence have they all their seeming instances ) that it is a marvellous thing , that among so many prophets reprehending the kings of israel and judah for idolatrie , cruelty , oppression , none should call upon the elders of the people for this duty of resistance . but lastly , that place of the apostle , rom. 13. at first mentioned , does above all give us a cleare resolution upon the point , which now i shall free from all exceptions . first , i may suppose , that the king is the supreme , as s. peter calls him ; or the higher power , as s. paul here , though it be by some now put to the question , as one absurdity commonly begets another to defend it ; but i prove it . s. peters distinction comprehends all that are in authoritie , the king as supreme , and those that are sent by him , 1. pet. 2. 12 , in which latter rank are the two houses of parliament , being sent by him , or sent for by him , and by his writ sitting there . also by the oath of supremacy it is acknowledged , that there is no power above him without or within this realm ; and that he is in all causes and over all persons supreme . also acknowledged by the petitions of the two houses addressed unto his majestie , wherein they stile themselves his loyall subjects . but enough of this . secondly , in the text of the apostle , all persons under the higher power are expressely forbidden to resist . for whosoever , in the second verse , must be as large as the every soul in the first , and the resistance forbidden here concerns all , upon whom the subjection is injoyned there , or else we could not m●ke these universals good against the papists , exempting the pope and clergy from the subjection . thirdly , in those dayes there was a standing and continuall great senate , which not long before had the supreme power in the romane state , and might challenge more by the fundamentalls of that state , then our great counsell ( i think ) will , or can . but now the emperour being supreme , as s. peter calls him ; or the higher power , as s. paul here , there is no power of resistance left to any that are under him , by the apostle . this for the persons that should resist , all are forbidden . now consider the cause . fourthly , was there ever more cause of resistence then in those dayes ? were not the kings then not onely conceived to be inclined so and so , but even actually were enemies to religion , had overthrown laws and liberties ? and therefore if any should from the apostles reasons that he gives against resistence in the 3 , 4 , 5 , verses , ( for rulers are not a terrour to good works but evil , and he is the minister of god to thee for good ) reply , that rulers so long as they are not a terrour to the good , but minister for our good , are not to be resisted : the consideration of those times leaves no place for such exception , because the powers then ( which the apostle forbids to resist ) were nothing so , but subverters of that which was good and just . if it be replyed , that prohibition was temporary and fit for those times , as it is said by some . i answer , 1. this is a new exception never heard of ( i think ) but in these times . 2. it is groundlesse , and against the text , for the reasons of the prohibition in the 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , verses , are perpetuall , from that order , that good , for which the powers are ordained of god , which will be of force as long as there is government , and will alwayes be reasons against resistence ; because resistence ( though it be made against abused powers as then they were ) doth tend to the dissolution of that order , for which the power it selfe is set up of god by which also that other distinction of theirs is made void , when as they reply , as they think , acutely , that they resist not the power , but the abuse of the power it is also answered by some , that the emperours then were absolute monarchs , and therefore not to be resisted . i answer : they did indeed rule absolutely and arbitrarily , which should have according to the principles of these dayes been a stronger motive to resist . but how did they make themselves of subjects such absolute monarchs ; was it not by force and change of the government , and was not the right of the people and senate ( according to the principles of these dayes ) good against them with as much or more reason , then the right of the people of this land is against the succession of this crown descending by three conquests ? and this i speak not to win an arbitrary power or such as conquerours use , unto this crown , but onely to shew that resistence can be no more made against the kings of england , then it could against those emperours . nay , with lesse reason against them , then these . lastly , it is replyed , that christian religion was then enacted against by law ; but the religion contended for is established by law . i answer : but is the religion established denied to any that now fight for it ? shall the apostles prohibition be good against christians in the behalfe of actuall tyrants persecuting that religion , and not against subjects freely enjoying the religion established ? or may protestants upon a jealousie resist a protestant king professing the same religion , and promising to conserve it entire to them ? 2. the prohibition does not onely concern christians , but all the people under those emperours , and not onely religion was persecuted , but liberties also lost , the people and senate were enslaved by edicts , and laws then inforced upon them , and they ( according to the principles of these dayes ) might resist , notwithstanding the apostles prohibition , and the laws then forced upon them ; or else the state , as they usually say , had not meanes to provide for its safetie . thus one phansie of theirs thwarts another , because both are groundlesse . but more anon of those meanes of safety they suppose to be in every state , by the power of resistence . hitherto of scripture , which is most powerfull against resistence , in the prohibition and the reasons of it , by which conscience will clearly see , it can have no warrant from scripture for resistence . now let us try what reason can enforce . sect. iii. for proving this power of resistence , there is much speech used about the fundamentalls of this government , which because they lie low and unseen by vulgar eyes , being not written laws , the people are easily made to beleeve they are such as they ( that have power to build new laws ) upon them ) say they are . and indeed none so fit to judge of them as they : yet this we know , and every one that can use his reason knows , that the fundamentalls must needs be such as will bear the setled government of this land , such as are not contradictory to the written established laws : but both the government we see used in this land , and the written laws which we reade , must have a correspondency and anology of reason to these fundamentalls , and these to them . well then , they that plead for power of resistance in the people , lay the first ground-work of their fundamentalls thus : power is originally in and from the people , and if when by election they have intrusted a prince with the power , he will not discharge his trust , then it falls to the people ; or , as in this kingdome to the two houses of parliament ( the representative body of the people ) to see to it ; they may reassume the power . this is the bottom of their fundamentalls as they are now discovered to the people . but here we may take notice by the way , that however the fundamentalls of this government are much talked of , this is according to them the fundamentall in all kingdomes and governments ; for they say power was every where from the people at first , and so this will serve no more for the power of resistance in england , then in france , or turkey : but if this must be a fundamentall , it is such an one as upon it this government cannot be built , but confusion and anarchy may readily be raised ; as shall appeare by the clearing of these two particulars , whether the power be so originally and chiefly from the people as they would have it ; then whether they may upon such cause , reassume that power . first , of the originall of power , which they will have so from the people , that it shall be from god onely by a kind of permissive approbation as we may see by the observator , and all other that plead for this power of resistance . we must here distinguish what the writers of the other side seem to confound , to wit , the power it selfe , ( which is a sufficiency of authority for command and coercion in the governing of a people ) from the designing of the person to bear that power , and the qualification o● that power according to the divers wayes of executing it in severall forms of government and then we grant that the designing of the person is sometimes from the people by choyce , and that the power of the prince receiving qualification by joynt consent of himself and the people , is limited by the laws made with such consent ; but the power it self is of god originally and chiefly : which we prove by scripture and reason . first , by such places of scripture as plainly shew an ordaining and appointing , rather then a permission or approbation . 1. the apostle speaks it expressely , the powers are of god , rom. 13. 1. and the ordinance of god , vers. 2. s. peter indeed saith , every ordinance of man , 1. epist. 2. but of man there , and of god here is much differing ; there it is ' anthr●●pine , of man , subjective , that is , every ordinance or power set up amongst men ; but here it is ' apo theou , of god , causaliter , that is , from him , his ordinance ; and if in that ' anthr●●pine there be implyed any creation or causality , or invention of man , it respects the qualification of the power according to the forms of severall governments and offices in them , which are from the invention of man ; it does not make the power it self the creation of man , which is the constitution and ordinance of god ; and men are not onely naturally bent to society , but also are bound as they are reasonable creatures , to set up and live under government as under an order of that providence by which the world is governed . ii. he is called the minister of god , v. 4. but if so from the people and no otherwise from god then they would have him , he should be minister populi rather ; he is indeed their minister for their good , which makes the people to be the end of this governing power , not the fountain and originall of it : therfore the necessity of subjection urged in the fifth verse , ha's a double ground , the ordinance of god , whose ministers rulers are , ther 's the fountain and originall of power to govern ; then the peoples good , upon which rulers ought to attend , that 's an end of the governing power . iii. to the same purpose speak those other places , by me kings reigne : and i have said ye are gods , psal. 82. in relation to which our saviour saith , joh. 10. they are called gods to whom the word of god came , that dixi , that word is the command , the issuing out as it were the commission for the setting up of a governing power among the people . these places cannot be satisfied with that poore part , they on the other side leave to god in the setting up of power for the governing of men , that is , to approve it when the people ha's created or invented it . indeed if we consider the qualification of this governing power , and the manner of executing it according to the severall forms of government , we granted it before to be the invention of man , and when such a qualification or form is orderly agreed upon , we say it ha's gods permissive approbation and therefore the imputation is causelesse which the pleaders on the other side do heedelessely and ignorantly lay upon us divines ; as if we cryed up monarchy , and that onely government to be jure divino . for although monarchy ha's this excellencie , that the government god set up over his people in the person of moses , the judges , and the kings , was monarchicall , yet we confesse that neither that , nor aristocracy , or any other form is jure divino ; but we say the power it self , or that sufficiency of authoritie to govern , which is in monarchy or aristocracy , abstractly considered from the qualifications of either form , is an efflux or constitution subordinate to that providence , an ordinance of that dixi , that silent word by which the world was at first made , and is still governed under god . secondly , as this appeares by the former places of scripture , so it is also suitable to reason : because god doth govern all creatures , reasonable as well as unreasonable , the inferiour or lower world he governs by the heavens or superiour bodies , according to those influences and powers he ha's put into them ; and the reasonable creatures , men , he governs too by others set up in his stead over them ; for which they are called gods , because in his stead over the people : and the powers are said to pe ' apo theou tetagmenai rom. 13. 1. not only ' apo theou , from god ; but also as orders ranked under him too , subordinate to that providence by which all creatures are governed . these his ministers he sometimes designed immediately by himselfe , as moses , the judges , saul , david , &c. now he designes his vicegerents on earth mediately , as by election of the people , by succession or inheritance , by conquest , &c. to conclude , the power it selfe of government is of god , however the person be designed , or that power qualified according to the severall forms of government by those laws that are established , or those grants that are procured for the peoples securitie . thus much of the originall of power . sect. iv. now we come to the forfeiture , as i may call it , of this power . if the prince , say they , will not discharge his trust , then it falls to the people or the two houses ( the representative body of the people ) to see to it , and reassume that power , and thereby to resist . this they conceive to follow upon the derivation of power from the people by vertue of election and upon the stipulation or covenant of the prince with the people , as also to be necessary in regard of those meanes of safety , which every state should have within it selfe . we will examine them in order , and shall find the arguments inconsequent . concerning the derivation of power we answer ? first , if it be not from the people , as they will have it , and as before it was cleared , then can there be no reassuming of this power by the people ; that 's plain by their own argument . secondly , if the people should give the power so absolutely as they would have it , leaving nothing to god in it but approbation , yet could they not therefore have right to take that power away . for many things which are altogether in our disposing before we part with them , are not afterward in our power to recall ; especially such in which their redounds to god an interest by the donation , as in things devoted , though afterward they come to be abused . so although it were , as they would have it , that they give the power and god approves ; yet because the lords hand also & his oyl is upon the person elected to the crown , and then he is the lords anointed and the minister of god , those hands of the people which were used in lifting him up to the crown , may not again be lifted up against him , either to take the crown from his head , or the sword out of his hand . this will not a true-informed conscience date to doe . thirdly , how shall the conscience be satisfied that this their argument , grounded upon election and the derivation of power from the people can have place in this kingdome , when as the crown not onely descends by inheritance , but also ha's so often been setled by conquest in the lines of saxons , danes , and normans ? in answer to this they looke beyond all these , and say , the right is still good to the people by reason of their first election . i answer : so then that first election must be supposed here , and supposed good against all other titles , or else this power of resistence falls to the ground . it is probable indeed that kings at first were by choyce here as elsewhere ; but can conscience rest upon such remote probabilities for resistence , or think that first election will give it power against princes that do not claime by it . we tell them the romane emperours were not to be resisted , rom. 13. 2. they reply , as we had it above , that they were absolute monarchs . but how came they of subjects to be absolute monarchs ? was it any otherwise then by force and arms ? the way that the saxons , danes , and normans made themselves masters of this people , and was not the right of the people as good against them for the power of resistence , by vertue of the first election , as well as of the people of this land , against their kings after so many conquests ? this i speak not , as if the kings of this land might rule as conquerors : god forbid . but to shew this slender plea of the first election can no more take place against the kings of this land , then it could against the romane monarchs , especially according to their argument , that hold all power originally from the people , and that ( as we observed above ) to be the fundamentall of all government . therefore whether kings were in this land at first by election or no ; we acknowledge what belongs to the duty of a prince in doing justice and equitie : what grants also , laws , priviledges have since those conquests been procured , or restored to the people : unto all those the king is bound . but yet not bound under forfeiture of his power to the people : which now comes to be examined in that capitulation or covenant he is said to enter with the people . in the next place therefore : that capitulation or covenant , and the oath which the prince takes to confirme what he promiseth , are so alledged , as if the breach or non-performance on the princes part were a forfeiture of his power . but we answer , the words capitulation or covenant are now much used to make men believe the kings admittance to the crown is altogether conditionall , as in the meerly elective kingdomes of polonia , swedeland , &c. whereas our king is king before he comes to the coronation , which is sooner or later at his pleasure , but alwaies to be in due time , in regard of that security his people receive by his taking the oath , and he again mutually from them , in which performance there is something like a covenant , all but the forfeiture . the king there promises and binds himself by oath to performance . could they in this covenant shew us such an agreement between the king and his people , that in case he will not discharge his trust , then it shall be lawfull for the states of the kingdome by arms to resist , and provide for the safety thereof , it were something . if it be said , that so much is imployed in the first election . we answer : we examined that slender plea of the first election above , as it was thought to be a derivation of power . now as it is thought to have a covenant in it : we say , that usually in all empires the higher we arise , the freer we find the kings , and still downwards the people have gained upon them : for at first when the people chose their rulers , they did as justine in the beginning of his history observes , resigne themselves to be governed by such , of whose prudence and moderation they had experience ; and then , arbitria principum pro legibus erant , the will and discretion of the prince was law unto the people ; but men were men though in gods place , and therefore for the restraint of that power , with consent of the prince , such laws have been still procured by the people as might make for their security . now from a promise the king makes for doing justice ( the duty of every prince ) for the continuing those priviledges , immunities , that have been granted or restored to the people , and for the observing of those laws that have been established with the princes consent , and from that oath ( by which for the greater security of the people he binds himself to the performance of the premises ) to infer a great obligation lyeth upon him , is right : but to gather thence a forfeiture of his power upon the not performance , is a plain but dangerous inconsequent argument . and though such argument may seem to have some force in states meerly elective and pactionall , yet can it never be made to appear to any indifferent understanding , that the like must obtain in this kingdome . and to this purpose phil. pareus excuseth what his father had written more harshly upon the 13. to the romans , in the point of resistence , that it was to be understood of elective and pactionall government , not to the prejudice of england , or such monarchies . for where the king , as it is said , never dyes , where he is king before oath or coronation , where he is not admitted upon any such capitulation as gives any power to the people , or their representative body , as is pretended to : nay , where that body cannot meet but by the will of the prince , and is dissoluble at his pleasure ; that there , in such a state , such a power should be pretended to , and used against the prince as at this day , and that according to the fundamentalls of such a state , can never appear reasonable to any indifferent judgement , much lesse satisfie conscience in the resistence that is now made by such a pretended power . what then shall we say ? is the king not bound to perform ? yes , by all means . or ha's he not a limited power according to the lawes ? yes . what then if he will take to himself more power , or not perform what he is bound to ? suppose that ; ( though thanks be to god we are not come to that . ) then may the subjects use all fair means as are fit to use , cryes to god , petitions to the prince , denials of obedience to his unlawfull commands , denials of subsidie , ayd , &c. but are they left without all means to compell by force and resistence ? this however it may at first sight seem unreasonable to the people and very impolitick to the statesman , yet ha's scripture forbidden it , as before was plainly shewed , and so doth reason too , as will apeare in the examination of their last proofe they make for re-assuming this power and resisting , from that necessity of means of safety , which every state is to have within it self : of which now . sect. v. in the last place it is thus reasoned , were it not so that the two houses might take and use this power , the state should not have means to provide for its own safety , when the king shall please to desert his parliament , deny his consent to their bills , abuse his power , &c. so they . when right and just will not defend a thing , then necessity is usually pleaded ; as if , because salus populi in a good sense is suprema lex , every thing must be honest which is spartae vtile , imagined to conduce to the proposed end . we answer therefore ; first , they have many weapons sharpened for this resistence at the philistins forge , arguments borrowed from the romane schools , among them this is one , the very reason that is made for the popes power of curbing or deposing kings in case of heresie . for if there be not that power in the church , say they , then in case the civill magistrate will not discharge his trust , the church ha's not means for the maintenance of the catholick faith and its own safety . well , as we reply to them , the church has means of preserving the faith , such as god ha's appointed , though not that of one visible head , which though at first seems plausible , for preserving the unity of faith , yet ha's experience shown it to be indeed the meanes to bring much mischief upon the church : so to the other we say , the state ha's meanes of preservation such as the law ha's prescibed , though not such as are here pretented to in this power of resistence ; which though seemingly plausible , yet true reason will conclude them dangerous , and at this day , god knows , we see it . of this in the fourth answer more particularly . secondly , if every state ha's such means to provide for its safety , what means of safety had the christian religion under the romane emperours in and after the apostles times ? or the people then enslaved , what means had they for their liberties ? had they this of resistence ? tertullian , in his apol. sayes , the christians had number and force sufficient to withstand , but they had no warrant ; and the apostle expressely forbids them and all other under the higher power , to resist . if it be replyed , as it was above touched , that things being so enacted by law , it was not lawfull for them to resist . i answer : but it is known that not onely those edicts which concerned christian religion , but also all other that proceeded from those emperours and enslaved the people , were meerly arbitrary and enforced upon the senate , and that the senate did not discharge their trust in consenting to them , and therefore according to the former position the people might resist , notwithstanding the apostles prohibition , or else no means of safety left in that state . so would it be in this state , if at any time a king that would rule arbitrarily , as those emperours did , should by some meanes or other work out of the two houses the better affected , and by the consent of the major part of them that remaine , compasse his desires ; might the people then resist ? the apostle forbids it to them as well as to the romans in such a case : if so , where are these means of safety by this power of resistance ? or are these means of safety extinct in the consent of the senate or the two houses ? no , the people will tell them they discharge not their trust , they chose them not to betray them , enslave them ; but according to the principles now taught them , they might lay hold upon this power of resistence ; for their representative body claims it by them . thirdly we answer , we cannot expect absolute means of safety and securitie in a state , but such as are reasonable ; and such are provided , especially in the fundamentalls of this government , by that excellent temper of the three estates in parliament there being a power of denying in each of them , and no power of enacting in one or two of them without the third ; which as it is for the securitie of the commonwealth ( for what might follow if the king and lords without the commons , or these and the lords without the king , might determine , the evills of these dayes do shew ) so is this power of denying , for the security of each state against other , of the commons against the king and lords , of the lords against them : and must the king trust onely , and not be trusted ? must not he also have his securitie against the other , which he cannot have but by power of denying ? this is that temper of the three estates in parliament , the due observing whereof , in the moderate use of this power of denying , is the reasonable means of this states safety : but now not onely the name of parliament , which implyes the three estates , is restrained usually to the two houses , but also that temper is dissolved . i need not speak it , the distractions and convulsions of the whole commonwealth , as the distempers in a naturall body , do sufficiently shew such a dissolution , and what 's the cause of it . if it be replyed , as it is , for the reasonablenesse of these meanes of safety through that power of resisttence and the final trust reposed in the representative body of the people , that many see more then one and more safety in the judgement of many then of one . answ. true . but 1. conscience might here demand for its satisfaction , why shovld an hundred in the house of commons see more then three hundred ; or twenty in the lords house , more then sixty that are of indiffereent judgement and withdrawn ; 2. reason doth suppose , that the prince , though one , sees with the eyes of many , yea with their eyes who are of different judgement from him , for which his . houses of parliament are his great councell to present to his eyes the differences of things with the reasons of them ; and albeit he sometimes dissents from the major or prevailing part , because he is convinced in his own judgement they seek themselves nor his or the publike good , or for other reasons that may perswade him against their vote , yet have all times thought good to have kings , and to reduce the judgement of many unto one . the government which god made choice of to set up among his people was monarchicall still ; first in moses , then in the judges , then in the kings ; yea generally all authors yeild , and experience ha's taught it , that monarchy is a better government then aristocracy , because the tyranny and miscarriage of one , sometime happening in a monarchy is nothing so dangerous as oligarchy , faction , and division usually incident to aristocracy or the government by many equalls . again , as all times have thought it reasonable to have monarchy , which settles the chief power and finall judgement in one ; so will there be alwayes sufficient reason to withhold the king from a wilfull deniall of his consent to the free and unanimous vote of his houses : he cannot but see there will alwayes be some necessary good accrewing to him by his parliament , that will keep him in all reason from doing so : and no cases can be put or inconveniences feared upon his power of denying , but greater and more eminent will appeare upon his not having it , as ha's been insinuated , and now do follow . fourthly therefore and lastly we answer . such power of resistence would be no fit means of safety to a state , but prove a remedy worse then the disease . this is very plain by the drift of the apostles reason which he gave against resistence , in the 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. v. of the 13. to the rom. in which we may consider , that , although the powers then were altogether unjust , tyrannicall , subverters of true religion , nothing answerable to the end for which the governing power is ordained , yet doth the apostle draw his reasons against the resisting of them , from that good , that justice , that order for which god hath set up the higher powers ; to insinuate , that the resisting of the higher powers , even when they are so , does tend to the overthrow of that order which is the life of a commonwealth ; and this not onely because there is still order under tyranny , but chiefly because , if it were good and lawfull to resist the power , when abused , it would open a way to the people upon the like pretences to resist and overthrow even powers duely administred for the executing of wrath upon them that do evill . i enter this dicourse , not to cast the least blemish upon parliaments ( which are an onely remedy for distempers of the kingdome ) not to reflect upon the intentions of those that are yet resident in that high court , ( unto god the judge of all , they stand or fall ) not to raise jealousies , but to settle conscience , and in the way of reasoning to shew according to the apostles reasons what dangers and evills may ensue upon this power of resistence . for first of all , this power of resistence , if admitted and pursued may proceed to a change of government , the principles that now are gone upon , and have carried it so farre as we see at this day , may also lead it on to that greatest of evils : and i have heard and seen it defended by the example of the low-countreys ; how they excuse it throughly , i examine not , but this i am sure they can say , that their prince , succeeding in the right of the duke of burgundie was admitted upon other conditions then the kings of england are : also that a contrary religion was enforced upon them by a terrible inquisition , whereas they that do resist the higher . powers here , do freely enjoy their religion , and have the princes promise and protestation for it . secondly , this power of resistence when used , and pursued , is accompanied with the evils of civil warre : former times shew it , and how little was gained by it beside the expence of bloud ; as when all was referred to the rule and disposing of the 12 peeres , how long lasted it ? what security had the state by it ? and at this day we feel and groan under the evils brought upon us through this power of resistence , the law silenced , the property and libertie of the subject every where invaded ; and the lord knows when or how we shall be restored to them , or better secured in them by this way thirdly , we see the danger , ( if as it is now said , for the justifying of this power of resistence , the king will not discharge his trust , and therefore it fals to the representative body of the people to see to it , so ) the people being discontented , and having gotten power shall say , the members of the two houses do not discharge the trust committed to them , they do not that for which they were chosen and sent for , then may the multitude by this rule and principle now taught them , take the power to themselves , it being claimed by them , and say to them as numb. 16. ye take too much upon you , or as cade , and tylar , boast themselves reformers of the common-wealth , overthrow king and parliament , fill all with rapine and confusion , draw all to a folkmoot , and make every shire a severall government . these are dangers and evils not conceived in the phansie , but such as reason tells us may follow , and experience hath often , and this day doth shew us , do arise upon this power of resistence , and for the preventing of which , the apostle gave his reasons against resisting even of abused powers , as we heard above . lastly therefore , seeing some must be trusted in every state , 't is reason the highest and finall trust should be in the higher or supreme power , with whom next to himself god hath intrusted the whole kingdom , all other that have power and trust , having it under him as sent by him ; good reason i say that the supreme power ( which is worth 10000 of the subjects ) should have the best security on its side , for as much as order , the life of a commonwealth , is so best preserved , and not so endangered by tyranny as by factions , division , tumults , power of resistence on the subjects part , and this is according to the drift of the apostles reasons against resistence , as before they were laid down . well , now unto all that hath hitherto been said from scripture and reason , let conscience adde the oath of supremacy and allegiance , also the late protestation , and consider what duty lyes upon every subject by the former to defend the kings person and right against what power soever , and how by the latter he hath protested and undertaken before almighty god in the first place to defend the same ; and then what can conscience conclude from the premises ? that the prince hath his power for the good of his people ? true , but that power cannot be prevalent for the good and protection of his people unlesse it be preferved to him intire , unlesse he hath the power of deniall , and the chief command of arms ; or that the prince hath a limited power , according to the laws established ? true , but if conscience be perswaded he does not hold himselfe within those bounds so fixed , can it be perswaded also that the people may reassume that power they never had ? or take that sword out of his hand that god hath put into it ? no , conscience will look at that power as the ordinance of god , and the abuse of that power as a judgement and scourge of god upon the people , and will use not arms to resist the ordinance under pretence of resisting the abuse , but cryes and prayers to god , petitions to the prince , denialls of obedience to his unjust commands , denialls of subsides , aids , and all faire means that are fit for subjects to use , and when done all , if not succeed , will rather suffer then resist : so would a truly informed conscience resolve , were the prince indeed what he is supposed to be , and did he do indeed as the people are made to fear and believe he will do . hitherto we have been in the examination of the principle upon which they go that plead for resistence , and we have found both scripture and reason speak plainly against the resisting even of abused powers , professed enemies to religion , actuall subverters of the peoples liberties , how much more against the resisting of a prince that professeth the same religion which we freely enjoy , promiseth the maintaining of that and our liberties , onely upon a supposall he will not stand to his word , will overthrow all . this however it may seem lesse reasonable to the statist in the way of policie , permitting as little as he can to the goodnesse of the prince , or the providence of god for the safety of the state ; yet ought it to satisfie a christian in the way of conscience , which when it comes to a desire of being safe , will not rest till it have a sure ground , which here it hath against resistence laid downe by scripture and reasons even the apostles reasons so powerfull against resistence . the summe of all is this ; conscience hears the apostle expressely forbid all under the higher power to resist , finds no other clear scripture to limit it , finds that the limitations given will not consist with it , for the reasons of them ( that are drawn from the election of the people , and the covenant supposed therein , from the necessity of means of safety in every state to provide for it self ) were as strong in the romane state as any ; nay , are supposed by those that urge them , to be the fundamentals of every state ; and so resistence is forbidden as well here , as there in the romane state , which is also cleared by the apostles reasons , shewing the power of resistence cannot be the meane of safety , but strikes at order and power it self , though made against tyrannicall and abused powers , as before often insinuated . therefore conscience will not dare to go against the apostles expresse prohibition , lest it fall into the judgement denounced by him . but if there shall be any conscience as strongly carried away with the name of a parliament , as the papists are with the name of the church , and thinking religion may be defended any way , & that upon supposall that their prince is minded to change it , ( which is another humour of popery ) will not be perswaded that the resistence made upon the present supposall is unlawfull , against gods word , and reason ; i am sure such a conscience cannot be truly perswaded it is lawfull , but must want that clear ground it ought to have , especially in a matter so expresly against the apostle , and of such high concernment as damnation ; must needs runne blindly , and headlong by a strange implicit faith upon so great a hazard . sect. vi . now we come to the application of their principle to the present , where we must enquire according to the second and third generalls , whether the resistence now made be such as is pretended to by them in such a case as they supposed , and then whether conscience can be truely perswaded the king is such and so minded as in the case he is supposed to be . the chief considerations of these two generalls , are matters of fact ; the principle was examined by scripture and reason , these admit the judgement of sense , and are cleared by what we heare and see ; which judgement of sense is not so easily captivated by an implicit faith as that of reason is ; insomuch as conscience here cannot be so blinded but it may see , that ( were the principall good on which they rest , yet ) this resistence which they make , is not such as they pretend to , and that this king , whom they resist ; is not such as in the case they supposed him to be , not such as ought to be resisted according to their own grants . the second generall was , that the resistence now made is not such as is pretended to by them that plead for it , and therefore conscience cannot be truly perswaded it may lawfully bear part in it , or assist them that in the pursuit of it pretend one thing and do another . it was premised at the beginning that such a resistence should be omnibus ordinibus regni consentientibus ; agreed upon and undertaken by the generall and unanimous consent of the whole state , and that it should be onely legitima defensio , a meer defensive resistence ; and these laid down , not that i admit resistence however conditioned ( for all that i have said before doth altogether condemn it ) but according to their own grants that plead for it : to this purpose it is that they say the king is vniversis minor , lesse then the whole state , and every body naturally defends it self . therefore if a contention be between the plead and the body , it must in all reason be the whole body that is set against it ; and if there be such an appearing against the supreme power , as tends to resistence , the consent and judgement of the whole kingdom must be against him , or else every prevailing faction might indanger the state by causing such changes and evils as now it 's threatned with : this is the reason of this unreasonable power of resistence in the people . well then how shall conscience he perswaded that this resistence was agreed upon by an unanimous and free consent of the states assembled in the two houses , such as in this case may be called the judgement of the whole kingdome ? he that knows how the militia ( in which this resistence chiefly began ) was brought in , with what opposition , especially in the lords house , and by what number there at length was voted ; also how the like proceedings of resistence , that have been voted since , are declared against ; by a greater number of each house then do remain in either , such as have been cast out or withdrawn themselves upon dislike of these proceedings : can he , i say , that knows this ( and who knows it not , that hath eyes and eares ? ) be in conscience perswaded , that this is such an unanimous , free , and generall consent , the judgement of the whole kingdome ? for though a vote passed by a few upon the place ha's the power and condition of a vote for the formality of law , yet , if the question be , was this passed in full assemblies ; was it freely and generally carried ; did they all unanimously as one man consent unto it ? conscience cannot be convinced there is such efficacy in the place , as to make a few , the whole ; or their agreement to be that judgement : of the whole kingdome , that unanimous consent , which must be in the case of resistence , by their acknowledgement that plead for it . for were it in this case to be held for the judgement of the whole , which is passed by a few , then would the state be unreasonably exposed to that danger ( above mentioned ) which every prevailing faction might bring upon it under the pretence of the judgement of the whole kingdome . again , is conscience cannot be truely perswaded that this resistence is agreed upon with such a generall and unanimous consent , as they themselves pretend to , which pleade for this resistence , so can it not be truely perswaded that this resistence is such for the meer defensive way of it , as it ought to be according to their grants and pretences that appear for it . conscience here will see how to resolve , upon the triall of these two particulars , whether the king or they be upon the defensive part ? then , whether the managing of this warre or resistence on their parts , be so void of hostile acts , as the defensive way , which they pretend to , ought to be ? conscience will discern whether part is upon the defensive , by inquiring , first , who were first in arms ? he that can number the succession of weeks and moneths in his almanack may decide this . he shall find that armed men were thrust into hull , the kings arms seized against his will , the militia set up , and by that the kings subjects drawn into arms before the king had any thing to oppose but proclamations : that subscriptions for plate , money , horse ; that listing of souldiers for the field , and appointing of officer of the army were begun upon their part , before his majesty did the like . now resistence doth in the word it self and in their pretence presuppose a power and force first made against them , where as it is plain , they were still upon the preventing and forehand with the kin● , still shewed him example for what he has done since in the way of warre : yet must the people believe he raises the warre , and they are upon defence ; but conscience will not be so forced . secondly , by inquiring what is the c●●se of these arms ? what do they contend for ? and though it be clear , that if subjects be first in a●●s they cannot be upon the defensive , yet the consideration of the cause will more apparantly convince it , when conscience shall see it is not for what is pretended , but for something the king ha's right to deny , that this resistence is made . the preservation of religion and liberties is pretended , but can it be for either ? the king denyes them not : their religon they freely enjoy ; and was it ever known that subjects should rise in arms against their prince for a religion which he promiseth to maintain ? or does religion stand in need of a defense , which it self condemnes , a defence which would be a perpetuall scandall to it ? if therefore religion be the pretence , but no cause of warre , then is the warre raised on their part , the king is upon the defensive . or can it be for antient rights and undoubted priviledges that they contend ? the king denyes them not , promiseth all security so he may enjoy his own , and god forbid that either he or they should suffer in their just rights . but would any man ever have defended the revolt of the ten tribes , if rehoboam had promised to conserve their liberties ? what shall we then think of this geneall revolt from allegiance that ha's possessed well-near ten tribes of twelve ? they suppose he will not make good his promises , and therefore they will make all sure , seize his arms and forts , strip him of all , and if begin to stirre for his own right and dignity , then the people must be made to believe he makes warre against his parliament , intends to destroy their liberties . but can any man in conscience think his majesty since the beginning of this breach was ever in such a condition of strength as might threaten the libertie of the subject , or destroy parliaments , when as it was long ere he could with much ado attain to any reasonable means of subsistence , or to such a strength whereby he might seem to be able to defend himself ? to speak the truth , religion and liberties can be no other then the pretences of this warre , the king ha's fortified them so with many acts of grace passed this parliament , that they cannot be in that danger which is pretended for the raising of this warr . it must be something that his majesty does indeed deny for which the contention is raised : that we shall find to be his power of arms , and ordering the militia of the kingdome , his power of denying in parliament , his disposing of the offices of state , and such like ; also the government of the church and the revenue of it . in the three former he challenges his right , as his predecessours had ; the other he is bound by oath to maintaine as by law they are established . well , if these be attempted , and his majesty will not be forced from them , cannot yeild them up , but it comes to arms , then will conscience easily be convinced the king is upon the defensive , for the maintaining of what he justly holds his right , or is bound by oath to defend . and if we hearken to the peoples voice , for that commonly speaks the mind of their leaders , we shall hear them usually call this warre as they did that with the scots , the bishops warre . his majesty has indeed alwayes declared against the altering of the government of the church by bishops , being such as it alwayes had since the first receiving of the christian faith in this land , and of all other governments simply the best , if reformed from abuses and corruptions that have grown upon it , to the purging out of which his majesty is alwayes ready to agree . but be it the bishops warre ( though the abolishing of that government be but one of the many inconveniences which this power of resistence doth threaten this land with , and which the king has reason by power of arms to divert ) whether is it so just in subjects by arms to force a change of government which was alwayes in the church , and by law established , as it is in the king to defend the same as he is bound by oath ? it is clear which of the two are upon the defensive . the second particular by which the defensive way of this resistance is to be examined , was the managing of this warre on their parts , whether so void of acts of hostility as that defensive way should be which they pretend to . davids resistence made against . saul is frequently alledged by them , which example , though it will not countenance their cause ( as was shewed before ) yet might it tell them their demeanor should be answerable . he offered no act of violence to saul , but still gave place and withdrew from him : the spear indeed and the cruse david tooke away from the kings head , but it was onely to shew abners neglect , who had the command of sauls militia , and to testifie his own integrity , therefore he restored them before they were demanded , 1 sam 26. but now the kings spear and his cruse , his ammunition , and his necessary provisions are taken away , intercepted , not restored , though often demanded , used against him with all advantage ; nay he is stript of the very power and command of arms , his officers and ministers thrust out , and other substituted , and by them his people drawn into arms against him . also by these that are in resistence against the king , his loyall and peaceable subjects are assaulted , despoiled of their arms , goods , estates ; their persons imprisoned , because they would according to their allegiance assist him in this extremity , or would not , contrary to their conscience , joyn with them against him . what conscience that will not follow this way with a stupid implicit faith can be perswaded that this warre is the defence of the subjects liberties , and not rather an oppugnation of them ? or that it is a meer resistence or withstanding of a force first made against them , and not rather a violent illation or bringing in of force upon those that were disposed to peace . therefore no conscience that ha's a sense of religion , or of that which is just and right between man and man , can beare a part in this resistence , for fear of that sentence of damnation which the apostle ha's laid upon it . sect. vii . but in the last place , if conscience could be perswaded , that it is lawfull upon such a case , as they make , to take arms and resist , and that this rising in arms is such a defensive resistence , as in such a case they seem to pretend to , yet how will it be perswaded that the case is now , that is , that the king is such as the people must be made to believe he is , unles it will as desperately offend against the rule of charitie , in so concluding upon the king , as it does against the rule of faith and perswasion , in admitting so uugrounded a principle as is now rested on for resistence : so that such a conscience shall have in its perswasion neither certainty of rule ; for the principle it goes on is false ; nor certainty of the case , for it knows not the heart of the king , to conclude for resistence upon supposals of his intentions , and in its judgement it will be altogether void of charitie . indeed it concerns all such as will resist upon the principles now taught to render their prince odious to his people under the hatefull notions of tyrant , subverter of religion , and laws , a person not to be trusted , or at least as one seduced to such evil designes , by wicked counsel . but what ? hath this king forbid the exercise of the religion established or left off to professe it himselfe ? hath he disclaimed his trust , or not upon all occasions promised justice and libertie to his subjects ? yea ! but they have cause to fear popery will prevail , and that he will not stand to his promises . it seems thy are men that would be loath to suffer for their religion , they are so ready to fly to arms to secure themselves ; but shall subjects rise in arms against their prince upon such remote fears and jealousies as these will appear to be ? when can such be wanting in turbulent minds ? when shall the prince be assured of safety ? this was the way that david himself was shaken out of his throne , and driven from jerusalem by absolom : this cunning rebell steals away their hearts by raysing jealousies in them , and an evill opinion of davids government , 2. sam. 15. 3. some ground it seems , he had for his treacherous plea , through the negligence of those that were under david ; but it was his villanie to make use of it to the alienating of the people from their king . accordingly let us now consider what slender grounds our people have for their fears and jealousies , then what security they have and mightt have against them , that it may appear how causelesse those jealousies are in themselves , how unjust causes of this resistence . if we examine the fears and jealousies that have possessed the people , we shall find them to be raised upon these or the like grounds . reports of forraign power to be brought in , the queens religion , the resort of papists to his majesty , his intercepting of means sent for the reliefe of ireland , from whence the people by their good teachers are made to believe , that he means to enslave this people , re-establish popery , and does comply with the rebels . in answer to all , which i needed not to say more then what michael the arch-angell to the devill that arch-accuser ; the lord rebuke thee , jude 9. but in particular ; for such reports of invasion from abroad , as were , before the setting up of the militia , given out to keep the people amused , the easier to draw them into a posture of defence as was pretended , all such are discovered by time to have been vain ; if there be now any forraign ayd , towards the king ( as all christian kings cannot but think themselves concerned in the cause ) it will be as just for him to use them against subjects now in arms , as it was unjust in the barons to call in the french against their naturall king . for the queens majesty ; her religion is no new cause , if it be a sufficient cause of jealousie to them , they have had it from her first entrance ; i would to god it were otherwise with her , that it would please the lord to open her eyes that she may see the truth and light of the protestant religion : onely this i must say , this is not the way to draw her to it , if she look at it in the doctrines and practises of these times she is not like to fall in love with it . for the resort of papists , and the kings entertaining them ; he hath often declared what caution he desired to use therein , till necessitie hath driven him to admit of some few into his army , which also he answered lately . let me adde this concerning the justnesse of it , if he hath entertained any into this service , he may justly make use of them . we see what manner of men were gathered to david in his distresse , 1. sam. 22. 2. and how false ziba bringing provision to the king when he fled from absolom , was entertained and rewarded , insomuch that the king ( when afterward he knew how ziba had abused him to gain his own ends ) would not reverse the sentence pronounced in his favour ; if therefore in this distresse after much forbearance our king hath admitted the help of some recusants , it cannot be alledged as a cause of the resistence now made against him , but that resistence was a cause of it ; and if the papist will shew himself a good subject , it is just and reasonable that the king when he is put to it , may admit of his help , and the more shame it is for them that professe the protestant religion to force him to it ; a scandall that would not easily be wiped off from our religion , were it to stand or fall , by the doctrines of this giddie age . lastly , his majestie hath written enough for the clearing himselfe from those false and odious imputations laid upon him in relation to the irish businesse . i have onely thus much to say , concerning any thing intended for the relief of ireland ; it was great pittie they should want it there , but it is more pittifull , the king should be forced to make use of it here . it is not long since our neighbour nation brought an army into the northern parts of this kingdome to the great detriment of the inhabitants there , and it was excused by invincible necessitie , which drove them hither . the necessitie his majestie was driven to is sufficiently known , and might excuse him , in taking his own where he meets with it , and drawing it from his service abroad to that which more nearly concerned him at home . and when his arms , moneys , and provisions are seised on wherever they be found intended for him , and imployed against him in a warre , the lord knows how unnecessary ; shall it not be lawfull for him to take some part of them where he finds it for his necessary defence ? indeed the distresse of ireland by the help of wicked pamphlets hath been used as a great engine to weaken the kings reputation with his people ; but upon whose account the heavie reckoning of that neglected cause will be laid , together with the disturbance of this kingdome , any man in conscience may easily discern , that sees what sufficient and reasonable means might have been had for the security of religion and liberties , and for the redresse of all just greivances before this time . which is the next thing considerable : what his majesty hath done and profered to exempt these scruples of fears and jealousies out of his peoples minds for religion , if it be a new frame they contend for , i must acknowledge he declares against all such ; but if they desire the continuance of that true protestant religion , which hath been professed without interruption from the beginning of the queens dayes , and established by the laws of this land , that he undertakes to maintain , that he hath protested in the head of his army to defend . for matter of church-government and discipline he hath offered any just reformation , even with a respect to tender consciences in point of ceremony , hath often called his two houses to the work in drawing up the grievances to some head . for priviledges of parliaments and libertie of subjects he hath given them the like promises with the deepest protestations ; and by an excellent moderation , amidst the pressures and necessities of warre , hath shown what respect he hath to the property and libertie of the subject . lastly , for his choyse of officers of state , he hath promised to admit any just exception , and thereupon to relinquish the person ; and as an assurance of all this , hath so farre condescended as to take away starre-chamber , high-commission , bishops votes , &c. and to grant the continuance of this parliament , and the constant return of a trieniall ; and now after all these promises and protestations , and so many reall expressions of grace , can any man in conscience think there was yet place left for propositions of such necessary concernment , that except they be granted this kingdome must be imbroyled in a civill warre , and the releif of ireland neglected ? i speak not this to cast any blemish upon the wisdome of the great councel , or upon their desires and endeavors to gain a greater security to the publick : but i would to god , the king were once thought worthy to be trusted a little , and that the consciences of his subjects were more respected , which cannot so easily be commanded into a resistence , being very tender in the points of damnation , and taught out of gods word not to raise so much as an evil thought against the king , much lesse to lift up an armed hand . every mans conscience now is solicited to adhere either to the king in this great cause , or to joyn with subjects in making resistence : to draw it from allegiance , tongues are set on fire of hell , which blast his majesties actions and declarations ; and books written by hellish spirits , enemies to peace and quietnesse , are suffered to issue forth into every corner of the land to possesse the people , that his promises are but words , his acts of grace were forced , he will not stand to them : it seems then he must by force of arms be compelled to be willing . but let us see whether a conscience that destres to be safe can be so perswaded in judging the actions and intentions of him ( to whom it owes the highest duty under god ) as first to conclude he intends not as he promises , and thereupon to resolve for resistence ? no , it will direct it self by the rule of charity , which is , not rashly to conclude upon the heart which it knoweth not , or to think any evill ; and if the difference be betwixt two , as in this cause , it will hold the rule of indifferency , impartially to consider the actions of both . conscience therefore that it may be informed of his majesties intentions , will it look upon him at such a distance as london , and reade him onely in those horrid relations that issue thence , and conceive of him as they report him to the people ? or will it consider some failings that necessity ha's inforced , or other accidentall occurrences have occasioned , and from these conclude intentions in him , contrary to all his promises and protestations ? this would be too partiall , too uncharitable : conscience ought alwayes to be tender in judging upon other mens intentions , especially those of the prince , and those to be concluded as evill , and to be made a ground for resistence , which runs the hazard of damnation . in the 2. chron. c. 21. 10. libnah is said to revolt from the king of judah because he had forsaken the lord ; a text that is objected to us , and should have been answered in the first part : but it is impertinent as all the rest are , for it neither proves the principle , that it is lawfull for the people to revolt when the king forsakes religion , but shews that such revolt is a punishment from god upon such a king , though a sinne in the people : nor doth it come home to the case : for there the king had forsaken : here is onely supposall that he will , and that groundlesse and unconscionable too . for as there was enough in david to clear those jealousies upon which that rebellion of the people following absolom was grounded , so is there on the kings part , to direct conscience against this desperate uncharitable judgement , if it look at those many acts of grace as new additions to that security , by which this state ha's so long stood , and from them conclude , he would not in a faire way deny any thing reasonable : if it consider those many promises strengthened with the deepest protestations , enforced with desires of successe from god according to his just intentions ; and all these , as proceeding from a king , under such affliction , in such danger , after such successe and experience of gods protection , approving thereby the reality and sincerity of his heart : what conscience can here conclude contrary intentions in him , and not think it blasphemeth god and the king ? furthermore , as conscience will not be uncharitable when it judgeth upon the intentions of another mans heart , so neither will it be partiall when it judgeth between two , unto which of them it should incline : and therefore he that is abused to believe amisse of his king , and solicited to enter this way of resistence , is highly concerned first to consider , whether they also that are the main directors of it , and to whom he would adhere , to discharge their trust they are called to , i say such an one , unlesse he will resigne up his faith to men , and receive their , dictates as the immediate rule of his conscience , must consider whether all be just and honest that is done in that way ? whether to divest the king of the power of arms and to use them against him , be to defend his person , rights , and dignity ? whether the forcing of the subjects property , to the advancing of this resistence , and the imprisoning of their persons for deniall , be the maintaining of the right and liberty of the subject ? whether the suffering of so many sects to vent their doctrines with such liberty , and to commit unsufferable outrages upon the publike worship of god , with such licentiousnesse , be a defending of religion and the established worship of this church ? all these duties every subject respectively is bound to discharge , and the neglect of them his majesty has chiefly charged upon those that he conceives the chief directors and actours in this resistance made against him , and every man in conscience ought seriously to consider it the necessity of the commonwealth is pretended to defend the not-defending of the premises ; when as no necessity may excuse any failings on the kings part , as if his promises , by which he stands obliged to his subjects , did not suppose they for their parts also should perform : i know not how some particular men may be engaged and contract a necessity of resisting , or seeking safety by arms ; but i am perswaded , no man in conscience can think it a necessity of the commonwealth to have all confounded , or of a christian to run the hazard of damnation by resisting . my conscience tells me , and qwill theirs one day tell them , how much they have to answer for not improving that grace and willingnesse , they had experience of in his majesty , and might still have found in him , to the speedy and happy reformation of this church and state ▪ i pray god to give them consciences truly inlightned , and bowels truely compassionate , that they may speedily and feelingly be sensible of the miseries this land groanes under , and faithfully examine how far they are answerable for them , by rejecting such reasonable means of security , as they might have 〈◊〉 for the safety of this state . amen . and now if there be any one that will run the hazard of this resistence , i desire he would first set his conscience before the tribunall of god , where it must appear , and consider whether it will excuse him there , when he ha's shed the blood of others , and expended his own , to say , i verily supposed and believed my prince would change religion , overthrow our liberties . i must tell him it will not be safe for him to present such a conscience at that barre , a conscience that wanted the rule of faith to warrant and perswade the lawfulnesse of resistence upon such a supposall , a conscience that wanted the certainty of perswasion that the princes heart ( which god onely knows ) was so inclined , a conscience that wanted the judgement of charity , in concluding such intentions in the king , notwithstanding all his promises and deepest protestations made in the time of his trouble , without which charity all is nothing though he layes down ( as he thinks ) his life for religion . such a conscience i must needs conclude sinfull , and liable to that which the apostle threatens vnto resistence , damnation . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a41219e-270 1. cor. 13. psal. 82 , ps. 18. 35. notes for div a41219e-710 rom. 13. 2. 1 sam. 14. 2. chron. 26. k. iohn . eccles. 10. episcopacy (as established by law in england) not prejudicial to regal power a treatise written in the time of the long parliament, by the special command of the late king / and now published by ... robert sanderson ... sanderson, robert, 1587-1663. 1661 approx. 137 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 77 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a61839 wing s599 estc r1745 13173416 ocm 13173416 98327 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61839) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98327) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 777:19) episcopacy (as established by law in england) not prejudicial to regal power a treatise written in the time of the long parliament, by the special command of the late king / and now published by ... robert sanderson ... sanderson, robert, 1587-1663. [16], 136 p. printed by r. norton for timothy garthwait ..., london : 1661. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church and state -england. divine right of kings. episcopacy -early works to 1800. 2004-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-03 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion episcopacy ( as established by law in england ) not prejudicial to regal power . a treatise written in the time of the long parliament , by the special command of the late king . and now published by the right reverend father in god robert sanderson lord bishop of lincoln . london , printed by r. norton , for timothy garthwait in st. pauls church-yard , 1661. to the most high and mighty king charles the ii d , by the grace of god , king of great britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith , &c. most gracious and dread soveraign , that i take the boldness humbly to present this short discourse to your majesties sacred hand and piercing eye ; it is upon this one and onely account , that how mean soever the performance be , the undertaking was in obedience to the command of a most gracious master , your majesties royal father of blessed memory . the occasion this . when the army had gotten the king into their own custody out of the hands of those that had long holden him in durance at holdenby : to put a blind upon the world , they made a shew of much good towards him , which ( as soon after appeared ) they never meant him . amongst other the pompous civilities , wherewith ( the better to cloak their hypocrisie ) they entertained him ; it was their pleasure to vouchsafe him the attendance of some of his own chaplains : which , though it could merit little ( for such a kindness could not with justice have been denyed to a far meaner person ; ) was yet a boon his former goalers thought too big for him . in that summer progress ( such as it was ) four of us of his own naming , with the clerk of his closet , were suffered to wait upon him . in which time of waiting , ( which was in august mdcxlvii . ) his majesty , being then at hampton-court , one day called me to him , and told me he had a little work for me to do . some about him , it seems , had been often discoursing with him about episcopacy , as it was claimed and exercised by the bishops within this realm . which ( whether out of their good-will to him , or their no-good-will to the church , i am not able to say , ) they had endeavoured to represent unto him , as not a little derogatory to the regal authority , as well in the point of supremacy , as of prerogative : in the one , by claiming the function as of divine right ; in the other , by exercising the jurisdiction in their own names . his majesty said farther , that he did not believe the church-government by bishops as it was by law established in this realm , to be in either of the aforesaid respects , or any other way prejudicial to his crown ; and that he was in his own judgement fully satisfied concerning the same : yet signified his pleasure withal , that for the satisfaction of others i should take these two objections into consideration , and give him an answer thereunto in writing . in obedience to which his majesties royal pleasure , after my return home , i forthwith ( according to my bounden duty ) addressed my self to the work ; and was drawing up an answer to both the objections , as well as i was able ; with a purpose to present the same ( as soon as it should be finished ) to his majesty in writing , upon the first offered opportunity . but behold , before i could bring the business ad umbilicum , and quite finish what was under my hand , the scene of affairs was strangely changed . the king trepann'd into the isle of wight ; the mask of hypocrisie , by long wearing now grown so thin and useless , that it was fit for nothing but to be thrown by ; no kind of impiety and villany , but durst appear bare-faced and in the open sun ; high insolencies to the contempt of authority every where committed ; majesty it self trampled upon by the vilest of the people ; and the hearts of all loyal honest men sadly oppressed with griefs and fears . yet had the men who steered the publick as they listed , ( that they might give themselves the more recreation , amuse the world anew , and grace the black tragedy they were acting with the more variety , ) a mind to play one game more the next year ; to wit , the treaty at the aforesaid isle of wight . where , assoon as i understood , that by his majestie 's nomination , i was to give my attendance ; i looked out the old papers which i had laid aside a good while before ; made up what was then left unfinished , and took the copy with me to the isle ; thinking that when the treaty should be ended ( for whilest it lasted his majesty was taken up with other thoughts and debates of higher concern ) i might possibly have the opportunity to give his majesty an account thereof . what became of that treaty , and what after ensued , is so well known to the world , that there is no need , and withal so sad , that it can be no pleasure , to remember . but thenceforward were those papers laid aside once again , and destined to perpetual silence , had not a debate lately started , concerning one of the principal points therein handled , occasioned some persons of eminent place and esteem in the church ( and one of them conscious to the aforesaid command laid upon me by the late king , ) to desire a sight of those papers . which being by their encouragement now made publick ( though having little other to commend them , either to the world but truth and plainness , or to your majesty but that they had their first rise from his command whose throne and vertues you inherit ; ) i humbly beseech your majesty graciously to accept ; together with the prayers of your majesties most loyal subject and devoted servant robert lincoln . london , august 10. mdclxi . by the king . a proclamation , declaring that the proceedings of his majesties ecclesiastical courts and ministers , are according to the lawes of the realm . whereas in some of the libellous books and pamphlets lately published , the most reverend fathers in god , the lords arch-bishops and bishops of this realm , are said to have usurped upon his majesties prerogative royal , and to have proceeded in the high commission and other ecclesiastical courts , contrary to the laws and statutes of this realm ; it was ordered by his majesties high court of star-chamber , the twelfth day of june last , that the opinion of the two lords chief iustices , the lord chief baron , and the rest of the judges and barons should be had and certified in those particulars , viz. whether processes may not issue out of the ecclesiastical courts in the name of the bishops . whether a patent under the great seal be necessary for the keeping of the ecclesiastical courts , and enabling citations , suspensions , excommunications , and other censures of the church . and whether citations ought to be in the kings name , and under his seal of arms , and the like for institutions and inductions to benefices , and correction of ecclesiastical offences . whether bishops , arch-deacons and other ecclesiastical persons may or ought to keep any visitation at any time unless they have express commission or patent under the great seal of england to do it , and that as his majesties uisitors only , and in his name and right alone . whereupon , his majesties said iudges having taken the same into their serious consideration , did unanimously concur and agree in opinion , and the first day of july last certified under their hands as followeth , that processes may issue out of the ecclesiastical courts in the name of the bishops ; and that a patent under the great seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said ecclesiastical courts , or for enabling of citations , suspensions , excommunications and other censures of the church ; and that it is not necessary that summons , citations , or other processes ecclesiastical in the said courts , or institutions , or inductions to benefices , or correction of ecclesiastical offences by censure in those courts , be in the kings name or with the style of the king , or under the kings seal , or that their seals of office have in them the kings arms ; and that the statute of primo edvardi sexti , cap. secundo , which enacted the contrary , is not now in force : and that the bishops , arch-deacons and other ecclesiastical persons , may keep their uisitations as usually they have done , without commission under the great seal of england so to do : which opinions and resolutions being declared under the hands of all his majesties said iudges , and so certified into his court of star-chamber , were there recorded : and it was by that court further ordered the fourth day of the said moneth of july , that the said certificate should be inrolled in all other his majesties courts at westminster , and in the high commission , and other ecclesiastical courts , for the satisfaction of all men , that the proceedings in the high commission and other ecclesiastical courts are agreeable to the laws and statutes of the realm . and his royal majesty hath thought sit , with advice of his councel , that a publick declaration of these the opinions and resolutions of his reverend and learned iudges , being agreeable to the iudgement and resolutions of former times , should be made known to all his subjects , as well to vindicate the legal proceedings of his ecclesiastical courts and ministers , from the unjust and scandalous imputation of invading or entrenching on his royal prerogative , as to settle the minds and stop the mouths of all unquiet spirits , that for the future they presume not to censure his ecclesiastical courts or ministers in these their iust and warranted proceedings : and hereof his majesty admonisheth all his subjects to take warning as they shall answer the contrary at their perils . given at the court at lyndhurst the 18. day of august , in the 13. year of his majesties raign . god save the king. imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent majesty , and by the assignes of iohn bill , 1637. primo julii 1637. the iudges certificate concerning ecclesiastical iurisdiction . may it please your lordships , according to your lordships order made in his majesties court of star-chamber the twelfth of may last , we have taken consideration of the particulars , wherein our opinions are required by the said order , and we have all agreed , that processes may issue out of the ecclesiastical courts in the name of bishops , and that a patent under the great seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said ecclesiastical courts , or for the enabling of citations , suspensions , excommunications or other censures of the church . and that it is not necessary that summons , citations , or other processes ecclesiastical in the said courts , or institutions , or inductions to benefices , or correction of ecclesiastical offences by censure in those courts , be in the kings name , or with the style of the king , or under the kings seal , or that their seals of office have in them the kings arms. and that the statute of primo edvardi sexti cap. 2. which enacted the contrary , is not now in force . we are also of opinion , that the bishops , archdeacons and other ecclesiastical persons may keep their visitations as usually they have done without commission under the great seal of england so to do . io. bramstone . io. finch . humfrey davenport . will. iones . io. dinham . richard hutton . george croke . tho. trevor . george vernon . ro. berkley . fr. crawley . ric. weston . inrolled in the courts of exchequer , kings bench , common pleas , and registred in the courts of high commission and star-chamber . episcopacy not prejudicial to regal power . sect . i. the two great objections proposed . i. he that shall take the pains to inform himself rightly , what power the kings of england have from time to time claimed and exercised in causes and over persons ecclesiastical ; as also by whom , how , and how far forth their said power hath been from time to time either opposed , or maintained : shall undoubtedly find that no persons in the world have more freely acknowledged , and both by their writings and actions more zealously , judiciously and effectually asserted the soveraign ecclesiastical power of kings , then the protestant bishops and divines ( whom our new masters have been pleased of late to call the prelatical party ) in the church of england have done . yet so far hath prejudice ( or something else ) prevailed with some persons of quality in these times of so much loosness and distraction ; as to suffer themselves to be led into a belief , or at leastwise to be willing the people should be deceived into the belief of these two things . first , that the opinion which maintaineth the ius divinum of episcopacy is destructive of the regal power . and secondly , that episcopal iurisdiction , as it was exercised before and at the beginning of this present parliament , was derogatory from the honour of the king , and prejudicial to the just rights and prerogatives of his crown ii. truely , they that know any thing of the practises and proceedings of the anti-prelatical party , cannot be ignorant , that their aims ( these or whatsoever other pretensions notwithstanding ) are clearly to enlarge their own power by lessening the kings , and to raise their own estates upon the ruines of the bishops . and therefore howsoever the aforesaid pretensions may seem at the first appearance to proceed from a sense of loyalty , and a tenderness of suffering any thing to be continued in the kingdom which might tend to the least diminution of his majesties just power & greatness . yet , ( till their actions look otherwise then for some time past they have done ) the pretenders must give us leave to think that their meaning therein is rather to do the bishops hurt , then to do the king service ; and that their affections ( so far as by what is visible we are able to judge thereof ) are much what alike the same towards them both . but to leave their hearts to the judgement of him to whom they must stand or fall : for the just defence of truth , and that ( so far as we can help it ) the people be not abused in this particular also , as in sundry others they have been , by such men , as are content to use the kings name when it may help on their own designs ; i shall first set forth the two main objections severally to the best advantage of the objectors ; and then endeavour by a clear and satisfactory answer to discover the weakness and vanity of them both . iii. the former objection . whereas in the oath of supremacy the supreme power ecclesistical is acknowledged to be in the king alone ; and by the statute of 1. eliz. all jurisdictions and preeminencies spiritual and ecclesiastical within the realm of england are restored to the crown as the ancient right thereof , and forever united and annexed thereunto : the bishops claiming their power and jurisdiction to belong unto them as of divine right , seemeth to be a manifest violation of the said oath and statute , and a real diminution of the regal power in and by the said oath and statute acknowledged and confirmed . for whatsoever power is of divine right , is immediatly derived from god , and dependeth not upon any earthly king or potentate whatsoever as superiour thereunto . these two tearms , to be from heaven , and to be of men , being used in the scriptures as terms opposite and inconsistent , and such as cannot be both truly affirmed of the same thing . iv. the latter objection . setting aside the dispute of jus divinum , and whatsoever might be said either for or against the same : the very exercising of episcopal jurisdiction in such a manner as it was with us , the bishops issuing out their summens , giving censures , and acting every other thing in the ecclesiastical courts , in their own and not in the kings name , seemeth to derogate very much from the regal power in the point of ecclesiastical soveraignty . for whereas the judges in the kings bench , common plees , and other common-law-courts do issue out their writts , and make all their iudgments , orders , decrees , &c. in the kings name ; thereby acknowledging both their power to be depending upon , and derived from the kings authority , and themselves in the exercise of that power to be but his ministers sent and authorzied by him ; and so give him the just honour of his supremacy temporal : the bishops on the other side exercise a spiritual power or jurisdiction in their own names , and as it were by their own authority , without any the least acknowledgment of the effluxe or emanation of that power or jurisdiction from the king. which custome as it had undoubtedly its first rise , and after-growth from the exorbitant greatness of the bishops of rome , who have usurped an unjust authority as well over kings and princes , as over their fellow-bishops , laboured all they could to lessen the authority of kings , especially in matters ecclesiastical : so is the continuance thereof no otherwise to be esteemed then as a rag or relique of that anti-christian tyranny , which was retained ( as some other things also of evil consequence were ) in those imperfect beginnings of reformation , when the popes power was first abrogated under king henry the eighth . but it was afterwards in a more mature and perfect reformation taken in to consideration in the raign of king edward the sixth : and remedy provided there-against by an act of parliament made in the first year of his raign . wherein it was enacted , that all summons , citations , and other processes ecclesiastical should be made in the kings name and with the style of the king , as it is in writts original and judicial at the common laws ; and that the teste thereof only should be in the name of the bishop . v. it is true indeed that this statute of king edward was within a few years after repealed , and so the old usage and form again restored primo mariae , and hath ever since so continued during the raigns of the said queen , of queen elizabeth , of k. iames , and of his majesty that now is until this present parliament , without any alteration or interruption . but the repealing of the statute of primo edw. 6. and the reception of the former usage insuing thereupon , ought not to be alleaged by the bishops , or to sway with any protestant : inasmuch as that repeal was made by queen mary , who was a professed papist , and who together with that form of proceeding in the ecclesiastical courts restored also the whole popish religion , whereof that was a branch . neither ought the un-interrupted continuance of the said form under queen elizabeth and the succeeding kings , ( whether it happened through inadvertency in the state , or through the incessant artifices and practises of the more active bishops , some or other whereof had alwayes a prevalent power with those princes in their several raigns ) to hinder ; but that , as the said manner of proceeding was in the said first year of edward 6. by the king and the three estates in parliament adjudged to favour the usurped power of the bishops of rome , and to trench upon the kings just and acknowledged authority in matters ecclesiastical ( as by the preamble of the said act doth sufficiently appear ; ) so it ought to be still no otherwise esteemed then as a branch of the papal usurpation , highly derogatory to the honour of the king , and the rights of his crown . this is ( as i conceive ) the sum of all that hath been , and the utmost of what ( i suppose ) can be said in this matter . the ii. section in answer to the former objection . i. whereunto i make answer as followeth . to the former objection , i say first , that it is evidently of no force at all against those divines , who for the maintenance of episcopacy lay their claim under another notion , and not under that of ius divinum . which expression , for that it is ( by reason of the ambiguity thereof ) subject to be mistaken , and that captious men are so willing to mistake it for their own advantage ; might peradventure without loss of truth , or prejudice to the cause , b● with as much prudence laid aside a● used , as in this , so in sundry other disputes and controversies of these times . ii. if it shall be replyed , that then belike the proctors for episcopacy are not yet well agreed among themselves by what title they hold : and that is a shrewd prejudice against them , that they have no good title . for it is ever supposed he that hath a good title , knoweth what it is : and we are to presume the power to be usurped , when he that useth it cannot well tell how he came by it . i say therefore secondly , that the difference between the advocates for episcopacy is rather in the different manner of expressing the same thing , then in their different judgement upon the substance of the matter . the one sort making choise of an expression which he knoweth he is able to make good against all gainsayers , if they will but understand him aright : the other out of wariness or condescension forbearing an expression , ( no necessity requiring the use of it , ) which he seeth to have been subject to so much mis-construction . iii. for the truth is , all this ado about ius divinum is in the last result no more then a meer verbal nicety : that term being not alwayes taken in one and the same latitude of signification . sometimes it importeth a divine precept ( which is indeed the primary and most proper signification : ) when it appeareth by some clear express and peremptory command of god in his word , to be the will of god that the thing so commanded should be perpetually and universally observed . of which sort , setting aside the articles of the creed , and the moral duties of the law ( which are not much pertinent to the present enquiry ) there are , as i take it , very few things that can be properly said to be of divine positive right under the new testament . the preaching of the gospel , and administration of the sacraments are two : which when i have named , i think i have named all . iv. but there is a secondary and more extended signification of that term , which is also of frequent use among divines . in which sense such things , as having no express command in the word , are yet found to have authority and warrant from the institution , example , or approbation either of christ himself , or his apostles ; and have ( in regard of the importance and usefulness of the things themselves ) been held , by the consentient judgement of all the churches of christ in the primitive and succeeding ages , needful to be continued : such things i say are ( though not so properly as the former , yet ) usually and interpretativè said to be of divine right . of which sort i take the observation of the lords day , the ordering of the keys , the distinction of presbyters and deacons , and some other things ( not all perhaps of equal consequence ) to be . unto ius divinum in that former acception is required a divine precept : in this later , it sufficeth thereunto that a thing be of apostolical institution or practice . which ambiguity is the more to be heeded , for that the observation thereof is of great use for the avoyding of sundry mistakes that through the ignorance or neglect thereof daily happen to the engaging of men in endless disputes , and entangling their consciences in unnecessary scruples . v. now , that the government of the churches of christ by bishops is of divine right in that first and stricter sence , is an opinion at least of great probability , and such as may more easily and upon better grounds be defended then confuted : especially if in expounding those texts that are alleaged for it we give such deference to the authority of the ancient fathers and their expositions thereof , as wise and sober men have alwayes thought it fit we should do . yet because it is both inexpedient to maintain a dispute where it needs not , and needless to contend for more , where less will serve the turne : i finde that our divines that have travailed most in this argument , where they purposely treat of it , do rather chuse to stand to the tenure of episcopacy ex apostolicâ designatione , then to hold a contest upon the title of jus divinum , no necessity requiring the same to be done . they therefore that so speak of this government as established by divine right , are not all of them necessarily so to be understood , as if they meant it in that first and stricter sense . sufficient it is for the justification of the church of england in the constitution and government thereof , that it is ( as certainly it is ) of divine right in the latter and larger signification : that is to say , of apostolical institution and approbation ; exercised by the apostles themselves , and by other persons in their times , appointed and enabled thereunto by them , according to the will of our lord iesus christ , and by vertue of the commission they had received from him . vi. which besides that it is clear from evident texts of scripture , and from the testimony of as ancient and authentique records as the world hath any to shew for the attesting of any other part of ecclesiastical story ; it is also in truth a part of the established doctrine of the church of england : evidently deduced out of sundry passages in the booke of consecration , ( which book is approved in the articles of our religion art. 36. confirmed by act of parliament , and subscribed unto by all persons that have heretofore taken orders in the church , or degrees in the university ; ) and hath been constantly and uniformly maintained by our best writers , and by all the sober , orderly and orthodoxe sons of this church . the point hath been so abundantly proved by sundry learned men , and cleared from the exceptions of novellists ; that more need not be said for the satisfaction of any intelligent man that will but first take the pains to read the books , and then suffer himself to be master of his own reason . vii . only i could wish , that they who plead so eagerly for the jus divinum of the lords day , & yet reject ( not without some scorn ) the jus divinum of episcopacy , would ask their own hearts ( dealing impartially therein ) whether it be any apparent difference in the nature of the things themselves , or in the strength of those reasons that have been brought for either , that leadeth them to have such different judgments thereof ; or rather some prejudicate conceit of their own ; which having formerly fancied to themselves even as they stood affected to parties , the same affections still abiding , they cannot easily lay aside . which partiality ( for i am loath to call it perversness ) of spirit , is by so much the more inexcusable in this particular ; by how much episcopal government seemeth to be grounded upon scripture-texts of greater pregnancy and clearness , and attested by a fuller consent of antiquity to have been uniformly and universally observed throughout the whole christian world , then the lords day hath hitherto been shewen to be . viii . but should it be granted that all the defenders of episcopacy did indeed hold it to be jure divino in the strictest and most proper sence ; yet could not the objectors thence reasonably conclude , that it should be eo nomine inconsistent with the regal power , or so much as derogatory in the least degree to that supream power ecclesiastical , which by the laws of our land is established , and by the doctrine of our church acknowledged to be inherent in the crown . as themselves may easily see , if they will but consider . ix . first , that regal and episcopal power are two powers of quite different kinds : and such as considered purely in those things that are proper and essential to either , have no mutual relation unto , or dependence upon , the one the other ; neither hath either of them any thing to do with the other . the one of them being purely spiritual and internal , the other external and temporal : albeit in regard of the persons that are to exercise them , or some accidental circumstances appertaining to the exercise thereof , it may happen the one to be somewayes helpful or prejudicial to the other ; yet is there no necessity at all that the very powers themselves in respect of their own natures should be ( at that distance ) either of them so destructive of other , but that they might consist well enough together . yea although either of them or both should claime ( as indeed they both may do ) to be of divine right independently upon the other . let any man come up to the point , and shew if he can , how and wherein the episcopal power is any thing at all diminished by affirming the regal to be of divine right ; or how and wherein the regal power is at all prejudiced , by affirming the episcopal to be of divine right . the opposition between those two terms , to be from heaven and to be of men , which was objected , cometh not home enough : unless we should affirm them both of one and the same power in the same respect . which since we do not ; that opposition hindereth not , but that the same power may be said to be of both in divers respects , viz. to be from heaven , or of god , in respect of the substance of the thing in the general ; and yet to be of men in respect of the determination of sundry particularities requisite unto the lawful and laudable exercise thereof . x. secondly , that the derivation of any power from god doth not necessarily infer the non-subjection of the persons in whom that power resideth to all other men . for doubtless the power that fathers have over their children , husbands over their wives , masters over their servants , is from heaven , of god and not of men. yet are parents , husbands , masters in the exercises of their several respective powers subject to the power , jurisdiction and laws of their lawful soveraigns . and i suppose it would be a very hard matter for any man to find out a clear and satisfactory reason of difference between the ecclesiastical power and the oeconomical ; why the one , because it claimeth to be of divine right should be therefore thought to be injurious to regal power , and the other ( though claiming in the same manner ) not to be injurious . xi . thirdly , the ministerial power , in that which is common to bishops with their fellow-presbyters , viz. the preaching of the vvord and administration of the sacraments , &c. is confessed to be from heaven and of god ; and yet no prejudice at all conceived to be done thereby to the regal power : because the ministers who exercise that power are the kings subjects , and are also in the executing of those very acts that are proper to their ministerial functions to be limited and ordered by the kings ecclesiastical lawes . a man might therefore justly wonder , ( but that it is no new thing to find in the bag of such merchants , as we have now to deal with , pondus & pondus , ) how it should come to pass that the episcopal power , in that which is peculiar to bishops above other their brethren in the ministery , viz. the ordaining of priests and deacons and the managing of the keyes , cannot be said to be of god , but it must be forthwith condemned to be highly derogatory to the regal power : notwithstanding the bishops acknowledge themselves as freely as any others whosoever , to be the kings subjects , and submit themselves , with as much willingness ( i dare say , and some presbyterians know i speak but the truth ) as the meanest of their fellow-ministers do , to be limited in exercising the proper acts of their episcopal functions by such lawes as have been by regal power established in this realm . the king doth no more challenge to himselfe as belonging to him by vertue of his supremacy ecclesiastical , the power of ordaining ministers , excommunicating scandalous offenders , or doing any other act of episcopal office in his own person ; then he doth the power of preaching , administring the sacraments , or doing any other act of ministerial office in his own person : but leaveth the performance of all such acts of either sort unto such persons , as the said several respective powers do of divine right belong unto ; viz. of the one sort to the bishops , and of the other to all preists . yet doth the king by virtue of that supremacy , challenge a power as belonging unto him in the right of his crown , to make laws as well concerning preaching , administring the sacraments , and other acts belonging to the function of a priest , as concerning ordination of ministers , proceedings in matters of ecclesiastical cognisance in the spiritual courts , and other acts belonging to the function of a bishop . to which lawes , as well the priests as the bishops , are subject , and ought to submit to be limited and regulated thereby in the exercise of those their several respective powers ; their claim to a ius divinum , and that their said several powers are of god , notwithstanding . i demand then : as to the regal power , is not the case of the bishops and of the ministers every way alike ? do they not both pretend their powers to be of god ? and are they not yet for all that both bound in the exercise of those powers to obey the king and his laws ? is there not clearly the same reason of both ? how then cometh it to pass , that these are pronounced innocent , and those guilty ? can any think god will wink at such foul partiality ? or account them pure with the bag of deceitful weights ? xii . fourthly , that there can be no fear of any danger to arise to the prejudice of the regal power from the opinion that bishops are jure divino , unless that opinion should be stretched to one of these two constructions : viz. as if it were intended either 1. that all the power which bishops have legally exercised in christian kingdomes did belong to them as of divine right ; or 2. that bishops living under christian kings , might at least exercise so much of their power as is of divine right after their own pleasure , without , or even against the kings leave , or without respect to the laws and customes of the realm . neither of which is any part of our meaning . all power , to the exercise whereof our bishops have pretended , cometh under one of the two heads : of order , or of iurisdiction . the power of order consisteth partly in preaching the word and other offices of publique vvorship ; common to them with their fellow-ministers ; partly in ordaining preists and deacons admitting them to their particular cures , and other things of like nature , peculiar to them alone . the power of iurisdiction is either internal in retaining and remitting sins in foro conscientiae , common to them also ( for the substance of the authority , though with some difference of degree , ) with other ministers : or external for the outward government of the church in some parts thereof peculiar to them alone . for that external power is either directive in prescribing rules and orders to those under their jurisdictions , and making canons and constitutions to be observed by the church ; wherein the inferior clergy by their representatives in convocation have their votes as well as the bishops ; and both dependently upon the king ( for they cannot either meet without his vvrit , or treat without his commission , or establish without his royal assent : ) or iudiciary and coercive , in giving sentence in foro exteriori in matters of ecclesiastical cognisance , excommunicating , fining , imprisoning offenders , and the like . of these powers some branches , not onely in the exercise thereof , but even in the very substance of the power it selfe , ( as namely that of external jurisdiction coercive , ) are by the laws declared , and by the clergy acknowledged to be wholly and entirely derived from the king , as the sole fountain of all authority of external iurisdiction whether spiritual or temporal within the realm ; and consequently not of divine right . other-some , although the substance of the power it self be immediately from god and not from the king , as those of preaching , ordaining , absolving &c. yet are they so subject to be inhibited , limited , or otherwise regulated in the outward exercise of that power by the laws and customes of the land , as that the whole execution thereof still dependeth upon the regal authority . and how can the gross of that power be prejudicial to the king or his supremacy , whereof all the parts are confessed either to be derived from him , or not to be executed without him ? xiii . fifthly , that if episcopacy must be therefore concluded to be repugnant to monarchy , because it claimeth to be of divine right : then must monarchs either suffer within their dominions no form of church-government at all ( and then will church , and with it religion , soon fall to the ground ; ) or else they must devise some new model of government , such as never was yet used or challenged in any part of the christian world ; since no form of government ever yet used , or challenged , but hath claimed to a ius divinum as well as episcopacy : yea , i may say truly , every one of them with far more noise , though with far less reason then episcopacy hath done . and therefore of what party soever the objectors are , ( papists , presbyterians , or independents ) they shew themselves extreamly partial against the honest regular protestant ; in condemning him as an enemy to regal power for holding that in his way , which ( if it be justly chargeable with such a crime , ) themselves holding the very same in their several wayes , are every whit as deeply guilty of , as he . xiiii . lastly , that this their partiality is by so much the more inexcusable , by how much the true english protestant for his government not onely hath a better title to a ius divinum then any of the other three have for theirs ; but also pleadeth the same with more caution and modesty , then any of them do . which of the four pretenders hath the best title , is no part of the business we are now about . the tryal of that will rest upon the strength of the arguments that are brought to maintain it : wherein the presbyterians perhaps will not find any very great advantage beyond the rest of those that contest for it . but let the right be where it will be ; we will for the present suppose them all to have equal title ( and thus far indeed they are equal , that every one taketh his own to be best : ) and it shall suffice to shew , that the ius divinum is pleaded by the episcopal party with more calmeness and moderation , and with less derogation from regal dignity , then by any other of the three . xv. for first , the rest when they spake of ius divinum in reference to their several waves of church-government , take it in the highest elevation , in the first and strictest sense . the papist groundeth the popes oecumenical supremacy upon christs command , to peter to execute it , and to all the flock of christ ( princes also as well as others ) to submit to him as their universal pastor the presbyterian cryeth up his model of government and discipline , ( though minted in the last by-gon century , ) as the very scepter of christs kingdome , whereunto all kings are bound to submit theirs ; making it as unalterable and inevitably necessary to the being of a church , as the word and sacraments are . the independent separatist also , upon that grand principle of puritanisme common to him with the presbyterian ( the very root of almost all the sects in the world ) viz that nothing is to be ordered in church-matters , other , or otherwise then christ hath appointed in his word ; holdeth that any company of people gathered together by mutual consent in a church-way is iure divino free and absolute within it self , to govern it self by such rules as it shall judge agreeable to gods word , without dependence upon any but christ iesus alone , or subjection to any prince , prelate , or other humane person or consistory whatsoever . all these you see do not onely claim to a ius divinum , and that of a very high nature ; but in setting down their opinions weave in some expresses tending to the diminution of the ecclesiastical supremacy of princes . whereas the episcopal party , neither meddle with the power of princes , nor are ordinarily very forward to press the ius divinum , but rather purposely decline the mentioning of it , as a term subject to misconstruction ( as hath been said ) or else so interpret it , as not of necessity to import any more then an apostolical institution . yet the apostles authority in that institution , being warranted by the example , and ( as they doubt not ) the direction of their master iesus christ , they worthily esteem to be so reverend and obligatory ; as that they would not for a world have any hand in , or willingly and deliberately contribute the least assistance towards ( much less bind themselves by solemn league and covenant to endeavour ) the extirpation of that government ; but rather on the contrary hold themselves in their consciences obliged , to the uttermost of their powers to endeavour the preservation and continuance thereof in these churches , and do heartily wish the restitution and establishment of the same , wheresoever it is not , or wheresoever it hath been heretofore ( under any whatsoever pretence ) unhappily laid aside , or abolished . xvi . secondly , the rest ( not by remote inferences , but ) by immediate and natural deduction out of their own acknowledged principles , do some way or other deny the kings supremacy in matters ecclesiastical : either claiming a power of iurisdiction over him , or pleading a priviledge of exemption from under him . the papists do it both wayes ; in their several doctrines of the popes supremacy , and of the exemption of the clergy . the puritances of both sorts , who think they have sufficiently confuted every thing they have a mind to mislike , if they have once pronounced it popish and antichristian , do yet herein ( as in very many other things , and some of them of the most dangerous consequence ) symbolize with the papists , and after a sort divide that branch of antichristianisme wholly between them : the presbyterians claiming to their consistories as full and absolute spiritual iurisdiction over princes , ( with power even to excommunicate them , if they shall see cause for it , ) as the papists challenge to belong to the pope : and the independents exempting their congregations from all spiritual subjection to them , in as ample manner , as the papists do their clergy . whereas the english protestant bishops and regular clergy , as becometh good christians and good subjects , do neither pretend to any iurisdiction over the kings of england , nor withdraw their subjection from them : but acknowledge them to have soveraign power over them , as well as over their other subjects ; and that in all matters ecclesiastical as well as temporal . by all which it is clear , that the ius divinum of episcopacy , as it is maintained by those they call ( stylo novo ) the prelatical party in england , is not an opinion of so dangerous a nature , nor so derogatory to the regal powers , as the adversaries thereof would make the world believe it is : but that rather , of all the forms of church-government that ever yet were endeavoured to be brought into the churches of christ , it is the most innocent in that behalf . the iii. section in answer to the later objection . 1. having thus cleared the opinion held concerning episcopacy in the church of england from the crime unjustly charged upon it by the adversaries , ( but whereof in truth themselves are deeply guilty ) in their former objection : our next business will be the easier , to justifie it in the practise also from the like charge laid against it in the later objection , by shewing that the iurisdiction exercised by the bishops within this realm , ( and namely in that particular which the objectors urge with most vehemency , of acting so many things in their own names , ) is no way derogatory to the kings majesties power or honour . wherein it were enough for the satisfaction of every understanding man , without descending to any farther particularities , to shew the impertinency of the objectors from these two general considerations . ii. first that the bishops have exercised no iurisdiction in foro externo within this realm , but such as hath been granted unto them by the successive kings of england ; neither have challenged any such iurisdiction to belong unto them by any inherent right or title in their persons or callings , but onely by emanation and derivation from the royal authority . the very words of the statute primo . edw. 6. in the objection mentioned run thus , seeing that all authority of jurisdiction spiritual and temporal is derived and deducted from the kings majesty as supream head — and so justly acknowledged by the clergy of the said realms , and that all courts ecclesiastical be kept by no other power or authority either forraign or within the realms , but by the authority of his most excellent majesty &c. now the regular exercise of a derived power is so far from destroying , or any way diminishing that original power from whence it is derived , as that it rather confirmeth and establisheth the same . yea , the further such derived power is extended and enlarged in the exercise thereof , so as it be regular , ( that is , so long as it containeth it self within the bounds of its grant , and exceedeth not the limits prefixed thereunto by that original power that granted it ) the more it serveth to set forth the honour and greatness of that original power ; since the vertue of the efficient cause is best known by the greatness of the effect : for propter quod unumquodque est tale , illud ipsum est magis tale . as the warmth of the room doth not lessen the heat of the fire upon the hearth , but is rather a signe of the greatness of that heat : nor doth the abundance of sap in the branches cause any abatement in the root , but is rather an evident demonstration of the greater plenty there . iii. secondly , that it is one of the greatest follies in the world , to endeavour in good earnest to maintain any thing by argument when we have the evidence of sence or experience to the contrary . for what is it cum ratione insanire , if this be not ? to deny fire to be hot , or water to be moist , or snow to be white ; when our sences enform us they are such ? or to prove by argument that life may be perpetuated by the help of art and good dyet , or that infants are capable of faith or instruction by ordinary means ; when experience sheweth the contrary . now the experience of above fourscore years , ever since the beginning of queen elizabeths raign , doth make it most evident , that the exercise of episcopal iurisdiction by the protestant bishops here , was so far from diminishing the power , or eclipsing the glory of the crown , that the kings and queens of england never enjoyed their royal power in a fuller measure , or flourished with greater lustre , honour and prosperity , then when the bishops ( by their favour ) enjoyed the full liberty of their courts , jurisdictions , honours and priviledges according to ancient grants of former kings and the lawes and customes of england . on the other side ; in what condition of power and honour ( otherwise then in the hearts of his oppressed subjects ) our most pious and gracious soveraign that now is hath stood , and at this present standeth , through the prevalency of the smectymnuan faction ; ever since they had the opportunity and forehead from lopping off ( as was at first pretended ) some luxuriant superfluities ( as they at least imagined them to be ) in the branches of episcopal jurisdiction ( as high commission , oath ex officio , &c. ) to proceed to take away episcopacy it self root and branch : it were a happy thing for us , if the lamentable experience of these late times would suffer us to be ignorant . so as we now look upon that short aphorisme so usual with his majesties royal father [ no bishop , no king ] not as a sentence onely full of present truth when it was uttered ; but rather as a sad prophecy of future events , since come to pass . the miseries of these wasting divisions both in the church and common-wealth we cannot with any reason hope to see an end of , until it shall please almighty god in his infinite mercy to a sinful nation , to restore them both ( king and bishops ) to their antient , just and rightful power : and in order thereunto graciously to hear the weak prayers of a small oppressed party , ( yet coming from loyal hearts , and going not out of feigned lips ) beyond the loud crying perjuries , sacriledges , and oppressions of those that now exercise an arbitrary soveraignty over their fellow subjects without either iustice or mercy , together with the abominable hypocrisie and disloyalty that hath so long raigned in them and their adherents . iv. those two general considerations , although they might ( as i said ) suffice to take away the force of the objection , without troubling our selves , or the reader with any farther answer thereunto : yet that the objectors may not have the least occasion given them to quarrel the proceedings , as if we did purposely decline a just tryal , we shall come up a little closer , and examine more particularly every material point , in the order as they lye in the objection aforesaid . and the points are three . 1. that the manner used by the bishops , in sending out their summons , &c. in their own names , is contrary to the form and order of other courts . 2. that such forms of process seem to have at first proceeded from the usurped power of the bishops of rome , who laboured by all possible means to bring down the regal power , and set up their own . 3. that upon these very grounds the custome was altered by act of parliament , and a statute made 1. ewd. vi. ( howsoever since repealed and discontinued , ) that all processes ecclesiastical should be made in the kings name , and not in the bishops . v. as to the first point , true it is that the manner used by the bishops in the ecclesiastical courts , ( viz. in issuing out summons , citations , processes , giving iudgments &c. in their own names , and not in the kings , ) is different from the manner used in the kings bench , exchequer , chancery , and sundry other courts . but that difference neither doth of necessity import an independency of the ecclesiastical courts upon the king , nor did in all probability arise at the beginning from the opinion of any such independency ; nor ought in reason to be construed as a disacknowledgement of the kings authority and supremacy ecclesiastical . for vi. first there is between such courts as are the kings own immediate courts , and such courts as are not , a great difference in this point . of the former sort are especially the kings bench and chancery : as also the court of common pleas , exchequer , iustices of goal-delivery &c. in the kings bench the kings themselves in former times have often personally sate ; whence it came to have the name of the kings bench ; neither was it tyed to any particular place , but followed the kings person . at this day also all writs returnable there run in this style , coram nobis , and not ( as in some other courts ) coram iustitiariis nostris or the like : and all judicial records there are styled , and the pleas there holden entred , coram rege , and not coram iustitiariis domini regis . appeals also are made from inferiour iudges in other courts to the king in chancery ; because in the construction of the lawes the kings personal power and presence is supposed to be there : and therefore sub-poena's granted out of that court , and all matters of record passed there run in the same style coram rege &c. forasmuch as in the iudges in these two courts there is a more immediate representation of the kings personal power and presence , then in the iudges of those other courts of common pleas , exchequer , &c. which yet by reason of his immediate virtual power and presence are the kings immediate courts too . in regard of which his immediate virtual power , although the style of the writs and records there be not coram nobis , coram rege , as in the former , but onely coram iustitiariis , coram baronibus nostris , &c. yet inasmuch as the iudges in those courts are the kings immediate sworn ministers to execute justice , and to do equal right to all the kings people in his name , therefore all processes , pleas , acts and iudgements are made and done in those courts , as well as in the two former , in the kings name . but in such courts as do not suppose any such immediate representation or presence of the kings either personal or virtual power , as that thereby they may be holden and taken to be the kings own immediate courts , the case is far otherwise . for neither are the iudges in those courts sworn the kings iudges , to administer justice and do right to the kings subjects in his name and stead : nor do they take upon them the authority , to cite any person , or to give any sentence , or to do any act of jurisdiction in the kings name ; having never been by him authorized so to do . of this sort are amongst others ( best known to them that are skilled in the laws of this realm ) all courts-baron held by the lord of a manner , customary courts of copyholders , &c and such courts as are held by the kings grant , by charter to some corporation , as to a city , borough , or vniversity ; or els by long usage and prescription of time . in all which courts , and if there be any other of like nature , summons are issued out , and iudgements given , and all other acts and proceedings made and done in the name of such persons as have chief authority in the said courts , and not in the name of the king : so as the styles run thus , a. b. major civitatis ebor. n. m. cancellarius vniversitatis oxon. and the like ; and not carolus dei gratia , &c. vii . upon this ground it is that our lawyers tell us out of bracton , that in case of bastardy to be certified by the bishop , no inferiour court , as london , yorke , norwich , or any other incorporation can write to the bishop to require him to certify : but any of the kings courts at westminister ( as common pleas , kings bench &c. ) may write to him to certify in that case . the reason is , because nullus alius praeter regem potest episcopo demandare inquisitionem faciendam . which maketh it plain that the kings immediate powe ( either personal , or virtual ) is by the law supposed to be present in courts of the one sort , not of the other : the one sort being his own immediate courts , and the other not . viii . now that the ecclesiastical courts wherein the bishops exercise their jurisdiction , are of the latter sort , i doubt not but our law-books will afford plenty of arguments to prove it , beyond all possibility of contradiction or cavil . which being little versed in those studies i leave for them to find out who have leisure to search the books , and do better understand the nature , constitution , differences and bounds of the several courts within this realm . one argument there is , very obvious to every understanding , ( which because i shall have fit occasion a little after to declare , i will not now any longer insist upon , ) taken from the nature of the iurisdiction of these courts so far distant from the iurisdiction appertaining to those other courts , that these are notoriously separated and in common and vulgar speach distinguished from all other by the peculiar name and appellation of the spiritual courts . but another argument , which those books have suggested , i am the more willing here to produce , for that it not only sufficiently proveth the matter now in hand , but is also very needful to be better known abroad in the world then it is , for the removing of a very unjust censure , which meerly for want of the knowledge of the true cause , hath been laid upon the bishops in one particular , to their great wrong and prejudice . it hath been much talked on , not only by the common sort of people , but by some persons also of better rank and understanding , and imputed to the bishops as an act of very high insolency , that in their processes , patents , commissions , licences , and other instruments whereunto their episcopal seale is affixed , so oft as they have occasion to mention themselves , the style runneth ever more in the plural number [ nos g. cantuar-archiepiscopus , coram nobis , salvo nobis — &c. ] just as it doth in his majesties letters patents and commissions : thereby shewing themselves ( say they ) as if they were his fellows and equals . all this great noise and clamour against the pride of the bishops upon this score , proceedeth ( as i said ) meerly from the ignorance of the true original cause and ground of that innocent and ancient usage ; and therefore cannot signify much to any reasonable and considering man , when that ground is discovered : which is this , viz. that every bishop is in construction of our laws a corporation . for although the bishop of himselfe and in his private and personal capacity be but a single person as other men are , and accordingly in his letters concerning his own particular affairs , and in all other his actings upon his own occasions and as a private person writeth of himselfe in the singular number , as other private men do ; yet for as much as in his publike and politick capacity , and as a bishop in the church of england , he standeth in the eye of the law as a corporation ; the king not only alloweth him acting in that capacity , to write of himselfe in the plural number , but in all writs directed to him as bishop ( as in presentations , and the like ) bespeaketh him in the plural number [ vestrae diocesis , vobis praesentamus &c. ] the bishop then being a corporation , and that by the kings authority , as all other corporations ( whether simple or aggregate , whether by charter or prescription ) are : it is meet he should hold his courts , and proceed therein in the same manner and form ( where there is no apparent reason to the contrary ) as other corporations do . and therefore as it would be a high presumption for the chancellour and scholars of one of the universities , being a corporation , to whom the king by his charter hath granted a court , or for the major and aldermen of a city for the same reason , to issue writs or do other acts in their courts in the kings name , not having any authority from the king or his grant , or from the laws and customs of england so to do : so doubtless it would for the same reason be esteemed a presumption no less intolerable for the bishops to use the kings name in their processes and judicial acts , not having any sufficient legal warrant or authority for so doing . ix . which if it were duly considered , would induce any reasonable man to beleive and confesse that this manner of proceeding in their own names used by the bishops in their courts , is so far from trenching upon the regal power and authority , which is the crime charged upon it by the objectors , that the contrary usage ( unless it were enjoyned by some law of the land , as it was in the raign of king edward the sixth ) might far more justly be charged therewithal . for the true reason of using the kings name in any court , is not thereby to acknowledge the emanation of the power or jurisdiction of that court from , or the subordination of that power unto , the kings power or authority , as the objectors seeme to suppose ; but rather to shew the same court to be one of the kings own immediate courts , wherein the king himselfe is supposed ( in the construction of the law ) either by his personal or virtual power to be present . and the not using of the kings name in other courts , doth not infer , as if the iudges of the said courts did not act by the kings authority , ( for who can imagine that they who hold a court by virtue of the kings grant only , should pretend to act by any other then his authority ? ) but only that they are no immediate representatives of the kings person in such their jurisdiction , nor have consequently any allowance from him to use his name in the exercise or execution thereof . x. secondly , there is another observable difference in this point , between the kings common-law-courts , such as are most of those afore-mentioned , and those courts that proceed according to the way of the civil law. if the king appoint a constable , or earle-marshal , or admiral of england : for as much as all tryals in the marshals court ( commonly called the court of honour ) and in the admiralty are according to the civil law ; all processes therefore , sentences , and acts in those courts go in the names of the constable , earle-marshal , or admiral , and not in the kings name . which manner of proceeding constantly used in those courts , sith no man hitherto hath been found to interpret , as any diminution at all or dis-acknowledgement of the kings soveraignty over the said courts : it were not possible the same manner of proceeding in the ecclesiastical courts should be so confidently charged with so heinous a crime , did not the intervention of some wicked lust or other prevail with men of corrupt minds to become partial judges of evil thoughts . especially considering that xi . thirdly , there is yet a more special and peculiar reason to be given in the behalf of the bishops for not using the kings name in their processes , &c. in the ecclesiastical courts , then can be given for the iudges of any other the above-mentioned courts ( either of the common or civil laws ) in the said respect ; arising ( as hath been already in part touched ) from the different nature of their several respective iurisdictions . which is , that the summons and other proceedings and acts in the ecclesiastical courts are for the most part in order to the ecclesiastical censures and sentences of excommunication , &c. the passing of which sentences and other of like kind , being a part of the power of the keyes which our lord iesus christ thought fit to leave in the hands of his apostles and their successors , and not in the hands of lay-men ; the kings of england never challenged to belong unto themselves : but left the exercise of that power entirely to the bishops , as the lawful successors of the apostles , and inheritours of their power . the regulating and ordering of that power in sundry circumstances concerning the outward exercise thereof in foro externo , the godly kings of england have thought to belong unto them as in the right of their crown ; and have accordingly made laws concerning the same , even as they have done also concerning other matters appertaining to religion and the worship of god. but the substance of that power , and the function thereof , as they saw it to be altogether improper to their office and calling : so they never pretended or laid claim thereunto . but on the contrary when by occasion of the title of supream head , &c. assumed by king henry the eighth , they were charged by the papists for challenging to themselves such power and authority spiritual ; they constantly and openly disavowed it to the whole world , renouncing all claim to any such power or authority : as is manifest ; not onely from the allowed writings of many godly bishops , eminent for their learning in their several respective times , in vindication of the church of england from that calumny of the papists ; as archbishop whitgift , bishop bilson , bishop andrews , bishop carleton , and others : but also by the injunctions of queen elizabeth , and the admonition prefixed thereunto ; by the 37 th art. . of the church of england required to be subscribed by all that take orders in the church , or degrees in the universities ; and by constant declared judgement and practice of the two late kings of blessed memory , king iames and king charles the i st . they who thus expresly disclaimed the medling with spiritual censures and the power of the keyes , cannot be rationally supposed to have thought their own presence ( either personal or virtual ) any way requisite in the courts where such censures were to be pronounced , and that power to be administred and exercised : and therefore doubtless could not deem it fit or proper , that in the juridical proceedings of such courts their names should be used . xii . the second point in the charge objected is , that this custome used by the bishops in acting all things in the ecclesiastical courts in their own names grew at first from the exorbitant power of the popes , who laboured what they could to advance their own greatness by exempting the clergy from all subjection to temporal princes , and setting up an ecclesiastical power of jurisdiction independent upon the secular : and that the parliament had that sence of it in the raign of king edward the sixth , as the words of the statute made i. edward vi. for the altering of the said custome , do plainly intimate . xiii . in which part of the charge there is at the most but thus much of truth . 1. that the bishops of rome did not omit with all sedulity to pursue the grand design of that see , which was to bring all christian princes into subjection to it self . 2. that all the labouring for the exemption of the clergy from the secular powers , was in order to that design . 3. that the bishops manner of using their own names in all acts of their iurisdiction , ( looked upon alone and by it self without any consideration of the true reasons thereof ) doth carry , by so much the more , shew of serving the papal interest , then if they should do all in the king's name , by how much the acknowledging the kings supremacy-ecclesiastical is less apparent therein , then in the other . 4. that the want of such an express acknowledgement of the king's supremacy , together with the jealousies the state had in those times over any thing that might seem to further or favour the usurped power of the pope in the least degree ; might very probably in this particular ( as well as it did in some other things ) occasion such men as bear the greatest sway in managing the publick affairs in the beginning of that godly ( but young ) king 's raign , out of a just detestation of the papacy to endeavour overhastily the abolishing of whatsoever was with any colour suggested unto them to savour of popery , without such due examination of the grounds of those suggestions as was requisite in a matter of so great importance . xiiii . this is all we can ( perhaps more then we need ) yield unto in this point of the charge . but then there are some other things which we cannot easily assent unto : as viz. 1. that this custome had undoubtedly its original and growth from the popes usurped power . which as we think it impossible for them to prove ; so it seemeth to us the less probable , because by comparing of this course used in the ecclesiastical courts with the practise of sundry other courts , some of like , some of different nature thereunto , we have already shewed the true reasons and grounds of the difference between some courts and othersome in this particular . 2. that it is a rag or relique of antichristian tyranny . which we believe to be altogether untrue . not only for the reasons before specified , and for that the same is done in sundry other courts , holden within this realm without any note of antichristianisme or popery fastened thereupon : but also because it hath been constantly continued in this kingdome ( the short raign of king edward the sixth only excepted ) with the allowance of all the protestants kings and queens of this realm ever since the reformation . who , although they be ever and anon taxed by the puritane-faction ( unjustly and insolently enough ) for want of a through-reformation , and leaving so much popish trash unpurged in the point of worship and ceremonies : yet have not usually been blamed by that party for being wanting to themselves in vindicating to the uttermost their regal authority and supremacy ecclesiastical from the usurped power of the bishops of rome in any thing wherein they conceived it to be many wise or degree concerned . as also because this manner of proceeding in the courts ecclesiastical hath been constantly and without scruple of conscience or suspition of popery used and practised by all our godly and orthodoxe bishops ; even those , who have been the most zealous maintainers of our religion against the papists , and such as have particularly written against the antichristian tyranny of the pope , or in defence of the kings supremacy in matters ecclesiastical ; as iewel , bilson , abbots , buckridge , carleton , and many others . xv. but against all this that hath been said , how agreeable soever it may seem to truth and reason , may be opposed the judgement of the whole realm in parliament ( the bishops themselves also then sitting and voting as well as other the lords and commons ) in the first year of the raign of king edward the sixth , who thought fit by their act to alter the aforesaid form , and that upon the two aforesaid grounds , viz. that it was contrary to the form and order of the common law-courts , and according to the form and manner used in the time of the usurped power of the bishop of rome . which being the last and weightiest point in the charge , is the more considerable , in that besides its own strength , it giveth also farther strength and confirmation to the other two . xvi . but for answer unto this argument drawn from the judgement of the parliament , as it is declared in the statute of ● edw. 6. i would demand of the objectors , where they place the chief strength of the argument : whether in the authority of the persons ( viz. the great assembly of state convened in parliament so judging ; or in validity of those reasons , which led them so to judge . if in this later , their judgment can weigh no more , then the reasons do whereon it is built ; the frailty whereof we have already examined and discovered . if in the authority of the judges ; we lay in the ballance against it the judgment of the kingdome in all the parliaments after the decease of king edward for above fourscore years together : the first whereof repeated that statute ; and none of those that followed ( for ought appeareth to us ) ever went about to revive it . xvii . if it shall be said first , that the enacting of that statute by king edward was done in order to the farther abolishing of popery , and the perfecting of the reformation begun by his father : i answer , that as it was a very pious care , and of singular example in so young a prince , to intend and endeavour the reformation of religion and the church within his realms ( for which even at this day we have cause to acknowledge the good providence of almighty god in raising him up to become so blessed an instrument of his glory and our good : ) so on the other side we cannot doubt but that the business of reformation under him was carried on with such mixture of private ends and other human frailties and affections , as are usually incident into the enterprising of great affairs , especially such as cannot be effected without the assistance of many instruments . all of which in likelyhood being not of one judgement and temper , but having their several inclinations , passions and interests with great difference ; the product of their endeavours ( whatsoever sincerity there were in the intentions of the first mover ) must needs be such , as the constitution of the most prevalent instruments employed in the work would permit it to be . the very name of reformation of religion and manners , and of abuses crept into the church or common-wealth , carrieth with it a great deal of outward glory and lustre , filling the hearts of men with expectations of much happiness to ensue , and in that hope is evermore entertained with general applause , especially of the vulgar sort : because men look upon it as it were in the idea , ( that is to say , as it is fancied and devised in the mind and imagination ) and abstractedly from those impediments and inconveniences , which when they come ad practicandum and to put their thoughts in execution , they shall be sure to meet withal more or less , to render the performance short of the promise and expectation . xviii . now because reformation is so much talked of in these evil dayes of ours , wherein thousands of well-meaning people have been seduced into dangerous by-paths by that specious name : it will not be amiss , ( though we may seem perhaps to digress a little for it ) to prompt the reader to some considerations , that may incline him rather to suspect a thing to be ill done , then to be confident that it is well done , if he have no other reason of that confidence but this , that it is pretended to be done by way of reformation . xix . it is considerable first , that reformation is the usual vizard , wherewith men of insatiable avarice or ambition disguise their base unworthy intentions , that the ugliness thereof may not appear to vulgar eyes . seldome hath any sacrilegious or seditious attempt appeared abroad in the world , and been countenanced either by the great ones or the many ; which hath not been ushered in by this piece of hypocrisie . not to look further ( backward or forward ) for instances in both kindes , then to the raign of that king wherein the statute so much insisted upon was made ; it cannot be denied , but that during the raign of that religious and godly young king ( without his knowledge as we verily hope and believe , or at most through the malitious suggestions and cunning insinuations of some that were about him ) such sacriledges were acted , and that under the name & pretence of reformation , as have cast a very foul blemish upon our very religion , especially in the eyes of our adversaries , who have ever shewed themselves forward enough to impute the faults of the persons to the profession . and under the same pretence of reformation were also masked all the bloodshed , mischiefs and outrages committed by kett and his seditious rabble in the same kings raign : insomuch as a great oak whereat they appointed their usual meetings , and whereon ( by the just judgement of god ) himself the ringleader of that rebellion was afterwards hanged , was by them called the oak of reformation . by what was done in those times , ( ill enough indeed , yet modestly in comparison of what hath been done in ours ) we may have a near guess what their meaning is , that are so eagerly set upon a thorow-reformation ( as they call it ) in the church , in the commonwealth , in the vniversities : even to get into their own hands and disposal all the haces and offices of power or profit in them all . i dare not say , ( for truly of some i believe the contrary , and hope the same of many more ) that all those that joyn in vote or act with those plansible pretenders of reformation , or wish well unto them in the simplicity of their hearts , are guilty of their abominable hypocrisie . but sure all experience sheweth , that in great councels there are evermore some one or a few 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , active and cunning men that are able by the reputation of their wisdome and abilities of speech to carry all businesses in the vogue even as themselves have before-hand closely contrived them : leading on the rest , as a bell-weather doth the whole flock , or as a crafty fore-man of a iury doth the whole dozen , which way soever they please ; who follow tamely after ( quâ itur , non quâ eundum ) in an implicit belief , that that must needs be the right way , which they see such skilful guides to have taken before them . xx. but say there were no such reserved secret sinister ends either in the chief agents or their ministers , but that a just reformation were as really and sincerely intended by them all , as it is by some of them speciously pretended : yet is it considerable secondly , how very difficult a thing it is , in the business of reformation to stay at the right point , and not to overdo , by reason of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whereby we are very apt in declining one of the extreams to fall into the other , either in point of opinion or practice . in detestation of the heresie of nestorius , who distinguished the persons in christ , because he knew there were two natures ; eutyches went so far as to confound the natures , because he knew there was but one person . and because the papists by the multitude and pompousness of their ceremonies had taken away much of the inward vigour of gods publick worship , by drawing it too much outward ; the puritanes in opposition to them , and to reform that errour , by stripping it of all ceremonies have left it so bare , that ( besides the unseemliness ) it is well nigh starved for want of convenient clothing . it is in the distempers of the body politick in this respect not much otherwise then it is in those of the body natural . in an ague , when the cold sit hath had his course , the body doth not thence return to a kindly natural warmth , but falleth speedily into a burning preternatural heat , nothing less ( if not rather more ) afflictive then the former . and how osten have physicians , ( not the unlearned empericks onely , but even those best renowned for their skill and judgement , ) by tampering with a crazy body to master the predominancy of some noxious humour therein , cast their patients ere they were aware under the tyranny of another and contrary humour as perillous as the former : or for fear of leaving too much bad blood in the veins , have letten out too much of the vital spirits withall ? onely the difference is , that in bodily diseases this course may be sometimes profitably experimented , and with good success ; not onely out of necessity , when there is no other way of cure left , ( as they use to say , desperate diseases must have desperate remedies : ) but also out of choice , and in a rational way ; as hippocrates adviseth in the case of some cold diseases to cast the patient into a burning feaver , which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and i remember to have read somewhere to that purpose such an aphorisme as this , vtile est innasci sebrem in spasmo . but for the remedying of moral or politick distempers , it is neither warrantable nor safe to try such experiments : not warrantable ; because we have no such rule given us in the word of god whereby to operate : nor safe ; because herein the mean onely is commendable , all extreams ( whether in defect or excess ) vitious . now what defects or excesses there might be in the reformation of religion and the church within these realms during the raigns of k. henry the eighth , king edward the sixth , and queen elizabeth ; it doth not become me , neither is it needful , to examine . but sure it is , they that had the managery of those affairs in their several respective times were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , made of the same day with other men , subject to infirmities and passions , and to be byassed with partial affections , and those affections capable to be enflamed with zeal , cooled with delayes , enraged by opposition , and allayed by seasonable applications . and therefore although we cannot say for certain with what affections those reformers in the beginning of edward's raign were steered in the whole business : yet it is very possible , and in this particular of the statutes , ( from the weakness of the reasons therein expressed ) not improbable , that the jealousies they had of the papal power so lately ejected might make them more abundantly cautelous and sollicitous to secure themselves thereagainst , then need required . verily the temper of those times and men , and the reformation made about those times in other countreys considered ; we have far greater cause to bless god that in their then ▪ reformation in very many things they did not a great deal worse , then to blame them that in some few things they did not a little better , then they have done . xxi . it is further considerable thirdly , that where a reformation is truly intended , and the thing it self intended by that reformation to be established is also within a tolerable compass of mediocrity ; there may yet be such errour in the choice of the means to be used for the accomplishing of those intentions , as may vitiate the whole work , and render it blame-worthy . for although it be a truth so expresly affirmed by the apostle , and so agreeable to the dictates of right reason [ that we may not do any evil thing for any good end ] as that i should scarce have believed it possible that any man that pretended to be christian or but reasonable should hold the contrary , had i not been advertised by very credible persons that some men of eminent place and power did so , by distinguishing ( but beside the book , and where the law distinguisheth not ) between a publick and a private good end : yet the eagerness of most men in the pursuance of such ends as they are fully bent upon , and their pride of spirit disdaining to be crossed in their purposes , and impatient of meeting with any opposition ; putteth them many times upon the use of such means as seem for the present best conducing to the ends they have proposed to themselves , without any sufficient care to examine whether such means be lawful or not . for either they run on headlong and are resolved not to stick at any niceties of conscience , but being ingaged in a design to go through with it per fas & nefas ; measuring honesty by utility : or els they gather up any thin fig-leaves where they can meet with them to hide the deformity of their actions if it were possible even from their own eyes ; and are willing their affections should bribe and cheat their judgements with any weak reasons to pronounce that lawful to be done which they have a mind to do , the secret checks and murmurings of their consciences to the contrary notwithstanding . hence it is , that whereas men ought to conform all their wills and actions to the exact rule of gods word , they do so often in stead thereof crooken the rule to make it comply with their actions and desires : raising such doctrines and conclusions from the sacred texts of scripture by forced inferences , as will best serve to give countenance to whatsoever they fancie to be , or please to call reformation ; and to whatsoever means they should use for the effecting of such reformation , though it were by popular tumults , civil war , despising governours , breaking oaths , open rebellion , or any other act how unjust soever and full of disloyalty . which made learned zanchy , observing in his time how anabaptists and all sorts of sectaries , that attempted to bring in any new and unheard of alteration in religion into the churches of christ , by any means though never so seditious and unlawful , did yet justifie all their enterprises by this , that they were done in order to a more perfect reformation , to cry out , ego non intelligo istam reformatorum mundi ●●elogiam . whether this observation be so sitly applyable to those times of king edwards reformation , as the two former considerations were , i know not : i am sure it sitteth but too well to these evil times of ours , wherein the pretence of a thorow-reformation serveth as a foile to set off the blackest crimes that ever the christian world was guilty of . xxii . lastly , say there should be nothing amiss in any of the premisses , but that the intentions were sincere , the proceedings moderate , and the means lawful : yet since no wit of man is at the present able to foresee all the inconveniences that may ensue upon any great and suddain change of such lawes and customes as have been long and generally observed , till time and experience discover them ; it may very well ( and not seldome doth ) come to pass , that the reformation intended for the remedying of some one abuse , or the preventing of some present apparant inconvenience , may open a gap to let in some other abuses or inconveniences , which ( though yet undiscerned ) may in time prove to be more and greater , then those that were sought to be remedyed . physicians tell us that all sudden changes in the body are dangerous : and it is no otherwise in the church and state. which is the ground of that maxime , well approved of all wise men , if rightly understood , malum benè positum non movendum : and of that other , so famous in the ancient councels , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , let the old customes be observed . and therefore aristotle gravely censureth that law made by hippodamus the milesian law-giver , that whosoever should devise any new law for the common good should be rewarded by the state , as a law indeed foolish and pernicious , how specious and plausible soever it seemed at the first appearance : because ( saith he ) it would but encourage busie & active spirits to be alwayes innovating some thing or other in the state , which might finally tend to the subversion of all ancient lawes and customes , and consequently of the whole government it self . now that the reformation in king edwards dayes , as to this particular in that statute concerned , was subject at least to this frailty , we may very probably gather ( a posteriori ) from this ; that after it was once repealed , they that had to do in the reformation ever since , thought it sit rather to let it lye under that repeal , then to revive it . xxiii . there can be no doubt , but that to an objection made from the force of a statute , it is a sufficient answer ( if it be true ) to say that the said statute hath been repealed and so continueth . yet the adversaries of episcopacy are so pertinaciously bent to hold their conclusion in despite of all premisses , that they seem to be nothing satisfied there withal , but dividing the answer , turn the former part of it ( viz. that of the repeal ) to their own advantage . for say they , that repeal being made by queen mary , who was a professed papist , and a persecuter of the protestant religion , was certainly an act of hers done in favour of popery ; and so is a strong confirmation , that the form of proceeding formerly used by the bishops in the ecclesiastical courts , prohibited by the statute of king edward , but restored by that her repeal , was a popish practice , and more besitting papists then protestants to use . xxiv . to return a full answer hereunto ; first it shall be willingly granted , that queen mary , being a zealous papist , did cause that statute made in the first of her brothers raign to be repealed out of pure zeal to the romish religion , and in favour of the pope and of his iurisdiction . both bee use she conceived ( which was true ) that her late brother being a protestant had by that statute prohibited the bishops to do sundry things in their own names , of purpose thereby to lessen the popes authority within his realms : as also because their using of the kings name in their processes and acts carried with it ( as we formerly granted ) a more express and evident acknowledgment of the kings supremacy ecclesiastical , then the contrary custome doth . xxv but then secondly , this being granted , it will by no means follow either first , that the repeal of that statute is not to be valued by any protestant ; or that secondly the custome of the bishops prohibited by the statute and restored by the act of repeal was popish ; or thirdly , that our former answer was unsufficient : not the first , because we are not to look upon the statute and upon the act of repeal , as they were made , the one by a protestant the other by a papist ( for that were to judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and with respect of persons ; ) but to consider whether the reasons whereupon the statute was grounded were in veritate rei such , as that it ought not to have been repealed either by papist or protestant . which reasons how they have been valued , appeareth upon the post-fact in this ; that a papist princess by the principles of her religion could do no less then repeal that statute , and a protestant princess without prejudice to the principles of her religion might continue that repeal . xxvi . not the second : because that very statute of i. edward the sixth , by which it is ordained that all summons , citations and other processes ecclesiastical be made in the name and with the style of the king , doth it self sufficiently absolve the contrary custome formerly used by the bishops acting in their own names , from being either popish or otherwise derogatory to the kings supremacy . inasmuch as by proviso's in the said statute the bishops are still permitted in some cases to use their own names without any mention at all to be made of the king : as namely the archbishop of canterbury to grant faculties and dispensations ; and every other bishop to make collations , presentations , institutions and inductions of benefices , letters of orders and dimissories &c. under their own names and seals , as by the words of the said statute doth plainly appear . which sure would not have been permitted in any case , had the thing it self been by them conceived to have been simply and de toto genere either popish or prejudicial to the regal power . xxvii . not the third : because they disjoynt our former answer , that they might make their advantage of the one piece of it severed from the other . for the strength of the answer ( it being copulative ) was not to lye in either part alone , but in both together taken joyntly ; and indeed more principally in the later part which they slightly put off , then in the former whereat they take advantage . we do not say that the objecting of that statute is of little moment against us , because it was repealed by queen mary ( though that repeal alone is sufficient to make it void and invalid as to all effects in law : ) but because being then repealed it was never after revived in the raigns either of queen elizabeth , king iames , or his majesty that now is : which sheweth that the act of repeal ( as to the point now in dispute ) was by them approved of , and intended to continue in force . and it will thence follow further and most clearly , that in the judgement of all these wise and religious princes , there was a great difference between the papal and the episcopal iurisdiction , as they had been either of them exercised within these realms : and that the papal was prejudicial to the regal power and supremacy , but the episcopal was not . xxviii . neither doth that suffice which is put in by way of reply hereunto , to alledge that the continuance of the old custome ( after the repeal made ) happened either through inadvertency of the state , or by reason of the great power some or other of the bishops ever had with those princes . for it cannot be doubted but that the state , having before them a precedent of so late and fresh memory as the statute of 1. edw. 6. would at some time or other within the space of fourscore years ( especially there being no want in those dayes of enough greedy great-ones and factious disciplinarians to remind them of it ) have taken a time to frame and pass a bill for the reviving of that statute : if they had deemed the custome , therein forbidden , popish or derogatory either to the kings honour or power , or had not rather found sufficient reason to perswade them that the said statute was inconvenient , or at leastwise useless . and as for the bishops , they that understand the condition of those first times well know that ( under god and his good providence ) they stood in a manner by the immediate and sole favour of queen elizabeth . the papists on the one side hated them above all other sorts of men , because of their religion , and their abilities above all other men to defend it . on the other side the puritanes who envied their power , and some great ones about the court , who having tasted the sweet of sacriledge in the times of the two last kings , thirsted after the remainder of their revenues , complyed either with other , for their several respective ends , against the bishops . which being so , it had been the foolishest thing in the world for the bishops , to have used that power or interest they had with the queen ( upon whose favour or displeasure their whole livelyhood depended ) for the procuring of her consent to any act to be done in favour of them , that malice it self could with any colourable construction interpret either to savour of popery , or to trench upon the royal supremacy : that queen having both by her sufferings before , and actions after she came to the crown , sufficiently witnessed to the world her averseness from popery : and being withall a princess of a great spirit , and particularly jealous in the point of prerogative . xxix . whence i think we may ( with good reason ) conclude , that the ancient custome of the bishops in making summons , &c. in their own names , after it was by the act of repeal 1. mar. restored , was continued by queen elizabeth and her successours ever since without interruption , or reviving of the statute of king edward : neither out of any inadvertency in the state , nor through any importune or indirect labouring of the bishops , as by the objectors is weakly presumed ; but advisedly and upon important considerations , viz. that the devising of such a new way , as is set forth and appointed in the said statute , was not only a needless thing , ( and laws should not be either made , or altered , but where it is needful so to do , ) but subject also to manifest both inconvenience , and scandal . xxx . that it was altogether needless to change the old custome may appear by this , that all the imaginable necessity or utility of such a change could be onely this : to secure the king by using his name in their processes &c. ( as a real acknowledgement that their iurisdiction is derived from him and no other . ) that the bishops had no intention in the exercise of their episcopal power to usurp upon his ecclesiastical supremacy . which supremacy of the king , and superiority of his jurisdiction & authority over that which the bishops exercised , being already by so many other wayes and means sufficiently secured ; it could argue nothing but an impertinent jealousie , to endeavour to strengthen that security by an addition of so poor and inconsiderable regard . xxxi . the kings of england are secured against all danger that may accrue to their regal power from episcopal iurisdiction as it hath been anciently and of later times exercised in this realm : first by the extent of their power over the persons , and livelihoods of the bishops , and over the whole state ecclesiastical , as in the ancient right of the crown , which how great it was , may appear by these three particulars . xxxii . first , the collation and donation of bishopricks together with the nomination of the persons to be made bishops , in case they did by their writ of conge d'eslier permit the formality of election to others , did alwayes belong to the kings of this realm , both before and since the conquest , as in right of their crown . our learned lawyers assure us , that all the bishopricks of this realm are of the kings foundation : that they were originally donative , and not elective : and that the full right of investiture was in the king , who signified his pleasure therein per traditionem baculi & annuli , by the delivery of a ring and a crosier-staff to the person by him elected and nominated for that office . the popes indeed often assayed to make them elective , either by the dean and canons of the cathedral , or by the monkes of some principal abbey adjoyning : but the kings still withstood it , and maintained their right as far as they could or durst . insomuch as king henry the first being earnestly sollicited by the pope to grant the election of bishops to the clergy , constanter allegavit ( saith the story ) and verbis minacibus , he stoutly and with threats refused so to do , saying he would not for the loss of his kingdome lose the right of those investitures . it is true that king iohn , a prince neither fortunate nor couragious , being overpowred by the popes , did by charter in the seventeenth year of his raign grant that the bishopricks of england should be eligible . but this notwithstanding in the raign of king edward the third , it was in open parliament declared and enacted , that to the king and his heirs did belong the collation of archbishopricks , &c. and all other dignities that are of his advowson ; and that the elections granted by the kings his progenitors were under a certain form and condition , viz. that they should ask leave of the king to elect , and that after the election made they should obtain the kings consent thereunto ; and not otherwise . xxxiii . secondly , the king hath power , if he shall see cause , to suspend any bishop from the execution of his office for so long time as he shall think good : yea , and to deprive him utterly of the dignity and office of a bishop , if he deserve it . which power was de facto exercised both by queen mary and queen elizabeth in the beginning of their several raigns upon such bishops as would not conform to their religion . xxxiv . thirdly , the kings of england have a great power over the bishops in respect of their temporalties , which they hold immediately of the king per baroniam ; and which every bishop elect is to sue out of the kings hands ( wherein they remained after the decease of the former bishop during the vacancy , ) and thence to take his only restitution into the same , making oath and fealty to the king for the same upon his consecration . yea , and after such restitution of temporalties and consecration , the king hath power to seize the same again into his own hands , if he see just cause so to do . which the kings of england in former times did so frequently practice upon any light displeasure conceived against the bishops ; that it was presented as a grievance by the arch-bishop of canterbury and the other prelates by way of request to king edw. 3. in parliament , and thereupon a statute was made the same parliament , that thenceforth no bishops temporalties should be seized by the king without good cause . i finde cited by sir edward coke out of the parliament rolls 18. h. 3. a record , wherein the king straightly chargeth the bishops not to intermeddle in any thing to the prejudice of his crown ; threatning them with seisure of their temporalties if they should so do . the words are , mandatum est omnibus episcopis quae conventuri sunt apud gloucestr ' ( the king having before summoned them by writ to a parliament to be holden at gloucester ) firmiter inhibendo , quod sicut baronias suas quas de rege tenent diligunt , nullo modo praesumant concilium tenere de aliquibus quae ad coronam pertinent , vel quae personam regis vel statum suum , vel statum concilii sui contingunt ; scituri pro certo quod si fecerint , rex inde capiet se ad baronias suas , &c. by which record , together with other the premisses , it may appear , that the kings by their ancient right of prerogative had sundry wayes power over the bishops whereby to keep them in obedience , and to secure their supremacy from all peril of being prejudiced by the exercise of episcopal iurisdiction . xxxv . yet in order to the utter abolishing of the papal usurpations and of all pretended forraign power whatsoever in matters ecclesiastical within these realms , divers statutes have been made in the raign of king henry the eighth and since for the further declaring and confirming of the kings supremacy ecclesiastical . wherein the acknowledgement of that supremacy is either so expresly contained , or so abundantly provided for ; as that there can be no fear it should suffer for lack of further acknowledgement to be made by the bishops in the style of their courts . amongst other , first , by statute made 25. h. 8. 19. upon the submission and petition of the clergy it was enacted , that no canons or constitutions should be made by the clergy in their convocation without the kings licence first had in that behalfe , and his royal assent after : and likewise that no canon &c. should be put in execution within the realm that should be contrariant or repugnant to the kings prerogative royal , or the customes , lawes , or statutes of the realm . then secondly , by the statute of 1. eliz. cap. 1. all such ecclesiastical iurisdictions , priviledges , superiorities and pre-eminences , as had been exercised or used , or might be lawfully exercised or used by any ecclesiastical power or authority was ( declared to be ) for ever united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm . and thirdly , it was also in the same statute provided , that the oath of supremacy ( wherein there is contained as full an acknowledgement of the kings ecclesiastical suprenacy as the wit of man can devise ) should be taken by every archbishop and bishop &c. which hath been ever since duely and accordingly performed . xxxvi . lastly from receiving any prejudice by the bishops and their iurisdiction , the regal power is yet farther secured , by the subordination of the ecclesiastical laws and courts to the common law of england , and to the kings own immediate courts . for although the ecclesiastical laws be allowed by the laws of this realm , and the proceedings in the ecclesiastical courts be by the way of the civil and not of the common law : yet are those laws and proceedings allowed with this limitation and condition , that nothing be done against the common law whereof the kings prerogative is a principal part ) nor against the statutes and customes of the realm . and therefore the law alloweth appeales to be made from the ecclesiastical courts to the king in chancery : and in sundry cases , where a cause dependeth before a spiritual iudge , the kings prohibition lyeth to remove it into one of his temporal courts . xxxvii . having so many several ties upon the bishops to secure themselves and their regal authority from all danger that might arise from the abuse of the ecclesiastical power and iurisdiction exercised by the bishops in their courts ( by the ancient prerogative of their crown , by the provisions of so many statutes and oaths , by the remedy of the common law : ) the kings of england had no cause to be so needlesly cautelous as to be afraid of a meere formality , the style of a court. especially considering the importance of the two reasons expressed in the statute of king edward , as the onely grounds of altering that style , not to be such as would countervaile the inconvenience and scandal that might ensue thereupon . xxxviii . for whereas it was then thought convenient , to change the style used in the ecclesiastical courts , because it was contrary to the form used in the common-law-courts within this realm , ( which is one of the reasons in the said statute expressed : ) it might very well upon further consideration be afterwards thought more convenient for the like reason to retain the accustomed style , because otherwise the forme of the ecclesiastical courts would be contrary to the form of other civil-law-courts within the realm ( as the admiralty , and earle-marshals court , ) and of other courts of the kings grant made unto corporations ; with either of which , the ecclesiastical courts had a nearer affinity , then with the kings courts of record , or other his own immediate courts of common law. nor doth there yet appear any valuable reason of difference , why inconformity to the common law-courts should be thought a sufficient ground for the altering of the forms used in the ecclesiastical courts ; and yet the like forms used in the admiralty , in the earle-marshals court , in courts baron , in corporation-courts &c. should ( notwithstanding the same inconformity ) continue as they had been formerly accustomed without alteration . xxxix . if any shall alledge as some reason of such difference , the other reason given in the said statute ; viz. that the form and manner used by the bishops was such as was used in the time of the usurped power of the bishop of rome : besides that therein is no difference at all , ( for the like forms in those other aforesaid courts were also in use in the same time ; ) there is further given thereby great occasion of scandal to those of the church of rome . and that two wayes : first , as it is made a reason at all ; and secondly , as it is applyed to the particular now in hand . first , whereas the papists unjustly charge the protestant churches with schism for departing from their communion : it could not but be a great scandal to them , to confirm them in that their uncharitable opinion of us , if we should utterly condemn any thing as unlawful , or but even forbid the use of it as inexpedient , upon this onely grouud or consideration , that the same had been used in the times of popery , or that it had been abused by the papists . and truly the puritanes have by this very means given a wonderful scandal and advantage to our adversaries , which they ought to acknowledge and repent of : when transported with an indiscreet zeal they have cryed down sundry harmeless ceremonies and customes as superstitious and antichristian , onely for this that papists use them . whereas godly and regular protestants think it agreeable to christian liberty , charity and prudence , that in appointing ceremonies , retaining ancient customes , and the use of all other indifferent things such course be held , as that their moderation might be known to all men ; and that it might appear to their very adversaries , that wherein they did receed from them or any thing practised by them , they were not thereunto carried by a spirit of contradiction , but either cast upon it by some necessity of the times , or induced for just reasons of expediency so to do . xl. but then secondly , as that reason relateth to the present business in particular , the scandal thereby given is yet greater . for we are to know , that when king henry the eighth abolished the papal power , resuming in his own hand the ancient rights of the crown , which the bishops of rome had unjustly usurped : he took upon himselfe also that title which he then found used by the bishops of rome , but which none of his progenitors the kings of this realm had ever used , of being the supream head of the church within his dominions . this title continued during the reign of his son king edward the sixth , by whom the statute aforesaid was made , and is mentioned in that very statute . now albeit by that title or appellation was not intended any other thing , then that supremacy ecclesiastical which the kings of this land have , and of right ought to have , in the governance of their realms over all persons and in all causes ecclesiastical as well as other , and which is in the oath of supremacy ackowledged to belong unto them : yet the papists took scandal at the novelty thereof , and glad of such an occasion made their advantage of it , to bring a reproach upon our religion ; as if the protestants of england were of opinion , that all spiritual power did belong unto the king , and that the bishops and ministers of england had their whole power of preaching , administring the sacraments , ordaining , excommunicating , &c. solely and originally from the king , as the members of the body live by the influence which the head hath into them . upon their clamours , that title of supream head and governour was taken into farther consideration in the beginning of queen elizabeths raign . and although that style in the true meaning thereof was innocent and defensible enough : yet for the avoiding of scandal and cavil , it was judged more expedient that the word head should thenceforth be laid aside , and the style run only supream governour ; as we see it is in the oath of supremacy and otherwhere ever since , without mentioning the word head ; according to the intimations given in the queens injunctions and elswhere in that behalfe . and it seemeth to me very probable , that for the same reason especially ( besides those other reasons already given ) it was thought fitter by her then , and by her successours hitherto ; that the bishops in all their ecclesiastical courts and proceedings should act in their own names as formerly they had done , then that the statute of king edward should be revived , for doing it in the kings name . for the sending out processes &c. in order to excommunication and other church-censures in the kings name , would have served marvellously to give colour , ( and consequently strength , in the apprehension at least of weaker judgements ) to that calumny wherewith the papists usually asperse our religion , as if the kings of england took themselves to be proper and competent iudges of censures meerly spiritual in their own persons , and the prelates accordingly did acknowledge them so to be . thus have i shewen to the satisfaction ( i hope ) of the ingenuous and unprejudiced reader , that episcopacy is no such dangerous creature either in the opinion or practice , as some would make the world believe it is : but that the kings crown may stand fast enough upon his head , and flourish in its full verdure , without plucking away or displacing the least flower in it , notwithstanding episcopacy should be allowed to be of divine right in the highest sence , and the bishops still permitted to make their processes in their own names and not in the kings . by this time i doubt not , all that are not willfully blind ( for who so blind , as he that will not see ? ) do see and understand by sad experience , that it had been far better both with king and kingdome then now it is , or ( without gods extraordinary mercy ) is like to be in haste : if the enemies of episcopacy had meant no worse to the king and his crown , then the bishops and those that favoured them did . a post-script to the reader . whereas in my answer to the former of the two objections in the foregoing treatise , i have not any where made any clear discovery what my own particular judgement is concerning the jus divinum of episcopacy in the stricter sense , either in the affirmative or negative : and for want of so doing , may perhaps be censured by some to have walked but haltingly , or at least wise with more caution and mincing , then became me to do in a business of that nature ; i do hereby declare , 1. that , to avoid the starting of more questions then needs must , i then thought it fitter ( and am of the same opinion still ) to decline that question , then to determine it either way : such determination being clearly of no moment at all to my purpose , and for the solving of that objection . 2. that nevertheless , ( leaving other men to the liberty of their own judgements ) my opinion is , that episcopal government is not to be derived meerly from apostolical practise or institution : but that it is originally founded in the person and office of the messias , our blessed lord jesus christ . who being sent by his heavenly father to be the great apostle , [ heb. iii. 1. ] bishop and pastor [ 1 pet. ii. 25. ] of his church , and anointed to that office immediately after his baptisme by john with power and the holy ghost [ act. x. 37-8 . ] descending then upon him in a bodily shape [ luk. iii. 22. ] did afterwards before his ascension into heaven , send and impower his holy apostles , ( giving them the holy ghost likewise as his father had given him ) in like manner as his father had before sent him [ joh . xx. 21. ] to execute the same apostolical , episcopal and pastoral office for the ordering and governing of his church until his coming again : and so the same office to continue in them and their successours , unto the end of the world . [ mat. xxviii . 18 — 20. ] this i take to be so clear , from these and other like texts of scripture ; that if they shall be diligently compared together , both between themselves , and with the following practise of all the churches of christ , as well in the apostles times as in the purest and primitive times nearest thereunto ; there will be left little cause , why any man should doubt thereof . 3. that in my answer to the later objection i made no use at all ( nor indeed could do ) of the opinion of the reverend judges in that point , nor of his majesties proclamation grounded thereupon . for although the proclamation had been extant ten years before this task was imposed upon me ; yet i had never seen , nor so much as heard of the same in all the time before , nor yet in all the time since ; till about ten dayes ago i was advertised thereof , when these papers were then going to the press . which , since they give so much strength to the main cause , and so fully avoid the objection ; i have followed the advise of some friends , and caused them to be printed here withal . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a61839-e1990 see stat. 25. h. 8. 20 ; 1. edw. 6. 2. cok. 1. instit. 2. sect. 648. stat. for the clergy 14. ● . 3. cap. 3. royalty and loyalty or a short survey of the power of kings over their subjects: and the duty of subjects to their kings. abstracted out of ancient and later writers, for the better composeing of these present distempers: and humbly presented to ye consideration of his ma.tie. and both howses of parliament, for the more speedy effecting of a pacification / by ro: grosse dd: 1647 grosse, robert, d.d. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85738 of text r201664 in the english short title catalog (thomason e397_3). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 119 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85738 wing g2078 thomason e397_3 estc r201664 99862165 99862165 114316 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85738) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114316) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 63:e397[3]) royalty and loyalty or a short survey of the power of kings over their subjects: and the duty of subjects to their kings. abstracted out of ancient and later writers, for the better composeing of these present distempers: and humbly presented to ye consideration of his ma.tie. and both howses of parliament, for the more speedy effecting of a pacification / by ro: grosse dd: 1647 grosse, robert, d.d. [2], 62 p. s.n., [london : 1647] t.p. is engraved. place of publication from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "july 7th 1647". imperfect: heavy foxing in places, affecting text. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng prerogative, royal -early works to 1800. divine right of kings -early works to 1800. executive power -early works to 1800. kings and rulers -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1642-1649 -early works to 1800. a85738 r201664 (thomason e397_3). civilwar no royalty and loyalty or a short survey of the power of kings over their subjects: and the duty of subjects to their kings.: abstracted out o grosse, robert, d.d. 1647 21866 76 135 0 0 0 0 96 d the rate of 96 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2008-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-08 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-08 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ד ה ד ח ד royalty per me reges regnant quam bonum est conuenire regem & populum conuenire loyalty subdite estate potestati superem 〈…〉 royalty and loyalty or a short survey of the power of kings over their subjects : and the duty of subjects to their kings . abstracted out of ancient and later writers , for the better composeing of these present distempers : and humbly presented to ye consideration of his ●ma . tie and both howses of parliament , for the more speedy effecting of a pacification . by ro grosse 〈…〉 by gods comand wee rule this land . wee are all yours and what is ours . chap. 1. the kings royaltie : or the power of kings over their svbiects . at the first , there was no distinction , or difference of men ; one man was as good as another : but afterwards , some excelling others in desert , were preferred before others in place . nature , saith gregorie , did produce all men alike : but the order of their ments varying , occult dispensation did prefer some before others . but this distinction , which happened from sin , is rightly ordered by the just judgement of god , that , because all men doe not goe the same course of life , one man should be governed by another . st. augustine saith , that god would not that man , a rationall creature , made after his owne image , should domineere over any but irrationall creatures ; not man over man , but man over beasts . hence it was that those first just men , were constituted rather pastors of sheepe , than governours of men : that even so , god might insinuate both what the order of the creatures did require , and what the merit of sinne had deserved . if men had continued in their first integrity and state of innocencie , there had beene no use of emperours , or commanders : every man would have seemed a king unto himselfe ; nor would he have had any other law-giver , than god and nature . but when this could not be obtained , and the perversenesse of degenerous man-kind grew such , as that breaking the bonds of all lawes , they left nothing unattempted , which did not tend to the height of impiety , there was a great necessity of magistrates ; without whose prudence , and diligence , a city could not then consist ; and by whose description and putting men into order , the government of each common-wealth is still continued , and preserved . hence came the command of man over men : without which , as cicero saith , neither house , nor city , nor nation , nor mankind , nor the nature of things , nor the world it selfe can subsist . for to governe , and be governed , is not onely ( according to aristotle ) amongst those things that are necessary , but those things that are profitable . and to use st. chrysostoms words , in our dialect : if you take away judiciall tribunals , you take away all order of life : for , as a ship cannot but miscarry without a pilot ; and an army cannot march in due number , or decent order , without a captain : so , without a governour , a city cannot be well ordered ; and without a king , a kingdome must needs come to ruine . if you take a king from his command , or authority from a king , we shall live a more beastly life , than irrationall creatures : some biting and devouring others ; he that is rich , him that is poore ; he that is strong , him that is weaker ; he that is fierce , him that is milder ; so farre , and to this purpose , the golden-mouthed chrysostome . with whom , is agreeable that of the scriptures , in those dayes there was no king in jsraell : and what follows ? every one did that which was right in his own eies , iud. 17.6 . so that , as tacitus hath it , it is better to be under an evil prince , than under none . the tragoedian tels us , that there is no greater evill than anarchie : it brings all things to confusion ; it ruines cities ; layes waste houses ; overthrows armies : but the submissive and due obedience of true subjects , doth preserve both life and fortunes . an empire now being constituted amongst men , it must needs be that one , or more , must have the preheminence : the former is called a monarchie , or a kingdome ; the latter an optimacie , or state of the people . a kingdome then , which is most proper to us , is the command , or soverainty of one man , for the good of all . i will not dwell long in describing the causes of it : i would they were as well observed , as they are knowne ; or better knowne , that they might be the better observed . all power over the creature , is originally in god the creator : but out of his goodnesse to mankind , communicated to man above all others . so that god is the onely author , and efficient cause , as of things , so of kings : for however there are divers wayes to attaine to the princely scepter ; as some have mounted the imperiall throne by force and armes ; others by the command of god , have been designed kings , as david , hazael , jehu , and others , of which you may reade in the holy scriptures ; others have been elected princes by the suffrages of the people ; and others borne in purple , by hereditary right , to a kingdome : yet it is most certaine , that whether by these , or any other wayes , men doe ascend the chaire of state , they have their power , whatsoever it is , solely from god ; and ought to use it to the glory of god , and the good of their subjects . seneca tells us , that nature at first did invent a king : which is to be seen both in animals , and in inanimates : for the bees , cranes , and other living creatures , have their kings or commanders : so among foure-footed beasts , the lyon ; and amongst birds , the eagles doe excell . in inanimates likewise the same is evident ; the sun amongst the stars , the fire amongst the elements , sight amongst the senses , gold amongst metals , wine amongst liquids have the precedencie . and to speak truth , under god , the law of nature is a speciall cause for to effect and perfect monarchie . it is certaine , faith that great states-man amongst the romans , that all ancient nations did at first subject themselves to kings : and that was the first name of government upon earth . the jews had a monarchie from saul to zedekiah , as may be seen in sacred histories . the assyrians from nimrod to sardanapalus . the medes from arbaces to astyages . the persians from cyrus to darius the son of arsamus . the macedonians from caranus to perseus . herodotus testifyeth of the egyptians , that they could be at no time without a king , and therefore they did voluntarily carry the rods before them , and submit themselves to be ruled by them . the first king , so far as may be gathered from antiquity , was called menes . the same custome was also prevalent among other nations : the first king of the indians was alexander ; of the trojans , trojus ; of the danes , the first that was king , was graemus ; brito of the britains ; fergusius of the scots ; craco of the polonians ; attilas of hungary ; zechus of bohemia ; pharamundus of france ; and pelagius of spain . the first kings that are celebrated of the grecians , were saturne , jupiter , and cecrops ; of the garamantes , a people of the middle of lybia , cambyses ; of the romanes , romulus , from whom at first to l. tarquinius superbus , and afterwards from c. julius caesar to this day , they have retained a monarchie . bellarmine would divine , that the civill power ought to be immediately , if not by the law of god , yet by the law of nature , in the whole multitude as in its subject ; and from it to be transferred by the same law of nature to one or more : but he much deceives himselfe , and others also , with such his hallucination . for this power of life and death is given by nature unto none . none seemes to be lord of his owne members ; much lesse of anothers . onely god , who gives life to men , hath the power of taking it away from them ; or those , to whom , by a speciall favour , he hath communicated that power . and surely your blood of your lives wil i require ( saith god ) at the hands of every beast will i require it , and at the hand of man , at the hand of every mans brother will i require the life of man . whosoever sheddeth mans bloud , by man shall his bloud be shed : for in the image of god made he man . hence is that precept both of god and nature : thou shalt not kill . but , if this power were given by nature unto men , it should surely have been given to one man , rather than to all : for the command of one man ( even bellarmine himselfe being the judge ) is the best , and most agreeable unto nature ; but the command of a multitude , the worst . now nature in every thing ( as the philosophers will have it ) doth intend that which is best : so that , out of the politique society , and a certaine forme of civill government , there is not any politique or civill power given unto men . but all consent , that all ancient nations ( as formerly was spoken ) did at first obey kings : and , that it was the first name of command upon earth . yea , as bellarmine himselfe confesseth , kingdomes are of greater antiquity than common-wealths . in the beginning of states , ( saith justine ) the command of people and nations was in the kings . it must needs be then , that kings not receive their power and authority from the multitude , or men , but from god onely the king of kings . for it is a maxime and principle among the lawyers , that no man can transfer more power upon another than he hath himselfe . nor is this assertion contradicted , though you should alledge , that princes , as i said before , are sometimes chosen by men ; more often , if not alwayes , inaugurated by them . for hence it is that s. peter calleth a king , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the ordinance of man : which is not so to be understood , causally , as if it were excogitated or invented by men ; but subjectively , because it is exercised by men ; and objectively , because it is versed about the government of humane society ; and then finally , because it is constituted by god for the good of men , and the conservation of humane policie . for the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} doth recall us to god , as to the first author of authority : and although kings are created by men , that is , erected , anointed , and inaugurated by them ; yet the first creator of kings is god , to whom all creation doth appertaine , and from whom all power doth come . for there is no power but of god , if we will beleeve s. paul , who from his master tels us , that the powers that be 〈◊〉 ordained of god . the finall cause of sover aignty is the glory of god , and the happinesse of the subject : that a king , as the keeper of the two tables in the decalogue , with one eye looks up unto god , whose vicegerent he is , in advancing and defending religion and piety ; and with the other upon his subjects , that they may live in peace and prosperity . for this cause , saith epiphanius , are powers ordained , that all things from god may be well disposed and administred to the good order of government of the whole world . this is that goale to which the princely champion runs ; which is no other , as lipsius speaks , than the commodity , security , and prosperity of subjects . and this is the end which s. paul expresseth , when as he saith , that the magistrate is the minister of god to them for good : where , by [ good ] we may understand , good naturall , good moral , good civill , and good spirituall . first , the king is the minister of god to his subjects for their good naturall , whenas he makes provision of corn and victuals , whereby they may live . secondly , he is a minister of god for their good morall , when as he doth prescribe such laws to his subjects , as that they conforming their lives to them may live honestly . thirdly , he is the minister of god to them for good civill , when as by his sword he doth preserve their persons and estates from injury , and mainteine the publique peace . and lastly , he is the minister of god for good unto them , good spirituall , when as hee doth advance and maintain religion and piety , and suppresse prophanenesse and superstition . the materiall cause of soverainty , is the king and people ; with which , as with its integrall parts , it is compleat and absolute ; and without which , it cannot at all subsist . the formal cause of it , consists in that order which is betweene the king and his subjects : by which , he is above them , and they under him ; he commands , and they obey ; he rules , and they submit : of which , as lipsius saith , there is so great a force , or necessity rather , that this alone is the stay or prop of all humane things . this is that same bond , saith seneca , by which the common-wealth coheres ; that vitall spirit , which so many thousands of men doe draw : who , otherwise of themselves , would be nothing but a burthen and a prey , if this soule of command were withdrawn from them . this is that same circaean rod , with the touch of which both beasts and men become tame and ruley ; & which of all , otherwise head-strong and untractable , makes every one obedient and plyable : each man with the feare of it . a common-wealth , saith aristotle , is a certaine description , or order of those men which doe inhabit it . the king , he is above all others , according to that power which god almighty hath communicated unto him ; and the subjects , they are under him , by the same authority . and therefore princes are called {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that is , supereminent , seated in a more sublime estate : and subjects , they are called {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , subordinate , reduced into order . the metaphor is taken from military discipline , in which the commander placed above all others , over-looks the whole body , whiles every one , besides him standing in their ranks , keepe their stations . whereupon , as souldiers in an army placed in order , are subordinate to their captain , and performe obedience to him , as their supream head : in the same manner , subjects are subordinate to their prince , and bound to performe obedience to him . now what this power of a king is , is not of all sides agreed upon . if we looke into the sacred records , we may see the manner of the israelites king to be described . and samuel told all the words of the lord unto the people , that asked of him a king . and he said , this will be the manner of the king that shall reigne over you : he will take your sons , and appoint them for himselfe , for his chariots ; and to be his horsemen , and some shall run before his chariots . and he wil appoint them captains over thousands , and captains over fifties , and will set them to care his ground , and to reap his harvest , and to make his instruments of war , and instruments of his chariots , and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries , and to be cooks , and to be bakers . and he will take your fields , and your vine-yards , and your olive yards , even the best of them , and give them to his servants . and hee will take the tenth of your seede , and of your vineyards , and give to his officers , and to his servants . and he will take your men servants , and your maid-servants , and your goodliest young men , and your asses , and put them to his work . he will take the tenth of your sheep , and ye shall be his servants . some , from this description of samuel , doe think , that the rights of majestie are set forth : so luthen ( in postil . super evang dom. 23. post trinit. conc. 1. those things ( saith he ) which are said to be caesars , mat. 22.21 . are those rights of kings which are described , 1 sam. 8. now those things which christ affirmeth to be caesars , ought of right to be given unto him . so strigelius in 1 sam. 8. p. 27. hic dicunt aliqui describi tyrannum , non regem , &c. sed textus nominal jus regis , & loquitur de oneribus stipendiorum causâ mpositis . some say , that here a tyrant is described , not a king ; and that these things are not so spoken , as if the lord did approve of servitude : but the text ( saith he ) doth name the rights of kings , and speaks of burthens imposed by way of stipend . but these , with others of the same opinion , are much mistaken and deceived . for god constituting judges under him , was himselfe in a peculiar manner ( which never hapned unto any other nation ) a king to the israelites , who now did ask a king of him , as the other nations had . hearken ( saith god to samuel ) unto the voice of the people ; in all that they say unto thee : for they have not rejected thee , but they have rejected me , that i should not reigne over them . samuel therefore , as the lord commanded him , that he might reprehend the rashnesse of this people , describes unto them the impune licence , the rage and violence of this man , ( whom , in stead of god , they did desire to be set over them ) and so , in his person , of all kings . as if the prophet had said ; the lust of this kings licence shall break forth so far , that it shall not be in your power to restraine it : who yet shall have this one thing betide you , to receive his commands , and to be obedient to him . insomuch ( sayth he ) that ye shall cry out in that day , because of your king which ye shall have chosen you , and the lord will not heare you . for kings are exempted from the punishments of humane lawes , and have god only to be their judge and their avenger . the vertue of the law ( as modestinus hath it ) is this , to command , forbid , permit , and punish : but no man can command himselfe ; or be compelled by himselfe ; or so make a law that he may not recede from it . lawes are given by superiours to inferiours : but no man is superior , or inferior , to himself . it is impossible therefore for kings to be bound by their owne lawes : much lesse , by the lawes of their predecessors , or the people . for an equal hath not power over an equall : much lesse , an inferiour over a superiour . there are three sorts of civill government , according to aristotle : monarchie , aristocracie , and democracie . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . it is necessary , saith he , that the chiefe be one , or a few , or many : for all nations and cities ( as that great secretary of state to many emperours hath it ) are governed either by the people , or by the peeres , or by the prince . as then , in aristocracie and democracie , it must needs be that the government be in the hands of some few , or many : so in monarchie , it is in one mans hands onely ; whose lawes all men are bound to obey , but himselfe none , save the law of god . for otherwise , it is not a monarchie , but a polyarchie , that is , the state of the peers , or people . a king subject to laws , ( saith the philosopher ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , is not a species of a republike . cicero being to defend king deiotarus , before caesar , begins his oration from the insolencie and novelty of the thing ; telling him that it was so unusuall a thing for a king to be accused , as that , before that time , it was never heard of . c. memmius a popular man , and of great power , although he were a most deadly enemie to nobilitie , yet he subscribes to the same opinion . for , to doe any thing without being questioned , is to be a king , saith he . a prince , saith ulpian , is free from all lawes . dio , his coaetanie , speaks to the same purpose : they are free from lawes ( saith he ) as the latine words doe sound : that is , from all necessity of the laws , or the necessary observation of the laws : nor are they tyed to any written laws . constantinus harmenapolus , a greek interpreter , to the same sense thus delivers himself . a king is not subjected to laws ; that is , he is not punished , if he offends . to which , i might adde the common consent of the interpreters of both laws , unanimously affirming and concluding , that a king is to give an account for his offences to god onely , and onely before him to justifie his innocencie . excellently solomon : where the word of a king is , there is power ; and who may say unto him , what dost thou ? and therefore the wise man , in the wisdome of solomon , thus addresseth his speech unto them : heare therefore o ye kings , learne ye that be judges of the ends of the earth : give care you that rule the people , and glory in the multitude of nations : for power is given you of the lord , and soveraignty from the highest , who shall try your works , and search out your counsels . let us heare some of the fathers about this matter : irenaeus tels us , that the princes of the world having the laws as the garment of justice , shall not be questioned for those things they shall doe according to law and justice , nor yet suffer punishment : but if they shall practice any thing contrary to law , in a tyrannicall manner , to the subversion of justice , in this case they are reserved to the judgement of god , sinning against him onely . of those things which are committed to kings by god , they are only to give an account unto god . so far he . tertullian in his apologie rhetorizes it thus : we , saith he , doe invoke the eternall god , the true god , the living god , for the safety of emperours , whom even the emperours desire above all others to be propitious unto them . they know who hath given power unto them , who men under them , who their owne soules : they acknowledge it is god onely , in whose power alone they are ; from whom they are second ; next him the first , before all gods , and above all men . saint jerome saith of david , that he repenting , after he had accumulated murther upon his adultery , did say to god , against thee onely have i sinned , because he was a king , and feared not man . before s. jerome , s. ambrose thus descants on him : david sinned , as most kings doe ; but david repented , wept , and mourned , which most kings doe not . that which private men are ashamed to doe , the king was not ashamed to confesse : they that are bound by laws , dare deny their sin , and disdaine to aske pardon ; which he implored , who was not bound by humane lawes . he was a king , he was tyed by no laws : because kings are free from the 〈◊〉 of transgressions , for they are not called to punisment by the laws , being free by the power of their command . he did not therefore sin against man , because he was not subject to man . after him let us confort 〈…〉 lar : how far better then is the emperour , 〈◊〉 not tyed to the same laws , and hath power to make other lawes : and in another ●ce , there is a command upon judges , that they 〈◊〉 revoke sentence that is once passed upon an offender , and shall the emperour be under the same law ? for he alone may revoke the sentence , absolve him that is condemned , and give him his life . gregorie arch bishop of tours , thus speaks to chelperick king of france . if any of us , o king , shall transgresse the limits of justice , he may be corrected by you : but if you shall exceed the same limits , who shall question 〈◊〉 for we indeed doe speake unto you ; and if you will , you heare us : if you will not , who shall condemne you , but onely he who hath pronounced him selfe to be justice it selfe ? otto frisingensis writes to frederick o●n●barius in these words : furthermore , whereas there is no person in the world , which is not subject to the laws of the world , by being subject may not be enforced ; onely kings , as being constituted above laws , and reserved to the judgement of god ; are not 〈◊〉 by the laws of men . hence is that testimony of that king and prophet , against thee onely have i sinned it 〈…〉 then a king , not onely nobilitated with magnanimity of spirit , but illuminated 〈◊〉 divine grace , to acknowledge his creator , to have alwayes in his mind the king of kings , and lord of lords , and , as much as in him lyes , to take heed by all means not to fall into his hands . for , when as , according to that of the apostle to every man , it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living god : it will be so much the more fearfull for kings , who besides him , have none above them , whom they may feare , by how much above others they may sin more freely . which sayings of the fathers and other writers , divine and profane , thus premised , i cannot but wonder at the stupid ignorance , and ignorant wilfulnesse , of such men , who would make the world believe , that it is in the power of the pope , or of the people , or of the peeres , to call kings in question , and reduce them to order , if they be extravagant . and if there be a lawfull cause , ( saith bellarmine ) the multitude may change the kingdome into an aristocracie or democracie ; and on the contrary , as we reade hath beene done at rome . but to speak truly , there can be no cause , without the expresse command of god , either expressed or excogitated , for which it may be lawfull for subjects , either to depose , or put to death , or any other way restrain their king , be he never so wicked , never so flagitious . we doe not deny but this thing hath been done at rome , ( as bellarmine confesseth ) but by what right , let him look to it . we must not look so much what hath been done at rome , ( as the romane laws advise us ) as what ought to be done . but bellarmine doth affirme that the king is above the people and that , he acknowledgeth no other , beside 〈…〉 his 〈…〉 temporall things . but to returne whe● 〈…〉 . the power of a king over his people is expressed by samuel , to which they must of necessity 〈…〉 without resistances . not that the king was to 〈◊〉 so by right , as samuel had told the israelites 〈◊〉 would , ( for the law of god did prescribe 〈◊〉 a far more differing forme of government , then sh●ls in any wise set him 〈…〉 whom the lord thy god shall choose ( saith moses . ) but he shall not 〈…〉 to himselfe , nor cause the people to returne into egypt , to the end that he should multiply horses : forasmuch as the lord hath said unto you , ye shall henceforth returne no more that way . neither shall he multiply 〈◊〉 himselfe that his heart turne 〈…〉 neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold ) but because it was the common custome of the kings of the nations ( whose example they desired to imitate , in asking of a king , as other nations had ) so to doe . for samuel doth not speak to him that should be their king , but to the people that desired a king : yea , and he wrote this law of a kingdome , which he there describes , in a 〈◊〉 and put it before the lord , that is , into 〈…〉 of the covenant , that it might be for 〈…〉 all for ever , and a testimony to their posterity , of those things which he had foretold . joseph . l. 6. antiq. judaic . c. 5. where yet we must distinguish , between the rash and gready desire of kings , and the utility and necessity of common-wealths . if a king , spurred on by a private desire , and ravenous lust of having , doth claime such things as are there described , he deales unjustly and tyrannically : but if , the safety and necessity of the common-wealth so requiring , he demands those things ; then , he doth not unjustly , if he doth use his kingly power . againe , we must distinguish also betweene the thing , and the manner of the thing . if a king in exacting these things doth observe a just and lawfull manner , and without compulsion & violence doth require the help of his subjects , as their labours , tenths , and tributes , for the supporting of the state , and necessity of his kingdome ; he cannot be said 〈◊〉 be a tyrant , or deale injuriously : but if he shall goe beyond the bounds of necessity and ●egality ; and onely shall aime at his owne private ends , to the inconvenience and detriment of the publique good of his kingdome , he doth abuse his kingly power , and degenerates into tyrannie . excellently and satisfactorily to this purpose is that of lyra ( in comment . 1 sam. 8. ) sciend● quod aliqua sunt de jure regis in necessitate positi , &c. we must ( saith he ) know , that there are some things , which by right are the kings , being placed in necessity for the common good of the kingdome , and so all those things which are here expressed , are by right the kings ; because that , in such a case , all things that are the kings or princes , are to be exposed and expended for the common good : even as we see in the naturall body , that the hand , or any other part of the body , even by instinct of nature , is exposed for the preservation of the life of the who 〈◊〉 but if the ●ight of a king be taken otherwise , out of necessity , then there are more things expressed there , than doe appertain to the right of a king : as all those things which doe make a people to be 〈◊〉 subject , and those which doe not respect the common good , but rather the will of that man that is set above others in 〈◊〉 some . and such things 〈◊〉 the prophet samuel fore-tell them , to with d● their minds from asking after a king , because it was not so expedient for them , and because the power of a king , by reason of its greatnesse doth easily degenerate into tyrannie . gregorio calls the power given unto kings , jus regium turannerum , the kingly right of tyrants . he calls it ●gly , saith arnisaeus , because it is common to all kings : and he calls it the right , or power of tyrants , because it doth easily degenerate into tyranne , i● kings doe not use it in opportune and convenient time and place , with due moderation . the elect king david , ( as 〈…〉 the fore-named place when he was 〈…〉 unto the lord , he would not 〈◊〉 at 〈…〉 power and right of tyrants ; but he did 〈…〉 the threshing floore of araunah the 〈…〉 for his money yea , and ahab , even 〈…〉 king , did usurpno such power unto himselfe , when as he sought to acquire the vineyard of 〈◊〉 for the worth of it in money , or in exchange for a better vineyard : but whiles he did , upon a pretended crime , take both life and vineyard away from na●th , because he refusing the conditions he had propounded to him , he did fulfill the prophecie of samuel , and justly suffered the reward of his impiety . so that , though kings be constituted only by god , & are to give an account of their actions onely to god ; though they be above the people , and for no crime soever may be deposed or coerced by the people ; yet they must not deale with their subjects as they list : they must neither make slaves of their persons , unjustly oppressing them with their power ; nor yet make havock of their estates , tyrannically usurping them at their pleasure . they must know , that as god hath set them over men ; so it is for the good of those men . they are not onely lords and arbiters , saith lipsius , but they are tutors and administers of states . they are lewd and wicked princes , as he speaks , who being constituted in an empire , doe think of nothing but to be imperious : and they are proud and carelesse , ( saith he ) who doe think that they are not given for the good of their people , but their people onely for them . for , as in the superiour world , the stars have their splendour ; yet so , as they may be usefull for men : so , in this inferiour would , princes likewise have their dignity ; yet so , as with it they have their duty . the commonweal● is by god conferred upon them : but it is committed , as it were , into their bosome ; that it may be fostered and preserved , not ruined and devoured by them . happy is that prince , who in the highest pitch of fortune , desires not so much to be held great , as good , in the esteeme of his people ; and he is no lesse fortunate , that can so temper power and modestie , the two most differing things , in his behaviour and carriage , as that his people cannot tell whether they shall salute him as a lord , or as a father . there are prerogatives and royalties , which must by no meanes be denyed to the prince : and there are immunities and priviledges , which must not be kept back from the subject . the prince must so use his royall prerogative , as that he doth not infringe the subjects rights ; and the subjects must so lay claime to their rights , as that they doe not derogate from the regality of the prince : that so , he ruling as a royall prince , and they obeying , as loyall subj● , may be both happy in the enjoyment of each other . now the prerogatives which by right belong unto the prince , are ripaticks , or watertoles , which are commonly called customes , for the importing and transporting of commodities , by sea , ship-money , the profit of fines and amercements , vacant goods , the goods of condemned and proscribed persons , and other emoluments , which the lawyers doe terme royaltyes , which are due unto the prince , not only for the splendor and glory of his court , but for the better maintaining of the publique affaires . princes may al● be use of the propes goods and labours of their subjects , for the 〈◊〉 of the common , good 〈…〉 may exact tributes , and taxes of the 〈…〉 they may impose lawes to them , whe● 〈…〉 will or no , and they may command 〈…〉 which doe not repugne the law of god 〈…〉 of nature , and the law of the land , o● 〈…〉 christ to the pharises asking him whether it were lawfull to pay tribute to caesar or no , looking upon the money which had the impression , and inscription of caesars image , gave this answer , render therefore unto caesar , the things that are caesars ; and unto god , the things that are gods . and saint paul to the romans , render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due , custome to whom custome , feare to whom feare , honour to whom 〈◊〉 : and the same apostle to titus , put them in minde , to be subject to principalities and powers , to obey magistrates , to be ready to every good worke . for as seneca hath it , the power of all things pertaine unto the king , the propriety unto the subject . the king hath all things in his command , every man in their possession . the king hath all things within his dominions , his exchequer onely , those things which properly belong unto him : and all things are within his power , his owne things onely in his patrimony . rightly cicero : we must endeavour that we doe not ( which often times happened amongst our ancestors ) give tribute by reason of the renuitie of the treasurie , and assiduity of wars : which that it may not come to passe , we must make provision long aforehand ; but if any necessity of this duty shall happen unto a common wealth ( for i had rather prophecie of another then our own , nor doe i speake so much of our 〈◊〉 as of every common-wealth ) diligence 〈…〉 that all may come to know and understand if they will bee safe ) that they must obey necessity . for as tacitus hath it , neither the quiet of nations can be had without armes ; nor armes be had without stipends ; nor can stipends be had without tributes . these , these , ( saith cicero ) are the ornaments of peace , and the muniments of warre . in the beginning of things ( saith justine ) the government of countreyes and nations was in the power of kings : whom , no popular ambition , but approved moderation , amongst good men , did advance to this heighth of honour . the people was not tyed by any laws : but the arbitrament , and pleasure of their princes , was instead of laws unto them . pomponius speakes to the same purpose , whenas hee saith : and to speake truth in the beginning of our city , all things were governed by the kings disposall . and ulpian seconds him : that which pleaseth the king ( saith he ) had the force of a law : as when by the royall law , which is given concerning his empire , the people doth confer all their power and authority to him , and on him . whatsoever therefore the emperour hath ordained & subscribed by writing , or by any edict commanded , it is a law without contradiction : these are those which we commonly call constitutions . justinian the emperour to demostenes thus writeth . if the imperiall majesty shall have throughly examined the cause , and given sentence to the parties present , let the judges know , who are within our empire , that this shall be a law , not onely for that cause for which it was given , but for all causes of the like nature . for what is greater , what more inviolable than the imperiall majesty ? or who is so puft up with the conceit of pride , as that hee dare contemne the understanding of the king ? whenas the founders of the old law doe plainely & clearely define , that those constitutions which did proceede from imperiall determination , doe obtaine the force and vigour of a law . and a little after hee addeth these words : for , if , for the present , it be granted to the emperour onely to make laws , it is onely worthie an emperour to interpret laws . whereupon he thus concludes ; therefore , these ridiculous ambiguities exploded , the emperour alone shall be most justly reputed to be both the maker and interpreter of laws : this law nothing derogating from the makers of the old laws : because imperiall majesty gave the same priviledge even unto them . by me ( saith the eternall wisdome of god ) doe kings reigne , and princes decree justice . from whence saint augustine ( whose sentence is reckoned amongst the canons ) doth thus argue : by what right do you defend the church ? by gods law , or by mans ? we have the law of god in the scriptures ; and we have the law of man in the constitutions of kings . and not far after : therefore by the law of man , by the law of kings . why so ? because god hath distributed the laws of men to mankinde by kings and princes . so in another place be thus reasons : for , if it be lawfull for a king in a city , where he hath dominion , to command anything , which neither ever any before him , nor yet he himselfe commanded , and not contrary to the society of that citie , he is obeyed ; yea , contrary to the society he is not obeyed ( for it is a generall pact and covenant amongst humane society to obey their kings ) how much more then ought we to obey god the governour of every creature , and serve him , without any doubt , in those things which he hath commanded ? aristotle teacheth that there are three parts of every common-wealth : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . one which consults for the good of the republique : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} another which is versed in government : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a third which doth exercise it selfe in judicature . but that is the chiefest which consults of warre and peace , of society and leagues ; of laws and death ; of banishment and publicating of goods ; of making and receiving accounts . yet , in another place he seemes to recall these three into two parts , in these words : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . for there are actions of a city : both of those who doe command , and of those who doe obey : but the scope and office of him that governes , consists in commanding and in judgeing . of later wrjters bodinus ( whose sentence yet is approved with the common consent of the learned ) defines this power of the supreame magistrate ( which he calls by the name of majesty ) to be an absolute and perpetuall authority over citizens and subjects , and not tyed to any laws . it is manifest therefore , that all other heads of majesty are included in this absolute power of making and taking away of laws : insomuch , that we may rightly call it , the chiefest power of a common-weale , comprehended in this one thing , which is , to give laws to all and every subject , never to receive any from them , for , by his own right , to make warre with adversaries , and at pleasure to contract peace with them , although they may seeme to be somewhat discrepant from the appellation of law ; yet they are done by law , that is , the command of imperiall authority : so likewise , it is a prerogative of majesty to take notice of appeales fro higher powers , to give and abrogate commands to supreame officers ; to dispose of offices when they are vacant ; to give immunities , and free citizens fró , laws ; to have the power of life & death ; to set a price , name and figure upon moneyes ; and to impose an oath upon subjects : all which things both of commanding & forbidding , come within the supreame power ; that is , to give laws to all & every subject , and to receive from none but the immortall god . these are some of the royall prerogatives , which have been premised in generall and promiscuously : but the politicians are more exact in describing these rights of majesty and royaltie , and they make them of two sorts : greater and lesser . the greater prerogatives belonging unto majesty are those which doe primarily and more principally appertaine to the chiefe authority of the king of emperour . and they are , first , the power of making and abrogating laws at pleasure , as the necessity of the common wealth shall require . for this is , as bodinus hath it , the prime and principall head of majesty , and without this the folitique power cannot long stand . for it is , as the juris-consults have determined , the propriety of law to command . but an emperour , or king without a command , what other thing is he , than as a dreame without sleepe ? but this must be understood of the nomothetique or legislative power , which doth institute laws by its own authority , and not by the command of another . and therefore , it is more than manifest that the decemuiri amongst the romans , who were enforced to seek to the people for the confirmation of those laws which they had made , as livie relates , could not be said to make them by the right of majestie . secondly , a second right of majesty is extreame provocation ; that is , that subjects cannot appeale from the laws that are made by imperiall majesty . for it is a most certain signe of a limited power , if an appeale may be made from the law giver to a superiour . and hereupon bodinus infers , that the dictators did not shine with royall majesty , and that they were not the chiefe magistrates , but curatours onely , or commisaries , as we call them . for the father of fabius did appeale from papirius then dictatour unto the people . ad tribunos appello ( so livie repeates his words ) & ad populum provoco , qui plus quàm dictatura potest , i appeale , saith he , to the tribunes , i protest to the people , who have more power than the dictatorship . now an appeale ( as bedinus hath it ) is a suspension of the jurisdiction of an inferiour judge , by a lawfull invocation of a superior ; made in the same judicial place , and alwayes ascends with the order of magistrates , untill it comes to the highest power , in which it must necessarily acquiesce and rest . as for example : in the romane empire the chiefe tribunall is the imperiall chamber : in france and with us in england , the high court of parliament : and in other inferiour principalities , the princes chiefe court . a third right of majesty , is the creation of dukes , marquesses , earles , barrons , and other noble men . for it is without doubt , that the king or emperour is the fountaine of all nobility and dignity . fourthly , another prerogative of majesty is the founding of academies . for this is referred to the eminence & preheminence of kings & emperours , & which , the pope cannot ( as baldus doth insinuate ) without unjust usurpation ascribe to himselfe . and this , not to speak of our own two famous universities , the most ancient academies , do evidence unto us : of which the university of bononia , the mother of students , which was first erected by theodosius , afterwards repaired by carolus magnus , and endued by them with many immunities and priviledges , is a sufficient witnesse . what shall i say of the vniversities of prague , paris and padua , who acknowledge , not without respective gratitude , the emperours of the same name to be their founders and benefactors ? and therefore the approbation of the pope is not requisite for the founding of an academy : because the civilians tell us , that the jurisdiction , which is exercised beyond the territory of him that commands , is most worthily to be rejected . lastly , other politicians are wont to referre to the regalities of majesty , the calling of councills and synods , legitimation , restitution of fame , the ordering of all judicialls , the indicting of war , and conclusion of peace , and the like , of which you may reade in althus : in pol. c. 7. and thom. mich : de jurisdict : concil. 11.32 . and 47. the lesser rights belonging to majesty , which the king , or emperour may more easily dispence with then the greater , are the remitting or lessening of penalties and mulcts , customes , tributes , the rights of faires or publiplique mercats , of which you may likewise reade l. un . c. de nund . jus saxon. l. 3. art . 66. and l. 2. art . 26. mysing . 5. obser. 29. n. 1.2 . nou. 89. c. 9. vult . l. 1. iurisp . c. 23. n. 13. but to returne , where we did digresse , the king , ( who hath the cheife and absolute command in monarchy ) the parent , yea the author of the law , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a living law , is far greater then the law : as one , who by authority given him from god , can , when he sees it fitting , whether his subjects will or no , yea without their consent , either make or abrogate the law . nor hinders it that he makes use of counsellours and ministers , for so he doth lessen his care and sollicitude , which in the government of a kingdom aright is the greatest ; but not diminish the power of his command , or ecclipse his majesty . the emperours were wont to say , that we account it of our princely clemencie ( worthy senatours ) if when hereafter any emergent necessity shall happen , either in the private or publique cause , which doth require a generall forme and not inserted in the ancient laws , that it be treated of by all ; as well the peeres of our court aforehand , as by your most honourable assembly : and that , if it shall seeme good to all the iudges , as well as your selves , it be then dictated as a law ; and so , when you be all met together , that it be read again : and when all shall have consented unto it , then at length that it be repeated in the sacred consistorie of our majesty : that so the common consent of all may be confirmed with the authority of our highnesse , &c. hence is that , of the iurisconsults , that a prince alone can make statutes , although it be his courtesie that he doth admit the counsell of his peeres . the communication of counsels doth not introduce a consortship of the kingdom . for the rights of majesty ( as bodinus hath it ) may be attributed to the chiefe prince ; but not to magistrates , or private men : but if they be ascribed to either , then they cease to be the prerogatives of majesty . and , as a crown , if it be distracted into parts , or communicated , loseth the name of a crown ; so the rights of majesty vanish if they be communicated with the subject . that which is more evident , by the common decrees of the lawyers : those rights can neither be passed away , nor divided , nor any wayes abalienated from the chiefe prince , nor can they be prescribed by any diuturnity of time . for which cause baldus doth call them sacra sacrorum ; and cynus the individualls of majesty : but if the chief prince shal once communicate these unto the subject , instead of a servant , he is like to have a consort of his empire : and in the meane while , he loseth the regality of majesty , in that he cannot be said to be the chief prince : because he is chiefe who neither hath a superiour nor yet co-partner of his empire . but because princes when they are publikely inaugurated , doe religiously promise that they wil maintain the rights of their ancestors , & the former constitutions of the empire , and other things of that nature ; therefore may some thinke they are tyed by their oath to observe them , nor can they with a safe conscience any way relinquish them . to this it is answered , that princes do no wayes prejudice themselves by swearing , but that they may as freely administer to the good of the common-wealth , as if they had not sworn at al : for they sweare nothing , but that , to which if they had not sworne they are obliged . for , that which is just and equal , that by their office they are bound to observe and do ; but , to doe that which is evil and unjust , they cannot be bound by any covenant or promise whatsoever , though they have confirmed it with an oath . now what is more unjust , than that a prince should be bound to maintain and keepe those laws , which it is necessary that they must be either antiquated , or the common-wealth come to ruine ? although all change whatsoever ( as it is in the proverb ) is very dangerous , yet that of laws , is most pernicious : and yet it is as certaine on the other side , that the change of manners doth efflagitate a change of laws , and that there is no law so honest and inviolable , or so deare , even by the shew of antiquity it selfe , but that , necessity so requiring , it may & ought to receive a change . salus populi , suprema lex esto : the peoples safety is the chiefest law . to conclude , if that kings and princes , breaking all bonds of laws ( which yet god forbid they should ) doe falsifie their promises , and disrespect their vowes , making no account of what they have engaged themselves to by their protestations ; yet the people must not rise up in rebellion against them , or shake off the yoake of obedience from them , seeing they are to have no other than god himselfe to be their judge and their avenger . chap. ii. the svbjects loyalty , or , the duty of subjects to their kings . having in the former chapter set forth unto you the royalty of kings over their subjects : where i have declared their originall from god , and their end , next to god , their subjects good ; and that though they should come short of that end for which they were constituted and ordeined , yet they ought not to be cut short by the people under them , but are to be reserved to the judgement of god , next to whom they are second here upon earth , and under whom they have no superiour , being above all laws of men , and themselves a law unto their subjects : i now come to describe unto you the loyaltie of subjects towards their kings , and the peoples duty . for , a king and subjects being relatives ; and the formall cause of a kingdome consisting in that order which is betweene the king and his subjects ; by which he rules , and they submit ; he governe , and they be governed ; he commands ; and they obey ; it is very requisite in these miserably distracted times , where most men would shake off the yoke of obedience from their shoulders , and live as they list without all order : that , having spoken of kings and their power over their subjects , i should now say somwhat of subjects , and their duty to their kings . and here , that we may the better setforth their duty , it will not be amisse to expresse their nature : for , so knowing what they be , we shall the sooner come to know what they must doe . now if wee consult bodinus about them , he will tell us , that subjects are those , who are bound to maintain , and fight for the dignity & safety of their prince as for themselves : and to have the same friends and enemies with their prince . or , as others doe describe them : subjects are a part of the common-wealth , which are obliged to the supreme power , even to all that they have : and for this cause it is , that they doe enjoy all the priviledges of the weale publike . this is the nature of a subject . but then , if any should aske me who are subjects as well as what are subjects ; i must again have recourse to the politicians ; who do give us to understand , that by the name of subjects , we are to take notice of the multitude of men , which are governed ; or rather , who submit themselves to be governed . and in this name , we must comprehend all , and every one , of what state and condition soever they be , that are in that city , provance , & countrey , where a magistrate is the head : for , so many as do belong to a common-wealth , doe appertaine to the one part of it : viz. they are referred to be either magistrates , or subjects : whence it follows , that the name of subject is more general than that of citizen , specifically and properly so called ; although in writers we finde them to bee promiscuously used . for , he that is a partaker with others of publike honour and dignity is properly a citizen : but hee that partakes onely of burthens and taxes , & not as wel of honours and dignity in the common-wealth , where he resides & lives , is not a citizen , but a subject . they are termes contrariant , not reciprocall . every citizen , is a subject : but every subject , is not a citizen . there is also another disagreeing respect , for a citizen is so called , in respect of his native countrey or common-wealth , where he is borne , or to which he is ascribed : but he is a subject in respect of that magistrate which he obeyes , wheresoever he is . now men are said to be subjects two manner of wayes ; either by their nativity and birth ; or by their dwelling and habitation . that a mans nativity and birth doe make him to be a subject , is plainly evidenced ex l. assumptio 6. § 1. ad municip . filius civitatem , ex quâ pater ejus originem duxit , non domicilium sequitur . a sonne follows the city from which his father doth derive his originall , not his house . and if a man be born of parents of divers cities , he follows the condition of his father , not of his mother . l. municip . 1. § 2. f.eod. the house , or dwelling , in which any doth fixe and settle the seat of his fortunes , doth make him a subject . but what space of time is required to contract a house or dwelling , the interpreters of law doe varie : because , in this thing the laws and manners of every particular common-wealth is to be respected . agreeable to this , is that distinction of the jurisperites , who discriminate subjects by a naturall , and a voluntarie obligation . he is a subject , say they , by a naturall obligation , who is borne under the jurisdiction , and in the dominions of that magistrate , to whom he is subject : and he is a subject by a voluntary obligation , who willingly and spontaneously offers himselfe to any magistrate , and acknowledgeth him for his supreame head , although he be not born within his territories and dominions . to which two sorts of subjects , we may , not without good reason , adde another species , viz. such a one , as being vanquished in warre , is made subject to him that did subdue him . for , when a prince or magistrate overcomes any in a lawfull war , they are then made subject to his jurisdiction and power . but be they subjects these , or any other wayes , they are bound , whosoever they be that are subjects , to yeeld obedience to him who is their prince and governour . if any should doubt of the truth of this assertion , ( because the contrary doctrine is now broached and published by our novel divines ) let him but consult the apostle to the romanes , ( unlesse perchance for the same tenet he be held a malignant ) and he will satisfie him : let every soule ( saith he ) submit himself unto the higher powers . they are his expresse words , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . in which universall precept he includes all , of all orders , and states , all sexes and conditions . as if hee should have said : all , whatsoever they be , that do live in a common-wealth , must submit themselves to the supreme magistrate , that is the head of that common-wealth . so that , in the apostles precept , we have not onely implyed the qualities of their persons that are subjects ; but we have also expressed the nature of their duties : viz. subjection and obedience . we shall not need to goe farre then to search after the duty of subjects to their prince : the apostle he hath done it to our hands : it is obedience . and so the augustane confession in the 16. article doth acknowledge it . the first commandement of the second table , which ( as the apostle speaks ) is the first commandement with promise , doth set forth this duty by the name of honour . for so we read it in the decalogue , honour thy father and thy mother , that thy dayes may be long in the land which the lord thy god giveth thee . exod. 20.12 . where , by father , according to the unanimous consent of all divines , we are to understand , not onely our naturall father , that did beget us ; but our spirituall father also , that doth teach us ; and our civill father likewise , the king , who is pater patriae , the father of our country , that doth protect us . and then , by honour which we are commanded to yeeld to this father , we are to conceive all those duties which are comprehended in it . now the politicians doe tell us , that this name of honour , doth consist of sixe severall members , which doe imply as many severall duties , which every subject is bound to performe to the prince his head , viz. agnition , reverence , love , obedience , gratitude , and equity . the first member , wherein this honour doth consist , and the first duty , which every subject is to performe unto his prince , is agnition : that is , an acknowledgement of gods ordinance in the office of the prince . for god will have his owne ordinance to be acknowledged in the civill magistrate ; and that we doe conceive of him , as constituted by god : seeing that as the apostle speaks , there is no power but of god ; and the powers that be , are ordained of god . after which manner , did the woman of tekoah conceive of king david , when as she being sent by joab to intercede for absolom , that he might returne from his banishment into the kings favour : for as an angel of god , ( saith she ) so is my lord the king , to discern good and bad . and a little after , my lord is wise according to the wisdome of an angel of god . and so did mephibosbeth esteem of him , when as he did compellate him with the same title : but my lord the king , is as an angel of god . which agnition and acknowledgement of gods ordinance in him , is a notable meanes to stir up our obedience to him . the second member wherein this honour doth consist , is reverence : when as , subjects look upon their prince not onely as a man , but as a man of god ; and reverence , not so much his person , as his office . for the king is gods legat , and his vicar , presenting his person . and therefore saint peter , when he exhorts to the feare of god , he doth annex the honour of the king : as if there can be no true feare of god , without due reverence to the king , who presents gods person . for which cause , solomon the wisest of men , & richest of kings , doth joyne the feare of god and the king together : the king , for presenting gods perion is called god , not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , as plato styles him , as a god amongst men ; but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , an earthly god , being gods minister . yea , as the prophet david , and before him moses , god himselfe . yea , to goe farther , god himselfe doth so call him , ego dixi , i have said it , ye are gods . which yet we must not understand , as if they were so {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , indeed ; but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in name : not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , by nature ; but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , by office . and so much the very heathen did acknowledge . for it is reported of philip of macedonia , that he was wont to say , that a king ought to remember , that he being a man , doth discharge the office of god : and the office which he doth execute , is from thence named {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a power like unto gods . whence it is , that s. augustine saith , the king bearing the image of god , ought therefore to be reverenced , if not for himselfe , at least , yet for his office sake . the third member ; wherein this honour doth consist , is love . and it is another duty of subjects to love their princes : not onely for their office , which they , in the name and place of god , do undergoe ; but for the manifold benefits and commodities which they receive from them , by their happy government : thus was king david accepted in the eyes of all the people , whither soever he was sent . kings , as you heard , are patres patriae , fathers of their country ; and therefore subjects ought to respect them with a filiall love , even as children do love their fathers . a fourth member , wherein this honour doth consist , is obedience : subjects must willingly , and readily yeeld obedience , to all the just and honest commandes of their princes , which do no wayes repugne the lawes of god . they must not onely acknowledge , reverentiam subjectionis , a reverence of subjection ; but they must also give them obedientians jussionis , an obedience to their just commands . for , as saint chrysost 〈◊〉 observeth : a people that obeyeth not their prince ; is like to them that have no prince at all : yea , and in a worse estate : for you cannot call that a kingdome , where the king is neglected , and his laws not observed . he seemeth to mee to have lost his kingdome , saith the philosopher , who hath lost his due obedience from his subjects . and therefore subjects must obey their prince , not onely for feare of wrath , that is , to escape punishment , if they neglect their duty ; but also for conscience sake , as the apostle teacheth , because god commands them . the fift member , wherein this honour doth consist , is gratitude . subjects are bound , by way of thankfulnesse , to honour their princes , if it were for no other reason , but because they do dayly enjoy the benefits of peace , prosperity , and protection by them . which gratitude must expresse it self by two other virtues , as necessary as it self ; and without which , it cannot subsist : and they are these : verity and justice : verity , in acknowledging what great blessings , favours , and emoluments they receive by them ; and justice , in endeavouring to make satisfaction , and compensation for them . and for this cause it is , that they pay them tenths , subsidies , customes , and tributes : without which , not the king onely , but the kingdome also , would be debilitated and go to ruine . in these tributes and contributions , ( saith ulpian ) there is none but may know that the strength of a kingdome doth consist . they are the very nerves of a common-wealth . they are , saith cicero , the ornaments of peace , and the supporters of war . it is impossible , said the emperour , that otherwise a republique could be conserved , if it were not for the religious observation , and due collation of tributes . the necessity of which , menenius agrippa , in livie , would teach the romans , with this not more wittie than apposite apologie : for , as if food and nourishment be denyed to the belly , the whole body must of necessity languish and waste away by a consumption : so , if you with-hold subsidies and tributes from the chiefe magistrate , the common-wealth must of necessity come to ruine . and therefore wel said tacitus , you soone teach the dissolution of an empire , if you diminish the revenue , by which it should be sustained : nay , if , as lipsius hath it , you doe not sometimes augment them . lastly , the sixt member wherein the honour of subjects towards their prince consists , is equity . which is a vertue , whereby every subject is bound with candour , either to cover the imperfections and errors of his prince , and to interpret them in the best sense ; or , by a prudent dissimulation to passe them by , and take no notice of them : or , if the reason of his place doth so require it , by moderate counsels and admonitions to endeavour to reforme them . for , that which is spoken unto children by the son of sirach , every true subject ought to apply it to himselfe : glory not in the dishonour of thy father : for thy fathers dishonour is no glory unto thee : for the glory of a man is from the honour of his father . and we cannot but be knowing of chams curse , for laying open , or not covering his fathers nakednesse . it is the office and duty therefore of every subject , according to their respective places , not to discover , but rather to cover and conceale the naeves , infirmities , and imperfections of their princes ; and , as opportunity shal serve , in an humble way , seek by wholsome admonitions , and moderate counsels , to reclaime them . this was luthers doctrine , that great instrument of reformation , which at this day is so much pretended . the office of subjects , saith he , doth require , that they doe declare unto princes what they know not . for , as princes may sinne by not knowing those things which they doe to , be sins ; so , subjects may sin more in not shewing to princes those things which they doe to be sins . the one sinnes by ignorance , the other by negligence . and to this end he alledgeth that passage of abimelock king of gerar : who having taken to himselfe abrahams wife , because abraham had told him she was his sister ; and being warned by god in a dreame to restore her to him ; did lay all the fault upon abraham , because he had no sooner imparted the villanie and wickednesse of his courtiers unto him . and thus you see wherein the duty of subjects consists : either in one word of obedience , as saint paul expresseth it : or in one word of honour , which comprehends acknowledgment , reverence , love , obedience , gratitude and equity , as the fift commandement doth desire it . so then , to bring all to a head : all , and every subject , are bound to submit themselves unto their princes , in those things which they command , not being contrary to the laws of god , and the laws of nature . it is true , that in the apostles times , there were some , who absurdly interpreting the holy scriptures , as too many now , fanatically given , by an unknown spirit ; and extending their christian liberty further then the simplicity of the gospel would permit them , did maintaine , that it was a most unworthy thing , that they , who were freed by the sonne of god , and governed by the spirit of god , should be under the power of man . of this leaven , was judas of galile , of whom we 〈◊〉 in the acts of the apostles . he , as joseph 〈◊〉 late 's , taught , that by the law of god , none ought fit to be called lord , but god himselfe ; and that there was no obedience due to the politique magistrate , no tribute to caesar . after them , sprung up the donatists , anabaptists , and their disciples , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , all birds of an ill brood , who did likewise reject the command of the civil magistrate . lastly , the pontisicians , though not in the same manner , did oppose the power of princes , cavilling with the civill authority , and maintaining that their clergie can by no means be punished by a civill judge : or compelled to appeare before the tribunall of a secular magistrate ; but that all their goods , as well ecclesiasticall as civill , 〈◊〉 free , and so ought to be from the tributes and taxes of secular princes . all whose erroneous tenents , and opinions , the spirit of god having confuted in his holy word , doth exactly and precisely determine the contrary ; expresly setting forth , and commanding the office of subjects to their princes . s. paul , as you heard , gives this exhortation : let every souls submit himselfe unto the higher powers : rom. 13.1 . he excepts no order , nor sex , nor condition , nor any thing that hath the nature of man . and a little after , render wherefore unto all their dues : tribute , to whom tribute is doe ; custome , to whom custome ; fear , to whom feare ; honour to whom honour . and , in his epistle to titus , he layes a charge upon him , then bishop of 〈◊〉 , that he should give it in charge to the cretians , to be subject to principalities and powers , to obey magistrates , and to be ready to every good work . tit. 3.1 . so in his first epistle to timothie : i exhort , saith he , that first of all , supplications , prayers , intercessions , and giving of thanks be made for all men : for kings and for all that are in authority , that we may live a quiet and a peaceable life , in all godlinesse and honesty : the same thing , before saint paul , yea , before our saviour himselfe , as he was in the flesh , did the prophet jeremiah exhort the jews unto , that were exiles from their own countrey in assyria : and that not without especiall command from god , that they should pray to god for the safety of the king , and the kingdom of babylon , where they were captives ; and withall , he doth sharply reprove the rashnesse of those false prophets , who by vaine promises , and hopes of immature libertie did incite them to rebellion . thus saith the lord of hosts , the god of israel unto all that are carried away captives , whom i have caused to be carried away from jerusalem to babylon : seeke the peace of the city , where i have caused you to be carried away captives ; and pray unto the lord for it : for in the peace thereof yee shall have peace . nor , is saint peter backward to informe the strangers scattered throughout pontus , galatia , cappadocia , and bithynia , with the same doctrine . submit your selves , saith he , to every ordinance of man , for the lords sake : whether it be to the king , as supreme ; or unto governours , that are sent by him : and presently after , feare god : honour the king . from which wholsome doctrine of saint paul , the prophet jeremiah , and saint peter , you may see , not onely the pernicious tenets and positions of those , and all other schismatically affected reformadoes , alias renegadoes , confuted ; but the truth of obedience , due to the civill magistrate confirmed : and , that in obedience , honour , reverence , tributes , and other duties , formerly mentioned , to be by subjects performed to their princes , comprehended and enjoyned . but , to what kind of princes do the apostles &c prophets in scriptures enjoyne these duties to be performed ? that wil be a question wel worth the time to be resolved , especially at this time , when every one almost doth take the liberty to himself ; peremptorily to affirm that subjects ought not to give obedience to their king , if he doth not , as they they would have him , & wil not be perswaded & ruled by them . for say they , it would not bee grievous or irksom to us to yeeld obedience and that respective observance , w● you have alleadged fro the holy scriptures , unto good & gracious princes ; but it goes against our consciences to performe these duties to one king , seeing hee swerves from the holy scriptures , which are the word of god ; and wil not be ruled by his great counsel , but is seduced by malignant councellors , to wicked and ungodly acts of tyrannie . to this , i answer ; that if our gracious king ( which god forbid ) should degenerate so far from himself , as to comit such outrages as they would suggest ( which blessed be god as hitherto he hath not , nor is there likelyhood that he ever wil , although , if he were not so good and so gracious as he is , he might soone by their rebellious carriage be invited to it ) yet they are bound in duty to performe obedience to him ; and not of as too many abuse 〈…〉 , &c misled , do , hand over headrise up in rebellion against him . for , if we consult the same apostle , and other places of the holy scriptures , we shall finde , that the forementioned duties , are not only to be performed to good and gracious princes ; but even to wicked and tyranicall , even , to those that are most cruel ; as were tiberius , caligula , claudius , nero : for under all these the apostles lived , & their epistles coetanie to them , directed for obedience to them . nor is it without good reason , that such obedience should be given to them : for , they are of god , as well as good kings : there is no power ( saith the apostle ) but of god : that is , all power is from god onely . for that negative apostolicall axiome is equipollent on all sides to an universall affirmative . so daniel telleth nebuchadnezzer , that the most high ruleth in the kingdome of men , and giveth it to whomsoever he will , and setteth up over at the basest of men . so christ himselfe pronounceth of pilate , that wicked president of the jews , that he had no power over him , were it not given him from above . and therefore , seeing their power is alike from god , we must give the like obedience to them , as to god . it was the saying of him , who sometimes was nazianzens worthie , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} subjects must submit themselves to good and gracious princes , as to god : and they must submit to evil and ungodly princes , for god : that is , because god hath so commanded it . let us heare the fathers a little farther in this point , and we shall finde that they doe all unanimously give their votes unto it . tertullian , if we addresse our selves to him , resolves us in these words : for as much therefore as concernes the honour of kings and emperours , we have a sufficient prescript that we should be subject , according to the apostles precept , in all obsequiousnesse to magistrates , princes , and higher powers . but yet within the bounds and limits of religion , so far , as we are separated from idolatrie . for therefore is that example of the three brethren excelling , who otherwise obsequious to king nabuchodonosor , did most constantly refuse to give honour to his image ; proving that it was idolatry , whatsoever was exalted above the measure of humane honour , after the manner of divine majesty . and so daniel relying upon darius forother things , so long continued in his office , as he was free from the danger of his religion : but rather then he would run that hazard , he did no more feare the kings lyons , then the others were afraid of the kings fornace . optatus milevitanus , speaking of davids observance to king saul , hath these words : david had the opportunity of victory in his hands : he might have killed his adversaries , unwitting of him and secure , without much adoe , and he might have changed , without much bloud-shed , or the conflict of many , his tedious warfare into a sudden slaughter : both his servants and opportunity did invite him to it . opportunity did spur him on to victory . now he began to draw his sword : and now his armed hand was ready to seize upon his adversaries throat : but the remembrance of divine institutions did altogether withstand these intentions : he contradicts not onely his servants , but opportunity , egging him on to victory . as if he should have said thus unto them : o victorie , causelesly dost thou provoke me on : o victorie , thou dost in vaine invite me to triumph : i would willingly overcome mine enemie , but i must first observe the commands of god . i will not ( saith he ) lay my hands on the lords anointed . he did represse both his hand and his sword ; and whiles he did revere the oyle , he saved his adversary ; and performing observance to him , though his adversary , he did vindicate him from slaughter . saint augustine speaking of the same person , speaks in this manner : david well knowing that there was a divine constitution in the office of kings , doth therefore still honour king saul , being in the same condition , lest he should seeme to injure god , who decreed honour to this order . for a king hath the image of god , even as a bishop the image of christ . so long therefore as he is in that condition , he is to be honoured ; if not for himself , yet for his order . whereupon the apostle saith , be subject to the higher powers , for there is no power but of god , and the powers that be are ordained of god . hence it is that we doe honour an infidel in authority , although he be unworthy of it ; who performing gods office in that order , doth gratifie the devil : yet the power he hath , doth require that we give honour to him , &c. and in another place : but in that the apostle saith , let every soule submit himselfe to the higher powers : for there is no power but of god : he doth rightly admonish , that no man be puffed up with pride , for that he is called by the lord into liberty , and made a christian ; and that he doth not think there is no order to be kept in the course of this life ; and that he is not to be subject to the higher powers , to whom for a time the government of temporall things is concredited . and a little farther , if any man therefore think , that because he is a christian , he is not to pay custome , tribute , or due honour to those higher powers , to whom those things of right doe appertaine , he is in a great errour : but this rule is to be observed which the lord himself prescribed , that we give unto caesar , the things that are caesars , and unto god , the things that are gods . s. jerome , whose sentence is inscribed among the canons , saith thus : if it be good , which the emperour , or magistrate , commands , obey the will of him that commands : but if it be evill , answer him out of the acts of the apostles , it is better to obey god then men . s. chrysostome , upon the words of the apostle , let every soule submit himselfe to the higher powers , thus descants : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . although thou beest an apostle , although an euangelist , although a prophet , or whatsoever else thou beest , thou must submit . s. ambrose thus expresseth himselfe : i could grieve , i could weep , i could mourne : my teares are weapons against the armies and soldiers of the goths , for such are the weapons of a priest . otherwise , i neither ought , nor will resist . bernard to lodowick king of france , writes in this manner : but whatsoever it shall please your majesties mind to doe , we that are the sonnes of the church , cannot , in the least , dissemble the injuries , contempts and scorn even to the trampling under foot of our mother , &c. and a little after , but we will stand out , and fight even to the death , if necessity shall require , for our mother : but with such weapons as are lawful for us to use : not with swords , but with words ; not with shields , but with prayers and tears to god . and in another place , if the whole world should conspire against me , to make me attempt any thing against royall authority , yet i would feare god , and would not dare to doe any thing rashly against the king , that is ordained by him . for i well know where i have read , whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , &c. amongst later writers , cardinall cajetan thus comments upon saint paul : after that the apostle had instructed the romans about the use of the body , affaires of the world , and the gifts of god ; he doth now prosecute his instruction about the use of liberty in respect of princes . for he gives them a caution , lest by reason of the liberty which they had obtained by christ , they should think themselves to be exempted from the power of secular princes . and to this end he doth instruct them , that they should be subject to secular powers . and whereas he ought to have said , every man , he doth more significantly say , every soule ; that so we might understand , not only our estates , not onely our bodies , but even our souls ought to be subject to temporal kings , in those things which they may lawfully command . and in saying all , or every , he excepteth none . see , how the fathers doe , with one consent vote that we must give obedience to kings , although they be wicked , in all things that are not unlawfull ; that honour , tribute , obedience , and the like , must be given to lawfull princes ; and that there is no other remedy against their violence and injustice , but prayers and teares to almighty god . what , doe we think that they were destitute of strength , that they could not oppose one power with another , or repell one injury with another ? were they so stupid and ignorant that they did not understand what power was in the pope or people , to reduce their kings into good government ? they wanted neither power to resist , nor forces to rebell , if we dare give credit to tertullian , ( who yet is of sufficient authority and antiquity to be beleeved , even without our assent ) thus writing in his apologie against the gentiles . but far be it that either the children of god should be exempted from the furie of man ; or that they should grieve to suffer in that thing wherein they are tryed . for if we would take upon us to be open and professed enemies , doe you think that wee could want money or men ? are we not more in in number then the moores , and marcomanns , & the parthians themselves , or the gentiles , how great soever they be , let them be but of one place , and of their neighbours adjoyning unto them , yea , then of the whole world besides . we are but of yesterday , and yet we have filled all places among you : your cities , islands , cittadels , burroughs , assemblies ; your very camps , your tribes of the common people , decuries of the judges , palaces , senats , judicatories ; onely we leave your temples to your selves : for what war have we not been fit , and ready to manage , even with fewer forces , who thus willingly suffer our selves to be put to death ; if that we were not disciplined by our religion , that it is more lawfull for us to be killed then to kill ? thus far tertullian , with whom s. augustine is not discrepant : you may find his sentence to be registred among the canons in these words : julian was an infidel and unbeleeving emperour ; was he not likewise an apostate , an enemie , an idolater ? yet the christian soldiers served under this unbeleeving emperour . when they came to the cause of christ , they did acknowledge none but him that is in heaven ; when he would have them to worship idols , and to sacrifice , then they did prefer god before him : but when he said unto them , lead forth the armie , & go against such a nation , they did presently obey him . they did distinguish the lord eternall from a temporall lord ; and yet they were subject unto their temporall lord , for their eternall lords sake . when jovianus after the death of the fore-named julian was elected by his armie to be their emperour , and he refusing , began to speake in these words unto them : i cannot , seeing i am a christian , command such men , nor take the government upon me , of julians armie , which he hath imbued with such venemous precepts , and pernicious discipline . which , and words of the like nature , when the souldiers had heard , they began to shout with one acclamation , and say : o emperour , let not your minde be troubled with such doubtings , nor yet wave the command of us , as if we were prophane and wicked , for you shall finde both christians of us , and men disciplin'd in piety to doe you service . from which recited places , it may appeare that it was no such difficult matter for the christians in the primitve times to have coërced their emperours , by whom they were miserably afflicted , and most cruelly used , if it had beene lawfull for subjects to rise up against their princes . but if those forementioned fathers , endued with no lesse science then conscience , and furnished with as much knowledge as zeale , had thought it lawfull , either for the pope , or the people , or any other men to regulate their princes , as they thought fit ; without all question , they would never have suffered themselves and the whole church of god , to bee so cruelly oppressed by those wicked emperours . but as they did most freely reprehend their vices , so they would at least have admonished them of their office , if they had beene wanting to it . but when they knew that kings ( as have beene formerly , not onely touched , but oftentimes urged ) have onely god to be their judge and their avenger ; hence it is , that they did only flee to him , and piously and happily implore his aid . these things ( saith nazianzen ) did julian meditate and deliberate , ( as those that were witnesses and co-partners of his secrets have imparted and divulged to the world ) yet hee was restrained by the ordinance of god , and the teares of christians , which were then many , and shed by many , seeing they had no other remedie against their persecutors . the like may be said of divers other wicked princes , who have either beene taken away by the singular providence of god , or at length reduced to a better minde : for god who is the father and judge of all alike , doth oftentimes most justly send ungodly princes unto a people for the punishment of their sins : although , they minding nothing lesse , than the justice or purpose of gods wil doe most unjustly . shall there be any evill in the city ( saith god by the prophet amos ) which the lord hath not done ? but no sooner doe subjects repent them of their sins , and depart from their evil courses , but god ( in whose hands the heart of kings is , and which way soever it pleaseth him , as the rivers of waters , he doth incline it ) according to his great goodnesse and singular mercie , wherewith he is affected towards afflicted penitents , makes those wicked princes either cease to be , or to bee tyrants . vengeance is mine ( saith the lord ) i wil repay it . this is the onely fort and sure defence against all injuries of wicked kings : they are the weapons that are to be taken up against ungodly princes : and , this , lastly is the most expedite way to pessundate all tyranny . but then you will say , if the king should make aprey of his subjects , and impose greater taxes on them , and exact more grievous tributes and customs on them , oppressing all and every one of them with his tyrannicall power , shall we not in this case resist and oppose him ? for answer of this , i must tell you , if we will be as we professe our selves to bee , christs disciples and obey his word , which we desire , at least pretend , above all things to be sincerely preached unto us , wee must not resist him . now what saith christ . but i say unto you that yee resist not evill , &c. our lord and saviour jesus christ , being king of kings , and lord of lords , as he is stiled in holy scripture , yea and the sonne of kings according to the flesh , being of the seede of david , yet lest he should give offence , though he were free , payed tribute to caesar ; for so wee finde him discoursing with peter : the kings of the earth , of whom doe they take custome or tribute , of their owne children or of strangers ? peter saith unto him of strangers . jesus saith unto him , then are the children free ; notwithstanding lest we should offend them , goe thou to the sea and cast an booke and take up the fish that first cometh up , and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt finde a peece of money , that take , and give for thee & mee . hereupon bernard to henry then arch-bishop of the senones thus elegantly writeth : let every soule bee subject to the higher powers : if every soule , then yours ; who doth except you from the universality ? if any endeavor to deceive you , hearken not to their councols , who seeming to be christians , hold it yet a disparagement to them to follow the deedes or observe the words of christ their master . and a little after : these things , saith he , doe they ; but christ he did both bid otherwise , and did otherwise : give unto caesar the things that are caesars , and unto god the things that are gods . what he spake with his tongue , hee performed with his hand ; as he taught so hee wrought : the maker of caesar did not deny to pay tribute to caesar , for he gave an example to you , that you should also doe the like . and a little farther he saith to this purpose . doe you contemne the saecular power ? none was more saecular then pilat before whom our lord stood to be adjudged . thou couldst have no power ( saith hee ) over me , if it were not g●ven thee from above ; even then did he speake by himself , and in himselfe shew , what afterwards he did by his apostles in his church . that there is no power but of god , and that hee that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god . before bernard st. ambrose wrote to the same purpose . if the emperor demands tribute , we doe not deny it : the lands of our church do pay him tribute : if he requires our fields , he hath power to lay claim unto them ; none of us doe interpose or withstand him . the collation of the people may redound to the poore ; let them not conceive displeasure about our fields , let them have them if they like them ; i doe neither give them the emperor nor deny them . and againe , i was commanded by the court officers and tribunes , to make a speedy surrender of the church , they alleaging that the emperor doth but use his right in demanding it , for as much as all things are in his power . i made this answer , that if hee did require of me what was mine owne to give , viz. my ground , or my goods , or any thing of the like nature , this my right i would not deny him ; although even those things of mine are the poores also . very excellently st. ang. but whereas the apostle saith , wherefore yee must needes bee subject ; it is as much as if hee should have said , there is a necessity for this life that we be subject , not resisting ; if they will take any thing away from us , in that they have power given them over our temporall things . now then , if it were not lawfull for subjects , without sin , to resist their kings when they did exact unjust tributes of them , and by violence take away their estates from them ; much lesse may we deny to princes just tributes , & other things of the like nature , which are requisite and necessary for the safety of the common-wealth , and cannot bee denied without its certaine ruine , and the great hazard of the whole christian policie . in the law of moses we reade , that the man that would doe presumptuously , and would not hearken to the priest ( that stood to minister before the lord , or unto the judge , even that man was to be put to death . and since by the lawes of men they have proceeded no lesse severely against rebels . but most strict is that law of god promulged by the mouth of the apostle : therefore whosoever resisteth the power , &c. resisteth the ordinance of god , and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation : that is , as all divines expound it , temporall here ; and , without repentance eternall hereafter . and as for those that doe calumniate and derogate from the power , &c. of princes here , by their seditious words , and scandalous writings , although perhaps they may escape the hands of men ; yet they shall never avoid the judgements of god , from whose all-seeing eye of providence nothing can bee hid , against whose omnipotent power nothing can resist , and by whose most just judgements no wickednesse can goe unpunished . no lesse wittily then pithily st. ang. for whereas the doctrine of the apostle doth make mention of these earthly powers , he doth insinuate into our apprehensions even the parts of the heavenly judgement . for whenas hee doth enjoyne us to obey the lawes of the world , hee doth necessarily admonish us to take heed of the world to come . if thou wilt not , saith he , feare the powers , doe that which is good , which is as much to say . if thou wilt not fear the judgement to come , then eschew evill and doe good whilest thou art here . therfore we ought to take heed , & performe the first forme of this constitution , which wants the lawes of this life , that we may exclude & keep from us that fore-judgement of eternall death in the other life ; because those whom this temporall punishment doth not take hold of here ; there that eternall punishment wil follow with insufferable torment hereafter . amongst other examples of the judgements of god upon rebellious , gainsaying and disobedient persons , we have that dreadfull and horrible example of corah , dathan and abiram , in the holy scriptures , which the spirit of god sets downe as a warning to us , that we fall not into the like contradiction , lest wee fall into the like condemnation . of whom optatus milevitanus writing against the donatists , who did refuse to obey their magistrates ( as too many of the smectymnuan rout , & antipodian state doe now amongst us ) thus delivers himselfe . schisma summum , &c. that schisme is a great evill , you your selves cannot deny ; and yet without the least feare you doe imitate your most desperate ring-leaders , corah , dathan and abiram , nor will you set before your eyes , or once take it into your hearts that this evill is both prohibited by the word of god , and revenged with a most grievous judgement . and a little after : the congregation of ministers , and the sacrilegious multitude that was soon to bee confounded did stand with their inter dicted and forbidden sacrifices ; time for repentance was denied and withheld from them , because their fault was such , as it deserved no pardon . a command of hunger was laid upon the earth , which presently opened her greedy jawes upon them that caused division amongst the people , and with an insatiable mouth did swallow up the contemners of gods word . in a moments space the earth clave asunder to deuoure those fore-named separatists ; it did swallow them up , & then was closed againe upon them . and lest they should seeme to receive a courtesie by their soddain death ; as they were not worthy to live , so they were not vouchsafed to die . upon a suddaine they were cast into the prison of hell , and so buried before they were dead . st. aug. having occasion to speake of the same separates , cap. 29. of the wonders of the holy scripture speaks to the same purpose , & cap. 30. of the same book , he doth thus enlarge his meditations : again the next day the whol multitude gathered themselves together against moses and aaron as guilty of blood and would have slain them , in revenge of those that were killed ; but here both moses and aaron come before the tabernacle of the congregation , and again the wrath of the lord went forth and raged amongst the rebellious people : and againe aaron at the command of moses , filling his censer with fire from off the altar , ran into the midst of the congregation , and standing between the living and the dead , the plague was stayed . a just judgement inflicted on both , that they who did inwardly burne with the fire of anger against their lawfull princes , should now outwardly perish with the burning flame of most deserved vengeance ; & he that in his heart had forgiven the offence of his brethren , by his footsteps others being defended , the fire from heaven durst not consume ; but they that died of the plague that day were 1400. whom the wrath of the lord consumed . wherefore to draw to a conclusion , as the apostle admonisheth and comandeth , we must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience ; because as s. peter saith , this is the will of god that with well doing wee may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men , as free & not using our liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse but as the servants of god . for although , as s. aug. hath it , we are called to that kingdom where there shall be no such powers , yet while wee live here in our journey thither , untill such time as wee shall come to that age , where there shall be an annihilation & ceasing of all principalitie and power , let us cheerefully and willingly undergoe our condition , according to the order of humane things , not dealing feignedly and hypocritically : and so doing , we shall not so much obey man , under whose command we are , as god , who doth command us to be obedient to them . therefore to use s. peters words , he that will love life , and see good daies , let him refraine his tongue from evill , and his lips that they speake no guile : let him eschew evill , and doe good ; let him seeke peace and ensue it ; let him beare in mind that commandement of god , thou shalt not revile the gods , nor curse the ruler of thy people . and not forget the councell of the preacher , curse not the king , no not in thy thought , for a bird of the ayre shall carry the voice , and that which hath wings shall tell the matter . but let him embrace the councell of king solomon , not only the wisest of kings , but of all other men . my son ( saith he ) feare thou the lord and the king , and meddle not with them that are given to change ; for it is our saviours saying , who is truth it selfe and ought to be beleeved before all our pretended reformadoes , whosoever shall take up the sword , especially against gods annoynted , contrary to the word of god , shall perish with the sword . and thus having gathered certaine flowers out of the garden of divinity , philosophy , history and policy , to make a crowne for royalty , and a nosegay for loyalty , there wants nothing now but that same thread of charity ( which the apostle casseth {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the bond of perfection ) to constringe and binde them together ; and indeed to use s. chrysost. similitude , as flowers be they never so choyce and rare , yea the prime darlings in natures garden , and be they never so exactly composed and set in order , yet if they be not as perfectly combined & tyed together , hey fall away from one another and come to nothing . in lik● manner although a man should compose an anthologie of never so excellent precepts , sentences and examples out of the garden of divine and humane writings , and propound them as so many sweet flowers to the use and benefit of the common good , yet if there bee not the hand of charity to receive them , and the eye of candor for to reade them , and the heart of sincerity to apprehend them , and tye them together with the constriction , or rather the construction of love ; like flowers that are not tyed together , they fall to the ground and become uselesse . and s. chrysost. reason that hee gives there will hold here likewise , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . for without love they will soone dissolve , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . it is love alone that knits them fast , and keeps them together , making them usefull for the church of god , which otherwise would doe no good . and therfore having selected and culled out variety of choice sentences , precepts and sayings , both out of ancient and moderne writers as well humane as divine , and they as well protestants as romanists , and such as have been approved and honored by the judgement of the learned even of the adversaries , to set forth to the world the royalty of kings and the loyalty of subjects ; i humbly tender them to the consideration of both , his majesty our royall king & the parliament his loyal subjects ; that so if there be any thing in them , which shewing the power of the one , and the duty of the other , may tend to the repayring of that great breach , by a happy pacification , between the king and his people , which being at first begun with faction , fomented with feares and jealousies , and continued thus long with malignancy of affection , is likely to bring both king and parliament ( without the especiall providence of god preventing ) to utter ruine ; i shall attain the happy end that i first did ayme at : and for that which remaines in me to effect it , i shall turne my pen into a petition , and these occasioned collections , into religious ejaculations ; that god would be pleased to vouchsafe such a happy concurrence of opinions , and unanimity of affections between the king and his parliament ; that ( all feares and jealousies being laid aside on both sides ) the king would be graciously pleased to condiscend , as far as with his honor he may , unto his parliament ; and the parliament would humbly addresse themselves to comply , as far as it may stand with the good of the commonwealth , with the king ; that so royalty and loyalty , like mercy and truth meeting together , and the king and his parliament , like righteousnes and peace , embracing each other , the king may stil enjoy his regalities and prerogatives without farther alteration , and the parliament may still retain their ancient priviledges and immunities without any more interruption : that so the king , the head , may be happy in the parliament , his members , and the parliament , the members , reciprocally happy in the king their head ; and the whole kingdom , by this c●ment of charity , happy in both . which that it may speedily come to passe , is the hearty wish and darling desire , of him who for the accomplishment of it is , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . his gods most humble orator , his kings most loyall subject , his countries most affectionate patriot , ro. grossk . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a85738e-240 greg. lib. 21. moral . c. 11. aug. l. 19. de civ. dei c. 15. cic. de leg. 3. cic. ibid. arist. l. 1. pol. c. 3. chrysost. ad . pop. antioch . hom ● . tacit. l. 1. hut . soph. arist 3. pol. c. 5. sen. lib. 1. de clem . c. 19. casus sph. civi . p. 1 81. plat. dial . 3. arist. 3. pol. 1. cic. 1. de leg 3. salust . de conjur . caral . herod . l. 2. zech. l. 1. pol. c. 1. diodor. l. 1. polyd. virg. 2. de invent . rer. m. arrian . in hist. alex. messal . corvin . in lib. ad aug. herodot. 1.3 . bellar. de laic . l. liber homo . d●ad leg. aquil. gen 9 5.6 . exod. 20.13 . bellar. de ro. pont. l. 1. c. 2. cic. l. 3. leg. salust . bellar. de ro. pont. l. 1. c. 2. just . l. 1. l ne●o 54. d. de regul . jur . rom. 13.1 . ver. 2. epiph. cont. archon haer. 40. lip. 2. l. pol. c. 6. rom. 13. lip. pol. 2. c. 1. sen. de clem. 1. liv. li . 6. spud lips . arist. l. 3. pol. c. 1. 1 sam. 8.10 . & se● . luther in post . super eu●ng . dom. 23. post trin. cor. c. 1. strigel , in 1. sam. 8. p 27. 1 sam. 8.7 . l. legis virtus d. de legibus . ille a quo §. tempestivum . d. ad sc. trebel . l. 4. d. de . recept. . qui arbit . arist. pol. 3. c. 5 tacit. 1.3 . hist. arist. l. 3. pol. c. 12. cic. orat. 4. deiot. salust . de bel . jugurth . l. prince p● d. de legibus . dio 1.53 . const. harm. 1.1 . epit. tit. 1. eccles. 8.4 . wisdom . 6.1.2 . irenaeus 1.5 . advers haeres . tettul . in apol. hieron. ep. 46. ad rustic . psal. 51. ambros. apol. prim . david . c. 4. aug. ep. 48. aug. de fa● . greg. l. 5. hist. c. 17. & aimoin . 1.3 . c. 20. otto f●sing in . ep. ad ercd. oenob . praef. 1. chron. 6. bellar. d● . laic . c. 6. l. sed licet d. de offic. praef. bellar. de rom. pon . 1.2 . c. 17. & 1. 〈…〉 3. 〈◊〉 de regim. civ. num . 4. bodin de . rep. 1.1.13 . philip . in epit. phil. moral . p. 197. brent . hom. 27. in 1. l. sam. osiander in notis d. h. l. deut. 17.15 , 16 , 17. joseph . 1.6 . antiq. jud. c. 5. lyra in com. 1 sam. 8. greg. l. 4. in 1. reg. c. 2. arnisaeus l. 2. de jur . majest. c. 1. n. 4. greg. l. 4. in 1 reg. c. 2. 1 king : 21.2 . 1 sam. 8.10 . lips . pol. in praef. lips . ibid. feud . l. 4. tit. 56. regalia . mar. 12.21 . sen. 1.7 . de be nes . c. 4 , 5. cit. off . 1 , 2. tacit. 1.4 . hist. tacit. 1.4 . hist. cic. pro leg. man . just . l. 1. hist. pompon. l. 2. d. de orig. jur. ulpian l. 1. d. de constit . princip. l. si imperialis 12. c. de legib. & constit . princip. pro. 8.15 . aug. tract. 6. in euang. johan . & habetur dist. 8. can. quo jure . aug. l. 3. conf●s●e 8. & refertur dist. 8. can. quae contra . arist. l. 4. polit. c. 14. arist. l. 7. pol. c. 4. joan. bodin . l. 1. de rep. c. 8. joan. bo 〈◊〉 . l. 1. derep . 〈◊〉 bodin . l. 1. c. 10. l. 7. f. de legib. bodin . l. 1. de rep. c. 8. bodin l. 1. c. 10. & arnisae . pol. c. 11. keck . in syst . polit. l. 1. c. 17. p. 303. l. 3. f. de nat. resti . vult . de feud . l. 1. c. 5. n. 7. baldus c. 1. quae sit. reg. n. 3. & 16. mut. in vit. car. m. & car. 4. althus . in pol. c. 7. and tho. mich. de . jurisdict. . con. 11.32 . and 47. vult . de . feud . 1.1 . c. 5. n. 7. l un . c. de nund . jus saxon. l. 3. art . 66. and 1.2 . art . 26. l. humanum . c. de legib. & constit . princip. bodin . l. 1. de . rep. c. 10. ob. resol. notes for div a85738e-4990 bodin de repub. pag. 170. colleg. polit. dithmar . disp. 8. thes. 2. l. assumptio . 6. §. 1. ad muncip . l. municip . 1 sect. 2. f.eod. augustan : confess . art . 16. ephes. 6.2 . exod. 20.12 . deut. 5.16 . ro. 13.1 . 2 sam. 14.17 . ver. 20. 2 sam. 19.27 . 1 pet. 2.17 . pro. 24.22 . plato in point . ro. 3.4 . 〈◊〉 82.1 . exod. 22.28 . philip maced. in plin. paneg. aug. in lib. quest . v. & n. test. q●est . 35. 1 sam. 18.5 . chrysost. arist. polit. rom. 13.5 . colleg. polit. dithmar . disp. ulpian . in● 1. in criminibus §. 20. f. de quaest. cic. pro manl nov. 149. c. liv● . 2. p. 78. tacit. 14. annal. lip. pol. 4. c. 11 ecclus. 3.10 , 11 gen. 9.25 . luth. com. in gen. c. 23. p. 270. gen. 20. act. 5. rom. 13.1 . titus 3.1 . 1 tim 2 , 1 , 2. jer. 29.4.7 . 1 pet. 2.13 , 14. ver. 17. rom. 13. dan. 4.17.25 : john 19.11 . greg. nazian. tertul. de idololat . optat. milev. 1.2 . cont. parmen aug : in quaest. ex vet. test . quaest. 35. aug. exposit . quar . propos. ep. ad r●m . propos. 78. hier. in ep. ad tit. & habetur 11. quaest. 3. can. si dominus . chrysost. in rom. 13. hom amb. 1.5 . orat . in auxent . bern. ep. 22 1. cajet. in ep. ad rom. 13. tert. in apologet advers. gent. c. 37. aug. in psal. 1 2 4. & habetur 11. quaest. can. imperatores . ruffin . hist. eccl. 2. l. 1. & theodor . l. 4. hist. c. 1. nazian. in orat . in julian . amos 3.6 . prov. 21.1 . object . resol. mar. 5.39 . mar. 17.25.26.27 . bernard ad hen. archiep. senon . ep. 42. amb. 10.5 . conc. de basilicis non tradend . haer●t . p. 104. ambros. l. 2. ep. 13. ad marcel august . exposit . quar. propos. ex epist. ad rom proposit. 74. deut. 17.12 . august . de jmper . see . ro. 13.3 . ● ptat . mi levit. cont. parmen. august . de mirac . sact script . c. 29. & 30. num. 16.50 . ●0 . 13.5 . pet. 2. ●5 . 16 . august . exposi● . q●ar pro ●of . epist. ●d rom. proposit. ●2 . pet. 3.10 exod. 22. ●8 . ●ccles . 10. ●0 . pro. 24.21 . mat. 26. ●2 . conclusion . colos. 3.14 . chrysost. hom in coloss. 3. chrysost. ut supra . a brief enquiry into the ancient constitution and government of england as well in respect of the administration, as succession thereof ... / by a true lover of his country. 1695 approx. 138 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64086 wing t3584 estc r21382 12180114 ocm 12180114 55608 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64086) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55608) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 901:55) a brief enquiry into the ancient constitution and government of england as well in respect of the administration, as succession thereof ... / by a true lover of his country. tyrrell, james, 1642-1718. [10], 101, [7] p. printed for richard baldwin ..., london : 1695. reproduction of original in huntington library. advertisement: p. [2]-[7] at end. attributed to james tyrrell. cf. wing. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. great britain -constitutional law. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-04 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief enquiry into the ancient constitution and government of england . as well in respect of the administration , as succession thereof . set forth by way of dialogue , and fitted for men of ordinary learning and capacities . by a true lover of his country . london : printed for richard baldwin near the oxford-arms in warwick-lane . 1695. the publisher's preface to the reader . there being many treatises already publish'd upon the subjects handled in this ensuing discourse , you may think it needless to trouble the world with more of this kind ; but those who think so , may be of another opinion when they have considered , not only the design of this treatise , which is to abridge into a small manual what others have writ in many volumes ; but also the manner of handling the matters herein treated of , which you will find to differ very much from most of the books written before upon this subject : some writers having screwed up the king's prerogative to so extravagant a height , as to place the whole essential frame of the government in the king 's sole will and pleasure , not considering the fundamental rights and liberties of a free-born nation , more than as the forced concessions of some weak princes , not otherwise able to appease an angry people ; and which they may therefore contract , or wholy abrogate , as their power or opportunities may either dictate , or permit . whilst on the other side , there are some who have too much debased the royal prenogative , by placing all power immediately in the people , and supposing the king accountable to their representatives for every small miscarriage in government . there is without doubt an error in both these extremes ; since as the king can have no prerogative which is inconsistent with the ancient rights and liberties of the subject , set down in magna charta , and other ancient statutes , which were only declarative of the common law of england ; so likewise , if the king be the supreme magistrate of the nation , he cannot without a soloecism in government , be rendred accountable to any power superior to his own ; these things considered , hath induced the author to chuse a middle , and more moderate course , by preserving to the king all such prerogatives as are inseparable from the supreme executive power , and which are necessary for the common safety ; yet , without leaving the king absolutely irresistible in all cases whatsoever , and without a supposed impossibility of his falling from his royal dignity , in case of the highest breaches of his coronation oath , and the utmost violations of that usual and ancient contract , which his predecessors have so often renewed with the people of this nation , upon their succession to the throne . for the proving of which the author hath made use of the best authorities he could collect either from our ancient histories , records , or law-books , beginning with the grounds and institution of civil government in general , and ending with that of england in particular . and though he hath so far adapted this discourse for men of ordinary learning and capacities , as not to stuff the margin with many quotations ; yet he hath not fail'd to put them down , where-ever the niceness or uncommonness of the subject might otherwise chance to shock the understandings of readers not thoroughly vers'd in things of this nature : not but that the author is very well satisfied , that even where no authorities are expresly cited , he is able to maintain what he there lays down by arguments drawn from law , as well as reason , if any man shall think it worth while to call it in question ; but if he requires larger and fuller proofs on this subject , he may , if he pleases , first consult the last eight dialogues of a late treatise , called , bibliotheca politica ; as also mr. atwood ' s learned treatise concerning the antiquity and justice of an oath of abjuration . and i hope he may thence receive sufficient satisfaction , that the principles here laid down , are founded not only upon right reason , but the ancient constitution of the english government . this may suffice for the manner of handling this argument . but now to say somewhat more of the ends of publishing this discourse , and they are these : first , to make every man ( though of never so common a capacity ) understand ( as well as the author is able to perform it ) what is the true , ancient , and legal government of this kingdom . 2dly , what are the main and most considerable prerogatives of the crown . and lastly , what are the fundamental rights and liberties of the people . and that these are so far from being contradictory or inconsistent , that they rather serve to defend and strengthen each other ; so that it hath been for the defence and preservation of all these , that this wonderful and happy revolution hath been brought about , and their present majesties placed upon the throne ; as also to convince those who traduce by the nick-names of whigs , and commonwealths-men , those that have been in the worst of times the only true assertors of this ancient limited monarchy ; so that if they plead for resistance in some cases , it is only in those of utmost and absolute necessity , and in order to preserve the original constitution , and to prevent the head of the legislative power from devouring the body : nor can they have any other notions of loyalty , but their obedience to the government establisht , and exercised according to law , as the ancient sense , as well as etymology of that word imports . to conclude , whosoever shall think fit to bestow a little money to buy , and time to peruse this small treatise , the publisher hopes he will find the design to be truly english , that is , sincere and honest , that all good subjects may know how to render to caesar the things that are caesars , and to god the things that are gods , without blindly sacrificing ( under the will-worship of a pretended loyalty ) the religion , civil liberties and properties of their country to caesar's will , as some of late years have done , who made these the darling ( because most gainful ) doctrines as well of the pulpit , as the bar and the press . a brief enquiry into the ancient constitution and government of england , ctc. in a dialogue between a justice of peace , and an understanding freeholder . i. good morrow neighbour ; what brings you hither so early ? if you want a warrant , i 'll call my clerk , and then hear your business . f. no , i assure your worship , the business i come about is of greater concern , and that no less than the rights and liberties of the subject , as well as the power and prerogative of our kings ; which though i heard you . treat of in your late charge to the grand jury last quarter-sessions , yet since i could not come near enough to hear it distinctly , not being of that jury my self , pray give me the substance of that discourse ; and i the rather desire it , because i have since heard it much censured by some of our neighbours as savouring of commonwealth principles : but to save you the labour of a needless repetition , i will ask you those questions which i desire most to be satisfied in . i. pray use your discretion , and begin when you please ; i will do my endeavour to satisfie you as well as i can , though without putting my self to the trouble of quoting many authors , which perhaps you never heard of ; and therefore pray believe , that whatever i shall tell you , i have not only reason , but authorities also for what i then said . f. i have no cause to doubt what you say ; therefore , pray sir , in the first place tell me , what you then said about the natural state of mankind as to civil liberty : pray sir , what think you , were men at first born subjects , or did they become so by some human means ? i. as to this , adam ( for example ) being the first man , could not , as a husband to eve , or as a a father to cain , abel , and the rest of his children , be an absolute lord or monarch over them : his power , as that of all other fathers of families , not being a civil power , but that of a husband , or father , only for the direction of his wife in all things relating to the affairs of the family ; and over his children in order to their good education in the fear of god , and for their maintenance whilst they continued members of it ; so that subjection to government could never begin from mens being born servants , or subjects , as some will have it . f. pray then tell me , sir , what is civil government ? i. i think civil government is god's ordinance , which he has ordained for the good and happiness of mankind , to preserve men from the violence both of foreign and domestick enemies , since the nature of man depraved by the fall of adam is too apt otherwise to fall into all manner of mischiefs and enormities , as well towards himself as others . f. how then did it begin ? was it by any divine precept , or else by the consent of many men who had found the inconveniencies of living without it ? i. before the flood there is no mention in scripture of any sort of civil government , or any precept left for it ; the first that seems to prescribe it , being after the flood , when god gave noab that positive precept , gen. 9. 6. that whoso sheddeth man's blood , by man shall his blood be shed ; whence divines argue a necessity of magistrates for putting this law in execution ; but who were to appoint them , the scripture is wholly silent ; and though indeed there is mention made of kings in genesis very early in the world , yet is it not there told us how those kings were made ; therefore it is most reasonable to suppose , that they either at first began by the tacit consent or election of the masters of families , and other freemen of the same lineage , or nation ; or else by conquest of other nations by force of arms. f. but , pray sir , is there not an account given us in scripture of judges and kings made by god's own appointment among the iews ? i. yes ; but that concerned no other nation but them ; who are the only people , that i know of , that had a civil government , as well as divine law , from god's own appointment . f. but , sir , did not god's thus giving the iews kings , or persons at least endued with kingly power , ( though not under that title ) render monarchy to be of divine right , so as that all other nations are thereby obliged to have no other government but that ? i. no sure , not at all ; for till the time of saul they had no visible king over them ; god himself was their king , and those that governed under him could do nothing of moment without his express command ; and where that did not interpose , the government was by moses and a senate of seventy elders , and also by the heads or princes of the several tribes as subordinate to them ; and after his decease , by ioshua and the other judges whom god raised up ; who if they had been kings in power , but not in title , it would have been in vain for the israelites to have desired a king to be like other nations ; and you see when they desired such a king , god was angry with them , as if they had rejected himself ; so that there is no other consequence to be drawn from all these examples , but that kingly government is the most antient , and may also be the best , if kept within due limits . f. pray whence then do kings now-a-days derive their power , ( since god hath long since left off making any kings by divine precept ) ? whether is it from god , or from the people ? i. i told you before , that all power is from god , and consequently kingly power must be so too ; yet this is so to be understood , that this power cannot rightfully be acquired without the people's consent ; i mean all those who being master's of families , and free-men at their own dispose , had at first a power of setting up what sort of government they pleased ; and hence it is that we find so many sorts of governments in the world ; as for example , monarchy , which is either absolute , as in france and turkey ; or limited , as in england , and as it was not long since in all the northern kingdoms of europe ; or else aristocracy , that is , the government of the best sort , or nobility ; or else democracy , where the common people govern alone , or else have the predominant power . but all these , as they derive their power from god , are alike ordained by him ; though in respect also of men , who first found out and instituted these several governments , they are also called by st. peter , the ordinance of men , or a human creature , as the original words it . f. but do we not also find in scripture , that most of the great kingdoms or monarchies of the world have began from conquest ? does not therefore conquest of a nation by arms give the conqueror a power from god to rule over that people without their consents ? i. i will not dispute what authority the babylonian , persian , macedonian , and roman monarchies might have over those nations they conquered , by a particular donation from god , who had long before foretold those monarchies by daniel , and the other prophets ; and as for the first of these empires , the iews are particularly commanded by the prophet ieremiah , to serve the king of babylon ; the like is foretold by isaiah of cyrus ; yet for all this , i think no other conquerors can pretend to the like right over any nation at this day ; since all conquest is either by a just , or an unjust war ; that the latter can give no right at all to the conqueror , all writers agree ; and that even the former can give no right without the peoples consent , either tacit or exprest , seems also as certain , since in respect of them who are not capable judges of the right or wrong of the quarrel , it can lay no obligation of obedience , farther than they please by some act of their own to acknowledge the conqueror for their lawful prince ; which being once done voluntarily , is all one in respect of themselves , as if it were by their election , or that of their lawful representatives : nor could the first conqueror ( mighty nimrod , for example ) ever conquer the neighbouring nations by the sole assistance of his own children and servants , without the conjunction of other fathers of families , and freemen , who 't is most likely followed him for a share of the spoil , and upon certain conditions agreed upon between them ; for the like we find of all other conquerors in ancient as well as modern histories . f. but pray shew me , sir , how this can be , since most nations have been conquer'd at some time or other ; but few of them have given their consents ( as i know of ) either in a whole assembly of all that nation , or else by their lawful representatives , as we do in england . i. 't is true , they have not given their consents all at once , but singly , and one by one , they have done , and constantly do it every day in towns and countries that pass from one king to another by conquest ; for it is certain that all such subjects as do not like the religion or government of the conquering prince or commonwealth , may lawfully retire out of the conquer'd city or countrey , and carry their estates with them , or else sell their lands , and carry away the money if they can , without any crime ; so that it is apparent it is only from the acknowledgment or recognition of each particular person who stays there , that this conqueror comes to have any right to the subjects allegiance . f. pray how is this consent or acknowledgment given , since oaths of allegiance ( as i am inform'd ) are not exacted in all places of the world where conquests are made ? i. i grant it ; but where they are not so imposed nor taken , the persons that have not sworn to this new government , can never be oblig'd to an active obedience , or to fight for , or serve the conquering prince , against perhaps their former lawful sovereign ; yet i think thus much i may justly maintain , that whatever prince , be he a conqueror , or usurper ( who is much the same thing in respect of the subjects ) who shall take upon him to administer the civil government , by protecting the conquer'd people , punishing malefactors , and doing equal justice by himself or his judges between man and man ; whosoever of this conquer'd people will continue in that city or countrey , and receive his protection , and enjoy all the other rights of other subjects , is so far obliged by virtue of that protection he receives , as to yield a passive submission to all the laws that such a conqueror shall make , and not to conspire against , or disturb his government by plots or rebellions . but indeed this tacit consent or acknowledgment of the conqueror's authority , because not given by the people at once , makes many men believe that their consent is not at all necessary to make a conqueror's power obligatory as to them ; not but that i do acknowledge that oaths of allegiance are of great use in any kingdom or common-wealth , to bind men to a stricter observance of their duty , and also to an active obedience to all their conqueror's lawful commands , even to venturing their lives for the government , since it is for the publick good of the community , if they are so required . f. i am well enough satisfied as to the original of government , and the right that all kings and commonwealths have to their subjects allegiance , whether they began at first by the express consent or election of the people , or else by conquest and their subsequent consents ; but pray satisfy me in the next place concerning the government of england ; you said it was a limited monarchy , and i have never heard that questioned ; but how did this limitation begin ? whether from the very first institution of the government , or else by the gracious concessions of our kings ? i. without doubt , neighbour , from the very institution of the government ; for our first english saxon kings were made so by election of the people , in their great councils , or parliaments ( as we now call them ) and could do nothing considerable either as to peace or war without its consent ; and this council was to meet of course once a year , without any summons from the king , and oftner by his summons , if there was any occasion for it ; and it is certain that the freemen of england have always from beyond all times of memory enjoyed the same fundamental rights and privileges ( i mean in substance ) that they do at this day . f. pray , sir , what are those fundamental rights and privileges that you say we have so long enjoy'd ; tell me what they are . i. i will in as few words as i can : first then , the freemen of england were never bound to observe any laws , either in matters civil or religious , but what were made by the king , with the consent of the great council , consisting of the clergy , nobility , and commons , assembled in parliament . secondly , that no taxes could be lawfully imposed upon the nation , or any man's property taken away without the consent of this council . 3. that this great council had ever a power of hearing and redressing all grievances and complaints of the subjects , not only against the * oppressions of any of the king 's great officers or ministers , who were too great to be called to an account in any other court ; but also the particular wrongs of the king himself , the queen , or their children . f. pray how could this be done , since the king may at this day dissolve the parliament whenever he pleases ? i. i grant it is so now ; but certainly it was otherwise when parliaments met of course at a certain place once a year without any summons from the king ; yet after that time , i find it in the ancient treatise , called the manner of holding parliaments : † that the parliament ought not to be dissolved whilst any petition or bill dependeth undiscussed , or at least whereto no determinate answer is given ; and that if he do , or permit the contrary , perjurus est , i. e. he is perjur'd : and even at this day the two houses may justly refuse the king any supply of money , whilst he refuse to redress their just grievances . f. this is more than i ever heard of before ; but pray proceed to tell me , what are the rest of the liberties and priviledges of an englishman ? i. in short , they are these ; not to be banisht the realm , or imprisoned , without just cause ; nor to be kept there only as a punishment , but in order to a legal trial ; not to be tried , condemned , or executed , without a lawful jury of his peers first passed upon him , ( unless in time of war , by martial-law ) ; lastly , no man is oblig'd to quarter soldiers without his own consent , and then paying for what they have . there are other less rights and priviledges , exprest in the petition of right , acknowledged and confirmed in parliament by king charles i. all which i omit ; but these being the chiefest that concern our lives , liberties and estates , were only insisted upon in my said charge . f. but pray , sir , tell me , as to the king , is he not the sole supream power in england ? i. no certainly ; for then he could make laws , and raise money without the peoples consent ; but every printed act of parliament will shew you where the supream power resides , wherein it is expresly recited in these words , be it therefore enacted by the king 's most excellent majesty , and by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons of this realm , and the authority of the same ; or as i can shew you in several statutes of king henry the viiith . wherein it is recited thus , be it enacted by the assent and consent of our sovereign lord the king , and the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , and by authority of the same ; whereby you may see , that not only the words assent and consent , but the word authority is referred , as well to all the three estates , as to the king. f. this , i confess , is plain enough , but what are the king 's chief prerogatives . i. i will tell you in as few words as i can ; his majesty's chief prerogatives ( for to enumerate them all would be endless ) are these , first , to call parliaments once a year , or oftner , and dissolve them if he pleases ; to give the last hand , or sanction to all laws for raising of taxes , and for the enacting all other things that his majesty , joining with the two houses of parliament , shall think fit to be enacted ; to appoint judges to try , condemn , and execute traytors , and all other malefactors for treason and other crimes ; and to grant pardons for those crimes , if his majesty shall think fit ( yet still according to his coronation oath ) ; to grant commissions to all other magistrates and officers , both civil and military , no arms being regularly to be rais'd but by his authority ; also by the advice of his privy-council , to issue proclamations according to law , and for the publick good for enforcing the observation of such laws , as shall be thought fit , in case those that are entrusted with the execution of them prove too remiss : lastly , to make war and peace , though the latter , as well as the former of these , were anciently very seldom made without the advice and consent of parliament . these are the chief prerogatives which i mentioned in my charge , tho' i grant there are divers others , tho' less material . f. but , pray sir , cannot the king by his prerogative do some things against the laws , and dispence with them in all cases which he himself may judge for the common good of the kingdom ? i. the king had anciently no power to dispence with statutes , with non obstantes ; and so it is solemnly declared in the kings bench in the 39th . of k. edward the 3d. * by all the justices as a rule in law , well known at that time , and i could tell you ( were it not too tedious ) how this prerogative of dispensations first began ; but even then the king could not dispence with any thing that was morally evil in it self , or with what was enacted by authority of parliament for the common good and safety of the whole people , or nation in general : and this is the true reason why the late king iames could not dispence with all statutes concerning the taking away the test , because the whole nation had an interest in them ; nor could he dispence with any act which conferred a particular . right or priviledge on a third person ; and lastly , he could not commonly dispence with any statute wherein there was a particular provision to prevent the king from granting charters with clauses of non-obstantes ; but now all dispensations with such statutes , are taken away by a particular clause in the late act of the rights and liberties of the subject † which you may see if you please ; and which i take to be no more than a solemn declaration of what was the ancient law of england , before non obstantes came up . f. i am very well satisfied in this ; but , pray sir , tell me the reason , why the king cannot , as the supreme executive power of the kingdom , exercise his royal prerogative , though it were to the prejudice of some particular persons ? i. i can give you a very good reason for this , because this would be contrary to that trust which was at first reposed in the king by the representative body of the nation when this limited monarchy was first instituted , and which that ancient treatise , called the mirror of iustices , * writ above four hundred years since , very well sets forth the common law of england as it stood before the conquest , as also the original of the government of this kingdom by one person , or monarch ; which he thus recites , that when forty princes ( that is , aldermen , or earls of counties ) did elect one king ( viz. egbert ) to reign over them , to maintain and defend their persons and goods in peace by rules of right ; they made him at first to swear , that he would maintain with all his power , the true christian faith , and would govern his people by right without any respect of persons ; and would also be obedient to suffer right ( i. e. justice ) as well as others of his people . by which it appears , that all the prerogatives of the crown are trusted in the king by law , for the good and preservation of his people , and not for the exercise of an arbitrary will , or power contrary thereunto . as also sir iohn fortescue , once lord chancellor to king henry the vith . in his treatise in praise of our english laws , has thus handsomely set forth , viz. that the king was made , or elected , for the safeguard of the law , the bodies and goods of his subjects ; and he hath this power derived from the people ; so that he cannot long govern them by any other power ; and he also gives us the reason why he cannot regularly dispence with acts of parliament ; because , says he , they are made by the general consent of the king , and the whole realm ; and if there be any thing in them that proves inconvenient , the king may quickly , or in a short time , call another parliament to amend it ; but not without that , as it certainly would if the king had an absolute and unlimited power of dispensing with all laws . so that you see the king is entrusted with his prerogative by law ( that is , by the consent of the people only for their benefit and preservation ) ; therefore if the judges , or any other inferior officer act contrary thereunto , though by the king 's express letters , or messages , they are forsworn , and may be punished for it ; and in this sence it is , that the king , whilst acting thus by his subordinate officers or ministers , is said to do no wrong , because they are liable to be questioned for it ; and if he acts otherwise by his own personal power , or commands , it is not as king of england , but as a private person ; so that if we will consider our own happiness , we englishmen are blest with such noble priviledges and liberties , that i think there is no nation in the world where all degrees and ranks of men may live more happily than we do : and as for the king , though it is true he hath not an absolute unlimited power of doing whatever he will , yet he hath sufficient to protect his subjects , and bountifully to reward those that serve him faithfully ; and whenever he undertakes any foreign war with the general consent and assistance of his people in parliament , he most commonly proves a terror to those who dare oppose him . f. i am very sensible of this happiness we enjoy ; and therefore when i think how miserably the poor country-men live in france and other countries , we of the yeomanry have all the reason in the world to venture our lives in the defence of our ancient constitution ; since if ever we should be reduced to an arbitrary government , either by a standing army at home , or a conquest from abroad , we can expect no better than wooden-shoes and canvass-breeches , and to drink nothing but water with the miserable french peasants ; and , i doubt , if things should once come to that pass , you country-gentlemen would be but in little better condition . but since the greatest part of your charge was to justifie the right of their present majesties to the throne , and that you insisted pretty long upon that head ; yet methoughts you were a little too short in telling us only that king iames ( who was once our lawful king ) could cease to be so ; for you seem to rest contented with the bare words of the convention's late vote , viz. that king iames having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom , by breaking the original contract between the king and the people , and that having violated the fundamental laws , by withdrawing himself out of the kingdom , he had abdicated the government , and that the throne was thereby become vacant . so that tho you speak pretty largely of king iames's violations by raising of money without consent of parliament , and of exercising his dispensing power ; yet methoughts you seem chiefly to place this vacancy of the throne upon king iames's abdication , or desertion of it ; which , let me tell you , as plain a country fellow as i am , will not down with me ; for i can never believe the king would have deserted the government , if he thought he could have staid here with safety ; therefore , pray tell me your meaning of these hard words , constitution of the kingdom , original contract , and abdication of the throne . i. i was not willing to insist too long in the face of the country upon these nice points , which were not proper to be handled before an assembly of ordinary countrymen ; but since you have always appeared to me to be above the ordinary capacity of those of your rank , i will tell you what i conceive was the true sense of the convention in every one of those expressions : first for the constitution of the kingdom , which king iames went about to violate , i take that to be the government by king , lords and commons in parliament , which he endeavour'd to violate , by his taking away of charters from corporations , and doing his utmost to impose a parliament upon the nation , of such men as would not only take off the penal laws from papists , and all other dissenters , but who would also have confirmed to the king that arbitrary power of dispensing with what laws he pleased ; which would indeed have render'd parliaments wholely useless , and was as good as putting the whole legislative power into the sole person of the king. f. but the original contract puzzles us yet more than all the rest , and i heard parson-slave-all , at a neighbouring gentleman's house the other day , ask , whether the speaker of the convention had not the keeping of it under his cushion ? for he could never yet light upon it in any english history or law-book . i. pray tell that witty parson next time you meet him , that if he pleases to look over our histories and law-books , that in the very same leaf where the divine hereditary right of succession to the crown in a right line is established as an unalterable and fundamental law , in the very next clause he may find this original contract . but not to banter you , i will tell you my sense of this expression , which , in my opinion , signifies no more than that compact or bargain which was first entred into between king iames's ancestors or predecessors , ( and under whose title he enjoy'd the crown ) whereby they bound themselves by a solemn oath , when they took the crown upon them , at their coronation , to keep and maintain the laws of the realm , and to govern the people according to these rules of justice and mercy , that is in short , acting according to law. which oath , or the substance of it , having been constantly renewed every fresh succession to the crown , as soon as the king was capable of taking it , sufficiently declares , that as the king upon observing this compact , by governing according to law , had a right to his subjects allegiance ; so if he refused to act according to it , but would wilfully violate the ancient constitution of the kingdom , he thereby ceases to be king by law , and by destroying his own title to the crown , thereby also dissolves that bond of allegiance which before bound his subjects to him as well in duty as affection . f. but how can you prove that this contract was mutual , or that the king was to enjoy his crown only upon this condition , that he observe the fundamental laws of the kingdom ? since i have heard it positively asserted by those that are very well skilled in our laws , that the king is as much king before ever he is crowned , as afterwards ; and that he may chuse whether he will ever take any coronation oath or not . i. i will not now dispute that point with you ; but yet let me tell you , if a king should at this day refuse , to be crowned , because he had no mind to be tied by his coronation oath , i doubt whether the people , if they understood the force of that oath his predecessors have all along taken for so many successions , might not as well refuse to take him for their king , since he refused to hold the crown upon those conditions that his ancestors at first took it ; and so might look upon themselves as good as discharged of all oaths of fidelity to him , since those oaths were no doubt at first instituted on this mutual consideration , that both should observe their part , and not that one side should be loose , and the other fast ; but to shew you in the first place , that every coronation oath was in the saxon times , and long after the conquest , a renewal of this original contract may appear from these considerations : 1. that all the kings of the west saxons were elected , or at least confirmed by the great council or parliament * ; and i can shew you a particular law of a general synod or parliament of all england , wherein is particularly set down the laws or rules for the electing of their kings , as that they were not to be bastards , &c. and pursuant to this law of electing their kings , this great council † often preferred the younger brother before the elder , or the uncle before the nephew , when either greater merit , or the pressing necessities of the kingdom required it , which when once agreed upon by the bishops , and great men of the kingdom in the great council , after their election , and upon the day of their coronation , the archbishop of canterbury ( whose right it has always been to crown the king ) went to the king elect , and before ever he proceeded to the coronation , tender'd him a solemn oath * , whereby he was to swear three things : first , that god's church , and all the christian people of his kingdom should enjoy true peace and quiet . secondly , that he should forbid rapine , and all injustice to all sorts of men . thirdly , that he would command justice together with mercy in all judgments : and then ( and not till then ) was the crown set upon his head , and the scepter put into his hand by the archbishop ; and till this was done , the prince elect was not looked upon as king , nor had any right to the subjects allegiance . and thus stood this immemorial custom unaltered , not only during the saxon times , but long after the coming in of the normans ; for the first seven kings after william i. who till their coronations were never owned nor stiled kings until king edward i. who was elected ( or recognized ) for king , in a great convention of the estates , who then assembled of their own accord , when he was in the holy land , and they caused an oath of fealty to be taken to him two years before his arrival in england ; and though i grant since that time the crown hath been claimed as hereditary , yet has it rather been by vertue of those entails that have been successively made of it by express acts of parliament , and not from any fundamental law or constitution of the kingdom . this was the ancient form of electing and making our kings , the footsteps of which election still remain to later times , when the archbishop used to lead the king or queen to all parts of the scaffold , as at the several coronations of king edward vi. and queen elizabeth * : asked all the people standing below , whether they would have this person to be their king or queen ? f. i confess you tell me more of this matter than ever i knew before ; but yet i am still to seek , how this old coronation oath , exprest in so few words , should tie those princes to observe the laws of the kingdom , since it seems that by this oath , he was rather to govern according to equity , than law. i. that is , because you do not understand the legal force of those words contained in this oath ; for by the first branch of it , whereby god's church , and all christian people should enjoy true quiet , is meant not only that the clergy in particular should under him enjoy all their lawful rights and priviledges , but also all the other lay-members of christ's church should enjoy the free profession of the christian religion as by law establisht , without any molestation or disturbance . 2. by forbidding rapine and all injustice , is meant not only his hindring robberies , and all violent takings of his subjects goods , but also the illegal taking them by his own personal commands , or by his inferior officers or ministers . 3. by commanding justice together with mercy in all his judgments , is meant no more , than his not pardoning the guilty when condemned , and also not to condemn the innocent , or such whose particular circumstances might deserve mercy , and is no more than what was afterwards granted by magna charta , the sense of which is , that the king there promises neither to deny nor defer , nor yet to sell justice to any man ; which extends likewise as well to his great officers and judges , as himself , since they being the keepers of the king's oath and conscience , he is guilty of the like perjury , if he either connive , or is a wilful partaker or encourager of their injustice . and it was also declared for law by the judges , in the reign of king edward iii. that not only the king , but the prelates , nobles , governors , and justices , &c. of this realm , were tied by their oaths to maintain the ancient laws , franchises and customs of the kingdom of england . and also in a letter sent from the parliament in the 29th of edward i. to the pope * , the states of the kingdom do there declare , that since the premises required by the pope , were to the disherison of the crown , and subversion of the kingdom , and to the prejudice of the liberties , customs and laws of their country , and to whose observance and defence they were bound by the oaths they had taken , and which they would defend to the utmost of their power ; nor would permit even the king himself , although he would do it , to attempt the same . now pray tell me what greater assertion of a right of resistance in some cases , than this letter from the parliament , sent by the king 's own privity and consent . f. but you have not yet shewn me how the king , who is an hereditary monarch at this day , can be tied by the oath of his predecessors , since ( as your self cannot deny ) he is king before ever he is crowned . i. i will not deny , but the law is taken to be so at this day ; yet it is also as true , that from the beginning it was not so , as i have here sufficiently made out ; and yet for all this , i can prove , that tho the succession to the crown is now become hereditary , and so may alter the manner of acquiring it , ( and this for the avoiding of contests between competitors at elections ) yet notwithstanding this hereditary succession , it does no ways alter the conditions on which the crown was at first conferred , any more than if the office of lord high-constable , or earl-marshal of england , having been at first granted for life , and being afterwards by subsequent grants made hereditary , those that thus enjoyed them should have pretended that they were now no longer forfeitable for any male-administration , tho never so enormous . now , let us but apply the case of those great offices of trust to that of kingship , which is certainly an office of the highest trust , and then we may easily discover , that whether it be for life , or else entail'd to them , and their heirs , they are still obliged by the first contract of their ancestors , which is for memory sake still renewed at every king's reign ; so that tho the manner of their accession to the crown be alter'd from what it was at first , yet the conditions on which it was first taken , remain the same as long as the oath it self continues ; so being renewed at every king's reign . and hence it is , that our kings enjoy their crowns , be it for life or intail . now it is certain , that this solemn oath or contract which was taken by the first king , ought by law to be renewed at the beginning of every king's reign ; and hence it is , that our kings are not only bound by their own express oaths or contracts with their subjects , but also by the implied oaths or compacts of their predecessors under whose title they claim . and king iames i. was so sensible of this double contract , that he expresly mentions it in one of his speeches to 1609. both houses of parliament , where he very well distinguishes between both those contracts , telling them , that a king in a setled kingdom binds himself by a double oath to the observation of the fundamental laws of his kingdom , tacitly as being a king [ that is claiming under his ancestors ] and so bound to protect them as well as the laws of his kingdom ; and expresly by his own oath at his coronation : so as every just king in a setled kingdom is bound to observe that paction or covenant made to his people by his laws , in forming his government agreable thereunto , according to that paction which god made to noah , &c. and then goes on to tell them , that therefore a king governing in a setled kingdom , leaves to be a king , and degenerates into a tyrant as soon as he leaves off to rule according to his laws . and then concludes , that all kings who are not tyrants , nor perjured , will be glad to bind themselves within the limits of their laws ; and they that perswade them otherwise , are the worst vipers and pests both against them , and the common-wealth . so that you see here by king iames's own concession , that there are not only fundamental laws , but an original contract ( which he there calls a paction or covenant ) to observe them from the time of the first king or monarch to this day , and that when he ceases to govern according to this compact ( which he here calls his laws ) he then becomes a tyrant . f. but i have heard some say , that william the first , after he had conquered england , distributed almost all the lands to his norman and french followers ; and that if there were any original contract ever entred into by the english saxon kings , it was quite void upon the conquerors obtaining the crown , and subduing all the people of this nation ; so that whatever liberties we now enjoy , they were but the gracious concessions of himself , and his successors , without any such original compact . i. i confess it is so alledged by some high flying gentlemen , who , if they could , would make us all slaves to the king 's absolute will ; but without any just grounds in my opinion , since every one of their suppositions are either false , or built upon rotten foundations . for in the first place , a : conquest in an unjust war ( as i have already proved ) can confer no right on the conqueror over a free people ; and if this war were never so just , yet could not he thereby have acquired any right over the whole kingdom , since the war was not made against the english nation , but harold only , who had usurped the crown contrary to right : so that king william could have no right to it without the people's consent in their great council or parliament , which most of the historians of those times say he obtained ; but indeed , king william ( whom you call the conqueror ) never claimed by that title , but by the donation or testament of king edward the confessor , and the consent or election of the people of england , as all his english-saxon predecessors had done before him ; nor did he give all , nor yet a third part of the lands of england to his norman followers , as you suppose ; or if he had , would it do the business for which it is urged , since his norman and french followers to whom he gave those lands , were never conquered , but were ( if any thing ) the conquerors of others , and from them most of our ancient english nobility and gentry are lineally descended , or else claim under their titles by purchases , mariages , &c. and so succeed to all their rights and priviledges . and at the worst , supposing king william to have in some cases governed arbritrarily , and like a conqueror over the english ; this was not so , till he was provoked to it by their frequent plots and conspiracies against him ; and yet even that was done contrary to his coronation-oath , which was the same that all the saxon kings had taken before , only with this addition , that he should govern as well his french as his english subjects by equal law or right * so that his wilful breach of this oath could not give him , or his successors any just right by the sword over the lives , estates , or liberties of any englishman , who had never fought against him , nor offended his laws . and tho i should grant that this king , and his son william rufus , governed his norman , as well as his english subjects very arbitrarily , and contrary to his own laws ; yet did his brother , king henry 1st , make both his english and norman subjects large amends by the great charter of their ancient liberties , which he granted immediately after his election to the crown by the chief bishops , lords , and free-men of the kingdom ; and upon which the great charter of england , renewed by king iohn , and afterwards confirmed by his son , henry the 3d , were founded , being but larger explanations thereof . f. i confess this is more than ever i knew before ; but what if a king of england ( as king iames lately did ) will cease to govern like a legal or limited king , and prove a tyrant by breaking this original compact , which his predecessors made with the people , does it therefore follow that he may be resisted if he does ? or can he ever cease to be king , or forfeit his royal dignity , if he acts never so tyrannically ? for sure if all resistance of his power be unlawful , as being so declared by several acts of parliament in king charles the second's reign , he can never cease to be king , except he will wilfully turn himself out of the throne . i. i am very well satisfied that those acts you mention were only made upon this supposition , that the king would never violate the fundamental laws of the kingdom , by which he became king , or go about to change the constitution of the government ; since that had been to give the king an irresistible power to make us all slaves whenever he pleased ; so that our religion , lives , and civil liberties , would lye not only at the king's mercy , but at the mercy of those ministers that govern him ; and therefore as it can never be supposed to have been the intent of that parliament to tye up themselves , and the whole people of this nation to the king on such hard terms ; nay , supposing that the parliament had done it , i do not think they had any right so to do , since they were intrusted by those that chose them , not to alter the fundamental constitution of the government , but to strengthen and confirm it ; so that if by this act of non-resistance the government might easily be altered , and the legislative power , as well as that of raising money , may be taken out of the power of the king , and the two houses , and should be put solely in the king's person , the whole frame of the government would not only be altered , but actually dissolved , and consequently resistance in this case would not be a crime , but a duty ; since parliaments were instituted for the maintenance of the king 's legal , and not tyrannical power , and for preserving the people in that share of the government , which by the fundamental constitutions of the kingdom belonged to them . f. but pray tell me , sir , is there any express law for this resistance ; for indeed i could never hear of any such ? and therefore , i doubt , that if those noblemen and gentlemen , who went in lately to help his present majesty , when prince of orange , had been taken prisoners , and himself defeated by the king's army ; but they would have all of them been guilty of high treason , by the statute of 25 of edward the third ; and sure it would have been no good plea , to be allowed by the judges , that they took not up arms against the king of government , because the government was dissolved by the king 's exercising an arbitrary power . i. i would not argue with you what would have happened if the king had got the better , and either taken the prince of orange prisoner or driven him out of the kingdom ; for i never knew in all the histories i have read , but that a prince , who had the armed force of the nation on his side , could hang whom he pleased ; and will always find judges and jury-men enough ready to side with him in it , as we have found by many late examples . but this is no argument for the right or justice of such proceedings ; for we know king charles the first was tried and condemned by the pretended authority of the rump parliament , notwithstanding , his denying that they had any authority over him ; and though it be true there is no express act of parliament to tell us when the government is dissolved , and when , and in what case men may resist the king , or those commissioned by him ; yet does it not follow that no such thing can ever be lawfully done ; for it is sufficiently proved from the reason and necessity of the thing it self , though no express law or conditions be made for it ; which may be also observed in all moral or religious promises or contracts . thus if i promise , or swear to a man , never upon any account whatsoever to beat or kill him , this-is still so to be understood , that he does not go about to beat , or kill me ; for then my right of self-defence will take place , notwithstanding my oath : so when people are married , they mutually promise each other to live together till death do part , yet no man will say a man or woman commits a sin , or breaks this solemn promise , if the former , by reason of adultery in the wife , or the latter , by the extream cruelty or harshness of the husband , do separate from each other , and that perhaps for ever . but i shall now shew you that there is a resistance allowed even by the law it self in some cases , against those that have the king 's personal commission , as may appear by this instance . suppose an officer with a company of soldiers should under a colour of such a commission take upon them to keep possession of a house , contrary to law , do you not believe , but the sheriff may upon a legal process issued out thereupon , raise the posse comitatus , and restore the possession by force to the right owner , notwithstanding this commission ; and the reason is plain , because though the officer may have the king 's personal command for so doing , yet it is the sheriff alone who acts by a legal authority , and who alone can justifie the using of this force : now if any man should be killed in this action , no doubt but the officer and his soldiers , and not the sheriff , and the men that assisted him , would be found guilty of murther . f. i grant this may be so ; but is not this the true reason of it , because the sheriff acts by the king 's implyed authority , without which no man can lawfully take up arms ? but how can this be justified , in case arms were taken up upon supposition the government is dissolved , which is all one as to affirm , that the king is no longer king ? i. i allow that great part of what you say is true , but not all ; for in the first place it is plain , that there is a legal resistance of those commissions , though issued by the king , and which is justifiable by law , as appears by this instance ; which rule holds good as long as the laws can be permitted to have their due course : but what if the king will not permit that they shall , but will take part with this wicked officer and his soldiers , and maintain them in these violent actions , and either not let the law pass upon them , or if it does , should constantly pardon them as soon as they had committed any such violent illegal acts by his commands contrary to law ? can any man believe that such proceedings , if commonly practiced , would not quickly dissolve the government , and make such a king cease to be so , since he refused to govern and protect his subjects according to law , and his own coronation oath , which virtually contains those conditions on which he holds his crown ? for when there is no justice to be had in the kings courts , it then becomes a meer anarchy , wherein there can be nothing but rapine and confusion , and consequently puts men in a state of war. f. i have i know not what to say to this ; but can you shew me any express law for the king 's ceasing to be so , in case he thus leave off to protect his people , and govern them according the laws of the land ? i. yes that i can , for i can shew you a good old law of king edward the confessor , * which is also among those that were confirm'd by k. will. i. whereby it is expresly declared , that the king , who is god's lieutenant , is appointed to this end , that he defend his kingdom and people , and above all things reverence his holy church , and defend it from injuries , and take away wicked doers from it ; which unless he do , not so much as the name of king shall remain to him ; neo nomen regis in eo constabit , as it is in the latine ; which is likewise confirmed by bracton , † an ancient lawyer , who tells us , that it is the king's crown or authority to do justice and judgment , and to maintain peace , without which ( it follows ) that this crown or authority cannot consist , or be retained : so in another place he says , that it is not the king , where only will , and not law governs ; and in another place he gives this reason for it , because the king was elected to do iustice to all men . therefore when he thus abuses his power , and deviates from the main end of his creation , his authority ceases , or is at an end ; so that nothing seems plainer to me , than that all our ancient laws and lawyers have declared , that a king who willfully acts contrary to these known laws of the land , by turning tyrant , and by endeavouring to alter the ancient constitution , and by thus breaking his contract above-mentioned , looses or forfeits all his regal dignity and power . f. but , pray sir , how can this be , since our late statutes declare the king not to be subject to any coercive power of the two houses of parliament ? i. i grant the law to be so now ; but from the beginning it was not so ( as i said but now ) ; many of the saxon ▪ kings before the conquest , were deposed by the great council of the kingdom ; and since that time king edward and richard the iid . were solemnly deposed by authority of parliament ; and that proceedings against them were never expresly condemned or repealed by any subsequent statute that i know of ; but admit the law is not so now , does it not therefore follow , that because the king is not punishable , nor accountable to the parliament , that therefore he is wholly also irresistable , and can never fall from his royal dignity , let him behave himself as he will towards his people ? for sure it is one thing to be accountable , or punishable by the parliament as his superior , and another to be disobeyed and resisted by the whole nation , when it shall judge he has broken this original contract made by himself and his predecessors , in violating the fundamental laws and constitutions of the government , by vertue of which he became king ; since the former course of proceedings must be according to some law ▪ but for this there is no law now extant , but the contrary declared by several statutes ; whereas resistance in those cases i have now put upon a total breach of the original . contract , is not only justifiable from the very constitution of the government ; but also from the right of nature , viz. self-defence ; whereby , whoever violently assaults me in life , liberty , or estate , i am justified in defending my self against him ; for otherwise any right were wholely insignificant , if it might not be defended by force , when endeavoured by force to be taken away . f. but methinks this seems hard , and of evil consequence ? to take this power of judging the king's actions , whether legal or not , out of the parliament , and to place it in the diffusive body of the whole nation , whereby we of the high shoos would be made as capable of judging when this original ▪ contract is broken , as the best gentleman of you all ; which , the temper of the meaner and beggarly sort of people considered , seems very dangerous , since this would give them a right to rebel , and take arms whenever they had a mind to it , as i have read in our chronicles they did in richard the iid . and henry the vith . and henry the viith's time ; and as they did lately in plundering , pulling down , and burning popish gentlemen's houses , &c. i. you very much mistake me , for i do not put this power of judging any where , but where it ever was , much less to give a power of taking up arms , and raising rebellion to the mob , or most common sort of people ; but first to shew you , that every man in his several station , and at his peril , is to judge of the legality and illegality of the king's commissions , or proclamations : pray let me ask you this question , suppose that the king grants a commission to certain of us country gentlemen , to raise a tax contrary to law , are we obliged to obey it , or not ? f. no sure , you are not , because you should be punished , not only in parliament , but at common law , if you did . i. well then , it seems that we justices and deputy-lieutenants may judge in this case , but , pray tell me , suppose we should notwithstanding order this tax to be levied , and you were high-constable of the hundred , do you think your self obliged blindly to obey our orders , being so notoriously contrary to laws ? f. i think truly i should not , but should plainly tell your worships , that i was not obliged either by law or in conscience to have any hand in oppressing my self and my neighbours , and should desire you to put this ungrateful task upon some body else , since i thought my self liable to be called to account one time or other , if i did it . i. very well ; but if you and the other high-constable of the country should agree with us justices to raise this tax , do you think the petty-constables and assessors were obliged to act by this new commission contrary to law ? f. i do not think that if we high-constables should be such fools and knaves , the petty-constables and assessors were obliged to be so too . i. well then , you see that not only we gentlemen , but you yeomen can judge , ( nay , are obliged at your perils to do it ) when things are imposed upon you contrary to law ; nay , and to refuse to execute them too . f. i grant all this is true , but this is not resistance by force ; but i suppose you gentlemen would count it downright rebellion in us country-fellows , if you should tell us such a tax already imposed was according to law ; and we should be so far from paying it , as to raise the country , and fall upon you commissioners that went about to raise it by distraining or imprisoning the refusers . i. by your favour , neighbour , your very refusal to levy this tax is a civil resistance ; since all disobedience to the command of superiors is so , as proceeding from a right that those that disobey suppose they have of judging of the legality or illegality of such commands ; but as for forceable resistance , though i do not allow it to you , or any man else , as long as no force is used against them , yet so much let me tell you , that if we deputy-lieutenants and justices of the peace , should ever be so foolishly wicked as to take upon us to assist the king by the power of the trainbands , or a standing army , to levy any tax without act of parliament , or colour of law at least , but that not only you of this county , but of all the counties in england , might lawfully stand upon your defence , and resist this rapine and violence ; since if this were once permitted , it would in a moment alter the constitution of the government in a main fundamental point . the like i may say of any other matter of the same nature , if it should be imposed upon you by force , contrary to law , that is , contrary to , or without any act of parliament to warrant it . nor would this justify all the rebellions you mention to have been raised by the common people in those several kings reigns ; since those were raised upon levying of taxes imposed by the king and parliament , which is the sole supreme legislative power of the nation , where i grant it is rebellion to resist ; whereas that resistance , which i only now suppose to be lawful , is against the king's personal commands or commissions in opposition to known laws , which is not to resist the supreme power of the nation , but only the king's person , when he acts not as king , but as a private man. f. but , pray sir , is not this to separate the king 's personal , from his politick capacity , to suppose the man may be resisted , and not the king ; or the king 's personal , but not his legal commissions or commands ? for to do this , i have heard , has been declared to be treason ? i. this is also justifiable by law in some cases ; for if the king should happen to prove mad , ( as divers kings have ) pray do not his servants about him hold or tie the madman , and yet how can they do this , without binding the king ? and , pray tell me , what difference is there between madness , which is a natural disability and tyranny , which is a moral incapacity to govern ? since both are alike destructive to the common good of the nation . and when you suppose we may lawfully disobey the king's personal commands , what do we but then by disobeying the king , distinguish between the king 's politick and his personal capacity ; that is , when he acts legally as king , and when he issues out his commissions or commands , without any law to warrant him ? or else when the persons commissioned are made by law incapable of the king's commissions , as the popish officers lately were ? since otherwise we were all obliged to yield the same obedience to the one as well as to the other . nor is it at all harder , but much easier to judge , when such commissions or commands are attended with force and violence , and when they are not ; since certainly every plain country-fellow can much better tell , when a thing contrary to law , is put upon or exacted of him by force , than when it is only barely commanded or required of him by a commission or proclamation ; seeing the latter only reaches the understanding , but the former not only touches the understanding , but the outward senses of hearing , seeing and feeling ▪ to conclude , i would not have you therefore believe that i allow this general resistance to the whole nation , but only when by a general violation of our fundamental liberties , the whole constitution of the government comes to be in danger of an utter ruine and subversion , by breach of the original contract abovementioned : and that these violations and oppressions do some way or other concern the whole body of the people of this nation , that is , all orders and degrees of men , and then only ( and not till then ) i look upon such a general resistance of the king , and those commissioned by him to be lawful ; that is , when all other remedies are become absolutely desperate and impracticable , thro' the king's wilful obstinacy to amend such violations . f. i grant this seems very reasonable , but pray tell me what those grand violations are , that can thus alter the fundamental constitution of the government , and can make a total breach of this original contract ? i. they do , i conceive , consist but in a few points , and they are these . first , if the king should take upon him to make laws , either concerning religion , or civil matters , and to impose then upon the people without their consent in parliament . secondly , if he take upon him to dispense with all laws , and especially when his hands are tied up , by a particular clause to the contrary , that he shall not so dispense with them . thirdly , if he take upon him of his own head , without the advice or opinion of his judges , to raise money upon the nation : or , fourthly , if he corrupt the judges to give their opinions according to his humour , either by promising of rewards , or threatning them if they refuse ; and will put none into those places , who will not do whatever he commands them , or turns them out as soon as they act otherwise . fifthly , if he go about to alter the ancient constitution of parliaments , and bring the election of the members of the house of commons , only into the hands of those of his own party or opinion , whereby our liberty of electing and voting by our lawful representatives would be quite taken away . the like i may also say of the house of peers , if he should go by force either to exclude the bishops or temporal lords , who have a right of sitting there by prescription ; and should , under pretence of his prerogative , bring such as had no right to sit there at all . sixthly , and lastly , if he should go about commonly or generally , to take away the subjects lives , liberties or estates , by an arbitrary power , contrary to law , upon pretended crimes , and without such due trial as the law requires . now i think you cannot but acknowledge , that most ( if not all ) of these heads , are easily to be judged of by all the people of england , when they are come to that extremity that we can have no reason to doubt of it . f. but , pray sir , tell me who shall judge of these violations , or what number may be allowed to rise and redress them ? i. the judges are , i told you before , the whole body of the nation or people , every one in his private capacity ; that is , not the clergy alone , or the lords alone , or the * less nobility or gentry , and much less you yeomen , or landed men , and least of all the meer rabble or mob , but all men of all orders and conditions taken together ; and as for the number , it is any , though never so small , that are able to make a head till more can come into their assistance . f. but would not a free parliament be a much better judge of these violalations , than this general body of the people ? i. i grant it , if a parliament may be had that were free and unbiass'd ; but what if the king resolves not to call any ? or , if he does , will not give them leave to sit till they have redrest our grievances ? or , what if he will not call one , till he thinks he can make or pack it according to his own mind ? the nation may at this rate be enslaved as much , nay worse , by having the appearance of a parliament to confirm the king's arbitrary power , than if he had acted by none at all ; so that in these cafes there can be no other remedy left us , but an appeal to the general body of the people , with whom that original contract i mentioned was at first made ; not but that a free parliament or convention , when ever it can meet , may be of excellent use to examine what the people ( who thus take up arms ) have acted in defence of their just rights and liberties , and to judge and declare it to have been well or ill done , and upon what grounds ; and this hath been the course of all parliaments that have been called immediately after any great and general resistance or revolution , made upon the accounts abovementioned . this i could prove to you from several instances in divers kings reigns since the conquest , were it worth my pains ; but still in all those cases the first opposition hath been from the great body of the clergy , nobility and people together , as you may particularly read in the reign of king iohn , not long before the great council at runney mead. f. but , pray sir , can you also justify those lords and gentlemen who took up arms , and declared for the prince of orange ; and also those lords , together with the officers and soldiers , who deserted the king , and went into the prince's army ? pray , sir , did you look upon the government to be then actually dissolved when they went in to him , and that the king , by the breach of the original contract , was then no longer king ? i. i do not say so ; for though those violations , if obstinately persisted in without amendment , were enough to create such a dissolution , and consequently a forfeiture of the crown , as they wrought at the last ; yet the government can never be dissolved , so long as there remain any hopes that the king will amend those violations he has made , in a free parliament ; for the obtaining of which , as it was the chief cause of his highness's coming over , so was it also of those lords , gentlemen and officers going in to him , or declaring for him : and this , i think , they may very well justify both in honour and conscience . and though there be no express law for it , yet it is no more than what the nobility , gentry and people of other kingdoms as well as this , have many times done before in former ages , when their kings being misled and deluded by evil councellors or ministers of state , have made the like breaches upon their liberties . and though i confess such taking up of arms have not always met with the desired success , yet for the most part they have , and then such wicked judges and councellors have not failed to be punished , and those lords , gentlemen and others , who so nobly and stoutly stood up for the rights and liberties of the nation have been also pardoned by act of parliament , and that with the king 's own consent , when those wicked men were once removed ; but the king himselff was never touched , till by his own wilful and obstinate persisting in such violent courses , he let the nation see that he was wholely irreclaimable , and obstinately bent to destroy our liberties , and set up arbitrary government and tyranny in this kingdom , as i could shew you from several instances in the reigns of king iohn , henry iii. edward i. and richard ii. if it were necessary to give you a particular history of all those transactions ; so that i suppose a twofold right of resistance in the people , the one warranted by the laws and constitution of the government , which may well consist with our loyalty to the king , and to the intent only to obtain a free parliament , to redress grievances , and punish those evil councellors who have been the chief ministers and designers of arbitrary power , as in the case of king iames before his departure ; the other natural , when the government by the king 's wilful and obstinate refusal to redress such grievances , by ceasing to govern us according to law , he thereby also ceases to be king ; and then the commonwealth or civil society being without a head to execute common justice , was absolutely dissolved . f. what then is meant by these words in the late vote and declaration of the convention , viz. that king james having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom , hath abdicated the government ? do you believe that the king 's bare delertion of the kingdom , when he declared he could not help it should be looked upon as in abdication of the government . methinks that seems somewhat hard to conceive . i. to deal freely with you , i never understood the word abdicate in that sense , but only according to all the precedent clauses in this vote , viz. that the king , by endeavouring to break the original contract , between the king and his people , and by the advice of iesuits and wicked persons , having violated the fundamental laws , and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom , hath abdicated the government . where you may observe that the word abdicated , relates to all the clauses aforegoing , as well as to his deserting the kingdom , or else they would have been wholely in vain ; so that the meaning of this word in this place is no more , than that king iames , by violating the original contract abovementioned , and by endeavouring to subvert the fundamental constitution , and by refusing to restore it to its former condition , ( all which was expressed by his withdrawing himself out of the kingdom ) hath abdicated the government ; that is , by refusing to govern us according to that law by which he held the crown , he hath implicitly renounced his title to it ; as when , for example , a tenant for life aliens in fee , though he take back from the grantee a lease for life or years , yet he thereby forfeits his estate , and the tenant in reversion may enter ; and the reason is , because he parts with that estate which he held by law , and will hold by another title which the law doth not allow ; for abdicare in the latin tongue , signifies no more than to renounce , or disclaim , as i could shew you from divers phrases in that language , were you a scholar good enough to understand them ; and this may be done by divers other means , besides express words : for if kingship be a trust for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people , than such actings contrary to that trust as plainly strike at the very fundamentals of the constutution , are not only a breach of that trust , but a tacite renunciation of it also , which i prove thus ; the doing of any act that is utterly inconsistent with the being and end of the thing for which it is ordained , is as true a renouncing , or abdication of that thing , as if it were made in express words , as i have now proved in the case of tenant for life . f. i confess this is more than ever i heard before ; but , pray , what do you think was the reason that the convention made use of this hard word abdicate ; ( which i confess , to us country fellows , seem'd as bad as heathen greek ) when they might as well have made use of plain expressions , such as renounce or forfeit , which you have now made use of ? i. i will tell you , neighbour , my opinion of this matter , and if i am out you must pardon me ; because those wise men in the convention , who had the wording of this vote , were afraid that those plainer words you mention , would have been of too hard digestion to a great part of the country gentlemen , who had been bred up with different principles ; and therefore used the word abdicate , as that which though it implied both a renunciation , and also a forfeiture of the royal power , yet not being commonly so understood , made some men only to understand it of the king's desertion of the throne by his going away ; a notion , which because it served a present turn , mens heads were then very full of : but indeed if this desertion be closely examined , it will not do the business for which it is brought , as you have already very well observed . f. i confess i never understood the true sence of this word abdicate before , much less the reason why it was made use of ; therefore commend me to the honest bluntness of the scotch convention , which ( as i am informed ) did not stick to declare , that king iames by subverting the fundamental laws of that kingdom , had forfeited the crown : but , pray sir , tell me , what those acts , or violations of this original contract were , which you suppose to cause this tacit renunciation of the crown ? i. as for these i need not go far , since they are all plainly expressed in the convention's late declaration , as striking at the root , or very fundamental constitution of the government it self , viz. raising of money contrary to law , that is , without any act of parliament , as in the late levying of the customs , excise , and chimney-money upon cottages and ovens , contrary to the several statutes that conferred them on the crown . 2dly . his assuming a legislative power , by dispensing with all statutes for the protestant religion established by law ; whereby he at one blow took away above forty acts of parliament ; and he might at this rate as well have dispensed with the whole statute-book at once by one general declaration . 3dly . raising a standing army in time of peace , and putting in popish officers , contrary to the statute provided against it ; for these being but the king 's half subjects ( as king iames the 1st . called them in a speech ) might be looked upon when in arms , as no better than enemies to the state ; so that by thus arming our enemies , it was in effect a declaring war upon the people , since it was abusing the power of the militia , which is intrusted with the king for our safety and preservation in our religion , liberties and civil properties , and not for the destruction of them all , as we found by woful experience , must have inevitably befallen us . 4thly . the quartering of this standing army in private houses contrary to law , and the petition of right , acknowledged by the late king his father . 5thly . his erecting a new ecclesiastical court by commission , contrary to the statute that took away the high commission court. 6thly . and by the pretended authority of this court , suspending the bishop of london from his ecclesiastical jurisdiction , and turning out almost all the fellows and scholars of magdalen colledge , because they would not chuse a president uncapable of being elected by that colledge statutes . 7thly . by imprisoning the archbishop of canterbury and the six other bishops , only for presenting him with an humble petition not to impose the reading of his declaration of toleration , upon the clergy of the church of england , as being contrary to the known laws of the kingdom ; and then trying them for this as a high misdemeanor , though it was contrary to the opinion of two of the then judges of that court of kings-bench . there are also other things of lesser concernment , as packing of juries , and unjust and partial proceedings in tryals , with excessive fines and cruel whippings ; which because they were done by the lord chief justice iefferies , and the other judges , contrary to law , i leave them to answer for it ; whereas the instances i have now given , were in such grand violations , as were done by the king 's own personal orders and directions , or else could never have been done at all : so that by his willful acting these things , and obstinately refusing to let a free parliament sit to settle and redress them , but rather chusing to leave the realm , than he would give way to it , when he might have done it : i think , upon consideration of the whole matter , it will appear , that the convention had good and just reasons for declaring the throne vacant , since the king had not only broke his first declaration he made in council , to maintain the church of england as by law established , and the liberties and properties of his subjects ; but his own coronation-oath besides , if he took the same his predecessors did ; and if he did not , he ought not to receive any benefit by his own default , but is certainly bound by the oaths which his grandfather king iames , and his father king charles took before him . f. i confess these seem to be great breaches of the very fundamentals of our religion , liberties , and civil properties , if done by the king 's express order and directions ; and if that he afterwards refused to disclaim them , and suffer the authors to be punished in parliament , as they deserved , makes all those faults indeed fall upon the king himself , and consequently seem to amount to a forfeiture of the royal dignity , according to that law of edward the confessor , you have already cited , that if the king fail to protect the church , and defend his subjects from rapine and oppression ; the very name ( or title ) of king shall no more remain to him . but , pray sir , shew me in the next place , how the convention could justifie their voting the throne vacant ; for granting that king iames had implicitly abdicated , or renounced all his right to the crown by the actions you have but now recited : yet if this kingdom ( as i have always taken it to be ) is hereditary , and not elective , i cannot conceive how the throne can ever be vacant , that is , void of a lawful heir , or successor , as long as one of the blood-royal , either male or female , is left alive , since i have heard it laid down as a maxim in our law , that the king never dies . i. i grant this to be so upon all ordinary deaths or demises of a king or queen ( as the lawyers term it ) : but there are great and evident reasons why it could not be so upon this civil , though not natural , death of the king ; as first , the natural person of the late king being still alive , none can claim as heir to him whilst he lives , since it is a maxim , as well in our common as in the civil law , that no man can be heir to a person alive . f. i grant this may be so in ordinary estates of inheritance in fee-simple ; but i take it to be otherwise in estates tail ; for if a tenant in tail had become a monk whilst monasteries were in being in england , the next heir in tail might have entered upon the estate , because the entering into a religious order , was looked upon as a civil death : now i take the crown to be in the nature of such an estate-tail , where the heir claims not only as heir to the last king , but to their first or common ancestor , on whom the crown was entailed ; otherwise brothers or sisters by the half blood , could never succeed to each other , as queen mary did to king edward the vith . i. well , neighbour , i see you have either read littleton , or else been very well instructed in this law concerning entails , and therefore i will argue this point no farther with you ; but if the throne were not vacant , pray then tell me , whom think you the convention should have immediately declared king or queen , whether the titular , or pretended prince of wales , or the princess of orange ; since only one of these can claim as heir by vertue of the entail you now mentioned ? f. no doubt but the prince of wales would have been the right heir , could we have been assured of his being really born of the body of the queen ; but since ; i confess , there is a great doubt in most persons throughout the whole nation concerning it , i must so far agree with you , that he could not well be declared king till his legitimacy were cleared , and those just suspicions we lye under to the contrary , taken away ; but then on the other side , till this were done , i do not see how the convention could well justifie their placing the princess of orange , or any body else in the throne . i. we shall come to that by and by , but in the mean time , pray observe , that here was a great and general doubt , who was the next lawful heir , whether the prince of wales , or the princess of orange ; now in disputes of this nature , in all the hereditary , limited monarchies in europe , the states of the kingdom have always been the sole supream judges of such controversies ; and whom they have owned , and admitted as next heirs , have always been taken and owned for lawful kings , both at home and abroad ; as i could shew you from divers instances , not only in england , and scotland , but france , spain , and portugal : and till this were done , the throne must necessarily remain vacant , and all this without making the crown elective ; for what is this vacancy of the throne , but when through the ignorance of the ordinary subjects whom to place therein , by reason of divers claims of different competitors , none can be admitted to fill it , ( that is , to the exercise of the kingly office ) till these disputes could be decided by their proper judges , viz. the estates of the kingdom , which is all one , as to declare the throne to be vacant ? since it must necessarily be so , till they were fully satisfied who ought to fill it . f. i confess , what you have now said , carries a great deal of reason with it ; but how can you justifie the convention's placing their present majesties on the throne , without ever so much as examining whether the supposed prince of wales were really born of the body of the queen . or not ; which , in my opinion , ought to have been the first thing to be enquired after ; whereas i do not find that the convention , nor yet the present parliament , have taken any more notice of him , than if there had been no such thing in nature , as a son then born , or pretended to be born , during the marriage between the late king and queen . i. if the convention have done well in declaring the throne vacant , i think i can easily justifie their filling it with their present majesties ; and that upon two several considerations : the first is , that i suppose the prince of orange , by his victory over king iames , sufficiently declared by his flying from salisbury , and disbanding his army , and then quitting the kingdom , ( if he had done nothing else ) did thereby lose his right to the crown ; and so consequently to the peoples allegiance ; and the nation being then free , and without any king , who had a better right to be placed in the throne , than the prince of orange their deliverer ? and besides this , in respect of the nation , king iames ( as i have already proved ) having abdicated or forfeited his right to the crown , by his notorious breach of the contract above-mentioned , and by his wilful persisting in it ; i look upon the whole nation at his departure as fully discharged from all oaths of allegiance , not only to king iames , but to his heirs likewise ; and therefore were not obliged to look after this supposed prince , nor to examine his legitimacy as heir apparent to the crown . f. i cannot comprehend how this can consist with those acts of parliament of queen elizabeth , and king iames , which oblige all the subjects of this realm to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance to the king or queen , and to their heirs and lawful successors ; and sure , i think , nothing less than an act of parliament can alter these former statutes and solemn declarations concerning the succession in a right line : and i suppose you will not say , that the convention ( who certainly were no parliament ) could without the authority of a lawful king and parliament , alter the ancient laws of succession , since i have heard it is a maxim in law , that nothing can be undone , but by the same power that made it ; and therefore , in my opinion , the convention was too quick in declaring their present majesties king and queen , before they had examined the prince of wales's title ; who was commonly reputed , and prayed for in all our churches , as heir apparent to the crown . i. i confess you have in few words urged all that can well be said against the late act of the convention , in declaring their present majesties king and queen : therefore in answer to this objection , give me leave in the first place to tell you , that you have been misinformed , that because the acts for the oaths of supremacy and allegiance , obliged us to take it to the late king , and his heirs and lawful successors ; that therefore no person can be such a lawful successor , unless he claim in a right line , by descent from the last king ; since long before these acts were made , by the ancient oath of fidelity at common law , and which used to be required in all court-leets , men were as much obliged to the king , his heirs and successors , as they can be by any of these later oaths , and yet no body then doubted , before those acts were made , to pay allegiance to that person whom the estates of the kingdom had solemnly declared to be lawful king or queen , without ever examining whether such kings , or queens , were really and truly next heirs by blood , or not ; as i can shew you from divers examples , had i now time for it . and there is indeed great reason for their so doing ; for since all disputes about the right of succession to the crown , must be decided by some proper judges ; or else be left wholly to the decision of the sword ; and since ( as i said but now ) in all the limited kingdoms of europe , the estates of such kingdoms have been always appeal'd to by all the contending parties as their only proper judges of their disputed titles ; it is but reason , that all private subjects should submit and acquiesce in their final judgments ; since they are all virtually represented in such assemblies , as the representative body of the whole people , or nation : therefore , if the convention of the estates of england , have for divers weighty reasons , thought fit to declare their present majesties lawful king and queen , and to place them on the throne , as then vacant by king iames's abdication , i think all the subjects of this kingdom are bound to bear true allegiance to them , and to confirm it by the oath appointed for that end , whenever they shall be lawfully required thereunto . f. well , sir , but is not this to alter one part of the original contract , which those that are against the present settlement , suppose to be the right of hereditary succession to the crown , and that in a right line : so that if the supposed prince of wales be lawful heir to king iames , to place any body else therein , seems to render the crown for the future not successive , but elective ; for if it may be bestowed now according to the humor of the present convention , it may be done so again the next succession , and so the right heirs put by from time to time , for the same , or some like reason as now . i. that does not at all follow ; for if you will allow that the throne was vacant by the abdication of king iames , and that her present majesty queen mary is lawful heir , if the pretended prince of wales were away ; i will prove to you , that the late convention and present parliament , have done all they could or were obliged to do in this juncture , in placing their present majesties on the throne , and recognizing their title , without taking any notice of this pretended prince ; of whose birth , whether true or false , i shall not now say any thing one way or other ; nor shall trouble my self to inquire into the validity of those suspitions that may render his birth doubtful to the generality of the nation : and therefore in the first place , i desire you only to take notice , that this child was carried away by his mother , when he was scarce yet six months old ; 2dly , that the midwife and all the chief witnesses , who could swear any thing concerning the queen's being really with child , and brought to bed of him , were likewise conveyed at the same time into france . f. i grant it ; but what do you infer from hence . i. why , only these two conclusions : 1st . that neither the convention nor parliament are obliged to take notice of the rights of any person , tho' heir to the crown , that is out of the dominions of england , if he be no necessary part , or member of parliament ; if neither himself , nor any body for him , will put in his claim to the crown , upon the demise of the king , either by death , or abdication ; as in the case now before us , there being then a claim made in the late convention by his highness the prince of orange on the behalf of his consort the princess , as heir apparent to the crown : the convention were not obliged to look any farther after this supposed prince , or to know what was become of him ; whether he was drowned , or taken at sea by pyrates , or he being dead , another put in his place , or carried by his mother into france : since any of these might have happen'd for ought they knew , no body appearing to put in any claim for him , or to desire that his cause might first be heard , before he was excluded . 2dly , that if such claim had been made by any body for him , yet the convention could by no means be obliged to do more than lay in their power , or to hear , or examine the validity of this child's birth ; unless the midwife , nurses , and others , who were privy to all the transactions concerning it , were likewise present , and sent back to give their testimonies in this case ; for if the convention had proceeded to examine this matter without sufficient evidence , they could only have heard it ex parie , on but one side , and so might have sat long enough , before they could have come to any true decision in this matter ; whilst in the mean time , the whole nation for want of a king , were in danger of utter ruin and confusion . f. but , pray sir , why could not the parliament have sent over summons to those witnesses ( which they say are no further off than france ) to come and give testimony in this great cause , before they had proceeded to have declared the prince and princess of orange king and queen ? i. there may be several good reasons given for it : first , because this child being carried into the dominions of a prince who is a declared enemy of our religion , and civil interest of the english nation , he would never have consented to his being sent over to be viewed by those that the convention should appoint for that purpose ; without which inspection , the nation could never have been morally assured that this was the same child that was carried away ; since every one knows , that infants of that age are not easily distinguisht one from another , but by those that have been about them from the very time of their birth . secondly , because his reputed parents counting themselves already injured by the convention , in declaring that the king had abdicated the government , and that the throne was thereby become vacant , would never have obeyed any summons the convention should have sent over , because they looked upon them not to have any authority at all , as not being summon'd , nor sitting by vertue of that king's writs . thirdly , admitting that the french king would have permitted this supposed prince to have been sent back , and that king iames and his queen would have obeyed this summons , yet was it not for the safety of the nation to stay for or rely upon it ; since before this question could have been decided , great part of this year had slipt away , and we being left without a king to head us , nor any parliament sitting , able to raise money ( which cannot be legally done , without the king's authority in parliament ) the french king might , whilst we were thus quarrelling amongst our selves about a successor to the crown , have sent over king iames with a great fleet , and an army of old soldiers , and so have placed him again in the throne , more absolute than ever he was before ; since besides that legal right of succession , ( which i grant he , once had ) he might also have set up a new right by conquest , over this kingdom . so that all things being seriously considered , since the safety of the people ought to be the supream law , as ever hath been agreed as an undoubted principle by all wise nations , i think we have done all that could well be done , in this case ; nor have broken the hereditary succession , in declaring king william and queen mary to be our lawful king and queen ; since if she were lawful queen , they might also declare him to be king , and make it treason to conspire against him as well as the parliament could do in the case of prince philip of spain , who was * declared king joyntly with queen mary , tho' he had no other right , but by act of parliament : so that if the late convention have declared , that the administration of the government should remain solely in ▪ king william during his life ; this was only to put it out of all dispute , that none might at all doubt in whom the supream power lay , since it will not admit of any division . f. all this seems reasonable enough ; but pray how comes it to pass , that king william is to enjoy the crown , not only during the queens life , but his own also ? this i heard squire high-church , and the parson i last mentioned , cry out upon , not only as a horrid breach of the hereditary succession , but also as a great wrong to the princess of denmark , and her heirs , were the supposed prince of wales now dead , since it is directly contrary to the act of recognition of king iames i. whereby the parliament do not only declare him to be lawful and lineal heir of the crown , as descended from the eldest daughter of king edward iv. but also they do thereby engage themselves , and their posterity ; to yield obedience to king iames , and his right heirs . i. pray satisfie those gentlemen when you meet them , that if they once will grant that the late king iames could abdicate the crown without his own express consent , and that declaring this supposed prince to be king was altogether unpracticable and unsafe for the nation , ( as i have already proved ) i think they need not be concerned , whether his present majesty enjoys the crown for life , or not ; as long as it is for the peace and safety of the nation that it should be so ; since it was for those ends alone that king iames was set aside , and the supposed prince past by , without so much as enquiring into his legitimacy . if the convention had lawful authority to decide the greater points , they had certainly after they became a parliament much more authority to decide and settle the less material parts of this controversie , viz. the settlement of the crown after the queens decease ; since it is no more than what all former parliaments have done in like cases : thus henry the iv. and henry the vii . were , formally declared , ( nay the latter recognized ) for lawful kings by authority of parliament ; notwithstanding the lineal heirs by blood were then alive and in being ; and not only so , but before ever henry the vii . married with the princess elizabeth , daughter to king edward the iv. the crown was settled upon him , and the heirs of his body , by an act which you may find in print in our statute-books : tho' he had no right at all by succession , since his mother the countess of richmond , from whom all the right he could pretend to the crown was derived , was then alive , nor had made any cession of it to him . so that if this be true ( which i am able to prove ) that an hereditary succession in a right line , was never any fundamental law of this kingdom . and , secondly , that after the crown came to be claimed by an hereditary right , which was no older than edward the ist's time , the parliament have , often taken upon them to break in upon this hereditary succession , whenever the safety and necessity of the kingdom required it . and , thirdly , that all those kings who have thus succeeded without this lineal right of succession , have been not only , during their own reigns , owned for true and legal kings ; attainders ( of treason , holding good against all persons that conspired against them ) but also after their reigns were ended ; for we see all such acts of parliament made under them stand good at this day , unless it were those that were repealed by subsequent parliaments : and can there then be any question made , but that the present parliament have as much power to settle the crown upon his present majesty for life , as they had to settle it upon king henry the iv. or henry the vii . and the heirs of their bodies ? since those princes could not deserve more from the nation , in freeing it from the tyranny of the two richards , the ii. and iii. than his present majesty hath done by freeing us from the arbitrary power of king iames. and let me tell you farther , that the gentlemen you mention were mistaken in their repetition of that act of recognition of king iames the ist's title ; for though it is true they acknowledged him for undoubted lineal heir of the crown , yet they do no where in that act tie or oblige themselves and their posterity to him , and his right heirs , by that act of parliament ; but only in general , that they promise obedience and loyalty to that king , and his royal progeny ; and sure none will deny their present majesties to be the true progeny of king iames the ist. f. i grant this seems very reasonable ; but those gentlemen i now mentioned also said , that henry the iv. was in the reign of king edward the iv. declared an usurper by act of parliament ; and as for henry the seventh , he had either a title from the house of lancaster by the tacite concession of his mother , or else from that of york by the like tacite concession of the princess elizabeth his wife ; or else if there were no such concession , he was an usurper till he had married the said princess , she being heiress of the crown . pray what say you , sir , to this ? i. pray tell those gentlemen from me , that they are quite out in their suppositions ; for if an act of parliament of edward the fourth , be of sufficient authority to prove henry the fourth an usurper , i can give you another act of parliament ( though not printed ) which reverses the attainder of king henry the sixth , margaret his queen , and prince edward their son ; wherein it is expresly declared , * that king henry the sixth was contrary to all allegiance and due order , attainted of high treason in the first year of king edward the fourth ; wherefore it is by the advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal , assembled in parliament , enacted , that all acts of attainder , forfeiture , and disablement , made in the said parliament against the said blessed prince king henry , are made void , annulled and repealed . so that if the attainder of henry the sixth was against all due order and allegiance , then certainly the said king must have been a lawful king , and not an usurper at the time of his death ; and if he were not so , then certainly the like must be affirmed of henry the fourth , from whom he was descended , and under whom he claimed : and as for henry the seventh , there was no formal cession of their right ever given by the countess his mother , or the princess his wife , either before , or after his coming to the crown : and as for a tacite and implied cession , expressed by saying nothing against it , pray tell me why we may not as well suppose a like tacite consent in the princess of denmark's not making any opposition or protestation against this act , whereby the crown was settled upon his majesty during his life , but rather agreeing to it ? for i have heard that several of her servants in both houses , did declare , that the princess did not design that her future right should be any hindrance to the present settlement . pray therefore tell me , why may not king william hold the crown after the death of the queen ( if she should happen first to die ) without any usurpation , as well as king henry the seventh held it after the death of his queen , notwithstanding his two sons , prince arthur and henry both lived to be married before their father died ; and henry the eighth was then in his nineteenth or twentieth year of his age ; old enough of conscience to govern himself ? f. i confess these things were altogether unknown to me before , as they are i believe to most of my condition ; and i give your worship many thanks for your kind information . but , pray sir , resolve me one question more , and i have done ; do you think a man may lawfully take the new oath of allegiance to their present majesties , notwithstanding king iames is still alive ? and do you think i could justifie it ( in law ) should i be called to an account for it , if he should again by some unexpected means or other obtain the throne ? i. well , neighbour , to satisfie you as to the first of your questions , i answer thus ; i doubt not but you may lawfully take this oath , since the parliament have done no more in thus setling the crown , than what many former parliaments have done before in like cases ; whose proceedings have been still looked upon as good , and held unquestioned unto this day ; as appears by the president of henry the viith . i now gave you ; and upon which declarations of parliament ( who are the only proper judges , who have most right to the crown , in case of any dispute about it ) the people of this kingdom have still thought themselves sufficiently obliged to take such oaths of fidelity and allegiance , as the government thought fit to frame , and require of them according to law. but , i confess , the latter of your questions is somewhat harder to be answered , because it depends upon a matter that is farther remote , since we cannot tell whether if ( ever at all ) king iames should re-obtain the throne , by what means it may happen ; for if it should be by the force either of the irish , or french nations , i doubt not but we should be all made mere slaves and vassals , without any law or setled property , but his own will : but if it should be by any agreement or composition with him upon his engagement to govern according to law ; the● le● me tell you , not only your self but every other subject that takes this oath , will have a good plea in law for taking it , by the statute of the 11th . of henry the viith . * whereby it is expresly enacted ; that every subject , by the duty of his allegiance , is bound to serve and assist his prince and sovereign lord at all seasons , when need shall require ; and then follows an act of indemnity for all those that shall personally serve the king , for the time being , in his wars : which were altogether unreasonable , if allegiance had not been due before to such a king as their sovereign lord , mentioned in the preamble ; and if allegiance were due to him , then certainly an oath may lawfully be taken to observe it ; since it is no more than what the law hath ever required from subjects to such a king , not only by this statute , but at common law too , as appears by my lord cookes comment on the statute of edward the iiid . where he asserts not only from the authority of this statute , but also from the old year-books , that a king de facto , or for the time being , is our lord the king , intended in that statute ; and that the other , who hath a right and is out of possession , is not within this act. so that , you see , according to this act of henry the viith . as also by the judgment of the best lawyers of england , whatever person is once solemnly crowned king of england , and hath been so recognized by authority of pariiament ( as their present majesties have now been ) are , and ever have been esteemed lawful and rightful kings or queens , though they had no hereditary right of succession as next of blood , as i have proved to you from the instance of king henry the 4th . and 7th . and could do also by the examples of queen mary , or queen elizabeth , ( take which you please ) since they could not both of them succeed as the legitimate daughters and heirs of king henry the eighth : so that it is plain , one or other of these queens had no better than a parliamentary title to the crown : therefore , upon the whole matter , whether their present majesties are heirs to the crown by lineal descent , is not the question ; but whether by the law of england they are not to all intents and purposes lawful and rightful king and queen ; so that an oath of allegiance may be lawfully taken to them , and all men obliged to serve them in all their wars and other affairs , even against king iames himself ; since we cannot serve two masters , that is , owe allegiance to two kings at once . f. i cannot deny but what you say seems not only very reasonable , but also according to law ; but i heard the squire and the parson we but now mentioned , positively assert , that the king and parliament had no power to alter the succession to thē crown , though they would ; and that therefore this statute of henry the seventh , you now mentioned , which indemnifies all those that take up arms in defence of the king for the time being , is void : first , because made by an usurper who had no right to make such a law in prejudice of the true king , or the next heirs of the crown ; but also because ( as they said ) it was but a temporary act , and was to last no longer than during his life ; and lastly , because this statute hath never been allowed , or held for good in any cases of assisting usurpers , since that time ; for the duke of northumberland was arraigned and executed for treason , in the time of queen mary , because he had assisted and taken up arms on behalf of the lady iane gray , who was proclaimed queen , and reign'd as such for about a fortnight ; and yet , tho the duke pleaded afterwards that he had acted nothing but by order of the queen and council for the time being ; yet this plea was over-ruled by the peers , who were his judges , and he was executed notwithstanding . lastly , they said , that this statute was implicitly , or by consequence repealed by those statutes of queen elizabeth and king iemes , which appoint the oaths of allegiance to be only taken to the king , his heirs , and lawful successors ; besides a statute of the 28th . of king henry the eighth , by which it is made treason in any of those on whom he had setled the crown , or should bequeath it by his last will , to usurp upon the right of each other ; which could never have been , if the king or queen for the time being must have been assisted and obey'd by all the subjects of this realm , as if they were rightfully so ; and therefore they concluded , that this statute of henry the seventh could make no alteration in the ancient law concerning the succession , but that it stands still as it did before that statute was made , and as it was declared in the case of edward the fourth , by which it was affirmed , that the henries , the fourth fifth , and sixth , were kings only in deed , and not of right , and but pretended kings , and that the statute which setled the crown upon henry the fourth and his issue , was absolutely void , against the duke of york and his heirs . i. if this be all they had to say , i doubt not but to answer it well enough ; and therefore as to their first objection , which would make this statute of henry the viith . void , because made by an usurper ; methinks they might have been so civil as to have allowed him to be lawful king in right of his wife at least ; this statute being made during the time of his marriage with the princess elizabeth , but indeed nothing more betrays these gentlemens ignorance in our laws ; since if they will but look on any ordinary statute book , they will find that the statutes of those kings they look upon as usurpers , are of as much force at this day , as those enacted by princes in a right line , unless it were such as have been since repeal'd by some subsequent statutes . 2dly . their objection of its being a temporary law , only during that king's life , is also as vain , since the statute it self mentions no such thing ; but speaks of the king for the time being , in all succeeding times , without any mention of king henry the viith . in particular . 3dly . that the judges have lookt upon it as a void law , or else repeal'd it also as false ; for the case of the duke of northumberland , does not prove it to be so ; for though the duke did not , as we can ever find , plead this statute at his trial , yet i think if he had , it would not have helpt him , since the king or queen , for the time , being within this statute , i only take to be he or she that have been solemnly crowned and recognized by a free parliament ; or such a one on whom the crown is entail'd by statute ; which it never was on the lady iane , on whom the crown was only bestow'd by king edward the vith's letters-patents , and consequently had no title by act of parliament . and lastly , that this statute of 11th of henry viith . was never repeal'd by any subsequent act , is likely as certain ; for i never heard before , that any act of parliament could ever be repeal'd by implication , but only by express words : but indeed , none of those statutes you mention have done it so much as by implication ; for though the oaths of allegiance , and supremacy are to be taken to the king or queen , and their heirs , and lawful successors ; yet who those heirs or lawful successors shall be , can only be known by some law or other ; now who can declare what this law is , or shall be , but the king and parliament the sole supream legislators ? and that this is law at this day , appears by this undeniable authority , that it is by the statute of the 13th of elizabeth , declared to be treason , during the life of the queen , for any person to affirm that the queen and parliament had not power to make laws , to limit , and bind , and govern the succession of the crown , in possession , remainder , or reversion ; ( and to shew you that this statute is still in force ) every person so holding , or affirming after the said queen's decease , shall forfeit all their lands , and goods . but as for the statute of henry the viiith . that will help them least of all ; for it appears by the statute it self , that the treason thereby enacted , could only arise from thence , and extend no farther than the persons therein mention'd ; nor is the succession of the crown in a right line setled or confirmed by this statute , but the clear contrary ; since king henry had power by this statute to bequeath the crown by his last will and testament , under his seal and sign manual ; which he afterwards actually took upon him to do ; so that the law still continues as it did before that act of edward the ivth . you now mentioned was made , since it is declared by that unprinted act of henry the viith . i have now cited , that king henry the vith . was unjustly deposed , and his attainder reversed , and consequently his right to the crown is thereby declared to be good and valid to all intents and purposes . f. i confess you have throughly convinced me in this matter , and i think it highly reasonable that it should be so ; for how can we ordinary subjects know to whom to pay our allegiance , in cases of any disputes that may arise about the different titles of princes to the crown , without appealing to some proper judges of it ; and who can these judges be , but the great council of the nation , in which every person thereof is either personally present , or vertually represented ? and if this were the effect of your late charge at our sessions , i wonder any persons should be so malicious as to misrepresent you for a commonwealths-man ; but pray tell me what i shall say to those gentlemen if i happen to come again into their company ? i. pray assure them from me , that i am no more a commonwealths-man , than themselves , and am not only for keeping up and defending the original constitution of king , lords , and commons , and the rights and liberties of the people ; but am also for an hereditary monarchy by lineal descent , by all those lawful means by which our ancestors have maintained them , and that in all cases ; except where the exigency of our affairs , and the necessity of providing for the publick peace and safety of the commonwealth , have not obliged the estates of the kingdom several times to take a different course when it could not be avoided without inevitable ruin ; and , i suppose , the same estates have still , by the very constitution , the same power and right of providing for the peace and safety of the nation , and the preservation of our religion , liberties , and properties , as ever they had in all precedent times : so that granting the most that can be said , that the convention have now exercised that ancient power , in placing their present majesties on the throne ; yet this would be no more an argument for our making a common course of it upon every succession to the crown , than it would be for you when you were a travelling upon the road to break into any bodies ground you pleased , because you may have been forced when the way has proved unpassable , either through water or dirt , to leap a ditch ( perhaps for safeguard of your life ) into a neighbour's enclosure . f. sir , i am so well satisfied with what your worship hath now said in these grand points , that , with your good leave , i shall not fail , not only to vindicate your person from those aspersions , but also to maintain the lawfulness of our present settlement upon the same principle you have now laid down ; since i know of none that seem to me more agreeable to right reason , and the laws and constitution of this kingdom ; and therefore i hope you will always believe me to be your honest neighbour and humble servant , and so i take my leave of your worship . i. neighbour , i am yours , and bid you heartily farewel . finis . books sold by richard baldwin . the works of f. rabelais , m d. in five books ; or the lives , heroick deeds and sayings of the good gargantua and pantagruel , and his voyage to the oracle of the bottle . as also his historical letters . to which is added , the author's life , and explanatory remarks . by mr. motteux . never before printed in english. bibliotheca politica : or an enquiry into the ancient constitution of the english government ; with respect both to the just extent of regal power , and to the rights and liberties of the subject . wherein all the chief arguments , as well against as for the late revolution , are impartially represented and considered . in xiii . dialogues . collected out of the best authors both ancient and modern . to which is added , an alphabetical index to the whole work. the remarkable sayings , apothegms and maxims of the eastern nations , abstracted and translated out of their books written in the arabian , persian , and turkish language , with remarks : by monsieur galland , who lived many years in those countries . translated from the paris edition , into english twelves , printed for richard baldwin , near the oxford-arms in warwick-lane . the world bewitch'd , ( is now publish'd ) containing an examination of the common opinions concerning spirits , their nature , power , administration , and operations ; as also the effects men are able to produce by their communication . divided into four parts . by belthazer bekker . d. d. and pastor at amsterdam . vol. i. translated from a french copy , approved of , and subscribed-by the author 's own hand . a new and easie method to understand the roman history . with an exact chronology of the reign of the emperors ; an account of the most eminent authors , when they flourish'd ; and an abridgment of the roman antiquities and customs . by way of dialogue , for the use of the duke of burgundy . done out of french , with very large additions and amendments , by mr. tho. brown. a collection of speeches of the right honourable henry late earl of warrington , viz. i his speech upon his being sworn mayor of chester , in november 1691. ii. his speech to the grand jury at chester , april 13. 1692. iii. his charge to the grand jury at the quarter-sessions held for the county of chester , on the 11th . of october , 1692. iv. his charge to the grand jury at the quarter-sessions held for the county of chester , on the 25th . of april , 1693. letters of state , written by mr. iohn milton , to most of the sovereign princes and republicks of europe . from the year 1649. till the year 1659. to which is added , an account of his life . together with several of his poems ; and a catalogue of his works , never before printed . mathematical magick : or the wonders that may be performed by mechanical geometry . in two books . concerning mechanical powers , motions . being one of the most easie , pleasant , useful , ( and yet most neglected ) part of mathematicks , not before treated of in this language . mercury ; or the secret and swift messenger shewing how a man may with privacy and speed communicate his thoughts to a friend at any distance . the second edition . by the right reverend father in god , iohn wilkins , late lord bishop of chester . printed for rich. baldwin , where are to be had , the world in the moon . england's interest ; or , a discipline for seamen : wherein is proposed , a sure method for raising qualified seamen for the well manning their majesties fleet on all occasions . also a method whereby seamen will be obliged mutually to relieve each other on board the men of war yearly , or thereabout ; except where any seaman by his own voluntary consent shall be willing to stay longer . likewise is shewed the advantages which by these methods will accrue to the nation in general , and in particular to the merchants and seamen : for hereby the wages now given in merchant-ships will be brought lower , and every seaman will have the liberty of chusing his own commander , after the first year , and continuing with him , if he so likes . by captain george st. lo. an answer to a paper written by count d'avaux , the french king's ambassador in sueden , concerning the proposals of peace made by france to the confederates . an essay concerning obedience to the supream powers , and the duty of subjects in all revolutions . with some considerations touching the present juncture of affairs . an essay concerning the laws of nations , and the rights of sovereigns . with an account of what was said at the council-board by the civilians upon the question . whether their majesties subjects taken at sea acting by the late king's commission might not be looked on as pirates ? with reflections upon the arguments of sir t. p. and dr. ol. both by matth. tyndal , doctor of laws . the second edition . the antiquity and justice of an oath of abjuration . in answer to a treatise , entituled , the case of an oath of abjuration considered . a sermon preached before the right honourable the lord-mayor , and the court of aldermen of the city of london , at st. mary-le-bow , on the 29th of may , 1694. by iohn trenchard , m. a recto of wrexhall in the county of somerset , and chaplain to the right honourable the earl of manchester . a poem on the late promotions of several eminent persons in church and state. by n. nate , servant to their majesties . the doctrine of the holy trinity placed in its due light , by an answer to a late book , entituled , animadversions upon dr. sherlock's book , &c. also the doctrine of the incarnation of our lord asserted and explained . liturgia tigurina : or , the book of common-prayer and administration of the sacraments , and other ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies , usually practised , and solemnly performed in all the churches and chappels of the city and canton of zurick in switzerland , &c. the tragedies of the last age , consider'd and examin'd by the practice of the ancients , and by the common sense of all ages ; in a letter to fleetwood shepherd , esq part i. the second edition . a short view of tragedy ; its original , excellency , and corruption ; with some reflections on shakespear and other practitioners for the stage . both by mr. rimer , servant to their majesties . a new , plain , short , and compleat french and english grammar ; whereby the learner may attain in few months to speak and write french correctly , as they do now in the court of france ; and wherein all that is dark , superfluous , and deficient in other grammars , is plain , short , and methodically supplied . also very useful to strangers that are desirous to learn the english tongue ; for whose sake is added a short , but very exact english grammar . the third edition , with additions . by peter berault . truth brought to light ; or the history of the first 14 years of king iames i. in four parts , &c. travels into divers parts of europe and asia , undertaken by the french king's order , to discover a new way by land into china ; containing many curious remarks in natural philosophy , geography , hydrography , and history . together with a description of great tartary , and of the different people who inhabit there . done out of french. to which is added a supplement extracted from hakluyt and purchas , giving an account of several journeys over land from russia , persia , and the mogul's country , to china , together with the roads and distances of the places . saul at endor ; or the ghost of the marquess de louvois consulted by the french king , concerning the present affairs . done out of french. an answer to the late king iames's declaration , dated at st. germains , april the 7th . s. n. 1693. licensed by mr. secretary trenchard . reflections upon two pamphlets lately published ; one called , a letter from monsieur de cross , concerning the memoirs of christendom ; and the other , an answer to that letter ; pretended to have been written by the author of the said memoirs . by a lover of truth . a true and exact account of the retaking a ship called , the friends adventure of topsham , from the french , after she had been taken six days , and they were upon the coasts of france with it four days ; where one englishman and a boy set upon seven frenchmen , killed two of them , took the other five prisoners , and brought the ship and them safe to england , &c. a project of a descent upon france . by a person of quality . a compendious history of the taxes of france , and of the oppressive methods of raising of them . an impartial enquiry into the advantages and losses that england hath received since the beginning of this present war with france . the gentleman's journal : or the monthly miscellany . in a letter to a gentleman in the country . consisting of news , history , philosophy , poetry , musick , translations , &c. sold by r. baldwin , where are to be had compleat sets for the two last years , or single ones for every month. nevil pain 's letter , and some other letters that concern the subject of his letter . with short notes on them , for the clearer information of the members of parliament , in order to nevil pain 's trial. a true relation of the wonderful cure of mary maillard , ( lame almost ever since she was born ) on sunday the 26th of november , 1693. with the affidavits and certificates of the girl , and several other credible and worthy persons , who knew her before and since her being cured . to which is added , a letter from dr. welwood to the right honourable the lady mayoress , upon that subject . a second five years struggle against popery and tyranny : being a collection of papers , published by samuel iohnson . remarks upon dr. sherlock's book , intituled the case of resistance . reflections on the history of passive obedience . an argument proving , that the abrogation of king iames by the people of england from the regal throne , and the promotion of the prince of orange , one of the royal family , to the throne of the kingdom in his stead , was according to the constitution of the english government , and prescribed by it . in opposition to all the false and treacherous hypotheses , of usurpation , conquest , desertion , and of taking the powers that are upon content . an essay concerning parliaments at a certainty . notes upon the phoenix edition of the pastoral lteters , par . 1. these last six books , by mr. samuel iohnson . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a64086-e460 * vid. mirror of iustice , cap. 1. sect. 2. † vid. modum antiq. tenendi parl. * vid. the year-book , ter. pasch. † vid. 1 o will. & mar. * chap. 1. sect. 2. * vid. spel. concil . 1 vol. p. 29. † vid. vitam alfredi . edit . oxon. * see the old form of the coronation oath before the conquest , and after , in mr. attwood's treatise of the antiquity of an oath of abjuration , p. 94. to the end . * see the forms of those coronations in stow , holinshed . and others . * vid. mat. west . p. a. d. 1301. 435. 436. * see his coronation-oath in mr. atwood's treatise of the oath of abjuration , p. 96. * vid. lambert's saxon laws . leg. guil. ●h . 6. 7. p. 60. † lib. 2. chap. 2. * i. e. nobiles minores . * vid. the act of 2 o. mariae , confirming the treaty of marriage with king philip. * vid. par. rolles 1. h. 7. n. 16. * chap. 1. lingua testium: wherein monarchy is proved, 1. to be jure divino. 2. to be successive in the church (except in time of a nationall desertion) from adam untill christ. 3. that monarchy is the absolute true government under the gospel. 4. that immediately after extraordinary gifts in the church ceased, god raised up a monarch for to defend the church. 5. that christian monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of rev. 11. 6. that england is the place from whence god fetched the first witnesse of this kind. 7. england was the place whither the witnesses, (viz. godly magistracy and ministry) never drove by antichrist. where is proved, first, that there hath been a visible magistracy, (though in sackcloth,) these 1260. yeares in england. ... amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the jews, the fall of antichrist, and the ruine of the beast of the earth is at hand. wherein you have the hard places of mat. 24, and rev. 17. explained with severall other hard texts: ... / written by testis-mundus catholicus, in the yeare of the beasts of the earth's raign, 1651. hall, edmund, 1619 or 20-1687. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86683 of text r202496 in the english short title catalog (thomason e632_22). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 137 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 29 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86683 wing h327 thomason e632_22 estc r202496 99862751 99862751 114927 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86683) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114927) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 97:e632[22]) lingua testium: wherein monarchy is proved, 1. to be jure divino. 2. to be successive in the church (except in time of a nationall desertion) from adam untill christ. 3. that monarchy is the absolute true government under the gospel. 4. that immediately after extraordinary gifts in the church ceased, god raised up a monarch for to defend the church. 5. that christian monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of rev. 11. 6. that england is the place from whence god fetched the first witnesse of this kind. 7. england was the place whither the witnesses, (viz. godly magistracy and ministry) never drove by antichrist. where is proved, first, that there hath been a visible magistracy, (though in sackcloth,) these 1260. yeares in england. ... amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the jews, the fall of antichrist, and the ruine of the beast of the earth is at hand. wherein you have the hard places of mat. 24, and rev. 17. explained with severall other hard texts: ... / written by testis-mundus catholicus, in the yeare of the beasts of the earth's raign, 1651. hall, edmund, 1619 or 20-1687. [8], 47, [3] p. s.n., [london : 1651] testis-mundus catholicus = edmund hall. place of publication from wing. with a final errata leaf. annotation on thomason copy: "july.1.". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng charles -i, -king of england, 1600-1649. catholic church -controversial literature -early works to 1800. divine right of kings -early works to 1800. continuity of the church -anglican communion -early works to 1800. eschatology -early works to 1800. monarchy -great britain -early works to 1800. religion and state -england -early works to 1800. a86683 r202496 (thomason e632_22). civilwar no lingua testium:: wherein monarchy is proved, 1. to be jure divino. 2. to be successive in the church (except in time of a nationall deserti hall, edmund 1651 24936 18 90 0 0 0 0 43 d the rate of 43 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-10 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-10 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion lingva testivm : wherein monarchy is proved , 1. to be jure divino . 2. to be successive in the church ( except in time of a nationall desertion ) from adam untill christ . 3. that monarchy is the absolute true government under the gospel . 4. that immediately after extraordinary gifts in the church ceased , god raised up a monarch for to defend the church . 5. that christian monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of rev. 11. 6. that england is the place from whence god fetched the first witnesse of this kind . 7. england was the place whither the witnesses , ( viz. godly magistracy and ministry ) never drove by antichrist . where is proved , first , that there hath been a visible magistracy , ( though in sackcloth , ) these 1260. yeares in england . secondly , that this magistracy in all ages ( since antichrists being visible ) hath witnessed for christ against antichrist . thirdly , that the late king who was cut off with the axe , was the lawfull successor of gods witnesses , who for these 1260. yeares have been witnesses in sackcloth for christ against antichrist , whereby t' is evident that he is the slain witnesse that finished his testimony . fourthly , that his son the k. of scotland who is the witnesse expected 3. yeares and an half after the slaying of ( the witnesses to rise again ) is by an unquestionable title emperour of rome , and that prince expected to be the ruine of the antichristian monarchy of rome . amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the jews , the fall of antichrist , and the ruine of the beast of the earth is at hand , where in you have the hard places of mat. 24 , and rev. 17. explained with severall other hard texts : together with a description of the last enemies which slay the witnesses , whereby t is evident that england is the place where the witnesses are slain , and no place else . written by testis-mundus catholicus , in the yeare of the beasts of the earth's raign , 1651. reader : i have taken upon me one of the hardest taskes this day in the world , and who am i that undertake it ? but the weakest that ever travelled in this high way . i find gyants in learning , stumbling , falling , stragling , and quite tyred in this way : many mighty men durst never adventure to put foot therein , and few that ever entred it can say they came to their journies end ; there was still a pus ultra which they all acknowledged . this only was my encouragement to enter into this sacred thicket of divine mysteries , that that divine essence which gave it to the world , delights to reveale it to babes and sucklings in the world . i am sure my lord and master the king of heaven and earth delights to have it so ; the great god usually magnifies his grace this way , by doing great things by the weakest meanes , he made a poore , weake , despised maid , alone , to bring forth the mighty monarch of heaven and earth . indeed , in this great work i have been , ( as the blessed virgin ) both {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} alone . whiles i was bigge of what i have here brought forth in both these tracts , i was inforced ( like elizabeth ) to hide my self ; for so grievous were the thrumps and kicks of my friends against it ; whiles i went in pain of it , that i could not endure them , and now it is born , the herods of the times doe seek its life . i must confesse it goeth adroad in a homely dress , yet it is never the lesse , nor never the worse truth . the harp is davids harp , though the method and the stile ( which are as the strings and the fingers ) are mine ; which i could heartily wish were better . the rudenesse of them i doe acknowledge may give occasion to my enemies to make me the morrall of lucians fable who ( deriding illiterate sauce-boxes ) tells us of a supercilious asses whose aspiring minde ( looking at least five sphere above his reach ) made his rude fingers itch to be playing on orpheus his harp , snatching it therefore from apollo to whom 't was dedicated , to work he went , and made therewith such an hideous noise , that instead of making wilde beasts tame ( as orpheus was wont ) he made the tame dogs of the town madde , who ran upon him and tore him in pieces . i doe not desire to make the morrall of this fable , let if i must , because my enemies will have it so , if i make such harsh musick of that sacred harp the bible , that i inrage the dogs of this age against me , but my enemies remember that my unskilfull fingers make harsh musick onely in dogs eares ; and however , the harp i play upon is still the same , and none but dogs thereat will be inraged . i confesse of all instruments this of sigionoth is the hardest , and i may truly say that many excellent musicians ( otherwayes ) have made such harsh musick on this instrument , that the romish dogs have had to just a cause to bark at them ; but as for the romish party i feare them not , because i am sure they cannot come at me for their own authors , they must thrust them through to touch me , and so must the independents likewise : so that i have the least cause of any man to feare either of them ; and as for others , i expect by the law of gratitude faire dealing at their hands : if it be asked why this preface is made a book distinct and not joyned to [ manus testium ] as it ought . i answer , 1. 't is not my fault but theirs that print it , these are times of separation . 2. i committed them to severall hands , that if one miscarried , the other might possibly have safe arivall ; and if either , there might be light enough in that alone to tell the the world who the witnesses are , where they shall be slain , when they shall be slain , and who shall slay them , and when and where he shall be overcome that slayes them ; for this cause have i handled many things in this preface which i have touched on in the book , and touched many things here which i have handled in the booke ; that ( in this tract i have handled more clearly ) which i lest obscurely [ through over much brevity ] in the book , especially that of monarchy , and that of the beast which slayes the witnesses in rev. 17. where i have indeavoured to answer all the hard questions in that chapter which is the mystery of the revelations , as yet to me never by any one fully and clearely opened . i have not studied loftiness but plainness of speech in these tracts , i have not ( as most schollars doe ) eyed onely schollars , but herein ( playing the jesuite of our times ) i have eyed the vulgar ●ort most , and writ to their capacities , that so ( counter-workking the jesuite of our times ) i might undeceive poore misled soules ( who are stung with those iesuiticall independent scorpions ) and bring them to the knowledge of the true church , a lawfull magistracy and ministery , and discover to them the true antichrist . for this cause ( reader ) doe i run a corporall hazard on purpose to save thy soule harmlesse by pulling thee by timely repentance out of babylon that is now falling . i beseech the therefore since i have not counted my paines , purse , person nor life to much too prepare it and present it to thee , doe not think thy paines to much to read it , read it as i writ it with much diligence and fervent prayer , and i pray god grant that it may be so effectuall by the operation of the holy ghost upon all that reade it , that the drooping feebl soul may be incouraged , the blind enlightned , & the obstinate so terrified , that the divels kingdome may be shaken by it antichrists kingdome may be confounded by it , and the beast of the earth who supports them both may be speedily and utterly ruined by it : this is the daily and hourly prayer of him who studies nothing more then thy spirituall welfare . the author to his book . my little book ( i only call thee mine , because in these dark times i 'm only thine ) goe quickly through the world , and boldly say , that mighty monark's comming to destroy the church her enemies ; let proud rome know from thee shee 's neare her last great overthrow ; and tell the earth-beast when the seven trump ' sounds , his death 's designd : that trump ' his power confounds . then let the dragon also understand , christs comming , and his chaining up's at hand and let the house of austria know , and spain . their sunne shall set , and never rise againe this message don , ( my booke ) goe to the jewes , and with a cheerefull voyce proclaime this news our lord is their messias , and their eyes shall weepe ore him whom now they doe despise . their native king our lord , shall by his hand restore the twelve tribes to their native land . they shall put eie to eie , that is , shall see their prophets and the apostles to agree . this don , go to the gentiles church which lies , this day o'rewhelmed with deep calamities : comfort her thus , tell her the scriptures say , her witnesses shall rise that beast to slay , in whose destruction the grand power of all the three last gospell enemies shall fall , tell her this earth-beast raignes , this howers that day which slayes her witnesses , the scriptures say . bid her not feare , those offices now slaine in church and state shall shortly rise againe . whose glorious rising shall the world affright and slay this earth-beast with his men of might . then shall the vialls run , gods wrath shall rise and ruine his three last grand enemies . let then that northern kingdome understand by this , it's day of triumph is at hand . it 's now distressed ministers and king shall mourne no more , but hallalu-jahs sing . that church no more her sackcloth shall put on , shee shall be clothed with salvation . her king shall raigne in righteousnesse , and make gods enemies throughout the world to quake . he shall be nursing father to the jewes , and shall no acts of grace to them refuse they shall flock in to him , he shall destroy their foes , that bard them from salvations way . immediately before this come to passe her troubles shall be such as never was . the prefixt symptoms of this day must be her low state and her foes prospertie . hence t is this great dayes prophecies allude to each great church deliverance since the flood she sings the song of moses and the lambe ; 'cause out of such deep miserie she came . lift up thine eyes ( o zion ) then , and see , in this great day thy foretold enemie . three yeares and halfe thine enemy must rage ore thee , by warre which he with thee doth wage . one thousand two hundred sixty dayes just o laver vs cromwell's name makes , who must 50 5 5 100 1000 50. 50 a three yeares and an halfe by his b sword-power raigne ; which is that time the c witnesses lie slain . jf ( who he slayes ) by ought demanded be , t is kingly offfce , and the ministry this beast's that d little horne that puls away three hornes ot'h ten him e christ comes to destroy . this beasts f deceitfull , perjur'd , base , love's lies , and beares g up rome with all her blasphemies , this is that enemie which doth divide mount h olvet , and makes the breach so wide twixt north and south , and makes one day like night , but when its evening comes , it shall be light , that is ; this beast in scotland shall rage there but one prophetique day , that is , one year jn'th' ' ev'ning of which yeare it shall bee light toth' church , and to this beast eternall night . this beast betwixt betwixt the seas in scotland must incamp , ●nd there be scattered as the dust . share then my book twixt zions friends and foes , their unexpected lots of joyes and woes . tell zion now i' th dust full fraught with sorrow , her bloodie tears shall bring forth joys to morrow . haste then toth' scots , tell them the prophets say , their warre is christs and he 'l give them the day . and this shall be the signe even this alone , when the enemie seems most strong , they most undone . reader , what is deficient in this , thou shalt find supplyed in manus testium . the method of gods afflicting providence in the church since the creation , is worthy the observation of all ; but more especially of him who undertakes to interpret the holy scriptures . the method of god in his acts of providence towards his church are : 1. to bring them exceeding low before he deliver them . 2. after he hath delivered them from their great troubles , and put them in a hopeful way of peace , for ends best known to himself , he oftentimes dashes their hopes , and darkens the way by sad and heavy afflictions : as the former is undeniable , so the latter is cleer in the scriptures . see this verified in jacob , the father of the twelve patriarchs ; jacob being newly gotten from a heardmaster , and passed the river with his wifes and substance , he resolved to go into the promised land : when he was got seven dayes journey ( in all probability , out of labans reach ) on a sudden the storm riseth , laban pursues him with his forces , and esau prepares to stop him in his flight with 400 men ; so that we may see here jacob , like christ on the cross , a miserable object betwixt two thieves . to this , jeremiah alludes , when he prophesies of the great troubles of the church , immediatly before the conversion of the twelve tribes , he calls it the time of iacob's trouble , none hath bin like it . so likewise when the church was delivered from egypt's bondage , and all their enemies drowned ; and when they had seen and tasted of the goodness of the lord from heaven , in raining manna , and of the sweet and spiritual love-tokens of god from mount sina , when god had given them lawes and ordinances , and began a glorious reformation ; and when they were going into canaan , then riseth corah , datha● , and abiran , against the witnesses , moses and aaron ; and then the people rebell , and that glorious sun of a reformation went retrogade many thousand of degrees by asa's diall . so likewise david , when he went to fetch the ark home , he went forth like his son solomon's ships for gold , with great pomp ; but came home broken and tottered with loss . he went with the priests and the people to fetch the ark to ierusalem its resting place ; he made a new cart and wheels , and prepared the beasts to draw it ; he got the ark upon the cart , and the beasts did draw it towards ierusalem : but in the way , what an unexpected storm of cross winds riseth , the beasts stumbled , the ark tottered , gods wrath ariseth ; and this stops the ark that it came not then to ierusalem . to this doth ezekiel ( chap. 1. ) allude , where he seeing in a vision , that glorious day of the twelve tribes conversion to christ in the last dayes ; immediately before that day , he seeth the gospel-magistracy and ministery , drawing the ark of a reformation to his settled place : there the magistracy ( as in revel. 4. ) is compared to the beasts which draw the ark , and the ministery to the wheels full of eyes , which support the ark . these ezekiel saw carrying on a reformation with much boldness , and through many difficulties : when the beasts went , the wheels went , and they turned not : when one was lifted , up , the other was lifted up : when the magistracy went on , the ministery went on in a reformation ; but when they stood , they let down their whings , there was the great stop : the magistracy was taken away , their whings , after the war , ezek. 1. 24. were let down : and immediately follows , ver. 25. a voice from heaven , which is the same with the seventh trumpet , matth. 24. rev. 11. rev. 16. 17 , 18. when the great day of the jews conversion shall begin , and the great obstruction of their conversion shall be removed : likewise after the captivity , that joyful reformation begun and carryed on so successfully , how did its evening come upon it ( as i may say ) at noon tide ? how was all dasht , and that happy work retanded on a sudden ? and how great a muntain the devils pioneers raised in zerubbabels way , ezra 4. look we further , and we shall see the greatest and gloriousest reformation in the world , retarded in the middle of it , and in the height of it , even that blessed reformation , which is the standing rule of reformation to the end of the world , that of our lord jesus in the flesh here on earth , when he had called the apostles , sent out the seventy , two by two ; and when he had preached , healed , converted many , when his enemies thought all the world would follow him , when they sang hosana to the highest , and when his enemies were confounded before him , being unable to gain-say his truth , when all the countries round rang of his fame , and came to see him , and hear his doctrine , and to be healed , then on a sudden comes judas , and betrays him with a kiss : the king is taken and bound , and falsly accused , unjustly sentenced to death , scourged , buffited , spet on , mocked , carryed away to be crucified : his disciples fled , he nailed to the cross , and a spear thrust into his heart ; he taken down from the cross , carryed to the grave , and there seated in his grave : and thus to the eye of the world was that glorious reformation destroyed , the king being cut off , and his officers dissipated . this reformation , though to the eye of the world at that time it was quite put out , yet it suddenly and unexpectedly rose again , and broke out into greater and more glorious flames throughout the world then ever : for two angels in glorious brightness appear at the grave of the slain jesus , that martyr of martyrs , and immediatly follows a mighty earth-quake , whereat the souldiers that slew him trembled : the lord jesus arose , called together his dispersed and hopeless disconsolate disciples , led them to galilee , and there proclaims his imperial power and soveraignty , that all the kingdoms in the world were under his power , and all the mighty dominions in heaven were subject to him : and that those his enemies that slew him , might know this , he ascended from mount olivet , which mountain was on the east of jerusalem exceeding high , looking directly into ierusalem ; so that they that slew him in ierusalem , might plainly see him in that glorious bright cloud ascending to heaven : and immediatly after this ascension of his to his imperial court in the heaven of heavens , where he is in full possession of his royall purchase , he like a conquerour in full possession of his dignity , gives to his officers , especially to his apostles , magnificent gifts , beseeming so great a prince to give , and officers so neer him to receive : these twelve spirituall princes , like so many monarchs of unity amongst themselves , divided the world amongst them , and went forth conquering , and to conquer , from sea to sea : the glorious spiritual victories that these champions got , and the mighty conquests over the devils kingdom which they made , is not unknown to the whole world : their government and laws still stand , and shall remain for ever . apostacie from which hath been the miserable ruine of all those famous eastern churches to this day . great hath been the apostacie of both eastern and western churches from the laws of the apostles : and sore have their spiritual afflictions ( proportionated to their sins ) been ; the eastern church is drove into the wilderness by mahumatisme , and the western church by popery : of this grand apostacie , and most abominable hypocrisie of the western churches , not onely the apostles , but the prophets in the old testament have prophesied . in the church-histories the dissipation of the jews , and the driving of the gentile-church into the wilderness , seems , to me , to begin near about one time ; and their rising again to a flourishing state , seems to me to be both at one time , by the prophesies of the old new testament . now the rising again both of the jews and gentiles to a flourishing state under the gospel , is that great and last day ( i. e. ) of reformation , so much spoken of both by the old testament-prophets , by christ himself , by the apostles , and especially by john in revelation . of this last day , there are not onely gross mistakes amongst the ancients , but many absur'd conjectures among the ancients . many of the ancients looking into the prophesies , which are to be fulfilled in the end of the roman monarchy ; and reading those high prophetick expressions of that glorious day , wherein christ promiseth in a most glorious powerful manner to appear for his churches alvation , and his enemies ruine ; conceived that it should be by the personal raign of christ on earth a thousand years ; conceiving ( rightly ) that the thousand years binding of sathan , begins when antichrists raign is accompl●shed ( for 't is absurd to think otherwise ) but misunderstanding , rev. 21. as if that chapter were meant of the state of the church in this life , which is against the clear and manifest light of the holy ghost in the prophesie : this gross mistake ( i humbly conceive ) made not onely papias ( the first author of the abominable opinion of christs raign on earth a thousands years ) of this opinion ; but many others more moderate as irenaeus , turtullian , lactantius , victorinus , apolonius , severus , justinus , and several others : these did not hold as corynthus did , that they should raign with christ in corporal , but in spiritual delights , after 6000 ▪ years were accomplished from the creation , may not i say augustine ( lib. 20. de civit. dei , cap. 7. ) is of this opinion , and ierome on dan. 7. where he saith , in uno romano imperio propter antichristum blasphemantem , omnia simul regna delenda sunt , & nequaquam terrenum imperium erit , sed sanctorum conversatio ; a saying much harped on ( though not quoted ) in these times , to further the design of slaying the witnesses . and upon the same mistake ( as it is conceived ) the councils , though they were for the most part against this opinion ; yet they could never unanimously agree to condemn the opinion as heretical . others of our recents , very learned men and pious , thinking to confute this errour of the chiliasts , run into more absurdities then the most of those whom they endeavour to confute ; for not knowing how to remove that mountain betwixt the chiliasts , and them , about the first resurrection , and the raign of the saints , and the 1000. years binding of sathan : they say that the raign of the saints is pa●t , it being before antichrist comes into the world : of this opinion is hortulanus , and ( as i am informed by schollars ) pereus ; galianus that learned romanist is of the same opinion ; as appears by his manuscripts in the vatican , by antichrist , they mean that beast of the earth , rev. 13. 12. which shall arise , rev. 11. 7. and slay the witnesses : few of the romanists concur with them in their opinion ; but very many protestants , in the main ; jump with them : but as contrary to the light of the scriptures , as darkness is to light . but there are other learned men of great renown , who decline both these opinions , as bullinger , beucer , and seraphin who affirm that the great and magnificent promises made to the church in the old testament and in the new , are not yet fulfilled , but are to be fulfilled after the downfall of antichrist , after which ( say they , and others with them ) the devills kingdom of darknesse , heresie and blasphemie shall be ruined , and the church shall no more be afflicted with heresie , but the heavenly form of government shall be set up in the church , which shall suppresse all its enemies : with these learned men , so far as i have quoted them , i shall concur . for , this i do affirm ( yet not i , but the scriptures ) that there is another great day of reformation to be in the world before the day of judgment , besides that great day of reformation already past , which christ when he was on earth began : this shall be a more glorious day then any that ever yet was on earth : i do not say that christ shall reign on earth personally , i abhor that extreme with that learned father b. hall , in his tract called the revelations unrevealed : but i ( or rather the prophets ) do affirm , that in this great day of reformation to come , after the downfall of antichrist , the twelve tribes shall be converted to the gospel . here therefore i must with my reverend fathers good leave be his dissenting son , notwithstanding all he hath said to the contrary : for first , whereas he saith , the promises in the prophets are spiritually to be taken , and not literally , concerning the twelve tribes ; but concerning the gospel-church , i briefly reply , this argument is invalid , because he neither backs it with reason nor scripture : with reason he cannot , for it is a non sequitur to say , because the prophets somtimes are to be understood , therefore alwayes ; i am sure this is neither true in logick nor divinity . 2. there is no probability in his assertion : for though indeed jerusalem be somtimes in the prophets put for the gospel-church , yet where the prophets speak of the house of iudah , and the house of ioseph , there i believe 't will be hard for the doctor to prove that they are spiritually to be understood of the gospel church , as zach. 10. 6 , 7 , 8. so in severall other places : had the bishop instanced in any place of the prophets , we should have grapled then for probability . but i passe on . 3. if these prophecies do nothing concern the restauration of the jewes in these latter dayes , then to what purpose did god send his prophets to sing songs in their ears , if it nothing concerned them ? certainly these prophecies were prophesied amongst them to no purpose ; if all those prophecies belonged to the gentiles , then certainly god would have sent his prophets amongst them , but they principally concerned the jewes , and therefore they were prophesied amongst them , and to them , to whom they belonged ; for god never sends his prophets out of order , all gods prophets prophesied to the people to whom they were sent , but the prophets of the old testament were appointed prophets for the twelve tribes ( except those that had speciall commission , as ionas , to go to the gentiles ) and therefore to them principally these prophesies belong , and therefore that hard question is thus resolved , since in luke 21. ierusalem shall be trodden underfoot untill the time of the gentiles be fulfilled ; and the time of the gentiles reigne continues ( rev. 11. 2. ) 1260. years , how coms it to passe in dan. 12. that the time of the church's dissipation shall be 1290. dayes ? to that 't is thus answered ; daniel was a prophet principally designed for the jewes , and therefore god declares to him how long the dissipation of the jewes shall be , which ( as m. brightman and other learned men say on dan. 12. 11. ) began anno 360. therefore their time is up about this yeare 1650. their time of dissipation being to continue 1290. years : but now our saviour in luke 21. 24. respects the gospel gentile church , as well as the jewes , which shall be ( as rev. 11. 1. ) drove into a sack cloth condition untill the time of 1260. years be accomplished . now many learned men count , that the time of antichrists appearing to be formally antichrist , and the time of the witnesses going into the wilderness , and putting on sackcloth , was in , or neer about the year 390. so that antichrists raign , and the witnesses sackcloth condition , is expired in anno , 1650. now if daniel , in his prophesie , should onely respect the gentile church , how could iohn , christ , and daniel , be reconciled in their prophefies ? to return therefore to the thing in hand , we affirm , that the prophets in the old testament , prophesied of the futurehappy state of their own kindred and nation , and not of the gentile church ; but accidentally and occasionally for the most part ; as shewing what shall come to pass in the gentile-church , immediatly before the great day of the jews conversion , which is the sign that the jews shall have of their approaching glorious day : and therefore the old testament prophesies of the uniting of the house of ioseph and iudah together under one king , and bringing them back again to their own land , can be meant of nothing , but of the restoring of the twelve tribes to their own land , under their ancient government , as in davids time . as for his alleaging a seeming inpossibility , that they that have been out-casts so long from the covenant of grace , should now be called home to the gospel ( which is it seems beyond the doctors faith ) to that we answer , and he acknowledgeth . 1. nothing is impossible with god . 2. god hath promised to call the dispersed out-casts of israel , from the four corners of the earth , esa. 11. 12. and they shall be so hopeless in the eye of the world , that before their conversion they shall be as dry bones in golgotha , ezek. 37. 1 , 2. yet god will call these dry bones together : therefore their conversion is also expressed , ezek. 37. 11 , 12. under the notion of raising dead men out of their graves god will first open their graves , and then lead them out of their graves : so that to the world they shall seem dead and buried , when god intends to convert them : so that that which upon a bare principle of reason the bishop makes his argument against the truth , i upon a principle of faith , built upon gods promises , make the argument to confirm this truth ; and who stands on the beasts bottom ( whether he on bare reason , or i on a divine promise ) i 'le leave christians to judge : but that which the bishop most derides , is the opinion of those , who say this year , 1650. the jews shall be converted ; he bids us shew him a thrave of jewes as yet converted , which are now to gather , professing the gospell . to this 't is answered : 1 we can shew in this year , 1650. more probability for the conversion not onely of a few , but thousands of the hebrews to the faith of christ , then the bishop can against it : in the year , 1650. there is a book that makes mention of 5900. east-indians converted to jesus christ , by mr. robert iunius . now there are more arguments to prove these of the seed of iacob , then the bishop can bring to prove the contrary . again , look into the west-indies , and this year 1650. tells us of a glorious harvest begun , in the conversion of those natives there ; and there is more probability that they are of the stock of iacob , then the contrary . for there have been jews that travelled those ways , who have found some of the ten tribes in america : some learned travellers have rationally conjectured , that those natives in new-england are some of the ten tribes : for upon diligent observation of the people , their customes , language , and ceremonies , have brought these arguments , to prove them hebrews ; for ( say they ) 1. they have a traditionall knowledge of god , which they say their fore-fathers which were wise , and endued with knowledge , taught them : they say that god made the world , and this god is but one god . 2. they say this god is the author of all the good that is dispensed in the world , and the author of all the evill that is inflicted in the world . and hence is that custom amongst them to this day , when any evill is inflicted on them , either by immoderate weather , whereby their corn is spoiled , or by any other judgment , they solemnly meet together under a green tree , and weep before him who hath inflicted all that evill upon them , whom they acknowledg to be the maker of the world . 3. they preserve their pedigree , with all the care they can , as far as their memories will go , and are carefull to promote their kindred after the manner of the hebrews . 4. the chief of them are exceeding reserved , and keep themselves from strangers , so that the wisest of them are hard to be met withall , whereby further discovery might be made of their original ; but much of the golden oar , of the hebrew language , is found among the drossie language of the vulgar natives . 5. 't is said that they are excellent in expressing themselves parabolically , after the manner of the hebrews : by all which there is probability , that they are of the dispersed of israel , whom god is now calling home to the knowledge of the gospel . menasseh ben-israel saith , and also montezinus , ( both jews , and learned men ) that the first inhabitants of america were the ten tribes : if so , i think i have the greatest probability on my side , that these many thousands that we have heard of already converted , and the many more thousands which we expect and pray for , are hebrews of the sons of jacob , to be converted to christ in this age of the world . but suppose there were never a jew converted , must this make the purpose of god of none effect ? god forbid , it is true that from posse to esse there can be no certain consequence ; but from gods promise to his purpose , we may conclude affirmatively . if god have promised to convert the jews , 't is his purpose to call them : all his promises are yea , and amen : if god promise that israel shall be no longer then 40. years in egypt , they shall be there not a day longer , though nothing more unlikely in the world then their deliverance : so shall it be in their conversion in these latter dayes , though there be nothing more unlikely , yet there shall be nothing more certain ; for god hath promised it , rom. 11. 25 , 26. all israel shall be saved i. e. ) all the tribes shall be converted : the precedent verse tells us the time when ( viz. ) when the fulnesse of the gentiles is come in , that is , ( as in luke 21. 24. ) when the time of the gentiles is fulfilled , which rev. 11. 2. ) is 42. moteths , i. e. 1260. dayes , i. e. years . observe , paul writes to the church of rome , forbidding them to boast of their gospel-priviledges , in a proud insulting way over the rejected jews . paul foresaw to what impudent insulting pride the church of rome would rise ; therefore he bids the church not to be high-minded , but fear ; for if god spared not the jews , the naturall branches , much less would he spare the gentile-church of rome : for this end paul would not have the gentile-church ignorant of this mystery , which mystery of god ( rev. 10. 7. ) shall be finished at the seventh trumpet , and that is when antichrist that sits in rome , when the fulness of his time shall come in , then shall israel be converted : here israel is put in opposition to the gentile-church . now this paul acquaints the roman church with , lest they should be wise in their own conceit , or over-much puffed up with pride : so that from these texts it seems cleer to me , that the jews conversion shall be at that time when the roman pontifick state shall go to ruine ; and if in this sense we may understand romanum imperium , the bishop knows better then my self . i have many thraves of ancient and latter writers to support me against him . lastly , i answer , that the conversion of the jews shall come in on the sudden : they shall come like the doves to the windows , that is , swiftly and in great numbers ; and this shall be ( ezek. 37. 11. ) when israel gave themselves for lost , and their hopes were cut off , then the whole house of israel , like bones exceeding dry , came together , and they that were in the valley of dry bones ( v. 1. ) became an exceeding great army , ver. 10. how cleer there doth the holy ghost prophesie of the conversion of the whole house of israel , that is , the twelve tribes . now if it should be objected , 't was prophesied of their restauration under the second temple , to that i answer , it cannot be , because onely the two tribes returned , and not the ten tribes , to the second temple , as manass-ben-israel affirms ; and generally all historians hold , that very few of the ten tribes returned with the two . but now this prophesie extends to the whole house of israel , ver. 11. ( i e. ) the twelve tribes : so that from the time of the prophesie , untill this day , it hath not as yet been fulfilled , and therefore 't is to be fulfilled ; and when 't is fulfilled , it will be suddenly : as romes ruine will be sudden , so the jews conversion will be sudden , and therefore our lord jesus , and their true messia's prophecying of their conversion , matth. 24. in ver. 24 , 25 , 26. he tells them antichrist shall be busie with his false prophets immediatly before the day of christs coming to destroy antichrist , and to convert the jewes ; and then shall he come , as the lightning which comes from the east , and is quickly in the west , so shall the coming of christ be . this coming of christ cannot be meant of his coming to judgment , but of his coming to call the jews to repentance , and to destroy the roman monarchy , or the roman antichristian pontifick state in ver. 29. the destruction of rome is prophesied , and ver. 30. prophesies of the repentance of the twelve tribes in the day of his spiritual appearance to them in the gospel , ver. 31. prophesies of the time when this shall be ; it shall be at the sounding of the great voyce , and the trumpet , that is , at the sounding of the seventh trumpet , rev. 11. 16. when the witnesses shall rise , antichrist shall fall , and euphrates shall be dryed up , ver. 32 , 33. tells us , that the tribulation of the gospel-church under the rage of hereticks , as separatists , blasphemers , seducers , antichrists , and false prophets , is as sure a sign of the downfall of rome , and the conversion of the jews , as the budding and sprouting of the trees are of the approaching of the summer . now these heresies , and these false prophets shall be eminent in the gospel-gentile church , which shall be the true sign of the jews conversion , ver. 34. plainly tells us , this cannot be meant of the day of judgement ; for this generation ( saith christ ) shall not passe , that is , the stock of israel shall not be extirpate , untill they have seen all these things fulfilled ; this day is called luke 21. the day of the redemption of the twelve tribes : now if this day ( as some would have it ) be the day of judgement , this day would be the damnation of the tribes , if they must be in the world untill this day , and unconverted ; therefore this day is the day of the jews conversion , not the day of judgement . ver. 25. the next verse is to confirm the certainty of the prophecy , for heaven and earth shall passe away , but not one title of the word shall passe away . ver. 36. but of that day , and of that hour ( i. e. ) ( of the heavens and earth passing away ) knoweth no man : by this 't is manifest , that christ in the whole chapter speaks not one word of the day of judgement , untill ver. 35. which he forbids any to pry into ; for god only knew that ; but of the day of his coming to ruine rome , and convert the jews ; he bids us by the foregoing signes know for certain that it was near , even at the doors . ver. 33. now this glorious coming of christ in his spirituall and corporall punishments on his enemies ; and his spirituall and corporall favors to the jews , shall be as the lightning which is swift in it's motion , it gives light from east to west presently , so shall all the kingdomes in this world become the lords , and his christs on a suddain : therefore far be it from any protestant to have such a malignant thought , as that god hath forgot to be gracious , or that his hand is shortned that he cannot help the poor jews , which are this day , many of them , looking , listening , and admiring at us in england and scotland , whose eyes , i trust , shall see some glorious sign of good to them ere long . forty times more may be said in vindication of this manifest truth , concerning the twelve tribes conversion ; but considering how little is said against it , i shall say no more , but proceed . the subject of my ensuing discourse in this , and manus testium which should be joyned with this is , concerning this great day . my opinion is , that the three grand enemies of the church shall neer about the end , or within a year of 1650. begin to rise , and never fall more : at this time also the morning of the jews conversion shall begin , and shall shine more and more untill it come to a perfect day . these opinions the reader shall find bottomed on scripture , which scriptures are not of any private interpretation , but such as are matched with scripture , which illustrate the things proved by them , and also have several learned authors concurring , in the confirmation of the same thing ; so that if i am laughed at for my opinion , i doubt not but in that particular ( what ever it be of moment ) i shall make the remonstrant confess , he scoffs not onely at me , but at his betters . i write not this to deter any from endeavouring to confute this ensuing tract : for one end of my writing so briefly on so large a subject , is , that i may have a speedy answer , and a seasonable confutation ; which if it be cleer from scripture-grounds , i shall readily and willingly submit , and return a thankfull reply to my corrector , and promise him to retract my errours . as for the time of antichrists fall , which i conceive to begin presently after 1650. it is well known that 't is no new opinion ; for brightman , and several other learned men have so conjectured , upon this ground , which is humane , because 't is drawn from humane story : for he begins the jews great afflictions in an. 360. so that their 1290. years afflictions must necessarily be expired in this year , 1650. and dr. homes , and several others well-versed in the study of the revelations , and of history , do gather , that antichrist appeared visibly in the church in anno 390. so that the gentile and jewish church afflictions seem both to expire at one time ; for antichrist is to rage over the gentile church but 1260. years , which by the compute is accomplished anno 1650. now ( as dr. homes saith very well ) in so many years , possibly , there may be lost-time in the account ; so that he takes a grain of allowance ( that is ) a year over to his 1260. years : upon the same ground , in this thing , i shall follow him , and comply with him , though there is no necessity for it . others ( as clavis apocalyptica , written by a german ) draw water from the same springs , quote the same texts , as dan. 12. and rev. 11. and looking into history , say , that these texts of 1290. days , and 1260. days , are not fulfilled until 1655. so that these agree with the former in explication of the texts , but not in application of the histories to the text : in which difference , he that hath the clearest histories to shew the time of antichrists rising , and the time of the witnesses going into sackcloth , as relating to the gentile church ; and likewise he that interprets that text ( dan. 12. 11. ) most clearly , and by history can clear it exactly , and tell when the daily sacrifice was taken away , and the abomination of desolation set up be doubtless , will gaine the greatest credit from the judicious reader . in my jndgment learned brightman on dan. 12. 11. is most clear and rational , and none do , i find , guess nearer the time ( in print ) of antichrists visible appearance in the church , then dr. homes , let me give the devil his due . but of the main point , which is concerning the slaying the witnesses at , or neer the end , ( or whether at or neer the end ) of antichrists 1260. years raign , he speaks not a word , which makes me think , that his sermon , octob. 8. 1650. was preached against the light of his own conscience ; for in the revelations the holy ghost hath so linked antichrists raign , and the witnesses slaying in the end of antichrists raign , that he that studies the one , must necessarily take notice of the other ; and indeed he that can shew us the witnesses slain , may easily point at the end both of the gospel-church afflictions and the jewish states dissipation : but here is the difficulty , and here are the gross mistakes of men , who studying application of history to the text , more then the explication of the text it self , have given most ridiculous ghesses , to the great scandall of the protestant . my antagonist speaks not one word to this text ; but the german divine in his clavis apocaliptica , p. 87. tells us , that three years and a half before antichrists raign is out the witnesses shall be slain ; for ( saith he ) they both expire together , both antichrists raign , and the witnesses slaying : and therefore he renders , rev. 11. 7. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , in futuro simplici , when they are about to finish : so cloverius and mead reads the text : in this i shall not much dissent from them ; yet i think they render it best , who read it from the words , as it most naturally drops into english , and that is when they shall have finished their testimony : for it will nothing at all clash with ver. 2. where they prophesie 1260. days in sackcloth : for the finishing of their testimony doth not cause their prophecying to cease : their suffering , and their slaying is the gloriousest part of their sackcloth prophesie ; for then saith the holy ghost , here is their faith , and here is their patience . the finishing of their testimony is the joynt concurrence of the two witnesses ( viz. the magistracy and the ministery ) in establishing the doctrine and the discipline of the church of christ against antichrist the beast of the sea ( i. e. ) the pope that keeps the witnesses in sackcloth on the one hand , and against the beast of the earth that slayes the witnesses on the other hand ; now when was this testimony finished ? the sum of this testimony you shall find in the covenant ; but when they finished this testimony i leave christians to judge , whether when the assembly of divines had finished their work , that of the doctrine , and discipline of the church , and when the parliament ratified their work , resolved to disband their armies , and bring home the king on honourable covenant-tearms ; and then the beast of the earth arose , made war against them , and drove them out of the house : since which that reformation hath lain dead . or whether it began then when the magistracy were fully agreed to establish the doctrine and the discipline of the church against popery , on one hand , and heresie on the other , when the king gave his royal assent , and the parliament voted the kings concessions to be a sufficient ground for the establishing the peace of the church and state ; then the beast ariseth and makes war against them , and overcomes them , and kills them : how kills them ? rev. 20. 5. makes answer , beheads them , ( saith beza ) cuts them off with the axe . now which of these times 't is , is no easie thing to determin ; but the former act seems , to me , to be the time when they finished their testimony : for then the beast set up his sword-power , and then the magistracy and ministery finished their church-work : and immediatly after they had finished it , this beast of the bottomless put threw it down , and then followed that abominable vote of non-addresses to the king . now this fell out neer about october , 164● . ( as i remember ) if about that time , then the witnesses must ●●●e about may or june in the year , 1651. or thereabouts , for then his three years and an half is up : but if we begin to account the witnesses s●aying , their finishing their testimony , and the beasts of the bottomless pits raign not to begin , unti●december , 1648. when the king was slain , and the offices of the two houses slain , and the assembly scatterd , for not subscribing to the beasts mark , then the witnesses will not rise untill june , 1652. now that these witnesses are the magistracy and the ministery , there is nothing so cleer as learned woodcock on rev. 11. makes it appear , and several others ; besides the ferenity of the holy texts themselves , which makes it most cleer : this is most certain , that the two witnesses are two lawful offices ( i. e. ) a lawful magistracy , and a lawful ministery . now their opposites who slay them , are usurpers in the state , and usurpers in the church ( that is the beast of the earth and the beast of the sea , with their followers ) now the witnesses rising shall be these usurpers confusion ( i. e. ) the ruine of the pope , and the beast of the earth , with their seven thousand men of name : so that the battel shall be fought betwixt lawful magistracy , and lawful ministery , against usurping magistracy and ministery ; but more of this in its place . the greatest difference ( betwixt those that come near the time of their slaying is concerning the place where they must be slain : now there are many groundless conceits that we find in print , about this place , where they shall be slain , i shall not repeat what others have said , but indeavour to prove that the witnesses must be slain in these three islands of england , scotland , and ireland . this i shall prove : 1. from the offices that are slain . 2. from the person that slays them . the offices that are slain are two ; a lawful magistracy , and a lawful ministery . the lawful magistracy is that which hath the christ and his apostles ordained in the church , and established , untill his second coming for to teach , instruct , rebuke and comfort the church . now these two must be slain in that place where they have all their time been in sackcloth ; but a lawfull visible magistracy , and a lawfull visible ministery have since 390. been visible in england , though in sackcloth under the popes tyranny , treachery , and oppression : now let these countreys that brag of the slaying of the witnesses , amongst them first shew me for these thousand two hundred and sixty years . a lawfull magistracy and ministery , and then those so long in sackcloth if they shew me not this , i 'le not believe the witnesses shal be slain where they are not ; but confident i am , england can only shew these witnesses , & no nation els , so long together in the world ; as god continued monarchy in the church from the creation , untill the mighty monarch of the world came : so that mighty monarch the lord jesus after his ascention , chose him his first vice-gerent here in england : lucius by name , who swaid the scepter for christ ; from that christian race the romans received their christian magistracy ( as constantine ) and christian monarchy ( except in a national discertion ) hath continued visible in this kingdome of england , well nigh 1500 years ; so that england above and before all other nations since the profession of the gospell hath retained gods witnesses , a lawfull ministery being established by that good king lucius , that christian monarch ; let us then look for the witnesses where god hath placed them , and never till this day totally plucked them up : i say , i here challenge all the historians and antiquaries in the world , to shew me where , or when since these fourteen hundred years past ; that the two great offices in the church and state ( the lawfull magistracy , and the lawfull ministery ) were in so sad a slain abject condition , as at this day in england ; let historians bring me the blackest night that ever came upon these two offices , and i dare undertake to make it appear , that this day is seven times blacker and sadder to these great offices , then any heretofore ; may i not add one thing more , to prove that the witnesses have onely been in this kingdome visibly in sackcloth , before william the conquerors time , our chronicles make mention of godly kings , which for their piety were called saints : th●se you shall find them opposing the insolency and wickednesse of the church of rome , king edgar acknowledged no supremacy in the pope , but saith , that the care of the church of christ , ad nos spectat , it belongeth to the king , not to the pope ; and this he did ( saith hoveden ) by the advice and means of ethelwood , bishop of winton , and oswald bishop of worcester ; so that seven hundred years since we have had magistrates and ministers , against the popes supremacy , and before that as is evident in malmsbury de gest. reg. lib. 2. p. 57. afterwards , from william the conqueror to the last king of england , we have it clear , they have testified against the popes usurpation , and have in every age suffered much , and been put into sackcloth , by the prevailing treacherous , rebellious factions of the popes raising against the kings of england , no kingdome in europe can say the like , and which is one of the remarkablest passages in the world ; the king that wast cut off when he had finished his testimony , was the only protestant king in the world ; therefore the only witnesse ( say i ) yea he was , as learned sir robert naunton proves in his fragmenta regalia , cap. 1. p. 2. the lawfull successor by lineall dissent of the ancient british kings , so that if any magistracy in the world be the slain witnesse , 't is that of england , which is lawfull in it's self , hath been visible for christ before antichrist , in sackcloth visible under antichrist , and in the sight and hearing of all the world cut off with the axe , for finishing the testimony against antichrist . now as for the ministery of england , the other witnesse of christs against antichrist , that it hath been as ancient as the christian magistracy , and as visibly suffered under antichrist , and now lieth under the greatest reproach ignominy , and slain condition , is as clear as the former . i shall say nothing to this office , that office will speak for it self , i am sure 't is of age and ability enough to gainsay all his opposers , you see how much probability we have from the persons that are slain , that the english magistracy and ministery are the witnesses . now we proceed to shew what probability , there is , that these witnesses are to be slain in these northern islands , i will say the lesse of the beast that slaies them , because i portrayed him in the ensuing tract , i shal only discover him where he is to be found in scripture prophecies , and then what those scripture prophecies say of his downfal in rev. 11. 7. he is called the beast that ascendeth out or the bottomlesse pit after the witnesses have finished their testimony , where note that this beast that slaies the witnesses , is not the pope , but one that riseth when the witnesses have finished their testimony , and his raign is but three years and an half , and this all the greek and latin fathers assent unto , and 't is as clear as the sun from this text . in rev. 13. 11. he is called the beast of the earth , to have us to observe , that he is one distinct from the sea , ver. 5. 't is wonderfull to behold how many learned protestants joyn these together in one , when god by his word hath severed ; they are distinguished by their originall ; the one ariseth out of the earth , and the other out of the sea . the holy ghost calls the beast of the earth another , and many protestants ( though not all of them , for bishop cooper saith , 't is one distinct from the beast of the sea ) make them notwithstanding the same , the beast of the earth hath but two horns , and and the beast of the sea ten : more arguments may be picked out of the texts to prove the beast of the earth which slays the witnesses shall rise and raigne but three years and an half during the time the witnesses shall lie slain , as 't is clear , rev. 11. 7. 12. this beasts rising is the witnesses falling , and the witnesses rising in this beasts ruine , that the beast of the earth , and the beast of the bottomlesse pit are one , and the same is clear , for rev. 13. 10. 11. he riseth then , when the faith and patience of the witnesses are exercised , here is the faith and patience of the saints , their suffering graces , when the beast of the earth ariseth , are exercised , and the beast of the bottomlesse pit , is he that exerciseth their defensive graces , so rev. 11. 7. he makes war with them and overcomes and kills them . this beast of the earth , or bottomlesse pit beast , is called in rev. 17. the beast bearing up babilon with all her blasphemies murthers . in this sevententh chapter the holy ghost gives us a view of the last scene of the last act of the romish antichristian factors : i 'le beg the sober christians earnest attention here , for it is the hardest chapter in the whole revelation , in rev. 17. 1. the angell tells you what time o' th' day 't is with rome , 't is neer her judgment day at this time : iohn saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast : here are three distinct names mentioned in the chapter , the woman , the beast , and the great whore : now the great whore sitting on many waters , v. 1. is expounded v. 15. to be that spirituall whore that hath inticed the kings of the earth to commit idolatry ( which is spirituall fornication ) with her : this whore is the pope of rome which inhabits the city with seven hills , which is rome . the woman mentioned v. 3. is expounded v. 9. and v. 18. 't is the city standing on seven hills as rome doth , v. 18. 't is the metropolitan city as rome is . but now the scarlet-coloured beast , v. 3. which beares up the city rome , is not so plainly to the eye of the reader unfolded , though there be most spoken in this chapter of this beast and his party , this beast is one part of the mystery which iohn wonders at . observe therefore in v. 3. this beast is called a scarlet coloured beast , because of his bloudinesse : this beast cannot be the pope , for the pope is the great whore that sits upon many waters , and is born up by this beast , 2. it cannot be the pope , for the pope came not out of the bottomlesse pit , but fell from heaven , and got the key of independency into his own hands , which is the bottomlesse pit there spoken of rev. 9. 1. but now this beast coms out of the bottomlesse pit , to shew that this beast is the selfesame that slayes the witnesses , rev. 11. 7. who also coms out of the bottomlesse pit . 3. this beast cannot be the pope upon any rationall account from any expositor , because this beast is the eighth , and is of the seven : now the pope by every protestant account makes the seventh distinct head of government in rome , but this beast is of the eighth : now lest he should be taken for the eighth head of rome , the holy ghost ( as it were with a prolepsin , v. 11. ) tells us he is of the seven , and how he is of the seven ; it may be because he beares up the woman with seven heads , and ten horns : he is none of the ten subjected to rome , neither is he one of the seven heads of rome , but he is the eighthdistinct from the seven of rome , and of the ten hornes subject to rome , and yet he is of the seven , that is , he hath somthing of all their wicked craft and subtilty , he is of the seven ( saith haymo ) because this beast shall seven times more persecute the church of christ then the other seven : this holds good ; for to prove him to be the beast that slayes the witnesses . saith another of this text , he is the eighth , because regnum ejus distinctum à singulis , and he is of the seven , quia in omnibus septem existit . i humbly conceive the holy ghost uses this expression [ he is of the seven ] to take us off from imagining that this beast ( though he be the eighth ) is the eighth head of rome : no , saith the holy ghost , he is of the seven , and that you might not imagine this beast , on the other hand , to be one of the ten horns subject to rome ; saith the holy ghost , he is of the seven ; and what followes ? and goeth to perdition . twice you have the perdition of the beast mentioned in this chapter , i humbly conceive , for two ends : 1. to note that this beast is the last enemy of the church , which bears up rome with all her blasphemous hypocrites , which vent their poyson , and profer it to the world in the golden cup of glorious gospell truths , when they are full of all abominations , and filthinesse of fornication ; when romes judgment day is neer , then v. 3. doth that scarlet coloured blasphemuus beast arise , then is it a year of jubilee with rome , v. 5. she is richly adorned and decked with all outward pomp , and hath a golden cup in her hand , out of which she vents her abominable blasphemies . then hath rome , v. 5. a name written on her forehead , mystery babylon , now mystery babylon is legible in her forehead ; we shall see babylon in a mystery , when rome is neer her downfall , as to cry down with antichrist , and murther a king that ingaged to pull down antichrist : to pretend to promote the gospell of jesus christ , and pull down the godly ministery . to exalt the kingdom of christ , and to grant a toleration of all religions against christ : to plead liberty of conscience , and devise spirituall wracks and tortures for mens consciences : for the brats of rome to cry down with the pope , and down with rome , and down with antichrist , whilest they promote rome and the pope , and undermine the gospell ? what is this but mystery babylon , written upon rome's politicians fore-heads : this is the comfort , mat. 24. 24 , 30. these are the forerunners of romes ruine by these mysterious plots , the wolves of rome get into the sheepfold of christ , and suck the bloud of christs flock ; and therefore ver. 6. john saw rome drunk with the bloud of the saints at this time when she was going to ruine : to note , that immediately before rome goeth to ruine the witnesses must be slain , for she is now found drunk with the saints bloud : and when is this that rome is drunk with the saints bloud ( ver. 7. ) it is when this beast bears up rome , that otherwise had fallen by the hands of the witnesses , whose bloud they now drink : in as much as this beast throws down those that would have ruined rome , and had covenanted so to do , he may well be called the beast that bears up rome . for certain the tenth part of the city babylon had fallen , had not this beast bore it up , by slaying those that had finished their testimony , and were fully resolved to pour out their vials on rome : now when this beast goeth to perdition that bears up rome , certainly then rome will fall , when the pillar that props it up falls , then down it falls : and therefore it is said , in rev. 19. 19 , 20. when the witnesses arise , and put themselves under the wings of christ : this rome-supporting beast john saw , when the pope and his party , v. 20. with him , and when the beast by the witnesses ( for i have proved already , that the battel is onely betwixt the beast bearing up rome , and the witnesses ) is overcome : in ver. 20. the pope is taken , and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles : this false prophet is the beast of the earth that slays the witnesses , who is called a false prophet , because rev. 13. 13. he doth great wonders ( ver. 14. ) on purpose to deceive : so that this eighth beast bearing up rome when rome is going to judgment , when he goeth to perdition , rome must necessarily fall with him . 2. the holy ghost in that he calls him ( rev. 17. 11. ) the eighth beast , and tells us twice in that chapter , that 't is he that goeth to destruction . i humbly conceive the holy ghost points at daniel 7. 8. which daniel calls another little horn . daniel longing to know the meaning of him , the holy ghost tells him , 't is that horn that shall rise after the ten horns , under the roman monarchy , and shall pull three of the ten horns up by the roots , ver. 8 , 21. makes war with the saints , and prevails against them : just as in rev. 11. 7. this horn ( ver. 24. ) shall arise after the ten kings subject to rome and shall be diverse from them : in this respect he is said to be the eighth , rev. 17. and he shall subdue three kings ( i. e. ) kingdoms , and ver. 11. by the setting up of christs kingdom , the beast shall be slain , and given to the burning flame ; as rev. 19. 20. and 25. he shall reign untill a time , times , and the dividing of times ; and then by the coming in of christs kingdom , he shall be destroyed to the end , utter ruine shall befall him . now who should this little horn be that riseth in the end of the roman monarchy , and throws down three kings , that is , usurps the dominion of three kingdoms , purely professing the gospel , where the saints whom he persecutes are , and reignes tyrannically over the saints but three years and an half , and must be destroyed by the erecting of christs kingdom , and putting the saints in possession : but onely the beast which john rev. 11. 13 , 17. and 19. setteth forth in his rising , reigning , and ruine . object . but how comes this beast to have seven heads , and ten horns , since he is none of the roman heads ? in revel. 17. 3 , 7. sol. i thought , till i looked into the original , that the seven heads , and ten horns , had related to the woman , and not to the beast ; and i thought ver. 9. would have born me out as well as the vulgar translation ; but i perceived it not onely clashing with ver. 12. and v. 16. but confounding the syntaxis of the words in the greek copy ; for the participle in v. 3. and the article in v. 7. are of another gender : as in v. 3. how can {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} agree together ; but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} agree together : so likewise in v. 7. how can {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} agree together , when as it agrees with {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , therefore learned beza reades v. 3. vidi mulierem insidentem bestiae coccinae plenae nominibus plasphemiae habenti capita septem ; so that habenti agrees with bestiae , which is agreeable to the greek copy ; the vulgar renders it doubtfully , but the greek copy decides this cleerly , by referring the horns to the beast , not the woman . ob. how comes it to pass then , if the beast be not the pope , but he that riseth and slays the witnesses ( when the popes time is drawing neer to an end ) that he is said rev. 13. to have but two horns , and here to have seven heads , and ten horns ? sol. the subject i am now upon is exceeding mysterious : so mysterious , that john wondered , with great admiration , to see babylon in a mystery , devouring the bloud of the saints , v. 5 , 6. to see men , under the name of saints , and tender consciencious men , drinking exceedingly of the bloud of the saints : this is a great mystery , and a mystery to be wondered at ; now this mystery v. 7. ) the holy ghost tells us is double : there is a mystery of the woman , that is , rome ; and the mystery of the beast that at this time ( now rome is going to ruine ) bears her up . now this beast is not the pope , for the pope sits as a whore upon many waters : this double mystery then is in thishow the woman rome should come to be drunk now with the bloud of saints , when she 's going to ruine ; and the other part of the mystery lyeth in verse 7. how the beast that had horns like a lamb , and a fair smooth tongue like a dragon , rev. 13. 11. should now have the feet of a bear , and the jawes of a lyon ; how he that had covenanted to throw down rome , and professed himself a great friend to the saints , and yielded all his assistance to throw down popery , superstition , and idolatry , and holds the same religion in profession that the true saints do : how this beast should become the beast bearing up rome , here is the mystery , and such a mystery as is to be in the church when the witnesses shall be slain , and when rome is neer to utter ruine , which mystery being this day in our eyes revealed , is a sure prognostick to me , that rome is not far off from her utter ruine . now i humbly conceive that the beast is said to have the seven heads , and ten horns , because he supports rome with seven heads , and ten horns : now as the heathen emperours were called the red dragon with seven heads , and ten horns , rev. 12. 2. and the pope is the beast of the sea with seven heads , and ten horns , because they kept up the emperial pomp and state of rome : so this beast of the earth is said here to have seven heads , and ten horns , because he supports the pomp and state of rome , when the witnesses had finished their testimony , and were ready to pour out the vialls upon it . this beast is therefore the eighth , ver. 11. because he is distinct from those seven kings , v. 10. and yet he is of the seven because he is an usurper and a tyrant , who rules by his sword-power , as the seven before him did , who bore up the woman with seven heads : therefore this eighth beast ●●●…d to be of the seven , because of the likeness of the government he sets up to theirs before him . hence 't is that in v 8. the beast that bears rome is called the beast that is not , and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit : he was in the idaea of his government , in the usurpation of caesar , but [ is not ] because he is to come out of the bottomless pit , rev. 11. 7. where the 1260. years reign of antichrist draws towards an end , and then slays the witnesses : the next words cleers it , that this beast is also the beast of the earth mentioned rev. 13. 12 , 13 , 14. hence he is called the beast that was , because rev. 13. 12. he makes the people to worship the first beast whose deadly wound is healed , that is , he makes people subject to a government as caesar set up in rome , which was a packt company of senators , whom he at his command could sway , to what he pleased after he had drove away , and secluded the faithfull members of the senate-house : but by what power doth he do this ? the same ver. of chap. 13. tells us , he doth it by the power of the first beast before him , that is , the pope , ( as we have shewed ) these two first beasts mentioned in the same verse signifie . 1. the pope , in whose presence the last beast acts , and by whose power he acts . and the other is caesar , whose government he endeavours to set up : now he doth it by the power of the pope , that is , by treachery , lying perjury , treason , and lying wonders : therefore in rev. 17. 8. the time when this beast shall be in the world shall be a time of wonder , the people shall wonder at him , wonder at the changes he makes in times and laws , and wonder at his proceedings ; and the reason is in rev. 13. 13. because he doth wonders in the sight of the men of the earth ( that have not rooting in christ ) by his glorious successes , and his specious pretences ; and also his boasts of the prevalencies of his prayers with heaven , how providence guides him , prospers , and protects him : thus he cheats the pope , and makes them to admire him , for his acting by the first beasts power , that is , by the popes power , so that this beast is after the pope , and to be expected ( as the fathers say ) when rome is to go to ruine , and to be destroyed . thus this beast is the beast that was , and is not , and yet is . ob. how is he the beast that is ? sol. he is [ the beast that is ] because at that time when john had this revelation , rome had the government of caesar , though caesar and that family were extinct , there was a senate in rome , and that senate curbed under the power of the sword , sword-men bore the sway , the general of the army was the emperour : though they had the name of the senate , they sate & voted in the senate , but it was the general and his souldiers acted what they pleased ; and in this sence , this beast was in johns time , that is , in the government ; and in this sence also the eighth is of the seven . the hardest knot still remains to be untied , and that is rev. 17. 12 , 16. where 't is said , that the ten horns are ten kings , which have received no kingdom as yet , but receive power as kings one hour with the beast : what should these ten kings be who have no kingdom , nor power , untill this beast arise , and then they have but power as kings one hour with the beast ? 1. we must answer negatively these ten horns here mentioned cannot be meant the ten kingdoms subject to rome ( as some would have it ) for that is expressed in ver. 25. otherwise , then by ten horns there the head of rome , the pontifick state , is called the whore , and the powers subject to rome compared to waters , which waters are by the holy ghost in the same verse interpreted peoples and multitudes , nations and tongues . 2. we answer possibly , yea most probably , ten horns may have a double sence and meaning ; the one , to set forth these kings subject to the roman empire , and so dan. 7. 7. is to be understood ; and so the most learned protestant writers understand these ten horns : 't is also the opinion of learned men , that by ten horns is meant the senate of rome , subordinate to the imperiall power of rome : so alcazar understands these ten horns , he calls them poliarchiam senatorum . and ( not rejecting the common interpretation of the ten horns ) i conceive this may be the meaning of rev. 13. 1. where when the state of rome was changed from emperours to popes , the seven heads had blasphemous names on them , and the ten horns were crowned . the senate of rome under the emperor had no crowns ; but when the pope came up with his ten horns , that is , his conclave of cardinals ( resembling a senate ) they had their miters on ; here the ten horns are crown'd : as i do not dote upon this interpretation , so i dare not despise it , for it hangs upon as much reason as the other , if not more , and i know no reason , but why these ten horns may have a double signification , as well as the seven heads ; but the seven heads ( rev. 17. 9 , 10. ) signifie seven mountains , and seven kings . therefore by these ten kings here , rev. 17. 12. i conceive is meant those senators , or that packt party , that this beast sets up by his sword power ; and as caesar conquer'd under pretence of subjecting people to his packt-senate in rome : so doth this subdue nations and kingdoms to his packt-party of senators . observe how clearly this appears in the text , v. 12. 1. the holy ghost doth not say these kings shall receive kingdoms , but a kingdom [ ten ] is but indifinitly for many ; as ten virgins , ten talents ; and now these many shall not reign in distinct kingdoms : for john saith they have not received a kingdom , noting these many kings shal be in one kingdom . 2. they are not absolute kings , but receive power as kings ; they rule and tyrannize , and make lawes , and exact obedience from the people as kings . 3. 't is but one hour that they have this power , three years and an half is the utmost extent of their duration in this power , for they come in with this beast : now this beast continues but three years and an half . 4. these all make but one vote , v. 3. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} that is , in english , make one vote . i do not know how better to express it in english : therefore i conclude , that these are not distinct kings , but such as vote together in one councel to propagate the beasts designs ; and in so doing , ver. 14. they are by the holy ghost marked for those who fight with the lamb , and the lamb overcomes , so that hence i gather , that the great battel spoken of to be fought ( rev. 19. 19 , 20. ) by christ against the beast , and the false prophet , is the battel that is to be fought against the beast , and these ten horns : for on the churches side the generall and his army are one and the same in both ; here he is called the lamb , and rev. 19. 7 , 8. he is called the lamb ; here he is called the king of kings , and lord of lords , and there , vers. 16. he is called king of kings , and lord of lords : here his army is called faithfull and chosen , and in ver. 11. there their generall ( who makes them like him , by calling them to him ) is called faithfull and true . this battell is set forth , rev. 11. 13. by a great earthquake , and rev. 14. 19 , 20. by gathering the vine of the earth into the vinepress of gods wrath : a usuall metaphor to set forth the ruine of the enemies of the church by , like that in judges , the gleanings of ephraim are better then the vintage of ebiesar , that is , the little conquests of ephraim in taking these two princes , were greater then ( the vintage ) the great conquest of gideon over that vast army . but here is another hard question comes in , and that is from v. 14. and 16. q. how can it be said in v. 13. that the horns make war with the lamb , and the lamb overcomes them ; and in v. 16. the ten horns shall hate the whore , and make her naked , and eat her flesh , and burn her with fire . resp. to this we answer , those ten horns cannot be the same in person , in v. 14. with these in v. 16. 1. because these in v. 14. make war against the lamb ; but those in v. 16. make war for the lamb . 2. those in v. 14. are destroyed and overcome by the lamb , and therefore cannot be the same in person with those in v. 16. because they shall hate the whore : now comes in the judgement of the whore spoken of , v. 1. and in this , v. 16. the officers that shall bring her to judgement are set forth . observe but the opposition that the holy ghost puts betwixt the person and persons in one office : by the ten horns ( as i have shew'd ) signifies a senate , a parliament , or a supream power consisting of many members : this v. 14. and 16. ( if seriously perused ) shew us , that there shall be a great rent amongst persons conjoyn'd in one office ; the ten horns , v. 12. arise with the beast ; but the other ( v. 17. ) give their kingdom ( through their oversight to the beast ; so that these clearly are distinct : for these last ten horns had a kingdom , or else they could not give it away ; but the other v. 12. come to be kings , or as kings with the beast : so that the coming up of these is the casting down of those ( vers. 17. ) untill the words of god be fulfilled : those ten kings vers. 13. give their power and strength ( which they received from the beast ) to the beast against the lamb . but those ten horns v. 17. give but their kingdom for a time , and when that time is fulfilled ( i. e. ) when the seventh trumpet sounds , when the mystery of god shall be finished or fulfilled , then those shall hate the whore , and shall make her desolate , and eat her flesh , and burn her with si●e : this gives us a most clear description of the slain witnesses , by a party atising out of their own bowels : here are the same ten horns for the beast against the lamb , and the same ten horns for the lamb against the beast , and the whore : this is a mystery which hath been locked up from former ages , and is now in the eyes of all the world revealing it self : these ten horns therefore are distinct in their persons , and the same in office , onely the one party sides with the beast who gives them his power to slay the witnesses : so that these reigning , keep the name and power of a parliament , and so they are called the ten horns , and this rome they keep till the true parliament ( which pretendedly was on the beasts head ) arise , and by their powerful prosecution of their covenant-reformation , shew their hatred to the whore , make her desolate , eat her flesh , and burn her with fire : for certain the rising of the slain witnesses shall be the downfall of the beast , the pope , and the devils kingdom : i am not ignorant how remote i am from the common received opinions of the protestants ; neither am i ignorant , how far they are from the clear light of sacred text , which gives too much occasion to the romish party in their writings , to scorn at their interpretations : it were easie to shew the contradictions that they make , who interpret these ten horns to be the ten kings of europe : but i forbear , and only make this the excuse of my prolixity , because i easily perceive the great stone which the protestant writers stumble at , is this last beast that is to rise and raign three years and an half , in which time he slays the witnesses : this beast few of them ( for ought i can perceive ) ever dream't of ; therefore they mistake the beast rising out of the bottomless pit , rev. 11. 7. the beast of the earth , rev. 13. 11. and the eighth beast , rev. 17. 11. to be the pope , and these ten horns to be the ten europian kingdoms , which are all gross mistakes , and the causes of greater in most of their writings . having thus ( by the good grace of the holy trinity ) by these mysterious texts discovered this last beast , and these last enemies of the church , i trust he that is not spiritually blind will say , surely these scriptures are fulfilled in our eyes this day . was there not a glorious reformation began , and though with much danger and difficulty , yet ) clearly carryed on : read but the assemblies works ; read the good ordinances made by the parliament for the carrying of it on ; read the covenant , and then say , whether there was not a glorious reformation began : nay did not the king give his royall assent to this reformation , and did not the parliament close with these concessions ; and then , even then , on a sudden when these witnesses had finished their testimony , then ariseth this beast , and over throws this reformation , by slaying the witnesses which had finished their testimony : by this the reader may see my confidence , upon scripture-bottome , that these are the times , and this is the place , and the magistracy , and ministery of england , are the witnesses that now are slaying ; and this power now tyrannizing over the church , is that power that slayes the witnesses ; and the beast that set up this power , together with the power that he hath erected , shall gather all their strength against the lamb , that is , against the true saints , which in sincerity worship christ ; and there the mighty hand of god shall appear to the utter ruining and confounding of them ; then shall the witnesses arise and take up that reformation which hath lien dead three years and an half , and shall carry it on without any more opposition ; and all this shall begin to be done ( i do not say finished ) neere about this present year , 1651. these i have more largly discoursed of in the ensuing tract , yet not at large , because i expect to have it answer'd by some of the time-serving champions , especially docter homes , whom i take to be the learned'st saint of them all in this study ; and he hath got him almost as great a name amongst the ignorant crew for a prophet , as lillie the hedg-prophet , who jispsie-like gets his living by telling fortunes : as lillie , so doth this doctor make his oracle speak to the humour of the times : as that infamous priest of apollo , out of base flattery made the oracle {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . so doth the blasphemous wretch indeavour to make the holy oracles of the scriptures {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that is , to humour the usurping trayterous bloudy hereticks of the times , and with more subtilty then any of his fellows . it behoveth christians to observe some mens designs more then others , and to observe how they carry on their designs ; as for this doctor he undertakes to prove the foulest actions that ever were committed by christians , to be the gloriousest and greatest actions that ever were performed by christians , and pretends to fetch all his proofs from sacred scripture , from propheticall texts ; and 't is commonly taught , that king charles who was cut off was the antichrist , and london the city that must be destroyed with seven hills ; and the presbytery the locust that must be destroyed ; so that ere long we shall have protestants massacred as antichristian ; 't is therfore time to look after such fellows . indeed there are many in print , who assume scribendi libertatem ( as scaliger saith of the french ) but have not scribendi facultatem . i think the writers of these times upon this subject , edged with the doctors designes , may be distinguished , as maladies are amongst the learned ; some are privative , some are positive ; in some there is seminarium stultitiae , in other some seminarium invidiae : now the later of these is most dangerous : from hence proceeds heresie and apostasie from truth ; if we mark it , error is a positive act ; and where it meets a malicious heart , and a subtill head , it doth infinite hurt . now i shall sooner prove the doctor one of these , then stile him one . as for that other sort of prophetick time-servers , though 't is true there be unus utrique error , yet , poor soules , they make such ridiculous nonsense of what they steal from learned men , that every man of ordinaryparts cannot but cry out of them as eruditi fures , and deserve as much to be slighted , as iohn goodwins songs to be laught at . the truth is , such self-conceited ideots deserve better to be met with a lacedemonian whip , then to be corrected by a sober pen : they are such as hierom complains of , qui loqui nesciunt , & tacere non possunt ; i do not mean onely such tinkling cymballs and crackt trumpets as sterrey and powell , durie , feake , the furriers boy , will . sedgwick , iohn goodwin , simson , and carpenter the converted jesuite , with his brother tillam the blasphemer ; but many others , poor soules , who are great zealots against antichrist , but know not what he is : a man that hears the contradictions , absurdities and egregious falsities that they impudently utter sometimes in one houre , would conclude as ( lactantius doth against the philosophers ) aut stulti aut in ani , nullus enim ager , nulla anus , ineptiùs deliravit ; these empty-headed fellowes , whose privative malice proceeding of ignorance , makes them belch forth such indigested crudities , i would intreat good christians to pray for them , for they know not what they say . but while i am viewing the followers of the beast : there is a third sort of time-servers , the worst of all , by how much the more eminent they are for the profession of the protestant religion ; for that of iuvenali is true : omne animi vitium tantò conspectius in se crimen habet quantò major qui peccat habetur . these are not such lascivious goats as the doctor that i deal with , nor such silly hogs as those i pass over , who like those possessed run in a herd together down the precipice of ruine into the sea of perdition , without remorse or stop : but these are men of gravity , men of sobriety , men professing outwardly godliness , men that , like judas , kiss christ with their lips , and imbrace christs murtherers in their arms , that have their lips in heaven , and their arms in hell : they are like the ayr in their constitutions , which element , though it proceed ex duobus elementis à symbolicis , yet notwithstanding 't is utrique symbolicum ; and so are they , i mean such as mr. nye , mr. thomas goodwin , mr. shadrack simpson , mr. bridge , rows of eaton ; who though no priest , yet may well be stiled a franciscan apostate : and i would i could leave out mr. j. car. and m. ob. s. i am loth to name them , because i am ashamed that the world should know that two such eminent-godly-learned men are amongst such an antichristian abominable faction : but who knows that mr. caryl is amongst them , and that mr. obediah sedgwick keeps publike thanksgiving dayes for the overthrow of the scots , our covenant-keeping brethren , hi sunt illi ( saith tullie ) qui non solùm vitia concipiunt , sed etiam infundunt , in civitatem plusque exemplo quam peccato nocent : these are those adultae patriae pestes , that , if it were possible , would seduce the elect : how much mischief have these men done by their evill example , by their open apostacy from their church and state-principles , by their covenant-breaking , and by their elegant pleading ( like job's acquaintance ) against a righteous cause ; and most shamefull extolling and complying with wicked men , cursing the righteous whom god afflicts , and blessing the wicked whom god abhors : these {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( as greg. nazianzen calls them ) such as will truck away their religious principles , and break their covenants , for the gain of the world , notwithstanding their former writings and opinions , fight with their present actings , like the souldiers of gadmus to their own confusion . these men going in the way of cain , and running after the errour of balam for a reward , have provoked me , unworthy me , like balam's ass , unexpectedly , though out of the anguish of my heart , to reprove the madness of these prophets . i no whit wonder that hereticks , and scandalous loose fellows , such as doctor homes , and john goodwin , keep thanksgiving dayes , and make ballads at the overthrow of the church and state of scotland ; for they know that scotland is the greatest enemy to heresie and lechery in the world : these go upon that new-found maxime , self-preservation , and so have some ground for what they do : for doubtless homes had been hang'd for his uncleanness , and abominable lewdness , had the scots laws been put into english practice , and such as goodwin had been justly banished , for open apostacy and obstinate heresie , if not hang'd for a blasphemer : therefore i the less blame them for what they do , and the rather , since their own former writings save me the labour : doth the doctor call the church of scotland , and the presbyterian church whore by craft ? poor man , we very well know that this is not his first mistake ; it is not the first time that he hath mistaken an honest woman for a whore , witness his congregation that excommunicated him for such gross mistakes , and to this day for the same stands excommunicated : were it not therefore through this doctors sides , that i intended to wound the whole rabble of deceivers , and false prophets , who most egregiously abuse prophetick texts , to the defaming of the true church ; and that the time-servers may know i dare incounter their sturdiest champions , i should have been ashamed to have entred the list with so scandalous a man as doctor homes : but why should i be ashamed to confute him , when the lord major of london was not ashamed to make him his teacher . let no man think that i do {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , meddle with that which concerns me not ; for by my covenant i am bound timely to make known and discover , whatsoever church or state-evill : i am not able to suppress , and i do no more here , i know that this my young lamb must pass through the midst of wolves and lyons , who will indeavour to devour it : and therefore i have arm'd it with armour of proof , the holy scriptures . i do not ( as cromwel in his letters falsly saith the scots do ) use weapons of a foolish shepherd , i fetch all my weapons out of davids armory , the scripture : here hangs a thousand bucklers , all the shields of mighty men , i draw no arguments from conjurers dreams , or from astrological predictions , such really are the weapons of a foolish shepherd ; i offer no such poysonous water to the thirsty traveller in this road ; all that i draw comes clearly up exprofundissimis scientiae fodinis , from the scriptures , the wells of living water : here are no texts crook't ( though cross to the common interpretations ) by any private interpretation , to particular self-ends : indeed i do swim against the stream of common interpreters , but not without just cause given , i protest it is not out of a desire to be singular , as not a few in this age do , who think no fabrick of fame stands so stately , as that which is built exruinis alienae existimationis , esteeming it no small piece of honour to be counted novae alicujus rei authores , let it be what i will , for my own part , i protest against such folly . i onely follow the ark ; which way it goes , i go ; and when it stands still , i stand still . i shall submit my self wholly to the censure of learned texts men , whether i have wracked any texts to stretch it beyond the lawfull bounds of interpretations , or whether i have made any {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or not made my {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} onely . this i will assure the reader , that he shall find nothing in this book either prater fun lamentum salutis , or contra a fundamentum salutis : nor scarce any one text ( of these many ) unfolded , but what learned writers do concur with me in ; for i walk upon the learned heads of at least fourscore interpreters , and if i fall from ones head , i presently fall into anothers arms , so that my sence falls not to the ground . indeed my style and my method may justly be blamed , i am heartily ashamed that it should go so tatter'd with its rags into the world ; but indeed the reason is because it was done in hast , not that it was studied in hast , but scribed in hast : it is well known this piece proffer'd to the press within a month after the doctors sermon was printed , and from that time , to this day , it hath waited at the press ( like the cripple of bethesda ) expecting dayly some one to put it in ▪ indeed my book ( if it could ) should not go like independents wives {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . now the church is in her winding sheet . the first part of it proves monarchy to be jure divino , and to be visible in the church from the creation to christs incarnation , who was both monarch ( by a right of succession from adam ) of the whole world , and by right ( of succession from david ) king of the jews , according to the flesh : i have not handled this point , or any other , so fully as i might and could , i intend it not , untill i hear what my antagonists say against me ; and then i shall ( by gods good grace ) say more upon this subject , if need require , not otherwise ; for i hate coming in print , except in a case of necessity ; and in that case onely privatly . i heartily praise god that i have so fair an opportunity to declare my self in this of monarchy , for at least seven years ago , i was unjustly slander'd by those ingrateful wretches whose family and goods i protected ) that i should say that i would kill the king . this news , and my name , was carryed to the court , where it met with his majesties ear as he was at dinner : there it was told him that i ( naming me by name ) was the man that had vow'd the kings death where ever i saw him . this doubtless had died away , and never come to my ears , had not this accident hapned ; he gouty good gentleman of the house ( where the king at that time kept his court ) though he could neither stir hand nor foot , by reason of his age and disease , yet was so inraged at the news , that he vow'd , as decrepit as he was , to be the man to fight with , and kill such a rebellious villain ( meaning me ) as would attempt such a thing . i never had an opportunity to vindicate my self from this foul aspersion , nor so much as to present hearty thanks to the gowty gentleman for his hearty and loyall affections to his soveraign the king , in that he would adventure his life to kill a villain that should attempt to kill the king . i profess before god and men , that i , when i was so aspersed , was of this opinion , that he was both a villain and a traytor and deserved sudden and cruell death , that would presume in his heart to think so evil a thought as to kill the king : for my own part i had rather be a slave to my liege soveraign , then a ruler amongst the rebellious . i am througly convinc'd , that monarchy is that government which god hath ordain'd and set his stamp upon ; and all other government is the ordinance of man immediatly , though approved by god , as the seventy were under moses , and that no person upon earth can by gods law question or bring to punishment the person of a monarch . this we all know , both jews and gentiles , that hold the divinity of the scriptures , that the church of god ( before christ ) was beholding to a monarch , both for their church-laws and state-laws . for the revelation of the will of god , and the manner of his worship , moses the monarch was the first mediator , into whose hands the first glorious gospel dispensations were put . god revealed himself immediatly to moses , and the people received gods mind immediatly from their monarch moses . the first revelation of the covenant of grace was given to adam the monarch of the world : the second manifestation of the covenant , with a seal , was given to abraham the monarch of the church , and the gospel-church received all their spirituall lawes and ordinances from christ the natural son of both : but now the question will be , whether christ ordained monarchy in the gospel church , as well as the ministry : if so , shew us the monarchy , i acknowledg this a difficult question , i do not find any of the learned so much as touch upon it : indeed i find many men in the negative , but scarce one affirmative in this question ; i find ( though not directly ) hierom and calvin negative in the question , that christ ordained a government , and that potestas & ordo , power and order , are essentiall in that government , ●o divines do deny ; but the modus & titulus in this government , is that which as yet lies disputable . some say this government ought to be aristocraticall : of this opinion is that holy and learned calvin ( which i wonder at ) his grounds for it are because he thinks the ancient government of the jewes was aristocratical : but the sandy foundation of this opinion . shews us the weakness of this argument : for there is nothing more clear , then that israels government , from their deliverance out of egipt , to their captivity in babylon , was monarchical , if supaemacy in one be monarchy ; so that out of the rains of calvins argument will arise a firm argument : thus if the examples of civill-government , under the gospel , must be according to that under the law ( for there the force of calvins argument lies ) then monarchy is the government that must be erected in the time of the gospel : but we pass this . hierom is of opinion , which he grounds on dan. 7.18 . that when the great day of gospel-reformation shall come ( i. e. ) when the roman monarchy is destroyed , then ( saith he ) all kingdoms shall be thrown down , and there shall be no government at all , onely the communion of the saints . but this opinion ( as 't is much built upon these times , so ) 't is built on a sandy foundation , upon a mistake in the interpretation of dan. 7. 18. and it is absolutely contradictory to these prophetick promises of uniting the two tribes , and the ten tribes , under one king or government , ( i. e. ) making them , as at first , one kingdom under one king ; and against those texts which promise to the jews , that in the gospel-dayes amongst the gentile-gospellers , he will raise up kings to be their nursing fathers , and queens to be their nursing mothers , and many other texts : therfore we pass this also . the noble and most learned hebrews , for the most part , conclude , that god will call them again , and make them a famous monarchy : so that the worst of them hold , that monarchy shall continue untill the end of the world : indeed levie ben gerson , an hebrew , upon the first of sam. 8. pleads for aristocracie ; and to advance it , he ( like the serpent ) bites kingly-government by the heel : like as the prelates on the one hand , and the independents on the other hand , plead against presbytery , so doth he against monarchy : for he picks up the excrements of the kings of judah and israel , and from their illsavouring infirmities conclude , therefore their government is such as their infirmities were , which is such a childish weak way of arguing , that it deserves no answer : as if because the priests were naught , therefore their office must be naught : or because a sacrifice was lame , therefore the temple was naught : or as if because the image on the gold is defaced , therefore the gold is naught : this is peevish-childishness , therefore we pass that also , and come to the question , whether christ ordained monarchy to be in the gospel church ? to that we answer negatively , as to the title . 1. no king on earth since christs incarnation , to this day , can shew an extraordinary or immediate call from god to be king , as david could , and solomon could , for he was chosen king , by god , before he was born . 2. there is no king , since christ , that can say he hath a naturall right to his kingdom . succession , that ended in christ , who had a true title , by natural succession , to be monarch of the world , as descending from adam , luk. 3. and a natural right to the monarchy of the jews , as descending of abraham , matth. 1. so that christ onely is naturally according to the flesh , by succession , the king of the jews and gentiles ; and in this sence is rom. 5. 14. to be understood , where adam is said to be a type of him to come , that is , as he was monarch of the world by divine institution , and naturall right : so that he that claims since christs incarnation , by a natural right , the monarchy of the world , or kingdom of the jews , usurps the office of christ ; for christ onely is monarch of the world by a natural descent , and in this respect he is both king and priest after the order of melchisedeck ; for melchisedeck was without beginning of dayes , or end of time , in respect both of his priestly and kingly office , without beginning of dayes , that is , in respect of his pedegree ; for he was both king and priest by naturall succession from seth the son of adam , which was time out of mind ; for none at that time were able to tell the antiquity of his descent , who by birth was both monarch and priest ; and then this melchisedeck was without end of time : for neither the kingly office , nor the priestly office were extinct in the church untill christ came , in whom met both the kingly , the priestly , and the prophetick office : this christ was according to the flesh the naturall son of melchisedeck , who having carried up to heaven with him his humane nature , sits a king , a priest , and a prophet in that nature in heaven for ever , on his churches behalf ; and in this sense melchisedecks offices are without end of time ; for our king and our priest is ascended up into heaven , where he makes continuall intercession for us ; so that since him there is no succession of monarchs by lineall descents : but magistracy is not made null under the gospell , because it ceaseth in respect of a naturall title by succession for god hath ordained by his approving providence , other ways of erecting monarchs then by succession or immediate call , as david was monarch over the countries round about him , not by succession , nor by an immediate call from god , but by conquest ; so that the great office of monarchy may lawfully come in at other doors , though the door of succession and immediate calling from god be shut . but this is not the question . that christ hath not abolished monarchy under the gospel , nothing is more clear : for government is a morall thing , and stands as sure as the fifth commandement : now monarchy is gods government , therefore it stands firm with the fifth commandement , which laws he came not to make void , but establish . we may truly argue therfore for monarchy under the gospel by an argument taken à fortiori : for if under the law god gave to his church monarchicall government , much more doth that great blessing belong to the gospel church , paul exhorts that prayers especially be made for kings , that they might be converted , that so under them the church might lead a peaceable life , so that kings were to be brought in under the gospel as well as others . it is true indeed , there was not immediately after christs ascension a visible established magistracy in the church , because the church was not then established : besides , there was no need of magistracy at that time , for christ the absolute monarch of heaven and earth by a true and unquestionable title , both by succession and conquest , after his ascension , according to his promise , sent his holy spirit in an extraordinary way upon his twelve apostles , who dividing the world amongst them , went forth in the power of the holy ghost conquering the people : during their time there was no need of any magistracy , for their protection ; for the holy ghost protected them beyond all the magistracy in the world ; it released them out of the strongest prison , brake open the strongest gates , and knockt down their stoutest enemies , as paul , who was doubtlesse some great magistrate amongst them ; for he was the companion of herod , and when he was converted , the church had peace round about ; which argues , there was none before his conversion greater then he : he punished the scandalous , as ananias and saphira : it gave ( like a monarch ) large boons to those that desired it ; it healed the sick , gave limbs to the lame , raised the dead , and by its imperiall power made spirits of men in every nation bow down to the apostles commands : this extraordinary presence of the spirit with the apostles , was beyond all the monarchs in the world ; for this spirit saved all the passengers in the ship , when the ship was broken all in pieces , which all the monarchs in the world could not do ; this spirit raised paul from death to life after he was stoned , which all the powers in the world could not do ; therefore there was no need of a magistracy to protect them in that age , the power of working miracles was their magistracy at this time ( say some . ) we may truly affirm , that since christs universall conquest on the crosse , after his resurrection , from that day ( matth. 28. 18. ) that he divulged this universall power in heaven and earth ; the church hath not been left without a true monarch , for christ is that monarch who gave commission to his disciples to divulge his laws , and command the world to observe them , and he would be with his embassadors to the end of the world ; so that the true church cannot be without a monarch , who by a naturall right according to the flesh , raigns over them , and will raign in the midst of his enemies , and make all their designs promote his honor , and his churches good ; this grand priviledge only the gospell church injoys , for the jews had only temporall monarchs , according to the flesh , who died away , but they had not a spirituall monarch , who by right of succession came , whom ( through unbelief ) they reject to this day , though for certain he is their lawfull naturall king , by a naturall right of succession , being of the linage of david , and he is our naturall king ( we being gentiles ) by a right of succession from adam ; and he is spiritually the king , both of the jews and gentiles , by that spituall infinitely glorious conquest , which he got over the wrath of god , and his divine justice , over the powers of hell , and all their malice , and over the souls of the elect , and all their sinnes ; so that he is by conquest the monarch of the gospell church , so that the church under the gospell can never be without a throne , and one to sit upon that throne . in the last place , this we do affirm , that soon after extraordinary gifts ceased , and that extraordinary succession of ministers which christ promised to be with til the end of the world ( mat. 28. 20. ) succeeded , god raised up a civil magistracy for the protecting of the church , propagation of the gospel , and preservation of the ministery : this magistracy was visible in england before any other part of the world ; and as rome furnished our magistracy with a godly orthodox christian ministery , so not long after our magistracy furnished rome with a godly magistracy , to rescue the ministery out of the jawes of those heathen dragons : lucius about 170 years after christ ( being a brittish king of this nation ) was called to be gods vicar ( as elutherius bishop of rome terms him ) this christian king sets up christs lawes and faith in his kingdom , pulling down paganism , and setting up christian bishopricks in the room of the pagan flamins . about 130 years after , out of the same royall brittish bloud , god raised up that famous witness for his truth constantine , who became the first great protecter of the christians throughout the habitable world ; he was the first that made rome , which for a long time had been the devils throne , to become gods throne , rev. 12. he threw down the bloudy dragons , the emperours , and rome afterward became famous in her magistracy and ministery for christ , beyond all the world , untill antichrist arose , and drove these witnesses into the wilderness , and made them war sackcloth ; since which rising and tyrannizing of antichrist , there hath been a visible magistracy and ministery in england , as witnesses to the truth of christ , though many times in great obscurity through outward persecutions : it would be here too tedious to relate what might be said of the magistracy and ministery of england , we will onely say thus much , that the kings and bishops of england testified to the truth against the popes antichristian usurpation more then others , and before any other witnesses ; for about the time , anno 800. when the popes were swelled to their height , even then shall we find ( when other kings kissed the popes feet ) the kings and bishops of england opposed their usurpation . what if i did assert this ? that the first lawfull christian magistracy under the gospell arose in england , from england it went to rome ; wherefore a little while ( half an hour ) it flourished and caused great peace in the church ; but when antichrist arose , he drove the lawfull magistracy and lawfull ministery of rome into sackcloth , and into the wildernesse , that is into some remote place from rome ; observe it , rev. 12. 14. the woman , that is , the church that brought forth such a happy son as constantine : this woman by antichrist is drove into the wildernesse ( saith the text ) into her place ; whence i conclude that england is this wildernesse . for first , this was the place from whence a godly magistracy went unto rome : and secondly , this was the place unto which the witnesses were drove again , where i say have been visible in sackcloth since the popes usurpation of rome : nay , let me add this to my assertion , that the lawfull monarch of rome by a true line of succession was charles the king of england , who was beheaded on a lofty scaffold at noon at his own door , january 30. 1648. for if noble sir robert naunron that learned antiquary , and noble lawyer say true in his fragmenta regalia , cap. 1. p. 2. whose words are these ; remarkable it is , ( saith he ) concerning the violent desertion of the royall house of britains , by the invasion of the saxons , and afterward by the conquest of the normans , that by the vicissitude of times , and thought a discontinuance ( almost a thousand years ) the royall scepter should fall back into the corrent of the old british bloud , in the person of henry vii . together with whatsoever the german , norman , burgundian , castalian and french atchievements , with the intermarriage which eight hundred years had acquired , incorporated , and brought back into the old royall line . hence then i prove , if henry vii . were the lawfull successor of the british kings , then he was the lawfull successor of constantine king of england , who conquered rome ; and if henry vii . be the lawfull successor of constantine , then those lawfully descended of henry vii . but this lawfull family of the stuarts are lawfully descended of henry vii . ergo . the stuarts are the lawfull successors of constantine the great , the first christian emperor of rome : there are very many other waies which to some seem clearer , whereby to prove this truth ? if so , know ! oh rome , that the lion of the north , thy lawfull emperor and true christian magistrate , will suddainly arise to the utter confusion of that bloudy usurping prelate , which by his subtill treacheries hath caused the lawfull magistrate , the lawfull emperor of rome ( drove into this wildernesse , where in sackcloth the office hath continued , having finished that prophetick testimony in the year 1648. ) to become a slain witnesse for christ : the other office of the ministery lying dead ever since , but the three years and an half of their lying dead is almost expired , and then the same offices shall arise to the eternall ruine of the pope , and popish idolatry : but no more of this in this place , i hope some antiquaries will be so truly noble , that they will plead a distressed kings cause , and clear this title of his , which is doubtlesse to them an easie thing , and may procure them great renown in after ages ; for my part i shall say no more of it in print , unlesse i am challenged , and then if no body will take up the cudgells in the quarrell , i am resolved , neque clipeum objicere , neque causam deserere , though indeed i have as much upon my weak arme as i am well able to beare , well able to doe i say ? i professe my selfe ( as in the undertaking , so in the defending of so great a cause as i have taken in hand ) utterly unable without the divine hand to support me : the reason why i have discoursed so much of monarchy is , because i am fully perswaded that the great reformation to be wrought amongst jewes and gentiles , shall be wrought by monarches , when god shall open the eyes of the jewes , to know assured that the lord jesus is their true and naturall monarch according to the flesh , and their naturall priest , that is , by birth-right , as melchisedech was ; then shall they look on him whom they have pierced , and mourn over him , they shall then be converted : now this conversion is designed in that gospell epistle written to the twelve tribes , called the epistle to the hebrewes , as the knowledge of their true monarch and priest shall work wonderfull conversion amongst the hebrews , so the knowledge of a lawfull magistracy and a lawfull ministery shall work a wonderfull change at the same time amongst the gentile churches , who are now overwhelmed with the cruell tyranny of the usurping prelaticall power of rome : a lawfull monarch rising shall be the instrument of a glorious gospel-reformation , of restoring the witnesses , and of the overturning of the roman empire in its pontifick head . much of this opinion is that dutch divine in his clavis apocalyptica , to whom iohn durie the scotch man binds himself as in a dutch duell , where he falls to stick and snee with him ; for saith the dutch divine in pag. 89. a high potentate amongst evangelicall professors shall arise , and be exalted , to the terror of the papists , and shall open again a free course to the gospell , and reestablish the exiled and oppressed gospellers . and iohn durie out of the sootie region of a dark intellect , gives us this dark notion in p. 70. ( which he cals the preface to this dutchmans book , intending that the reader should put on his black spectacles to read the dutchmans white booke withall . ) i believe ( saith john durie ) that we shall not have any great earthly potentate at all ever to appear for the lamb in this battell , but that they shall joyn alwayes against the lamb-like nature of the saints , to oppose and destroy it . how can two be more contrary ? i must leave them , though i leave iohn in the dark , who participates more of the man of his countrey , then of the nature of his countrymen . there are some questions that betray ignorance , rather then discover wit , as this ; say some , how can it be said that in henry 8. dayes when the abbies were pulled down ; in q. elizabeths dayes , when the kingdom it flourished , and religion prospered and was countenanced ; and so in king iames's time ; how can the witnesses be said then to be in sackcloth ? in part we have answered to this elswhere ; but let such take this as one great part of the answer , let them read diligently the history of our nation since henry the sevenths time , and observe the counterworkings of the pope against the protestant reformers , and they will say they were in sackcloth . i shall conclude this preface with a short discourse of our former reformations , not so much by way of information , as premonition to him whom it concerns . the objects of every reformation have either been civill 〈◊〉 ●●clesiastick matters . a civill reformation hath respect either to the offices in the state , or to the laws in the state : the office of state in the head hath been unquestionable in all ages , except in times of rebellion or usurpation ; and then , not the office , but the persons in the office have been aspersed and questioned ; in all which ungodly actions , the pope , and the popish clergie alwayes had a hand . indeed the popes have grapled with the supremacy of kings , and usurped a supremacy in this kingdom over the kings in ecclesiastick affairs , and in that respect their offices have been questioned , but the kings of england never yeelded up their right to the pope , but kept the supremacy of church and state affairs in their own hands , not only since the norman line came in , but in the time of the saxon kings , as appears by many of their lawes and charters which respect the clergie , wherein the king , as head of the church , doth ecclesiastica authoritate dispose of the rites of the church , and the great offices thereto belonging , promoting some , and debarring others , whom they please , from the office of archbishop or bishop . this supremacy the norman kings kept , which was mostly the ground of this quarrell betwixt the kings of england and the popes ; who were the cause of the english kings wearing sackcloth ; for the popes never suffered them to live quietly , but alwayes either raised their own subjects to rebell against them , or foraigne princes to invade them ; but most commonly the pope sets the religious houses against the king ; for there the pope kept the band-dogs to werry royalty , when it opposed this supremacy . the insolency , strength and wealth of the clergie caused accidentally a reformation in the church , ( which is the proper object of a reformation ) now this must be premised before we can proceed . we must know that lucius the first christian king , when he erected bishopricks , he gave estates to those archbishops and bishops which he placed in the kingdom : he did but according to the light of nature in it : for the pagan priests had means allowed them : the three archflamins and the twenty eight flamins of the pagans the king turned into so many archbishopricks and bishopricks : afterwards the saxon kings erected many more religious houses , chanteries , monasteries , hospitalls , and to which livings were given for the maintenance of the ministery , and relief of the poor , the giving of these livings was not the person that was sowed in the church as some have erroniously conjectured . these church-lands anciently were called by their right name , appropriations , because they were appropriate to a particular succession of clergy-men , which were of severall orders and houses , each of which made a body politique , and obtained either of the pope or of the king , that their successors ( suppose the incumbents , priors , abbots , or prebends ) might without institution or induction of the ordinary be perpetuall incumbents ▪ so that as one of them died his successor might forthwith enter into his place : hence they were called appropriations . when the clergy had appropriated these livings to themselves , they grew idle , lascivious , proud , rich , and rebellious , insomuch that the pope for the most part , making them of his faction , curbed the king of england in his own dominion : whereupon henry viii . partly to secure himselfe from the inraged pope , but chiefly for the profit of the abbies and religious houses pull'd them down , which that he might do effectually , and with much applause he ingaged the lords and commons against them , who envying their pride and wealth , were easily drawn to concur with the king in the same : and that they might gain a party in the clergy , this work of pulling down abbies was reported as the onely high way to a reformation of religion , ( and indeed there was a great alteration in religion for the better ) hereupon the magistri novae disciplinae , the masters of new discipline ( these were the protestant divines ) they were embraced by the king , ( just as the presbyterians were by the parliament , when they took away the bishops lands ) the king made large promises , untill the parliament had confer'd the church-land upon him , and then the masters of the new discipline were as much slighted as the presbyterians are now ; and thus appropriations become impropriations , justly so called , because they were put into improper hands ; lay-mens hands . from this discourse , i draw these two inferences . 1 all the reformations , as yet , have been but sackcloth reformations . 2 't is a land-devouring , king destroying , god-provoking , soul-damning sin , to be guilty of sacriledge : let that king then that looks for a blessing from god , make conscience of restoring that to the church which is her due , notwithstanding long detained from her : let no man think that i plead for my self in this , for i am no clergy man : i must break off here abruptly , for the printer grutcheth at my prolixity . the blessing of the eternall trinity be upon thee ( reader ) in reading this and the ensuing tract , that from it thou may'st receive light and comfort in these dark and disconsolate times . fjnjs . reader , since nothing is more common , and nothing more dangerous then erratas , to prevent that common danger i have given thee here the erratas , to keep thee from error : thou hast only here those in lingua testium , and not all those , but only the grosse ones , such as upon a swift perusall i found most grosse : i durst do no otherwise , lest the printer should ( as those unworthy fellows that printed manus testium ) totally neglect the printing of the erratas sent them , whereby the book suffers exceedingly ; as also in the leaving out of many clauses misplacing stops , commas , and parentheses , and crowding together distinct matter in a confused heap , with mistaking of texts , as in p. 14. there hebrews is put for revel. and in f. the fourth seventeen for seven psalmes , which seven relate the church her great distresse , and her glorious deliverance by the mighty hand of god ; and in f. fourth papists is put for pa●●ias , p. 21. for this present r. the protestant . p. 16. ex ejus r. ex ciis . for ... endatiae r. mendariae p. 17. for sybillae fraudulentia predicet , r. sub illâ fraudulentiâ perdidet . and in p. 81. the fifth and sixth lines are confused , and severall other places which i have forgot , having not the erratas by me . this i give thee to free my self from the censure of tolerating errors ; especially in that which so nearly concerns me . in the title in proposition 7. for never read were . in the last words in the title page , for beasts read beast . p. 5. l. 24. r. petrus galatianus . p. 6. l. 21. understood , r. understood so . p. 7. l. 25. 1650. r. 1650. per their account . p. 8. l. 21 beasts r. best . p. 10. l. 7. 40. r. 400. p. 16. l. 6 october r. december . betwixt p. 16. & 17. three words are left out . p. 25. penult . pape r. people . p. 30. rome r. powers . p. 31. eruditi r. ineruditi . p. 32. l. 6. malice r. maladies . l. 23. à symbolicis r. à symbolis . l. 32. r. who knowes not . p. 37. l. 4. raines r. ruines . l 25. worst r. most . p. 38. l. 26. from seth the son of adam r. from adam . p. 42. l 3. wherefore r. where , for . l. 14. i say have r. i say they have . l. 24. thoght r. through . p. 44. l. 24. man r. name . l. 45. l. 27. this r. his . p. 46. l. 3. person r. poyson . betwixt p. 40. & 41. two or three words are omitted . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a86683e-840 isay 58. 8. dan. 7. 25. a d. 7. 25. b d. 11. 38 c rev. 11. 9 d da. 7. 8. 9 e r. 19. 10. 20. f r. 13. 13. 14. g re. 17. 7. h za. 14. 4. 7 da. 11. 45. an answer by letter to a worthy gentleman who desired of a divine some reasons by which it might appeare how inconsistent presbyteriall government is with monarchy. in which the platforme of that government is briefly delineated, with the tenents and suitable practices thereof. and withall it is demonstrated, that it is inconsistent with any government whatsoever; is full of faction, sedition and treason; an enemy to all peace, domesticall, neighbourly, brotherly, &c. against soveraigne authority, authority of all iudges, and iudicatories, entrenching upon all so farre, as there can be no liberty of person, trade, commerce or propriety, but at their pleasure who bear sway therein. maxwell, john, 1590?-1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a88972 of text r20000 in the english short title catalog (thomason e53_13). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 156 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 42 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a88972 wing m1377 thomason e53_13 estc r20000 99860801 99860801 112926 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a88972) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 112926) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 9:e53[13]) an answer by letter to a worthy gentleman who desired of a divine some reasons by which it might appeare how inconsistent presbyteriall government is with monarchy. in which the platforme of that government is briefly delineated, with the tenents and suitable practices thereof. and withall it is demonstrated, that it is inconsistent with any government whatsoever; is full of faction, sedition and treason; an enemy to all peace, domesticall, neighbourly, brotherly, &c. against soveraigne authority, authority of all iudges, and iudicatories, entrenching upon all so farre, as there can be no liberty of person, trade, commerce or propriety, but at their pleasure who bear sway therein. maxwell, john, 1590?-1647. [2], 78 p. printed [by leonard lichfield], [oxford] : anno 1644. attributed to john maxwell. place of publication and printer's name from madan. annotation on thomason copy: "july 4"; "bristoll". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng divine right of kings -early works to 1800. sovereignty -early works to 1800. a88972 r20000 (thomason e53_13). civilwar no an answer by letter to a worthy gentleman who desired of a divine some reasons by which it might appeare how inconsistent presbyteriall gove maxwell, john 1644 27489 16 15 0 0 0 0 11 c the rate of 11 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-05 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an answer by letter to a worthy gentleman who desired of a divine some reasons by which it might appeare how inconsistent presbyteriall government is with monarchy . in which the platforme of that government is briefly delineated , with the tenents and suitable practises thereof . and withall it is demonstrated , that it is inconsistent with any government whatsoever ; is full of faction , sedition and treason ; an enemy to all peace , domesticall , neighbourly , brotherly , &c. against soveraigne authority , authority of all iudges , and iudicatories , entrenching upon all so farre , as there can be no liberty of person , trade , commerce or propriety , but at their pleasure who bear sway therein . printed , anno 1644. sir , yesterday you desired me to give you some proofes , by which it may appeare how inconsistent presbyteriall government is with monarchie . you were pleased to tell me that some good and worthy men doe desire to be satisfied in this point . it seemeth these men doe not think that presbyteriall government is destructive of the true necessary and perpetuall government of the church , which is episcopacie : instituted by christ , propagated by his apostles , and continued by uninterrupted practice above 1500 yeares in the church , and to this day retained in the greatest part of the christian world . we deceive our selves , to promise or expect to king or kingdome , prince or subject , peace and safety , or deliverance from our troubles and distresses , if we subordinate fundamentalls in religion , necessary truths , of faith , worship and government , to our publique or private civill good . nor am i able to expresse how high an impietie it is , at this time when god's hand is out against us justly for our sinnes , to be so disposed and fixed upon a resolution , that to redeem externall peace , we will embrace any government of the church , provided it be consistent with monarchy : and will not scruple , not onely to shake off the true and necessary government instituted by our lord , but by law , endeavor by highest authority to condemne it as antichristian . if this be not to frame mischiefe by a law , i know not what is . if this provoke not more wrath , more vengeance , make not the land spew us all out , i am infinitely deceived . we may promise to our selves that by such a course we may say like to the man in the gospell , soule take thy rest for many dayes , but it feareth me the successe and event shall be much like to his case . sir , i pray you consider what peace hath king or kingdome enjoyed here or in ireland , since episcopacy in scotland by law was damned , and the presbyterian anarchie ( the seminarie of all fude faction and rebellion as will appeare by what ensueth ) by law and supreme authority established . i cannot dissemble , but to a man of your worth and integritie i must unfold my selfe : i admire to see too too many amongst us here ( where is great plenty of able gentlemen of excellent learning , worth , wit , and all other perfections & endowments , as in any nation besides ) to be so prepared that they are too too inclinable , if not actually resolved , to admit and authorize in this kingdom and church what they know not : and to forsake that happy native proper government of the church , the sweet fruits of which they have reaped so many yeares to the admiration , if not envy , of other kingdomes , states and churches . this is samaritan-like to worship that we know not . or athenian-like to consecrate an altar and to sacrifice to an unknowne god . your worth and noble favours oblige me so much to you , that i cannot chuse but obey your command . and for your satisfaction , i present you with a short view ( as in a mappe ) of presbyteriall government : give you a little touch of their maximes , and suitable practices , and that with as much truth and honesty as your goodnesse expects from me . by which it will be more then apparent , that presbyterie , as it is at this day somewhere within his majesties dominions , is not onely inconsistent but also destructive of monarchie ; and where it obtaineth , it disturbeth the quiet and peace publique and private of king and kingdome . this is that you desire , and to satisfie you , to this i confine my selfe . this presbyteriall government within it's verge hath foure iudicatories . 1. a parochiall session . 2. a presbyteriall consistorie . 3. a provinciall synod . 4. a generall assembly . the parochiall session moveth in the lowest sphere . the generall assembly is the primum mobile , the highest orbe , which carrieth all with it's motion , although the rest have their proper and specifick motions . the other two are in the middle , and interjected orbes . i shall begin at the lowest iudicatorie , and so shall orderly ascend to the supreams . of the parochiall session . every parish hath one or more ministers . if more , all of them are equall in all honour and jurisdiction , onely the senior hath the precedencie . to the minister , or ministers of each parish , to make up a session , in which is fixed the parochiall iurisdiction , a competent number of lay-elders , ( whom they call , presbyteri non docentes ) and deacons , proportionable to the precinct and extent of the parish , are conjoyned : which associate body thus compacted , is the spirituall-parochiall-sanhedrim . this session sits once a week , or oftner , pro re natâ : in which all parochiall cases , which concerne externall order and censure , are determined and ordered . if there be but one minister in the parish , he is constant moderator ; if there be more , they moderate by turnes , either weekly , or monthly , as they agree . whatsoever thing is ordered , determined , or decreed , is done by the joynt-consents of the minister , lay-elders , and deacons , or by the plurality of voyces . the minister , who is the moderator , hath no casting , no negative voyce . the power of all iurisdiction , is radically , and equally in all : for binding , for loosing , for all censures ecclesiasticall , for orders which concerne externall order and worship . so the power of the keyes is as much in the lay-elders , and deacons , as in the minister or ministers . what sacrilegious intrusion upon sacred orders this is , i need not informe one of your understanding . to make this frame good , they maintaine that iure divino there be foure orders of ecclesiasticall offices , ( allow me to speake in this epistle all along their dialect ) or persons . 1. preaching-elders , whom they call ministers . 2. doctors , these are professors in the chaire , such as are in vniversities . 3. lay , or ruling-elders , who now have vocem deliberativam & decisivam in rebus fidei , cultûs , politiae , and in foro exteriori ecclesiae , in censuris ecclesiasticis are as much interessed and authorized , as preaching-elders . 4. deacons , who have trust of the meanes , and monies destinated for pious and charitable uses . this is very considerable too , that although they hold these foure orders and offices necessary for the government of christ's church , de iure divino , by divine right and institution ; yet neither the parochiall conclave , nor any presbyteriall consistory ( except it be where the presbyteriall seat is in a city where an university is ) have any doctor or doctors amongst them . nay which is more , nor be any such in their generall assemblies , or if they be , they appeare only in that capacity as commissioners from , and for the vniversity . it is worth your notice taking , that their lay-elders and deacons are yearely elected . here is truly verified of them , that , hodie clericus , cras laïcus . the things within the compasse of session-jurisdiction , are , things meerly parochiall , the ordering of the parish-church and peculiar service , the censure of lesser scandalls ( i must speak their words ) as fornication , drunkennesse , scolding , profanation of the sabboth ( they mean the lords day ) &c. capitall scandalous crimes , or scandalls of highest straine , are reserved as cases of peculiar jurisdiction for the presbytery ; as also lesser offences when they are attended with obstinacy , and what is censurable or punishable by the greater excommunication . if i mistake not , they know not much , at least use not much the lesser excommunication . in the cases above mentioned the cognition , examination , and iudgement of the cause is proper to the presbytery , the minister with his parochiall conclave , are only the executioners . if any parochiall difficult case occurre , which this parochiall sanhedrim cannot determine , the use is to consult with the presbytery . when the session censureth any delinquent , or scandalous person , they order his publique and solemne repentance ( if by some superiour judicatorie it be not determined ) as they think fit by plurality of voyces : after performance of which order , the penitent is received into the communion of the church . but before the delinquent be admitted to doe his repentance , he is fined in a pecuniary mulct , at their discretion , proportioned to the demerit of the offence , and the ability of the person , as he is poorer or richer . it is true , this mony is , for the most part , imployed to pious and charitable uses . as they punish by pecuniary fines , so corporally too , by imprisoning the persons of the delinquents using them disgracefully , carting them through cities , making them stand in iogges , as they call them , pillaries , ( which in the country churches are fixed to the two sides of the main doore of the parish church ) cutting the halfe of their haire , shaving their beards , &c. and it is more then ordinary , by their originall and proper power , to banish them out of the bounds and limits of the parish , or presbytery , as they list to order it . is not this potest as utriusque gladii ? & would not a good learned iurist say , that this is not only intrusion upon meeriy civill power , but upon the very royall rights themselves ? the imperiall law , if i be not mistaken , maketh banishment so peculiar to the soveraign authority , that without it's power and consent , it cannot be inflicted upon any civis , any subject . their ordinary practice more in this is ; that when a pecuniary mulct is inflicted , if the delinquent pay not the defined and determined summe , or at least give security for the payment of it , although he should testify all the contrition is requisite , by humble confession , and offer most willingly to doe all pennance , to give all satisfaction , he will not be admitted to satisfy publikely : nay he is proceeded against for contumacie , and they will threaten excommunication . nor is that to be passed by , that if a child be borne in fornication , and either of the parents hath not satisfied the church ; they will refuse to baptise the poor infant , till the church get satisfaction . this is consonant with scripture , anima quae peccaverit , ipsa moriotur . it is fit now in the next place to speak of the presbyterie . vvhich is the next iudicatory , to which the session is subordinate . it hath in it somewhere more , somewhere fewer parish-churches ; as some are made up of twenty , some of twelve , some of fewer . all persons within these parishes , within the precinct of this presbyterie , of what quality soever ( the king , or his family herein are not exempted ; nay nor from the jurisdiction of his parochiall session ) are under the power and jurisdiction of this grand consistory . the members constituents of this presbytery are all the parochiall ministers within its compasse , and a lay-elder for each parish . the lay-elders are in number equall to the preaching elders ; and in power , voyce , iurisdiction , in haeresie , idolatry , worship , censure , &c. are par● consortio honoris & potestatis praediti , are so equall and un●●o●me , that a plowman from the plow , or a tradesman from his shop , sitting there in the capacity of a lay-elder , his voyce is as good as the voyce of the most reverend and learned divine , if any be there . they maintain a parity in all , only a little difference in this , that a lay-elder cannot be moderator . yet have they no canon for it . and we are able to prove by their books , that men who were never in sacred orders of priest or bishop , have been moderators , not only of their presbyterie , but of their so much idolized generall assembly . mr robert yoole , who was never priest , nor deacon , onely reader in st andrews , was in one turne , for a yeare , or halfe a yeare , or some lasting time , moderator of the ptesbyterie of saint andrews , and mr george buchanan , who was never church-man , and mr andrew melvil who had never the order of deacon , both of them have been moderators of their great generall assembly . the cases proper to this iudicatory , are first , such as are from every individuall parish within its compasse referred , or presented . 2. all crimes and scandalls of highest straine , namely such as are civilly punishable by death . 3. all crimes which come under the censure of excommunication . 4. all appeales from sessions . 5. all differences which cannot be composed or determined in the parochiall conclave . 6. the visitation and censure of all what is amisse in every parish , either in preacher or other . 7. the appoynting of readers , and schoolemasters . they meet once a week in some places , in other places only once a fort-night . all the ministers in their severall turnes , at their meeting exercise , as they call it ; that is , there is appoynted by the presbyterie , some one book of old , or new new testament , which every one by turnes in his own course interpreteth in the parish church , where the presbytery doth meet . two alwaies speak , the first from the readers desk or pew ; the other , in some other place distant from him , but convenient for hearing . the first analyseth , interpreteth , and taketh away the doubts of his text ; and ( as they enjoyne ) he is bound to the doctorall part . the second , when the first hath done , addeth to what is said : hath a warrant to supply the defects , or correct the errors of the first speaker ; but especially his charge is the pastorall part , to apply the text , and bring it home to the affections . there be ingredients in this exercise , such as god's church before this late age never knew , a kind of creatures whom they call expectants . these are students in divinity , or country schoole-masters , or such youths who are bred with some gamaliel ; who after that they have given their private trialls , by preaching and dispute , are enrolled expectants of such , or such a presbyterie . these must keep their turnes in exercising , and adding ( as they call it ) with the actuall ministers , ( so they call them ) and once admitted to that presbyterie , may , whensoever employed , preach in any parish church within the bounds of that presbyterie , doe all ministeriall acts , except baptize , or give the sacrament of the lords supper , ( for ought i know , there is no consecration used by them in that holy action , but a meere thanksgiving ) nay they may be constant helpers , and copreachers with a rabbie , if hee , the parish , and presbytery agree to it . i pray you shew me where ever you read of such a profanation , that a lay-man without orders , imposition of hands , shall be a publique preacher of god's word , and intrude upon this sacred function . these , for the most part , were the beardlesse boyes king iames , of blessed memory , mentioneth in the conference at hampton court , who would brave him to his face . pag. 4. within one county there may be two , or three , more or fewer presbyteries , according as there be more or fewer parish-churches ; and yet all these presbyteries are independant one from another : only it is remarkable , that the presbyterie of edenburgh , because ( as they speak ) it is seated on the watch-tower , hath well nigh obtained by custome , and other meanes , a superintending power , over all other presbyteries ; and other presbyteries many times send thither to have resolution of their difficult cases . the reason is , besides the eminency of this city by its wealth , and the residence of all highest courts of iustice there ; although this allobrogicall brood maintaine parity , there be notwithstanding some few patriarchs , who rule and over-rule all , who lord it , and pope it over the lord's inheritance , and in this city ordinarily are some of these patriarches : and the responsa prudentum from hence , are received as oracles by remote presbyteries , and reverenced as answeres by vrim and thummim . there is none who liveth within the verge of a presbyterie , but is answerable to this classis and iudicatorie , and must appeare whensoever , or for whatsoever cited . the king and his family are not exempted , nor priviledged : if he be cited , and appeare not , he may be excommunicated for his disobedience and contumacy : if he appeare , he must submit his earthly scepter , to that their scepter , which they terme the scepter of christ ; he must doe what is enjoyned . the presbyterie is independent from the crowne of an earthly king , who is gods and christs vicegerent in the generall kingdome of his providence only ; but this sanhedrim is christs vicegerent in his oeconomicall kingdome as mediator , as they speake ; and consequently to it he must vaile his crowne , submit his scepter , and from it receive christs law and ordinances . king iames of blessed memory knew this well , who therefore in that conference at hampton-court , pag. 79. saith , a scottish presbyterie , as well agreeth with a monarchie , as god and the divell , then iack and thom , and will , and dick , shall meet , and at their pleasures censure me , and my councell , and all my proceedings . then will shall stand up and say , it must be thus : then dick shall reply , and say , nay marry , but we will have it thus . and therefore here i must once reiterate my former speeches ( the king is answering to d. rainolds , who seemeth to begge of his majesty a presbyterie , or some thing like to it ) le roy s' avisera : stay j pray you for one seaven years before you demand that of me : and if you then find me pursey and fat , and my wind pipes stuffed , i will perhaps hearken to you : for let that government be once up , i am sure i shall be kept in breath , then shall we all of us have work enough , both our hands full . but d. rainolds till you find that i grow lazie , let that alone . it is more than notoriously knowne to many yet living , and is upon record in the presbytery bookes of edenburgh , how king iames , not once , but many times , hath sent men of honour and good quality , demanding , or rather requesting for some things at their hands ; who have heard the commissiones propose the king's mind ; but they , to keep the power and place christ hath given them in that dignity , suitable to so high a trust , have dismissed the gentlemen sent by the king without answer , and by an order of that spirituall house , have appointed one , or two , as commissioners of the presbytery , to goe to the king with their will and pleasure , loosing no thing of christ's authority , and carrying themselves with the king almost , as if two free estates , or two free kings had met , and were dealing together . as no person is exempted from obedience and submission to this power , so no crime or sinne whatsoever committed , or suspected to be committed , within the seignorie of this pettie principalitie . and that sometimes is so extravagantly and transcendently too look't after , and called in question , ( especeially if indiscreet zeale , or holy spleen work and move by the spirit on a holy brother ) that if there be a fact and fault committed , secret , or knowne to very few , it is brought forth to the light of the world : there is no care taken to reconcile the lapsed to god in a private way , and to conceale his offence , but disgraced he is publiquely . what sound repentance this may worke , judge you . how consonant this is to the apostolicall canon , they that sinne publiquely , rebuke publiquely ; and to the common maxime of the church , de occultis nonjudicat ecclesia ; he may easily see , who hath not divorced himselfe from common sense and reason . to cure these secret sinnes by the power of the keyes in interiori foro conscientiae , and to cover them with the mantle of charitie , smelleth rankly of auricular confession , popish absolution , and sigillum confessionis . see the conference at hampton-court , pag. 93. it is certaine , a foolish man revealing foolishly his faults to his wife , the zealous wife , upon some quarrelling betwixt her and her husband , hath gone to a good minister , revealed what was told her , and the honest impartiall minister hath convented the man , charged him with his sinne , and made him confesse , satisfie , and doe pennance publiquely . nay upon a surmise , suggestion , suspition , or any misinformation , if the minister , or lay-elder delate , ( that is present ) two persons to converse so familiarly , that it is to be feared that they are guilty of fornication , if they be unmarried , or of adultery , if both of them , or either of them be married , they shall be cited , and convented , examined by all proofes , presumptions , interrogatories , &c. whether or not they have sinned . if that the presumptions be pregnant , although no proofe be , they shall be put in close prison , fed on bread and water , kept that none may come at them , all members constituents of these iudicatories , appointed to try what they know against the next court day ; when no proofe can be had , and all the presumptions doe not fasten guiltinesse upon the accused , and the imprisonment and other hard usages cannot extort a confession , they are dismissed : but an act is enacted , that if those two persons suspected of fornication , or adultery , shall be seen to meet , or be in company together , except they meet in church or market , it shall be holden pro confesso , as confessed , that they are guilty of what they are charged with . nay sometimes the parties , although innocent , and no reall evidence being produced against them , are brought on the lord's day publiquely to the midle of the church before the pulpit , to declare , sometimes to confirme their declaration by an oath , that they are innocent and free of that crime wherewith they are charged . and sometimes they are forced to make their publique repentance in the church , upon a pillarie , for their unchristian behaviour : because that although the parties charged be free , yet their conversation hath been suspitious and scandalous . a whole volume might be written of young women by these courses disgraced and defamed : of many families divided and scattered , whereas before there was no jealousie betwixt the man and the wife . this iudicatorie of the presbytery is so high , and of so vast a latitude , that as the pope bringeth in all civill causes to himselfe as a competent iudge , sub formalitate peccati , so this papall conclave bringeth any thing , howsoever meerly and purely civill , under it's lash , sub formalitate scandali , as scandalous to a christian profession . it is not forgotten by many yet living , how the presbytery of edenburgh attempted to censure ecclesiastically the merchants there , for carrying wheat to spaine in time of a famine or dearth there , for this was to feed and maintaine god's enemies . but above all , that was a piaculum , an almost inexpiable sinne , to transport waxe to spaine , for this was to be accessory to idolatry , in respect the greatest part of this waxe was employed in making tapers and candles to the virgin mary , and other saints . in s. andrewes . i. t. was endebted to p. t. a considerable summe of money , the greatest part of his stock . i. t. delaying , or shuffling , or not able to pay p. t. at the day of payment designed in the bond , p. t. obtained before the lords of session a iudgement against i. t. with power to demand payment in the king's name , and upon disobedience to be out lawed and fall into a praemunire , or escheating of his moveable goods and chattells . i. t. bemoanes himselfe to the presbyterie . the presbyterie convents p. t. before them , threatens him with excommunication , if he did persist to put in execution the iudgement of the highest iudicatorie in the kingdom : and for feare of this dreadfull court and horrid sentence , he passes from his pursuit , continueth the demanding of repaying of his money . you see here what power this presbytery hath over all , and the highest of civill iudicatories . infinite instances of this kind may be produced , give me leave to adde one of a higher straine . the city of edenburgh , by the kings of scotland , amongst other favours and priviledges , hath a royall grant of a weekly market day on monday . this grant is confirmed by letters patents under the great seale , and by the standing lawes of the kingdome ; the presbyterie here by their transcendent sole authority , discharged any market to be kept on monday , the reason was , because it occasioned the travelling of men and horse the lord's day before , which profaned the sabboth . if the tradesmen , who found at home what losse they had by wanting their market , had not with force and violence opposed their soveraignty , and made them forsake it , it was like enough to have passed , and obtained longer . the most active in this case were the shooe-makers , who were most prejudiced by the discharge of the monday market . they threatned the ministerie right down , that if they persisted in that course , they would thrust them out of the gates of the city : which threats restored the monday's market . when king iames , that miracle of piety , learning , and royall prudence , heard of this , he with uncovered head , and lifted up hands , said to this , or much about this sense , i thank god the shooe-makers have more power to represse the insolency and violence of the presbyterie , than i and my councell both . it is knowne to many yet living , that they have cited before them noble men , and gentlemen of good qualitie , who had intended civill actions against their owne tenants before the ordinary iudge , and discharged them to prosecute them any further , under the paine of ecclesiasticall censures . this was in re civili , in a civill businesse , but modus considerandi , as they took notice of it , it was spirituall . and why ? because the holy brethren pretended , this did withdraw people from their lawfull vocations , bred strifes and contention amongst brethren , and did hinder the progresse of the gospell . as the particular ministers of individuall parishes are under them , so they find the tyranny of their archisynagog● , their prime leading ministers , in that measure , that their little finger is heavier then a bishop's whole hand and loynes . bishops are like to a paternall government , chastising with roddes ; but the presbyterians scourge them with scorpions ; any lord , knight , or esquire , who is cunning , and can by faire carriage , or otherwise , gaine favour or credit with some few patriarchall presbyters , he is able at pleasure to turne out an honest man ( who perhaps is too free in rebuking the gentleman for his sinnes , or cannot , or will not condescend to grant his unlawfull and unjust demands ) and to bring in one to his owne fansie and humor , with whom , and by whom , he is able to worke and effectuate his owne bad intendments . this holy sanhedrim , although the parochiall minister for intellectuall abilities , be sufficiently enabled , and for morall integrity be blamelesse , yet they will find it fit he be transplanted from that church , because the congregation is not edified by him , at a visitation the landlord is able to make all say and witnes they are not edified by him : or if a presbyter who hath more power with the dominus moderator , and his assistants , being in a parish of a small stipend , and espying somewhere a better parish , and an honest man in it , but not so much respected by the high priests of the sanhedrim , he will turne him out by the presbytery , enter the charge , and reape the benefit of a better parish , and place the other ( it may be , and often proves so , the better and worthier man ) in another parish of lesse worth , and deterior his condition . there needs no other reason for this , but that this sacred consistorie , directed and assisted with infallibility , doe find it e re ecclesiae , that it is for god's glory and the good of the church . i might instance a world of these examples ; onely let me tell you one of the presbytery of cooper in fife . a noble man there having one maister weymis , an honest man , a preacher and parson at one of the churches , the which whole parish belonged to the noble-man , used all the entreaties , all the threatnings he could , to perswade master weymis to make over to him , and his house , the right of the benefice , which if i mistake not , was a parsonage . the good man refused it : the noble man finding the man immoveable , having prepared the way with the ring-leaders , accuseth the honest man before the presbyterie , obtaineth sentence of removing maister weymis from that church and benefice , and bringeth in one m. scrogie , who with the consent of the presbyterie , sacrilegiously made over the right of the church to the noble man and his family . m. weymis was transplanted to another church . the right made over by scrogie was afterwards confirmed by act of parliament . king iames , when this noble man came to him , spoke to him to this sense . my lord , i wonder how you have so much power with the presbyterie to obtain such a thing , and work so strange a matter , i pray you teach me the way , for i would gladly know it . the noble man answered , to this sense or much about it , sir , you take not the right way , i prepared my businesse , by gaining the prime men to my course , i sent to a. b's house so much malt , and to c. d's house so much meale , to n. a carcasse of beeffe ; this got me the power to put away weymis , to bring in scrogie , and from him , with the consent of the presbyterie , to have the right of the parsonage impropriate to me and my house : sir , this course you must take , if you would work any thing by , or with these men . the testament of a gentleman of wit , and more then ordinary worth and esteeme , is to this day extant , ( although he dyed many years agoe ) wherein confessing his many sinnes ( he was much guilty of uncleannesse , and was of more then ordinary reach in politicall and subtile waies ) abhorring himselfe for them , and earnestly begging pardon , professed , and protested , that no sinne did wound his conscience so much , as his deep hypocrisie , who without the true feare of god , made great shew of religion where none , or little was , and to cover his sinnes from the world , to hide his shame , and the better to effectuate his private designes , he made much of some few prime leading ministers : by doing of which , he was not challenged for his sinnes ; and was enabled to worke his other ends . this hath been , and is this day a constant course kept by all of that cutte and coate . it is known , that no kingdom of the kings was so much infested with feuds , ( as they call them ) as that of scotland : nor was there any thing more ordinary , then neighbourly feuds in parishes , to be fought to the effusion of much blood , partly beginning sometimes within the church , and ended in the church-yard , where many times some were killed . and it was as ordinary to find each presbyterie divided in their affection and course , according as they affected the one , or the other partie . nor was scotland ever free of feuds , sheathing their swords in their neighbours bowells , murthering one another , till a little before king iames came into england ; nor did ever that kingdom enjoy such peace and plenty , as during the time of episcopacy . sir , by the few instances i have given you of many , you may see clearely , that presbyterian government is not only inconsistent with monaichie , but destructive of the liberty of the subjects person , and trade ; encroaching upon all authority , soveraigne , and delegate ; restraining at pleasure causes and suits commenced before iudges ; forbidding execution of iudgements obtained before the ordinarie iudges , repealing grants , letters-patents , rights and priviledges authorized by law : assuming to it selfe the civill power , exacting civill fines , pecuniary mulcts , inflicting corporall punishments , painfull and disgracefull ; defaming young , disgracing married persons ; & in briefe , is against the peace of the kingdom , of families and neighbours . and for their clergy or fellow presbyters , they tyrannize over their conscience , depose , or transplant them at pleasure , for reasons known to some few of the more active . it is proper now to speak next of provinciall synods . in describing of which we need not to insist much : for except that the iurisdiction is of greater extent and latitude , yet in its essentialls , constitution , and power , with the exercise of it , it is the very same . a provinciall synod is the apish imitation of a provinciall councell , consisting of a metropolitane , and the suffragan bishops of his province . with them , it is an associate body of the commissioners chosen out of all the individuall presbyteries within the precinct of the province . how many there be of them in the kingdom of scotland at this instant . i know not : but the kingdom is divided into so many provinces , as they in their prudence think it fittest for the government of the church . if i remember right , by their platforme of discipline , these provinciall synods are to meet twice a yeare , or oftner , pro re natâ . these synodall assemblies have a superintending and overruling power over all the presbyteries within the limits of that province . the cases proper to these courts are , 1. all matters which doe appertain to the whole province . 2. all ●●ferres from all presbyteries within its verge . 3. all cases of every severall presbyterie , which were difficult , and could not there be determined . 4. the due censure of all what is thought to be done amisse in any presbyterie within its lash . 5. what is ordered and decreed in those provinciall synods , tyeth all within the particular presbyteries and parishes , as well lay as clergy-men to obedience . any presbytery else , that moveth without the spheare of this province , is not tyed to obey what this decrees , by virtue of any authority flowing from it . the same course is holden in all things in the provinciall sanhedrim , which is kept in the presbyteriall consistory , so that i need not trouble you by resuming and repeating the like : only here is some peece and use of good policy , which is this ; in a province , there may be some foure or five , or six , or more knowing leading ministers , who over-rule different & distant presbyteries , & so cannot formally & fairely joyne their wits and power to compasse their common and private ends . the meeting of this provinciall synod occasioneth the meeting of those leading men in the same place ; who after that they have communicated counsells , and agreed upon the course , they are able to draw their brethren , their pupils of their faction , as sorvum pecus , slavishly , yet with much zeale to dispute , debate , and voyce for what they in their wisdome think fit for their own ends : which course layed downe , will be so prevalent , that if it be against king , country , preacher , or lay-men , in that concerneth the publike , or any private mans interest , to whom they stand engaged , it is to as little purpose to some good men to oppose , or moderate this course ; as to a man to stop a current of a flood , after a great inundation of raine , with his foot . there is another trick of policy too , whereby the apostles of this province advance their own credit , that the wisest of the nobility and gentry see who are the active and doing men , and having their particular interest many times , both in the publike , and their own private , they make their addresse to these popes , gaine them to their course , and strengthen themselves by the spirituall sword to distu●be the publike , or to gain their private ends , whether right or wrong . when the commissioners from hence returne to their severall presbyteries , they intimate to them , to command the particular ministers to preach in their parishes doctrine tending to the advancement of those designes : and this is so much obeyed , that the minister of the kings family , or parish , must sing the same song , although it concerne the king in his honour , or in that is most deare to him , and be to the prejudice of his person , soveraignty and government . these {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , these prime men of god , are attended and honored so by the subtle and cunning nobles and gentlemen , that they are well nigh deified ; in their comming to and fro , to assemblies , presbyteries , or upon other occasions , the most eminent of the province wait upon them , entreat them to come to their houses , set them at the head of the tables by my lady , provide for them the best chambers . and that you may know , howsoever they pretend parity , that it is protestatio contra factum , never bishop in scotland hath come into cities with such convoyes , been attended with such great personages , as some of this holy brotherhood . it is to this day remembred , that when mr robert bruce came from his visitation in the west , or south , returning to edenburgh , and entring by the canon-gate , king iames looking out at his window in his palace at halyrude house , with indignation ( which extorted from him an oath ) said , mr robert bruce i am sure intends to be king , and declare himselfe heire to king robert the bruce . if you would allow me upon this to digresse , i beg to be bold to tell you a true story , & the most insolent i beleeve you ever read or heard . when q. elizabeth was waxed old k. iames bethinking how to come at the peaceable possession of that right god and nature had entitled him to after her death ; & resolving to recall & pardon the earles of angus , huntlie , and erroll , ( who at that time were banished and beyond seas ) feared , if by himselfe , and his soveraignty , he should doe it , because they were professed papists , he feared the church would except against it , and move his subjects to sedition and rebellion : yet the noble men were most able to strengthen him , and doe him best service in the kingdom . to prevent this mischiefe , he sent one of his trusted and worthie courtiers to mr robert bruce , one of the ministers of edenburgh , who at that time had great sway in the church , desiring him to come to his majesty about some businesse of high concernment . mr robert did come . the good admirable king , welcomed him more then courteously , took him into his retiring or bed-chamber . spoke powerfully to this sense ; m. robert , i have sent for you to have your advice in a businesse of great weight concerning the peace of scotland and england , and which concernes me in right and honour most nearly . q. elizabeth , my sister and cousin , is sick and cannot live long , you know i have god's and nature's right to that crowne ; i cannot loose it in honour or in iustice , and yet my prayer to god is that i may come at my right without any blood . i know there is some faction in england against me , but my friends are more prevalent there . it concerneth me in the poynt of prudence , to provide that there be no faction and division in this my kingdom of scotland , for if this kingdome be all one way for me in hearty obedience and subjection , the disaffected party in england will be better advised , then to worke me trouble to their great disadvantage . now , saith the best and wisest of kings , i feare nothing , but that these three noble men beyond seas , because of their forfeiture , may be wrought upon by papists , encouraged and enabled by them there , and the english papists , who are most against my comming to the crowne of england , knowing i am a sound protestant , to come hither and trouble me and the peace of this kingdom . doe you not think it fit , that i give them a pardon , restore them to their honour and lands , and by so doing so gain them , that thus i may save the effusion of christian blood ? to this demand so piously made , the answer was , sir , you may pardon angus and arroll and recall them , but it is not fit , nor will you ever obtain my consent to pardon or recall huntlie . to this the most gratious king sweetly replied : mr robert , it were better for me to pardon and recall him , and not the other two , then the other two without him . 1. first , because you know he hath a greater command , and is more powerfull then both of them . 2. next you know i am more assured of his affection to me , for he hath married my deare and neare kinswoman , the duke of lenox his sister . his rejoynder was , sir , i cannot agree to it . the king out of the great depth of his wisdome and prudence , and his transcendent goodnesse , concluded thus ; m. robert i have imparted my most secret thoughts to you first before any , and to you only ; i am so confident of your zeale and good affection to me and my honour , that i entreat you to think upon this matter a day or two ; and after your better thoughts and prayers , returne to me , and tell me clearly what you think . thus was he dismissed with as much respect as the king could give to any of his highest subjects . the truth is , at this time this man had more power in edenburgh then the king ; and his credit there had a mighty influence upon all his sect , and many in the kingdom ; within a day or two he returnes to his majesty , yet , if i be informed right , not till he was called upon . when he entred the kings presence-chamber , the king took him in to a secret retiring roome as before , made the doore be shut , and speaketh to this sense : now m. robert , i hope you have thought more seriously upon that weighty businesse i proposed to you the last day , and have prayed god to direct you and me both , tell me then what you think of my purpose and resolution concerning those three noblemen . he returneth this answer ; sir , the more i think of it , the more i am confirmed in the advice i gave to you the last day . i agree with all my heart that you recall angus and arroll , but for huntlie it cannot be . the king resumed and repeated his reasons before mentioned , and added some more . he obstinately opposed and contradicted it . all doe know , who knew any thing of these times , that angus and arroll were as bigot papists , if not more , then huntlie ; there was no difference in religion : the truth is , master bruce was a lover of the earle of argyle , who loved not much the earle of huntlie . this was the spirit inspired him , as it seemeth . king iames desired his reasons : he gave none , but spoke majestically . then the king told him downeright , m. robert i have told you my purpose ; you see how nearely and highly it concerneth me ; i have given you my reasons for my resolution , you give me your opinion , but you strengthen it not with reason ; wherefore i will hold my own resolution , and doe as i first spoke to you . to the which , with christian and subject-like reverence , he returned this reply ; well , sir , you may doe as you list , but chuse you , yee shall not have me and the earle of huntlie both for you . sir , iudge by this in what case monarchie is , in such a government , for that this is truth , i am as much assured of , as morall certainty can assure any man of morall truth , which with his own eares he hath not heard . and yet this man was but minister of edenburgh . to returne thither , from whence we digressed , that you may know , that this great honour which is done to those great ones , the cabinet councell of all provinciall and generall assemblies , by these cunning and subtile nobles and others , is not done in the name of a disciple , in the name of a prophet ; reflect a little with your eyes , and consider how the same men respect and entertain their own parish minister ; when the gamaliels sits by my lady , the parish priest , will be below the candlestick ; and will be forced to come to his lord , or laird , and crouch down for a morsell of bread , and small peece of money . nay before the gamaliel be gone , he must prompt and catechise the poor stipendiarie how to carry himselfe with the lord and laird , not to exact too rigorously what is due in his competent stipend , nor in preaching , doctrine or discipline , to offend the lord or laird : such good christians , such iehoshua's , nehemia's , and esdras's , are to be much made of for the cause of god . i dare to say , never bishop or archbishop in england or scotland , hath used more authority , nor did ever carry themselves so arrogantly towards the meanest of their clergy , as these men doe over their simpler brethren . i come now at last to the generall assembly . this is the great and high sanhedrim ; the last resolution of faith is almost in this associate body . here christ sits in the highest glory and dignity he can upon earth . here is the ultimate decision of all controversies . here you may find really that fancied infallibility of the pope . the iurisdiction in this is universall in all concerneth ecclesiastica , ecclesiasticos , and what concerneth all temporalia in ordine ad spiritualia . the authority of it is soveraigne , independent from any , derived to them by trust immediatly from christ , to him alone they are accountable . whosoever obeyeth not this soveraignty , is to be excommunicate ; the magistrate is at their command , and as they prescribe , to punish in estate , in body , in life and death ; if the king obey not , he is to be excommunicated ; and to strengthen this , the nobility , gentry , collective body , nay euery individuall person is to concurre to compell and censure him to the utmost of his power , to punish , to dethrone , to un-king , to kill &c. let us come and see how this goodly iudicatorie is made up . it is composed , 1. first , of the commissioners sent from all the presbyteries of the kingdom . which ( as i heare and am informed ) is thus ordered . every presbytery sendeth out two preaching elders , and a lay-elder . by this it seemeth that the clergy hath the advantage . 2. secondly , therefore consider , that besides the commissioners from presbyteries , there cometh from every borrow and corporation one commissioner , and edenburgh , for some spirituall prerogative no doubt , is honoured and priviledged to send two . 3. thirdly , the vniversities and colledges send their commissioners , which for the most part are not doctors nor ministers , but lay-men and graduates in liberall arts and sciences . this will goe neare to equall the number of lay-commissioners to that of preaching ministers . 4 the king is a member constituent to , and should be there either personally by himselfe , or virtually and representatively , in , or by his commissioner . he hath one voyce too , and that affirmative only . in what capacity they admit the king to be a member constituent of this spirituall court , i know not well if they be agreed upon it . some hold , that he is there as princeps membrum . by this i see he is the first gentleman there , and it may be , hath the right hand too . some say , as a representative of the civill body of the kingdome , & sits there in that capacity . all of them agree in this , that he is bound by his own presence , or commissioners , to see and provide that no disturbance or violence be offered . the king , if present , and his commissioner , if absent , have so much honour indulged to him , that he or his commissioner may have foure , five , or six assistants for advice ; but these synodicall fathers give their indulgences with such circumspect prudence , that to preserve christ's honour , and their owne entire , the king , or his commissioner may debate and advise with his councell , or assistants , or desire any of them to speak , while matters are in debating ; but when it commeth to the decision and determination by voyces , and plurality of voyces maketh the decree , the king has onely one voyce , and that affirmative onely , not negative . by this it is certaine , that if the greater part of voyces determine contrary to the king's voyce , nay to his mind and conscience , he is bound to put it in execution , for potestas iuris is radically in the whole assembly , the king hath no more but potestatem facti , to be an executioner rei iudicata , of the decrees ; otherwise he is censurable ; and if he be obstinately refractory , he is not worthy to hold his crowne . the king presides too , as they confesse ; but so , that it is onely civilly , and in his civill capacity . if i be not mistaken , yet i dare not avouch this confidently , the king hath not power to propose any thing spirituall , or that concerneth the church ; but if he doe it , it must be done by the right father of the assembly , the moderator . this i dare to say , that neither the king , nor his commissioner can hinder or oppose the proposing of any thing they think concerneth the kingdome of iesus christ . for this were no free generall assembly , and to limit the holy one of israell . nay if the thing proposed conceived by them to be spirituall , be so twisted with the things civill , that the ordering or establishing of it may carry along with it a change and distemper in the state and government , or import danger to the king and crowne , the moderator , or any commissioner hath power to propose it , determine it , and never to consider or reflect upon the danger of king , state , or kingdome , and that for god and christ's glory . the proper , naturall , and right president of this seraphicall iudicatorie , is one of the preaching elders although we observed before , how lay-men , as buchanan , melvil , bruce , have been moderators ) a lay-elder now cannot be moderator . here is the legislative power , here is the soveraignty of christs kingdome , here is the highest tribunall and iudicatory of christ upon the earth , from which no person , no office , no condition of creature is priviledged , from it lyeth no appeale . the king hath no power to appoint the time or place of this assembly , but once a yeare it must necessarily meet . and at the close of every assembly , the present appointeth the day and place for the next . if any great exigencie really , or in their fansie intervening , requireth the meeting of a generall assembly before the time determined , the commissioners from the assembly are to make remonstrance of it unto the king . whatsoever power the pope unjustly usurpeth , the catholick church , or her virtuall and representative , an oecumenicall councell , justly challengeth ; this generall assembly vindicateth to it selfe , onely authoritativé , by way of authority , within the church of the kingdome and nation ; yet consensivé , and charitativé , to extend to all neighbour churches in the world ; whatever it be that concerneth , fidem , cultum , regimen . &c. credenda , agenda . and yet if this infallible supreame iudicatorie would reserve to it selfe that jurisdiction is due to men in sacred orders , and which intrinsecally , radically , and originally is in them ex vi ordinis , although presbyters intrude upon higher callings , and they place all ecclesiasticall power , at least communicate it to lay people , the princes condition were tolerable : nay if they did onely trench upon what is due to soveraignty , and with which he is invested from god almighty , which is restrained ad externum hominem , and externum regimen , although soveraignty by it be brought into straiter & narrower bounds , a king might be in some poor condition , although robbed of his right . but when they come to this , that in ordine ad spiritualia , in order to spirituall things they will give the king lawes , repeale his lawes , command and expect performance and obedience , otherwise excommunicate , and if a king neglect that excommunication , incite inferiour magistrates , nobles , and commons , to bring him in order , to compell and force him ; he is in a worse condition under this soveraignty , then under the pope , by how much it is worse to a king to be subjected to an untamed furious beast , the multitude , then to the tyranny of one . all these lay-elders , all these commissioners from corporations and burrowes , are de jure divino as fully iudges in all matters of faith , worship , government ; iudges of haeresie , idolatry , superstition , of the highest points of orthodox and catholick mysteries , of the groslest and subtillest haeresies , arianisme , arminianisme , macedonianisme , montanisme , socianisme , anabaptisme , &c. as any man in sacred orders there , have vocem deliberativam , vocem decisivam , have a debating , discussive voyce , and concurre as much with the influence of their voyce to prescribe and give us normam sidei , cultûs , politiae , a confession of faith , a prescript for worship , canons for government and discipline , as ever bishops had in lawfull christian councells . bishops , limbes and members of antichrist , are no part of it . now is forgotten that of the councell of chalcedon , concilium episcoporum est ; and that old barbarous , but christian enough verse , ite foras laici , non est vobis locus yci . i would gladly aske of one of these rabbies and great masters in israell , how commeth it that the commissioners of burrowes sit there , voyce there ? are they too de jure divino , by divine right ? if they answer , that such are chosen as are , or have been lay-elders ; i rejoyne ; the lay-elders come in that capacity onely , as commissioners of the particular presbyteries : these are not members constituents of the presbyterie in that capacity , that they are , or have been lay-elders , but have right and interest in this high court in that capacity meerly , as commissioners of burrowes . look upon their acts of generall assembly , and you will find , that it authorizes commissioners from burrowes to be parts constituent of this iudicatory , quâ tales , as sent from the burrowes . againe i aske , seeing you make doctors one of your four holy functions ecclesiasticall , constituted by christ , in what iudicatorie find we them ? in sessions they are not ; in few presbyteries they be ; and if there , in some other capacitie . in generall assemblies , if any be , they appeare as commissioners from the vniversity , in this capacity onely . and many times it is seen , that professors of philosophie have been commissioners of colledges in generall assemblies . leaving these absurdities , which are monstrously grosse , i come to consider next , what is the soveraigne power of this high sanhedrim . if they would in christian moderation assume no more to themselves , but onely a directive power , and by humble remonstrances and supplications , with that reverence is due to soveraignty and majesty , petition the king to animate their acts , canons , and constitutions with the influence of his legislative power , this were faire quarter . but by your favour , no sooner have they enacted it here , and so soon as it is solemnly intimated , which is , by returning to every presbytery , with it's commissioners , a copie of the acts , orders and ordinances , and by the presbyterie's order every minister hath published them in the parish church ; all things so done are animated with a potestative power , by the influence these orders receive from that legislative power christ hath entrusted them with in his oeconomicall kingdome . all then are bound to obedience , if it be in the meanest indifferent thing , nay if this order crosse or repeale a standing law , all disobedients are liable to all ecclesiasticall censures , and may forth with be proceeded against even till they be delivered over into the hands of the divell . this assembly is above the king , to them he ought to give an account of his faith ; to their confession of faith he must conforme himselfe ; to their orders he must give obedience ; otherwise he is excommunicable , deposable . i feare you scarce beleeve me : yet truely non verenda retego , sed inverecunda confuto . i discover not the nakednesse of father , the shame of brother , nor friend ; would to god the tenets and practices were buried in hell , and the maintainers regained to god by true repentance , and forsaking their wayes : i discover onely things that are past all shame , and which our church can never owne . sir , if you will hardly beleeve me in this , let me give you their assertions in this case , and their conformable practice . it is their constant catholicke tenet , that if the king , queene , regent or protector , or whosoever he or she is , in whose person soveraignty is fixed , or in whose person it is representatively fixed , onely by a fiduciary trust , during the non-age of the prince or princesse ; will not submit himselfe to this holy scepter , will not according to it's prescript , reforme religion , preserve it in it's integrity , any man or men are bound to doe it at their direction . i spare martin . junior's faith in this , that there is no authority above the brotherhood . no magistrate ( saith he , thes : 17. 18. 22. ) may lawfully may me or deforme the body of christ , which is the church ; no lawfull church government is changeable , at the pleasure of the magistrate ; of necessity all christian magistrates are bound to receive this government . nor will i insist upon vigginton's assertion ; that what the holy brotherhood cannot obtaine by suite and dispute , the people must bring it to passe . you desire the tenets and practices of the church of scotland onely . the scot's maintaine , that if the king , or queene , will not reforme religion , they may take upon them by violence and power to reforme it . this they have learned of their grand-father knox , as you may read in an epistle of his written from deepe . anno. 1557. and in knox histor. pag. 213. what is lawfull for reformation , is lawfull for preservation of religion . 1. and here they begin with the nobles : and determine right downe , noble men ought to reforme religion , if the king will not . knox , app. 25. againe , that god hath appointed the nobility to bridle the inordinate appetites of princes , and in so doing , they cannot be accused , as resisters of authority . knox , hist. 343. and , that it is their duty to represse the rage and insolency of princes . knox , app. 33. 2. in the second place , if the nobles will not doe , the people and commonaltie may reforme religion , at the order and direction of the brotherhood . knox , to the commonalty . fol. 49. 50. the commonaltie , by their power , may bridle the cruell beasts ; ( they meane priests and prelates ) knox to the commonalty . fol. 55. the commonalty may lawfully require of their soveraigne to have true preachers , and if he be negligent , they may themselves provide them , maintaine them , defend them , against all that doe persecute them , and may detaine the profits of the church livings from the other sort ; that is to say , priests , papists , prelates , and malignants . knox to the commonalty . fol. 55. 3. in the third place , if they come to the happinesse to have nobles and commons obedient to their commandements , for reformation , or preservation of true religion ( which must be so as they fansie ) i am deceived , if they allow not more violence , and esteeme it more piety , zeale , and justice . their tenets are . the commonalty concurring with the nobles , may compell the bishops to cease from their tyranny . knox to the commonalty . fol. 47. againe , the nobility and comminalty , ought to reforme religion , and in that case may remove from honours , and may punish such as god hath condemned , deut. 13. of what estate , condition , or honour soever . knox , app. fol. 28. 30. 4. in the fourth place , if the nobles will not joyne with the people or commonalty in the reformation , or preservation of true religion , at the direction of the ministery , the inferior magistrates may , and should doe it . knox , hist. p. 217. 5. in the fifth place , before so good a worke be not done , if nobles , or the whole , or greatest part of the commonalty will not be obedient , assisting , and ayding to so good a work ; every individuall man and person is bound to advance this good work , to kill papist , priest , prelate , malignant , nay a king , if he stand out an enemy to god , and christ , and cannot otherwise be reclaimed , or removed , nor by suite , or dispute gained to the right way , ( i dare say their doctrine leads to this ) see knox app. fol. 30. where roundly he saith , the punishment of s●ch crimes as touch the majesty of god , doth not appertaine to kings and chiefe rulers onely , but also to the whole body of the people , and to every member of the same , to revenge the injury done against god . againe see him fol. 35. the people are bound by oath to god , to revenge , to the utmost of their power , the injury done against god's majestie . to this purpose they alleadge the examples of phineas , who in his zeale killed the adulterers : of ehud , who in the same zeale killed eglon in his private chamber , ( remember he was a king . ) of iael , who killed sisera : of matathias , who in zeale killed a iew for committing of idolatry ; and who in the same zeale at the same time killed the king's commissioner . sir , put these things together , and see where this soveraigne supreame ecclesiasticall iudicatory hath such dominion and power over mens consciences , that being directed by their ministerie , they are bound to doe to the utmost of their power for reformation and preservation of religion , what sacred person of any king can be secured ? what man offending against the majesty of god ( which is as they fansie many times ) may not be taken away by one like to a ravilliack ? what commissioner or counsellor of the king but in doing his best service to his maister , he may be stoned like to adoram , and all this goe in popular esteeme currant for good service and extraordinary zeale to god and his cause . 6. in the sixth place upon those grounds covenants and confederacies come in to strengthen all , to joyne purses , persons , wit , and strength , contra omnes mortales , regiâ majestate non exceptâ , against king and bishop , prince and prelate , to the defence of the good cause ; with a combination , every one to be ayding , assisting and maintaining one another in so good a cause . 7. in the last place commeth their orders for reformation or preservation , and that by themselves and the collective body , or any associates whatsoever , without respect , reverence or obedience to the soveraign authority of the prince . the practice is cleerly seen in mr knox his proceedings , for after that by his letter , which we mentioned before written to scotland anno , 1557. from deepe , and otherwise he had infused the above named principles into many , an oath of confederacy was taken amongst them , and subscription under their hands to some agreement . this gave life to that tumultuary reformation , much strength being added to it , by the concurrence of the sacrilegious , hoping thus to swallow up the church revenews . which is more then certain was against knox his mind , and the first reformers . as we deplore great losses the church had by this reformation , and doe thank god heartily for his admirable bounty and mercy in the good of truth we got by it , yet we will never wrong reformed religion so much as to account of that as an orderly reformation , we deny not but it was attended with much sedition faction and rebellion . anno 1558. without the authority of soveraignty , nay without the knowledge of it , these confederates , at the direction of their ministery prescribe orders for reformation of religion to be observed and practised throughout the whole kingdom . see knox storie pag. 217. 2●8 . they goe farther , they writ an imperious letter to the religious houses , in the name of the congregation , commanding all of them ●● remove from thence against such a day , or then they would eject them by force . knox ib. within very short time after , a parliament being holden by the queen regent , ( queen maries mother , and great grandmother to our gratious soveraign ) they make a protestation , that except they had their desires , they would goe on in their intended course of reformation , that neither they , nor any that joyned with them , should incurre therefore any danger in life , or lands , or other civill penalties , and that if any violence hapned in pursuit of those matters , they should thank themselves . it is very observable they were all bound in that confederacie to assist and strengthen each other in that course . see knox hist. pag. 256. first , here you have the direction of the ministery . next , you have a confederacy and bond of mutuall defence . thirdly , you have orders and decrees agreed upon in common . fourthly , you have warrants issued out to make or force all to be put in execution . fiftly , you have a protestation , and that a threatning one too , against the queen regent and whole parliament . sir , are those things consistent with monarchie ? what scripture ? what father ? what practice of the church doth warrant such a reformation ? come on , and you shall have them anon in open contemning soveraign authority . the queen regent to suppresse these beginnings , and to nip them in the bud , cites them to appeare at stirling . they appeare not . they are outlawed : all men under pain of treason are inhibited to assist them . there is no obedience , but all in the confederacie adhere to them . i cannot , for my part , justify this divinity . from disobedience and contempt , they are guilty of usurping the royall power , for v●ry shortly after , anno 1559. immediatly after a sermon preached by knox in saint-iohnstowne , at his exhortation and direction , they fall to the pulling downe of the religious houses , and within two or three daies equall three of them to the ground . sir , can it appeare that by holy writ or reason such popular tumultuary reformations are warrantable ? is it not intrinsecally inherent in the crown or wheresoever soveraignty is fixed ? and so they proceeded in fife , angus , mornis , stirling , lowthian &c. and through the whole kingdom . see knox hist. p. 263. here were many goodly and rich churches spoyled , robbed , and cast downe . after this they disclaim soveraign authority , except it be as they please , and have their desires . the queen regent threatned s. iohnstowne where this disorder first was acted . they of the confederacy writ to her in plain termes , that except she stayed from that cruelty , they should be compelled to take the sword of iust defence , and protested , that without the reformation which they desired , they would never be subject to any mortall man . see knox pag. 265. more followed . by a letter they cite all their brethren to repaire unto them , and that you may know that their letters were authoritative commands , and that all the authority is from the independent soveraignty of the church , consider how they write to the nobility upon paine of excommunication to joyne with them . knox ibid. pag. 268 , 269 , 272. how much this ecclesiasticall soveraignty did exalt it selfe above the civill , is more then apparent in this , that when an herald in his coat of armes , commanded all men under pain of treason to returne to their houses , by publique sound of trumpet in glasgow no man obeyed that charge , but went forward to their associates , habes confitentem reum , knox . pag. 274. they denounce warre too , which was ever judged to be the peculiar specifick prerogative of soveraignty , for they writ to the bishops and clergy , that except they desisted from dealing against them , they would , with all force and power , execute just vengeance and punishment upon them : and that they would begin the same warre , which god commanded israell to execute against the cananites . which manner of proceeding , they termed a resisting of the enemy . knox . hist. 275 , 276. the poor queen regent was brought to an accommodation , and the assembly at st-iohnstowne was dismissed . but there parting they entered into a league by oath , that if any one member of their congregation ( this in the scottish is equivalent to ecclesia ) should be troubled , they should all concurre , assist and convene againe together , for the defence of the same . knox . pag. 283. the queen regent finding this soveraignty overbeare her 's , and the peace of the kingdom shaken , by a declaration published and proclaimed , testified her desire of peace , and descended so much , that really it was onely a request . they scorned it , would none of it , confuted it by another , did exhort those of their faction to encourage themselves in the lord , to stand upon their guard like to the re-builders of hierusalem and the temple , with the sword in one hand and the bible in another , wherein they gave the queen many times the lye , and abused her with reproachfull and contumelious speeches . the subjects that continue their obedience are honoured with no better tearme then to be called the queenes faction . you may read this at leisure and pleasure in knox history . pag. 330 , 333 , 362 , 364. nay , they renounce their obedience unto her , protested that whosoever should take her part , should be punished as traitors , whensoever god should put the sword of iustice into their hands . knox hist. p. 364. at last they rise to the highest pitch of rebellion , and anno. 1560. they depose the queen regent , the predetermination being given , that it was lawfull for them to do so , by mr knox and mr wilcockes . this is upon record yet in that kingdome , and is set downe by m. knox himselfe . hist. pag. 372. 378. and it is observable , that the queen , if i remember right , lived but a month , or little more , after this pious act . sir , you will now say , that i speak too hardly of our first reformers and reformation , and would know what is my opinion of them and it . to deale clearly , god is my witnesse i am no papist , but doe abhorre popery as much as any , and that i am no puritane the other party wil witnesse for me . i am bound to speak the truth in my heart , and to give some satisfaction , i say 1. first , as i am able , i blesse and praise god most heartily that we were delivered from the popes tyranny , and that grosse aegyptian darknesse we were under : which i ascribe to the admirable wisedome and infinitely transcendent goodnesse of god . 2. next i leave the men to god's mercy , but for the manner of proceeding , the way they took , i dare not , i will not approve it : but will say with iacob , in consilium eorum ne veniat anima mea . 3. thirdly , i daily heartily bewaile that that too too much idolised reformation in an excessive hatred against popery , did runn too much to the other extreame , that the goodly order and government necessary of the church was shouldered out ; the publick service and worship of god with it's decency , reverence and comlinesse was much defaced , disgraced ; that goodly , stately and rich churches , were abused , robbed and equalled to the ground ; and that the church patrimonie was dilapidated : and yet this was not so much done by the first called reformers , as by their disciples , aetas parentum pejor avis . it feareth me , besides that god is punishing our present sinnes , that by this scourge , which is guilded with the specious , but spurious compellation of a glorious thorow , second reformation , he is in the same justice punishing the sinnes of that first reformation . for my part i judge verily that church had never an orderly and warrantable reformation , till it was happily begun and advanced by king iames when he took the government in his owne hands , and was like to come to a great perfection under the government of our most gratious soveraigne king charles . although i deny not but the seeds of truth were sowen by hamilton , wiseheart , mylne and others , who before knox his time did preach truth , cast downe the errors of rome in the peoples hearts , were farre from sturring up the subjects against lawfull authority , and like the ancient martyrs , did suffer patiently and seale the truth of the gospell with their blood . if knox and his complices had kept in this way i am certaine that church had been more happy : nor had we seen such robbery and deformity in the church . sure i am , great , many , and more then ordinary sinnes in them and us and our forefathers have brought us to be plunged in those almost inextricable miseries : and till we proportionably repent , we cannot look to see better dayes , what is disjoynted in state set aright , and the beauty of god's house restored ; which god of his mercy grant to us for his onely sonne iesus christ . by what is said , it appeares sufficiently that this spirituall soveraignty is farre above the king's crowne , and what we undertook , to make their practices prove their tenets , is more then evident , onely one thing rests to be proved , that this soveraignty may authorize any and every private man to doe to the utmost of their power for the reformation of religion , to plunder , kill , &c. sir , i referre you to mr knox history of the church of scotland , pag. 143 , 144 , 145. where relating how cardinal beaton archbishop of saint andrew's , ( a man whom i justifie not neither commend much ) was killed by norman lesley , iohn lesley , peter carmichael and iames melvil in his owne house the castle of saint andrew's , who were all onely private gentlemen , and if you will trust buchanan , the cause was a jarre betwixt norman lesley and the cardinal ; upon knox faith , the quarrell was the killing of m. george wiseheart ( a good man undoubtedly . ) the cardinal could have no mercy , although he cryed pittifully for it , saying , i am a priest ye will not slay me ; knox i say relating this history commends the fact of iames melvil killing him with grave and pious words in his mouth as a godly fact . the summe of the story is , when they entred the cardinall's chamber with some sixteen or seventeen more , iohn lesly and peter carmichaell fell violently and passionatly on him , but iames melvill with gravity and piety withdrew them , and said : this work and judgement of god ( although it be secret ) ought to be done with great gravitie . and presenting unto him the poynt of the sword , said , repent thee of thy former wicked life , but especially of thy shedding of the blood of that notable instrument of god m. george wiseheart , which albeit the flame of sire consumed before men , yet cries it a vengeance upon thee , and we from god are sent to revenge it . for here before my god i protest , that neither the hatred of thy person , the love of thy riches , nor the feare of any trouble , thou couldest have done to me in particular , moved , or moveth me to strike thee : but only because thou hast been and remainest an obstinate enemy against christ iesus and his holy gospell . and the meek man of god , as he is there termed , stroke him twise or thrise thorow with a stog-sword ; and he fell . i give all this that iames melvill did this in revenge of m. george wiseheart being slain by the cardinall . what divinity will warrant this fact of iames melvil's to be a good and godly fact ( for so it is noted in the margent ) to a privat man to murther or kill thus a priest an archbishop of so high dignity ? the result of all is , he did it gravely , in coldblood , told him so much , that he was sent from god , he had no private end , the motive sturred him up to this godly fact , was , that he had been and remained at that time an enemy to iesus christ and his holy gospell ; he exhorted him to repentance and for all his great sinnes , as knox writes the storie , he allowed him no more time , but so much as was spent in his godly harang : for immediatly after he was twise thrust thorow . but those seraphicall doctors know , nescit tarda molimina spiritus sanctus ; and the spirit can work suddenly , inter os & offam ; inter pontem & fontem , especially where and when they are sent of god to doe such great good works . but this is protestatio contra factum . what ever m. melvil said in his protestation , knox doth witnesse that the cardinall being murthered , they seized upon the artillery and ammunition , wherewith that fortresse was plentifully furnished , and likewise upon the rich hangings , houshold-stuffe of all sorts , apparell , copes , jewels , ornaments of churches , great store of gold and silver plate , besides no small quantity of treasure in ready coyne . i could instance some practices about the time of the parliament in anno 1621. commonly called the marquesse of hamilton's parliament , but because that will only reflect upon some particular persons , i passe it willingly and wittingly . it is most certain when the pious and learned doctors of aberdene , did demand of the patriarches of this late covenant , why they did not by preaching , printing , censuring , or some reall deed expresse their detestation of that horrid fact done by the rascally-rout of edenburgh the 23. of iuly 1637. where at the first reading of the service there , a great many bishops being in the cathedrall church , the serving-women rose barbarously within the church , did throw their stooles at the bishop of the place , and the deane who was officiating , did cry out most horribly , that the major , aldermen , and others within could hardly compose it for a long time , and the worst and basest of the people , who were without , did throw in great stones at the glasse windowes , the doores being shut . after the arising of the commotion , to prevent more tumult and danger , and when service and sermon were done , the bishops , major and aldermen going home with the lord chancellor and some bb. attending his grace , the bishop , and deane of edenburgh with others were well nigh stoned in the streets : when i say it was demanded of these apostles , why they did not condemne this unchristian barbarous outrage , voyd of pietie and reason , and without any example in the christian church , the summe of their answer was , and to this day is , that such a zealous people were to be left to their own warrand , they knew not by what spirit they were governed , god worketh great workes many times by basest means : and yet those nobles , those zealous , those intelligent and knowing christians ( whereof many of them in edenburgh were knowne coale-stealers and whores ) were the first active instruments in this glorious reformation . i confesse this divinity is so transcendent and metaphysicall , that it exceeds my capacity , and is so fruitfull upon any occasion to work all or the greatest of mischiefes , that i doe not see how it can consist with peace or safety of king , kingdome , church , or of any entrusted with greatest trust in church or state . sir , i believe any rationall man may see by this , how superlatively this spirituall signorie is above king and royall soveraignty . i leave it to your own judgement and memory to recollect it , and to bring home the conclusion , that this government ecclesiasticall is inconsistent with monarchie , with the peace of a kingdome , and is or may be in time a mother and nurse of as much rebellion and treason as any iesuitisme of the highest dye , if not more . certainly rome , although a whore , and hath a cup of abomination in her hand , is not so bad nor so abominable ; i pray god to keep all good christians cleane of both . let us goe on ; in faith , worship , and all spirituall things they vindicate to themselves such a soveraignty , that king , councell , parliament , nay all together , must not touch the scepter of christ , they are to determine , define , take cognisance , accuse , sentence , punish ; neither king , nor king and councell , nor king and parliament , all must assume power here , for otherwise it is to intrude upon christ and his right . this soveraignty is of so high a straine , so large an extent , that when they have decreed any thing in this supream infallible iudicatorie , that they may have the better obedience to demand the king and parliament's approbation ; this is not demanded as a thing arbitrary which the king and parliament may doe or not doe ; or leaving it to his royall judgement with the advice of his parliament to qualify or rectify their decrees , and orders : no , no truly ; that is to betray the trust christ hath given them , they need not supplicate or petition for it , it is in them but an act of courtesie to shew dutifull obedience . and if the king and parliament will not grant it , they are armed with as much power from heaven as to force them to doe it , by excommunication , and making all good christians joyne with them in god's cause . sir , i feare you think i speake liberally . god forbid i should doe it . i doubt not but you have read the scotish pope's sermon preached at westminster , and printed by order of the house , since you have it i will not spend time and paper to cite his words which giveth to the king no more . but to make this appeare , i give you some unanswerable reasons . 1. it is certain in scotland m. knox and his complices set on their reformation without the queen , or queen regents authority , or the authority of parliament . for anno 1558. they made their confederacy : gave out their orders for reformation throughout the whole kingdome . anno 1559. they acted their reformation , by casting downe churches , abbyes , &c. casting out priests , friers , &c. and all this by their owne radicall and originall power . queen mary their true and lawfull soveraigne did authorize them in nothing , she was then in france . the queen dowager , queen regent , king iames the fifth's widdow , having the soveraignty by fiduciary trust , in regard of the absence of the queen her daughter , did not authorize it , nay she did by her authority oppose it , contradict it , came in armes against it . the parliament was not till the yeare 1560. ( how holden for the present i cannot tell ) but in that parliament they set out a confession of faith , reformed religion : but when they sent to king and queen beyond seas ( queen mary was then married to francis the second in france ) to confirme or ratifie the acts thereof , they denied . when intelligence was given to the confederates , they professed they little regarded the deniall of king and queene , for say they ( knox hist. pag. 500. ) all we did was rather to shew our dutifull obedience , then to begge of them any strength to our religion . another in this kind you have ; in anno 1571. king iames then being king , and the earle of marre being regent , an assembly was holden at leith , where by the order of the assembly , and ordinance of the regent and councell , some commissioners were appointed from the regent and councell , and some from the generall assembly to condescend upon a platforme of discipline , which was agreed to on both sides . the platforme is that the government of the church shall be by archbishops , bishops , deanes and chapters , &c. the order and course of all their nomination , election , &c. is just conforme to this in england at this day , and as it was in scotland before this new happy reformation . this was enrolled in the councell books of that kingdom , and stands there to this day , this i know certainly , and if i be not deceived , and almost i dare say it , except they have wronged their most famous and their most ancient councells , the platforme is upon record in the generall assembly books . give me leave to tell you by the way one thing , that the negative faith , which is sine rugâ , sine maculâ , was framed , anno 1580. and it is believed , that in that negative faith episcopacy is abjured as antichristian ; yet anno 1581. this same government is renewed , ratified and ordained to continue constant , and not to be changed till his majesty come to perfect age , and to be kept or changed then onely in what he and his great councell , the parliament , shall think fit , and not otherwise . before this the king his houshold and councell had subscribed the negative faith ; can any man , not voyd of judgement and discretion , think , that the king , his houshold and councell in subscribing it did judge episcopacy popish and antichristian . next it is worth your notice taking , that as i honour the good parts which were in knox and his fellow-labourers , i never accounted them as apostles men secured from error ; yet i will say so much for their justification , that they were greater enemies to sacriledge than their after-disciples ; and were not against the order of episcopacy as popish and antichristian , as m. andrew melvil and his disciples afterward maintained . nor were they so foolish to seclude all church-men from voyce in parliament , onely their desire was , that seeing the popish bishops were allowed to enjoy their benefices and rents during their life time ( this was more then our charitable glorious reformers allowed to their protestant bishops now ) with all other priviledges except spirituall jurisdiction , that they should not sit in parliament as the representative of the church , but in their places should sit the superintendents and commissioners of the church . which indeed were somewhat like to bishops , but resembled more arch-presbyters then bishops . to returne againe thither from whence we digressed ; after that this platforme of discipline was so agreed and established , as we told before , m. andrew melvil comes to scotland about the yeare 1574 , or 75. ultra citra . this man a good hebrecian and linguist , and full of the geneva talmud which was now more refined , beginneth to set presbyterian discipline higher , to make a second book of policy , or devout imaginations , acknowledgeth no more orders in the church , then the foure above named . a bishop was no more in scripture but the same identically with presbyter ; and where abbots and priors to his time were nominated and admitted to the abbies and priories as church-men , gave their trialls and were collated ( as they speake ) by the superintendents : this great doctor found out another divinity , that there was no bishop but a parish priest ; scripture , for abbots and priors there were none such in god's book . at this time , and from that they call reformation to this time , there was no bishoprick nor abbie annexed to the crowne , and consequently not impropriate to any subject . it is true lay-men held them in commendam by the king's gift , but as men able to doe the king and church good service ; and before their right could be completed or perfected , they were to returne to the king from the superintendent a collation or certificate , that he was of that ability to doe good service to the king and church . men sacrilegiously disposed grasped greedily this doctrine , and thanked god that their names as abbots & priors were not in the book of god . and to have these church livings and dignities with bishopricks annexed to the crowne , and from thence to impropriate them to them and their heires , they deified m. melvil , and contributed their best wits and uttermost power to raise presbyteriall government higher . and by the sole authority of that they call the church , they began , without the king , councell or parliament's consent or authority , to distribute the whole kingdome into so many presbyteries , as they thought fit in their discretion and by the direction of the holy spirit : and did procure private subscriptions to their new book of policie , and put it in practice . sir , i hope you are the more apt to beleeve this , because you know in england the disciplinarians in london meetings debated and established their orders in secret and not warrantable conventicles , and much about the same time ; and great correspondence was entertained betwixt the scots and the english at that time . how that book of discipline was practised without any authority in surrey and northamptonshire , and other places you know well enough . now i pray you , when without authority , by their owne inherent radicall right , they make orders , reforme , establish a discipline , doe these men imagine , that the concurrence of christian authority soveraigne is absolutely necessary , or that their demand is any thing else but an act of courtesie , when by themselves and assistants they may establish and practise it ? this second book of policie , master melvils reformation is the epocha of our second reformation . the fruits of which i will tell you were , the annexation of all bishopricks , abbyes , priories &c. to the crown , which was effectuated anno 1587. if you will cast your eyes upon the third glorious reformation , that makes the popes knees shake like belshazzars when he did see the handwriting on the wall , ( that is if we will speak truly , this deformation which is the disgrace of reformed catholike religion , and which threatneth church and religion , king and kingdom with ruine ) you will find these men have sung a note above ela , have ordered and practised more then all that went before them . hanc movere nolo camarinam . i hope a better wit and more elegant and eloquent pen , shall some time anatomise this monster , and so lay it open to the view of the world , that it shall appeare to be no true brood of the reformed catholike protestant religion . 2. secondly , another argument to prove that this superlative soveraignty in spiritualibus , hath all its most naturall subjects at its devotion and obedience , is this , that what they command to be preached , must sound alike in all their synagogues . and whosoever he be that is the minister of the kings family he must preach the same . there is no coequall , corrivall , or coordinate power that can doe so much as intercedere make the least sort of crossing , opposing or interposing . is it not known that the kings minister in scotland , at the direction of this conclave , when his councell have been to meet frequently for treaty with ambassadors from forrain kings ; upon the lord's day or week-daies sermon before the meeting , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , in great freedom of the spirit , hath told him all the counsell of god from heaven , with a denunciation of iudgements if he swerve from it . and if the king had gone to the church of edenburgh , a beardlesse boy had told him more sound wisdome from heaven , how to article and conclude in matters of highest concernment betwixt him and spaine , or him and france , then all the wisest councellors and greatest nobles in the land : and this forsooth must be the king and councell's rule . 3. thirdly , doe they not challenge to themselves the sole power to appoynt publike fasts , to give the reasons of it , which ordinarily are , that gods judgements are incumbent and imminent upon church and kingdom , for the sinnes of the governour and governours , and that the government is amisse . and the consequent or effect of these fasts is too too frequently and ordinarily some commotion , sedition , rebellion , or at least , some change of court , councell , or session . i cannot here passe by a storie as true as strange . while king iames was in scotland , two french ambassadors had remained some months there with him : being ready to depart and take their leave of the king , the king for his own and the french kings greater honour , sent on a satterday for the major and aldermen of edenburgh , commanding them the very next monday to feast the french ambassadors . the ministers of edenburgh to affront the king , and the king of france too , on sunday intervening indict a solemne fast to be kept to morrow on monday , the day appoynted the saterday before by his majesty for the entertainment of the ambassodors . the magistrats of edenburgh proudly contemne the command of the supream spirituall powers , and out of carnall affection , feast the king & the french ambassadors royally & nobly on monday ; when the ministers & the good christians of edenburgh fast , the king , the ambassadors , and magistrates of edenburgh feast . ô facinus horrendum . but to avert gods judgement from the land , the major and aldermen were cited and convented ( here was some favour that the king and ambassadors were not , but i will tell you it was partiality and corruption , for some of the ministers were the kings pensioners , and this kept the king free ) to be censured for their high scandall in contemning so solemne a fast . there was much work : but the king who was the chiefe and almost sole transgressor , with interposed delayes , and much sollicitation and prudence , took off the edge of their zeale , and the pursuit ceased . 4. that this assembly is soveraigne in all spiritualls , admits no coordinate or coequall power , farre lesse a superior , is cleer in this ; that if any preacher be charged before king or councell for any offence to be punished , if they in any case can cloath it with a spirituall respect or circumstantiate it so , that it may be qualified for the spirltuall high sanhedrim , the party cited and convented , may and ought to appeale to the generall assembly , as to the iudge competent . mr andrew melvil , if i be not deceived , was the first spirituall councellor of law , that taught this way . it is certain that what they preach in pulpit is not censurable by king , parliament , nor councell , or any iudge or iudicatory else . there be two reasons for it , one is that , spiritus prophetarum subjecti prophetis , the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets onely , 1. cor. 14. the t'other is , whilst men are there in that infallible pulpit , they are ruled by some superior good spirit and they dare not blame or condemne them , least they should offend and sinne against the spirit , and so although a man preach downright treason , if it be in this place he is priviledged . it is known and , i hope , yet remembred that after king iames of blessed memory anno 1584. made many good lawes to curbe the insolency of ministers , did by statute and act of parliament declare his supremacy over ecclesiasticall persons and causes ; condemne all iudicatories in use which were not by his own authority established ; ( he meaned the presbyteriall . ) that the ministers then did importune the king to repeale them : and when that would not doe , did they not fall at last into open railing against him in pulpit , as an enemy to christ and his kingdom ; they dispersed through the kingdom infamous libells against his person and royall honour : they branded him as an apostate from the truth , and reviled him as an ofspring of the cruell and bloody house of guise . this forced the king to put out a declaration anno 1585. in print yet extant to vindicate himselfe and his honour from that unchristian and more then disloyall calumnies . at or about the very same time some fugitive ministers out of scotland , pretending they were persecuted , did in the pulpits of london , with their fowle mouths , raile against his majesty , the wisest and learnedst of kings : so that the scottish ambassador was forced to complaine to queen elizabeth of it ; her majesty gave present order to the lord bishop of london then , to silence all the scottish preachersthere . now that this sanhedrim is only competent iudge in spiritualibus , and that one convented before king and councell , may decline his and the councel's authority , although he hath preached treason , appeareth cleerly . 1. first , if this had not been an ordinary practice before this time , what needeth the making of that act of parliament , anno 1584. declaring it treason in all time to come to decline the power and iurisdiction of the king and his councell . 2. secondly , has not iames gibsonne minister at pencaitland witnessed for or against himselfe rather in this case in print : who publiquely in his preachings compared his majesty unto ieroboam , told him he should be the last of his race , reproached him as a persecutor ; and much more of this zealous stuffe : who being convented before the king and councell , and accused of those pious crimes , he with that boldnesse becometh his order , justified all , saying to his majesty , as long as you maintain these cursed acts of 1584. the tyranny of bishops , you are a persecutor . and addes , that as jeroboam for the leading of the people of israell from the lawes of the house of iudah , and from the true worship of god , was rooted out , he and all his posterity : so should the king ( if he continued in that wicked course , maintaining those wicked acts against god ) be rooted out and conclude the race . much more to the like purpose was said , & if any look upon the privy . councell books of the kingdom of scotland , he will find this a truth . he was convented 27. december , anno 1585. this man was an oracle consulted , and gave his answer in coppinger , arthington , and hacket's extraordinary motion , which storie you know better then i. mr black , minister of st andrew's , was convented too before the king and councell about the same time , who appealed from king and councell to the presbytery or generall assembly ; this last had spoken against both king and queen . there was a great businesse for the two mens appeales , their brethren sided so much with them that the king had too much to doe . at last out of more then warrantable indulgence his majesty was content to insist no farther against them before his councell , but to remit their censure to the generall assembly it selfe : before which it was cleerly proved , that in pulpit they had spoken reproachfull and treasonable speeches , yet could the king by no power or entreaty obtain of them to inflict any punishment upon them , because said they , they knew not with what spirit they were overruled . i will shut up this poynt with one instance more then sufficient to make the truth of what i say to appeare . before king iames came to the crowne of england , it was ordinary in scotland to have a generall assembly once a yeare , and oftner pro re natâ , upon any great exigent . the last which was kept during his majesties abode there was anno 1602. in the close of which the next ensuing was appoynted to be at aberdine , anno 1603. in the interim the king succeeding to q. elizabeth , and being in england , he was so much taken up with the affaires of the kingdom , that he was necessitated to lay aside those concerned scotland ; and for this reason his majesty thought it fit to adjourne the assembly ( unto which he had a speciall eye , knowing their turbulent disposition , and experienced in it whilest he was present amongst them ) to the next summer in anno 1604. when the time appoynted was come his majesties more weighty affaires not suffering him to think upon the assemblies businesse , he gave order to prorogate it to another and longer day ; which was accordingly done by publike proclamation , authorized by his honourable privy councell of that kingdom . notwithstanding all which , some thirteen or fourteen godly zealous brethren must needs meet at aberdine at the day appoynted for the assembly . they established and formalized the iudicatorie , by constituting a moderator , a clerk , and other essentiall members of the court . the lords of councell understanding this contempt , sent a gentleman of good qualitie and place , with an herault at armes , to discharge and dissolve the holy meeting . the commissioner and herault were entertained with as much respect , as before they had given reverence to the proclamation issued out by the soveraigne authoritie of the king with the advice of his honourable privy-councell . the holy fathers in the great sanhedrim protested and professed , that in conscience and duty to almighty god , they were bound to preserve the churches right , and could not , would not , give way to that power the king sacrilegiously usurped , which properly and natively belonged to the church virtuall , the assembly . they kept and continued the assembly some dayes , and finding that no more of the holy brotherhood came to joyne with them , they dissolved , and to preserve the holy right of the church appoynted the time and place of meeting for the next assembly . the king hearing this , gave order to his privy-councell to cite & convent them before them , and to punish this high contempt . the more zealous champions of the lord of hostes appeared , and with an undaunted courage gave in to the lords of councell a protestation , a declinator from the kings councell , and appealed to the next generall assembly , as the sole and competent judge in this case and cause . the kings atturney or advocate , by order from the councell-table , was ordained to pursue them criminally before the lord iustice generall , and that upon the act of parliament mentioned before anno 1584. upon which order , the one halfe confessed their fault and easily made their peace , and obtained pardon . the zelots were convicted of treason , ad terrorem & exemplum , more then for any other end or respect : and only banished the kingdom . of whom the most part thereafter upon their confession and submission were pardoned , came home , lived and enjoyed their own , or at least as good , if not better benefices . sir , are these things consistent with monarchie , or the obedience is due to soveraignty and its highest courts ? so absolute and uncontroleable is this high celestiall court , that it commandeth , conscience and soule , disposeth of body and estate in the poynt of religion , that if you conforme not in all , neither soule , nor body , nor estate can be in peace , nay no toleration can be allowed where this soveraignty domineereth . and to make this power of the larger extent , it is certain , their faith and things necessary to salvation are of greater latitude then that of the councell of trent . if any doth not , after a little time granted for information , conforme and subscribe to their confession of faith , ( which is more in negatives and destructives , then affirmatives and positives ) their rule of government , their manner of worship , and what else in their opinion is necessary to salvation , ( and in this i am sure they are more rigorous then ever god or catholike church was , for if you dissent but from them in a theologicall tenet , it is heresie ) you are forthwith excommunicated , and given over to the divell : after which upon the remonstrance of a commissioner from the presbyterie to the civill iudge , there is a warrant from supream authority given out to command you to conforme ( this is different from the writ de excommunicato capiendo ) or then within few dayes to be put to the horne ( that is outlawed . ) vpon disobedience the tender conscience not conforming , the outlawed's estate moveable ( chattells we call it ) become proper to the king . god knoweth , little of this benefit commeth to the king's thesaurer , but a donater to the escheit , which ordinarily is the convicted's mortall enemy for a little composition hath the right made over , and hath the benefit of the escheit . if within yeare and day he give not obedience and conformity , his whole revenues and rents of immoveable goods forfeit to the king during his life time . some enemy of his , or favourite of the thesaurer's , obtaineth the king's right , and the king hath little or nothing of it . here you have him stript of all his estate moveable , immoveable . yet here is not an end : but still upon remonstrance of the presbyteries or church's commissioner , another writ goeth out , which they call letters of caption ( that is , if i mistake not , the tant'amount of the writ de excommunicato capiendo ) which is directed to all sheriffes , stuards , provosts , bailies , &c. to seize & secure his person wheresoever it may be apprehended , and to commit him to close prison as a rebell . if he skulk and hide himselfe , then upon the same remonstrance goeth out a writ , which there they call letters of intercommuning ( i know no thing in the law like this ) the intent is that none of the kings subjects commune or conferre with him coram or personally , or by letter or interposed person keep intelligence or correspondence with him ; otherwise the intercommuner is to be judged and reputed to be a rebell of the same guiltinesse . you will be pleased to remember this , when the church requireth all these of the civill magistrate ( so they are pleased to terme soveraignty ) he is bound to grant them . now , sir , i pray you consider if this is not in many respects worse then the inquisition ; when an opinion in a theologicall tenet different from the assured faith of those gamaliels may bring a man unto all those troubles . onely to make amendes for this , remember this authoritative way preserveth a church from haeresie , error , superstition and schisme . there is another practice of the power of this court , that for the glory of god , the honour of the king , the good and preservation of church and religion , it may assume to it selfe to be iudge of what is treason , what is not : who are fit councellors for a king , who not . practice is the most sure infallible and clear proofe and demonstration of power . i will give you one in the case of treason , that none dare to say it is a lye , and which can be made good by the authentick and publique records of parliament and councell of scotland , and their owne noble acts of generall assembly . when king iames , about the age of iosias , ( when in holy writ it is recorded of him that he began to seeke the lord with all his heart ) had taken the government of the kingdome in his owne hand ; and did reigne and rule with such prudence incomparable , admirable , that none could justly except against him or his government : yet such was the restlesse ambition of some , who could not with patience endure the trust of others , especially of that noble worthy esme duke of lennox , his majesties nearest kinsman and highest favourite , and that justly for his most eminent noble endowments . these discontented gentlemen layed downe a resolution to get the king into their hands and power , and to thrust out that noble prince . they watched an opportunity , when the king came to his sport of hunting neare to saint-iohnstowne , with an ordinary attendance , ( the noble peere staying with others at edenburgh for the king and kingdomes better service ) surprised him fearing no ill , seized his person , carried him along to the castle of ruthen , kept him so that none could have accesse to him , till he was forced to command the duke of lennox to depart the kingdome ( which out of zeale and love to the king he did in winter embarking at dunbrittane , came to france and dyed shortly after ) and to change all his servants they disliked , and to surround him with themselves and their owne . they kept their king in captivitie the space of nine monthes , suffering none to come at him , but such as they pleased . the wise king put a good face upon a foule businesse , seemed to like well of them and their courses . neverthelesse the best and most knowing of subjects grumbled exceedingly to see their prince so abused . the conspirators understanding it , did advise upon the best course to satisfie the people and to bring them to approve their way . they wrought with the chiefe rulers of the synagogue , and prevailed . at the next generall assembly they give in a remonstrance to them then sitting in edenburgh , declaring the extraordinary reasons that moved them to secure his majesties person in the castle of ruthen : their zeale to the reformed religion , which was in imminent and apparent danger by the practices of the duke , who was sent from france to scotland of purpose to corrupt the young king : their care to secure the king's royall person , whom the duke intended to conveigh privately to france : their desire to free the subjects from the bloody tyranny and oppression both of their lives and goods by the malitious disposition , and insatiable avarice of those who were about him and overruled him ; and a great many more specious pretences , ( which are not much different from these of this time ; ) upon this narrative the humble petition to this superlative soveraignty was that the holy brother-hood would be pleased to give an approbation to this their heroick and christian fact , and whatsoever was their judgement they would obey it with this proviso , that it should be made knowne to all good christians within the realme . the demand was pious and just , the holy assembly secured from erring and error , and not encroaching upon any thing meerly civill , but in a case of so high concernment in ordine ad spiritualia , as competent iudges doe take the case into their consideration , and after mature deliberation , being assisted with a fansied infallible direction give out their verdict , authorize and approve all in substance or circumstance to be holily and justly with much zeale and discretion done . in all this they exceeded not their power , and that because what was done , was for the advancement of god's glory , the honour and personall safety of the king , and publique good of the kingdome : that all good people may rest content and be fully satisfied , it was further ordained , that all ministers shall upon their returne to their parishes intimate so much to all their flockes ; and withall exhort all people to esteem the actors as good christians and patriots , that for the causes above mentioned were necessitated to take this course , to preserve religion , to rectifie the errors of court , which were brought and wrought to that height that both religion and policie were in the greatest imaginable danger . the ordinance was accordingly performed to no small griefe of honest subjects and christians . sir , if there were no more instances what doe you thinke of this ? it is worth your notice taking , that this noble duke dying in france , who before his comming to scotland had been bred in popery , became a protestant when he came thither , and was king iames his convert . while he was a dying , romish priests were most earnest for accesse to reconcile him to that church ; but he adhering to truth , and protesting withall his promise to his cousine king iames , would admit none and dyed in the communion of the protestant reformed church . this high court , the generall assembly , in ordine ad spiritualia , challengeth and practiseth a soveraigne power above all civill lawes and statutes and acts of parliament . and that with that power that of it selfe it may repeale and condemne standing lawes , and acts of parliament , which are in practice and observed within the kingdome . to give you a recent example and instance of this ; since this assembly of late in this distemper hath recovered it's place and power , the generall assemblies of glasgow and edenburgh have damned bishops as anti-christian and against their reformation . i wave this . more , they have secluded bishops or any church-man from having any voyce in parliament , conventions , or councell . thus by their owne most proper ecclesiasticall authority they have made voyd many acts of parliament there , which before were in force and practice . as that in anno 1584. declaring it treason to call in question the power and authority of any of the three estates ( that is bishops , lords and commons ) or any one of them . this act was made onely to preserve the priviledges of the ecclesiasticall estate inviolable . this is evident by the king's declaration put forth the yeare following 1585. again they have made voyd another act of parliament in anno 1597. ordaining ministers that should be provided by his majesty to prelacies to have vote in parliament , as being the third estate . another in anno 1606. the same assemblies , did declare the acts of the assemblies of glasgow , perth , &c. null , voyd and unlawfull : which notwithstanding were enacted as municipall laws , obedience commanded , and practised in the greatest part of the kingdome . how much king iames his happy memory is blasted , by these supercilious new orders of those assemblies , my pen blusheth to expresse . the same assemblies have condemned the high commission court , declared by act of parliament . and this is done upon this ground which proveth their soveraignty in spiritualibus , because it was not consented to by the church : that is , the vertuall church , the generall assembly . when i consider these things , i cannot sufficiently wonder how the high court of parliament of england , hath swallowed and sworne their covenant , which in it's right sense doth establish a court above king and parliament . iudge you , sir , if this oath be in iudicio , veritate & justitiâ . if king and parliament be subordinate to this court in spiritualibus , or in temporalibus in ordine ad ecclesiastica , all the reason in the world will plead , that it is most just , that all iudicatories whatsoever , even the supreamest from whom lyeth no appeale , submit and subject themselves to it . the holy fathers of this court have showen their right in this point too . to confirme this , fearing i have wearied you , i will bring but one instance , and spare to trouble you with more . this story can be made good by records which i am to tell you . and first , give me leave to informe you , that the lords of session ( who by act of parliament are so ) are in all civill causes the supreame iudicatorie of the kingdome under the king . no iudgement passed there can be rectified or reduced by any iudicatorie , under the king and parliament , but by themselves , which is onely by suspension of execution , of that is judged and decreed , or by action of reduction : this is nothing but provocatio a philippo malè edocto ad philippum rectiùs edoctum . this thus premised i come home . mr iohn graham , one of the iudges of that associate body , had commenced an ordinary and proper suit before the lords of session , obtained decree and iudgement according to his libell . after which , a rumour was noysed abroad , that the writs and evidences , upon which his suit and the judgement upon it were founded , were forged and false . the generall assembly took notice of this injust decree , as they to whom the inspection of religion and iustice belongeth , and who were bound not to suffer such an unjust judgement to take place and be executed . they send for m. iohn graham commanding him by their authority to passe from his decree , to make no use of it against the party against whom it was obtained , and that because it was purchased upon false grounds , and it gave occasion of great scandall , that he being a iudge should make use of such writs . his answer was , if any would challenge his decree or iudgement upon any just ground , he might have his recourse to the ordinary iudge , and take it away by way of reduction , but so long as it was not reduced , it concerned him to take the benefit of it . then seeing that they could not prevaile by admonition , they threatned him with excommunication , if he did not what they enjoyned . he appeales from them to the lords of session , as the onely competent iudges in such cases : notwithstanding they resolve to proceed against him . the lords of session finding themselves interessed , and the assembly usurping upon them and their power , in this proceeding against one of their owne number , who had appealed to them in a civill cause already judged by them , directed some of their number to the assembly , and desired them not to meddle any more in that businesse , as being meerly civill , and no wayes belonging to their jurisdiction . this produced no other effect , but incensed the holy fathers to raile against the iudges as wicked and corrupt men , who sided one with another whether it were right or wrong . the businesse at last came to this height , that the lords of session , ( who would not suffer them to encroach upon their priviledges ) by vertue of that delegate power and authority they were invested with from the king , threatned to out-law them , and to proclaime them rebells to the king , if they proceeded any further , and would not admit of the appeale . the assembly finding themselves too weake and not able to make their part good by power ( in which case onely they will be martyrs ) fell from the pursuit and all was quieted . sir , i pray you to consider in what condition are they that live under such a government that is boundlesse and universall , will give lawes to king , councell and parliament ; repeale theirs at pleasures ; reduce and make voyd decrees and judgement of highest iudicatories &c. what peace or tranquillity can there be in such a state or kingdom ? give me leave to tell you a true story . it is known and lamented by all good men this day , how king iames his soule was vexed with them , that many times they have made him fall out in teares . a noble man , a most wise man , then chancellor , seeing the king extreamly troubled at the miscarriage of the ministerie , said to him : sir , no man is to be blamed , that you are so much troubled with the ministers , as yourselfe ; for when they doe any thing amisse , you never cease till by your royall prudence and authority you set it aright againe : but would you leave them to themselves , the very body of the people would rise up against them , and stone them out of the kingdome . his majesty returned a most pious answer , worthie to be written in letters of gold in marble , that all kings may learne it : my lord , saith he , your advice is shrewd policie , but your counsell is not good piety ; if i had no more to doe but to serve my selfe of them for a politick end , your advice is good , and i know it would prove so . but god hath appoynted me a nurse or father of his church , it is my charge from my lord and master to preserve his church , and not to ruinate it . which if i doe , god will ruinate me and my posterity . king iames in the conference at hampton court hath well observed , that this ecclesiasticall government prepareth way , and ushereth in a democraticall government . and he telleth also , that in his mother queen maries absence , and in his own minority and non-age , it was much thought upon and intended . their maxims of divinity lead to it , for they say , respublica est in ecclesiâ : the church and her policy are the house , the civill government is but the hangings , which necessarily for decency and good order must be made conformable to the house . monarchy is enmity against the church . catherwood in his book entitled altare damascenum , gives you it in down right termes , naturâ insitum est omnibus regibus in christum odium ; and in his preface , or epistle ( i have not the book by me ) he calls k. iames , infens●ssimum & infestissimum purioris religionis hostem . and that they may now exercise all their power , and bring the kingdom to a popular state , which was not so feisable before , it is more then probable , and much to be feared , and with great prudence to be prevented ; because the generall assembly hath in it now the prime noble men of the kingdom , dukes , marquesses , earles , lords ; the most active and knowing knights of counties and esquires ; the wisest citizens and corporations , and this in the capacity of ruling-elders , who discontented are able here to make a faction , call king , session , councell , or whom they please before them , because of their supreame , universall and independent jurisdiction . and this iudicatorie cannot ▪ erre in its determinations , for it is undoubtedly secured from error , and assisted with infallibility . this divine policy hath another sacred trick to preserve its soveraignty and to continue it , which is this . the generall assembly ordinarily meets but once a year , yet at the end and close of every generall assembly , there is a choice made of some commissioners , ( a committee ) who are to reside , or at least upon any necessary occasion to be at edenburgh . these are the virtuall assembly , and their power continueth till the next generall assembly . they are in the first place , to intimate to the king the desire and demands of the assembly , and to see all due civill sanction and confirmation given to it . the king , his councell , his parliament can change nothing of their sacred decrees without their consent . what ever new occurrence is in church or state pro re natâ , these commissioners are to give order and to see , ne quid detrimenti ecolesia capiat . it is true their orders bind only in the interim betwixt the two assemblies , and the next plenarie generall assembly may derogare , abrogare , obrogare &c , yet give me leave to tell you truth , these great delegates with their power have so much influence upon the next generall assembly , that their {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} precognitions and predeterminations , are formally and legally enacted . nor is this to be wondred at , for the achitophels and ioabs of church and kingdom , the best head peeces of greatest depth , preaching and ruling elders are in this iunto . heere are all disturbing seditions , and treasonable courses hatched and conceived ; whether it be treason against the king , sedition in state or kingdom , the change of court , the removing of courtiers from the king , the surrounding of him with others &c. the next assemblie ownes all their courses , decrees them under pretence of piety , reformation of abuses , removing of malignants from the king and from his counsell , from being iudges in the supreamest iudicatories of the kingdom , &c. by this means at pleasure , when and where they will , they procure parliaments to work for their own private ends . to facilitate the work , order is given to all presbyteries , to command all the ministers to preach to their flocks , to make and keep fasts , for the danger the church is in , that the king is inclinable , nay inclining to popery , that there are none in trust or power by him , in court , councell , exchequer or session , but such as are popish or popishly affected : and such they must be , if they once determine it . and woefull experience hath confirmed it , that worthie , innocent and deserving men have suffered , and the king hath been forced to abandon his best servants . this close committee hath all these prerogatives : 1. during the interim betwixt two assemblies , they had trust to see that all the orders and decrees of the grand consistory should be put in execution . 2. next upon any exigent intervening , they have the power by their influence upon all the presbyteriesin the kingdom , to make them goe which way they thought fit for their own ends , both to make the ministers preach their sense , and to work with all the people to believe the posture of affaires in church and state were as they informed and represented them . 3. thirdly , here were all things prepared for the next great meeting of the generall assembly . by these means things projected were effected . this way the queen regent was put from her regencie . this way queen mary was expulsed scotland . this way king iames his captivity at ruthen was found to be good service . this way that noble duke of lennox esme was made a papist , and the king forced to abandon him , and he to depart the kingdom in winter being sick , and shortly after dyed in france . by this means , if i be not deceived , was that infamous day the 17. of december , anno 1596. atro signanda lapillo , renowned for a most horrid insurrection in edenburgh against king iames and his prime counsellors . i begge leave to give you a short account of it . king iames whilest he was king of scotland , by all forraigne kings , princes and states , was admired for his extraordinary royall endowments . ambassadors from many beyond seas at the same time , and almost constantly were with him . the smallnesse of the patrimony of that crowne , was not able to maintain that royall deportment he kept . besides being too too royally liberall and magnificent , his coffers were empty , and at this time scarce was his majesty able to maintain the necessary charge of his house in that measure which was suitable to so royall a king . to rectify this , the king with the advice of his counsell , entrusted with all his rents , revenues and casualties , eight prime men of good worth and integritie , officers of state , counsellors and iudges . this was done that all might be rightly regulated , and before all things his tables at court kept like a kings , that forraign ambassadors might not espy any want which might derogate from the honour of king and kingdome . the ordinary tables of the court were regulated ; the courtiers daily allowance was retrenched ; which they could not away with . they and other discontented persons did reproachfully call these men , the octavians . they who grumbled at this , and would right themselves , to gain their intendment , hit upon the ordinary and safest way , that was to beginne with the church . they informe , the forraign ambassadors did work upon the king to turn papist : it was like they would prevaile , for these octavians were all such in their hearts , and dissembled only in professing to keep a communion with the protestant church ; if those were not removed from the king , and good men put about him , religion , kingdom , and all were undone . when this had been often informed and suggested , early in the morning on the 17th day of december , three of the kings domestick servants came to m. walter balcanqual's house ; the ministery of edenburgh , and others commissioners of the generall assembly , with some of the best christians of edenburgh are sent for , they meet there . the kings servants informe that all was undone , if they did not in time and speedily prevent ; for the marquesse of huntlie , ( this was the late marquesse who came occasionally the night before to court , and it is true he was popish , but god knowes he was free of what he was charged with ) say they was with the king till twelve a clock at night in his bed-chamber yester-night ; it is resolved upon to re-erect popery , and so many of your best citizens and christians are to be seized upon ; some to be sent to blacknes , some to innernes , some to dunbritton , &c. the case was apprehended in that zeale which became the cause . the resolution taken , was , that m. walter baelcanquall being to preach that very day in the chancell of saint giles church , which they call the little church , after sermon and prayer done , he should desire all good brethren and christians to meet immediatly forthwith there for the good of church and religion . noblemen , gentlemen , preachers , burgesses , all who affected the good cause did meet . m. robert bruce was appointed by common consent moderator . it is laid open in what case church and religion , state and kingdome are : the urgent instant necessity is made to appeare . the result of the determination was , that presently they goe to armes , and by holy force , to pull from the king's side those popish octavians : that a letter be written to iohn l●●d marquesse of hamilton to come to edenburgh , to be captaine of the congregation ; and in regard the king had made defection from the true religion , he being the nearest of the blood should come and take the government upon him . i know the just copy of this letter is extant to this day . they runne to armes , the word is , the sword of the lord and gideon . the good king was in the place of iustice ; the prime of the octavians with him ; hearing something of the uproare and tumult , by a secret passage , he and some other goe up to the exchequer house overhead . a great lord was head of the congregation , he and some others came commissioners to the king , were admitted , demanded those ●●tavians to justice . the king askes this lord , how durst he against his authority , his lawes , his proclamation keep unlawfull meetings at edenburgh ( for the king before had discharged the meeting of those commissioners of assemblie , or any other meeting whatsoever without his royall warrand . ) the lord , with courage in zeale to a good cause , told the king that he should see ere long they durst to doe more . the lord , or some other , taketh hold of one of the octavians gowne , who was president of session ; but he pulleth his gowne out of his hand , and conveyeth himselfe downe to the house where the lords did sit in judgement . in fine , the king and lords were forced , to shun the danger of this tumultuarie insurrection , to close up the doores , and some to stand with their swords drawne if any should offer violence to break up the doores . some good subjects especially alexander home of northborvick for the time provost of edenburgh , and roger mackmath ( whom king iames ordinarily called his bailie ) with others well disposed and loyally affected subjects , and namely the hammer-men rise up in armes for the king , who partly by smooth words , and partly by threats , husht and housed the factious and seditious . the king came out of the place of iudicatorie , and on foot , attended with many nobles , gentlemen , and other good subjects , came to his pallace at halyrude-house in peace : where immediatly in the afternoon , he convened his privy-councell , and by his wisdome and authority so repressed and punished that insolencie , that all the time of his raigne , the like barbarous treacherous course was never attempted . i hope you are the more apt to believe this , when you remember what a petition or declaration was presented to queen elizabeth at green●●ch anno 1582. to remove from her service and trust such as they know were not well affected to the religion and church . sir , i could make it appeare how all seditions almost and rebellions in that kingdom , have been set a foot or fomented by this government presbyterian : how neighbourly feudes have been encreased and entertained : how moneys collected for the reliefe and support of geneva , were by the chiefe gamaliels and presbyters interverted , employed to raise and pay souldiers to ayde and assist the earle of bothvell and his complices in rebellion against the king . i feare i have wearied you already , the subject is everlasting and i am weary of it . if i should give account of the late practices and tenets of this late covenant , it were possible to let you see that it hath farre exceeded all the mischiefe ever their forefathers did , although they tread in the same footsteps . the reason why i have spared it is not i feared it , i hope to discover it sometime to the world by anatomising it fully . next , i hope , you have espyed the noble passages of it , and are sufficiently confirmed , that nothing can be more destructive of monarchie , and the peace of any government . to shut up all , give me leave , in the close , to give the articles of their apostaticall creed inconsistent with monarchie , which they hold as the twelve articles of the apostolicall symbole . i will touch onely the prime of those ; for for their other articles , they are so many and of so vast an extent abounding in negatives , that as king iames saith well , he that would keep them is not able to keep them in his braine , but must keep them in a table booke . the articles of the dogmaticall presbyterian faith inconsistent with monarchie . 1. as i have said before ; they preach and maintaine that the church is the house of god , the civill policy and government are onely the hangings . 2. next they beleeve , all ministers are pari consortio honoris & potestatis praediti , that there must be a parity in the church . ioyne these two together , and you have a faire way for democracie . 3. they vindicate to themselves and their consistory , a soveraigne , complete , universall , independent power in all things spirituall that concerne salvation , they have not onely the directive power but the legislative also ; and all temporall things in order to salvation and religion come within the verge of their scepter . all soveraigne power , ( wheresoever you fixe it , ( whether in one , as in a monarchie ; or in few , as in an aristocracie ; or in many or all by vicissitudinarie turnes ) have onely the executive power to doe as they command ; and is bound to preserve by it's power , lawes and armes , their sacred and celestiall priviledges and soveraignty . 4. whatsoever lawes civilly enacted by king or parliament they conceive to be against the lawes of the kingdome of christ , by their native proper intrinsecall right immediately derived from christ , they may repeale and make voyd , discharge the subject to obey them . they may decree not onely different lawes of their owne from the standing lawes of the kingdome , but contrary , contradictory and destructive of them . and have withall so much coactive power , that if obedience be denyed to the lawes of this soveraignty , they can destroy the soules of the subjects , by delivering them over to satan . 5. no minister preaching in pulpit , sedition or treason , or railing at king , councell , the prime iudges , is accountable , or punishable by king , parliament , councell , or any iudicatory whatsoever ; but from all he may appeale to the sanhedrim and consistorie as the sole and proper competent iudge . 6. what corroboration or civill confirmation , or sanction they demand of the king , which he is able to doe civilly ( for they will give him no formall interest in any sacred or religious thing ) he is bound to grant it , and to obey them as christ's immediate vice-gerents : otherwise they may excommunicate him . 7. reformation and preservation of religion , especially to prescribe the way and orders for reformation is solely theirs . 8. the king is bound to put their orders in execution ; but if neither he , nor his councell , nor his parliament will doe it , the inferiour iudges , the nobles , the commons , nay every individuall man to his utmost power , at their direction , are bound to doe it . 9. that they may without warrant of supreame authority , assemble where and when they will , for god and christ's cause , and for the liberty and peace of subject and kingdome in ordine ad spiritualia ; and there they may covenant together , sweare and subscribe for the glory of god , the advancement of religion , and conspire and combine in a mutuall defence one of another in this holy cause and league . 10. they teach and maintaine , that all soveraignty and majesty in a king is originally , immediately and properly derived from the communitie , and that onely by way of a fiduciary trust , so that it is habitually and radically still in the people , and the king hath no greater portion or proportion then he hath by the first popular fundamentall constitution . and in case of deficiency , the collective body may supply in church or state the defects of his government . for mal-administration the king is censurable ; for enormous errors he is deposable , and they may disinherite his posteritie . 11. that a defensive warre is lawfull against a bad king , or a weake king seduced by malignant councell . 12. they may oppose and resist all his officers and commissioners by force and violence , if they come to execute his illegall commands . and if he will be so obstinate that he will come in armes against these good christians , they resist not his authority , but his will : nor his office , but his person . besides their practice , upon these grounds , is to bring all cases all causes under their cognition and iudgement , sub formalitate scandali , by which the king is robbed of his sacred prerogative ; the iudges of their authority ; and all subjects of their right and quiet . the rest of their extravagant maximes inconsistent with monarchy and the peace of government are reduceable to those heads . more then this you desired not . sir , being infinitely obliged to you , and honouring you much for your worth and excellent parts , cursorily and hastily , i have written this answer to you . not intending thereby to reproach any person particularly whatsoever , but to lay open to the world how dangerous a government this is , not onely for monarchy , but for all governments whatsoever : and that our eyes being opened we may chuse rather to endure any torment temporary , then to enter into this treacherous and damnable covenant , destructive of religion , king , church , peace of all , and the liberty of the subject . to sweare to these things as established de jure divino , and to put on poore people to act treason and rebellion , making them beleeve they are confessors and martyrs . if this give you any satisfaction , i have what i desire : if you doubt of the truth of any thing , i hope i am able to make all here good by faithfull and authentick records , or testimony of such as are worthy of trust . i pray you keep it for your owne use onely , for i should be loath any but a friend see it , it is so rudely done , but i dare say truly and faithfully . god save his church from this scourge , and give us peace and truth , which shall be the dayly prayer of your poore friend and obliged servant . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a88972e-100 ioh. ● act. 17. 1. of the session , hovv and of vvhom constituted . the minister is moderator . he hath no negative voyce . the iurisdiction spirituall is radically in the lay-elders . their foure sacred ordes . this yeare they are saered , the next yeare prophane . the competent cases of this session . they enjoyn civill punishments and fines . they will not baptise the child , if either of the parents have not payed the fine or satisfied the church . the membe●● constituents of the presbyterie . the cases proper to it . the time of meeting . lay preachers . the presbyterie hath kept state vvith king iames . all cases and crimes are vvithin the censure of the presbyterie , crimes suspected , are curiously here inquired after . presbyteriall government inconsistent vvith the liberty of trade and commerce . inconsistent vvith the authority of civill iudicatories . the presbytery at pleasure repealeth royall grants by lavv confirmed . the presbyterie vvill not suffer landlords to sue for their rents . some fevv of the presbyterie tyrannize over the rest of their poore brethren , remove and transplant at pleasure . a honest man removed frō his place , and one by them brought in to make avvay sacrilegiously the church patrimonie . the presbytery the seminary and nursery of feuds . what it is . the extent of their power . the cases which fall within their iurisdiction . the politick stratagem of the great gamaliels . the great honour which is given to the patriarchall presbyters . the presumptuous carriage of m. r. bruce tovvard k. iames . the countrey honour not these apostles in the name of a disciple , as it appeareth by the disrespect all other ministers have from their parishioners . the prerogative of this court . the independent soveraignty of it . of vvhom , and hovv it is composed . hovv the king is a member of it , and of no povver above the meanest ruling elder . the king must execute their commands although they be against his conscience . the proper moderator is a preacher . they indict the assembly by their ovvne povver . the vast povver of this court . lay-men judges in highest points of faith and worship , &c. commissioners of burrowes are there onely in a lay-capacity . we find doctors no where . the power which this sanhedrim assumeth to it selfe , they are above the king , and all soveraignty . if they cannot reforme by the king , they may by any other meanes else . religion may be reformed or preserved by violence . if the king will not , the nobles may . if neither king nor nobles , the people may . if nobles & commons joyne , there is hope of some greater successe . inferiour magistrates and people may joyne . every individuall in this good worke , may , & ought to the utmost of his povver , to intend and endeavour reformation . all , or as many as are well affected , may covenant and combine for doing this work . the confederats may by themselves give orders . practises upon the tenets . orders of reformation prescribed without the authority of soveraignty . they charge their adverse party to obey their orders . they protost against king and parliament . they contemne soveraign authority . they usurpe royall povver . they renounce their lavvfull soveraigne . they command all the brotherhood to be assistants . they are obeyed , the queenes herald is abused . they denounce vvarre against their adversaries . they vvill heare of no peace , but enter into a combination for mutuall defence . they depose the queene regent . the author 's modest opinion of that is called the first reformation of scotland . practice of mischief done by private men , & commended by them . when they demand the royall conformation of their decrees it is only an act of courtesie . an instance . anno . 1559. another instance , anno . 1571. they set on their discipline by themselves . all must preach as they direct . they appoynt publike fasts . a strange affront offered to king iames . none preaching treason is censurable by any but by them . the soveraignty ecclesiasticall tyrannizeth over conscience body & estate . this court is iudge of treason in relation to religion , and of fit & worthy councellors for a king . the soveraignty of the assembly is above all lavves , and may repeale them . all iudicatories are subordinate to this sanhedrim . a holy trick vvhich hatcheth all sedition and treason . the storie of 17. december 1596. their dogmaticall creed . the truth of the times vindicated whereby the lawfulnesse of parliamentary procedings in taking up of arms, is justified, doctor fernes reply answered, and the case in question more fully resolved / by william bridge ... bridge, william, 1600?-1670. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a29375 of text r19219 in the english short title catalog (wing b4467). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 169 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a29375 wing b4467 estc r19219 12042634 ocm 12042634 53006 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29375) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 53006) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 239:e61, no 20) the truth of the times vindicated whereby the lawfulnesse of parliamentary procedings in taking up of arms, is justified, doctor fernes reply answered, and the case in question more fully resolved / by william bridge ... bridge, william, 1600?-1670. [8], 54 [i.e. 50] p. printed by t.p. and m.s. for ben. allen ..., london : 1643. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng ferne, h. -(henry), 1602-1662. -resolving of conscience. ferne, h. -(henry), 1602-1662. -conscience satisfied. england and wales. -parliament. divine right of kings. a29375 r19219 (wing b4467). civilwar no the truth of the times vindicated: whereby the lawfulnesse of parliamentary procedings in taking up of arms, is justified, doctor fernes rep bridge, william 1643 30010 432 120 0 0 0 0 184 f the rate of 184 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the truth of the times vindicated : whereby the lawfulnesse of parliamentary procedings in taking up of arms , is justified , doctor fernes reply answered , and the case in question more fully resolved . by william bridge preacher of gods word at great yarmoth . psal. 127. 1. except the lord keep the citie , the watchman waketh but in vain . quaeso lector , ut memor tribunalis domini & de judicio tuo te intelligens judicandum , nec mihi nec adversario meo foveas , neve personas loquentium , sed causam consideres . hierom. printed according to order . london , printed by t. p. and m. s. for ben : allen , and are to be sold at his shop in popes-head alley . 1643. errata . in the frontispice for soveas read faveas in the epistle , for being asked , read having asked . p. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. for truths of the time , r. truth of the times ▪ p 4 for there r. they p 5. for altha●ius r. altha●ius , for henomus , &c. r. henonius . henning and amisaus . p ▪ 7. for yet r. yea . p. 8. for {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} p 10. for duct a naturar . d●cta naturae . p. 13. for rainervus r. rainerius . p. 13. for affect r. effect ▪ p. 14. for under r. into . p 15. for oppose r. expose . p. 15. for governed r. governing . p. 26. for junius , josephus , brutus , read junius , brutus , josephus p. 29. for ropos . r. propos. p. 35 ▪ & 36. for dwell r. dwelt . p. 37. for thats read its . p 39. for wisd. 22. r. rev. 2. p. 39. for but passive r. not passive , p 40. for if lawfull r. lawfull . p. 41. for take of , r. take heed of . pag. 45. for to which , r. which . p. 45. for see will ▪ read so will . p. 46. for committe r. community . p. 47. for that prince r. the prince . p. 47. for being read bring : for that that r. that it . there are many faults escaped in the marginall latine , yet because the latine is turned into english , and the authors cited , i do not note those errata . to the right vvorshipfvll , the knights and gentlemen deputie-lieutenants of the county of norfolk . honoured sirs : give me leave to joyn you together in one epistle whom god and your countrey hath joyned together in one service ; it is not in my purpose to blazen your worth before the world , your own actions speak you in the gate , and wise men had rather do worthily then heare of it ; onely observing your unwearied labour of love for god and your countrey . i count it my duty to come forth and meet you with this pen-service in testimonie of my thankfull respects to you . you read numb. 25. when the wrath of god brake out against israel , that phineas stood up and executed judgement , and the wrath was not onely diverted but himself blessed , yea the blessing was a blessing of peace though wrought out by the sword : your like action in this time of wrath will carrie the like blessing on your selves and houses , yet your work is rather to bring men to justice then to execute it . many blessed comforts w●it on your service . first , we read in scripture but of one man so potent in heaven that he could command the sun to stand still , and he was a souldier , joshua ; but of one man of whom it was said , that he had an heart after gods own heart , and he was a great souldier , david : but of one man of whom christ gave that great testimonie , i have not found so great faith no not in israel . and he was a souldier too the centurion , thus ha●h god honoured your calling . secondly , your work is good , for you are the ministers of reformation . i read of a king of meth , sometimes in ireland , that being asked how certain noysome birds that came flying into that countrey and bred there might be destroyed : was answered thus , nidos eorum ubique destruendos : the way to be rid of them was to destroy their nests . now for a long season many noysome birds have been flying over into this kingdom , and have bred here ; the work of these times , is to destroy those nests of jesuites and jesuited persons , and it is that work which now you are upon . though it cost some paines its worth your labour , happie is that necessitie which leads to better things . thirdly , your cause is just also , agreeable to the law of nature ; for , conservatio sui ipsius est opus naturalissimum , to the law of god : for david though not the representative body y●t lawfully took up armes for his own defence ; to the law of the kingdom , for what more legall then that the houses of parliament should bring in delinquents to triall , and how can that be without armes when the delinquents betake themselves to their armes ? the schoolmen say three things concurre to a just warre . first , jurisdictio indicentis , and for that you have the authoritie of parliament , which , as one writes , if you respect antiquitie , is of all courts the most ancient ; if dignitie , is of all courts the most hononorable ; if authoritie and jurisdiction , is of all courts the most copious . secondly , offensio patientis , and for that you have matter too much , and your enemies too little , the great cause of their armes is but some peece of prerogative ( if they pretend truly ) a cause infinitely beneath so unkind & bloodie a war as this is . thirdly , intentïo boni convenientis , and for that i dare say you are bellando pacifici , your war being to prevent warre , and your present bleeding to prevent some great sicknesse which this state would sink under . fourthly , your forces live and march under as many prayers as ever english armies did , you have preces arma●as ; and though joshua fought valiantly , exod. 17. yet the prayers of moses ( who was not in the fight ) got the field . fifthly , if you do overcome , you shall not make your selves slaves by your own victories ; we may truly say of some , dum vincunt victi sunt : when they have overcome others , they are slaves themselves ; your religion , laws , and liberties stand all readie to reward your prowes . and sixthly , if you be overcome and die , you die for god and your countrey ; who can bring his life into a better market ? blessed are those that dye for the lord , so that word ● is rather to be read , rev. 14. 13. wherefore as heretofore so now much more labour to hold forth the vertues of him that hath called you to this great imployment . as souldiers are more honoured then others , so they should be more vertuous ; he had need carry much grace in his heart that doth daily carrie his life in his hand ; and your souldiers should as well overcome the countreys with their good examples , as the enemies with their swords . when joshua went out to battell against the amalakites his men were all chosen or choice men , exod. 17. 9. and saith the lord deut. 23. 9 when the hoste goeth forth against thine enemie then keep thee from every wicked thing . it is ordinarily observed , that when the jews marched out of egypt into canaan , they carried in their colours some significative signe , judah carried a lyon in his standard , ephraim an ox , reuben , the picture of a man , nepthali an hinde ; a lyon noting their courage , a man noting their skill and understanding , an hinde noting their swiftn●sse and readinesse for execution ; and an ox for patience , strength and obedience . such colours should those weare in their lives that are souldiers for god . the enemies of the churches had their colours also ; the beare , the leopard , &c. dan. 7. cruell in humane practises , being more fit to be worne in their lives then ours . how can men be faithfull to you that are unfaithfull to god ? dr. ferne , your adversary and mine , writes thus of the parliaments forces ; if a list of the army against his majestie were examined , there would be found if not a considerable number of papists , yet of such as they that employ them would have cause to be ashamed of , &c. it may be some of your souldiers would say as davids did , let me go over i pray thee and take off his head . but let your answer rather be ▪ let him alone , and let him reproach , it may be that the lord will look on mine affliction , and that the lord will requite good for his reproaching this day . and as formerly so now yet more and more let your endeavour be to wipe off such aspersions by sending and employing such souldiers as may not stain your good cause with their ill practise , let your motto be , militia fine malitia . and as for your successe either it will be good or bad ; if bad , measure not the goodnesse of your cause thereby . eventus est stultorum argumentum , it is gods course to give by denying , non habendo habemus . wicked benjamin who took part with the delinquents of g●beah , must first prevaile against not representative , but all israel , who took up armes to do justice , that israel might be the more provoked against them . judg. 20. and if your successe be good , let your men carry it humbly : humilitie after mercie makes men fit for more mercie . and he that boasts in his own bodie , boasts in his own prison : rejoyce not , saith solomon , when thine enemie falleth . pro. 24. 17. your souldiers may rejoyce in gods providence , but not in their enemies blood . zonarus writes that this was the manner amongst the romanes when any triumphed , that an officer stood behind him , saying , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , look what is behind , and there he saw a bell and a whip ; a whip noting that for all his greatnesse he might come under the lash of misery , which bell-like would sound very loud . thus have i taken the boldnesse to present you with my rude thoughts and this small treatise , concerning which i say as salvian , i have not sought smooth but profitable words . and in which because it hath pleased god to lay the foundation of your proceedings in your good successe at crowland , by the hand and command of that worthie gentleman sir miles hobert , i wish you that blessing which the abbat of crowland when he began to build the abbey would have made the foundation thereof , perpetuam foelicitatem . your humble servant in the gospel of christ jesus . w. bridge . an advertisement to the reader . thou mayst perhaps wonder that this answer was no sooner returned to the doctors reply , which came forth so long agoe , so that now it may seem to come forth too late : know therefore first , that the doctors book it selfe , some while went up and downe in the darke , seen onely of a few . secondly , that the author of the answer living farre from london , it was much longer before he could have the sight of it : after he had it , he soone dispatched his answer , which he left in the hands of some friends here , a moneth since , to be published , but new licencers being appointed , much time was spent in carrying of it from one to another for leave to travell safely : as also printers being full either of businesse or negligence , it comes to passe , that it hath been much longer in the birth then in the breeding . i hope it comes not too late to satisfie the conscience of the well-affected , or to encourage those that are engaged in this so necessary a defensive warre ; and it may be much more seasonable then if before , whiles peoples mindes are generally inclined to goe up with one unanimous consent personally to maintain the true religion , life and liberty of the subiect , which seems to be the likeliest way to put an end to our unnaturall uncivill warres , and happy shall that man be called , that shall help forward that great worke , and be a meanes to still the storme , the end of a inst warre being peace , as the lancing of the wound is for the cure of it . farewell . i. a. an introdvction to the reader . good reader , you see into what sad times we are now fallen : our english sunne is almost set , out day of peace and plenty is almost done ; workmen go from their labour , & beasts go forth to their prey . and it war be the worst of all miseries , and civill warre the worst of all wars ( as indeed it is : for there the parents do bury their children ; a whereas otherwise the children do bury their parents ) then is our condition of all the most lamentable . the disputing time is almost now over : the doctor hath stared so long in bringing up his rear , that i fear the controversie depending , is now rather to be determined with the dint of the sword , then with the strength of the pen : yet because the temple must be built in troubleous times , and the tide of truth doth usually at the first creep up by the bank side against the streame ; i am not unwilling for truths sake , once more to appeare in this cause , that i may deliver it from those exceptions wherewith the doctor hath burthened the same . it is not long since i met with the doctors reply , and at the first i thought it not necessary to give any answer unto it ; partly beeause the subject is so well beaten , that he is almost answered before he hath objected ; partly because i count that reply scarce worth a sober answer , which is clothed with so many scoffing jeeres , and vile reproches , things unworthy ▪ of a d. d. especially such as pretend satisfaction of conscience : but it will finde entertainment with conscience according to its owne nature : for what luther speakes of certaine preachers , is true of writers also . b multi sunt ( saith he ) there are many hot and tumultuous preachers , who would have all things done as they say , not so much willing to be heard because they speake the word of god , as because they are teachers of it , desiring rather that the organ then the sonnd may be commended ; who having meditated and conceived some words , do promise to themselves presently to convert those that heare them : whereas through the wonderfull wisedome of god , they do nothing lesse then what they thought : for the soule of man perceiving that the word preached is compounded with their art , and covered over with humane dung ; that is , poluted with humane affection and passion , it doth therefore nauseat the thing delivered , and is rather provoked then converted . yet because i have been earnestly desired by friends , to open more fully the nature of government and civill government of england , i am not unwilling to set pen to paper againe . for your better satisfaction therefore give me leave to lead you on by some steps or propositions which i shall lay down in the first and second chapters , and then shall come more neerly to answer the doctor . chap. i , now because the basis of our question is , concerning the nature of government , rule and authority , or ruling and governing power ( in which principle our doctor is so much mistaken ) i must ( though at last ) shew what that is . power in it selfe therefore , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the word used rom. 13. properly signifies a liberty or authority to c worke or act towards others , translated licentia from {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , as licentia à licet : sometimes the word is used in the abstract , as luke 4. 6. luke 19. 17. sometimes in the concreate , as matth. 8. 9. rom. 13. 1. 2. where , saith gerard , d not without great advice the apostle paul doth use an abstractive manner of speech to shew that subiects ought not so much to respect the persons commanding , as the office it selfe in their commandements . take the word in the abstract , so it is all one with jurisdiction , which is ordinarily described to be jus dicendi in invitum . now this governing power is either ecclesiasticall or civill : civill concerning which our question is according to the apostle paul , as gerard , e bucanan , and others have it , is that ordinance of god which is armed with the sword for the terror of those that are evill , and encouragement of those that do well , rom. 13 1 2. 3. this dominion of jurisdiction is distinguished from dominion of propriety : for dominion of propriety , as medina observes , f is a power of disposing of any thing that is a mans owne to his own profit . the power of jurisdiction or government is not so ; which while some have mistaken , they have attributed so much power to the prince , in regard of townes , castles and forts , as if he had therein dominion of propriety , which breeds much confusion in mens apprehensions , and doth bias their thoughts into state errors . according to alman , secular or civill power , g is that power which regularly is given to one , or more , by the people , for the ordering and preservation of the common-wealth , according to the civill lawes thereof . i shall go no further then the scripture will lead us plainly in this particular : as ecclesiasticall power or jurisdiction is ministeriall , and therefore called , jus clavium , the power of the keyes ; so civill power is lordly , and therefore called , jus gladii , the power of the sword , whereby some are authorized to exercise jurisdiction in common-wealths over others , for the reward of those that are good , and the punishment of those that are evill : that is , governing or ruling power . 2d proposition . if we take governing or ruling power as abstractively considered , so it is an ordinance appointed by god himselfe , by me kings reigne , saith god . and our saviour when pilate said : knowest thou not that i have power to loose thee ? &c. said , thou hadst it not unlesse it were given thee from above . and againe , give unto caesar the things that are caejars , shewing that as god hath his dues in the world , so the magistrate hath his . besides , we are comanded to obey and submit unto the higher powers , rom. 13. and why should there be any obedience if the power it selfe were not commanded of god ; yea , the israelites are faulted for contemning of god himselfe , in casting off the government of samuel , which there should not have been , had not government been appointed by god . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , said the heathen . luther calls magistracie , necessarium naturae corruptaremedium , the necessarie remedy of corrupt nature . and tertullian saith well , inde imperator unde homo antequam imperator . the voice of nature is the voice of god : now nature it selfe teacheth , that in a commmunity , or body politicke , there must be justice administred , otherwise the community can never be preserved : but justice cannot be administred , nnlesse authority , power or jurisdiction , be first appointed ; for what hath a private man to do to put another to death ? thou shalt not kill , is made to all men . object . but the apostle calls it , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , an humane constitution or creature , how therefore is it true that ruling power is an ordinance appointed of god himselfe . answ. the apostle dorh no where say , that power it selfe , or magistracie in the abstract , is an ordinance of man , but the forme or qualification of it , as monarchy , aristocracie , democracie , ( which are the chanels in which this power runs ) is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . and therefore the apostle having said , be subject to every ordidinance of man , he addeth , whether to the king as supreame , or to the governours , &c. h durandus here distinguishes between institution of power , and acquisition of it secular power , saith he , considered according to its institution , is of god , but according to its acquisition , and way of use , so not : our doctor doth ordinarily confound these in his reasonings ; yea , though he distinguishes them when he sets downe his owne naked judgement , yet when he comes to reason against us , he will take no notice of his owne distinction , neither can we perswade him to it : but the thing being as visible as the sunne , i passe to the third and chiefe step of my discourse , which is this following . 3● propos. though power abstractively considered , be originally from god himselfe , yet he hath communicated that power to the people , so as the first subject seat and receptacle of ruling civill power under himselfe , is the whole people or body politicke . to this purpose doctor ruherfords words are very plaine , afree common-wealth , saith he , containes ordines regni , the states that have nomotheticke power , and they not onely by the law of nature may use justa tutela , a necessary defence of their lives from a tyrants fury , but also by the law of nations may authoritatively represse and limit , as is proved by junius , brutus , bucherius , althasius , haenomus . therefore heming , amiceus doe well distinguish between plebem & {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , populum : for indeed the multitude ( excluding the states ) or base of the people , can hardly have another law against i tyrant , then the law of nature . but the common-wealth , including the states of a free kingdome , hath an authoritative . so isodore , origen , atistotle , plato , titus livius , plutarch , and that of the councell of basil , plus valet regnum quam rex , the kingdome is more worth then the king , approved by all . thus farre doctor rutherford , professor of divinity in scotland . the reasons of my position are these : first , when god gave the power of the sword to men , gen. 9 6. he gave it indiscriminatim , without difference , to all the world , noah and his sonnes being all the men that were then alive in the world ; and he gave not the sword onely to noah , but to all his sonnes that then were upon the face of the earth ; not that every one might ordinarily use it , but that they might , as they thought fit , appoint one or more who might exercise that power that was given to all , as the first seat of it . secondly , because the power of ruling and governing is naturall , and what ever is naturall , doth first agree to the communitie , or totum , and afterward to the particular person or part , as the power of seeing and hearing ( as k facultas parisiensis observes to this purpose ) is firstly in the man and from the man in the eye or eare or particular member . thirdly , because the fluxus and refluxus of civill authoritie , is from and to the people : if the authority of ruling in a commonwealth be given by the people to him that ruleth ( i speake what is jure & regulariter ) and returneth to them againe to see justice done in case that there is no particular supreme magistrate left to rule then the first subject seat and receptable of ruling power must needs be in the people . now so it is , that both these are true , which i shall prove one after another : as first , the fluxus of civill authority is from the people , civill government or authority is derived from the people to the prince , or him that ruleth : they ordinarily and regularly doe and are to communicate that governing power where with such or such a person is so invested : therefore saith the lord , d●ut. 17. 14. 15. when thou art come into the land which the lord thy god giveth thee , and shalt possesse it , and shalt dwell therein , and shalt say , i will set a king over me , like as all the nations that are about me , thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the lord thy god shall chuse , thou shalt not set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother . where we shall see , that the whole power of appointing and setting a king over them , was given unto that people ( as other nations had it ) by god himselfe . for first , god directing them herein , doth not say thus : when thou dwellest in the land which i shall give thee , take heed that thou do not set a king over thee , which thing belongs not to thee ; but as a matter belonging to the people , he saith , when thou shalt say , i will set a king over me , be sure that he be a good one , and such as is pleasing to me . secondly , in that he doth take away the power from them of making a stranger , he granteth them a power to make a brother , as l mendoza well observes . now saith god to them , thou mayest not set a stranger over thee , which is not thy brother . thirdly , what can be more plaine then the words themselves ? in the 15. verse the words are reduplicated , ponendo pones , according to the hebrew , in placing thou shalt place : and that there might bee no mistake in the matter , god is pleased to explaine the former word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which we translate , set or place , by an afterward in the ●5 . verse , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which signifies to give , thus , thou mai●st not give a stranger over thee , so that setting and giving in these two verses , are all one , shewing that is firstly in the people to set or give a power unto others to rule over them . secondly the apostle peter calis this civill power {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . now it is not therefore called so , onely because it concerns men , or because it is conversant about men , or appointed for the good of men : for then the government m of the church also should be so called but because the way of governing is raised appointed , established by man himselfe , as is observed out of oecumenius n . thirdly , this derivation of authority from the people will appeare also , if men do seriously consider the state of jewish government . there was no people nnder heaven whom god did so immediatly reigne over , as their king ; yet if we observe those kings that were the most immediatly appointed by god himselfe , we shall finde the intervening choice of the people , insomuch as it is said of saul expresly , that the people did chuse him , 1 sam. 12. 13. behold your king whom you have chosen and desired , upon which words mendoza observes , that by the word chosen cannot be meant desired , because that word was added too , as different from the former , yet it is said , 1 sam. 11. 15. that all the people went to gilgall , and there they made saul king : whereupon , sayes o mendoza , what is more plain ? neither could they make him king otherwise , then by conferring kingly power upon him . i doe not say that god did not make a designation of his person to the crowne , there is much difference between the designation of person , and collation of power . when the israelites were under the government ofthe of the judges , they desired & chose a new way of government , saying to samuel : now make us a king to judge us , like all the nations , 1. sam. 8 5. and when god had yeelded to them , and had designed saul over them , the people also came in with their election and sufftages . neither are these two , gods designation and mans election repugnant , but may stand together : for as zepperus observes on those words , deut. 17. p thou shalt set over thee a man whom god shall choose ; the election may be of god , the constitution , susception and comprobation of the people by their suffrages . and car. scribanius q who purposely writes of the forme and manner of the jewes government and common-wealth , speaks abundantly and plainly thus : but for that which concernes the creation of the king of israel , he was first ( saith he ) created by the suffrages of the whole people . and if god would have it so then among the children of israel , whom he intended in speciall manner to reigne over himselfe , much more may we thinke that god would have the first constitution of kingdomes to be so ordered now , and amongst other people : wherefore i conclude this , that the prince doth and ought at first to receive his government and authoritie from the people , and that the people themselves do give it to him . and if so , then the first seat and subject of civill government , is the people : r for that nothing can give that to another , which it hath not it selfe first either formally or virtually . and now secondly , for the reflux of authority , so it is , that in case there have been a supreme magistrate in a state , and all particulars cease , and the royall line be spent ▪ and justice to be executed , it returnes to the whole body to see to it . as when josua and divers judges had ruled in israel yet we read that after them , judg. 19 1. there was no king in israel , and then was the great sinne committed by the men of gibeah with the levites concubine : whereupon all israel did take the sword of justice , and they said judg. 20. 13. to the men of gibea , deliver us the men the children of belial , which are in gibea , that we may put them to death ; which gibea refusing , they did all as one man , goe up in armes against them , god himselfe approving their act . and what had all israel to doe to execute justice , if the power of the sword did not returne to the people , vacante magistratu supremo : neither can it be objected , that though israell had no king and supreme magistrate amongst them , yet they had severall heads of the tribes , by whose power they did come together for the execution of justice , as it might seeme to be judges . 20. 2. for sometimes the chiefe of the tribes doth in scripture phrase signifie those that are chiefe in age , wisedome and riches , not such as were chiefe in authority . besides , this action is imputed to all the people , there being foure hundred thousand men that came together upon this designe , vers. 2 , unto whom the levite made his complaint , vers 7. yee are all children of israel , give here your advice and counsell and all the people arose as one man , vers 8 saying vers . 9. now this shall be the thing we will doe to gibea , and vers 11 so all the men of israel were gathered against gibea . and least that any should thinke that this worke was done by the power of some remaines of regall authority amongst them , it is not onely said before this work begun , that there was no king in israel in those dayes ▪ judg. 19 1. but after all was done ▪ i is said further chap. 21. 25. in those dayes there was no king in israel , and every man did that which was right in his owne eyes ; so that jus gladii , the right of the sword , in case of defection , returneth to them again , so far as to see that justice be duly executed : and therefore if both the fluxus and refluxus of authority , be from and to the people , then must they needs be under god the first seat , subject and receptacle of civill power . object . but the scripture tells us , that the powers that be are ordained of god rom. 13 1. and it ordained of god , then not of man , nor by any fluxus , or appointment from or of man . ans. not to speake of the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which signifies rather ordered then ordained : government is of god two wayes , either by immediate donation , as that of moses , or by mediate derivation , as that of iudges , and the kings of israel . the government of princes now is not by immediate donation or designation , but by mediate derivation , and so it is both of god and man too , as fortescue speakes , quicquid facit causa secunda , facit & causa prima . but the doctor tells us , that kings at first were not by choice of the people , but that election was a defection from , and a disturbance to that naturall way of descent of governing kingly power by a paternall right , pag. 9. of his reply . that monarchicall government is not a meere invention of man , as democracie and aristocracie are ; but that it is rather ductunaturae , though not jure naturae , we being led there unto through the veines of nature in a paternall or fatherly rule , pag. 8. as is plaine by the booke of god , that the first fathers of mankinde , were the first kings and rulers : for we see ( saith he ) that the earth was divided amongst noah and his three sonnes , and still as they increased , new colonies were sent out , who had the government both regall and sacerdotall , by primogeniture ; whence it appeares , ( saith he ) that monarchy was the first government , it being late ere any popular rule aristocraticall or democraticall appeared in the world : and that monarchy , how ever we cannot say that it was jure divino , yet it was exemplo divino , the government which god set up over his people , being monarchicall still in moses , judges and the kings of israel , pag. 8. ans. first , whereas the dr saith , that the first kings were not by the choice of the people at the first , p. 8. and that popular election was a kinde of defection from and a disturbance to that naturall way , &c. i refer doctor fern unto doctor fern , who saith both in his first and second book , pag. 67. of his reply , it is probable that kings at first were by election here as elswhere . this i have spoke to already , and shall speak to yet afterwards ; neither doe we take it unkindly that the doctor cannot agree with us , seeing he cannot agree with himselfe . secondly , whereas he saith , monarchicall government is not a meere invention of man , as aristocracie and democracie are , i refer him to what he saith himselfe : for in his first booke , pag. 13. 14. he saith : we must distinguish power it selfe , and the qualification of that power in severall formes of government : if we consider the qualification of this governing power , and the manner of executing it , according to the severall formes of government , we granted it before to be the invention of man . and when such a qualification or forme is orderly agreed upon , wee say it hath gods permissive approbation . yet in his reply he makes this forme of monarchicall government , rather an appointment of god , both ducta natura , and exemplo divino , and not a meere invention of man , as other formes of government are . here i must leave him to agree with himselfe . thirdly , whereas he saith ; that the first fathers of mankinde , were the first kings and rulers : for we see the earth divided amongst noahs three sonnes , &c. i referre him for information to the 1 chron. 1 ▪ 10. where it is said expressely of nimrod , that hee began to be mighty upon the earth ; whereas if noah and his sonnes were kings , their dominions being greater before the d●vision of the earth into after colonies , they should have been more mighty then he . and what his might was ▪ is declared to us , gen. 10. 10. and the beginning of his kingdome was babel , &c. here is the first time , as mendoza well observes , that we read of a kingdome after the flood , and that is marked with a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , rebellavit : for nimrod comes of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , to rebell , as if in erecting his kingdome , he had rebelled against the way of government which before wasused if not appointed . and it should seem strange if god had appointed that way of government by making the sonnes of noah kings ; that cham , from whom came nimrod , who was that cursed and wicked posterity of noah , should keep that government alive which was set up by god ; and that shem , who was the godly posterity of noah , from whom came abram , should not : for we read not that abraham was a king , or that his government was monarchical ▪ but rather the contrary , as 1 chro. 1. 43. now these are the kings that reigned in the land of edom , before any king reigned over the children of israel . to this purpose mendoza ſ writeth who saith , before the descent into egypt , the jewes did not constitute a common-wealth , but a family : for ( as aristotle ) a common-wealth doth not arise but from a conjunction of many families ; but the● abrahams family was one , to which isaac's succeeded , and to that the house of jacob . and although in jacobs time , after severall marriages there sp●ang up divers families ( the government of all which could not be occonom●●al● or domesticall ) yet were there not so many families as could constitute any politicall common-wealth , but a middle kinde of community , which is called vitalis , or collectanea . yea in sect. 6. he proves out of austine , anton. isidore , that kingly government fell in the fourth age of the world : and therefore rupertus compares the fourth age of the world to the fourth day of the creation , t because as that did shine with starres , so this with kings . and whereas the doctor tells us , that this regall monarchicall government is naturall , though not jure , yet ductu naturae , we being led thereunto through the veines of nature , in a paternall or fatherly rule , as is plaine by the booke of god , that the first fathers of mankinde were kings , and so regall government to descend upon the first borne by primogeniture , as their families increased and spread further , &c. pag. 8. i referre him to what molina and pineda say , u molina will tell him , that power is of two sorts , some that hath its rise ex solo jure naturali , and therefore called naturall , as the power of the father over his children , and those that descend from him : other power there is , which hath its origination from the will of men , they being willing to subject themselves to the supreame , and is therefore called a civill power . so that paternall and civill power are not the same , but have two originals . and if monarchicall government should bee by paternall right , then is it not onely ductu , sed jure naturae ; ductus naturae is that whereby wee are led to any thing by the principles of nature : and that which wee are led to by the principles of nature , is jure naturae : for naturale est ( sayes the philosopher ) quod fluit ex principiis naturae . and so the membra dividentia should interfeere , whereas they ought to be fully opposite . besides , if paternall government doe lead us to regall , and monarchicall , then kings should and ought to rule as arbitrarily in their kindomes , as fathers doe in their families : and if subjects doe deny this arbitrary power to them , they sinne , because they are led thereunto by nature , and so all the kingdomes of the world should he in this sinne : for in what kingdome of the world doth a king rule as arbitrarily as a father in his family . again , this contrivance of government by the doctor , supposes that the eldest man , or father after the flood , though he were never so silly and weake , should be king , and that this regall government must necessarily descend upon the first borne , by vertue of primogeniture . for this i referre him to pineda , where at large in his booke de rebus salomonis , he may read pineda proving that among the israelites the crown did not descend upon the first born , but was alwayes disposed of according to the will of the parent , appointing it to this or that childe ; where he brings in abulensis retracting his opinion , and professing , that though he did formerly thinke that the crowne did descend upon the first borne , by vertue of primogeniture , yet at the last he was of another sentence , because it is said , 1 chron. 5. 1. 2. ruben the first borne of israel , because he defiled his fathers bed , his birthright was given to the sonnes of joseph ; yet verse 2. juda prevailed above his brethren , and of him came the chiefe rulers . now as they argue , if the crowne belonged to the first borne , as part of the birthright that should have been given unto the sonnes of joseph ; unto whom it is here said expressely the birthright was given : but the rule and crowne was given unto another tribe , arguing that it was no part of the birthright , or any necessary annexum to the primogeniture in those dayes . this doctrine pineda proves by examining the series of all the kings , instancing especially in solomon who was appointed king by david , notwithstanding he was not davids eldest sonne ; and abiah who was appointed by rehoboam , though rehoboam had many elder children ▪ as he clears from 2 chron. 11 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 22. fifthly , whereas the doctor saith , this monarchicall government was the first government that god set up ; in moses , judges , and kings of israel , and so though not jure divino , yet exemplo divino . i consesse i cannot but wonder at the conceit , seeing the difference between the government of judges and kings is so abundantly made out by car. sigonius , feverdentius , ranervus , abulensis , and many others ( a ) sigonius saith expresly , the first government among the hebrews was by the chiefe of the people , and after by kings , that by the greeks being , called aristocracie , and this monarchie ; aristocracie , saith he , was under the judges , joshua , and others , monarchie under kings , which aristocraticall government of theirs is signified to us by these words in deut. 12. 1. 8. these are the statutes and judgements which ye shall observe to do in the land which the lord thy god giveth thee . verse 1. then verse 8. ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day , every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes . and indeed if the israelites were under monarchicall government in the times of the judges and monarchie was then on foot ; why should they desire it as another kind of government which yet they had not , 1. sam. 8. saying to samuel , now make us a king to judge us like all the nations : verse 5. by which it appeares that the government which they had before under the judges was not monarchicall as that which they had afterwards . let no man therefore swallow this principle so often inculcated by the doctor , that the government of israel under judges was monarchicall . for though some of the judges were called kings , yet as drusius and others observe , the word king was taken either more strictly for monarchs , or more largely for such captains and governours as did rule over them ; surely god at the first , by all we can read in the scripture , was pleased to appoint magistracie it selfe and left the children of men free to set up that way and forme of government , which in prudence might best correspond with their condition , still making people the first subject and receptacle of civill power : in proofe whereof i have stayed the longer , it being the foundation of all this controversie . and now passe on to the fourth proposition , which is . 4th . proposition . seeing that the people are under god the first subject of civill power , therefore the prince o● supreme magistrate hath no more power then what is communicated to him from the communitie , because the affect doth not exceed the vertue of its cause . 5th . proposition . and as the prince hath no more power then what is communicated from the communitie ; so the people or communitie cannot give away from themselves the power of selfe-preservation . because the same commandement that faith , thou shalt not kill : doth also say , thou shalt preserve . precepts that forbid evill , do command the contrary good . now the morall naturall law of god forbids a man to kill himselfe , and therefore commands him to preserve himselfe : and as by a positive act men cannot make a law to kill themselves , no more can they not to preserve themselves ; the one being as strongly commanded by the morall law , and as deeply seated in nature as the other . secondly , because if the communitie should give away the power of self-preservation , the state should not be in a better but in a worser condition then before . the king and prince is taken into office for the good of the people , therefore called pater patriae , & pastor gregis : not because he may arbitrarily rule in the common wealth as a father doth in his familie ; but because of his tender care that he is to have over his people ; and that the people might live more secure and peaceably in all godlinesse and honestie : but if the communitie should give such a trust to any one that they might not at all defend themselves beyond his actuall appointment , they should be infinitely in a worser condition then before , because before such trust they should be freemen ; but after the trust they should be slaves , unlesse it pleases the king through his own gratious condiscention to let them be free still : for what is a slave but such a one who is so absolutely at the power of anothers command , that he may be spoiled , or sold , or put under the gallies , and there beaten daily , having no power to make any resistance or selfe-defence . thirdly , it is agreeable to the law of nations and reason , that no inferiour court can undo what a superiour court hath done , as where an estate is setled upon children by act of parliament , no inferiour court of justice can cut off the intayle . now selfe-preservation is enacted in the court of nature , as he that hath read but magirus unbound , i meane common naturall principles , will grant , and therefore no act of a communitie can cut off this intayle from their posteritie , or make such a deed of conveyance whereby themselves and their children should be spoyled of self-preservation . ob. but though by nature a man is bound to preserve himself , yet he may destroy or put himself upon that which will be his destruction for the publick good ; doth not natura particularis go crosse to its own disposition , ne detur vacuum ? respons . true i have read indeed that natura particularis gives way to natura universalis , but never heard before that natura universalis gives way to natura particularis , or that natura universalis doth seek its own destruction , or loose the power of self-preservation for the good or betternesse of some particular nature . wherefore if the seat of power be in the community , and therefore no more power in the supreme then was and is derived from the communitie , and the people cannot give away the power of self preservation : then in case the prince doth neglect his trust so as not to preserve them , but to oppose them to violence , it is no usurpation for them to look to themselves , which yet may be no act of jurisdiction over their prince , or taking away of any power from him which they gave him , but is in truth a stirring up acting and exercising of that power which alwayes was left in themselves . chap. ii. having now spoken of power in generall , i shall say somewhat of the governing and ruling power of england ; yet because that concerns the parliament to declare ( which they have done ) and lawyers for to clear which they do , i shall but touch upon it , and no more then comes within the compasse and verge ( i do not say ) of a divine but subject . i find therefore in learned fortescue , lord chief-justice , and after lord chancellor in king henry the sixth time , that he doth distinguish of governed or ruling power into two sorts , the one meerly royall , and the other politick . when kingdoms are ruled by royall government , saith he , then men in a times past excelling in power , and greedie of dignity and glory , did many times by plain force subdue unto themselves their neighbours the nations adjoyning , and compelled them to do them service , and to obey their commands , which commands , they decreed afterwards to be unto the people , very laws . cap. 12. the forme of institution of a politick kingdom is that where a king is mad , and ordained for the defence of the law of his subjects , and of their bodies and goods , whereunto he receiveth power of his people , for that he cannot govern his people by any other power . cap. 13. now , saith he , the king of england cannot alter or change the laws of his realm at his pleasure , for he governeth his people by power , not onely royall , but also politick . and accordingly wil. the conquerour ( to go no higher , in whose entrance to the crown dr. f. makes the first contrivement of his english government for conscience to rest upon ) seemes to me to have possest himself of this kingdom , who though he did conquer the same , yet the first claime or title that he laid to this crown was gift , which edward the consessor had made to him ; herauld the former king having promised the crown also to him . in this right he first set foot on the english shore , not in the right of a conquest , but in the right of a gift and promise , as speed , cambden and others affirm . and afterwards when he had obtained the crown , he swore to use and practise the same good laws of edward for the common laws of this realme ; notwithstanding saith mr fox , amongst the said lawes i find in ancient records , this was part , that the king because he is vicar of the highest king , is appointed to rule the kingdome , and the lords people , to defend the holy church ; which unlesse he do the name of a king agrees not to him , but he loseth the name of a king , &c. 2ly , as the king and conqueror came into the kingdome by this claim , so we finde , that in those times the consent and choice of the people was in use for the establishing of kings amongst them : for when william the first sent to herald to make good his promise , herald answered , that he was rightfull king , as being so by the consent and choyce of the people , as is reported in cambden in his britannia , thus : as concerning the promise of king edw. william is to understand , that the realme of england could not be given by promise , neither ought i to be tied to the said promise , seeing the kingdome is fallen to me by election , and not inheritance . and as for his own stipulation , he said , it was extorted from him by force ; neither he if he could , nor might if he would , make it good , seeing it was done without the consent of the people . yea , histories tell us , that when william the first had beaten herald in the field , the people still were in doubt whom they should chuse and setup for their king : for sayes culiel . malmsburiens edwin and morcard came to london and solicited the citie that they would preferre one of them to the kingdome ; and the rest of the nobles would have chosen edgar , if the bishops would have stuck to them : but the english , who then might have healed the ruines of the kingdome , whilest they would none of their owne , brought in a stranger . so that though william the first had gotten the field , yet was not he brought to the crown , but with the consent and choyce ( though much over-pow'red and over-awed ) of the people . so sayes speed expressely , consent thus gotten , & all voices given for william , he was crowned king at westminster . 3ly , as the crown in those dayes was obtained by the consent & choice of the people , so i say , that even william the conquerour did not come to the crown without all conditions : for the kentish men would not receive him but upon cōdition , which they proposed thus , most noble duke , behold here the commons of kent are come forth to meet and receive you as their soveraigne , requiring your peace , their own free condition or estate , and their ancient lawes formerly used . if these bee denied , they are here presently to abide the verdict of battell , fully resolved rather to die then to depart with their lawes , or to live servile in bondage , which name and nature is , and ever shall be strange unto us , and not to be exdured . the conquerour driven to these streights , and loath to hazard all on so nice a point , more wisely then willingly granted their desires , and pledges on both parts given for performance . so saith speed in his chronicles , so that it is plain , that even william the first came not to the full crown of england , without all conditions , and therefore our kings and princes pleading their right from him , cannot be kings and princes without all conditions . i know dr. f. tells us , that the kings oath imports no condition , but is taken for confirmation and strengthning of mutuall duties : whether that be true , let any judge who reads but these things . and indeed , if the kings of england were such absolute monarchs , as that no resistance might be made to their commandments for the taking up of arms for the defence of the country , when enjoyned by parliament , then the subjects and people of england must lose this power of selfe-defence : ( for they once had it all men by nature having a power to defend themselves ) either by conquest , as being by force spoyled thereof , or else they gave it away by some indenture at the election of the prince ( for inheritance is but succession of election inheritance or immediate donation from god , or else god hath forbidden this forcible resistance by scripture . if it bee said that this people are spoiled thereof by conquest , and are as a people meetly conquered , then any other sword that is longer then the princes , may fetch back that power again . if it be said that this people gave away this power by indenture at the first election of their prince , then let men shew us such indenture . if it be said , that god hath forbidden such a forcible resistance by rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. or the like scriptures , then it must be affirmed that the parliament are not the higher powers , which dr ferne granteth : for if the parliament come within the compasse of those words ( higher powers ) then that scripture rom. 13. doth not reach them , but rather requires others to be obedient to them ; yea , if by the higher powers is understood onely the king , then the two houses may not ▪ make any forcible resistance against any petty constable that comes in the k● authority to do violence to the two houses . surely therefore this and the like scriptures are much abused , the meaning being only to command obedience to authority in all things that tend to the encouragement of good , and punishment of evill ; and therefore there is such a power in the subjects , both by the law of nature , and constitution of the kingdome , to take up arms when the state or two houses expresse it ; not withstanding the expression of any one man to the contrary . chap. iii. having shewed the nature of power in generall , in the first chapter , & the way & manner of englands government in some measure in the second chapter , i now come to the vindication of the truth , as opposed by dr fern in his last book called conscience satisfied , wherein he spends the 7 former chapters mostly in answer to a book called a fuller answer . in his 8. sect. he comes to examine such grounds as i premised for the lawfulnesse of parliamentary proceedings in taking up of arms as now they do . that i may not weary the reader in turning from book to book , i shall somtimes briefly set down what i had written , then his reply , then give my answer unto it . mr. bridge tels us , saith the doctor , that there are three grounds of their proceeding by armes : to fetch in delinquents to their triall , to secure the state from forrain invasion , to preserve themselves from popish rebellon . dr. ferne replyeth , yet this must be done in an orderly and legall way ; and if conscience would speake the truth , it could not say that any delinquents were denied , or withheld , till the militia was seized , and a great delinquent , in the matter of hull , was denied to be brought to triall at his majesties instance . ans. how true this is that the doctor writes the world knows i need not say : the parliament to this day never denied to try any that were accused by the king , so that they might be tried legally by himself and the two houses , which is the known priviledge of every parliament man according to law . dr. f. but mr. bridge tels us , all this is done as an act of self-preservation , not as an act of jurisdiction over their prince ; and the fuller answer would have us beleeve they are inabled to it by law ▪ and constitution of this government , and that they do it by an act of judgement : let him and mr. bridge agree it . ans. there needs no great skill to untie this knot , not mediator to make us friends , the parliament hath raised this army by an act of judgement and jurisdiction , not over their prince , but in regard of delinquents : so the same act may be a work of jurisdiction in regard of others , and yet an act of preservation in regard of our selves . the execution of any malefactor in an ordinary way of law is both preservation to the state , and a work of jurisdiction in regard of the offender , so here ; yet i do not say it is a work of jurisdiction over our prince , but in regard of delinquents that are about him . dr. f. mr. bridge gives us proofes for this way of self-preservation from the law of nature , it being naturall to a man , and so to a communitie to defend it self . and were this argument good , then might private men and the people without the parliament take up armes and resist , for self-preservation is naturall to them . ans. it follows not , because , though i say every thing may defend it self by nature , yet i say also it must do it modo suo & naturae suae convenienti ; we say that all creatures do defend themselves , and it is naturall so to do ; yet we do not therefore say that a beast defends himself in the same manner as a man doth , or a man as a beast , but in a way sutable to every nature . now if a private person be in danger to be oppressed by a prince , flying is more fit defence for him , and therefore saith our saviour , if they persecute thee in one city , flie to another : but if the state be wronged and oppressed , which is a publick grievance , then the state , and those that represent them are more fit to take up armes for its preservation . for nature in generall teacheth self-preservation ; nature specificated teacheth this or that preservation : now the nature of a communitie , and of a particular person are distinct , and therefore though i say a community is to defend it self because sui tutela is naturall to every thing ; yet i do not say , that a particular private person may ordinarily defend himself in that way which is most sutable to the communitie as the taking up of armes is , yet i suppose no moderate man will denie this that the subjects ( though ) not invested with authoritie have a power to keep out an enemie from landing incase of forrain invasion , yea though the kings officers should be negligent therein ; or so malitious and treacherous as to forbid them to defend themselves and their countrey . secondly , saith the doctor , he proves it by scriptures , 1 chron. 12. 19. where the word of god saith expresly , that david went out against saul to battell , but he was sauls subject at that time ; a desperate undertaking to make people beleeve this is expresse scripture for subjects to go out to battell against their king . but he should have added what is expressed there , it was with the philistines that he went out , and that he helped them not ▪ for he did but make shew of tendring his service to acis● . ans. here i need give no other answer then repeat those words fully that he replyes to ( which were these ) which scripture i bring not to ▪ prove that a subject may take up armes against the king , but that the subjects may take up arms against those that are malignant about the kings person , notwithstanding the kings command to the contrary . for seeing that davids heart smote him formerly for cutting of the lap of sauls garment , and yet it is said in expresse words in this text that he went out against saul , its likely that his intentions were against those that were evill and wicked about him . then the doctor brings in another peece of my argument , not the whole reason or the sense of it , thus , be subject to the higher powers , rom. 13. but the parliament is the highest court of justice . pa. 3. to which he replies ( modo suo ) well assumed , and so it is , for is not the highest court of justice an higher power ; we grant ( faith the doctor ) there is a subjection due to them , and if he meant by the parliament the 3. estates concurring all manner of subjection is due unter them . it 's well he will acknowledge any subjection due to the parliament without the third estate . and if any subjection then they have some authority ; but none they can have , if not power to bring in the accused to be tried before them . and if they have power to bring in 20 by force , then 100. then 1000. then 10000. which cannot be done without raising an army . then he undertakes , sayes the doctor , to shew out of scripture , that kings receive their power from the people , and hath the ill hap to light on saul , david and salomon for examples . ans. the doctor hath the ill hap alwayes to misse the argument which lay thus : if it be the duty of the king to looke to the safety of the kingdome , and that because he is trusted therewith by the common wealth ; then if the parliament be immediatly trusted by the common-wealth with the safety thereof as well as the king , though not so much , then are they to looke to it , and to use all means for the preservation thereof , as well as the king . but so it is , that the king is bound to look to the safety thereof , and that because he is intrusted therwith , as was saul , david and salomon , who came to their government by the consent and choice of the people . whereupon the doctor replies , he hath the ill hap to light on saul , david and salomon . but it seems the doctor had not the good hap to meet with these severall authors which affirme that even these kings , saul , david and salomon , were chosen by the people ▪ if he had read or minded them , he would not have imputed this as an ill hap unto me for to light on these examples , i will give him but the testimony of mendoza who though not of our judgement in this matter , yet ingeniously confesses , that with great probability authors do reason for a popular choise of saul , david , and salomon . whereas saith mendoza , it is objected , that samuel by anointing saul without any consent of the people , saying , the lord hath anointed thee king over his heritage , did thereby clearly shew , that the regall power was conferr'd upon saul not from the people , but from god , that is easily answered , that that vnction was not a signe of power already conferr'd , but to be conferr'd as may be proved by the anointing of david , whom samuel anointed , 1 king. 16. 13. dureing sauls raigne , yea while he had many yeares to ra●gnt . wherby it appeares that david did not receive regall power by that unction , but by that which he had afterward by all the tribes & elders ; when coming to hebron they anointed david king over israel ; therfore that first unction was not the conferring the regal power , but only a signification of this latter unction , by which this kingly power was to be derived or conveyed : so also that first anointing of saul before the consent of the people , did not signifie the kingly power already conferred , but to be conferred upon him , to wit , when all being gathered together by samuel to mispah gave their consent , and cryed out , let the king live . he hath fou●d an example and proofe for thetrust of parliement in davids time , 1 cro. 13. 1 , 2. because david consults with the captaines and leaders which were officers ●ot of the king , but kingdome , but those were officers of the king and kingdome , meerly designed by him not the people , and called by h m to that trust , pag 43 44 ▪ true i have found an example indeed in davids time for what i alledged : namely , that there were then certaine officers of the kingdome , not of the king onely , and though under him , yet were they with him trusted with the affaires of the kingdome . this also was the judgement of the protestant divines in france ( whose testimonie i shall relate afterwards ) of lumus , josephus , brutus , zepperus , sigonius , and many others . zepperus saith thus , that in saul , david and salomons time , & so before the captivity , the kingdom of israel was mixed with aristocracie , for it had a senate of 70. or great synedrim , which sate at jerusalem , whose iudges were called princes , who sitting by the king did dispatch the great affaires of the kingdome , unto whom was referred the choice of the king and high priest , and matters of war and other things greatly concerning the people . of this synedrion josephus saith , nihilagat rex sine senatorum sententia , yea , these senators were in such place with the king , that they were called his friends & brethren , 1 chron. 2. 2. and though the dr. saies , those officers in davids time were designed by the king , not the people , yet if we look to the originall in the first of deut. 13. we ●inde that the people did first give them to moses before he did make them rulers , for v. 13. moses relating the first constitution of that government saith , i said unto you , give mee wise men , and understanding and known men among your tribes , and i will make them rulers over you : the english translation readeth , take y●e wise men , the hebrew is give yee us , as montanus hath it , & when they had given them to moses , he saith , v. 15. so i received them ( so is the hebrew ) he would not make any rulers over them , but such as he had first e c eived from them and they had given unto him and so though at the first it pleased god to appoint those rulers or councell of state called the sanedrym or synedrion ( whereupon mendosa saith , that they were equal to moses being appointed by god as moses was , numbers 11. 14 , 15 , 16. ) yet that was by and with the consent and choice of the people , not meerly by appointment of the king as our doctor would . car. sigo●ius will tell him out of the tolmodists and other divines , that he had search'd into , that this sinedrion or colledge of elders , did represent the scepter , that the scepter it selfe did depend on it , that none did judge the tribe and the scepter , but this house of judgement . to this purpose gerrara shewes that this synedrion was chosen of the chiefe men of israel , in whom was power of judging controversies , exercising of publique justice , yea of choosing and deposing kings ; and therefore of the talmodist , this councell was called the house of judgement , or the house of the scepter and publique authoritie . and zepperus with doctor biljon saith , this synedrion continued with that people of god unto the time of herod , iosep●us being witnes . i presse not so much as these authors speake of ; but whether there were not in those times of david officiari● regns , wich were not meerly designed by the king : and what inference i do make from thence let conscience judge . againe , whereas i argue from the being and nature of parliament , that if it hath not power to send for by force , those that are accused to be tryed before them , that should not be a court of justice ; seeing that even inferiour courts have a power to force those before them that are to be tryed : and if the parliament may send one sergeant at armes , then 20. then 100. then 1000 , &c. the doctor replies : therfore inferiour courts have a power to raise armes . ( answer ) this followes not ? for though i say every court hath power to force in the accused ; yet it must be in a way suitable : now this raising of armes is not suitable unto an inferiour court , but to the parliament being a more nationall and publike court then any other is . the dr. tells us indeed that other courts have their posse comitatus . so the parliament have their orders ▪ to fetch and force in the accused , which are established by law , aswell as his posse comitatus is : but saith the dr. i did not know before that all the parliament souldiers were sergeants at armes . answer , how doth hee catch at the word , and let the sence goe ; the sence , scope and drift of the argument , was to shew that as they might send forth one who by force should fetch in the accused ; by the same reason they might send forth ten , and by the same reason that they may send forth , 10 ; they may send forth 20 , so 100 , so 1000 , so 10000 : the dr. puts off the argument with a jeere , because hee hath no list to meddle with the reason . in the 45 page ▪ hee would enervate the testimonies of divines , which i brought to shew that all protestant divines were of our minde . let us see therefore what hee saith to them . and first he begins with the testimony of the germane divines ▪ and for that saith he : the testimony of the centuriste , speakes nothing to this purpose ; a short answer , soon and ●●sily given , but why nothing to our purpose , nay stay there , the dr. will keepe his reason to himselfe ; i set downe therefore the testimony againe , and let men judge whether it bee to the purpose . governours say they in such things as are repugnant to the law of god , have no power or 〈…〉 above other private men , and they themselves commanding that which is evill , have no power or immunitie above others ; yea , they themselves commanding that which is evill , are as much bound to feare the ordinance of god , bearing the ▪ word for the punishment of vice : for st. paul , rom. 13. saith that god dia instance and ordaine a power both of defending that which is good , and punishing that which is evill ; and hee commands that every soule , and so the governours themselves should bee subject ●o this ordinance of god if they would be defended by it , and not by their wicked deeds , makes themselves liable to punishment . of the french and low country divines , he brings no testimony ( saith the dr. ) but ( for proose ▪ tels us ne know their practice ; so i for answer may returne him his owne words ; we know what hath been the practice of those protestants , and so they are parties interessed not so fit to give in witnesse . an. very well if they be parties interessed , and so not fit to give in witnes , then they are of our judgment : observe reader here he granteth that the protestant churches , and the divines of france and the low-countries , are parties interessed , & so of our judgement ; what protestant churches or divines then will he alledge for his sentence . will hee have the diviner of switzerland ? i brought a testimony of the divines of the councell of basil , and that hee doth not contradict : are the divines of geneva of his mind ? i brought the testimony of calvin , that hee saith nothing to , but it passeth with him as granted by him . are the divines of scotland ? i brought him the testimony of mr. bucanan , that testimony also he doth not deny ; it may be that was but one , and so he would not take notice of it ; read therefore what mr. knox saith : because this occasion is layed against gods true ministers ; wee cannot but witnesse what trade and order of doctrine they have kept and keepe in that point ; they affirme that if wicked persons abusing the authority established by god , command things manifestly wicked , that such as may , and doe , bridle this inordinate appetite of princes , cannot bee accused as resistaries of authority , which is gods good ordinance , to bridle the fury and rage of princes in free kingdomes , and realmes . they affirme it appertaineth to nobility sworne and borne counsells of the same , and also to the barons and people , whose wills and consents are to bee required in all great matters of the common wealth : which if they doenst , they declare themselves criminall with their princes , and subject to the same vengeance of god . this was the doctrine and judgement of the divines in scotland , in the beginning of reformation , as related by mr. knox ; and what the judgement of the scots divines is for the present , seeing he will not take practise for testimony of judgement , he may read in their answer to lysimachus nicanour thus : as for the lawfullnesse of resistance hee may understand that that hath been the tenet of our church since the reformation , it hath beene the right and practise of our kingdomes , since the first foundation . a number of instances thereof are approved in our standing acts of parliament , unrepealed to this day ; it hath beene the practise of all reformed churches abroad , wherein by queen elizabeth , king james , and king charles , they have been all allowed : and the most of them allowed by powerfull assistance , both with men and money : to this purpose dr. rutherford also as i have shewed already , chap. 1. ropos , 3. but it may be the dr. will tell us that the scottish divines are also parties , and interessed in the cause . very good , wee shall shortly have a great party in the protestant churches for us and with us ; what divines then are against us in the doctors opinion ? are the divines of england ? he tels us also , page 45. yet doe some of them allow of resistance in some cases : good still ; by and by it will arise to somewhat , here is yet more of our party ( as the dr. calls them ) by his owne confession . as for the testimonies that i brought of dr. bilson and dr. willet , he saith that 's plaine they speake of such government , such states , such cases as will not agree to this kingdom at this time . but why not , the dr. will not tell us . if i tell him that peter martyr also professor of divinity in england , was of our judgement , as he may read plainely , ●udg . 1. hee will tell me , it may be , that peter martyr speakes not of this time , or of this case , or of this state : if i referre him to polanus , dan. 11. who writes largely in this matter with us , it may bee hee will tell us also that polanus speakes not to our case , to our time , or to our state : but if i referre him to barkley and hugo grocius who well knew the judgment of the low countrey divines . i suppose the dr. will not say those are parties : barcleus saith hugo grocius the most strong defender of regall empire , yet descends thus farre to yeeld unto the people , and the chiefe part of them a power to defend themselves against immane cruelty , when yet notwithstanding hee confesses that the people are subject unto the king : and as for ●ne saith hugo grocius , i dare not indiscriminatim condemne those or that part of the people which doe use this defence having respect unto the publike good : for david had many armed men about him ▪ that hee might repell violence offered unto him ; and at that time david was commended by a prudent woman , that hee sought the lords battell , which words many doe ill referre to davids former battels , where as abigails speech is rather a correction of what naball sayd . many subjects are now fallen from their king , which words that abigail might correct , shee saith the warres of david were godly , as being undertaken not out of defection from his prince , but for tuition and preservation of his owne life . but because the doctor seemes to want some testimonies of the french protestant divines ; i will give him one for all , and surely hee will not say the words are not spoken of such government , such states , such cases , or such times as ours are . this question being on foot in charles 9 time : what is to be done by the subject when he is violenced by the magistrate ; or if the chiefe magistrate degenerate into a tyrant , may the subjects resist by force of arms . that was answered by one learned man , for , and in the defence of the protestants in those times , thus , subjects are of three sorts , either me●re private men , bearing no publike office , or else they are such as are in some inferiour and subordinate place of magistracie ; or else they are such as are so inferiour to the chiefe magistrate that by the laws of the land are appointed to bridle the chiefe : as for private men ( saith the author ) it is evill for them to resist with force of armes , either they must sly , or suffer : as for the second sort they not being the kings houshold servants , but rather to bee called officers of the crowne , depending not so much on the king as kingdome , the king abusing his power to the overthrow of lawes ; these inferiour magistrates ought to oppose , for the conservation of those who are committed unto their trust ; and if need bee to take up armes tilthings bee otherwise provided for by the estates of the kingdome . as for the third sort saith hee , though they in some respect are under the chiefe magistrate , yet in some respect they are keepers of the supreme dignity , that the chiefe magistrate may bee kept in his office ; these may if need require represse and chastise him , for the people is not made for the magistrate , but the magistrate for the people ; his power taking its rise from them . ob. but though this were the first rise of magistracie ▪ yet after the people have chosen their magistrate , they have resigned up their power to him . an. but the people never created or received their kings , but upon certain conditions , which being manifestly broken and not kept , those have power to abdicate , who have power to create ; and this has alwa●es been in use amongst all the most famous nations in the world ; the israeltes , lacedemonians , romanes , danes , swedes , scotch , polonians , and english . ob : but if a magistrate doe degenerate into a tyrant , as wee are not to be obedient to him , so neither are we to resist him . answ . that is onely understood of private men . object . but david spared saul though it were in his power to ●nth moff . an. that is no way contrary to the doctrine delivered for david had many armed men about him whose help ( if need had required ) he would without doubt have used against all , yet thus hee did , having respect rather to his owne defence , then his enemies offence . this testimony tells us what hath beene the practise of all nations : the testimony of the scots in their answer to lisimac●us nica●our , saith expresly that our doctrine is according to the judgment of all the reformea churches : and if these testimonies will not yet prevaile with the dr. i must leave him to his resolves , hee tells us that our homilies are against us , but let him produce any place out of the homilies where it is said that the two houses may not take up armes to bring armed delinquents to their tryall . indeed the homilies speake against subjects taking up of armes against their king , so doe not the parliament , but to defend themselves ▪ and to bring delinquents to tirall ; and therefore when the dr. or other bring forth testimonies of divines ancient , or late , to prove that subjects may not take up armes against their prince , they had as good say nothing , that is not to our case but let them prove by testimonies that it is not lawful for the parliament to take up arms to secure the kingdome , to bring accused persons to tryall , and to deliver the prince out of the hands of malignants , and then they say something to us , else it is but clamor , not reason . at last the doctor speakes somewhat of arbitrary government , p. 46. which is no way any answer to the reasons that were given by me , proving that his opinion raised the king to an arbitrary government , onely he sets down his further sentence about arbitrarines , eadem facilitate rejicitur qua affirmatur ; the rest of that section is either spent in naked assertions , or jearing expressions , or seeming answers to his other answerers . chap. 4. the dr. having spent some time upon his other answerres at the 49. pag. he is pleased to returne to me , where hee would prove that the people of israel did not by any forceable resistance rescue ionathan out of the hands of saul , which worke saies he , was but set off with a souldier like boldnes : let the doctor call this work what he please , saul the king had sworn that jonathan should dre , and the people sweare be should not dye and they being in arms did rescue ionathan saith the text . this rescue the doctor calls in his first booke , a living violence , and in his reply , a setting off the matter with a souldierly boldnes ( i hope the doctor will give us leave to use the like termes , if a prince swear the death of some parliamentary men , who deserve not to die but to be preferr'd , and the people rise up in arms and rescue their ionathans , saying , as we live they shall not die that have wrought this great deliverance for us , this is no resistance , it is but a loving violence , and a setting off the matter with a souldierly boldnes , why may not we call this so , aswell as the dr. that . but i appeale to all reason whether a rescue by men in arms , from those that have swornea mans death , be not forceable resistance . but say wee this is more then prayers and teares , which is th'only remedie allowed by the doctor , to which he replieth , the dr. had no where said , though mr. bridge makes him often say so , that prayers and teares is the only remedy left for subjects , but besides their cries to god , he allowes them intercessions , reproofes , denyall of subsidies and aides . i will not search into the doctors booke for every word , take what he granteth here , yet this souldierly boldnes of rescuing is more then prayers , teares , reproofes , or denialls of subsidies and aids , which is all the remedy that he affordeth as he confesseth now : yet the doctor is so full of this sentence still , that in the 51. pag. of this book , he saith , that the children of israel being under the oppression of their kings , had no remedie they had , was by crying to the lord ; and againe in the same page saith , all the remedie they had , was by crying to the lord ; so also in his first booke pag. 10. the people are let to understand , i sam. 8. ii. how they should be oppressed under kings , and have no remedy left them but crying to the lord . thus doe men forget themselves , and what they have said whilest they contend against truth . then the doctor comes downe to the example of david : and whereas it is urged by us that david did take up arms to defend himselfe from the violence of his prince saul , the dr. replies now as before , that davids example was extraordinary . well but when it is said that david having advantage of saul , did not lay hands upon him to cut him off as he might have done ; what if wee should say , that act of davids was extraordinary would not the doctor tell us that our answer was but ordinary : he tells us , pag. 31. of his reply , that conquest , one of the meanesiby whch godiranstates kingdomes , and that david being provoked by the king of ammon , brought tha people ●rder , 2 sam. 12. and that the edomites were so brought under the dominion of judah : what if we should give this answer that these were extraordinary cases . would not the doctor take it for a poore shifting answer from us ; when we say any practice is extraordinary , we must also prove by circumstance , that there was an extraordinaries in the fact , or else acquies in it for our example : but be it so , that davids example was extraordinary , is not our case now extraordinary ? is englands case ordinary : hath it bin thus ordinarily , that arms have bin taken up against the parliament , and delinquents kept from legall tryall by force of armes ? has this bin for many yeares ? see how the doctor helps himselfe by this extraordinary answer . he tells us in his first book p. 8. that this work of david was a meer defence without all violence offered to saul ; and is not this ordinarily lawfull for subjects to doe so much ; the doctor grants it himselfe , p. 9. of his first book , that personall defence is lawfull against suddaine and illegall assaults of the prince himselfe , thus farre , toward his blowes , to hold his bands , &c. and the like ; but the doctor in his reply has thought of a new reason to prove davids example extraordinary , because else may private and singlemen do so too . answ : not so , david was not as every private man , hee was anointed of the lord one that fought the lords battells the great states-man in the kingdome ; with whom were joyned ionathan , and many other chief of the tribes therefore it followes not from david to every private man , but to the parlaiment rather , who though not anointed as king and as saul , yet with some anointment from the lord into the place of magistracy , especially being as the dr. confesseth , co-ordinate with the king in supremacy , so farre as concernes nomotheticks . i said before , if davids example were extraordinary , then hee had an extraordinary command for what he did ; if so , how doth the dr. say , there is no command or warrant in scripture for such a practice or kind of resistance . to which the dr. replieth , as if all extraordinary warrants , and instincts given to special persons , should be written in scripture . answ. so then this works of davids , which before was called by the dr. a meere defence is now come to be a matter of special instinct though acts done by speciall instinct , had not alwaies warrant from written scripture before they were done , yet being done and recorded in scripture , there is ground and written warrant for the lawfulnes of our actions , upon the like occasions . i did not say , why then doth the dr , say , there was no warrant in scripture for david , but why then doth the dr. say there is no warrant , or ground out of scripture now for us to doe what we doe ? though it might be instinct then , and without written scripture yet it may be written warrant now . then whereas that scripture is urged ( though not to take up armes against our king as the doctor suggests ) 1 chron. 1219. where it is said expresly , that david went out to battell against saul , the dr. replies desperate shifesthat thesemen are put to , when pretences and simulations , must bee scripture ground for conscience . it 's said before that david made shew ●f madnesse before king achish . mr. bridge might as well inferre ▪ therefore he was mad . answ. will any else besides this dr. make such an inference ? the scripture faith , totidem verbis that he went out to battell against saul that this was but a simulation is not said in scripture , but the scripture doth not say that david was mad , but that he fained himselfe so ; is there then the same reason of the one and the other ? the example of vzziah is next to be cleered : we find that the priests are commended for valiant men , because they thrust out k. vzziah from before the lord , 2 chron. 26. to which instance the dr. saith , that uzziah the king was stricken with leprosie , and by the law the leper was to be put out of the congregation , and awell apart , which is not consistent with government , therefore it is said of the king ; he was a leper , and dwel● in a severall house , and jotham his sonne reigned in his stead , 2 kin. 15 5. i shall ever give the dr. the full weight of his reason ; it seemes by this answer , that hee would have conscience beleeve that the king was discharged from his crowne ▪ by his leprosie , and ●p o●acto thereby dethroned . now see what dr. bilson saith directly contrary unto this doctor vzz ah , saith , he dwell a part in a house from others , because of his leprosie , but you d●e not find that he was deprived of his kingdome , jotham his sonne governed his house , and judged the people of the land , because the king might not be conversant amongst men ▪ by reason of his sicknesse , but the cronne still continued in the father though a leper , and jotham began not his reigne till his father was dead . whom the scripture calleth the king of juda , in the twenty yeere of his reigne , and last yeere of his life . thus dr. bilson ; and though our doctor can ( with what conscience i know not ) joine these words together thus , hee was a leper , and dwell in a severall , house , and jotham his sonne , reigned in his stead , 2 king. 15. 5. as if all these words were one , and did touch one another in holy writ , yet in truth they are part of two severall verses , and two other verses comming betweene them , as in the 5. verse 't is said , the king dwelt in a severalt house , and jotham the kings son , was over the kings house , judging the people of the land , not reigning in his stead as the dr , reads it then at the 6 and 7 vertes , the scripture having spoken further of the king his deeds and death at the end of the seventh it is added , and jotham his son reigned in his stead , these words being annexed to his death as a consequent thereof ; and the dr. takes them and annexes them to the 5 verse at the mentioning of his leprosie , as if upon his leprosie his sonne reigned , whereas 't is plaine he only governed and not reigned , untill his father died ; here i cannot but wonder , that the doctor should so boldly venture to lay violent hands upon scripture , that hee may lead mens consciences into his owne sentence : but i hope the consciences of those that feare god , will take notice of such dealing as this , and abhorre that sentence , that must be borne up with such practices ; he would perswade us also , that the priests here are said to bee valiant men , because of their home reproofe which they gave to the king or because of their withdrawing from him the holy things which hee was not to meddle with , but let him shew us any one place of scripture , where valour being joyned with an expression of force ( as here it is , it being said that they thrust him out ) doth only note faithfullnes in ones place , by giving reproofe or the like . at last the dr. comes to his owne arguments , and labours to recrute them ; and first he tels us that none might blow the trumpet for warre amongst the people of israel , but the supreme magistrate , and therefore the parliament may not take up arms or blow the trumpet for warre , as now they doe ; to this argument diverse answers unanswered have been given , yet hee is not satisfied but still replieth , and i wonder that he should , considering there is no such matter that i can find as hee alleadgeth in the 10. chap of numbers . t is true the lord speakes there unto moses , saying , verse 5 , when yee sound an alarm ; and ver. 6. when you blow an alarm the second time , and verse . 7. when the congregation is to be gathered together , yee shall blow . and verse 9 if yee goe to warre in your land , yee shall blow an alarm with your trumpets , but these words in the hebrew are all in the plurall number , shewing that the blowing of the trumper belonged aswell to the state and princes , of whom he spake ver. 4. it is not sayd that moses should use those trumpets exclusively hee and not they ; but rather hee joyned with them . secondly , he comes for his defence to that place of samuel ; i sam. 8. 18. where saith he , it appeares that the people had no remedy against their unjust kings , but their crying to the lord . mr. bridge answers saith he , samuel , tels them not what should be their duty , but what their punishment , the lord will not heare you , &c. it was indeed saith the doctor , their punishment , because all the remedy they had , which was by crying to the lord should not help them , which had not been such a punishment , if they had had means to help themselves by power of armes . here the dr. saith , that all the remedy this people had was by crying to the lord , which scripture he brings against our resistance to prove what is our duty and how farre it extends : yet page 49. of his reply , he will not owne such a speech as this , saying , the dr. had no where said , that prayers and teares , are all the subjects remedy . secondly it appeares plainely that this scripture i sam. 8. is not spoken of the kings right , what he might doe ; but of his fact what he would doe , for the king had no such right over his subjects as to take their childrens fields , and vineyards from them , for which ahab was so severly punishment , yet saith this text of sam. hee shali take your daughters fields , and vineyards , &c. neither can it be objected , that the word used in the hebrew is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which signifies judicium , judgment , or , right seeing ; it also signifies consuetudo , order or manner , as it is well translated in the english , verse 9. thirdly , though it be said , ver. 18. then shall yee cry out in that day because of your king which yee shall have chosen , and the lord will not heare you on that day . yet it doth not follow that they had no other remedy but crying to the lord , that 's said in scripture that the people being oppressed with forraigne enemies should cry unto the lord in their distrcsse and because of their sinnes the lord threatens not to heare them , but bids them goe to their idols , and let them helpe them if they can ; doth it therefore follow that they might not detend themselves against forraigne enemies , no such matter : 4. whereas the doctor saith in this reply , it was no such judgement to cry and not be heard , if yet they had a power to defend themselves by taking up arme ; this answere is very strange from one that calls himselfe a divine : for suppose that god should say to his people , that had a power to take up armes against their forraigne ●nemies , that they should notwithstanding their power cry unto him , and hee would not heare them , nor deliver them from their oppressors ; was this no such judgement , because they might take up arms alas what will all our taking up of armes doe , either way if god will not heare our cryes and prayers . the doctor for his owne defence , and the defence of his cause sayd in his first booke , that if such a deferce as we now use were lawfull , it is a marveilous thing that so many prophetsreprehending the kings of israel and iudah for idolatry , cruely , and oppression , none should call upon the elders of the people for this resistance , page 10. to this i answered , see the pro elisha expressely calling on the elders to imprison the kings messenger , 2 king●6 . 32. the doctor after he comes to himselfe out of a rayling and jeering fit replyes , what 〈…〉 elisha call upon those ●laers for , to impreson the messenger ? that 's more then the text will beare , unlesse to shut the doore against a man be to imprison him . ans. but the prophet elisha , not onely call'd upon them to shut the doore , but to hold them fast . shutting the doore indeed doth not note imprnonment , but shut the doore and hold him fast doth : for what is imprisonment , but arcta & violent a custodia , and these are the words of that text , shut to the doore and hold him fast at the doore . but it 's the doctors manner to take part of the text , and leave th'other part which makes against him ; so he dealeth by our answeares ; so hee dealeth by scriptures . at length the doctor having left me to visit my fellow answerers . as hee calls us for the space of three or foure leaves , he is pleased to returne againe to mee about 13. rom. and page 60. hee takes it unkindly that i will not stand to the english translation of the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , damnation , but rather translate it so , they that resist shall recoive to themselves judgement . to which i say , that i doe not deny but grant that the word may bee translated damnation : but seeing the word firstly signifies judgement , as piscator observes ; i would not have the dr. so peremptory , scaring people with the word damnation , when as more naturally the word may be rendered othervvise , i told him before what piscators reason is , for the translating of it judgement , he may read what musculus also sayd , and in him what many other divines , who speakes thus . it is doubtfull what iudgement the apostle speakes of here , whether the iudgement where with all the disobedient are punished by god himselfe , or that which is to be expected from the magistrates : the latter way those things that follow doe favour the former way those things that a●e precedent : but it matters not which way we understand it , neither doth any thing hinder but that we may expound it to both : when as both judgements both of god and magistrate are to be feared by those that are un●uly ; but the doctor gives as hee thinkes a good reason why it must needs be translated damnation , and so meant , because resistance there forbidden is a breach of the fifth cemmandement , which deserveth damnation . ans. what then we read rev. 2. that the church of thiatyra had broken the second commandement in her idolatry and superstition , yet she is threatned with an outward punishment , wisd. 22. 23. behold saith chr●●t , i will cast her into great tribulation , and kill ●er ch l●ren with death , yea the fift comman dement is strengthned with an outward promise , h●nour thy father and thy mother that thy daies may belong in the land , and therefore well may the breach thereof be threatned with an outward judgement . againe , saith the dector mr. bridge answeres that only active obedience to lawfull commands is there enjoyed , but passive under unlawfull commands : to which the doctor answereth , both say we , but not so origen : not so ierome , not so chrysost●me and divers others : and paraeus his reason is good , who observes , that according to the apostle , the denying of obedience is all one with resistance forbidden in this 13 rom , for in one verse the apostle saith submit or he subject unto the higher powers ; in th next v hegives the reason , for he that resisteth , &c. so that resisting and not subjecting , or obeying is all one . it is no sinne not to obey unlawfull commandements , but the apostle makes it a sinne here to resist , and therefore the resistance forbidden doth not relate unlawfull commandements but if lawfull . but then the doctor tells us that if these words should be understood onely of active obedience to lawfull commands , and not of passive to unlawfull commands ; the apostle had given the romans but a lame instruction , page 60. and his reason for that speech followes at a distance , page 61. because then the romans should not have been sufficiently instructed how to answere the unlawfull commandements of princes , as also , there would have been a gap open to rebellion , for saith he , how easie would be the inference , therefore we may resist when they command unlawfully . answ. this is a strange worke to charge the apostle with lame instructions , in case that a passive obeidience should not bee here commanded , god doth not command every thing in every scripture , yet those scriptures wherein hee commandeth something and not all , are not lame instructions ; the first commandement commands the substance of worship ; the second the right meanes , the third the manner ; and the fourth the due time of worship ; yet the first is not lame because it doth not command ▪ what the second ; nor the second lame , because it doth not command , what the third ; nor the third lame because it doth not command what the fourth ; so here though god should command onely active , not passive obedience in this text , this instruction would not be lame ; but why should it be a lame instruction , the doctor tells us , the because the romans should not be susffciently directed how to answer the unlawfull commandements of princes ; yes surely , if god did here command them obedience to lawfulls , he should at once forbid them disobedience to unlawfulls : but saith the dr. then there will be a gap for rebllion , for how easily would men inferre , therefore we may resist in things unlawfull : i answer , the doctor takes this for granted , which is to be proved , that all forceable resistance is rebellion . 2. suppose that true which himselfe granteth , page 1. the first booke , that it 's lawfull to resist unlawfull commands , though not with forceable resistance . and if so , then why might not the romans as well say , this instruction you give us is lame , for you forbid resistance , and yet in some kinde resistance is lawfull a suffering resistance lawfull , and a forceable resistance unlawfull : and yet you have not in this 13. chap. given us any such distinction , so are we left in the darke , and your instruction lame . but good doctor let us take off our owne halvings , whilst we goe about to charge the apostle with lame instructions , in case he come not just up to our opinions . but to put an end to this matter concerning this text . i appeale to the doctor , whether he doth not thinke that these words ( higher powers ) v. 1. did not include the romane senate : i say when the apostle commands , let every soule be subject to the higher powers . did hee not command the christian romanes to bee subject to the romane senate ? we know that after this epistle was written to the romanes , as eusebius reports , the romane senate was not onely in being , but so potent and powerfull ▪ that when that was propounded to the senate , whether christ should be acknowledged as good , that was in the senates power to grant or refuse , and they refused . so estius also saith , that the governours of provinces were appointed by the senate , as well as by caesar , when ●eter wrote his epistle : so that still notwithstanding aesar , the romane senate was a high power , and the higher powers unto the people ; and if th y were the higher powers , who were to bee obeyed by this commandement of the apostles : then why doth the doctor bring this scripture to urge our higher powers , and senate to obey , especially when the doctor himselfe confesses . page 62 that the two houses as distinct from the king , fall under the words , higher powers . at last in the 62. page the doctor comes to that place of peter , 1 pet. 2. 13. submit your elves to every ordinance of man for the lords sake , whether to the king as supreme , or unto governours as those that are sent by him ; where after the dr. had a little strok'd himself on the head , and laboured to spit some filth on our faces , he comes to that testimony of calvin ( for that which hee sayes concerning dr. bilson is not much materiall ) who proves that the pronoune him relates to god and not the king : for the reason which i alleadged in my first booke ; now the dr. replies ▪ true , all are sent by god , but it is as true that the governours of the provinces were sent by the king , or the romane emperour . a● . the reader may observe how the dr. doth deale by the scripture againe , for he sets downe the words thus ; to the king as supreme , or the governours as those that are sent by him ; and thus indeed the word him ; must needs relate to the king , but conceales that part of the v. wherein the word god is exprest thus , submit your selfe to every ordinance of god : for the doctor knew , that if hee had set downe that part of the ver ▪ the reader would have perceived that the pronoune him should have related to god , and not to the king ; secondly , observe what he answers ; he tells us that the governours of the provinces were sent by the king or emperour ; that 's not the question now , but whom the pronoune him , doth relate , whether god or the king . and for this he gives no reason , not answeres calvins , and therefore i need adde no more : yet estius his reasons are very full , proving that the pronoune him , must relate god and not the king for sayes he , the apostle peter would move the people to obey the king and governours , which argument is full , because they were sent by god ; whereas if the pronoune him , should relate to the king , here were no motive . 2. because the apostle peter saith that they are sent by him for the punishment of evill doers , and the prayse of them that doe well , for which cause the wicked heathenish governours did not send the governours , it being known that they sent them for the punishment of those that were good , and for the prayse of those that were evill . and therefore the pronoune him , is to be carryed on god , and to have relation to god , not to the king in this place ; and therefore what the doctour brings from this place , to set the parliament at a greater under then god would have , is nothing worth . the rest of the chapter is spent with his other adversaries ; i having thus delivered the scripture ; from his objections , shall be the more briefe in answere to the after part of his discourse because the onely ground of conscience is gods word . chap. 5. in the tenth sect. of the doctors reply . i find little to hold us long ; i had told him in my former book that the parliamentary proceedings were an act of self-preservation , and used the similitude of a steeres man shewing that in case hee do not his duty , even the very passengers in time of a storme , for their owne preservation may looke to the matter , which doth not implye the unofficing of a steersman ; so in state , where the chiefe magistrate neglecteth his dutie , &c. the dr. replies pag. 64. that the prince is not as the steersman , but as he that stands above , and commands , to the starbord or larbord . this is to hang upon the word , and let goe the sence , for the reason holds to him that stands above , and commands as well as the steers-man , neither will common reason say ; that he is unofficed , because the passengers for the present desire or cause him to stand by , that they may looke unto their own safetie in the time of a storme . then he comes to prove that authoritie and magistracie , abstractively considered from the qualification or severall formes of government , is of divine institution . wherein we do all agree , onely i excepted against some of his media , that he used to prove it thus , by those words the powers that are ordained of god ; the doctor understands , the power it selfe of magistracie distinguish'd from the qualification thereof , and the designation of persons thereto , how then did he say , sect. 2. the higher power in paul is the same with the king , at supream in peter ; the dr. replies , the power of magistracie abstractively taken , may by these words be proved to be of god , though the higher powers here be understood concretively with connotation of the persons that beare the power , for they are here proposed as objects of our obedience which cannot be directed but upon power in some person , and here it is said , a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} existent &c. but how doth this prove either what the doctor would ; or answer me ? t is true , the words higher powers , note both as i have shewed already , both the authority , and persons in the authority . but then the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} i say , signifies ordered , and so to be translated , not ordained , for otherwise if the words higher powers note both the abstract and concreat , and this word be translated , ordained , then this scripture shall aswell prove the qualification and designation to be of god , as authority it self : which thing the doctor denies , and first brought this scripture to prove that magistracie is of god in opposition to qualifications and designations . some metaphisical notions about esse and existere , the dr. would find out in the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} but i passe them as never intended by the apostle . at last the doctor promiseth , or rather threatens to give me a visit : for so he saith , pag. 65. i must come home to master bridge , to make him understand the force of my inserence . i had said thus ; in like manner the doctor proves , that power it selfe is of god , because the magistrate is called the minister of god : slipping from the power it selfe , to the person designed , for the power it self is not called the minister of god ; whereupon the doctor saith , i must come home to master bridges , the major of n●●s the kings minister , therefore his power is from the king ; will master bridge reply no ? for the power it selfe is not the major , or called the minister of the king . thus whilst he comes home to mee he comes from his owne home and reason ; forgetting what he had said before , pag. 60 61. a lawfull prince , though commanding unlawfully , is still still the minister of god . so then it seems one may be the minister of god in that which is evill ; and 't is true a penall minister one may be a man may sin in afflicting another and yet he may be the minister of god to him that is afflicted , how therefore doth this argue , that because the magistrate is called the minister of god , that his authority is lawfull : and therefore whereas the doctor saith the major of n. is the kings minister , therefore his power is from the king ; will master bridge say no ? answ. hee will say there is not the same reason in regard of god and the king , for a man cannot be the kings minister in a bad action but he must receive power from him but he may be gods minister , i mean penally in an unlawfull action , which god never gave him right or power to doe . in the after lines of this page the doctor saies , that both the fuller answer , and master bridges , every where takes it for granted by me , that monarchy , aristocracie and democracie are equally the inventions of men ? answ. i doe indeed , and the truth of it may appeare from your owne words , p. 13 , 14. of your first book as i have shewed already . lastly , saith the doctor , master bridges concludes that my proving of the governing power to be of god , but the qualification of it , and designation of the person to be of man , gaineth nothing against resistance , or deposing a prince that doth not discharge his trust : for still the people may say , we may alter the government , and depose the person , because hew as of our designing . doctor ferne , nothing so for of they resist , they usurpe authority , and invade the power that god hath given him , if they depose him , they quite take away that p wer which god , and not they placed in him , because he is still the minister of god . this seems to prove that people cannot depose their prince or alter the government that is set up amongst them ; but what is this to the reason that he pretends an answer to ? to which was thus : if the doctor grant that the qualification of the power is from man , and the designation of the person , then though the power it selfe be confessed of god by the doctor , yet his adversaries that are for the deposing of princes , ( if any such be ) may aswell plead a power to depose the person , or alter the government , aswell i say , as if the power it selfe was appointed , or set up by men . now the qualification and power of designation is granted by him to be of man : and therefore he helps himselfe nothing by proving that authority or magistracie in the abstract is of god . to take away this , he proves that the people cannot depose their prince , or alter the government ; i will not say a wild but surely a wide answer as ever came from a dr. d. the other part of this section is against others , who are sufficiently able to plead their own cause against this dr. in his 11. sect. p. 64 . the doctor complaines that we have left the king nothing wee could take from him ; and this kind of speech is ordinary amongst some , who are so bold as to affirme ▪ that because we doe not make our selves slaves , we make our soveraigne no king . let him and them read what almaine saith , * a pol tic , saith he is not there o●e said to be regall because there is one above all that is greater then all the communitie , but because there is one above the rest who hath ●urisdictionover every particular man in that com●unitie ; neither were it fir , that there should ●e one such who were so superiour , unles he were indeviable as christ who is able to rule the communitie according to his own will , ●hen the poli ie shoul● be perfectly reg●l . and fortescut saith , poss● male ●g repotestarem potius m●ni it quam augment it we doe not say that god is lesse powerfull because h cannot sin ; nothing is more truly regall then to keep ones will within the bounds of good lawes . it is some miserie not to ave all which you would . it is more miserie to will what you may not ; it is most miserie to have a power to doe what you see will . but if you d●not . saith the doctor re-assume power from the prince , what means the d fference you make of things disposed of by trust , from things disposed of by donation , because they may be recalled , these may not , so you say , pag. 25. i said not so , but that there is a difference between things disposed by way of donation or sale and things disposed of by way of trust : things disposed of by way of sale or donation are not in our power to recall , things disposed of by way of trust are in our power to look to when the trust is neglected : i would this doctor would but doe us the favour as to alledge our words rightly . the 67. and 68. of his book , are spent in proving assertions of the same things that he had sayd before onely pag. 67. he confesseth it is likely that kings were at first by election , which acknowledgement we receive : but how doth this agree with what he had said before sect. 3. pag. 8 , 9 where he had said , that election was a defection from that government that god set up at the first ; in the 69. pag. he commeth to the matter of the kings covenant and oath , which ( saith the doctor ) is no condition on which the kings of this land are admitted to the crown , but a confirmation and strengthening of their mutuall duties by oaths and promises , as it was with the kings of israel . the nature of this oath we must leave unto the parliament and lawyers , who better know then we how it is taken , and on what termes , only thus much i read in speeds cronicle , that the kencish men would not admit william the conqueror to the crowne , but upon condition as i have shewed before ; and if the taking of the oath were only for confirmation carrying no condition with it , why should it be taken at the first comming unto the crowne , and not rather afterwards . what else remaines in that section is so easie , that the dimmest eye that hath conscience in it , may see thorough , for who knows not , that it is a greater evill for a comittee to be wronged by a particular person , then for a particular person to be wronged by a comittee . bonum quo communius eo melius , malum quo communius eo pejus . and why doth not nature teach , that a prince who is married unto his people , is to be faithfull to them as well as that the husband is to be faithfull unto his wife , and therefore that conditions are implyed , though not exprest between the king and his subject , aswell as between a man and his wife ; and so i passe from that section to the doctors two last . chap. 6. whereas the dr. had said , we sharpen many of our weapons at the philistims forge , and i had shewed the difference between us and papists in this cause . he replieth , difference there must needs be between you and papists in this particular , for they challenge such a power from the pope ; you from the people . very well and is not here a vast difference , the papists say the pope may despose princes , we say in case that prince doth not performe his trust , the people may look to their owne safetie . dr. fern , but we see your party making use of those examples which the papists being for deposing of kings , as of saul , uzziah , and athaliah . the papists bring these examples of vzziah , atholiah , &c. to shew that the high ●riests did , and so the pope now may depose princes , proving that the pope is above princes . wee say with chrisostome and others , that every soul , even priests as they and you call them , are to be subject to higher powers , that that lyes in the powre of no priest to despose princes . 2. is this to whet our sythe at the philistims forge , to use the same scripture for one purpose , which the philistims doe for another : the papists use that scripture , tibi dabo claves . thou art peter , and on this rock i will build my church , to prove the popes supremacie ; the reformed churches use the same scripture to prove that the power of the keyes is penes ecclesiam , given to the whole church , and not unto a peter onely : do all the reformed churches therefore whet their weapons at the philistims forge , or are they therefore popish because they use the same scripture to other purposes : so here . put you will give the prince leave , saith the doctor to change his religion , so will the papists , if al● his subjects may have free liberty for their religion . not so but he turning heretick , as the papists phrase it , is to be excommunicated and so deposed . dr. fern , but in case he endeavour to force the contrary religion upon his subjects , for that must be supposed how then will your allegeance bold ? very well and yet not whet our ●ythes at the philistims forge for they say that a prince apostatising , is to be excommunicated and so deposed , as you shall presently see : we say that princes are not to be deposed for altering their religion , yea though they should be excommunicated , for the crown is not intailed upon religion . 2. they deprive princes , we only defend our selves . 3. they deprive by the popes authoritie we defend our selves by the highest civill authority of the land . againe , whereas i said the papists hold it lawfull to kill a prince and that a private man invested with the popes authority may doe it , we abhorre it ; the doctor replieth , that is their new forge under ground , set up of late by jesuites , i did not meane you sharpened your weapons there , but at the old forge , and however you say you abhorre this doctrine of killing kings , yet i feare and tremble , to thinke , if your soveraigne had fallen in battell by the edge of your swo●d , or sh●t of your artillery , you would have found him guilty of his owne death , in that he would not ( being desired ) forbeare to goe downe himselfe into battell . 1. 't is well the dr. will excuse us from jesuitisme in this particular , and well he may in all things else , especially here where he knowes there is so much correspondency between his own opinion and the jesuites who ( for the most part of them ) hold , that as all fcclesiasticall power is given to peter , and so to the pope and bishops , not to the church so that all civill power is given immediately to the king , and not to the common-wealth , but only as derived from him ; and therefore well may the doctor excuse us from whetting our swords at the new forge of the jesuites , that being a forge which he reserves to whet his owne weapons at . 2. neither doe we whet our weapons at the old forge , for i suppose the doctor will say , that aquinas his forge , is of the oldest frame , and he speaketh directly contrary to us , thus , as soon as ever any is denounced excommunicate for apostacie from the faith , his subjects are ipso facto , absolved from his dominion , and the oath of allegeance , whereby they were bound to him . 3. we say , if a shot of our artillery had fallen on the king ( whereas you say we would have found him guilty of his own death , ) we say , we would have found you ▪ and such as you are guilty thereof , that put him on such designes ; as if a man make a fire to preserve himselfe and his family , and another comes and thrusts a third man into it , we will not fault him that made the fire to preserve his family , but him that thrust the man into it ; but in this matter doctor you have answered your selfe , for you told us in your former treatise , that it is lawfull for subjects to ward their princes blowes , to hold his hands , and the like pag. 9. now if the prince raise an army against his subjects , how can his blowes be warded , but by an army , and if his army discharge their ordnance and musquets upon his subjects , how can his subjects ward them blowes , but by discharging likewise . and then answer your selfe : what if a shot of artillery should fall upon your prince : but saith the doctor , if you back againe will gather strength for your assertions from the papists reasons , be as like as you will to one another , &c. an. who are most like to the papists you , or wee , i referre you to all that knowes us . see the canterburian self-conviction . and if we may not gather strength of reason from popish authors to dispute against them ; why do either you or we reade them . reason is good where ever we finde it ; neither would abraham refuse the use of the well because ahimilechs men had used it , no more will we refuse good reason , because the papists have used it ; they using it rather from us , and not we from them , and yet in this matter ( as i have shewed ) we doe differ much from them . but you prove a power in the body politick , saith the doctor , to disburthen it selfe ( at the church hath ) of evill members , as papists doe . an. but not as the papists : for we onely presse a necessity of power in the body , to defend and save it selfe from the injury of princes ; they plead for a power in the church , ( & who that church is you know ) to depose princes ; but then saith the drs. hath this church a power of excōmunication still ; so it should be indeed , but since the act which tooke away the high commission ; and ( as the party you plead for would have it interpreted ) all ecclesiasticall censure too , where doth the exercise of that power rest , upon , whom now is the argument turned ? page 73. an. surely upon your selfe , for there is no church of christ , but whil'st it remaines a church hath a power left in it ( though the exercise may be long suspended ) to see to it selfe , and its owne preservation , i say a power from christ to excommunicate , though it should bee denied from men ; and it seemes a strange thing to mee , that the churches of england have no power left , because the high commission is downe , as if that court were set up by christ himselfe . the body naturall hath power to disburthen it selfe saith the doctor , so hath the common-wealth too ; but will you have the naturall body disburthen it selfe of the head , or worke without it . an. neither doe we goe about to cut off our head , but say in the generall ; if the head should bee distempered through ill vapours that arise from inferiour parts , so that it cannot discharge its office , it 's lawfull for those that are in place , to give physick to the body , that even the very head it selfe may be the more healthfull . and whereas i had shewne , that there is not the same reason , that the people should re-assume their trust in case the parliament be negligent ; as there is , that in case a prince neglect his trust , the parliament and people should see to it , the doctor replies , but if by ordinances thence issuing , they bee spoyled of their property and liberty , which is supposed in the case they will quickly feele it so . an. this is but an infinuation of a grosse scandall , no reason : onely the doctor argues p 75. will not the people as easily conclude , they may free themselves from the trust given to those parliament men , chosen by them , as renounce ( according to your lessons ) their trust given to their prince : in all reason they will hold their representatives more accountable to them then their prince can be . an. this is a scandalous charge to say that we lessen men to renounce their trust given to their prince , whereas wee onely say ; the people have a power to defend themselves , and when cause requires to excite , and actuacte that power which was alwayes residing in them , and never given from them . secondly , how can the people as easily renounce their trust given to the parliament , when the people themselves conclude and say , that what is done by the parliament is law ; which they doe not say , as concerning the prince , but rather know that for law he is directed by them ; but saith the doctor this is to make them arbitrary , and to lead the people after them by animplicite faith . an. the doctor is much against the implicite faith of the people , both in this ▪ and his former booke : it were well that men of his strayne had been so much against implicite faith in the matters of the church , where it is more dangerous , where they were not , witnesse the &c. as now they are against the implicit faith in the common-wealth , where it is of lesse danger . againe , why will this make the parliament arbitrary , or cast the people into an implicite faith ? it 's granted by all that the king and both houses may enact lawes , whereby the people are to be ruled , beleeving that those lawes are best for the common-wealth ; doth this make the government of king and parliament arbitrary , or rayse the people to an implicite faith ? no more doth it here . an arbitrary government is where a king may rule pro a●bitrio , as a father in his family , which power the doctor doth give unto the king by his paternall right , sect. 3. and so indeed there is roome for an implicite faith , for that children have most of all an implicit faith in that which their fathers say . finally master b. endeavours to shew ( saith dr. ferne ) how they can answere the oath of supremacy , an● the protestation , by taking of armes ; but who knowes not ( saith the docto● ) if that party of brownists , and anabaptists , which are now so prevalent in the armes taken up against the king , should get the upper hand , what would become of the kings supremacy and government ? an. here is a loud cry against brownists and anabaptists , but who are brownists ? not all those that are against prelates , and not for the english common prayer book ; for then all the reformed churches are brownists . and as for anabaptists , i wish it may bee considered , whether they doe not take some footing for their opinion from the common prayer booke : they deny baptisme to infants , upon this ground , because actuall faith and repentance is pre-required to baptisme ; and doth not the common prayer book seeme to acknowledge as much , when as before baptisme , the witnesses in name of the infant must answer to these questions , dost thou beleeve ? dost thou renounce the divell and all his workes ? i must nakedly professe my judgement against that opinion , yet were it not good , that the very common prayer booke should come under consideration upon this and other reasons . secondly , if men were so much for protestant religion , and against papists , as is here pretended , they would never be more afraid of brownists , and anabaptists , then of papists ; seeing they are of the protestant religion , and differ not from us in fundamentalls , as the papists doe . thirdly , suppose that that army should prevaile , wherein there are brownists , & anabaptists , as you say , yet is there not so much danger that they should prevaile to mislead the parliament , who are three or foure hundred ; as that papists , should prevaile to mislead one . fourthly , though there should be anabaptists , and brownists in the army , yet they doe not sight against the kings supremacy and his government as the papists do against the protestant religion , and being of parliaments , whose powder treason is famous ▪ or rather infamous to all generations . at last the dr. tells us concerning supremacy , that the king is supreme , not so much in opposition to particular persons , as in relation to the whole body politique , of which he is head . we say the king is supreme and head of kingdome severally and joyntly considered , dr. ferne indeed tels us , that the two houses of parliament are in a sort co-ordinate with his majestie , to some act or exercise of the supreme power , that is to making laws , by yeelding their consent . and if they bee co-ordinate in that act of supremacy , paraeus and others will tell him that the nomothetick part of supremacy is the highest . we acknowledge the king our supreme to defend us ; but not to defend our selves where cause requires , gives a supra-supremacy unto him . what else remaines in this sectionis either matter of words and bare denyall to what hath been said or answered to his other answerers . in the next section ▪ page 89 ▪ the dr. saith , mr. b. enters upon a loose discourse against episcopall government , i reserve him for his better instruction to a booke entituled episcopacy asserted . ans. no other loose discourse then what his loose treatise lead mee into ; and for the drs better instruction i refer him to mr. baynes his diocesan , mr. parkers ecclesiasticall politieor altare damascenum . and whereas i said , now the dr. shewes himself , he had rather the kingdom should be imbrued in a bloody warre , then episcopacy should down , because he had said in his treatise page 25. that the king has reason by power of armes , to divert the abolishing of episcopall government . the dr. answers nay , mr. bridge , you and your party in arms show your selves what spirit you are of , who will have this land imbroyl'd in a bloody warre , rather then episcopacy shall not down . not so doctor , there is not the same reason , why you should retort these words upon us , for i had no where said , the parliament hath reason by power of arms , to divert the evill of that government ; yea i am so farre from it , that i professe freely that if the king and parliament would establish that government still to be continued , that the people is not bound to rise up in arms , to root it out , though i judge it evill : yea if any man be of that opinion i think he is to be suffered to live , enjoying himselfe and his estate here . then pag. 56. the dr. saith to that of sauls speare restored ; mr. bridge replies , though restored before demanded , yet not before saul had humbled himselfe to david saying , i have sinned , &c. we know , saies he , what you looke for , his majestie hath not bin ashamed to doe it with great condiscention . an : 't is possible a king may faile for not humbling himselfe before his subjects , chron. 2. 36. 13. and zedekiah did that which was evill in the sight of the lord his god , and humbled not himselfe before jeremiah the prophet . and though his majestie had yeelded and humbled himselfe yet lower , he would be no loser thereby , we know what the old counsellors said , 2 chron. 10. 7. if thou be kind to this people , and please them , and speake good words to them , they will be thy servants for ever . finally ▪ whereas i had shewed that ziba , and those that resorted to david in his distresse , were not of another religion , and by law to bee disarmed , as the papists now are ; who have entertainment in his majesties army : the doctor answers , though by law papists are not to have arms at their dispose , yet are they not quit of the duty and service of subjects . they owe no more duty to king but according to law , and by law they are to bee all disarmed ; wherefore good dr. maintaine this illegall way no longer , give glory to god , and say you are convinced of this truth ; which indeed you cannot but be ; if you doe not shut your owne eyes : for you told us in your former treatise , that subjects may lawfully for their owne defence , hold the kings hands , and how so , ( if he raise an army ) but by an army . neither can you be so weake as to thinke that the great senate of the kingdome , that all the commons , gentlemen , and nobles , should be so at the mercy of every meane person , invested with the kings authority , that if a petty constable , or other inferiour officer doe offer violence unto them , that it shall not bee in their power to make a forcible resistance , because they are clothed with the kings authority : good sir , in the feare of god , make your humble addresses to his majestie , and petition him to return to those that are faithfull to him : the worst that he can lose , you know ( if you pretend rightly ) is but a piece of prerogative , or some exercise thereof for the present ; why should so good a land as this be imbrued in blood for such a cause warre , being the worst of all evills , and therefore not to be undertaken but to prevent gravissimum malum . and is the losse of some part of the prerogative or exercise thereof for the present such ; i beleeve you cannot say so : wherefore labour , labour you to take off those exasperations that are amongst men with you ; and doe not still put your unguem in ulcere ut recrudesoat dolor . tell the people amongst whom you are of that sinfull way wherein they now are so shall you liberare animam tuam . but if you will not it may bee those words which you read in ezech. 3. 12. will lie hard on your conscience another day . now the god of all peace ▪ give us peace , but truth with peace , in christ jesus . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29375e-380 foelix necessitas quae ad mel●ora ducit . vetustatem si spectes est antiquissima , si dignttat● mest honoratissima , si jurisdictionem ●st copiosissima . quo modo fidem praestabunt autboritat● qu● deo sunt persidi . cons. sa●●ff . pa. 56. qui gloriatur in viribus corports gloriatur in viribus carcer● . nos autem rerum magis quam verborum amatores sumus ●tilia potius quam plausibilia sectamur , & in his scrip is non lenocinia esse volumus , led remedia . salv. epist. ad solon . to the end that the abbat might have an happy beginning of this work from some luckie manner of presage , he solemnly appointed the day of st. perpetua and of st. felicitie , in which he would lay the first foundation cambd. britan ▪ lincolnshire . notes for div a29375e-1170 a nemo it a amens est ut bellum quam pacem malit : nam in pace filii patres , in bello patres filios sepeliunt . herod . b multi sunt praedicatores aestuantes & tumultuantes , artibus qui ut dixerint omnia facta velint , non tam volentes audiri quia verbum dei dicunt , quam quia ipsi sunt verbi doctores , organum magis quam sonum commendari petentes horum portio , qui meditatis & conceptis à se verbis permittunt sibi ipfis nunc bos nunc illos pungere & mordere , & statim convertere , ubi fit miro deiconsilio , ut nihil minus impleant quam quod cogitaverunt . sentit enim naturaliter anima bominis verbum arte super se compositum esse , & stercore humano ut apud ezek. est opertum , id est , humano affectu pollutum ; ideonauseat super illo & potius irritatur quam convertitur . luther . c potestas in genere est facultas quae dam propinqua ad exercendum aliquam operationem in aliquo supposito , ut domificator babet potestatem domificandi , id est facultatem qua in propinquo potest exire in talem operationem . alman . depotest eccl. & laic q. 1. apud gerson . d vbi non sine gravi ●onfilio apostolus abstractivalocutione uti voluit , ut ostenderet subditos non debere ad personas imperantium respicere , sed adipsorum officium quo divinitus sunt instructi . ger. de mag. polit. cap. 1. e in epist. ad rom. regem ettam definit prope ad dialecticā subtilitatem esse enim ait ministrum cui gladius traditus est ut malos puntat , ac bonos foveat & sublevet . buchan de jure regni apud scotos . magistratus in abstracto ex loco apostolico , rom 13. sic dosmire potest , est potestas à deo ordinata , gla●io armata ut sit custos divinae legis & aliarum honest arum constitutionum ad conservand . pacem in genere humano , & re●pub . salutem obtinendam , ger. de pol. mag conclus gen. f dominium jurisdictionis est potestas gubernandi subdiios suos cujus actus sunt praecipere vetare , judicare , punire , pr●miare . dominum oroprie●atis jus disponendi de r● aliqua in suum com●●●dum . medina de jure & justitia . g potestas secularis vel laica , est potestas à populo vel successione haere atarea , vel ex electione alt●ui , vel alicubus traaita regulanter ad aedificationem comm●nitatis quantum adres civiles , secundum leges civiles pro constitutione habitationis pacifi●ae . alman . ibid. h potestas secularis sive lai●aest a deo quantum ad debitum , sed frequenter non est a deo quantum ad acquisitionem vel usum nam secundum dictamen rectum debitum est taiemesse potestatem naturaliter enim iudicant bomines quod oportet eos subdi alicui qui eis judicium & ju● a●ministres , exordinationem enim ●incitum est nobis tale judicium naturaleut consormiter adipsum veniamus , & boca deo , sed non est a deo regula●iter ad istum sensum quod alicui deus communi●aret istam jurisdictionem laicam , &c. durand . lib. de origine juris . i ioh. brut. q. 3. bucher . lib. 1. p. 6. althusius polit. cap. 15. henomius polit. dis. 2. 1 1. 6 isod . lib. 9. origen cont. celsum . cap. 9. aristot . polit. lib. 1. c. 3. plato de rep. cap. 8. livi lib 4. aeneus silvius de gestis concil. basil . vide rutherford in his plea for presbytery , chap. 4. pag. 46. k vulgare est atque indubtratum fidei axioma deum & naturam prius atque immediat us ad totam suppositum quam ad aliquam partem suppositi quamvis nobilissimam intendere ; eum que ob causam faccultatem videndi datum esse bomini ut per oculum tanquam per organum & ministrum hominis exerceretur ; namoculus per & propter hominem exist it . facultas parifiensis de pol. eccles ▪ et istudetiam deduci potest ex thom aquin. 2. 2● . q ▪ 64. omnis enim pars ordinatur ad totum , cujus est pars vel imperfectum ad perfectnm , & sisalutitotius corporis expediat abscissio alicujus membri puta quia est putridum aut ceterorum infectivum in toto corpore residet potestatem illud perscmdendi . quid ergo quelibet persona comparetur ad totam communitatem sicut pars ad totum , ideo si aliquis sit pernitiosus in communitate laudabiliter a communitate interimitur . almain . de authorit . ecclef . apud gers. cap. 1. l auferendo potestatem ad faciendum externum supponit ad faciendum naturalem nam qui potestarem solam excipit ad regem ex peregrina natione constituendum plane illam supponit ad constituendum expropria . mendoza in sam. 1. 8. 12. m et sic ●angitur prima differentia inter has duas potestates quia ecclesiastica estimmediate a ob ▪ sto instituente , sed laua quamvis sit a d●o ex ordinatione quantum ad debitum nu●qu●m tamene● . a leo regula●iter & immediate instituendum . almain . de potest . ecccles . & laic cap. 1. n vocatur human a ordinatio non respectuprime originis & principalis causae efficient is , sed respectu cause instrumentalis , quia per bominem sapius constituitur magistratus ut oecumenum in commeut . humanam {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} opponit per {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} quod constitutus & positus sit magistratus ab hominibus deo tamen sic innuente & sanctiente gererd loc. com . fol. 481. o quil apertius neque enim videtur aliter eum regem fa●ere potuisse quam ei regiam potestatem conferendo . mendoza 1 sam. 8. p vbielectio regis deo constitutio susceptio velcomprobatio populi suffragiis tribuitur . zeppeperus leg. mosaic . forens explan ▪ lib. 3. cap 7. q qnod autem adcreationemipertinet creatus est primum s●ffragiis populi universi ▪ &c. car. scr. de rep hebr l. 7. c. 3. r ergo illa authorit as est perprius in communitate quia nemo alteridet quod non habet . 〈…〉 ſ ante discensum in egyptum in quo hebraei non ren publicam sed samiliam constituebat ; nam ( ut ari●t ) non nisi ex multis samiliis coales●it respub ▪ tune autem una erat abrah●e domus , in quam successit isaac , & in bane domus jacob , & quamvis in tempore jacob : post connub●a plures ●am familtae darentur , quarum omnium gubernatio non potuit esse oeconomica , ta●en non e●ant it a m●ltae u● politicum rempublicum ▪ conflarent , sed medtant quandam commitatem quam vitalem seu collectaneam appellant . mendoza 1 tom. annot. 3. proem. sect. 10. t quia ut hec sideribus , it a illa regibus fulgurant . 6. sect proem . u quaedam namque potest as est quae ortum babet ex solo jure naturali , quae de causa potestas naturalis dicitur talis est potestas patris in filios & in alios descendentes alia vero est quae ortum babet ex bominum voluntatibus se illi subjicere voluntium & idcirco civilis potest as dicitur-molina de jure & just . disp. 20. tract. 2. ex succedentium line● in qua paucissimos invenies primogenitos succedentes parentibus , qua e abulensis aperte satetur se retractare communem sententiam quam ipse aliquande sequutus fuisset , & jam tunc asserere successionem in regnum aut principatum nunquam fuisse ●lligatum ●ut debitum primogenitis , & confirmat ex to quod paralip . 1. 5. 1 primogenita ruben data fuere josept , fili●s & tamen juda regnabat . pineda derebus salomonis , lib. 2. cap. 1. ipsonatur● jure omnes aequaltter filios patri succedere do●uit . arist 7 ethick . decreto item & voluntate divina indiscriminatim salomonis posteritati pollicetar . dem regnum sed ub●plures erunt filii ad solum parentis voluntatem spectasse videntur . abulensis addit posteriorum regum tempore invalescente consuetudinem b●reditarium regni jus ad primogenitos devolutum esse ; ego vero perpetuum fuisse existimo ut regni successor expar●utis a rbitrto & voluntate penderet ut ex serie regum patet . pineda lib. 2. de rebus salomonis cap 1. 2. 3. a ceterum cum deforma reipub. quaritur nibil aliud quaeritur nisi penes quem principatum summa rerum fuerit constituta ; hae● vero apud haebreos primum penes optimates posita fuit deinde penes reges quorum principatum illum aristacr●cian , hoc regnum greci vocarunt , aristocratia suit sub mose , iosua , ●●●ioribus & indicibus , reg●um sub reg●bus de aristo●ratia 〈…〉 non facietis , &c. car. sigon . li ▪ 1. ca. 5. effectus non exce●●t virtutem causae suae . a homines quondam potentia per pollentes , avidi dignitatis & gloria vicinas s●pe gentes sibt v●●ibus subjugarunt ac ipsis servire obtemperare quoque jussionibus suis compulerunt quas jussiones ex tunc leges hominibus illis esse ipsi sanctierunt . fortes . de laudibus legum angl. ca. 12. ad tutelam namque legis subditarum & corum corpus & bonorum rex homini erectus est , & ad hanc potestatem a populo esluxam ipse haec , quo einon li●et potestatë alia suo populo dominari . c. 13. princtpatum namque nedum regali sed & politica , ipse suo populo dominatur . c. 9. fox act. monum. of will . conqueror . ex lib. regum antiquorum in pretorio londinensi . mr. fox act. moxum . ibid. nam precedentibus diebus edwinus & morcardus apud london audito interritus haroldi nuntio urbanos solicitaverunt ut alterutrum in regnum subl●varent , caeteriproceres edg irum eligerent si episcopos hererent , sed angliqui in unam coeunies sententiam pot●issent patrie reso mare ruinam dum nullum ex●suis volebant ● d●xerunt alienū . gui malms . ●e wil primo , lib. 3 pag 102. speed chron. of will. the conquerour . answ . quod si objicias samuilem ungendo , sa le a absque ullo populi consensu ▪ acdicendo ecce unxit te dominus super heareditatem suam i● principem , 1 reg , 10. n 1 , manifeste indicasse regiam potestatem sauli collatam , non á populo , sed á deo immediate profecta● esse ; facile responder i potest , illam unctionem non fuisse signum potestatis collatae sed confe●endae , ut probari potest ex unctione davidis 〈…〉 ● samuel unxit , 1 reg 16. n. 13. ●●guante adhue saule , im●multis post annis regnatu●o . vnde per eam vnctionem non accepi david regiam potestatem , led per ●●m qu● postea sacta est ab universis tribabus , et ●enio●ib●s , quando venientes in hebron un●e●unt david in regem super israel reg. 2. 5. 3. q●a●e illa prior unctio non fuit colla io regiae potestatis , sed tanti●m significatio qu edam hujus posteriotis unct●oni●● per qua● confe●end● erat illa regia potesta●● sic ig●tur et prima illa saulis unctio ante populi consensum , non significav●t regiam potestatem collatam , sed confercudam , quando 〈…〉 quin s populus a samue●e congregatus in m●●pah , 〈…〉 praebuit consensum , & ●lamavit vivat 〈…〉 ita possunt p●o hac pa●te ●jus auctores non pa●um prob●biliter argumenta●● , mendoza in 1 reg. cap. 8 , num . 5 pag. 5●2 . answ . hujus autem temporis respub. monarchica fuit , aristocratia tamen perm xta , et accellit ali quid etiam democraticum , habuit enim senatum septuagint , cujus judices pat●ien et principes vocantur ; regi assidegtes summum regni , judicium conficiebant , ad quod di●●iciliores ●ausae ▪ regis & pontifiers elect●o , beili gerendi consultatio , al●a que totum populi corp s concernentia refer . ●ban . tur . de hoe synedrio josephus nihil agat ex sine senatorum sententia fuerunt ●ue hi eo apnd reges loco , ut fiatres eos suos dicerent zepperus mosaie . fo●en . expla. l. ● . cap. 6. dedit illis deus seniores . q●i per omma ill ▪ equales forent , ut patet numb. 11. 14. etin ipsis s●eptrum ipsum pen ▪ debat , nemo autem dijudicat tribum sceptrum , &c nisi domus judicii , ca● . s●r●t . ●iv . 6. cap. 7. penes quos erat summa potestas judicandi controversa , & exer●●ndi judicia publici , quin & reges elegendi , et deponendi , unde a talmodistis vocatur domus judicii magna , vel collegium sceptri & publici po●estatis , gerardde eccles-pol . hoe seniorum synedrian perpetuum suit in populo dei , usque ad herodem teste josepho zepper lib. 3. cap. 5. sc dr. bilson of subject . & rebellion , p. 338. gubernato●es e●go in iis reb●● quae cum de alogo et j stis legibus puguant , nihil juris aut immunitati , h●bent prae ex●e●is humin●b●● privatis , et perpet●antes id quod malum est , coguntu● tam metuere o●din●ti ouem de● ▪ glad● . umpraestantem ad vindict im n●cc●tium , quam a●i hene ▪ pri● i nam paulus rom. 13. docet . deum ordinasse et insti●●isse potestatem illa● gladio defendendi bonum , et puniendi malum ▪ et praecipit , utomn● anima ( et fie gubernatores ) tali dei ordinationi sit subjecta ; hoc est obligat ad faciendum bonum , si velit defendi istâ dei ordinatione , et non ob sua facinora impia puniri . magdebur gensis cens. lib. 20. mr. knox history of the church of scotl. p , 343. answ. to lysima chus nicanor . pag. 8. peter mart ▪ in iudg. cap. 1. polanus in dan. 11. barcleus regn imperii assertor forti●●imus , hue tamen descendit , ut populo , et insigni ejus parti jus concedat se tuendi ▪ adversum immanem s●vitiam ▪ cum tamen ipse fate●tur totum populum regi s●bditum esse ; ego indiscriminatim 〈…〉 aut singulos , aut partem populi minorem , quae ultimo necessitatis praesidio , sic utatur ut interim et communis bo●i respec●●m non deserat . ●ix ausim nam david a matos circum se aliquanto habuit ; quo nisi ad vim arcendam , si inferetu● . et hos ipso tempore david i prudente f●emina dieitur bella dei , i. e. pia gere●e ; quod male multi ad s●la belia p●io●a trahunt , quum potiu , emendatio fit ejus quod nabal dixe●at , multos subditos a rege ●uo defic●re , quod at corrigat abigal bella davidis pia esse dic●t , utpo●e non defectionis , sed solo vitae tu●ndae confi●io suscepta hugo , grocius de jure belli & pac●s lib. 1. cap. 4. quid agendum est subjecto cum á magistratu violatur ; vel si summi magistratus in ty●nn ▪ s degenerarent , e●quid subject is faciendum ▪ necessartone illis obtemperandum an illis repugnandum . ●s quidem armorum vi adhibita . respondeo . varia esse subjectorum discrimina , alii mere sunt privati homines , nullum publi●um munits gerentes ; alii infe ▪ iorem , et quasi subalternum magist , atum gerant ; alii ita sunt sum●●o magistrat● inferiores ; it tamen ex patriae 〈…〉 legi● bus summi magistratus , moderandicausa tan quam fraena quedam constituantur , quod ad primum attinet certum est , nefas else privato cailibet privata authoritate vim tyranni vi opponere , sed vel tyranni vis subcunda , et tolle . randa est aut cedendum , et alio migrandum . quod ad secundum subjectorum genus attinet eorum qui s●b●lternos magistratus gerunt ; non regis quidem familiae domestici , sed regni potius ministri ; quos officiarios coronae vulgo nuncupant ; i●a statuendum est , illos non tam a nege quam a regno pendere . illi regi manifeste ●yranno , et ad lege . evertendas sua potentia abutenti opone●● se , debent ex jure jurando p estito ; obligati ad ●o um s●l●tem , et conservationem qui suae fide● commissa sunt ; armi● si opus est etiam adhibi●is , done ▪ a regni o din●b is aliter provisum sit . de tertio autem subjectorum genere , illud constituendum est quamtus illi revera ; et certa quadam ●atione summum magistratus imperio submittuntur ; alia tamen ratione dum u●git necessitas sup●e ●i illius pigni●atis vindices , et custode ; constituuntur , u● supremum magistratum in suo ollicio contineant ; imo ut et illum cum necesse sue ▪ it reprimant , atque castigent . si quis excipiat ut prima illa fuerit magistratuum , origo ve um tamen ●sse popul●● omnem ●●am libertatem in sol dum its resig . nasse quos ●ummos magistratus sibi p e●t . c rent caedo vero tesig●atiom . illius ullam probationem , qum sta●uo pop●l●s qnantum quidem valuit jus et e●nitas , nec creasse , nec recipisse reges nisi ce●tis conditionibus , qnibus á magistratu ma ifel●e vi●latis consequ●tur cum jus illo●um abdicandorum h. b. e , qui habnerat ●reandorum . ●d de●t populum summos magistratus legiti o●imperio abutentes ; abdicare imperio posse . et id quidem apud omnes nationes celebrio●●s usa●patum fuisse perspicuum est , romano ; athenienses israelitos , danos , swedo● , scotos & anglos . secundo excipitur regibus si in tyrannos degene a●ent ; non esse seele um quidem p●aebendum ministerium , illis tamen vim minime opponendam ; de privatis conced● ; de inferio tb●s ve●o magistrat bus minime . ad superio●es ve o regum quasi ephoros de tyrannis coercendt , curam maxime eorum per●i● . e●e contendo . 3. deinde affertur exemplum davidis q●i sauli●y● rāno tam studi●●e pepercit , quamvis illius interficiendi facultatem haberet illud exemplum superio●i doctrinae minime repugnare ai● ; david enim m litarem hominum turmam coegerat , quorum opera si ita postulasset necessi●a● , ha●d dub●e adversus sa●●em . usus fuisse . ita tamen egit def ensionis potius quam offensionis causa . commentari●rum ▪ partis de statu relig. et reipub , in regni gallis , sub neno reg. ib. 10. pag. 120 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26. in ●ctav● . answ . dr. bilson differ , between 〈…〉 and rebel●ion page 326 , 2 kin. 15. 5. 7. 2 chron , 26. 2 kings 632. ambiguum est autem quod de judicio insert , an de eo quo divinirus olim puntentur inobedientes loquatur , vel de co quod expectandom est à magistratibus ; in posteriori sententiae videntur sequentia savere , pri●ri vero praecedentia . verum nihil resert ut●om intelliganus , nec quie un n prohibit quo minus de utroque exponamas , cum utrum ne sit timendun immorigeris . masculus in kem. 13. ita●ue qui resistit non 〈…〉 &c. de ills potestatibas dicit quae prosecutores fuerint fidzi , ibi en●m dicendum est , deo oportet obremye ●ate magis qham hominibus . sed de istis communitat b●s dicit quae non sunt terro●ib●m ope●is , sed mah , qui●i s utique qui resistit , &c. orig●n in rom. 13. negare vero obedientiam est resistere para , in rom. 13. praesides provin's ciis praeficicbantur non tam authoritate casaris quam senatus . estius ep. pet. x. 2. in e● quod additu● tan quam ab e● mi●is , 〈…〉 rege● refe●unt nonnull● quod non plac● 〈…〉 apo●tolu ▪ vul● hoc in presi●h us istis confide●ar ▪ quod de●s e●s miser it , i●●●od ad obediendum movere debet , ac ●t taceam quod praesides p●oviuciis praeficiebant non tam authoritate caesaris ●uam senatus , illi alters relationi non quadra● quod sequitur ad vindictam ma●efactorem , &c. quem scop●m mali●eges non ●sq●e qua jue hab●bant propositum , ●ectius igitur ad deum refe●tur , qui hunc finem omnibus magistratibus praescribit , unde & paulus de potestate rom. 13. dei enim minister est tibi in bonum &c. ex quo apparet missos a deo hic intelligi debere non solum duces sed regem ipsum . estius in epist , p●● 1 , 2. answ . answ . ans. answ . * non ideo dicitur politia aliqua regalis , quia vaiens ei praesit qui sit tota commnnitate in jurisdictione major , nec ei quovis modo subjectus , sed solum propter hanc causam , quia unicus p●cest qui in quemlibet alterum de communitate jurisdictionem habet , et est eo superior . nec conveniens feret aliq em unam talem taliter communitate pre●i●i , piesset ea totai ▪ o m cam supe ●or , insi talis fo●et indeviabil●s , ●uema ●modi● de curisto confi etur , qui communiratem erige e potest sua voluntate , secundum legem , tuncista politia esset pe●fecta regalis , sen almain de pet stazlarca ad gerson . cap. 1. miserum est non facete ●un na ju● velis m scri s vero velle quod licet miserrs . mu n posse facere quod ita velis , lun . i. ● . ans ▪ answ . answ . answ . answ . it ideo quam rito aliquis per sententiam denimciatur e●communicatus propter aposta●ram a side , ipso facto ejus subditi absoluti sunt a domnio ejus et juramento fidelitaris quo eitenebantur tho. aq. 2. 2. ● . 12. a●s . 2. dr. ferne reply page 6. potestas politica seu civilis dupliciter consideratur ; vel ut architecto nica , quae occupat in legibus ●ferendis ad quodvis bonum reipub. pro novendum ; et vocatur {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ut architectonicae s●bordinata , quae rempse●undum leges ill●s deliberando , judicando , et exequendo , administrat , & vocatur simpliciter {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} seu civilis , lib. 6. ethic. cap. 6. perse vero patet quod architectonica {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} sit superior civili simpliciter d●cta , et omnibus aliis potestatibus subordinatis quod que sit potestas suprema . par●us in ro. 13. the original of kingly and ecclesiastical government by t.b. ... barlow, thomas, 1607-1691. 1681 approx. 170 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 59 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-02 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a27454 wing b1513a wing b196 estc r37045 16194662 ocm 16194662 105037 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27454) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105037) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1085:5 or 2362:14) the original of kingly and ecclesiastical government by t.b. ... barlow, thomas, 1607-1691. [6], 111 p. printed for robert clavell and william hensman, [london] : 1681. place of publication suggested by wing. identified as wing b196 on reel 1085; number cancelled in wing (cd-rom, 1996). reproduction of originals in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. episcopacy. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-12 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2005-12 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the original of kingly and ecclesiastical government . by t. b. dr. in divinity . mat. 22.21 . da caesari quae sunt caesaris . king jame's bas. dor. sublato episcopo tollitur rex . printed for robert clavell , and william hensman , 1681. the contents . chap. i. god himself was the first founder , and the first that instituted the office of kings . chap. ii. the people cannot make an anointed king. chap. iii. the meaning of the anointing of kings . chap. iv. the reason why they are called the lords anointed . chap. 5. bad kings are the lords anointed as well as good . chap. vi. it is not lawful upon any pretences whatsoever to depose , or so much as touch the lords anointed . chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords anointed . chap. viii . that kings now adays are to be had in the same veneration and esteem as the kings of judah and israel were , notwithstanding our christian liberty . chap. ix . that a king failing in his duty , and not performing those things which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) yet the people are not dis-obliged in their obedience unto him . chap. x. touch not mine anointed , psal. 105. meant by princes , and not otherwise . chap. xi . the objection of the ten tribes revolting from rehoboam , answered . chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram , and taking the kingdom upon him , answered . chap. xiii . a discourse concerning the necessity and excellency of monarchy . chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free state in the world. chap. xv. a discourse concerning episcopacy , proving it to be jure divino . to the reader . good reader , we have lived to see our profession of christianity , to have yielded some men arguments for their taking up armes against their lawful soveraigns and goverment , certainly there hath been some violence used by them herein , or else this holy religion could never afforded them such a topick . submission to our lawful governours , not only for wrath , but also for conscience-sake , is the great duty and glory of our profession , whilest evil religions prompt men to rapine , blood , and violence , religio christiana nil suadet nisi justum & lene . the original and power of kingly government hath of late been much disputed , whether it be ( as our saviour spake of st. john's baptism ) from god or from men ; this author ( i think ) hath evinced the former , and if so , subjection is our duty ; t is not male administration or persecution ( as some men call it ) can ever warrant the subjects arms against his prince . the christian church gives no example , nor our religion any precept for such undertakings ; if it then be religion ( as some men would have us think ) they fought for , why do they use unlawful weapons ? must prayers and tears be turned into pike and musket because a nero is thy governour ? the church of god knows no such usage , the legal dispensation it self , which will be acknowledged somewhat harsh in respect of the gospel , will not permit a holy david , tho a man after gods own heart , to build his temple , for that he was a man of battel and his hands were bloody ; peace , meekness , charity , and submission to our lawful government , are the effects and true signs of real christanity , the other is but spurious and apocryphal . to inform our reader of the rise of kingly government is the design of this pious author , and to perswade us to subjection to our civil as well as ecclesiastick governors , is the main intention and scope of his undertakings ; which i hope ( good reader ) by a due perusal of this small book may be well attained as the thing it self is well made out by the author , and so i leave thee to the use of the book . the original of government . chap. i. who was the first founder , or the first that instituted the office of kings . vvee , say some people , were the first that desir'd them , and moved for them , and had them , and chose them . and all the people went to gilgal , and there they made saul king before the lord in gilgal . 1 sam. 11.15 . 1 sam. 8.5 . soft and fair , good people ; do not mistake your selves ; you desired , and moved for , and would have , and had a king , but god gave him you : i gave thee a king , o israel , in mine anger , and i took him away in my wrath , hosea 13.10 , 11. according to this we read acts 13.21 . they desired a king , and god gave unto them saul , &c. and for your making of a king at gilgal , your making was but approving , and applauding him , that was made already ; for saul was both made a king , and confirmed king , and executed his office , before the people are said to have mad● him king in gilgal : he was anointed king over israel , 1 sam. 10.1 . he was confirmed by signs , 1 sam. 10.2 , 3 , 4 , &c. he executed his office , 1 sam. 11.7 , 8. god first , sent . and s●condly , shewed . and thirdly , chose . and fourthly , anointed . and fifthly , found them out a king , before ever it is said , they made him . first , god sent him ; i will send thee a man out of the tribe of benjamin , and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people . secondly , god shewed him ; for neither the people , nor any of the saints , nor the elders of bethlehem , no , nor samuel himself , knew not where to find this first of kings , 'till god said , this is he , he shall reign over my people , 1 sam. 9.17 . thirdly , god chose him himself ; and samuel said to all the people , see him whom the lord hath chosen , 1 sam. 10.24 . if the people had made him themselves , or could make him , what needed they to have come unto samuel , to bid him , make us a king to judge us ? 1 sam. 8.5 . and to say , give us a king ? which deprecation was indeed no otherwise , than as if they should have desired samuel to have asked a king for them of the lord ; for so it seems by the sequel , for immediately hereupon samuel went unto the lord , and declared their importunity , and the lord said , that he should hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they said unto him , verse 7. and this most certain and agreeable unto 1 sam. 1. where samuel tels the people ; ye have this day rejected your god , &c. and have said unto him , set a king over us fourthly , god anointed him ; samuel took a violl of oyl and poured it on his head , and kissed him , and said , is it not because he hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance , 1 sam 10.1 . fifthly , god found him out for them , where he was hidden from them ; for when all the tribes of israel were come together , and the tribe of benjamin was taken , and the families of that tribe drew neer ; and the family of matri was taken out of those families , and saul the son of kish from thence : 1 sam. 10.20 , 21. ( the smallest tribe , the least family , the poorest benjamite , as shewing us that kings were not to have derivation from the mighty people but from the almighty god : 1 sam. 9.21 . ) the people sought him but they could not find him , so that they were fain to enquire of the lord for him , and the lord shewed them where he had hid himself in the stuffe ; 1 sam. 12.22 . so that all that the people of israel had to doe , either in the election , institution , nomination , creation , or invention of their first king , was ( when god had done all this ) to shout , and say , god save the king , 1 sam. 10.24 , and for their making a king , after all this in gilgall , ● it could be no otherwise than their approbation of him , who was thus made by god already . neither was god only the founder of the first king of the jews , but of all the rest also : he was davids founder too , i have found david my servant , with my holy oyl have i anointed , him , psal. 89.20 . it was well for david , for he should have been but a poor king , if he had been but of the peoples finding ; and it may be they would not have known what to have made of him when they had found him . david was not silius populi , but dei , the son of god , not of the people : psalm 89.26 . he was neither exalted of the p●ople , nor chosen of the people , i have exalted one chosen out of the people , said god , ( vers . 19. ) but the exaltation was gods , and the choice not of , but out of the people . kings are not children of the most voices , but children of the most high , psal. 82.6 . yet the approbation of the people may serve ad pompam , but not ad necessita●em ; it may ad● something to the solemnity , but nothing to the essence of the constitution ; what was divinely given , may be humanely received , and so are kings . neither will we speak of the king , or the first of the kings of iudah or israel , but we will go along with the first king that e're was read of ( if there be not books ancienter than the books of moses ) and that was melchisedec king of salem : this melchisedec is said to have neither father nor mother ; it could not be said so in regard of his person , for we all know who he was , and who his father and mother were ; he was sem , the eldest son of noah , but it was said so , in respect of his office ; shewing us , that kings , they are not the off-spring of men , but an emanation from the deity , and teaching us , that as kings are not of the peoples making , so they ought not to be of the peoples marring , and as they are not the founders , so they ought not to be the confounders of them ; cujus est instituere , ejus est abrogare , they that institute , may abrogate , they that make , may unmake , what thou buildest thy selfe , thou maist lawfully pull down ; thou maist diruere edificare mutare , quadrata rotundis , but if thou destroyest that which another hath built , thou maist chance to be sued for dilapidations : if a limner draw a picture , he may alter and change it , and if he dislike it , race it out at his pleasure ; or if a carver or ingraver mislike his one handy-work , he may destroy it when he pleases ; but if god makes a man after his own image , and creates him , after his own similitude , we offend god in a high degree , when we cut off , or deface the least part , or member of his handy-work . now kings are lively representations , living statues , or pictures , drawn to the life , of the great deity ; these pictures , for their better continuance , are done in oyl , the colours of the crown never fade ; they are no water colours ; as kings with their own statues will not be angry , though time and age devour them , yet they will not suffer them spitefully to be thrown down , or shot against ; so god , though he will suffer kings to die like men , and fall like other princes ; yet he will not suffer his character , spitefully to be raced , or his image defaced ; but though he will have them dye like men , yet he will have them live like gods. and if all this be not proof suicffient , you shall hear god the father , god the son , and god the holy ghost affirm as much . god the father plainly affirms ▪ john 10.34 . dixi dii estis , i have said ye are gods ; but if the stroke had been in the people , then it should have been , nos diximus dii estis , we have said ye are gods. god the son told pilate , thou shouldest have no power except it were ( data desuper ) given from above ; but if the people had given him that power , then it should have been , thou shouldest have no power , except it were ( data desubter ) given from beneath ; and i am sure the holy ghost tels us , per me reges regnant , by me kings reign ; but if they reigned by the suffrage of the people , then it should have been per nos , according to the modern dialect , they reign by us , and as long as we think fit , and when we think it fit no longer , they shall reign no more ; they received their authority from us , and we may recall it when we please , and depose them when we list ; for they are but proxies and atornies , of the people , see buch. de jure regni , fickerus , & renecherus , &c. little thinking how by this powerfull doctrine of theirs , they ( quite contrary to the word of god ) destroy the higher powers , and give the whole trinity the lie at once : and if these testimonies are not sufficient , i know why they are not , because they never were confirmed by act of parliament chap. ii. whether the people can make a king or not . if the question be asked , whether the people doe make the king or not ? i could no more grant it , then i should grant , that the people made heaven ; but if you ask me , whether the people can make a king ( such a one as they use to make ) if they have not one already of gods making , they may ; such are kings and no king ; not reges but regentes ad placitum : kings by election , are allways kings upon condition , an● where the condition is so little worth , the obligation is the lesse , and but small security will be required : for my own part i should be ashamed to ware a crowne on my head , when the people must raigne , and the king stand under the penthouse : an● i had as live they should make me a jack a lent , for apprentices to throw their cudgels at me , as to make me a king to be controuled by their masters , and every tribune of the people ; for as an invitation to a dinner where there is no meat , is but a distastfull banquet , so the name of a king without its adjuncts , is but a favourless renown ; and in deed such as they are not actu reges , they do but agere regem , they are not actual kings , they doe but act the part of a king , and j hold him that acts the part of a king an hour upon the stage , to be as real a king for his time and territories as the b●st king by election , who is chosen but for his life ; herein consists the difference , as the one must act his part as the poets please , so the other must act his part as the people please ; they must have their parts given them , they must act it accordingly ▪ they must not so much as tread the stage awry ; their subjects are both spectators and judges , and it lies within the favour of the next society , whether or no the son shall come to act the fathers part . such kings as these the people may make , but to make a sacred and anoynted king , an established and successive monarch , a king that hath this hereditatem in him , a king that hath this noli me tangere about him ; whose writs were alwaies termed sacri apices , whose commands divalis jussio , whose presence sacra vestigia , whose throne is the lords , whose scepter is his rod , whose crowne is his favour , and whose representation is of himselfe ; the people can no more make such a deity then so many tapers can make a glorious sunne , or so many sparks of sprey and faggots , can make a firmament of stars ▪ chap. iii. what is meant by anoynting of kings . anointing , in severall places of scripture , betokens some spirituall grace , as jam , 5.14 call the elders of the church , and let them pray over the sicke , anoynting him with oyl in the name of the lord : which the roman-catholicks call extream unction , though now adays , we only make use of the extremity and leave out the unction : and therefore some will have the anoynting of kings to signifie some spirituall grace also , which shall inable them with religion and aptness to govern well ; which when they cease to doe , their anointing falleth off , and they cease to be kings ; if they be not good , they are none of gods anointed , and if they be not his anointed , they care not whose they are . this doctrine hath cause● the shedding of more bloud than there is now runn●ng in the veins of living christians ; whereas the truth is , it is neither religion , nor virtue , nor grace that is me●nt by this royall anointing ; cyrus was chr●●tus domini ▪ as well as josias , and saul as well as david : if religion were that that did the deed , then cyrus had not been the lords anoyn●ed ▪ if vertue , then no saul ; if grace , neither : if religion make kings , then there should have been of old no kings ; but those of iudah ; and now no kings , but those of christendome . it is jus regnandi that he meant by this royal anointing ; and vnction confers no grace , but declares a just title only ; unxit in regem , he anointed him king , includes nothing but a due title , excludes nothing but usurpation ; gives him the administration to govern , not the gift to govern well ; the right of ruling , not of ruling right : kings are anoynted with oyl , to shew , that as they have thrones to signifie that they are the cistern of iustice , and crowns to signifie that they are the fountains of honours , and scepters to signifie that the hands which hold them , are the magazines wherein the whole strength & amunition of kingdoms are reposed : so anointing is a sacred signature betokening soveraignty , obedience to the throne , submission ●o the scepter , allegiance to the crown , and supremacy to the oyl must needs be given , for oyl will have it : pour oyl and wine , and water , and vinegar , or what other liquor you please together , oyl will be sure to be uppermost : the three first ceremonies make him but high and mighty , and puissant , but the last only makes him sacred , and therefore some have maintained that a king is mixta persona cum sacerdote , whether he be so or no i will not here insist ; but sure i am , that there is much divinity in the very name , and essence of kings ; which duly consi●ered and belived ▪ that kings are thus sacred ( as we ought , and gods word informs us ) we would take heed how we touch , take warning how we tear and rend in peices , as much as in us lies ( with those leaden messengers of death ( with their gunpowder commissions ) to fetch the higher to the lower powers , and make the king a subject to the subjects wills , ) the sacred person of so great majesty ; whereas the cutting off but a peice of the lappe of ●auls garment , hath checkt a greater spirit , then the proudest riser up against his soveraigne : we would not speak so despicably of the lords anointed ; what is the king ? he is but a man , he is but one he hath a soul to be saved as well as others ; for though all this be true , yet the end for which all this is said , is most false and a●ominable , for though it be true that the king is but a man ▪ yet it is also true , that that man is the light of israel , 2 kin. 8.19 . we must take heed how we put it out . and though it be true , that such a piece of silver , is but a piece of silver , yet as it bears cesars image and superscription upon it , it is more significant ; and if thou either pare or impare it a jot , if thou art found either clipping , or diminishing of it in the least degree , thou dost it to the prejudice of thine own life ; so though a king be but a man as in himself , yet as he bears representation of god , and hath his character stamped upon him , he is some-what more , if you will beleive him that said ye are gods , psalm 82.6 . and therefore we must take heed how we debase or detract from them who represent so great a deity , who by reason of their proximity and nearnesse unto god in some respects are most commonly of more discerning spirits then ordinary men : for mephibosheth , when his servant had so grieviously slandred him to david , he makes but a short complaint . my servant hath slandred me ; but ( as if he should say , i need not tell thee much , thou hast wisedom enough to find it out ) my lord the king is as an angel of god , doe therefore what is good in thine own eyes : therefore because thou art as an angel of god , and thy selfe art a good intelligencer , as all angels are , do what is good in thine own eyes ; as if he should have said , if thou doest only that which seemeth to be good in other mens eyes , it may be they will perswade thee that the thing was true , wherein my servant slandred thy servant poor mephibosheth , and he huffer wrongfully . i am of opinion that god gives to every king to whom he communicates his name and authority , this extraordinary gift of discerning ; but because they do not some times make use of it to the end it was bestowed upon them , viz. ( the better goverment of their severall dominions ) but are contented to see and discerne with other mens eyes ; and to have false spectacles put upon their noses , whereby many a good man suffers : god in his justice gives them over ▪ that in their own particular , and wherein their own greatest good is chiefly concerned , they shall make least use of their own judgements and advice , and wholly give themselves to be overswayed by the advice of those , whose judgements perhaps is not so good as their own , and whose intentions ( it may be ) are no better then they should be . it is written that the hearts of kings are in the hands of the lord , and he disposeth them as seemeth best to his heavenly wisdome ; certainly i would take a little advice from that heart , that is so directed by that hand ; the kings head never plotted treason against the crown , and no man can wish better to his majesty then the king. i speak not this in derogation either of the great or privy councel ( for it is written , in the multitude of councellors there is safety ) but in defence only of these sons of oyl , who are supreme in both . and as it is true that the king is but one man , so it is also true , that one man is worth ten thousand of the people ; thou art worth ten thousands of us ( though all his worthies were in place ) 2 sam. 18.3 . and though it be true , that the king hath a soul to be saved as well as others , yet it is also true , that he should have no body to be crucified by his subjects , out of their dis-esteem of his person , the ceremonies of state ( as anointing , sitting in thrones , holding of scepters , and coronation it self ) being to be exploded now a days ; and who look'd for it otherwise , when the lawful and decent ceremonies of the church were called reliques of popery , and raggs of the whore of babilon : was it otherwise to be expected , but that they would call these ceremonies of state , theatrica pompa : stage plays , toyes : tush say they , what need all these popperies , a kings throne is his ●ustice , his crown his honour , his scpeter and heifest strength , the peoples hearts ; his holy oyl is his religion , and zeal to gods glory ; and so it is , what then ? may we not have the signs , and the things signified also ? because the true receiving of the communion , is the receiving of the body , and blood of christ by faith ; therefore shall we have no bread and wine ? or because that true baptism is the washing away of original sin , with the la●er of regeneration ; therefore shall we have no water powred on the child ? we have scripture for these ceremonies , and i am sure we have no scripture for the abolishing of them , but rather scripture for their continuation for ever . reges in solio collocat in perpetuum : god establishes kings upon their thrones for ever , job . 36.7 . chap. iv. why they are called the lords anointed . the lords anointed , is as much as to say the lords christ , and christi signifieth anointed ones : in the hebrew you shall read it , who shall lay his hand upon the lords messiah ? for the lords anointed . 1 sam. 26.9 . in the greek , who can lay his hand upon the lords christ. kings are taken into the society of gods name , dixi dii esti● , i have said ye are gods ; and here into the society of christs name , and all to terrifie subjects from lifting up their hands against the lords anointed , as much as if he were god or christ himself . again , kings are not termed uncti domini ( for that were no prerogative to them at all ) but christi domini , for not only persons , but things also , were anointed under the law ; not only kings , but priests and prophets likewise ; neither did it rest there , but it extended to the tabernacle it self , and ran down to the vessels thereof , even to the very fireforks , ashpans , and snuffers : but unto whom said he any time , tu es christus meus , heb. 1.4 , 5. but unto christ , and kings ? to christ once , luke 2.26 . to kings thirty two times throughout the bible ; four times by god himself ; kings are called christi mei , mine anointed ; six times to god , christi tui , thine anointed , ten times of god , christi ejus , his anointed ; twelve times in terms terminant , christi domini , the lords anointed : and therefore the ol● translator observed it rightly , when in the same word , in the hebrew , and the greek , he speaks of the priest , he translates it unctus ; but when of the king ( always ) christus . and as they are not uncti , but christi , so they are not christi populi , but christi domini ; not the people 's anointed , but the lords anointed ; there may be a master of the ceremonies , but there must be no master of the substance ; they are the lord 's christs , and they hold their kingdoms under him , in kings service : neith●r are the kingdoms of the earth any bodies else but gods : the kingdoms are gods , dan. 4.17 . neither are they at any mans disposing but his , he giveth them to whom he pleaseth , ( loco citato ) therefore for whose they are , they are the lords ; and for what they are , they may thank him and none else . secondly , they are the lords , because that by him , an● in him , and through him , th●y have their dominion , and regiment ; from him they have their crowns ; from his hands their coronation : di●dema regis in manu dei , esay 60.3 . the ●oyal diadem is in the hand of god , and out of that hand he will not part with it so much , as for another , to place it upon the kings head ; but it must be tu posuisti ( tu domine ) thou , o lord , hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head , psal. 21.3 . the emperours used to stamp their coyn with a hand coming out of the clouds , holding a crown , and placing it upon their heads ; we have no such hierogliphicks in our coyn , as a hand coming out of a cloud ; but we have grace from heaven , d●i gratia , so that there is not a king but may say with the apostle , gratia dei sum qui sum , by the grace of god ▪ i am that i am ; and indeed kings are kings , as paul was an apostle , not of men , neither by man , but by god. thirdly , they are the lord 's christs ; because , not only their crowns are in the hands of the lord , but he puts the scepter into theirs : nay , the scepters which princes hold in their hands , are gods scepters , being there , virga d●i in manibus ejus , it is gods rod that is in their hands , exod. 17.9 . and therefore right is the motto ( and reason is it that they should be esteemed the lords anointed ▪ ) diev et mon droit , god and my right ; none else have to do with it , the scepter of a kingdom , in the hands of a king , is the livery and seisin which is given him by god , of the whole mili●ia , within his dominion : they that take away that , put a reed into the hand of christs anointed : and why should it be expected that they should deal otherwise with christs anointed , then they did with christ himself , first put a reed in his hand , and afterwards a spear into his heart . fourthly , kings are the lords anointed , because they sit upon his throne : sedebat solomon in throno dei , ●olomon sate upon gods throne : 1 chro. 29.23 . but if solomon should have lived in these our days , instead of his six steps to his great throne of gold , and ivory , he should have six steppers to his throne , for the gold and ivory sake ; instead of having a foot-stool of gold under his feet , he should have much ado to keep a crown of pure gold upon his head : instead of hands to stay his throne , he should have hands enough to pull it down , and cast it to the ground : and instead of two , and twelve lyons fixed on cach side as a guard unto his throne , he should have found many lyons , without regard , running up and down , seeking how they might destroy him . lastly , kings are the lords anointed , because they are anointed with his own oyl ▪ oleo sancto meo , with my holy oyl have i anointed him , psal. 89.20 . it is not with any common , or vulgar oyl , or oyl that any lays claim to but himself : but it is oleo meo , my oyl , neither is it oyl , that was fetch'd out of any common shop , or warehouse , but it is oleo sancto , with holy oyl , oyl out of the sanctuary : and no question but this is a main reason ( if they would speak out ) why some have such an aking tooth at the sanctuaries , because they maintain in them , oyl for the anointing of kings ; but if the alablaster box were broken , the ointment would soon be lost : if they could persuade the king out of the church into the barn , they would soon pull a reed out of the thatch , to put into his hand instead of a scepter ; or if they could get him to hear sermons under a hedge , there would not be materials wanting to make a crown of thorns to plat it on his head . thus you see the reasons why kings are called the lords anointed , because the lord hath appropriated them unto himself , not in a common and general way , but in a particular and exclusive manner : my king , my kingdom , my crown , my scepter , my throne , my oyl , where is there left any place for claim ? pride may thrust down angels out of heaven , and violence may crucifie the son of god ; but ( all these things considered ) who can stretch forth his hand against the lords anointed , and be guiltless ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. v. whether bad kings be the lords anointed , or not . they are : for they are of the lords sending , and appointment as well as the good . i will set an evil man to rule over them ( saith god ) and i gave them a king in mine anger , hosea 13.11 . which king was saul , which saul was a tyrant , which tyrant was the lords anointe● when he was at the worst . you cannot have two better witnesses then david , and the holy ghost , 1 sam. 26. cyrus was a heathen persian , and one that knew not god , yet for all that , haec dicit dominus , cyro christo meo , thus saith the lord to cyrus mine anointed ; esay 43.4 . nero was no good emperour , but a monster of man-kind , yet saint peter , in whose days he wrote his epistle ▪ commanded all christians to submit to him ▪ 1 pet. 2.13 . hasael , whom the lord fore-saw , and fore-shewed unto his prophet elisha , to be the destroyer of his people of israel , and one , that should make them like the dust by thres●ing , 2 kings 13.7 . one that will set their strong holds on fire , slay their young men with the sword , dash their children against the wall , and rip up their women with child ; insomuch that it made the prophet weep to foresee all the miseries that should happen , 2 king. 8.12 . insomuch that it made hasael himself ( when he was told thereof ) cry out , is thy servant a dogg , that he should do all these things ? vers . 13. yet for all this , go● will have him to be king , and it be put to scourge his people , the lord hath shewed m● that thou shalt be king over syria ▪ vers . 13. julian when from his christianity , he fell to flat pagani●m , yet this anointing held , no christian ever sought , no preacher ever taught to touch him , or resist him in the least degree ; for whilst the cruel and bloody emperours were persecuting the poor christians , they were fitting their necks for the yoke , and teaching one another postures , how they might stand fairest for the stroke of death . and this was not quia deerant vires , because they could not help it ; for the greatest part of julians army , and the most part of his empire were christians : for saith tertullian in his apologetical defence of the christians of those times , una nox pauculis faculis , &c. one night with a few firebrands will yield us sufficient revenge , if we durst , by reason of our christian obligation , and shews how they neither wanted forces , or numbers and that neither the moors , or the persians or any other nation whatsoever , were more mighty , or more populous than they : and how they filled all places , towns , cities , imperial palaces , senates , and seats of judgment ; and that they could do any thing , in their revenge , if it were any thing lawful ; but this anointing was the thing that kept the swelling down , and hindred the corrupt humours from gathering to a head : and therefore it is not as stephanus junius , franciscus hottomanus , georgius buchananus , ficklerus ● renecheru● , with the rest of the pillars of the puritan anarchy , do answer ( being gra●el'd at the practice of the primitive chri●tians , an● those precepts of the holy apostl● ) that the church then ( as it were swathed in the bonds of weakness ) had not strength enough to make powerful resistance ; and therefore , so the one taught , and the other obeyed , but if this doctrine were allowable , then would inevitably follow these two gross absu●dities . 1. that the pen of the holy ghost ( which taught submission even to the worst of kings ) was not directed according to the equity of the thing , but the necessity of the times . 2. that either the holy ghost must turn politician , and become a timeserver , or else the church must lose the means of its being , and substance . whereas we know the contrary so well , that when acies ecclesi●e , was so far from its bene ordin●ta , that w●en all the souldiers fled , and the life-guard ●outed , the lord of ●ost ( the general himself ) taken prisoner , yet then , like the sun looking biggest in lowest estate , so the son of righteousness , think ye not that i can pray unto my father , and he will send legions of angels ; and rath●r than gods children shall be oppressed by a company of egyptians ( if it be his pleasure to deliver them ) he can , without the drawing of one sword , turn rivers into blood , produce an army of froggs to destroy them : and rather than they should be necessitated for lack of means , send swarms of flies , that may serve them in the stead of so many rescuing angels , and therefore it was not any necessity , that the church was , or could be in , that procured in the apo●tl●s , or the first christians , either that doctrine , or that use ; it was not disability , but duty ; not want of strength , but a reverend regard of the lords anointed , that wrought these effects in both : let the people be never so many and mighty , and the princes of the people never so wicked and cruel , mos gerendus est , we must obey them ; not in the performance of their unjust commands ; but in submission to their just authority ; if not by our active , yet by our passive obedience : if not for their own sakes yet propter dominum , for the lords sake ; if not for wrath , yet for conscience sake , rom. 13.5 . if it goeth against thy conscience , say , as the people were wont to say , when they fell down before the ass that carried the image of the god●ess isis , upon his back , non tibi sed religioni ; if thy conscience condemns thee , god is greater than thy conscience , and we must look what he commands , as well as what she dictates ; the one may be mislead , the other cannot mislead ; sacrifice may be either pleasing , or displeasing to the lord , but obedience was never faulty ; thou maist offer the sacrifice of fools , when thou thinkest thou doest well : but upon how sure grounds goes he , who can say with the prophet in all his actions , if i have gone a stray , o lord , thou hast caused me to erre ? never deviating from the express of his word . now god gives us express command , that we should not touch his anointed what condition soever they are of : nolite tang●re christos meos , touch not mine anointe● ; an● where gods rules are general , we must not put in exceptions of our own ; for the wickedness of a king can no more make void gods ordinance , of our obedience unto him , then mans unbelief can frustrate gods decree in us , rom. 3.3 . let saul be wicked , an● let wicked saul be but once anointed , david states the question neither concerning saul , nor ▪ his wickedness , but whether he being the lords anointed ( there 's the business ) it is lawful to stretch forth a hand against him ( who can stretch forth his hand against the lords anointed and be guiltless ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. vi. whether upon any pretences whatsoever it be lawful to depose , murder , or so much as to touch the lords anointed . there was the first time that ever it was put to the vote , whether a king might be put to death or not , but it was resolved upon the question in that parliament ; ne perdas , destroy him not ; it is well that david had a negative voice , or else it had been but a bad president for kings ; it is well that the men with whom david had this parley , would hearken unto reason , and let that sway them , otherwise david might have been forced to fly as fast away from his own men as he did at first from saul : for there wanted no lay-preachers then , to preach the destruction and slaughter of princes , under the pretences of wicked government and tyranny ; who had the trick then , as well as now , to couch their foul meaning in good words and scripture phrase , with a dixit dominus , when the lord said no such thing ; as davids zealots , 1 sam. 24.5 . this is the day whereof the lord said unto thee , i will deliver thine enemy into thine hand , and thou shalt do unto him ( what ? ) as shall seem good unto thee , that is thou shalt murder him , that was their meaning : though the word was a good word ; and we do not read where the lord said any such thing at all : so abishai , 1 sam. 26.8 . god hath delivered thine enemy into ●hine hand : what then ? therefore let me smite him ; no such matter ; david denies the consequence , as if he should have said , god hath delivered him into my hand , but i will make no such bad use of his deliverance , i had rather hereby shew him his own error , and my innocency ▪ then any way stretch forth my hand against him , for he is the lords anointed , and when sleep had betrayed saul to davids power in the trench , and made the king a subject for davids innocence , he esteemed himself but as a patridg in the wilderness , when he might have caught the eagle in the nest : he pacified sauls anger , by inabling his power to hurt , sent him his spear ( it seems he did not think it fit to keep the kings militia in his hands ) and humbly beggs , let not my blood fall to the earth ; when , if it had not been for david , abishai would have smiten saul unto the earth at once , so that he needed not to have smitten him the second time , but david would not : destroy him not saith he , and his reason was , quis potest ? who can stretch forth his hand against the lords anointed , and be guiltless ? another most notable demonstration of davids innocency , and subjection , unto a hard master , a most tyrannical king , cruel saul ; we have , 1 sam. 24. when in the cave of engildi , david might have cut off sauls head ; like precious oyntment , he descends only to the skirts of his garment , and with a quid feci ? checks himself , and beshrews his heart that he had done so much , and upon a little looking back of saul ( as if he had put on rays of majesty ) david bows , and stoops with his face to the earth to him , when he might have laid his honour in the dust ; call'd him my father ; when that father came to sacrifice him upon the mountains , and ( isaac-like ) nothing but see my father , when he could see nothing but fire , and sword , and himself also the lamb , ready for the sacrifice , a true isacc ( though many young men staid behind with the ass ) will after his father , though he have fire in the one hand and a knife in the other , ready for to sacrifice his follower ; a right david , and he that is a man after gods own heart , though he could bite to death , and knaw into the very bowels of his soveraign , yet he will assume no farther power to hurt , than to the biting of a flea ; after whom is the king of israel come out ? after a flea ? afte● whom doth saul pursue ? after a dead dog ? when he might have caught the lion in the toyle . i could easily be endless in instances of the like nature , as our saviour christs obedience to the death , under the raign of tiberius ; his disciples un●er nero , claudius and caligula , whose governments were opposite to the propagation of the gospel , as themselves were enemies to the propagators of it ; yet we see they neither attempted the alteration of the one , or the destruction of the other ; yet christ could do much if he pleased , and if the napkins of saint paul , and the shadow of saint peter could cure diseases ; if a word out of their mouths could strike men and women dead in the place ; if an oration at the bar , could make a king tremble on the bench , then surely you will confess that his disciples could do something : yet nothing was done or attempted against those wicked , cruel , and pagan emperours , one instance shall suffice for all : what mischief or injury could be done more to a people , then nebuchadonozer king of babylon did unto the jews , who slew their king , their noble , their parents , their children , and kinsfolks ; burn●d their country , their cities , their jerusalem , their temple , and carried the residue ( who were left alive ) captives with him to babylon . and now behold ( then ) nebuchadonozers good subjects : will you hear what advice the prophet daniel gives them for all this ? baruch 1.11 . pray you for the life of nebuchadonozer king of babylon , and for the life of balthazer his son , that their days may be upon earth , as the days of heaven , and the lord will give us strength ; ( what to do ? to wage war against him ? ) and lighten our eyes ( what , with new revelations how they may be reveng'd ? o no ) that we may live under the shadow of nebuchadonozer king of babylon , and under the shadow of balthazer his son , and that we may serve them many days and find favour in their sight , truly shewing that a king is alkum , prov. 30.31 . one , against whom there is no rising up ; that is , not upon any pretences whatsoever : there can be no pretences whatsoever more fair and specious ; then those of defending the church , and redressing the common-wealth . for the first ; if religion be any thing pushed at , think you that rebellion will keep it up , or that it ever stood in need of such hands ? when god refused to have his temple built by david , because he was a fighter of the lords battels ; think you that he will have his church defended by fighters against the lords anointed ? to defend religion by rebellion , were to defend it by means condemned , by the same religion we would desend ; an● to reform or redress the common-wealth , by insurrection and rebellion , were to rectifie an errour with the greatest of all mischiefs ; no government worse than a civil war , and the wor●● go●ernour is always better than the best rebellion : rebellion is as the sin of witchcr●ft , and stubborness is as idolatry : and how perilous a thing it is , for the feet to judge the head , the subjects to chose wha● government and governours they will have ; to condemn what , and whom they please , to make what pretences and surmises they have a mind to , this kingdom by woful experience hath had sad resentments . imbecillities and weaknesses in princes , are on arguments for the chastisements , deposing , or murdering of kings ; for then giddy heads will never want matter or pretences to cloak their rebellion : shall moses , because pharaoh was an oppressour of gods people , and had hardned his heart , and would not let the israelites depart , therefore inflict punishments upon pharaoh , or so much as depart without his leave ? though moses could inflict punishments upon the whole land , yet his commission never went so far , as to touch pharaoh , in the least degree ; though swarms of flies came into the house of pharaoh , and frogs entred into the kings chamber ; yet we read not that they seized on pharaohs person ; there were lice in all their quarters saith the psalmist , and there became lice in man and beast , upon the smiting on the dust , but none were smitten of the person of the king : boyls and blains were upon all the egyptians and upon the magicians , so sore , as they could not ●●and in the presence of pharaoh , but they were not on pharaoh , that he could not stand himself ; pharaoh his eldest son may die , but vivat rex , pharaoh must not b● touch'd . did bsalom do well to conspire again●● his father , though he defiled vriahs bed , and cloaked adultery with murther ? should the priest , peers , prophets , or people , offer to depose solomon , because he had brought strange wives into the land , and as strange religion into the church ? shall elias entice ahabs subjects to rebellion , because he suffered jezabel to put naboth to death , and killed the lords prophets ? shall peter take vengeance upon herod because he put him in prison , beheaded john the baptist , and killed james ? shall reuben be no patriarch , because he was unstable as water ? shall simeon and levi lose their patriarchal dignity , because they were brethren in iniquity , and instruments of cruelty , because in their anger they slew a man , and in their self-will digged down a wall ? shall judah be depose● from his rule and government for making a bargain with an harlot upon the high way ? shall issachar not be numbred amongst the other twelve , because he was none of the wisest ? no reason ; they were patriarchs as well as the rest , which was the immediate government before kings ; and ( indeed ) were princes themselves : princeps dei es inter nos , gen. 28.6 . thou art a mighty prince amongst us : and thus much shall suffice ( and i hope sufficient ) to shew , that no faults or pretences whatsoever , can make it lawful to depose , or so much as to touch the lords annointed . chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords annointed , or stretching forth the hand against the lords anointed . not dare to touch the lords annointed , is an awfull reverence , and a supposed difference to be kept , between every subject and his soveraign ; esp●cially in point of violence . a mother doubting the discretion of her children , and being to leave some curious looking ▪ glass in a place , doth not comand her children they should not break it , but that they should not touch it ; knowing full well , that if they have the liberty to meddle with it in the least degree , they make break it before they are aware , and destroy it when they think least of any such matter . so god is very chary of his king , wherein he beholds the representatio● of himself , and ●nowing him to be but brittle and though the most refined earth , yet bu● glass : he commands his people that they should not touch his anointed ; knowing that if they were permitted but to tamper with him in the least degree , their rude hands may break it in pieces , when they do but think to set it right . a touch is but of one man , though but with one of his fingers , yet this must not be ; nolite tangere , it is not said ne tangere , wherein only the act of touching is forbidden , but nolite tangere , whereby the will is also prohibited : how wary should we be in touching , when the lord is so cautious in his prohibition ? now stretching forth the hand may signifie a combination of many into one confederacy , the hand being a part of the body , composed of five members ( one and all ) but this must not be : a most unhappy instrument is that hand that turns it self into the bowels of its own body ; if the head break out by chance , the hands must not presently be in the head clawing , with invenomed nails , the corruption there , lest that itching desire , turn into smart in the end ▪ lest when the peaceable day springing from on high , shall happily visit you , that now sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death , we then see our bloody hands , and this ( once happy ) kingdom , the only pillow , whereon peace had laid her head , streamed ( like the egyptian river ) all with blood . in a word , by touching the lords anointed , or by stretching forth the hands against him , is meant any kind of violence that is used against sacred majesty , and the signification thereof is of a large extent ▪ for we stretch forth our han●s when we do but lift up our heels in scorn against him ; who so lifteth up his heel , psalm . 41.9 . secondly , we stretch forth our han●s again●t the lords anointed , wh●n we do but raise up arms in our own defence ; whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and draweth damnation upon himself . rom. 3. thirdly , we stretch forth our hands again●t the lords anointed , when we stretch not our tongue and voice , when we hear of any traiterous plots or conspiracies against the lords anointe● , and so bring such conspiracies to light : it is a foul thing to hear the voice of conspiracy , and not to utter it : lev. 5.1 . as good lay thy hand upon the lords anointed , as lay thy hand upon thy mouth and conceal the t●eason . fourthly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when we do not stretch forth our hands for the lords anointed , when we see him assaulted with any danger , or traiterous opposings . should a man see his father fiercely assaulte● , and should not presently run to his rescue , but should suffer him to be slain before his face , would we not equally exclaim against him with the murtherers , qui non vetat peccare quum potest , jubet ; he bids , that doth not forbid with all his power ( like a true son ) such outrages and violences , to be committed against the father of his country . fifthly , we touch the lords anointed , when we touch his crown and dignity ; intrench upon his regalia ; hol● or withhold his sons or daughters , kill or take prisoners his men of war ▪ we must take heed of ●efacing the garment , as well as of hurting the person , for they are both sacred ; the precious oyn●ment , wet not aarons head alone , but it ran down upon his beard , and down unto the skirts of his garment , making all sacred that was about him ; such touchings t●erefore are worse , than when we touch the person with the greatest violence ; for then the ano●nte● are mo●t touche● , w●en they are touch●d where the anointe● is , which is their ●tate and crown , dearer to them than their lives ; touch bot● , ●●e mur●er of the person , is but a consequence to the d●posement of the dignity . sixthly , we touch the lords anointed , when we take away h●s re●enue and li●el●hood from him , the devil thought that he ha● stretched forth his hand excee●in●ly again●t job , touch'd ( and touch●d him to the quick ) when he had procured gods permission , that the sabeans and caldeans should take away his oxen and asses , his s●eep and camels , and plundered him of all he had ; god called this a destraction unto jo● , job 2.3 . and that before ever a hand was stretched forth to touch either his bone , or his flesh . seventhly . is there no stroke but what the hand gives ? yes , the tongue can strike as well as the best : jer. tells us so , venite percutiamus cum lingua : come let us smite him with the tongue , jer. 18 , 18. and david said , his tongue was a two edged sword : there is , ( saith solomon ) that speaketh ( and that waiteth too ) like the piercing of a sword : it is bad enough in any , or against any man , but worst of all again●t the lords anointed ; for it is said thou shalt not revile the gods , nor speak evil of the ruler of the people : saint paul , but for calling of a high priest , painted wall , ( though ) when he caused him to be smitten contrary to the law , yet he eat his words and confessed his error ; and now many , that would seem to be followers of paul , are revilers of kings and make no bones thereof . the same god that commanded laban , in respect of his servant , vide ne quid lo ●uare durius , see thou give no ill language , certainly expects that ●ubjects should set a watch before their mouths , to keep the door of their lips , lest they offend with their tongue , in speaking ill of princes . eighthly , as the tongue can strike without a hand , so the heart can curse without a tongue : eccl. 10.2 . curse not the king , no not in thy heart , for a bird in the air shall carry the voice , and that which hath wings shall ●●ll the matter . the hand implies both ; never was the hand stretched forth to any evil act , but the h●art was th● p●ivy counsellor , and the tongue the chief p●rswader unto such enormities ; therefore it is goo● , obstare princi●iis , to cru●h the cockatrice egg , kill it in the hea●t , lest those pravae cogi●ati●●es want room , and then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh , and perswades the hand to be the destruction of the whole body : if hand , and heart , and tongue , and pen where thus regulated , we need not long look for peace , or despair of an accommodation , but whilst the hand is up , and the heart is set at liberty , and the tongue saith , our tongues are our own , we , ought to speak , who is lord over us ? and every pen is a ready writer in matters pertaining to the king : in vain it is to seem christians , whil●t we are such antichrists : the bible under our arm , falls to the ground , whil●t we stretch forth our hand against the lords anointed : why do we take gods word into our mouthes if we let it not down into our hearts , to do as that directs us ? christian liberty never cut the string , that tied the tongue to those observances . of these things there might be applications made , but lapping as they go along is best for doggs , where there are crocodiles in the river . it seems by the story , that kings may be coursely dealt withal if men make no bones of being guilty ; they stand like the forbidden tree , in the midst of the paradise of god , m●n may touch them , but they had better let them alone ; if god had placed ( at the first ) cherubims , and a flaming sword , turning every way to defend the tree , how could there have been a trial of adams obedience ? so if god by some instinct , had chained the hearts of men , and tied their hands , and bound them to the peace , so that they could neither in thought , word , nor deed , have committed violence against his vicegerent , how could there have been a trial of the subjects duty ? the tree had no guard , nor fence about it , but only , thou shalt not eat thereof , if thou doest , thou shalt surely die the death , princes have no better security for themselves , than the almighties command for their preservation , ●olite tangere , &c. touch not mine anointed ; to break the first , was but death , the second is damnation ; if thou resist the higher powers , you resist the highest god , and he that resi●teth shall be damned , romans 13.2 . the commandment concerning the tree of paradise , was only thou shalt not eat thereof ; but we are forbidden to touch so much as a leaf of our forbidden tree , much less to shake down all his fruit ; there is hopes of a tree , saith job , that if it be cut down , yet it will sprout again , but not only a finger , a hand , but an axe must be laid to the root of the tall cedar of our libanus ; yea , they must be rooted up like the names of taronius ; they will not leave so much as a stump of nebuchadnezzers tree chain'd to the earth ; up must all root and branch , till all the royal branches lie like sprey upon the ground : these men had rather be destroyed themselves , than say the lords anointed is not to be destroyed . go ye blind zelots , hearken to your wives , and let them perswade you to disobedience , and the devil them , as eve did adam , and the devil her : behold the objects she presents unto your view ; how good they seem , how fair they look , how pleasant they are to thine eye , how wise you think you sha●●●e , how full of knowledg , when poor wretches , you shall find all these promises tu●ned into fig-leaves , to hide your nakedness : all these golden apples of palestine once toucht , evaporated into stench and blindness , and that your disobedience hath given you nothing but curses , and brought you nothing but sorrows and death upon your selves and children , and profited you nothing but the turning of an edom into a wilderness , till you be glad to eat the herbs of the field , and by the same fault , fall into the same punishment with our neighbours of germany , dye with grass in your mouths . these things fell upon adam for his disobedience unto god , and the like will fall upon us ( the sons of adam ) for our disobedience unto gods anointed . o then let us not by any means lift up our hands against the lords anointed , lest ( like adam ) we fall from our state of innocence , and be guilty : guilty of all the blood that hath , and shall be spilt upon this land , guilty of the tears of so many fatherless children and widowes : and if we will not be obedient unto a prince of men , guilty of all the eternal thraldom and submission unto a prince of devils : take then the advice of the wise solomon , prov. 30.32 . if thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thy self , or if thou hast thought evil , lay thy hand upon thy mouth : fear god , honour the king , have nothing to do with them that are subject unto charge , for their destruction commeth suddainly ; and so will yours . let no man deceive himself , he who is not good in his particular calling , can never be good in his general calling . he is no good man , that is no good servant , and if he be no good subject , he is no goo● christian , he that honoureth not the king , doth never fear god ; and except he obeys both , he obeys neither . chap. viii . whether kings now adays are to be had in the same veneration and esteem , as kings were under the law , by reason of our christian liberty . certainly the murmuring of co●ah , dathan and abiram , with their complices ; thou seekest to make thy self altogether a prince over us , the lord is among us , we are all alike holy unto the lord , ( and therefore moses and aaron must be no more excellent than the rest of the people ) was no prophesie to be fulfilled in these our days ; for if it had , surely our saviour would never have paid tribute for himself and peter , mat. 17.27 . which was a symbole of their subjection to heathen pagans ; for this cause pay ye tribute , rom. 13.6 . we have those who are apt enough to mak● arguments with our saviour , bearing this conclusion , then are the children free , mat. 17.26 . but few that will imitate his peaceable example , to fish for money , rather than offend the higher powers , mat. 17.27 . and if you conjecture that our saviour did this meerly for quietness sake , behold the question● rightly stated ▪ is it lawful to give tribute to caesar or not ? mat. 22.17 . seriously propounded ( master we know that thou art true ( an● therefore we hope thou wilt not deceive us with a lye ) and teachest the way of god in truth ( and therefore thou wilt not cause us to err through the deceiveableness of unrighteousness ) neither carest thou for any man ( and therefore thou wilt not be afraid to speak the truth ) thou regardest not the persons of men ) therefore fearing only god , thou wilt boldly , and faithfully without partiality , or fear , plainly tell us , whether it be lawful or not ) clearly determined and concluded upon ; da caesari quae sunt caesaris , mat. 22.21 . if christian liberty , should loose the reigns of civil government , then christ would never have acknowledged pilates power to have been of god , john 19.11 . if subjection unto kings were a hinderance to the propagation of the gospel , then saint peter would never have exhorted the christians to submit themselves to every ordinance of man. 1 pet. 2.9 . we have too many submitters now-adays unto every ordinance of men , but they are not unto such ordinances , whereof the king is supreme , 1 pet. 2.13 . object . it is better to obey god than man , and therefore for his sake we cannot obey every ordinance of man. sol. the apostle doth not in this place discourse of obedience , but of submission : obedience is to be given to things , only lawful ; submission is to be given to any ordinance whatsoever , though not for the things sake , which is commanded , yet propter dominum , for the lords sake who doth command , so absolute submission : where god commands one thing , and the king comman●s another thing , we may refuse his will , and there is perfect obedience ; when god commands one thing , and the king commands the contrary , we may not resist his authority , and therein is true submisson ; and this the apostle doth not only assure us to be the will of god , but puts this well doing in the stead of knowledg and wisdom , whereby the ignorance of foolish men may be put to silence , 1 pet. 2.15 . when fre●dom stan●s on tiptoes , her coat is too short to cover her maliciousness , therefore the apostle exhorts us to behave our selves as free , but not using our liberty , as a cloak for maliciousness , 1 pet. 2.16 . if christian liberty did break the school of civil government , then saint paul would never have been such a school-master to the romans , rom. 13. let every soul be subject to the higher powers : an excellent rule for our obedience , every soul , no exemption by greatness , or holiness , or any by-respect whatsoever , but if he have a soul , let him be subject to the higher powers : if two powers clash one against another , here we know which to stick to in our obedience , that is , which is highest ( and that saint peter plainly t●lls us is the king , whether to the king as supreme , 1 pet. 2.13 . ) there is no power but of god , the powers that be , are of god , whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation , v. 2. what christian then can have his conscience so misled , as to resist those powers out of conscience , when the apostle plainly tells us , v. 1. we must needs be subject , not only for wrath ( that is , for fear of them ) but also for conscience sake , because god commanded it . there were anti-monarchists , and anti-dignitarians even in the apostles time , but if it had been laudable , or agreeable to chri●tian liberty , then saint jude in his epistle v. 8. would never have called the despisers of dominion and evil speakers of dignities , filthy dreamers and defilers of the flesh ( as he put them , so we find them both together ) he never would have compare● them to bruit beasts , v. 10. he never would have pronounced woes unto them , as unto the goers into the ways of cain : greedy runners after the error of balaam , for reward ; and perishers ( as in the gain-saying of corah ) v. 11. he would never have compared them to clouds without water : carried about with wind : to fruitless wretched trees , twice dead , plucked up by the roots : to raging waves of the sea , foaming out their own shame : wandring stars , to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever , ver . 12.13 . he never would have described them unto you so fully , to be murmurers , complainers , walkers after their own lusts , wide mouth'd , speakers of great swelling words , having of mens persons in admiration , by reason of advantage , separatists , sensual , ( and though they pretend never so much unto it ) having not the spirit , v. 16.19 . christian liberty frees from the ceremony of the law , not from the substance of the gospel : whereof we see submission and subjection unto kings , is a great part thereof . the roman yoke , and the romans hands which held the plough ploughing upon the christians backs , and made long furrowes , and for a long time , were both adverse to the propagation of christs gospel ; yet during all that time , neither christ , nor any of his disciples , ever attempted either the change of the one , or the displaying of the other ; and shall we think our selves more wise than he , who is the wisdom of the father ? or better advised than by him , who is the everlasting councellour ? or that any mans doctrine can settle us in more peace and quietness than he , who is princeps pa●is , the prince of peace ? will you have more orthodox fathers than the apostles ? or the children of this generation to be wiser than the fathers of old ? christ and his apostles with all the antient fathers taught , and subscribed to this doctrine . first , christ , da caesari quae sunt caesaris : then saint paul , render to all their due , tribute to whom tribute is due , custom to whom custom , fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour , and all to caesar : then st. peter , submit your selves , &c. fear god ▪ honour the king , &c. sic passim in scripturis . dear christians , are we better pleased with the glittering tin●el of a painted baby from a pedlers shop , than with the rich , and inestimabl● jewels of divine truth ? will we suffer our s●lves to be cozene● with the g●lded slips of error ? and what enthusi●smes every pretended spirit , if not ev●ry ●obler , weaver , groom , or coach-man , shall dictate , who are but velut ign●ae , and velut status , as it were of fire , or as it were a mighty an●●ushing wind , but nothing sensible , some hot exhalations of the brain set on fire , by th● continual motion , an● agitation of the tongue . goo● god , have we thus learnt christ ? is this the fruit of so clear a gospel ? and the retu●n of all our holy mothers care , and pains for education ? shall we take gods word into our mouths and preach sedition , rebellion and insur●ection , contrary to that word which we pretend to preach ? to maintain religion by insurrection , is to maintain it by means , condemned by the same religion we would maintain . chap. ix . whether a king failing in his duty and not performing those things , which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) the peo●le are not disobliged in their obedience unto him , and may , thereupon , depose or put him to death . if kings held their crowns by indentures from the people , then were the people disobliged to their obedience unto him , upon his failing ( in those things whereto he hath been sworn ) on his part , but if they receive their crowns immediatly from god , and that by him alone kings reign ( as hath been heretofore proved at large ) then all the failings that can be in a king ▪ can but make him a bad king ; but still he must remain a king ; the oath assures us of his being a king , not of his being a good king ; for he was king before he took it : coronation is but a ceremony , and his oath is but at his coronation ; the issue of ceremony , must not dis-inherit the right heir , of all that substance : king and kingdom , are like man and wife , whose marriages are made in heaven , who are betrothed by god himself ; now as in the ceremony between man and woman , the husband in the presence of god and angels , and all the congregation promiseth ( which is as solemnly binding as any oath ) that he will live together with her after gods holy ordinance in the sta●● of matrimony , that he will love and cherish her , maintain and keep her , and forsaking all other , keep himself only unto her : now if he perform all these things , he doth well , he is both a good husband , and a good christian ( considering the vow that he hath made ) but if he doth not live with her according to gods holy ordinance , nor love , nor cherish her as he should , nor maintain and keep her as he ought ; shall it be lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? mat. 19.3 . much less can it be lawful for the wife to put away her husband upon every distaste ; it was god that made them male and female : mat. 19.4 . and therefore it is fit they should continue together so ; they twain are but one flesh ; mat. 19 ▪ 5. therefore they cannot be divided ; god joyned them both together : mat. 19.6 . therefore no man can put them assun●er . now to apply this to the king wedding himself to his people at his coronation ; the king ( solemnly ) takes his oath at his coronation before all the people , that he will live tog●ther with them according to the laws of the land , that he will protect and defend them to the uttermost of his ●ower , with all other protestations contained in the said oath ; which if he doth perform , he doth well , and is both a good man , and a good king ; but if he should not govern them accordingly to the laws of the land , and if he should not cherish and defend his people , shall it be lawful for his wife ●o make away this husband ? god forbid ! god made him king , them subjects , therefore they must continue so , like man and wife , for better for worse , they two are both one , the head may not be divided from the body , and quae deus conjunxit , nemo separet ; there have been bills of divorcement given unto these king-husbands in former times : but of those bills , i may say , as our blessed saviour said of the bills of divorcement which moses commanded ; it was propter duri●iem cordis , mat. 19.7 . deut. 24.1 . for the hardness of mens hearts ; and then again , this durities cordis , never went so far as that the woman might put away her husband , but only the husband his wife ▪ and that only in the case of adultery ; and if it had been otherwise , it had but a late beginning , a bad foundation : for our saviour saith , mat. 19.8 . in principio autem non erat sic , it was not so from the beginning ; and a hard heart is but a bad foundation for a good christian to build upon . i will conclude this application with words not of my own , but of saint paul , which words are a commandement , neither is it i ( saith the apostle ) 1 cor. 7.10 . but the lord , that gives you this commandement , let not the wife depart from her husband ; no , if she be an heretique , or which is worse , a heathen ; if the woman hath a busband which believeth not , i● he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him : 1 cor. 7.13 . if i would resist my soveraign in any kind , it should be for my religion , but when my religion tells me that i must not resist him in any case ; then i think i should but do ( in doing so ) like the boasting jew , rom. 2.13 . who boasted of the law , and dishonoured god through breaking of that law , which he had boasted of : what if some did not believe , shall their unbelief make the faith of god of none effect ? saith paul ▪ rom. 3.3 . god forbid : no more can the wickedness of a king , make void gods ordinance of our obedience unto him : our obedience must look upon gods command , not upon the kings good behaviour ; god doth not command things because they are fitting , but it is fit that we should obey , because he commands them ; neither ought we to have respect so much unto the goodness , as unto the authority of a king ; for kings do not consist in this , that they are good , but in this , that they are kings ; for as it is possible for one to be a good man , and a bad king , so it is often seen , that a bad man may be a good king ; and it is an observation here at hom● , that the best laws have been made by the worst of kings . it is an observation , that divers kingdoms have long continued in peace and happiness under bad laws , and worse governours . well observed ; when unwarrantable attempts to better both , and inconsiderable courses to mend all , hath brought all to ruin and confusion . he that sets a kingdom in combustion , to advance his own opinion , and prefer his private judgment , doth but set his house on fire to roast his eggs. god makes kings of several conditions , sometimes he gives a king , whose wisdom and reach in government is like sauls , head and shoulders higher then all the people : and then when we have wise kings , and learned judges , psal. 2.10 . we shall be sure to have all those breakers of their bonds asunder , and those casters away of their cords from them ; v. 5. to be bruised with a rod of iron , and broken in pieces like a potters vessel ; v. 9. sometimes god will send us a little child , sometimes a child in years , otherwhile a child in understanding , which of both it be , vae regno ( saith solomon ) cui puer dominabitur ; wo to the kingdom , over which a child reigns , for then the whole kingdom is sure to be put upon the rack . sometimes god in his judgment sends a tyrant amongst us , i will set an evil man to rule over them , saith god himself , and then we are never in hope to be from under the lash ; and sometimes in mercy he sends meek and mild princes ( like moses ) who carried his people in his bosom , one that shall only make use of his prerogatives , as christ did of his miracles in cases of necessity ; one who shall say with the apostle saint paul , i have no power to do hurt , but to do good , to edification but not to destruction : one who shall continue his reign , as saul began , videre ne quid sit populo , quod fleat , who will hear and ask why do the people cry ? deserve well and have well ; shall we receive good from the hands of the lord , and shall we not receive evil princes ? though they be amarae sagittae , yet when we consider that they are e dulci manu domini emissae , we should not refuse them , but be contented with whomsoever his mercy or his justice sen●s ▪ or throws upon us : never was there a bad prince over any people , but he was sent by our heavenly father for a scourge to his chil●ren ; and shall we kiss , or snatch the rod out of our fathers hand ? to conclude , there is nothing can disoblidge the people from their king , because bis authority over them is a domino , from the lord , but their obedience towards him is propter dominum , for the lords sake ; though in himself there be all the reasons that can be given to the contrary , many will be glad to hear the father of their country , say , i and the lord will go , and to be sole elect , and to hear his father tell him , deus providebit , as abraham said to his son isaac ; but if he takes fire and sword in hand threatning his follower , how many followers will he have ? i had rather , with isaac , follow my father i know not wherefore ; and with abraham , obey my god , contrary to my own nature , and beyond all hope , then to serve so great a god and his vicegerent by rules drawn by my own fancy and reason . chap. x. psal. 105.15 . touch not mine anointed , meant by kings . by the words , touch not mine anointed , is meant kings and princes : neither can any other interpretation , whatsoever , be obtruded upon this text , without a great deal of impudence and ignorance ; if there were no other argument to be used but this , to a modest man , it were sufficient , viz. that not any church , nor any church-men , nor any chri●tian , nor any father , nor any expositor whatsoever , did ever give it any other interpretation , before such time as the jesuit and the puritan , and they both at a time , and that time bearing not above an hundred yeers date neither , began to teach the world that it was lawful to murther kings ; and no marvel if this found some querk or other to turn the stream of scripture sence , out of its proper channel , and constant course ; the two birds of a feather , persecutors of one another , like two fighting cocks who quarrel amongst themselves , being both of the same kind , and yet both agree in taking counsel together against the lord , and against his anointed : or like pilate and herod , they could not agree but in the principles of condemning the lords christ. but it is objected , that as a little child upon a gyants shoulders , may see farther then the gyant himself ; so a weaker understanding comming aft●r those fathers , and taking advantage of such helps , getting up upon the shoulders of time and learning , may see more then they did , or hath been seen in former ages ; and therefore it is no wonder , if a man without aspersing himself with the least immodesty , may pretend to see more , then all those who went before him had observed , and what hath this child pick-a-pocket spied ? a birds-neast can there be a simpler thing imagined ▪ whereby to give impudence the chair , and throw all the ancient fathers flat upon their backs , then this so common , and so much approv'd of instance to usher innovation , not only into the church , but also into the very soul of scripture it self ? for what if it be granted , that a child upon a gyants shoulders sees further then doth the gyant himself , doth the child know better what he sees then doth the said gyant ? must not the child ask the gyant what is what , of all that he beholds ? must not the child be informed by the knowing gyant , of the difference between the mountains and the valleys , the water and the skie , a cock and a bull ? if the child be thus ignorant , what doth the childs getting up upon the gyants shoulders advantage the child in points of controversie ? except it be such a child as saint christopher had got upon his shoulders , that was judg of all the world : if the child be not so simple , but understands all these things ; then believe me he is no chil● in understanding ; but a gyant himself in knowledge , an● so the similitude , the child , and the gyant come tumbling all down together ; seat a child n●ver so high , he is but a child still , and sits but at the feet of a gamaliel , when he is upon the ●houlders of a gyant ; no child was ever thought worthy to pose all the doctors , but the child jesus . now to clear the text from those blots and blurs that are thrown upon the words , going before this text of scripture , touch not mine anointed , viz. i have reproved kings for their sakes , ergo , the word anointed could not betoken kings , because kings were reproved , for their sakes who were the lords anointed : now say they , the word anointed must necessarily signifie the people of god , for whose sake these kings were reproved , and so it doth ; but yet my corahmites , dathamites , and abiramites , you must not think to be all alike holy unto the lord , as that ye are all concern'd in this nolite tangere : there is no question but that in some sence the elect of god are anointed ones of the lord , but not peculiarly the lords anointed : they are filii olii , sons of oyl , as the prophet terms them , but not christi mei , or christi tui , or christi ejus , or christi domini , which were attribut●s that were never given by the holy ghost to any but to christ , and kings : the priests who were anointed ( really ) never were term'd in scripture the lords anointed , an● the prou●e●t , and most rebellious people that ever ●ere , whose arrogance claim'd an equality with , never ( in sacris ) strove to be above their prie●s . now if you expect clearness in the fountain , do not ye trouble the waters , an● you h●● behol● the springs of truth arise ; 't was the elect and chosen of the lord that were here meant by anointed , and it was the fee● of abraham , and it was not kings that were meant by this word anointed in the text ▪ but it was not all the elect of god , that must not be touch'd , it was not all the seed of abraham who have this noli me tangere about them , but it was abraham , is●a● and jacob , for whose sake god reproved kings , as they are plainly nominated in the same psalm , and none else ; if there be mention made of the seed of abraham , isaac and jacob were the seed of abraham ; who were else mentioned ? and though we cannot comprehend these three under the notion of nominal kings , yet we may be pleased to consider them as real princes , principi dei es enter nos , as it was said to abraham , thou art a mighty prince among●t us , so kings may be reproved for their sakes ; they may be kings too , and yet the lords anointed , for whose sake kings were reproved : for we do not dispute about the name , but the thing . now wheresoever you find this word nolite tangere , you shall find this word , saying , going before it , which of necessity must have some reference to some other place of scripture to which it must allude , and in reference to which it must be spoken : for the word , saying , makes it rather a question of some author , then the psalmist's own , this allusion you may easily perceive , gen. 26.11 . where it is set down , how that god touched the heart of abimelech king of the philistims , in the behalf of isaac , one of the three named in the psalm ; so that king abimelech charged all his people , saying , he that toucheth this man , shall surely die : so abimelech and king herod were both reproved for abrahams sake : gen. 12.10 . and to what place of scripture can this nolite tangere be more aptly applyed , then to this , where we find the same words reiterated ? or what clearer testimony can be given of the scriptures alluding to this saying , touch not mine anointed , then to gen ▪ 16.29 . where totidem verbis , it is said to abimelech in the behalf of isaac , we have not touched thee thou blessed of the lord ; what difference between these words , and touch not mine anointed . besides the marginal notes of all our bibles directs us to abraham , isaac and jacob , as to the anointed of the lord , and as the princes of gods people , which must not be touch'd and for whose sakes kings were so much reproved ; the word , king , in the text , doth not exclude those who were princes , but it only includes those princes who were called kings , and were reproved for their sakes who were kings themselves re , though not nomine : so that all the ground that will be gained hereby , will be , that one prince was reproved for another , though not called kings . to conclu●e , as no christians ever interpreted this place of ●cripture but of kings and princes , until jesuits and puritans , un●ertook that it is lawful to murther kings : so no english author ever interpret●d it otherwise , till within this seven or eight years ; when presbyters and independents began to put this doctrin in execution : and if the former of these two would wash their hands in innocency , as relating to this last unparallel'd act of regicide , let them remember charles the proto-martyr of gods church , and people , his own words , in his book of meditations , wherein he tells them , how vain is the shift of their pleading exemption from that aspersion , to grant commission for shooting of bullets of iron and lead in his face , and preserving him in a parenthesis of words . chap. xi . objection . rehoboam hearkened unto young men which gave him evil counsel , and would not hearken unto his sages which gave him good advice , but answered the people roughly ; wherefore they renounced the right they had in david , and the inheritance they had in the son of jesse , fled to their tents , and crowned jeroboam king : ergo , we may do the like upon the like occasion , having a president from the word of god , and warrantable , because god said , this thing was from the lord , 1 king. 13.8 . answer . all this proves only that such a thing was done , not that it was well done ; for if it be a sufficient proof to prove out of scripture , that such a thing was done ▪ and thereupon conclude that therefore we may do the like , then this is as good an argument as the best , judas betrayed christ , therefore it is lawful for a servant to betray his lord and master ; first , the scripture blames him in a most pathetical climax , 1 kings 11.26 . jeroboam the son of nebat , the servant of ●olomon , whose mothers name was zeruah , even he lifted up his hand against the king , shewing how he had desperately run through all those obligations , and tyes that were upon him ; secondly , he and all his adherents are called rebels for their pains , not only by abijah his enemy , but also by the holy ghost , who is enemy to none who are not gods enemies , 2 chron. 10.19 . and israel rebelled against the house of david unto this day ; his adherents were termed in scripture vain men , and sons of belial , they were punished with a destruction of five hundred thousand of them , which was one hundred thousand more then there were true subjects for the slaughter ; the scripture saith , god smote abraham , v. 5. if it be objected , that the thing could not but be well done , because god saith , 1 kings 14. i exalted thee from among the people , and made thee prince over my people israel , and rent the kingdom from the house of david , and gave it thee : then it could not but be well do●● ●●nts of rehoboam ( by the same reason ) to ans ▪ the people as he did : for it is written , that rehoboam hearkened not unto the people , for the cause was from god , that he might perform the saying which he spake by abijah unto jeroboam the son of nebat , 1 kings 12.15 . both were passive , and neither of them could resist the will of god ; but these places of scripture are often times mistaken , and misapplyed , and interpreted either by those who are not well acquainted with the nature of scripture language , or else by those who wilfully , ●nd wickedly layed hold of such a meaning as the scripture may seem to give them leave , for all these and the like places of scripture we must not take as gods bene placence or approbation , but only for his permission ; for otherwise we should make a mad piece of work of it , for god said , 1 sam. 12.11 . i will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house , and i will take thy wives before thine eyes , and give them to thy neighbour , and he shall lye with them in the sight of the sun : doth this justifie absolom for lying with his fathers wives and concubines in the sight of all israel ? is there any evil that i have not done it , saith the lord ? therefore did the citizens do well to do evil , because the lord said , i did it ? god did it , that is to say , he caused it to be done , as the evil of punishment , not as the tolleration of evil , so this thing was from the lord , that is to say , the lord suffered such a thing to come to pass as a punishment of solomon for his idolatry on his posterity , and yet ●●ay no way approve of any such rebellious courses : neither was rehoboam so much to be blamed for his answer , as may be supposed , nor the people justified in their rebellion neither , for they grounded their discontents upon a false ground , for the people complained when there was no cause , and deman●ed that which was not reason ; hear the whole grievance , and consider it a little , 1 kings 12.4 . thy father made our yoke grievous ( that was false ) do thou make it light : ( no reason for that ) for the people never lived happier neither before nor after , then they did in this kings fathers time , and might have done in his time , if they had known when they had been well , and gods judgments would have suffered them to have seen it . for , 1. they were a populous nation , as the sand on the sea for multitude , 1 kings 4.20 . 2. they liv'd merrily , eating and drinking , and making merry . 3. the nation was honoured abroad , for solomon reigned over all the kings that were round about him , v. 21. 4. they lived peaceably , they had peace in all sides round about them v. 24. 5. they liv'd securely and quietly , every man under his own vine , and under his own fig-tree . 6. they had much trading in his days , and much merchandize , 1 kings 10.15 . 7. he was very beneficial to those merchants , for he gave solomon , not only large wisdom , but largeness of heart , and let those merchants have commodities from them at a price , v. 28. 8. he maintained a brave fleet at sea , 1 king. 4.21 . 9. he made silver and gold to be in jerusalem as plentiful as stones , and cedars as sicamore-trees , 2 chron. 1.16 . 10. these felicities were not only in the court , or among the nobility , or between the citizens , but they were universal , even from dan unto beersheba . 11. they were not for a spurt and no more , or at one time and not at another ; but all the days of solomon . o me prope lassum juvate posteri . neither doth the scripture make any mention of any such hard yoke at all , only the margent of the bible directs us from the complaint of the people , to look upon the first chapter of the kings , v. 7. and there you shall only find how solomon had twelve officers over all israel , which provided victuals for the king and his houshold , each man his month in a year , but here is but a very slender ground for a quarrel , when the immediate verse after the naming of those twelve officers tells us , that the multitude of people as numberless as the sand upon the ●ea shore , were as merry eating and drinking as the king , and this place unto which we are directed ( and no other ) to find out this grievousness , appears by the context of the same chapter , to be mentione● as an expression of solomons glory and wisdom , rather then of any tyranny , or polling of his people : for the whole relation ends with an expression that as the people were as the sand of the sea for number , so the largeness of the kings heart extended as the largeness of the sea for bounty , all were partakers of it , 1 kings 4.29 . pardon me therefore if i think that rehoboam had more reason to answer the people as he did , then the people had just reason to complain . o alti●udo ! o the unsearchable ways of god! where god suffers his people to be a rod to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children , he permits them to take a wrong cause in hand , that he may also cast the rod into the fire . i pray god the merchants of london be not too like those merchants of jerusalem , who traded so long , until they brought over , together with other merchandize , apes and peacocks , and the traders begin to be too like their traffique , apes for manners and behaviour , peacocks for pride , and rusling until the apes grow to be so unhappy , as to be brought to their chains , and the peacocks , so vain-glorious , as to loose their feathers : and so i leave them both , tasting the fruit of their own follies . chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram , answered . objection . thus saith the lord god of israel , i have anointed thee jehu king over the people of the lord , even over israel , and thou shalt smi●e the house of ahab thy , master , that i may avenge the blood of all the servants of the lord at the hands of jezebel : ergo , if a king , be thus wicked , we have gods warrant , for the deposing and putting such a one to death . answer . but stay until you have this warrant , and then we will allow it to be lawful ; for though every one is apt enough to be a jehu in his own case , yet every one is not a god-almighty , we must not clap his seal to our own ●arrants ; what god commands at one time , we are not to make it our warrant to do the like at all times , this is a prerogative of the almighty , no priviledg of a subject ; god may command abraham to slay his son ▪ but we must not go about to murther our children ; god may command the israelites to spoil the egyptians , but we must not rob and cosen our n●ighbours ; christ may give order for the taking away of another mans goods , because the lord hath need of it , but we must not make necessity our pretence for arbitrary power ; these acts of the almighty are specially belonging unto him , and we must have his special warrant before we go about any such thing . but setting all such plea aside , i utterly deny that either jehu did , or that god gave jehu any such authority as to slay king joram , jehu slew joram , but jehu did not slay the king , for jehu by the lords immediate appointment was king himself , before ever he laid hand upon joram ; joram was but then a private man , for in the verses going before , it is set down how that jehu was anointed king , how he was so proclaimed , and accordingly how he took the state of a king upon him and executed the office. 2 kings 12.13 . before ever any mention is made of jehu slaying joram , v. 14. therefore here is no regicidium , as yet here is but plain man-slaughter , and a lusty warrant for that too : again , we must not only take heed of unwarrantable actions , but of false warrants , the private spirit is no sufficient warrant to lay hold on such a publique magistrate : as there are false magistrates so there is a false spirit : for an erroneous spirit may as well con●emn a good magistrate as a bad magistrate may be condemned by a good spirit : but there may be a higher mistake then all this , and i wish it were not too common amongst us now adays , to mistake the works of the flesh , for the fruit of the spirit : let us compare them both together , as the apostle hath set them in order . the works of the flesh . adultery , fornication , vncleanness laciviousness , idolatry , witchcraft , hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , strife , seditions , heresies , envyings , murders , drunkenness , revellings . the fruit of the spirit . love , joy , peace , long suffering , gentleness , goodness , faith , meekness , temperance . by which of these two was charles the first 's head cut off ? chap. xiii . of the necessity and excellency of monarchy . a jove principium . let us begin with heaven , and behold its monarchy in the unity of the blessed trinity ; though there be three persons , yet there must be but one god : for the avoiding of that which we are fallen into , a confounding of p●rsons , and dividing of substance . descend lower , and consider the angels , and you shall find one arch-angel above the rest , as the angels monarch . lower yet , to those senseless and inanimate rulers of the day and night , the sun and moon , and you shall not find ( or so much as the appearance of such a thing ) more suns or moons in the same firmament then one ; without a prodigy or portent , of some dire , and direful event . come down to the regions and you shall find in the head of the highest region a prince of the air . come to the lowest , and you shall find amongst the wing●d inhabitants thereof , the soveraign eagle , as the king of birds . come amongst the beasts of the field , and the lion will soon let you know , that there is a king of beasts . run into the sea , and their is a king of fishes . descend into hell and there is a prince of devils : and shall only man be independent ? do we not observe the d●lving labourer what pains he takes to joyn house to house , and land to land , till th●re be no more room for any competitor within his dominions ; and when he hath wrought his petty dunghils into a mixen , he thinks it law and reason , that the place should not a●mit the dominion of more cocks then one , this man dies a monarch in his own thoughts , and his son lives to inlarge his fathers teritories , but at last dies big with thoughts of a principality , his son lays hold of all the advantages that may help him to the accomplishment of his hereditary desires , iuno , lucina fer opem obsecro , he is a prince , coelo timendum est regna ne summa occupet qui vicit ima , he must be an emperour , divisum imperium cum iove caesar habet , he must have all or none , none but iupiter must share with him . mundus non sufficit un●s , when he hath all , and when all is done , the empire after that it hath disimbogu'd an● incorporated into it self , all the kingdoms of the earth , terminates in an everlasting kingdom , that shall never be destroyed ; quam primum appropinquaverit regnum coelorum , as soon as the kingdom of heaven shall be at hand : and what 's all this but to shew us that not only nature , but god himself , who is the god of nature , affects monarchy . the further off any government is to monarchy , the worse it is , the nearer the better , the reason 's thus , that government which avoids most the occasion of differences , must be most happy , because most peaceable ; and peace only consi●ts in unity : now where there are many governours there must be differences : where there are few , there may be differences : where there is but one , there cannot . the romans ▪ when they shook off their government by kings , and were distasted with their government , for their governours sake ; tried all the contraverted governments of the world , of two by their consuls , of three by their triumvirat , of ten by their decemviri , of ten thousand by their tribunes : when they found that the farther off they departed from monarchy , the center of all government , the more they lost themselves in the circumference of their own affairs , they began a little to look back upon the government from which they had deviated all the while , but yet with squint eyes ; first , a king , and no king , a thing that was like a king , but not a king ; a thing that was so re , and tempore , but not nomine ; he must be only so , pro una vice , unoque anno , such were their dictators : at last this sucking government gathered strength , and grew to be perpetual , which perpetuity in one begot an everlasting monarchy in all ages , which is to continue unto the end of the world ▪ for the proph●t daniel tells us , that at the end of the la●● and fourth monarchy , which was the roman , christ should sit upon his everlasting kingdom that should never be destroyed ; therefore my enthusiasticks , must either leave dreaming of pulling down all kingdoms , and empires in the world , or else think themselves the kingdom of christ , that we have pray'd for all along . neither is it unworthy of your observation , that as soon as ever this monarchy was restored , there was universal peace over the whole world ; and the saviour of the world , who was princeps pacis , vouchsafed not to come into the world , under any of the fore-mentioned governments ; but imperante augusto natus est christus , who was the first emperour of the romans . he who affects parity , let him begin it in his own house , and as he likes it in the model , so let him attempt it in the fabrick : for my part , i have read their arguments , and am so far from being evinced by any of them , that i do not believe that there is any such thing : ● have been in all the common-wealths in europe , and i could not find any such thing as a free state , i could find the word libertas , fairly written over their gates , but within their walls the greatest bondage and arbitrary power that could possibly be imagined in any part of the world , but no liberty at all that i could find , but only some few there were , who had liberty to do what they would with all the rest . geneva may of six , genoa may have seven , venice may have eight , the hollanders nine or ten , england may have five members or leading-men as they call them ; but what 's all this but taking the government from off its shoulders , and putting it in some hand ? and when you have done , it 's ten to one but you shall find one of the fingers longer then all the re●t , and if you please you may call that king , and all the rest subjects ; what 's this but a change from a monarchy with one crown , to a tyranny with so many heads ? if it were so that all free-states , as they call themselves , had all equal power , it would be so much the worse , all these kinds of government have their continuation and subsistance upon this only ground , viz , that necessity and craft drive them to come so near to monarchy , and sometimes to an absolute monarchy , when you reckon your hogan mogan only by the pole , and not by the polar star , that commonly is fixed amongst them , about which , all the rest move and turn . but what do we talk of monarchy or aristocracy or democracy , behold a well regulated parliament , such a one as ours might have been , and ought to be ; hath the benefit and goodness that is in all these three kind of governments , of monarchy in the king , of aristocracy in the peers , of democracy in the house of commons , where the acerbities of any one is taken away by their being all three together , but if one will be all , then all will be nothing . this stupendiously wise ▪ and noble way of government had its dissolution by inverting the course it took in its original . when the first william had conquered the nation , t●e normans would not admit that any laws should be observed , or rules obeyed , but only the will of the conquerour ; and why so ? but because thereby the conquerour might take away the estates of any english-man , and give them to the conquering normans ; but in process of time ; when these normans became english , they began to insist a little upon meum and tuum , and would know the what that was belonging to the king , as a king , and to themselves as subjects ; for by the former rule the king might as well take away the estates from one norman , and give it to another , as he did formerly from the english , and give to his normans ; wherefore they would have no more of that , but joyntly and unanimously petitioned the king to the same effect , the king thought it reasonable , condescends to their desires , consultation was about the premises , the result of the consultation was , that the king should issue out writs to the lords spiritual ( who in those days were thought the wisest and most conscientious ) to reason with the king , and advise with him , as well concerning the bounding of the ocean of soveraignty , as bridling in the petty rivers of private interest . these spiritual lords thought it a work of too high a nature for their private undertakings , wherefore they supplicated his majesty , that the lords temporal might be also summoned by writ , and joyn with them in the same authority ; 't was done accordingly ; being done , they both thought it a business so transcendent , and of so universal concernment , that they found a way to involve the whole nation in a joynt consent , which was , that all free-holders in the kingdom , in their several precincts , might by the election of two in every county , disembogue all their suffrages into theirs , and to remain the countries proxies , to vote for , and to be directed by their several countries ; and thus the commons were brought in : but behold the viper , that eats through the sides of its own parents behold the asses foal , who when she hath done sucking , kicks her own dam. the king brings in the lords spiritual , the lords spiritual bring in the lords temporal , both bring in the commons , the commons destroy both , both destroy the king. neither was kingship ( as they call it ) and episcopacy better rewarded , for being the principal , and so zealous reformers of the gospel , to have both their crowns and miters broke in pieces by the same hammer of reformation ; and the walls of their pallaces mingled with abby dust , casting thereby such a blot upon the very name of reformation , that it will scarce be legible by christians , except what went before , and what may follow after , may help the future ages to the true sence and meaning of the word : thus rivers run backwards and drown their own head ; thus the monsterous children who are born with teeth in their mouths , bite off the nipple , and starve themselves for lack of sustenance ; thus blind sampsons revenge themselves upon their enemies , by pulling down the house upon their own heads ; thus the forms of the most glorious government of a church and state , are wounded to death through the sides of reformation : if you are not , i am sure you will ere it be long be satisfied , that all the specious pretences of popular goverment , free-state , liberty of the subject ▪ are but figments and delusions of the people , obtruded by vain-g●orious and haughty men , who knowing that they could not be that one governour of all the rest , yet they hope to be one of many ; thus foolish children set their fathers barns full of corn on fire to warm their hands , when they are ready to starve for lack of bread : who had not rather live under a government wherein a man is only bound to submit to him , whom it is honour to obey , then to live under a government where every man is a slave , because every one is a master ? finally , my opinion is this , i had rather have my liberty to kneel before a throne , then to be the tallest man in a crowd , and should think it more for my ease and honour . chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free-state in the world. if by a free-state , you mean a people who have shook off their allegiance to their prince , there are many such free-states to be found , but a beggars-bush , or a company of gipsies ( who propound to themselves new laws ) renouncing the old , and yet chuse a king and queen amongst themselves , pleasing one another with a self-conceited opinion of a thing they call liberty , which is no otherwise then an ignoble bondage of their own choosing , preferring the correction of a bundle of rods ( because their own hands have made them ) before the sway-meant of a scepter , which god himself hath put into their soveraigns hand ) is as good a common-wealth , or free-state as the best : but if you mean by a free-state , a freedom from tyranny , you will be as far to seek for any such thing in rerum natura , as for a reason why tyranny may not be in many , as well as in one : but if you mean by freedom an exemption from all such tyrannical oppressions as are expressed in the petition of right ; i see not why such a free-state may not be under a monarchy : certainly i have seen such petitions , and insistances , during the late kings reign , as having relation to freeborn people of england , and should think that the magna charta defended by one , who had power to make it good against the infringement of many breakers , and by a parliament of many , authorized to the same purpose against the pessundation of it by any one , be it by the highest , may not be as good a way to make , preserve and keep a nation free , as well as the intrusting of a nations freedom into the hands of a few , whose independency deny all remedies to be either above them , or below them . it may be it will not be thought tedious , if i entertain your eye and consideration with some observations of my own , in those free-states of christendom ( as they call themselves ) wherein i have been . i shall begin with the free-state of genoa , wherein i have been resident some time , and the rather , because whilst england was a kingdom , they could not have the face to stand in any competition with us ; but now the kings arms were cut off as well as his head , how should we do to make a distinction between them and us ? for both the state of genoa , and the state of england give the very same coat of arms , and st. george is both our patrons : certainly england must give the half-moon as the younger brother ; and why should not the moon crescent follow after , now the turkish alcoran is come before ? when the overspreading roman monarchy , like nebuchadnezzars over-grown and lofty tree was brought only to a stump chained to the ground , and when the keys of heaven and hell had so well fitted the locks belonging to the gates of rome , as to give way to the enterance of that high priest into the imperial seat , then was genoa a lop of that great fall : and soon after it was wrought into a bundle or faggot of a common-wealth , until such time as charles the great recovered all his right in italy , saving only the holy land , whose princely sword could never strike at the already cloven miters , but at helmets . amongst other counties whose subduements , acknowledged charles to be the great , genoa was one ; which city was no less happy then famous , in affording a man who honoured her walls , with making it known unto the world , that he came out of them under the name of andreas dory a genose ; this famous andreas dory was a zealous common-wealths-man , and one of the new gentlemen , as they call'd themselves , ( for you must understand , that when these states-men had shook off the yoke of soveraignty , they expelled all their gentry or nobility ; which no sooner done , but they made a new gentry or nobility amongst themselves ) and being a deserving man , the emperour charles the fifth , will'd this andreas dory to aske and have what he desired of all that he had conquered : he asked genoa , the emperour gave it him , to do with it what he pleased , he gave it the citizens , together with all their liberties , and former freedoms upon this conditions , that they should recal the old gentry in again , and settle them again in all their rights and priviledges , which being assented unto , genoa became a free-state again ; but behold the freedom , or rather the power and bonds of love and gratitude , neither the old or new gentry , nor the common people , would allow of any thing that was said or to be done , but what this dory should command or say : nor was there a more absolute and powerful monarch upon the earth then he ; and whilst he liv'd he did continue so , because the people would obey : who being once dead , the people soon found they did obey , because they must : yet still it must be a free-state , because libertas was written over the senate-house , and city-gates , but neither within their senate , or their walls , was there ever such tyranny over the common people , or the citizens , then hath been all along , and is at this day practised by some few , who spit monarchy in the face , and make no bones to swallow down all its adjuncts ? exercising their several tyrannies with this justification , that they are the supreme authority , whilst they deny supremacy ; gulling the people into a scotish belief , that they are not suppressed by one hand , because it hath many fingers . i shall instance unto you one particular , which was done whilst i was there , whereby you may easily judge in what free-state their commons live : there was a substantial citizen , between whom , and a noble genoese there was some grudge , this senator studies a revenge , and thus he intends it to be put execution . he gives command to one of his braves ( for so they call their executioners ) to kill this citizen : this slaughter-man ( being by reason of some former obligations ) struck with some remorse of doing so high an act of ingratitude to one , who had so well deserved at his hands ; discovers the whole plot to his so much acknowledg'd patron , who very much ackowledges and commends the ingenuity of this discoverer ; bids him to follow him where ●e leads him over a trap , where the leader knew full well how to order his steps , so that he might advance safely over the place , but the followers ( ignorant of these observations ) must needs fall down a precipice , no less terrible , then destructive ; the poor man is slain : this persidious murderer watches his opportunity of meeting this designer of his death , in the merc●ato , and gently takes him by the arm , and desires him that he might speak a word with him ; they withdraw themselves out of the walk to a private corner : the citizen tells this noble-man that his servant had betraid him , in discovering his design to him on whom it should be executed ; in detestation of which , perfidiousness , he had given him the reward of a traytor ( declaring the manner and form as is expressed ) and desired in all humility that he would be pacified and that whatsoever differences were between them , that he would bepleased to be his own judge whereupon they both became friends , no less satisfaction being acknowledged by the one , then ingenuity on the other party . such shifts as these , are these free-born people fain to make to appease the wrath and fury of their lords and masters : in a word , as their territories is no otherwise then a continued breach of three hundred miles along the sea-shore , so the inhabitants live no otherwise then do the fishes in the sea , the greater fishes devour the less so where there is no king in israel , every man doth that which is good in his own eyes : it cannot be otherwise . from thence i went unto the free-state of lucca , and there i found the free-men to have six princes every year ; and the senate chusing six men , whose elect a prince for the common-wealth every two months ; this prince ascending his throne up these six steps , acts what he pleaseth : nor have the common people any more liberty , then the most rigid calvinist will allow a papist , free-will : neither is their any other difference between this government of the free-state of lucca , and the empire of germany ; but that the one have so many prime chusers , and the other so many prince electors , the one keeps it within the house of austria , and the other keeps it out of the house of the medices . i went from thence unto the ancient common-wealth of venice , whose government ( if in any ) i should approve of , because they never revolted from a better : but yet i must tell you , that at my first entrance into that city , i found the people full of complaints , of the heavy taxes , exorbitant power , and arbitrary government , which seized upon all their plate , and what other goods of value they had , for the use of state , toward the maintenance of a war , which was both foolishly begun , and most carelessly run into by their trustees , or representatives ; for the pope of rome had certain intelligence that the turk was preparing to make war against some part of christendom , the pope sends to all the frontier princes of christendom , advising them they should all agree as one man to make it their own case , and that they would assist one another , on what part of christendom soever the storm should fall , and that the several embassadours would take it into consideration , about proportioning every prince or state according to their abilities , for their several supplies of men and money ; to which they all soon condescended , except the venetian , who told the rest , that there was a league between the grand seigniour and the venetians , and therefore they were not to fear any such war to be intended against them ; to which it being demanded that if the turk prevailed against other parts of christendom round about the venetian● , whether they though the would let the venetians alone at last ? or whether the venetians thought so or no , whether they di●● think themselves bound in honour , and christianity to defend their neighbour christians against so common an enemy ? to which it was answered by the venetians , that the very entring into such a league and covenant with them , were enough to break the peace between them and the turk , whereupon the juncto was dissolved , and every tub was fain to stand on his own bottom ; but it fell out that ( by the machiavillianism of the card. richlieu , who taught and perswaded the turk to break the league between him and the venetians , because he would not have the venetians to lend the emperour so much money , but would find them waies how to disburse it otherwise ) the turks waged war only against the venetians , and none else , whereupon they were fain to endure the whole brunt of the war themselves , and had no body to help them : this being so grievously found fault with by the common people , and their goods taken away ad placitum , their persons prest de bene esse , whe●her they thought so or no : i would fain know what liberty these people had , who could find such faults without remedies , and lose their goods without redress ? what liberty is there in having freedom in the state , and none in the condition ? i shall part with my children with tears in mine eyes , and through the same water behold the word , libertas , written upon the rialto ; what am i the better for this freedom ? am i robbed of all my money , because one thief takes it away ? and am i not rob'd because six or seven lay hold upon me ? believe it , i never heard such complaints ●either in the king or parliaments time , of oppression and tyranny , as i heard in this city during the time that i was there ; and this not only during the war , but also in the times of peace , five or six men rule the whole state , and it may be the prince none of them neither . i shall relate unto you a story of one loridan a noble venetian , who keeping a courtisan , on whom he was intended to bestow a favour , he went into a rich shop for to buy her some cloth of gold to make h●r a gown , the prentice was only in the shop , whom he commanded to cut out so much of such a piece as the taylor gave directions , which done , he will'd the prentice to tell his master that he would be accomptable to him therefore ; the boy excused himself , he being but a servant , and not having any such directions from his master , not doubting , but that if his master were there , he would willingly trust him for what he should be pleased to command ; the noble venetian takes his leave , willing the boy to tell his master , that he should rue the day that ever he kept such a ●awcy boy to give him such an affront , and so departed in g●eat fury : the master of the shop presently coming in , and hearing the relation of what had happened , tore his hair , wrung his hands , s●ampt upon the ground , and like a mad-man cryed out , that the boy had undone him , and all his posterity ; takes the whole piece with him , follows this noble venetian to his curtisans , offers to bribe the curtisan with the whole piece , if she would intermediate for him which with much difficulty , and many pleadings she so appeas'd his wrath , that he was satisfied : and this was as common for a senator of venice to do , as for a parliament man to pay no debts . neither is their any law or justice to be had against any of these statesmen : there was a noble-man who was an austrian both by birth and family , who being a traveller , chanc'd to cast his eyes upon a fair and vertuous lady , who in every respect were deserving of each other : this noble-man had no sooner made his mind known unto his paragon f●r beauty , but he was soon obstructed with a corrival , who was a nobile venetiano ; who perceiving his mistress affections to this stranger to be more liberally expressed than unto him , contrives his death , and soon eff●ct it , she loving her martyr more than either others conceived , or she her self could brook , so great a cross concerning them , studies revenge , and being an italian , found her self easily prompted by her own natural inclination , she pretends much love , that she might the better put in execution her greatest hatred , she gets him into a chamber , where she prays him to rest himself in a chair , wherein he was no sooner sat but his arms and thighs were caught with springs , and being thus fastened , she murders him with her own hands , and flies for sanctuary to the next nunnery within the popes dominions , leaving behind her , by the murdered , these words , written with her own hand in a piece of paper , because there is no justice to be executed against a noble venetian , i have been both judge and executioner my self . men may talk what they will , and fancy what they please , but there is no more difference , in point of freedom between a monarchy and a free-state ( as they call it ) than there is between a high sheriff of a shire , and a committee of a county ; utrum horum mavis accipe now for the free state of our neighbour netherlands , otherwise called the states of holland ( who have sprung up ( as all other free-states will do at last ) from the submissive and humble stilings of the distressed , to the high and mighty ) . the particulars which occasioned their revolt from their soveraign the king of ●pain , i shall not insist upon , but refer you to the spanish and netherland histories ; only i shall hint upon the main inducements to their rebellion ; viz. religion and freedom . for the first , there is not a people amongst whom the name of god is known , to whom religion is a greater stranger , than unto these stilers of themselves , reformed protestants , for if this free-state , who allow all religions both of the jews and gentiles , whose several churches own , in capital letters over their doors , the several sects of religions , to which each libertine is inclined , be religious , than the pantheonists were as truly reformed and religious as the amsterdamiams ; but as he , who sacrificed to all the gods in general , must needs have sacrificed unto the true god , and yet know him not , because he joyned others with him , who was to be worshipped alone : so that country which embrace●h all religions , happily may have the true religion amongst them , and yet have no religion , because they admit of many , being there is but one : this i speak in reference to the country , not to particular men . neither is there a sort of christians in the world who are less servants unto christ , if it be enough to make them so , to be the greatest prophaners of his day : for the sabbath is only distinguished from other daies , by a sermon in the church , and the ale-house being full of mechanicks , drinking and carousing from morning until night ; the shops are open , and buying and selling all the day long , excepting half the window , which is to distinguish the day , but the door is open to let in the buyers , and the other half of the window is open to let in the light : and wonderfully strange it is , and remarkable to consider how these people , who shook off their allegiance to their prince upon pretences of reformation , should be so besotted , as to fall into such a strange and unheard of prophaneness of him , and the day whereon christ himself is to be worshipped , as in their metropolls , or chief city , to have a dog-market kept to the utter scandal of true religion and christianity it self , this is no more than what i have seen , and if it were not true , it were easily returned upon my self as the greatest impudence that could be imagined ; but o the partiality of the picture-drawer , when he receives large wages for a similitude ! he insults over his own work only because it is like , when the face it self is most abominable . now for the freedom from tyranny and oppression ; if the turks or tartars had conquered them , they never would ( nor never did where ever they extended their dominions ) impose such taxes and rates as they have imposed on one another , incredible ; even to the full value of the several commodities , which run through their natives hands ; but you will ask me , how it is possible they should live then ? to which i answer you , by sharking and cosening of strangers : let any forraigners come there and ask for a dinner , and for such a dinner as they may well afford for eight pence a-piece , they will ask you five shillings a man ; find but the least fault with them , and they will demand twelve pence a piece more for fouling of linnen ; and if you seem angry at that , you shall mend your self with the payment of six pence a-piece over and above for fouling the room : and seek a remedy , and you shall be told , the prince of orange himself if he were there could not help it : altom all , is all the reason they will give you ; if in sadness you shall complain of such abuses to indifferent judges , they will tell you , that the states do lay such heavy taxes upon the inhabitants , that they are fain to flie to such shifts for their subsistance ; thus men pleased with the itch of innovation , are contented to scratch the blood out of their own bodies , till they feel the greatest smart ; rather than their physician should let out a little spare blood , to cure the disease , and preserve them in good health ; but you will say , that for all this , they thrive and prosper abudantly , so do the argiers men , but with what credit and reputation in the eye of the world ? i believe both alike : it was not their strength or policy , which brought them to this height and flourishing condition : but it was our policy of state , in emulation to other princes , which helped these calves to lions hearts , teeth , and claws , until the high and mighty butter-boxes stood in competition with the crown : and i am afraid the siding with such rebels , hath turned rebellion into our own bosoms , as a just judgment from that god who is a revenger of all such iniquities , they may call it the school of war , whilst wanting a good cause , it could be no otherwise than the christians shambles : i should be sorry that holland should be the english-mans looking-glass : a spur for his feet , or a copy for his hand , i hope the hand of providence will cure us , like the physician , who cur'd his patient by improving his disease , from a gentle ague to a high feaver , that he might the better help him : chap. xv. that episcopacy is jure divino . in this discourse i shall not trouble my self , nor you with titles , names and words of apostles , evangelists , arch-bishops , bishops , patriarchs , presbyters , ministers , angels of churches , &c. which were all from the highest to the lowest , but tearms reciprocal ; and were often taken in the church of god , and in the scripture it self , for one and the same ; for if any man , though never so mean , a minister of the gospel converted any nation , the church ever called him , the apostle of that country ; as austin , though but a monk , was every where tearmed the apostle of england : and st. paul , being an apostle , stiles himself a minister of the gospel of jesus christ : paul bids timothy being a bishop , to do the work of an evangelist ; and therefore no wonder if bishops and presbyters be often mentioned for one and the same : but it is a great wonder that any manner of men , should make this a ground for any argument against episcopacy ; these kind of arguments instead of striking fire that should light the candle , they do but pin napkins over our eyes , and turn us round , until we know not where we are ; and then we grope for we know not who , and lay hold of we know not what : he that will cut down this over-grown up-start-tree of error , must first clear his way to the root , and brush away all those brambles , and briers , which grow about it ; we must not leave any thing standing , that may lay hold of the hatchet , and deviate the stroke , turning the same edge upon the feller , that was intended for the tree : if we should insist upon names and titles , we should make but a confounded piece of work , and run our selves into a most inextricable labyrinth and mazes of error ; where we might run and go forwards and backwards , and round about , and ne're the near : christs are kings , kings are gods ; god is christ , and christ is bishop of our souls ; bishops are presbyters , presbyters are ministers , a minister is an apostle , an apostle is a minister : and so if you will quite back again . i must put off these , as david threw away sauls armour , non possum incedere cum iis ; i love to knock down this m●nstrum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum , with a blunt stone taken out of a clear river , which with the sling of application may serve well enough to slay this erroneous philistine , though he were far greater than he i● . in the first place therefore let us understand what is meant by jus divi●um ; if any man means that episcopacy is so jure divino , that it is unalterable , and must continue at all times , and in all places , so that where it is left off , there can be no church , he means to give much offence and little reason ; for there is no question but the church may alter their own government ( so that it be left to themselves to alter ) as they shall think most convenient , as well as alter the sabbath from the seventh day to the first of the week , or as well as they chang'd immersion into aspersion of the baptised , and many other things which carried as much jus divinum with them as episcopacy , and yet were chang'd . the jus divinum that is in episcopal government , doth not consist in the episcopacy , but in the government , be it episcopal or what it will ; but where the government is episcopal , no question but there episcopal government is jure divino , because a government ; and if it were otherwise , that government into which episcopacy degenerateth , would be jure divino , as well as it , provided that none touch this ark of the church but the priests themselves ; for if the hand which belongs to the same body , pull the hat from off the head , the man loses not his right , only he stands in a more humble posture , but he is in a● strong possession of his own right , as when 't was on his head , but if another hand should chance to pull it off , the party stands disgracefully depriv'd of his highest right and ornament . so if episcopal government of the church be put down , or altered by church-men themselves , the jus divinum is but removed from the supremacy of one , and fastened in the stronger hold of many members , for this is a maxim that admits no postern , power never falls to the ground , neither in church nor state , but look what one lets fall , another takes up before ever it comes to ground , wherefore losing nothing , they keep their own ; but whether this power in church or state in the point of convenience be better in the hands of one or many , let whose will look to that , that 's not my work ; neither the names of governments nor the numbers of governours shall ever be able to fright away this jus divinum out of the church government , be the government what it will , bene visum fuit spiritui sancto & nobis , keeps in the jus divinum , be the government never so altered , whereas forbidden and improper hands , actions , as unusual , as unwarrantable , le ts out this jus divi●●● ▪ when they have changed it to what they can imagine , now whether or no it be proper for a lay-parliament , or a representative of lay-men , by the power of the sword , declining the kings authority , will and pleasure , who was appointed by god to be a nursing father of his church , to alter church-government , so antient , so begun by christ himself in his own person over so many apostles , so practis'd by the apostles over others , so continued all along , i mean episcopacy , that is to say , one minister constituted an overseer of many , and to lay hold upon tumults and insurrections , to pull down these overseers , and for men who in such cases should be governed by the church , to pull down the church-government without any the least consent of the church governours ; i leave it for the world to judge ; only my one opinion is this , that any government thus set up , or by such practices as these altered , must needs be so far from being jure divino , that it must needs be jure diabolico . but it may be objected , that if they should have stayed until the bishops had altered themselves , they might have styed long enough ; to which it may be answered , that had the bishops been but as poor as job , there would have been no such hast to change their cloaths . the ark was a type of the church , and whatsoever was literally commanded concerning the type , must be analogically observed in the thing typified ; god sate in the mercy-seat that was over the ark , the ark contained within it aarons rod , and a pot of manna , so the church contains the law and the gospel , the killing letter and the reviving spirit ; others interpret the rod to signifie the government and discipline of the church , as the manna the doctrine of christ , and food that came down from heaven : i take it to signifie both , and both answers my purpose ; if both be therein contained , neither must be touch'd but by the priests themselves ; neither must we confine this prohibition to the priests of the law only , but we must extend it also to the ministers of the gospel , both which were typified by the two cherubims , or ministring angels of the almighty : these ministers or angels , though opposite to one another , yet they both lookt alike , and neither of them upon one another , but both of them upon the ark that was between them , there was mutuality in their looks , and their wings touch'd one another ; so though the ministers of the law and the gospel seem opposite in the administration of the same grace , yet they must come so near as to touch one another in the manner of the administration ; exempli gratiâ , as there was in the old law high priests , priests and levites , so in the new law , bishops , pres●yters and deacons ; as none but priests were to touch the ark , so none but the ministers should reform the church . thus much for government ; now for episcopacy ; the question then concerning episcopacy , will be , whether or no , jure divino , one minister ( which answers to all names and sorts of church-men , and church-officers whatsoever ) may not exercise jurisdiction and power over many ministers within such a place or territory ? if this be granted , the bishops ask no more : if it be denyed , how then did christ jesus , bishop of our souls , give orders and directions to his twelve apostles , and taught them how they should behave themselves throughout this diocese the whole world ? how did st. paul exercise jurisdiction over timothy and titus , who were both bishops ? and how did these two bishops exercise jurisdiction over all the ministers of creet and ephesus ? was not this by divine institution ? if i find by divine writ , that christ laid the foundation of his church in himself alone being over all the apostles , and if i find that these apostles , every apostle by himself ( in imitation of our saviour ) accordingly exercised jurisdiction and authority over many ministers which were under them , and commanded others to do the like , as paul , timothy and titus , and if i find the practice of the church all along through the whole tract of time , to continue the like discipline ; shall not i believe this discipline to be jure divino , except christ sends down a new conje deslier from heaven , upon the election of every new bishop ? christ lays the foundation , we build upon it , he gives us the model , we follow the pattern , the church is built ; is not this by divine right , because he doth not lay the several stones with his own hands ? christ promised that he would be alwaies with his church , and that he would send his holy spirit amongst them , which should lead them into all truth , so that the gates of hell should not prevail against it ; but if episcopacy ●e anti-christian , then the gates of hell have not only prevailed against it a long time , but all along . as all judgments are given in the kings name , and all records run rege praesente , though the king be not there in person , but in power ; so the universal and un-interrupted and continued and generally received discipline of his holy catholick church ( which church we are bound to believe by the apostolical creed ) is christo praesente ( ergo jure divino ) though christ be not there in person , but in power ; which power he conferr'd upon those who were to be his successours , which were called apostles , as my father sent me , so send i you : and he that heareth you , heareth me ; and loe i will be with you alwaies unto the end of the world : surely this discipli●● of one over many , call it what you will , is to descend and continue unto the end of the world. object . but it may be objected , how can you prove that christ commanded any such thing , or that christ gave to the apostles any such power , as to make successors in their steads , with a warrant for it to continue from age to age ? sol. where do you find that christ gave the sacrament to any but his disciples ? drink ye all of this , but they were all apostles to whom he said so ? where did you find that christ administred the sacrament , or commanded it to be administred unto any lay-men , or women ? therefore is not the sacrament given unto them jure divino , because the words were left out in the conveyance ? when there grew a disputation concerning divorcements , christ sends us to the original , sic autem non fuit ab initio , if christs rule be good , then the bishops are well enough , for they may say concerning episcopacy , i mean one over many ( and that safely too ) sic erat ab origine . some are very unwilling that this episcopacy should be intail'd by christ upon his apostles and their successors , out of these words , mat. 28.20 . i will be with you alwaies to the end of the world ; they will not have it to mean in their successors ; but the meaning to be this , i will 〈◊〉 with you alwaies unto the end of the world ; that is to say , in the efficacy , and power of my word and gospel , to all ages ; why may it not signifie this , and that too : that it doth one , is no argument but that it may do both : god made all things , in number , weight , and measure , and will you slight his word ? shall sensus factus thrust our sensus destinatus out of scriptures ? the first ministers of the gospel must be ad●equate to the first minister of the law , and behold the same method observed in both their institutions : what difference is there between christ's words to his disciples , i am with you alwaies unto the end of the world , mat. 28.20 . and gods words unto aaron at his setting him apart for the high priests office ? this shall be a statute for ever unto thee , and to thy seed after thee , exod. 28.43 . certainly if the gospel be nothing else but the law revealed , and the law be nothing else but the gospel hidden ; whatsoever is written or said of the ministers of the one ; must needs have reference to the ministers of the other : and i shall desire you to look a little back upon the words which god said to aaron ; when god speaks of the seed of aaron , he only maketh mention of the seed after him ; but when he speaks of the statute , he saith it shall be for ever : if i do not flatter my own judgment , that tells me , that this statute of high priesthood , or episcopacy , call it what you will , must have heirs after the seed of abraham is expired , and did not the catholick church all along call the receiving of the holy-ghost , the order of priest-hood ? did ever any record above seven years date , call it making of ministers ? and why are they angry with the word priest ? is it because the prophet isaiah , prophecying of the glory of christs church tells us , we shall be named priests of the lord , but that men shall call us ministers of god ? isa. 61.6 . if the ministration of the law be glorious , shall not the ministration of the gospel be much more glorious , 2 cor. 1.3 . and shall the ministers of the same gospel be less glorious ? when you see a man that cannot abide to see anothers glory , you may be sure he is no kin to him , or very far off ; so you may be ass●red that these are no true sons of the church , no●●o right children , who think a chair too great state for their fathers to sit in . in the apostles time these bishops , or if you will , superintendents ( which are all in one signification , only a good greek word chang'd by mr. john calvin , into a bad latin word ) were stiled embassadors of the almighty , stars of heaven , angels of the church , &c. but now these embassadours are used like vagabonds ; these stars , are not stars but fallings ; and the angels are no where to be found but ascending and descending jacobs ladder ; whilst this reputation was given unto the church , and its officers , the stones of its building were in unity , but as it is now , it seems no otherwise than as a corps kept under ground seemingly intire , but once touch'd , soon falls to dust and ashes . never was there such a monster as this ruling , and thus constituted presbytery , the father of it rebellion , the mother insurrection , the midwife sacriledge , the nurse covetousness , the milk schism , the coats armour , the rattle drums , a bloudy sword the coral , money the babies that it delights to play withal , it grows up to be a stripling , and goes to school to a council of war , its lesson is on the trumpet , its fescue a pistol , its going out of school in rank and file , its play-daies the daies of battail , and black-munday the day of judgment ; it comes of age and is married with a solemn league and covenant , it begets children like it self , whose blessing upon them is the power of the sword , and whose imposition of hands are broken pates ; this monster cries down this truly ancient catholick and apostolick power which the bishops exercised ; and then takes it up again , and uses it themselves in a higher nature than ever any bishops or apostles themselves did or durst have done , even to the excommunication and deposement of their kings ( to the delivering of them up unto satan , and to hang-men , if they stood but in their way ) to whom the apostles taught submission , ( how faulty so ever they were ) and if not obedience , yet submission , to every one of their ordinances , if not for their own sakes , yet for the lords sake , and for conscience sake : these men cry down the same authority as popish , whilst they exalt themselves above all that are called gods , in a higher manner , than ever any pope of rome ever yet did . we will begin with this monster in the very place of its nativity , and so observe him all along through the whole tract of time ; we will consider how it dealt with the first prince , under whose dominions it pullulated , which was under the prince and bishop of geneva , and these two were both nullified in the same person , as they were both here in england by the same parliament ; verifying that maxim of ours ( with that fore-running of theirs ) no bishop , no king ; and then we will shew you how they dealt with our princes here at home , where ever they had a power , viz. with mary queen of scots , and james and charles the first kings of england and of scotland both , and then usurp a power themselves , higher than popes or kings . calvin with his gladiators , having expuls'd the prince and bishop of geneva , set● up a government so high and unexpected , that the people would have nothing to do either with him , or his government : and thereupon they banished him the city ; calvin ( in exile ) bethinks himself how he might appease their fury , and give them satisfaction , and be invited in again ; calvinus de tristibus thinks it his best course of endearing himself unto the people , to make them sharers with him in the government , whereupon he invented his new fangle of lay-elders , and so all parties were agreed ; in comes mr. john calvin ( whilst he was scarce warm in his seat ) i shall present you with a story of him and of his demeanour of himself towards the temporal throne : there was a noble-man of italy , who liked the reformation which he had begun so well , that he forsook his religion and country , sold his lands and fortune , converted all into money , and took sanctuary in geneva ; as soon as he came there , great rejoycing and insulting there was , that their cause was honoured with so high a convert : the grand seigniour falls a building ; directing his masons , he found one of them something more sawcy than to what his lordship ( in his own country ) had been accustomed , little thinking that where there was promised so large a respect of souls , there had been so little respect of persons : this noble-man hereupon gives this mason a gentle tap upon the head , the mason flies upon him like a dr●●●● ▪ 〈◊〉 shakes him by the 〈◊〉 : my lord not being used to such course salutations , stabs him with his dagger , thinking nothing less , but that so high a provocation would have pleaded his indempnity ; no such matter , my lord was soon laid hold on , and brought to his trial : calvin upon the tribunal , not as a temporal judge in such cases ( take heed of him ) but only to be asked his opinion in cases of conscience ; the delinquent pleads for himself , tells them how insolently he was provoked , and wonders , considering such provocation , he should be questioned for so vile a varlet : hereupon mr. calvin soon starts up , and tells him , that with god ( whose seat they held ) there was no respect of persons , and for ought he knew , that man whom he despls'd to death , was as near and dear to god and his favour , as himself : their laws knew no such distinction as man-slaughter and murder ; but they were regulated by the divine law , that told them , that the man that sheds mans blood , by man shall his blood be shed ; that there was no exemption by greatness , nor buying it off by favour ; the noble-man replyed , that he had not been long enough amongst them to be acquainted with their laws ; it was answered , that the law of nature did forbid that , of which he could not be ignorant ( all this was well enough . ) my lord told them how hard a case it would be that a man out of his love and liking to the place and manners , should seek to it as a sanctuary for his conscience , and so soon find it his grave : that he was heartily sorry for what he had done , and would give any satisfaction to his wife and children that the court should order , or his estate allow ; he intended the man no hurt , before such rough hands shook him out of himself , that he knew not what he did , and therefore he humbly begg'd their pardon , assuring them for the future , that his waies should be so directly answerable to those paths they walked in , that he would not by gods grace hereafter step aside . the temporal judges , won with his humble and submissive behaviour began to relent , and desired mr. calvin to abate a little of his rigour , for the reasons before mentioned , assuring him that his case was no common case , and therefore it ought to have respect accordingly ; hereupon there grew a hot dispute between the spiritual , and the temporal judges : calvin remained st●ff in his opinion , and would not be bent to the least mercy ; the noble-man thought to throw one grain of reason more into the ballance , that should turn the scales , and that should be taken out of a consideration had of their own good : for saith 〈◊〉 , if you shed my blood hand over head , without any the least respect had to my years , to my birth , to my education , to the little time i had of being acquainted with your laws , nor to the provocation it self , nor to the suddenness of the action , nor to the surprize of all my senses , nor to the satisfaction i would have given , nor to the repentance of my very soul , who will come amongst you ? what lord or gentleman will live within your walls ? wherefore if you will have no consideration of me , yet consider your selves ; consider what a blow it will give to your religion , how many this very thing will stave off from ever having any thing to do with you ; by this time they were all prone to mercy , but calvin alone , who stands up , and cries fiat justitia , ruat coelum ; neither could he be brought to give his opinion , that the jury ( as we call them ) might not pass upon him ; but out went the jury , and contrary to their own law , hearing the noble-mans plea , and observing well the inclination of the bench in general , they brought in their verdict , not guilty ; whereupon the noble-man was acquitted : hereupon john calvin rises from the bench , and whilst the rest proceed to their matters , calls all the ministers within the walls and liberties of geneva , who appear before the judgment seat , with white wands in their hands , which they laid down , telling them , that with those wands they laid down their offices , protesting that they would never preach the gospel to a people whose human laws should run contrary to the laws divine ; and suddenly turned about and took their leave : which being acted with so much gravity , wrought so much upon the beholders , that they presently sent for them back again , and hanged the noble-man . this story i have read in their own history in geneva , than which my thoughts were then , as they are still , that never any pope of rome , did act as pope of rome , or so much as claim half that authority over the civil magistrate , as this anti-pope did virtually act ; and yet was not ashamed to make lesser matters than this the ground of the quarrel with the bishop , who also was their prince , when in his own person he acts the part of both . now we will see how these kind of creatures have plaid the masters of mis-rule among our princes here at home . king james in his discourse at hampton court , tells us how the presbyterians became lords paramount in his kingdom of scotland , and how they used his mother the queen of scots , viz. knox and buchanan , and the rest of that gang , came unto mary queen of scots , and told her , that by right , no pope nor potentate whatsoever , had any superiority over her in her own dominions , either in cases civil or ecclesiastical , but that she her self was supreme in both , and constituted by god as the only nursing mother of his church , within her dominion , and therefore conjured her to look about her , and not to let the pope of rome , or any of his agents , to have any thing to do within her territories , and to have care of christs evangel , as she would answer it at the dreadful day of judgment ; she gives them her ear , and at last her authority , they make use of it in the first place , to the pulling down of the bishops , and exalted themselves in their room ; when the queen look'd for an absolute supremacy , behold all the supremacy that these men would allow her , was not so much as to have one private chapel for her self , nor one priest whereby she might serve god according to her own conscience ; she finding her self so much deceived , labours to recal her authority , they kept her to it ; she takes up arms , they oppose her , fight her , beat her out of her kingdom ; she flies into england , they follow her with invectives , thrust jealousies into the queen of englands bosom concerning her , she is imprisoned , and after a long imprisonment put to death . king james having related this passage in the forementioned discourse unto dr. renolds , and knewstubs and the rest , turns unto the bishops , and closes his discourse with this animadversion ; wherefore , my lords , i thank you for my supremacy , for if i were to receive it from these men , i know what would become of my supremacy . the shining light of the gospel , and the burning zeal of the ministers thereof , may fitly be compared to fire , which if it be not in every room confin'd to one hearth , and limited to one tunnel , that may convey out of this so comfortable and necessary a blessing , all that may be destructive , and offensive in it , up toward the highest region , but is suffered like wild-fire to run up and down the house , it will soon turn all to flames and high combustions ; so the government of the soul seems to be of so transcendent nature to what the government of the body and goods is , that if it be not overtopt with superintendency or episcopacy , and so disimbogued into the supream authority , this comfortable heat if limited , as it turns to our greatest benefit , so neglected and boundless , soon converts it self into a suddain destruction and ruine . if you will hear how these men dealt with king james , her son , and father to charles the first , you shall find it in his basilicon doron , crebrae adversus me in tribunitiis concionibus calumniae spargebantur non quod crimen aliquod designâssem , sed quia rex eram , quod omni crimine pejus habebatur . are these men good subjects ? did they not convene him diverse times before them , school him , catechize him like a school-boy ? did he not protest unto his son henry , that he mislik'd their proud and haughty carriage ever since he was ten years of age ? did he not say that monarchy and presbytery agreed like god and the devil ? and have we not found it so , if we consider the behaviour of our new made presbyterians in england , to charles the first , his son ? o but the presbyterians had no hand in it , they pray'd and preach'd , and writ against it , tasted and pray'd for a diversion of all such intentions : but i pray , who took the scepter out of his hand , in taking away the militia , of which it was an emblem , that should have defended him , was it not the presbyterians ? who cast down his throne , by taking away his negative voice , was it not the presbyterians ? who took off his crown , the fountain of honour from off his head , by denying those honour on whom he had confer'd it without them , was it not the presbyterian ? who took away his supremacy , signified by the sacred unction wherewith he was anointed , in not allowing him the liberty of his own conscience in the point of episcopacy and church-government , was it not the presbyterian ? who would not treat a minute with their king before they had made him acknowledge himself guilty ( as they say ) of all the blood that had been spilt throughout his dominions , was it not the presbyterian ? who ( notwithstanding all the concessions on his part that could be granted , even to the very grating his princely conscience , when he bid them ask flesh from off his bones , and he would not deny it them , if it might have been a benefit unto his people , prayed that he might keep his conscience whole , it was the queen regent of all good mens actions , and he hoped there were none would force this queen before him in his house , as ahasuerus said to haman ) voted not satisfactory so long , until the independent army came from edenborough , and surpriz'd and murdred him , was it not the presbyterians ? he that said the presbyterians held him down by the hair , while the independents cut off his head , said true enough , they murdered him as a king , before ever they murdered him as a man ; for what may the independent say to the presbyter , if you 'l take off his authority , we 'l take off his head ; if you 'l make him no king , we 'l make him no body : if you 'l make him a man of blood , we 'l use him accordingly ; therefore at your doors , o presbyterian hypocrites , do i lay his innocent blood , it is but like the rest of your actions , committed by your ancestors to former princes al● along . one thing i pray you well observe ; there was never any reformed church in christendom , but when they shook off their bishops , they made their apologies to all the christian world , how they were necessitated to alter that ancient and best form of government of the church by bishops , in regard that they could not be drawn off from their obedience and dependance on the pope of rome ; and if possible they would retain that laudable government as most convenient ; but never were there any reformers in the world , but ours , that ever held episcopacy to be unlawful and anti christian before ; and will you know the reason ? which is only this , the bishops what they receive they lay down at his majesties feet , as acknowledging him to be supreme in all cases , when they would have him to be supreme in no case , as buch. de jure regni plainly tells us , that princes are no more but the proxies and attorneys of the people ; and yet for all this , the authority which they hold , to be as anti-christian in the chair , they practise as most christian on the bench , and much improve it . these monsters that they may the better cry down the divine right that is in episcopacy , and descended to them from the apostles ; tell us , that the calling of the apostles was extraordinary , and died with them : to make answer to which assertion , we must consider how many waies a thing may be taken to be extraordinary , and if we find that it may be taken so many waies , if we can prove a thing extraordinary one way , we must not take it to be extraordinary in every respect ; exempli gratiâ ; saul was extraordinarily called by god , because immediately by him , but this doth not make the calling of kings to be an extraordinary calling , for that succeeded ; so the apostles were extraordinarily called by god , as not being called out of the tribe of levi , nor taken from the feet of gamaliel , nor brought up in the schools of the prophets , yet this doth not follow , that the calling of the apostles should be extraordinary , for they had their successors : it may be extraordinary à parte ante ; but not à parte post , only in regard of the manner of their election , but not in regard of the nature of their commission , they were called apostles in regard of their mission , not in respect of their commission , which which was no more but what bishops had , neither doth the word apostle signifie so great authority as doth the word bishop , the one betokening but a messenger , the other an overseer , and therefore there is no extraordinariness hitherto , that they should not be extraordinary . 2. a man may be said to be extraordinary , in regard of some extraordinary gifts and endowments which god hath given unto a man , as unto the apostles the gift of tongues , of healing , &c. but this doth no way make the calling extraordinary , for then it would follow , that if god almighty should give unto any ordinary minister , extraordinary gifts , then his calling should be extraordinary , or that the calling of kings should be an extraordinary calling , because god bestows on some kings the extraordinary gift of healing . 3. it may be further urg'd , the calling of the apostles was an extraordinary calling , because they were pen-men of the holy-ghost , and in regard that the holy-ghost sat upon each of them ; no , that doth not make it extraordinary quoad nos , that it should not descend , for other divines and evangelists , were pen-men of the holy-ghost as well as they , therefore what was not extraordinary to themselves , cannot be extraordinary to us . 4. for their receiving the holy-ghost , it is no otherwise but what all bishops , pastors , and curates do receive , when they receive orders , receive ye the holy ghost , only the difference is this , they received it by the sitting of cloven tongues , and they by imp●sition of hands , but still the extraordinaries consist in the manner , but not the matter of the thing received , so that all the while there is no reason why this calling of the apostles should be so extraordinary , as that it should not descend : if christ promised to be with his apostles unto the end of the world , and they did not continue unto the end of the world , surely i should think without any straining at gnats , or swallowing of cammels , that the meaning of our saviours words should be this , that he would be with those in the assistance of his holy spirit , that should succeed the apostles in their offices of supervising his church , and propagation of his gospel , except i should see more reason than i do yet , why the apostles calling should be so peculiar , that it must not descend , or that the government of one over many , be so inconsistent with the church her good in after-time , more than in the beginning , that episcopacy should be so abominable . briefly i can compare these presbyters pulling down the bishops , to no other thing , than to a company of unhappy boys , who being not tall enough to reach the fruit , and wanting a ladder , for the fruit sake , lay hold upon the branches , and break down a bow , making it thereby no part of the tree ; so ●hese men , wanting merit to taste the fruit of learning , and not having capacity enough in themselves to reach those preferments which the church holds out to those who are deserving , they render that which was part of the church , as sever'd from the body , which is the highest kind of sacriledge , not only in depriving the church of part of its goods , but part of it self . lastly , if there be no other reason to be given , if not for the divine right of episcopacy , yet for the lawfulness thereof , but this one topical argument which i shall use , raised out of the continued practice of the church in all ages , to men whose faces are not bra●'d so thick , that it were reason proof , it were sufficient in my understanding , viz. suppose all the arguments which were for episcopacy , were as weak as so many straws to support a cause , yet though four straws are not able to support a table , yet fourteen thousand bound up together in four bundles , will hold it up as firm as so many props of iron ; so though some few practices of some few men within some few places , are not able to make an argument for episcopacy , that shall be evincing , yet the practice of the church all along for fourteen hundred years , in fourteen hundred dioceses , and throughout forty ages , makes good the argument against any few jack straws , or wat tilers whatsoever . ob. but there were no diocesan bishops in the primitive times . sol. was not christ a diocesan bishop ? and was not the world his diocess ? were not the apostles diocesan bishops , when the whole world , divided into twelve parts , were their twelve diocess ? were not timothy and titus diocesan bishops , when creet and ephesus were allotted to be their diocess ? ob. there were no lord bishops in those daies ? sol. those who ruled well were to be accounted worthy of double honour , and will you not allow them a single lordship ? ob. the lords of the gentiles exercised dominion , but so shall not you . sol. no , not such dominion as they exercised , there is a great deal of difference betwixt dominion , and domineering , betwixt lordship , and lording it over god's inheritance ; a paternal government was never accounted intolerable but by unruly children ; if this were not to be allowed of , how did christ rule his apostles ? paul , timothy and titus ? both these , all the ministers in creet and ephesus ? ob. st. paul laboured with his hands that he might not be chargeable to the brethren . sol. so might the bishops if they needed no more to study divinity than did the apostles , but if any benefactor had bestowed large revenues upon st. paul , i see no reason why he might not be a keeper of hospitality , as well as he advised timothy so to do : but now julians persecution is reviv'd ; do not ( saith julian ) destroy the christians , but take away the maintenance of the church , and that will bring their ministers into contempt , and so destroy their religion ; and now they are at it ; libera me , domine ( saith st. augustine ) ab homine impio , id est , libera me à me , so we had need to pray unto almighty god , that he would save his church out of the hands of her church-men , for she now lies upon the ground like the tree that complained , that she was rent in sunder by wedges made out of her own body . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a27454-e730 see buch. de jure reg. 1 sam. 24.5 . an appeal to all the true members of the church of england, in behalf of the king's ecclesiastical supremacy ... by william wake ... wake, william, 1657-1737. 1698 approx. 229 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 81 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66109 wing w229 estc r3357 12310538 ocm 12310538 59355 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66109) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 59355) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 441:23) an appeal to all the true members of the church of england, in behalf of the king's ecclesiastical supremacy ... by william wake ... wake, william, 1657-1737. [9], xxv, [3], 123, [1] p. printed for richard sare ..., london : 1698. errata: p. 123. advertisements: p. [1] at end. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. marginal notes. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-12 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an appeal to all the true members of the church of england , in behalf of the king 's ecclesiastical supremacy ; as by law establish'd ; by our convocations approved ; and by our most eminent bishops , and clergy-men , stated , and defended ; against both the popish , and fanatical , opposers of it . by william wake , d. d. and chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london : printed for richard sare at grays-inn-gate in holborn , mdcxcviii . to the most reverend father in god thomas , by divine providence , lord archbishop of canterbury , primate of all england , and metropolitan . my lord ; this appeal which addresses it self to others for their judgment , sues , with all humility , to your grace for your protection ; and that such , as , i conceive , is neither unfit for me to ask , nor for your grace to afford . you will here see what that true agreement is between the priesthood and the empire , which our laws have establish'd ; our convocations approv'd of ; and our greatest clergy-men hitherto defended ; without the censure of any , but the profess'd enemies of our church and constitution . but now a new sort of disciplinarians are risen up from within our selves , who seem to comply with the government of the church , much upon the same account that others do with that of the state ; not out of conscience to their duty , or any love they have for it ; but because it is the establish'd church , and they cannot keep their preferments without it . they hate our constitution , and revile all such as stand up in good earnest for it : but , for all that , they resolve to hold fast to it ; and go on still to subscribe , and rail . in opposition either to the errors or designs of these men , the present appeal bespeaks your grace's protection , not so much for its self , as for the articles and canons of our church ; and for those excellent worthies who , in their several successions , have appear'd in defence of the king's supremacy over the state ecclesiastical , as by law declared , and establish'd . that you will vouchsafe still to continue to own a cause , in which not only the church of england , but the church catholick , ever since the civil powers have become christian , is concern'd together with her : the authority we plead for in behalf of our kings , being no other than what the most famous bishops and councils of the church have given to their empeperors ; and who , by consequence , must all be involved in the same censure with our parliaments and convocations . and they who now revile the one , would as freely condemn the other , but that they are sensible that many who are well content with the reproach of king henry viii . and his clergy , would not endure to hear the like charges made against constantine and theodosius ; and those bishops and councils which all christians , in all ages , have been wont to pay so great a regard to . this , my lord , is the cause which i here bring before your grace : in the defence whereof i have once already been engaged , and shall , with god's assistance , again appear ; when those who now talk with such confidence against my former allegations , shall give me occasion to shew how just they were , and how little , in reality , there is to be excepted against them . in the mean time , i was willing , for the better discovery of these new-reformers ; by this short , preliminany treatise , to draw aside the curtain , and let the world see whose off-spring they are , and from whom they derive both their principles , and their animosities , against us. i cannot but hope , that by this i shall awaken all the sincere members of our church to beware of them ; and not give countenance to such attempts , as under a shew of bettering our constitution , do in reality tend to the utter subversion of it . to your grace i submit both the design and the performance ; and with all possible duty and respect remain , my lord , your grace's most humble and obedient servant , william wake . the preface . when i entred upon the defence of the kings supremacy , in answer to the letter to a convocation man , i was not so little acquainted with the tempers and designs , of a certain party among us , as not to know that my undertaking would be likely to displease those , who think any the least authority that is given to his present maiesty , to be an encroachment either upon their civil or ecclesiastical rights . nor was i unsensible what might possibly be reply'd to the arguments which i brought in proof of it : the knowledge i had of what the papists were wont to return to the like allegations of our writers against them , having , in some measure , inform'd me what , upon this occasion , might probably be said in answer to me. but to find my self charged , as if in defending the authority of the prince , i had betray'd the rights of the church , and appear'd in such a cause as neither became my function , nor had any of our clergy ever before concern'd themselves withall ; this , i confess , was a perfect surprise to me , and abundantly convinces me that some mens resentments are as much beyond modesty , as they are without reason . it cannot be unknown to any , who is not an utter stranger to the history of our reformation , upon what principles it was undertaken , and at last happily setled among us . how the prince's authority was both the means by which it was carry'd on , and the ground on which we justify'd our selves in the doing of it . and , indeed , at the first , none but the papists , ( that is to say those who had engrossed this power into their own hands , and could neither endure to part with it , nor to submit to the use which they saw we intended to make of it ; ) complain'd of what we did , in restoring the prince to his antient , and undoubted right ; or pretended to enter any process against us , upon the account of it . it is true , some time after , another party , ( how opposite soever to the papists in other matters , yet in this too nearly approaching to them ) began to set up themselves ; and to claim the same power in behalf of their kirk , that the romanists had pretended to in right of their pope and church . but against both these our bishops and clergy continued firm and costant ; and were , by all impartial judges , allow'd to be as much superiour to them both in their arguments , as they were in the justice of the cause which they maintained . thus stood this controversy till our own times : insomuch that i hardly know any author , professing himself a member of the church of england , who has either cast any aspersion upon our first reformers , for restoring the crown to its antient jurisdiction ; or pretended that the divine rights of the church , were in any wise violated , or infringed by it . but it seems the case is very much altered now : and it is , of a suddain , become an encroachment , not to be endured by our new-church-patriots , for the king to pretend to lay any restraint upon their assemblies ; and an enterprise unbecoming a minister of the gospel , tho' by more than one obligation engaged so to do , to appear in defence of the royal supremacy . it is indeed very strange to consider after what manner a certain writer has of late deliver'd his sense as to both these ; and such as will hardly be credited , except i repeat it in his own words . 't was natural ( says he ) to expect the insurrection of infidels and hereticks , against the proposals and power of a convocation . — but who would have dreamed that any clergy man — of the church , should lift up his heel against her. — when the great luminaries of the church shall sign the theta upon her rights , liberties and authorities , divine and humane ; and this voluntarily , and without any bribe offer'd , or menace denounced , the concession is taken for sincere , and for that cause , just. king henry the viii of famous memory , notwithstanding all his claims at common-law , and his interest in his parliament , thro' power , and the rewards by abby and church-lands , could not have made himself so absolute in eccesiasticals . had he not procured before the submission of the clergy . nor could he have compassed that , but by the terrour of a praemunire under which they had fallen , and upon which he was resolved to follow his blow , and so to bend , or break them . and yet this act of a popish , vnreform'd , and will nigh outlaw'd convocation , extorted for fear of ruin , and thro' ignorance , and non-suspicion of the acts consequent upon it , prejudges more against our liberties , than all secular constitutions could possibly have done without it . and must we now consecrate all these procedures , the results of which we feel in the total ruin of ecclesiastical discipline , and christian piety , by our voluntary pleas , and acclamations : and to gratifie the civil powers to an arbitrary vtmost , violate the most important truths of principles and histories ; treat the synods of the church with spite and contumely ; and recommend the greatest slavery of her to the appetite of civil powers . this is a severe charge , and a man had need have a very good cause , or a very impregnable face , who treats kings and parliaments , convocations and clergymen after such a rate . for , when all is done , it cannot be denied but that what that convocation did , and that king and parliament enacted , was , after two intermediate reigns , again repeated in the first of queen elizabeth ; is at this day approv'd of by the canons of king james the first ; and allow'd of in the nine and thirty articles of religion ; to which this author himself has more than once subscribed . and methinks the consideration of that , if nothing else , might have induced him to have been more temperate in his charge against me ; who have defended no other authority in the prince , than what both he , and i , and every other clergy-man of the church of england , have solemnly declared our assent to , and are obliged to our power to maintain . but our author does not intend to leave this point so easily ; his zeal carries him yet farther in opposition to the king's supremacy . to say nothing of his fresh invectives against that king , and that convocation , which first began to assert the royal authority , against the invasions which had so notoriously been made upon it : pag. 110. he affirms the authority of the church in the convention , freedom , and acts of synods , to be of divine right . this he again insists upon , pag. 115. and in the next page calls them divine privileges , given by god , and granted to priests , for the conduct and conservation of the church . and in the same page , speaking of the prince's breaking in upon these supposed rights , he says ; not only the romish church , but all other sectaries , and the scotch kirk illustriously scorn to admit any servitude , notwithstanding not only national protection , but promotion : being sensible that a liberty of religion , government , and church-discipline , is more valuable than all worldly wealth , or interest ; and without which they cannot apprehend any protection to religion , or the societies that profess it . from which last words i suppose i shall not injure his sense if i infer ; that then , according to his notion , the church of england is really at present in a persecuted state , and has been so ever since the reformation : and cannot be look'd upon so much as a protected church , till this act of the submission of the clergy shall be repealed . a strange reflection certainly ! and very unbecoming those manifold blessings our church has enjoy'd under its reformed princes ; and does at this time enjoy under her glorious preserver : whose greatest crime i am afraid it is , in some mens opinion , that he has delivered us from that slavery into which we were running , tho' such as our new disciplinarians seem to think the only way to a canonical liberty . i must transcribe a great part of his book , should i here repeat all that this author has said , in the most spiteful manner that he knew how to express it , against all that plead for , or speak well of , this part of the king's supremacy . see how he harangues his brethren of the clergy upon this occasion , p. 119. we , we only , says he , are the poor , tame , dis-spirited , drowsie body ; that are in love with our own fetters : and this is the only scandalous part of our passive obedience to be not only silent , but content , with an oc — n of our p — rs , which are not forfeited , nor forfeitable to any worldly powers whatsoever . ; it might perhaps be here no improper question , to ask , what this gentleman means by so warm an application to the whole body of the clergy ? whether he would have them take heart upon the matter , and having so redoubted a champion to lead them on , like true missionaries , see what they can do to raise up a croisade against these wicked magistrates , who so unwarrantably usurp upon the churches neither , forfeited nor forfeitable , powers ? at least thus far , 't is plain , he has gone towards it , that as he has before shewn the church to be out of the protection of the prince , so he will by and by declare the prince to be out of the bosom of the church ; and by both , authentically qualified for a holy war to be made upon him. for thus he goes on ; p. 122. can a claim of an oppressive supremacy be deem'd a glorious jewel in a christian crown , which if exercised , must of necessity forfeit the king's salvation ? and is it not a dangerous complaisance in priests , to fan such an ambition , as must end in the ruin of the church , the priesthood , and the soul of the prince , which the liberties , and powers hierarchical , were design'd to convert , direct , and preserve ? but still it may be doubted how far he accounts the king's supremacy to be oppressive ? that the whole act of the submission of the clergy to king henry the viiith falls under this censure , we have already seen . in short , all that he thinks fit to be allow'd to the christian prince , is this : that the church be obliged to acquaint him with her desires , reasons , places , seasons , and necessaries of convening : to petition his leave and favour ; his inspection , assistance , and succour to the piety of her designs : to secure him of her fidelity to all his proper honours and interests : that they will keep within ecclesiastical concerns ; and do all things openly , to the glory of god , and the good of souls , in the vnity , order , and purity of the church , preserved by the rules of catholick , and canonical communion ; and this under the guard and watch of temporal powers . well , but what if the prince shall not approve of the reasons that are offered to him , for their assembling ; nor think either the time convenient , or the place proper ; and shall thereupon refuse them the leave they petition for ? what if he shall think their designs not to be so pious as they pretend , but rather to have a great allay of humane passion and prejudice in them ? what if he shall differ with them in his notion of what is his proper honour and interest ? may he in such a case forbid them to meet ? may he assign them some other time or place ? or command them not to meddle with such causes , or persons , as he shall judge his honour , or interest , to be concern'd in ? what if what they call ecclesiastical concerns should chance to have an influence upon civil affairs ? and that instead of preserving , they shall act so as to divide the vnity of the church ? may he , by the temporal power which is still left to him , put a stop to their proceedings ; or annul their acts ; or receive and appeal from their sentences ? on the contrary , he flatly tells us , that all the power of calling ; moderating at , and dissolving synods ; of confirming their acts , or suspending their sentences ; is negative of those liberties and authorities of the church , which she once claim'd as of divine right ; and of which he before affirm'd , that they were neither forfeited , nor forfeitable . and here then we have a plain account of the judgment of this author in the case before us. i was willing , the rather , to put it together in this place , that so by comparing it with what is said in the following collection , the reader may be the better enabled to judge , who has acted more sincerely upon the church of england's principles ; i , in asserting the king's supremacy , as by law establish'd ; or he , in his violent , and impetuous opposing of it . or , if this shall not be thought enough to convince those , who have been dissatisfied with my undertaking , how close i have kept to our churches doctrine ; let me then , for a final proof , desire this author , in his next attempt , to satisfie the world in these ( 3 ) points . 1st . let him shew wherein i have ascribed any more , or greater power , to the prince , than our laws have given him ; and our convocations , and clergy , have either expresly , or by a plain consequence , approved of , and declared to be his right ? 2dly . let him tell us , wherein the opinion , here advanced by him , differs from that of our missionary papists and jesuits , who have written against the supremacy ; and against whom our divines have so learnedly maintain'd the king's prerogative ? 3dly . let him inform us , whether any writers of the church of england , since the passing of this convocation act , have ever made any such exceptions , as he has here done , against it ; and charged it as destructive of the divine rights and powers of the church : and who those writers are ? and in what books they have done it ? this being done , if it shall appear that in any thing i have run into an undue extreme , and , by that means , derogated from the churches authority ; i shall then be ready to comply with the advice he has given me , and not only humble my self before god for the wrongs i have done the church , but publickly make a reparation of them . but if , upon the enquiry , it shall appear , that i have affirm'd nothing but what the law establishes ; our convocations have agreed to ; and our most eminent clergy men have constantly defended ; i must then be excused if i look upon my self to have done no more than in duty i was bound to do ; and , by opposing whereof , i take this gentleman not only to have acted contrary to the laws of the land , and the articles and canons of the church ; but to have actually incurr'd an excommunication for such his offence . having said thus much with respect to the subject of my late treatise , i shall add but little more concerning the design which is here laid for the answering of it . as this author has order'd the matter , it is become absolutely necessary for him to go on with it . for having charged me with violating the most important truths of principles and histories ; having told the world that i have treated the synods of the church with spite and contumely ; and recommended the greatest slavery of her to the appetite of the civil powers ; ( and every part of which charge does , i conceive , accuse me of no small crime ) the weight of this accusation must fall very heavy either upon him or me ; and i look upon my self as concern'd to tell him , that i do expect he should make it good , or honestly own that he cannot do it . only for his own sake as well as mine , and which is yet more , for the satisfaction of those who shall think fit to interest themselves in this controversy ; some few things there are which i would here recommend to him ; and they are such , as , in my apprehension , ought not to be thought at all unreasonable by him. and 1st . since this debate , however managed , must be likely to run out into a considerable length , i would desire him not to increase the necessary bulk of it , by alledging passages out of the antient fathers , to prove that which neither of us make any doubt of . thus p. 160. he produces the authority of athanasius to prove that the nicene fathers were not constrain'd , by any force that was laid upon them , to condemn arius , but did it freely , and of their own accord . now this i allow to be very true ; but cannot help thinking it to be , in our present case , very little to the purpose . and p. 162. he cites a much larger proof out of gregory nazianzen , the appositeness of which to our debate i cannot yet imagine ; unless it be that he thinks all greek to be equally pertinent to most readers ; in which he is certainly in the right . 2dly . i would intreat him not to insist upon any testimonies of antiquity , which have been already alledged again and again , by harding and stapleton ; by saunders and dorman , and the rest of our popish fugitives , in their treatises against the oath of supremacy , and as often answer'd by our writers ; unless he shall think fit , at the same time , to take notice of their replys to them , and shew that they do not destroy the force of his allegations . to what purpose , for example , does he bring the sayings of athanasius against the synod of tyre ; of osius against constantius ; of st. ambrose against valentinian the younger ; to us who know what has long since been return'd to them by our learned ⸪ jewel and ‖ bilson ; * whitgift and † andrews ; and the rest of our writers upon this subject . this may pass with those , who are ignorant of these matters , for a shew of reading ; and they may , for a while , look with wonder on the vnknown character ; and applaud the learning of the text , and margin . but when the common place shall be lay'd open , and they shall begin to discover out of whose magazine these authorities are transcribed ; and shall be convinced how often they have already been both alledged and answered ; the most charitable reader will be apt to shake his head , and think the worse both of the cause , and the defenders of it . and this i desire with relation to other mens writings : as for my own book , 3dly , i would request him , when he cites my words , but especially when he does it with a design of reflecting upon them , that he would take them as they lie ; and not leave out , or insert , any that may have an influence upon the sense of what he quotes . of the former of these i take my self to have some reason to complain , in his references of p. 100. and 101. of his book . but of the latter yet more , p. 109. where he says , that i give the prince power to suspend not only the sentences of synods , but their canons too ; and of which i do assure the reader he will not find the least mention in the passages to which he is referr'd . but 4thly , and to go yet farther ; would his design , or prejudices , give him leave , i could wish he would take care to distinguish a little better between what i relate as matter of history , and what i deliver as my own sense . it being easie to imagine that in a work of such a nature as that is which he has undertaken to examine , many things may be recited from others , which a man is not bound himself to approve of . had he used this precaution , he would not have told his reader , as he does , p. 160. that i charge the synod of ariminum with the sin of disobedience , for dissolving themselves without the emperours leave : whereas , in truth , i only give a sincere account of the matter of fact , and shew ( from my author ) what those fathers did , and what resentments the emperour had of it ? what reasons those holy bishops had for returning to their churches , after a tedious absence , tho' not licensed by constantius so to do , it cannot be thought we at this distance should be so well able to judge , as they , at that time were . and if they were satisfied , that they had reason so to do ; far be it from me to condemn them for preferring their duty to their flocks , before the satisfaction of a violent , and heretical prince . let me to this add , 5thly , as not very different from what i have now mentioned , such other mistakes , as either want of care , or the heat of contention , has sometimes led him into ; and by reason of which , he charges me with several things which i am by no means concern'd to admit of . thus , for example ; it is not less than four several times that he speaks of my definition of a synod : and in one place censures me for the vn-accuracy of it , p. 49. and indeed a very loose definition of a synod it is , tho' fit enough to keep company with that which himself gives of it , in the same place . but then it is a great mistake , to say that i had any thoughts of defining a synod in the place to which he refers . on the contrary i acknowledge the very meeting , of which i there speak , not to be what we properly mean by a synod . only i shew both from the persons of which it consisted , and from the business which it met about ; that if the prince has authority over such an assembly as that was , there is no reason why he should not have an equal authority over synods ; which both consist of the same kind of persons , and meet about the like affairs . but 6thly , and to have done : there is yet one thing more which i cannot but think to be worthy his regard , and it is this ; that before he draws up any more charges of absurdities and contradictions against me , he would take some tollerable care to examine matters thoroughly ; and to advise with some clearer heads ; and not charge that upon my words , which is really the misfortune of his own vnderstanding . what a strange confusion , for example , is it , p. 166. because i prove from the matters of fact in the first ages after the empire became christian ; and from what was orderly and regularly done in those times too , the princes supremacy ; to fancy that i had overthrown my own foundation , by saying that in the dreggs of popery , and when princes had lost their antient and just authority , many things were done by the clergy in their synods very irregularly ; and their bare doing of which is by no means sufficient to prove that they had a right to do it . again , p. 167. because i cite eusebius for an expression of constantine's , that he was bishop in things without the church ; what strange logick is it from thence to conclude that princes have nothing to do in the affairs of synods ? whereas it is notorious that those , above any thing , were the very matters of which he spake . so , p. 168. i quote socrates for saying , that the greatest synods were called by the emperors : ergo , says he , 't is plain that the lesser ones were not ? again , p. 169. i affirm that in peaceable times , and under princes who take care of the church , synods ought not to meet but by the command or allowance of the civil magistrate . to this , he conceives it is a contradiction to say , as yet i do , that in cases of extreme necessity , when princes shall so far abuse their power , as to render it absolutely needful for the clergy , by some extraordinary methods , to provide for the churches welfare ; that necessity will warrant their taking of them . — and again ; because i assert that in quiet times , and under a pious , christian prince , the prince is to judge , when it is proper for synods to meet : to this he fancys it to be a contradiction to allow , that when the danger is apparent , and the necessities of the church will not bear the farther delay of them , if the prince does refuse to let them meet , they must rather venture his displeasure , and do it of themselves , than be wanting , in such circumstances , to the churches safety and preservation . these are some of those absurdities which this ingenious writer has been pleased to lay to my charge . many more there are of the like kind ; and by which whether he has more exposed my weakness , or his own , i am very well content to leave it to any impartial reader to judge . it is one of the ill effects that commonly attend controversial writings , that it is very difficult to manage them either with that temper and ingenuity that becomes scholars , or with that charity that good christians ought to do . and 't is this has given me almost as great a disgust at them , as ever gregory nazianzen profess'd himself to have against synods , and that almost upon the same account . pride and ill-nature commonly domineer in them ; and sometimes it so falls out that an opponent must be freely dealt with , or a good cause must suffer in the opinion of a great many , who conclude that a man therefore only spares his adversary , because he could not get an advantage against him . how far i have fallen under this censure , in the management of the present controversy , i must submit it to others to judge ; but do hope i have not so far transgress'd , as this late author charges me to have done . as for the logick , law , and history , of the person i had to deal with , what it really is , i pretend not to say ; what it appear'd to me to be , my book has shewn : and if i have any where fail'd in my allegations against him , this gentleman , no doubt , will take care to call me to account for it . but honesty is a tender point ; and i do not remember i have any where touch'd upon it . 't is true i have shewn , what was indeed too plain to be deny'd , that whosoever he were that wrote that pamphlet , he could be no friend to our present establishment . and this i am sure was to my purpose to observe , how little so ever it was to his , to have it so plainly discover'd . however , if in any thing i have been mistaken in my judgment either of his affections , of his abilities , i am heartily sorry for it ; and shall be ready to submit to whatsoever pennance his most vpright , logical , historical second , shall , from his better skill in antiquity , and the laws of our church , think fit to lay upon me for it . the contents . introduction , § . 1. the design of the following treatise , viz. to shew what has been the sense of the church of england , ever since the reformation , as to the authority of christian princes over the ecclesiastical synods of their realms , § . 2. the substance of the 25 h. 8. c. 19. to this purpose , § . 3. of its repeal by q. mary , and revival by q. elizabeth , § . 4. that the authority , therein given to the king , is no other than what did always , of right , belong to the crown , § . 5. that it was to secure this authority , the oath of supremacy was framed , § . 6. — the present obligation of which is enquired into ; ibid. that the same authority is agreed to in the 37th article , § . 7. — the sense of which is shewn , ib. and the nature of that subscription we make to those articles consider'd , § . 8. and is yet more fully enjoin'd by the canons of 1603. § . 9. — which ipso facto excommunicate all those who impugn this supremacy , § . 10. ii. this supremacy confirm'd from the sense of our divines and others , ever since the reformation , § . 11. of the times of k. h. 8. — k. edw. 6. — and q. mary 1. § . 12. queen elizabeth . the judgment , of her self , and her parliament , § . 13. of all her first bishops , § . 14. of archbishop whitgift , § . 15. archbishop bancroft , § . 16. bishop jewel , § . 17. bishop bilson , § . 18. dr. 〈◊〉 , § . 19. mr. hooker § . 20. king james 1. of the revival of the dispute , concerning the supremacy , under this king , § . 21. the judgment of the king himself , ib. and — of b. andrews , § . 22. against the papists . of the controversy which the king had on this subject , with the scotch ministers , § . 23. vpon this occasion b. andrews judgment more fully declared , § . 24. which was also the sense of the rest of the clergy at that time , § . 25. particularly of our learned mason , § . 26. king charles i. the judgment of these times , more particularly shewn , § . 27. from the sense of the king himself , § 28. of his bishops , especially a. b. laud , § . 29. and of the whole convocation , 1640 , § . 30. the judgment of a. b. bramhall , § . 31. bishop davenant , § . 32. and dr. heylin , § . 33. king charles ii. the state of the parliament and convocation , in 1660 consider'd : how far this shews the same sense to have continued of the supremacy , that had all along obtain'd before ? § . 34. this farther shewn from the opinion of ; bishop taylor , § . 35. b. s. parker , § . 36. dr. falkner , § . 37. dr. barrow , § . 38. iii. vpon this foundation , an appeal is here made , to all the true members of our church , against those who now oppose this authority , § . 39. and it is farther shewn , that i have not been mistaken in point of law , § . 39. that the cause was not unbecoming a clergy man to appear in , § . 40. that the time was not improper for the handling of it , § . 41. that it is not probable , the church will suffer by what i have done ; but may , by their fury , who oppose me in this point , § . 42. the close , § . 43. an appeal to all the true members of the church of england , &c. after an age and half 's dispute with those of the church of rome , in defence of the king's supremacy , and of the laws that have been made for the establishment of it ; it cannot but seem a little strange to us , to be now call'd upon to begin the controversy again , with some among our selves , who would be thought the best , if not the only true members , of the church of england . but that which seems yet more amazing is , that tho' our laws subsist in the same state which they have been in ever since the reformation ; our articles and canons made in pursuance of those laws continue firm , and unrepealed : tho' the books that have been written by our bishops , and clergy , in defence of both , are not only not censured , but are read , approved , and received on all hands , as delivering the undoubted sense of our church and convocations , as well as of our princes and parliaments , with relation to this matter ; it should now , nevertheless , be thought a crime to assert the supremacy of the christian magistrate ; and a scandal for a clergy-man , more especially , to appear in behalf of that cause , by defending whereof so much honour has been gain'd , by the greatest writers of that order , heretofore . had we now to do with the same adversaries that those learned men were engaged with ; were the persons who , in our days , set up against the rights of the prince , either open romanists on the one hand , or avowed members of the kirk and consistory on the other ; we should the less wonder either at the principles which they advance , or the zeal with which they appear in favour of them . but to be summon'd by members of our own communion to defend the doctrine of our own canons and articles ; to be rail'd at as little better than apostates from the church catholick , for pretending to vindicate the constitution of the church of england , as by law establish'd ; this is a novelty which we know not what to make of , a prodigy becoming a time , and place , of wonders . to lay open the design of this new-attempt , and which may otherwise , in time , improve into another schism , and produce us a third church of england , composed only of such persons as will disclaim all authority of the civil-magistrate , from having any thing to do in matters of religion ; it may possibly be of some use to represent to such , as have not yet lay'd aside all regard to her , the plain sense of our reformed church , in the points under debate ; and shew them from whom i received the doctrine which i have asserted , in vindication of the kings supremacy . and having done this , i cannot but hope that some of them will consider ; what is the true design of those who are so forward to pull down , what our wise and pious ancestors , took so much care to build : and whether the methods we are now running so blindly into , must not end either in downright popery , or fanaticism , at the last . when the foundation was first laid for a regular reformation of religion among us ; one of the first things which those , who carry'd on that great work , saw it needful to do , was , to restore the crown to that authority , which the prevalence of the papal power had so notoriously deprived it of . in order hereunto , the convocation having agreed to submit themselves to the king , an act of parliament was framed upon that submission , in which , among others , these four things were establish'd . 1st . that the convocation should from thenceforth be assembled only by the kings writ . 2dly . that it should make no canons , or constitutions , but by virtue of the kings licence , first given them , so to do . 3dly . that having agreed on any canons or constitutions , they should yet neither publish nor execute them , without the kings confirmation of them : nor , 4thly ; by his authority , execute any , but with these limitations ; that they be neither against the kings prerogative ; nor against any common , or statute law ; nor , finally , in any other respect , contrary to the customs of the realm . this act being thus pass'd , continued in force all the time of king henry the viii . and his son king edward the vi. queen mary succeeding , and rescinding whatsoever her father , or brother had done , in prejudice of the romish church , abolish'd , among others , this act also . but her reign ending within a few years after ; one of the first things done , by her sister queen elizabeth , was to revive such laws , made by those two kings , as were thought necessary for the reformation of the church ; and so this statute was brought again in force . the title of the act by which this statute was revived , and the other authorities therein express'd were again annex'd to the crown , is this ; an act restoring to the crown the antient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual , &c. and that taken from the words of the act its self ; wherein the design of this statute is declared to be , for the restoring of the rights , jurisdictions , and preheminencies , appertaining to the imperial crown of this realm : and in another place ; to the imperial crown of this realm , of right belonging and appertaining . and from which it is , i suppose , obvious to conclude , that in the opinion of that parliament , such an authority over our convocations , as is before shewn to have been establis'd by the 25 h. viii . c. 19. and was hereby again vested in the crown ; was not either by that , or this , statute , first given to our kings , but only restored to them , as a part of their royal jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical ; and which did always , of right belong , and appertain to them . the rights of the crown being thus once more , by law , restored to it ; to secure them the better against any new encroachments for the time to come , it seem'd good to this parliament ( after the example of those of king henry the viii . ) that an oath should be framed , in recognition of the supremacy here declared to belong to our royal sovereigns ; and be enjoyn'd to be taken by all officers and ministers ecclesiastical and temporal ; as in the act may more fully be seen . in this oath , we solemnly testify and declare in our conscience , that the king's highness is the only supreme governour of this realm , and of all other his highness dominions and countries , as well in all spiritual , or ecclesiastical things , or causes , as temporal . — and we do promise , that , to our power , we will assist and defend all jurisdictions , priviledges , preheminences , and authorities , granted , or belonging , to the kings and queens of this kingdom ; or united , and annex'd , to the imperial crown of this realm . now this oath being design'd , as both the subject of it shews , and * the words of the act it self , expressly declare , to be for the better observation and maintenance of that statute ; it must follow , that the supremacy which we there testify in our conscience to belong to our princes , must be interpreted by what that act has united and annex'd to the crown ; and so comprehend all that authority of the king over his convocation , which in the 25th . h. viii was expressly restored to our princes ; and which being again , by the repeal of that act , recovered from them , was by this present statute , once more , re-setled in the crown , as it had been before . how those , who now appear so zealous in opposition to this authority , and have probably more than once , solemnly taken this oath , will acquit themselves either before god , or the world , of a manifest violation of it , by their present behaviour , is past my skill to comprehend : unless , because some part of that oath is now laid aside , they should chance to think , that therefore the whole obligation of it is ceased , even to those who have taken it in its former integrity . but indeed should we allow that there were some weight in this ; yet since the laws made in defence of the kings supremacy , are still the same they ever were ; our recognition of it must be look'd upon to be the same too : and in renouncing all forreign jurisdiction in causes ecclesiastical , which we still do ; we must be accounted as effectually to acknowledge the kings supremacy , according to the legal notion of it , as when we the most fully declared our assent to it ; tho' it should be granted , that we do not now so expressly oblige our selves to the defence of it , as we were heretofore wont to do . and this i say with particular respect to the present state of this oath ; for otherwise , as to what concerns us of the clergy , it cannot be doubted but that our obligation , as to the substance of it , is still the same it ever was : the declaratory part of this oath being what we in terms subscribe to , in the first article , of the 39th canon ; and the promissory , no other than what is tied upon us in the 1st canon , by an authority which our adversaries , i conceive . will not presume to except against . but not to insist upon the present obligation of this oath ; thus much , at least , must be confess'd , ( and that is enough for my purpose ) that all those who heretofore took the oath of supremacy , as it was first drawn up in the statute of queen elizabeth , did thereby , without question , both declare their approbation of the kings supremacy , as by that act establish'd , and promise to their power , to assist and defend it . but now this all our clergy , and almost all others who were admitted to any employ , whether civil or ecclesiastical did do : and therefore it must be allow'd that till within these last ten years , the authority by me ascribed to the king , was not only agreeable to the sense of the laity , but to that of the clergy too ; since every clergy man in the realm , till then , did upon his oath , both declare his approbation of it , and engage himself , to his power , to defend it . and how that authority which was so universally received and acknowledged by us , for so long a time , should now become so detestable in it self , and so destructive of the rights and liberties of the church , i would desire these gentlemen , if they can , to inform me. it was about four years after the session of this parliament , and the passing of this act , that the nine and thirty articles of religion were agreed upon in convocation , and publish'd by the queen's authority . of these the 37th relates to the civil magistrate ; and is drawn up so exactly according to the words , as well as sense , of the oath of supremacy , that we cannot doubt but that the convocation had a particular respect thereunto , in the framing of it . the queen's majesty hath the * chief power in this realm of england , and other her dominions ; unto whom the * chief government of all estates of this realm , whether they be ecclesiastical , or civil , in all causes , doth appertain . so this article determines : and what we are to undestand by supreme power , and supreme government , of all estates , and in all causes , our laws tell us ; and from which we may be sure , neither the queen , nor the convocation , had any intention to depart . but the article goes on . where we attribute to the queen's majesty the chief government , by which title we understand the minds of some dangerous folks to be offended ; we give not our princes the ministring either of god's word , or of the sacraments ; the which thing the injunctions also , set forth by elizabeth our queen do most plainly testifie : but that only prerogative , which we see to have been given , always , to all godly princes , in holy scripture , by god himself ; that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by god , whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal . — and if you would know what ruling of the ecclesiastical estate is hereby intended , the injunctions to which the article referrs us will fully clear it ; where having first denied , as the article also does , that by the words of the oath of supremacy before-mention'd , the kings or queens of this realm , possessors of the crown , may challenge authority and power of ministry of divine service in the church ; they declare , that her majesty neither doth , nor ever will challenge any authority than what was challenged , and lately used , by the noble kings of famous memory , king henry the viii . and king edward the vi. which is , and was of antient time due to the imperial crown of this realm ; that is , under god , to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her realms , dominions and countries , of what estate , either ecclesiastical or temporal , soever they be . these are the words of the queens injunction , and agreeably whereunto , it is manifest , the convocation design'd to frame this part of their article , as they took the oath of supremacy for their pattern in the foregoing . and in consequence whereof , as well as in conformity to the laws of the realm , then establish'd , we must conclude , that this power of calling and directing the convocation being one main part of that jurisdiction which was declared by act of parliament to belong to the crown , and was accordingly restored and annex'd to it thereby ; and having , as such , been challenged and used both by king henry the viii . and king edward the vi. is also a part of that supremacy which the convocation here intended to attribute to the queen ; as we are sure the queen must have understood it to have been hereby ascribed to her . and of this i shall give a more particular proof when i come to consider the notions which this queen , and her clergy , had of her authority as to this matter . in the mean time i cannot but desire this late writer , and all others , of the same judgment with him , who have in like manner subscribed these articles , seriously to bethink themselves with what conscience they did it ; if they had in good earnest so ill an opinion , as they now pretend , of that power which those articles , most certainly , allow of , and profess to be due to the civil magistrate . that the author of the late treatise , not so much againt my book , as against our laws , and government , must have * several times subscribed these articles , the character of a minister , which he takes to himself , sufficiently assures us. no man can be ordained a deacon , or priest , without doing of it : nor being in orders , can be admitted to any cure of souls , or to any other ecclesiastical administration whatsoever , but he must again repeat it . the method taken for performing of this subscription is full , and positive . for first , the substance of what we are to subscribe to , is drawn up into three articles ; whereof the first , and third , are these . 1. that the king's majesty , under god , is the only supreme governor of this realm , and of all other his highness's dominions and countries , as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things , or causes , as temporal , &c. — which being the very words of the oath of supremacy , must be taken in the same sense , that i have before shewn , that oath was to be understood in . — and , 3. that we allow the book of articles of religion — and acknowledge all and every the articles therein contain'd — to be agreeable to the word of god. and then , to these articles we subscribe in these very words ; i , s. h. do willingly , and ex animo , subscribe to these three articles above mentioned , and to all things contained in them . he therefore who does this , either must subscribe to them against his conscience ; or he must , thereby , be concluded to profess this belief ; that the authority given to the king by our laws , and approved of in these articles , is agreeable to the word of god. the danger of impugning any of these articles , is great , and unavoidable . to affirm them , in any part , to be superstitious , or erroneous ( whether he who does it be found out or no ) is by the canons of our church , excommunication ipso facto . and if the offender be discover'd , and fortunes to be a clergy-man , he is by the statute law of the realm to be convented before his bishop for it ; and if he does not presently revoke his error , is , in the first instance , to be deprived of all his ecclesiastical promotions ; and , in the second , loses them without more ado . this is the law both of the church , and of the state , in the present case : and with what conscience any clergy-man , beneficed in such a church , can excuse himself for flying with so much virulence in the face both of these laws , and of these canons ; i shall leave it to any one , who has any conscience himself , though never so much prejudiced against the king's supremacy , to consider . to the articles of religion , set forth by queen elizabeth , let us add the next authentick evidence of our church's sense , in this particular , the canons and constitutions , made by the convocation in the first year of king james i. of these the very first is design'd to assert the supreme authority of the king's majesty over the church of england . in order whereunto it ordains , that all persons ecclesiastical , shall faithfully keep and observe , and , as much as in them lieth , shall cause to be observed , and kept of others , all , and singular laws and statutes , made for restoring to the crown of this kingdom , the antient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical . which last words being the very title of the act of the first of queen elizabeth , we must conclude the meaning of the canon to be this ; that they shall faithfully observe the laws referred to in that statute , and do what in them lies , to cause all others to observe the same . seeing then that act of the 25 h. 8. c. 19. is one of those which is there expresly revived , it will follow , that it expresly comes within the words of this canon ; and that the powers therein annexed to the crown over the convocation , are hereby approv'd and allow'd of , as part of that antient jurisdiction which always , of right , belong'd to our kings over the estate ecclesiastical . but the next canon is more express , and will come more fully up to our present purpose . it s design is to restrain the impugners of the king's supremacy over the church of england : and thus it runs , in our english version of it . whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the king's majesty hath not the same authority , in causes ecclesiastical , that the godly kings had amongst the jews , and christian emperors in the primitive church ; or impeach any part of the regal supremacy in the said causes , restored to the crown , and by the laws of this realm therein established , let him be excommunicated ipso facto , and not restored but only by the archbishop , after his repentance , and publick revocation of those his wicked errors . it is plain by comparing of these two canons together , that the design of the convocation was , in the first , to declare , and assert the king's supremacy , and to oblige the clergy to a strict , and diligent observance of it : by the second , to restrain all sorts of persons , from denying , or otherwise endeavouring to hurt , or extenuate , the legal notion of it . and two things there are which will deserve to be taken notice of in this second canon ; first , what that supremacy is which our convocation was so careful to assert , and defend ? and secondly , what it is to impugn this supremacy , within the meaning of this canon ? first , as for the former of these , the supremacy here meant ; two rules there are delivered by this canon , whereby we may come to a right understanding of it . first , it is that authority over the estate ecclesiastical , which by the statutes of king henry the eighth , and king edward the sixth , was restored , and by the act of queen elizabeth confirm'd , as of right belonging , to the imperial crown of this realm . and , secondly : it is such a power , in matters of religion , as the godly kings had amongst the jews , and christian emperors in the primitive church . and from which , by the way , it may be observed , what good reason i had to enquire into the authority of the christian emperors in these cases ; and to argue from thence in behalf of that power which our church ascribes to our own princes , on the like occasions ; how much soever some men may slight such proofs , as being sensible that they are not to be answer'd . secondly , to impugn this supremacy , within the meaning of this canon ; is either , first , to deny altogether , this authority ; and affirm , that the king either has not , or ought not to have , any such power : or it is , secondly , by any other means to impeach ( or , as the latin canon has it more plainly ) to extenuate , or hurt this supremacy : which , i conceive , is then done when men write and argue against it ; when they censure the laws for establishing of it ; and damn the prince , so long as he shall continue to exercise it , according to those laws . but these are not the only canons which justify what i have written in defence of the king's supremacy , and condemn those who appear against it . the twelfth is yet more express to my particular case , and will shew what the sense of our church is , concerning those who abet the , now so much magnified , opinion , on the other side . whosoever shall affirm that it is lawful [ cuivis ministrorum aut laicorum ordini , vel eorum alterutris simul congregatis ; ] for any sort , [ rank , or degree ] of ministers , or laics , or for either of them gathered together ; to make canons , decrees , or constitutions concerning ecclesiastical things , without the king's authority ; and shall submit themselves to be ruled and govern'd by them , let them be excommunicated ipso facto ; and not be restored until they repent , and publickly revoke those their wicked and anabaptistical errors . for if , in the opinion of our church , it be necessary for the clergy to have authority from the king to meet on such occasions ; if to say that any persons , of what order soever they be , may without his licence make any canons , decrees or constitutions ecclesiastical ; nay or but even submit themselves to be govern'd by such as shall be so made , be a wicked , anabaptistical , errour ; and for which a man deserves to be cast out of the communion of our church ; then it must without all question be allow'd , that according to the doctrine establish'd among us , the clergy can neither meet nor act , but with the king's permission : nor ought we to account those constitutions of any authority , which any persons shall make without his leave ; or , as such submit to them ; how much soever they may please to cry up their divine powers , and vnalienable rights , to justify their irregular , and anabaptistical proceedings . the sentence of both these last canons is , that they who offend against them are to be , ipso facto excommunicated : and concerning which i shall only observe thus much ; first , that in such a case there is no need of any admonition , as where the judge is to give sentence ; but every one is to take notice of the law at his peril , and see that he be not overtaken by it . and , secondly ; that there is no need of any sentence to be pronounced , which the canon it self has pass'd ; and which is by that means already promulged upon every one , as soon as he comes within the obligation of it . in other cases , a man may do things worthy of censure , and yet behave himself so warily in them , as to escape the punishment of the church , for want of a legal evidence to convict him . but , excommunicatio canonis , ligat etiam occulta delicta : where the canon gives sentence , there is no escaping ; but the conscience of every man becomes obliged by it , as soon as ever he is sensible that he has done that which was forbidden under the pain of such an excommunication . to these canons relating to the kings supremacy , i might add those which speak of the authority of our synods , and there again expressly provide for the princes rights . thus can. 139. the church affirms the assembling of synods , to be by the kings authority . in the 140th , she acknowledges the necessity of his licence , both for the making and ratifying of her decrees , in causes ecclesiastical . and can. 141. censures such as shall , upon this account , undervalue the acts of our synods , in these words : whosoever shall affirm that their proceedings in making of canons and constitutions , in causes ecclesiastical , by the kings authority , as aforesaid , ought to be despised and contemned ; the same being ratified and enjoyn'd , by the said regal power , supremacy and authority ; let them be excommunicated , and not restored untill they repent , and publickly revoke that their wicked errour . but in a case so plain i shall not need to insist on any more proofs ; and therefore shall content my self to observe , that the title given by publick authority to these canons , is this : constitutions or canons ecclesiastical ; by the bishop of london , president of the synod for the province of canterbury , and the rest of the bishops and clergy of the same province , by the kings authority , treated and concluded upon : in their synod , &c. — afterwards , by the same royal majesty , approved , ratified and confirm'd and by the authority of the same , under the great seal of england , promulged , to be diligently ; observed thro' both provinces , as well of canterbury , as york . this is the true title given to these canons : and was fit to be thus particularly taken notice of , because in our english book of canons , which is of most common use , this inscription ( as well as many of the canons themselves ) is very imperfectly rendred , and may be apt to lead men into some mistakes concerning these , as well as other matters . it were easie to make several observations , to our present purpose , upon the several parts of this truly accurate , and legal , title : but i shall chuse rather to express the process of this convocation , in the words of an author , who may perhaps be less liable to exception ; and whose account of it is this : that the clergy being met in their convocation , according to the tenour and effect of his majesties writ , his majesty was pleased , by vertue of his prerogative royal , and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical , to give and grant unto them , by his letters patents , dated april 12. and june 25. full , free , and lawful liberty , licence , power and authority , to convene , treat , debate , consider , consult and agree upon such canons , orders , ordinances , and constitutions , as they should think necessary , fit , and convenient , for the honour and service of alimighty god , the good and quiet of the church , and the better government thereof from time to time &c. — which being agreed on by the clergy , and by them presented to the king , humbly requiring him to give his royal assent unto them , according to the statute made in the 25 of king henry viii . and by his majesties prerogative and supreme authority , in ecclesiastical causes , to ratifie and confirm the same ; his majesty was graciously pleased to confirm and ratifie them by his letters patents — straightly commanding , and requiring , all his loving subjects , diligently to observe , execute and keep the same , &c. — and here i shall put an end to my first kind of proofs , in defence of that authority which i have ascribed to our kings , over the convocations of the clergy of the church , and realm , of england . i proceed in the next place more fully to confirm this authority to be agreeable to the doctrine of our church ; from the testimony 's of our most learned divines , who have written upon this subject , from the beginning of the reformation , to our own times . ii. it has been the endeavour of some of late who would be thought still to retain a good affection to the reform'd religion , nevertheless to cast the worst aspersions they are able , upon those who were the chief instruments of god's providence in the reformation of it . what their design in this their procedure is , or how , upon the principles now set on foot , to justifie what was heretofore done among us as to this matter ; or indeed , without a miracle , ever to have had any thing at all done in it , i cannot tell . it being certain that such a convocation , as they now seem alone to allow of as canonical , would never have departed from the way that they were in ; or have endured any proposals tending to such a change , as was otherwise happily made among us. but however since such is their prejudice , both against the opinions , and actions , of our first reformers , i will so far comply with their unreasonable humours , as to pass lightly over those times of church servitude , as well as church reformation ; and come to such authorities , as , i suppose , they will not have the confidence to except against . to pass by then the opinion of the convocation , which , about 3 years after the submission made to king henry the viii . set out the first doctrinal treatise that led the way to the discovery , and renuntiation , of the popish errors . what shall we say to the publick declaration made by king henry himself against the council of mantua ; and in which he cannot be supposed to have spoken any thing but what , he thought , carry'd its own evidence along with it ? ‖ in times past , says he , all councils were appointed by the authority , consent and commandment , of the emperours , kings and princes . why now taketh the bishop of rome this upon him ? wherefore we think it best that every prince call a council provincial , and every prince to redress his own realm . and this he spake not of his own head , but with the advice of his bishops and clergy ; of the former of which , all but two , subscribed to the instrument which was presented to him upon this occasion . and when notwithstanding this , he was again sollicited by the emperour , and some other princes , the year after , either himself to come , or to send his ambassadors to it ; he again renew'd his former protestation , and made again the same exceptions against it . nor in this did he do any more , than some even of his popish bishops had before approved ; and that on such occasions , wherein it cannot be pretended that any force was laid upon them . i shall in proof of this , alledge only the letter of tonstal and stokesly to cardinal poole ; in which the authority of the christian prince , over the convocations of his clergy , is fully asserted ; and proved from the like instances of the antient kings and emperours , that i have made use of to the same purpose . and tho' queen mary in her zeal to the papal interest , repealed whatever acts had been pass'd by her father and brother against it , and this of the submission of the clergy among the rest ; yet she did not therefore give up the power over her synods ; but still continued it , according to the substance of that statute : as is evident from her calling and dissolving , not only the first convocation of her reign , but of that which was held two years after ; and to assemble which cardinal pool himself had her licence ; as he also had to make such canons , as should be thought needful , in it . qveen elizabeth . but i will not tarry any longer in these times , but pass forward to that of the next reign ; in which the reformation was both more regularly carry'd on , and at last brought to the state in which it continues at this day . queen mary having , as i observed , abolish'd whatever laws had been made in the two preceding reigns in derogation to the papal vsurpations ; the first thing done by queen elizabeth was , to set the crown again upon its antient foundation ; and to restore it to that jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical , which of right belong'd to it . this was the work of the very first act that pass'd in her reign ; and by vertue whereof the statute made 25th henry the viii . c. 19. to ratifie the submission of the clergy , was brought again in force . i have before observed what care was taken by this parliament to secure these rights of the crown , by an oath then establish'd , under the title of the oath of supremacy . i must now add , that the more to oblige the clergy to a due observance of them , the queen her self , this same year , set out her injunctions ; and in the very first place took care , of her supremacy in them . for thus the injunctions begin : that all deans , archdeacons , parsons , vicars , and all other ecclesiastical persons , shall faithfully keep and observe ; and , as far as in them may lie , shall cause to be observed and kept of other , all and singular laws and statutes made for the restoring of the crown , the antient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical . and that this power over the convocation was one branch of it , the revival of the law of king henry the viii . relating to it , which was made the same year , and in that very act whose title the injunction transcribes , is a proof not to be gain-said . it is evident then that this queen , as well as her parliament , looked upon this power to be not only no vsurpation upon the churches priviledges , but to be a part of that jurisdiction which had always of right belong'd to the crown ; and was vsurp'd from it in the times of popery . and so , in the next place , did her bishops too . for however being not yet assembled in convocation , they could not so authoritatively settle the articles of religion as shortly after they did ; yet being met together , they agreed upon certain articles to be sent to their clergy , and by them publish'd to the people , in the mean time , till a convocation should be call'd , to consider farther of this matter . in the 7th of these their articles they treat of the power of the civil magistrate : and therein require their clergy to acknowledge the queens majesties prerogative , and superiority of government , of all estates , as well ecclesiastical as temperal , — to be agreeable to god's word ; and of right to appertain to her highness , in such sort as in the late act of parliament is express'd ; and sithence by her majesties injunctions , declared and expounded . it would be needless to observe that the act of parliament here referr'd to is that of the same year , made for the restoring the crown to its jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical ; and by which the so often mention'd act of king henry the viii . was expresly revived . as for the queen's injunctions , i have already shewn that where they treat of this matter the most favourably , they nevertheless assert the same power to the queen that king henry the viii . and king edward the vi. challenged , and used : and what that was , in the particular under debate , is not doubted of , or deny'd by those , who the most oppose us in the present vindication of it . so that here then we have in our first entry upon this reign ; the queen , the parliament , and the bishops , all approving of , and confirming this authority . and so they continued , all her time , to do : there being hardly any controversy either more largely debated , or more accurately handled , than this of the royal supremacy ; against which our adversaries , on both sides , appear'd with all their skill , and were as effectually answer'd , by the greatest , and most learned , of our church . among these , as there was no one higher in dignity , so neither was there any more eminent both for his abilities , and good affections to the church of england , than arch-bishop whitgift : and whose controversy with the puritans , is one of the most learned , and judicious works , of those days . in this , the xx th tract , is wholly spent in the defence of the princes right in ecclesiastical matters : wherein having charged his adversaries with holding the popish opinions , and even using their very arguments ; he tells them , pag. 698 , 699. that the continual practice of the christian churches , ( in the time of christian magistrates ) before the vsurpation of the bishop of rome , was , to give christian princes supreme authority in making ecclesiastical orders , and laws ; yea , and which is more , in deciding of matters of religion , even in the chief and principle points . this he proves by several instances ; and then concludes in these very words , whereby it appeareth , that the chief authority in — councils , was given to the emperour , and that he was esteem'd as the chief judge . in his next division he shews , that the learned and antient fathers , have committed the matters of controversy to emperours . and then adds , the practice therefore of the authority of princes in ecclesiastical matters , even in determining and judging controversies in religion , you might have learnt by these examples in ambrose time . against this t. c. then objected , as some others ( from their pattern ) do now , the disability of princes to decree of what pertains to the church . the archbishop replies : that the deb●ting , and deciding of matters in religion by bishops , doth not derogate from the prince's authority . no godly princes , having godly bishops , and ministers of the church , will alter , or change , determine , or appoint , any thing in matters of religion , without their advice and counsel . but how if there be dissention among them ? shall not the prince determine the controversie , as constantinus , theodosius , and other godly emperours did ? in short ; to t. c. 's endeavour to clear the puritans from running in with the papists in this particular , the archbishop thus replies . concerning the determination of matters in religion , i know not wherein you differ from them . for tho' the prince mislikes your determination , yet can he not himself conclude any thing ; only he may compel you to go to it again , and take better rold : but if it shall please you to go forward in your determination , or if you cannot agree among your selves , i see not what authority you have given the civil magistrate to determine the matter ; but for ought i can espy , if you and your seniors be disposed to be peevish , either must the prince have no religion , or such as you shall appoint unto him. for potestatem facti you have given him , that is , you make him your executioner ; but potestatem juris you do as fully remove from him as the papists do : for he hath not , as you say , any authority to make orders , or laws , in ecclesiastical matters . thus this great assertor both of the prince's , and of the church's power . to him let me add , his successor , both in the see of canterbury , and in this controversy , archbishop bancroft : who , in his survey of the pretended holy discipline , thus marks out those parts of it , which he look'd upon to be prejudicial to the regal authority . no civil magistrate hath pre-eminence ( by ordinary authority ) to determine church causes . no chief magistrate , in councils , or assemblies for church matters , can either be chief moderator , over-ruler , judge , or determiner . no civil magistrate hath such authority , that without his consent it should not be lawful for ecclesiastical persons , to make any church-order , or ceremony . the judgment of church matters pertaineth to god : the principality , or direction of the judgment of them , is , by god's ordinance , pertaining to the ministers of the church . as they meddle not with the making of civil laws , and laws for the commonwealth , so the civil magistrate hath not to ordain ceremonies pertaining to the church . these he calls puritane-popish assertions ; and says , that they do much derogate from the lawful authority of christian princes . there is but this only difference betwixt them , and the rankest jesuits in europe ; that what the one sort ascribe to the pope and his shavelings ; the others challenge to themselves , and their aldermen . for the better clearing of which , he compares their principles together : and thus he sets down the puritane hypothesis , from their own stating of it . the prince may call a council of the ministry , and appoint both the time , and hours , for the same — he may be assistant there , and have his voice , but he may not be either moderator , determiner , or judge . neither may the orders , or decrees there made , be said to have been done by the prince's authority . — they are to defend councils , being assembled . if any one behave themselves there tumultuously , or otherwise disorderly , the prince may punish him . lastly , he not only may , but ought to , confirm the decrees of such councils , and see them executed , and punish the contemners of them . thus far mr. cartwright : and in the next page , the archbishop shews that the papists say the very same things ; and of both he affirms in his following chapter , that hereby they exclude christian princes from their lawful authority in causes ecclesiastical . having thus seen what these masters of the consistory allow to christian princes in ecclesiastical matters , it might not perhaps be improper for me to ask of our new disciplinarians , wherein they differ from them in the point before us . but , indeed , it is clear , that if there be any difference at all between them , it consists in this , that those men , as bad as they were , yet really allow'd more authority to the civil magistrate over their church assemblies , than our modern disputers are willing to afford him over our convocations . and then i shall leave it to any one to judge , what those great prelates would have said of these , who wrote so severely , as we have seen , against those . from these archbishops of the see of canterbury , let us descend to two of their suffragan bishops ; and engaged against another party , tho' still in defence of the same authority ; viz. jewell , bishop of salisbury , and bilson bishop of winchester . as for the former of these , our learn'd jewell , he thus declares to us the right of the prince , in the defence of his apology , against harding . page 582. the christian emperors in the old time appointed the councils of bishops . — continually for the space of 500 tears , the emperor alone appointed the ecclesiastical assemblies , and call'd the councils of the bishops together . as for right of place , and voice in council , it pertaineth no less to the prince , than to the pope . — the emperor theodosius , as saith socrates , did not only sit among the bishops , but also order'd the whole arguing of the cause ; and tare in pieces the hereticks books , and allow'd for good the judgment of the catholicks . but ye say , they sate as assessors only , not as judges : that is to say , they sate by the bishops , and held their peace , and told the clock , and said nothing . the lay prince hath had authority in council , not only to consent , and agree unto others , but also to define and determine ; and that in cases of religion ; as by many evident examples it may appear . in all cases , as well ecclesiastical , as temporal , the emperor was judge over all. whatsoever the council had determined , without the emperors consent , it had no force . — theodosius , at the desire of the bishops , confirm'd the council of ephesus . so high an erastian was this good old bishop ; and so freely has he sacrificed all the rights of the church to the will of the prince . nor has bishop bilson come at all behind him : the second part of whose book , entituled , the true difference between christian subjection , and vnchristian rebellion . 4 o. oxford , 1585. is but one continued discourse in defence of the supremacy , and of which it shall suffice to point out some brief heads on this occasion . 1. that the emperors heretofore call'd councils : this he proves ; pag. 134 , 153 , 159 , 227 , &c. 2. that they appointed the time , and place of them ; p. 154 , 155. nay , and even the persons that should come to them ; p. 207. and have voices in them ; p. 208. 3. that they directed what should be handled in them ; p. 135. managed their debates ; p. 134. and forbad them to call in question the faith , that had by former synods been establish'd ; p. 155 , 208. 4. that they judged of their proceedings ; p. 135. and that in matters of doctrine ; p. 261. by the common rule of all christians , the word of god ; p. 264 , 266 , 276. 5. that they confirm'd the councils decrees ; see p. 242. and this not at all adventures ; but chose such of their canons as they approv'd , and passed them into laws ; p. 139. 6. that as to their sentences ; they received appeals from councils ; p. 135 , 151 , 152. suspended ; p. 154. and if they thought them too severe , released the rigour of their censures , and determinations ; p. 136. these are some of the points which this learned man not only allows of , but defends from the examples of the jewish princes , and christian emperors . and i will be bold to say , either his treatise is altogether false and scandalous ; contrary to the rights of the church , and the sense of the antient fathers ; or my discourse , after all that has been said against it , must be confessed to be true and orthodox , and agreeable to the doctrine of the church of england . but because bishops may be look'd upon as suspicious men , let us see what those of an inferior order , have written in this case : and for these i will take but one of a kind ; dean nowell , for the dignitaries ; and the venerable mr. hooker , for the rest of the lower house . as for mr. hooker , the latter of these , he was much too young to have had any part in that convocation , in which our articles of religion were settled . but dr. nowell , was not only one of the most considerable members of the lower house at that time , by his own dignity ; but chosen , by the clergy , for their prolocutor , and so had the chief management of all that was done in it . it was but three years after this , that mr. dorman , one of our fugitive english papists , attacking the queen's supremacy , as by law establish'd , and then newly approv'd of by the convocation ; this learned dean thought himself concern'd to undertake the defence of it . and indeed he has so well discharged his part in it , that , i believe , it will be very hard for our modern transcribers of their arguments and authorities , to alledge any thing , upon this occasion , that will not be found to have been fully answer'd , before-hand , in that book . his treatise is expresly referr'd to , and approved of by archbishop whitgift , in his discourse upon this subject ; and so may be look'd upon to deliver the sense of that great archbishop , as well as the dean's . nor can it be reasonably doubted by any , but that it does deliver the sense of the whole convocation , and clergy of the church of england , in this particular . let us see then , how he states the point , between us , and his adversary , as to this matter ; and , by what kind of proofs he undertakes to vindicate the one , against the other . the matter in debate , he thus accurately determines ; for. 23. we expresly divide the offices of christian and godly princes , from the offices of bishops , and other ministers of the church under them , as distinct , and divers offices . and we do teach , that the offices of preaching of god's word ; of the pronouncing of publick prayer in the church of christ ; the power of the keys , or of binding and loosing , and of ministring the holy sacraments , are , by the word of god , appointed to be the peculiar offices of bishops , and of other ecclesiastical ministers . — and we teach , and preach , even in presence of princes ; that neither princes , nor any other persons , saving only bishops , and other ecclesiastical ministers under them , may intermeddle with the said offices , and ministries ecclesiastical , so peculiarly , and only appertaining to the said bishops , and other ministers of the church . — p. 24. when we do speak of causes ecclesiastical , wherein christian princes are the chief governors ; we mean not that princes should execute these peculiar offices of priests , as is also in the queen's majesty's injunctions — notified to all the subjects of the realm , that will be disposed to understand the truth , without cavillation . but now touching the authority of princes , to oversee that the bishops , and clergy , do these their offices — diligently , and truly , according to the rule of god's word ; to command them to do their duty ; to admonish them , being therein slack ; to reprehend them offending ; depose , or deprive them , being incorrigible ; — this we say is the office of a chief governor over the the said persons ecclesiastical , which doth appertain to christian princes , every one in their own dominions . further ; besides the office of preaching , and ministring the sacraments — there are many other orders , matters , and causes ecclesiastical , touching ceremonies , and the outward regiment of the church , ( which may be term'd the ecclesiastical policy ) — page 25. there is also the authority to receive appellations , and finally to determine controversies arising amongst persons ecclesiastical : to summon and call bishops , and other ecclesiastical persons , as men exercised in the study of the scriptures , to synods , convocations , and councils in necessary cases ; — to order , govern , and protect , the said bishops , and clergy , being so call'd together ; and to approve , and authorize things for the outward order ecclesiastical , and policy , determined in such synods . these be those causes ecclesiastical that we do speak of , which do not pertain to bishops and priests only . in these cases , and causes , ecclesiastical , the authority of a christian prince is not only not excluded from intermedling , with the bishops and clergy , but the prince's authority is chief therein : which authority the christian prince exercising , doth not intermeddle with any office , belonging to bishops and priests only ( as the adversaries of the truth do falsly bear men in hand ) but with their own offices , by the examples , and practice , of all antient godly princes , as well in the old law , as in christian religion , proved of right to them to appertain — and to our prince also , by the antient laws and statutes of the realm , ( as to the learned in the said laws is not unknown ) of right appertaining . this is the account which he gives of the doctrin of the church of england , concerning the authority of christian princes in matters of religion . the proofs he alledges are full , and conclusive : from the examples of constantine , p. 208 , to 223. theodosius , p. 227 , to 238. the council of chalcedons , p. 239 , to 246. the third council of constantinople , p. 250 , to 253. justinian the emperor , p. 276 , &c. to omit many other particulars , in the vindication of which i am not so immediately concern'd . and i will be bold to say , there is nothing by me advanced in this argument , which has not been both more highly carried , and more particularly explain'd , in behalf of the prince , by this great champion of our church , in his accurate , and solid treatise upon the same subject . such was the opinion of dean nowell ; nor does mr. hooker come at all behind him . the antient imperial law , says he , forbiddeth such assemblies as the emperor's authority did not cause to be made . before emperors became christians , the church had never any general synod ; their greatest meetings consisting of bishops , and others the gravest in each province . as for the civil governor's authority , it suffered them only as things not regarded , or not accounted of , at such times as it did suffer them . so that what right a christian king hath , as touching assemblies of that kind , we are not able to judge till we come to later times , when religion had won the hearts of the higher powers . constantine was not only the first that ever did call any general council together , but even the first that devised the calling of them , for consultation about the business of god. after he had once given the example , his successors , a long time , follow'd the same . touching that supremacy of power , which our kings have in the case of making laws , it resteth principally in the strength of a negative voice , which not to give them , were to deny them that without which they were kings only by a meer title , and not in exercise of dominion . if it be demanded by what right , from constantine downwards , the christian emperors did so far intermeddle in the church's affairs ; either we must herein condemn them , as being over-presumptuously bold ; or else judge that by a law which is termed regia , that is to say , royal , the people having derived unto their emperors their whole power for making laws , what matter soever they did concern ; as imperial dignity endow'd them with competent authority and power , to make laws for religion ; so they were thought by christianity to vse their power , being christians , unto the benefit of the church of christ. was there any christian bishop in the world which did then judge this repugnant unto that dutiful subjection which christians owe to the pastors of their souls ? wherefore of them which in this point attribute most to the clergy , i would demand , what evidence there is whereby it may clearly be shew'd , that in antient kingdoms christian , any canon , devised by the clergy alone in their synods , whether provincial , national , or general , hath , by meer force of their agreement , taken place as a law ; making all men constrainable to be obedient thereunto , without any other approbation from the king , before , or afterwards , required in that behalf . and this shall suffice for the reign of this great , and wise queen . i shall make no apology for taking these last quotations out of that part of mr. hooker's works , which are not of equal authority with the books publish'd by himself in his life time : there being so much of mr. hooker's stile , and reason in them , as makes me undoubtedly conclude , that , as they are , they proceeded from him. and those who are supposed to have interpolated these books , were never charged with turning things to the advantage of sovereign authority . so that if any changes , or omissions , should have happened in this place , it must have been to the disadvantage , not to the interest , of the cause before us. but i shall be content to take his opinion as it still is left to us ; and is sufficiently contrary to that wild notion of chruch power , which is now again set on foot , tho' by another sort of men , in pretence at least , among us . king james i. we have before seen how the oath of supremacy , fram'd in the beginning of the reign of queen elizabeth , set the pens of those of that age , on work , in discussing the authority of the christian prince , in causes , and over persons , ecclesiastical . it was not very long after the coming of king james into england , before another oath , again revived the same controversy ; and set the most learned men of the church of rome , upon a fresh opposition of the royal authority . among those who , on our side , appeared in defence of it , as no one began sooner , so is there none that ought to be rather taken notice of by us , than the king himself ; who with good learning , as well as with a stile becoming a prince , solemnly asserted his own royal rights , and jurisdiction . and , first , in his apology for the oath of allegeance , we have his opinion plainly deliver'd , in several points relating to our present disquisition . answerably to the fathers , spake the councils in their decrees : as the council of arles , submitting the whole council to the emperour in these words : these things we have decreed to be presented to our lord the emperour ; beseeching his clemency , that if we have done less than we ought , it may be supplied by his wisdom ; if any thing otherwise than reason requireth , it may be corrected by his judgment ; if any thing be found fault with by us , with reason , it may be perfected , by his aid , with gods favourable assistance . but why should i speak of charles the great , to whom not one council , but six several councils , frankford , arles , tours , chalons , mentz and rhemes , did wholly submit themselves : and not rather speak of all the general councils , that of nice , constantinople , ephesus , calcedon , and the four others commonly so reputed , which did submit themselves to the emperours wisdom and piety in all things ? insomuch as that of ephesus repeated it four several times , that they were summon'd by the emperour 's oracle , beck , charge , and command ; and betook themselves to his godliness , beseeching him that the decrees made against nestorius , and his followers , might , by his power , have their full force and validitie . and in his defence of the right of kings , he thus confirms the same principles . it is willingly granted that emperours never challenged , never arrogated , to be sovereign judges in controversies of doctrine and faith. nevertheless it is clearer than the suns light at high noon , that for moderation at synods , for determinations and orders establish'd in councils ; and for the discipline of the church , they have made a good , and full use of their imperial authority . the first council held at constantinople , bears this title , or inscription ; the dedication of the holy synod to the most religious emperour theodsius the great , to whose will and pleasure , they have submitted these canons , by them address'd , and establish'd in council : and there also they beseech the emperour to confirm and approve , the said canons . the like hath been done by the council of trullo , by whom the canons of the fifth and sixth councils , were put forth and publish'd . this was not done because emperours took upon them to be infallible judges of doctrine , but only that emperours might see and judge whether bishops ( who feel the prick of ambition , as other men do ) did propound nothing in their convocations and consultations , but most of all in their determinations , to undermine the emperours authority ; to disturb the tranquility of the common-wealth ; and to cross the determinations of precedent councils . now to take the cognizance of such matters out of the kings hand , or power , what is it but even to transform the king into a standing image : — yea , to bring him down to this basest condition , to become only an executioner , and ( which i scorn to speak ) the unhappy hangman of the clergies will ? the king having thus asserted the authority of christian princes , in this particular ; was soon assaulted by those of the other party . cardinal bellarmine , at that time accounted one of the most learned controvertists of the church of rome , first , under the name of tortus , fell with great bitterness upon him . to him his majesty scoring to reply , bishop andrews , took the cause upon himself ; and with great spirit , and judgment , replied to him . so that here then , in these two , we may expect to see what is to be said , on either side , upon this subject . as for the cardinals opinion , i am not concern'd to take any notice of it : but that which the bishop asserts , and with great force of reason , and evidence of antiquity , defends , is to this effect : that kings have power both to call synods , and to confirm them ; and to do all other things which the emperours heretofore diligently did do ; and which the bishops of those times willingly acknowledged of right to belong to them . and 1st . that to christian princes belongs the sole right of calling synods , he proves from the history of the general councils that were assembled under them , p. 165. and from the examples of those which were afterwards held under charles the emperour ; p. 164. 2dly . that having assembled them they have a right of inspecting and examining ; of approving or rejecting their acts ; he likewise shews p. 162 , 164. you know , says the bishop , how constantine wrote to the synod of tyre : all you , as many as made up the synod of tyre , hasten without delay to come to us , and shew us truly how sincerely and rightly ye have judged : p. 173. he adds , 3dly . that they may come to , and make a part of the synod : this he proves , p. 174. and then , p. 176. thus sums up the royal authority : put this , says he , together : the king assembles the synod ; the synod presumes to do nothing without his knowledge . the king commits the whole affair to their power : they , by vertue of his princely command , proceed to do what was needful to be done . i might easily confirm this same opinion both of the king and bishop , with the concurrent authority of burhil , tooker , and some others , who , were afterwards , engaged in the same controversy . but i must not enlarge upon this subject , having so much more yet to observe both of this king , and this bishop , upon another occasion , as to the points under debate . the king being dissatisfied with the proceedings of the presbyterian ministers in scotland , for holding a generally assembly at aberdeen , contrary to his command ; sent for a certain number of the most eminent of them to come up to him , to london , and satisfy him in some things , in which he thought he had just reason of complaint against them . to these ministers , after other things transacted with them ; he deliver'd three quaeres relating to his authority in ecclesiastical matters , and demanded their several answers to them . the second of these questions , and from which we may sufficiently conclude what opinion his majesty had of his own royal supremacy , was this : whether they acknowledge his majesty , by the authority of his prerogative royal , as a christian king , to have lawful and full power , to convocate , prorogate , and cause desert , upon just and necessare causes known to him , the assemblies of the kirk , within his majesties dominions ? how they trifled with his majesty in their answer to these questions , as well as in all the other affairs about which they had been sent for , is neither material to my purpose to shew , and may at large be seen in the histories here referr'd to by me . that which i have further to observe is , that during the course of this transaction , the king caused four of his english bishops , on certain days appointed to them , to preach before him at hampton-court , and commanded the scotch ministers to be present at their sermons . the third of these turns fell upon our learned andrews , at that time bishop of chichester ; whose subject , assign'd him by the king , was , to prove the power of princes , in convocating synods and councils . in order whereunto he first laid down these two points : 1. that when the prince calls , the clergy are to meet : and 2. that they are not to meet , of themselves , unless he call them . the proof of these points he thus pursues : 1st . from the law of god , p. 104. 105. confirm'd by the law of nature , and nations , p. 106. and 2dly . from matter of fact : before christ ; from moses , to the macchabee's , in the jewish church . p. 106 , 107. after christ ; from constantine , till a thousand years after christ ; ( 1 ) by general councils ; ( 2 ) by national , and provincial councils , assembled . ( 3 ) under emperours , and ( 4 ) kings , by the space of many hundred years , p. 108. this is the substance of his sermon ; and from which i shall proceed to extract some part of what he says , in the prosecution of most of the heads , before laid down . 1st . in speaking of the law of nations he has this remark : the law of nations in this point might easily appear , if time would suffer , both in their general order for convocations so to be called , and in their general opposing all conventicles called otherwise . verily the heathen laws made all such assemblies vnlawful , which the highest authority did not cause to meet ; yea , tho' they were — sub praetextu religionis , say the roman laws . neither did the christian emperours think fit to abate any thing of that right ; nay they took more straight order . 2dly . concluding his account of the jewish state , he has these words : thus from moses to the maccabees , we see in whose hands this power was . and what should i say more ? there was in all god 's people no one religious king , but this power he practised : and there was of all god 's prophets no one , that ever interposed any prohibition against it . what shall we say then ? were all these wrong ? shall we condemn them all ? — yet to this we are come now , that either we must condemn them all , the one after another ; the kings as usurpers for taking on them to use more power than ever orderly they received ; the prophets for soothers of them in that their unjust claim ; or else confess that they did no more than they might , and exceeded not therein the bounds of their calling . and indeed that we must confess , for that is the truth . 3dly . in treating of general councils , he thus speaks of that of nice . at nice there were together 318 bishops , the lights of the whole world , the chiefest and choicest men for holiness , learning , vertue , and valour , that the christian religion ever had , before or since . — did any of them refuse to come being called by him , ( constantine ) as not called aright ? or coming , was there any one of them that did protest against it ; or pleaded the churches interest to meet of themselves ? — verily the council of nice , ( which is , and ever hath been so much admired by all christians ) cannot be excused before god or men , if they thus conspired ( all ) to betray the churches right ; and suffered it , contrary to all equity , to be carried away ; leaving a dangerous precedent therein , for all councils , ever after , to the worlds end. — there is no man of reason but will think it reasonable , if this were the churches own peculiar , if appropriate unto it , ( and so known to them to be ) there ought to have been plain dealing now , at the very first council of all , that if constantine would embrace religion , he must forbear to meddle with their assemblies . 4thly . but it may be general councils have a fashion by themselves : those congregations may be called thus ; but national or provincial , such as ours , how ? even so too , and no otherwise — yea , i add this , which is a point to be consider'd , that even then when the emperours were profess'd arians , even then did the bishops acknowledge their power to call councils ; come to them being called , sued to them that they might be called ; — and sometimes they sped — and sometimes not . and yet when they sped not they held themselves quiet , and never presumed to draw together , of their own heads . but it may be this was some imperial power , and that the emperours had , in this point , more jurisdiction than kings ? not that neither : for about 500 years after christ , when the empire fell in pieces , and these western parts came into the hands of kings , those kings had , held , and enjoy'd , and practised the same power . if it be excepted that there are of these ( provincial and national ) councils , which carry in their acts no mention how they were called ; for them we are to understand , that after the decrees of the first nicene council were by constantine's edict confirm'd , wherein , as likewise in the council of chalcedon , it was order'd , that each province should yearly hold their synods twice — we are to conceive the emperour's authority was in all afterwards ; habitually at least . — 5thly . but what say you to the 300 years , before constantine ? how went assemblies then ? — truly even as the jews did before in egypt . they were then a church under persecution , till moses was raised up by god , a lawful magistrate over them . — no magistrate did assemble them in egypt : and , good reason , they had none then to do it . true it is therefore , that before constantine's time they met together as they durst ; and took such order as they could . — but when constantine came in moses place , it was lawful for him to do as moses did . and so he did : and they never said to him — look how we have done hitherto , we will do so even still ; meet no otherwise now , than in former times we have , by our own agreement ; — no , but they went to him , as to moses , for their meetings ; at his hands they sought them ; without his leave , or liking , they would not attempt them : yea ( i dare say ) they blessed god from their hearts that they had lived to see the day , that they might now assemble by the sound of the trumphet . to conclude this point then ; these two times , or estates of the church , are not to be confounded : there is a plain difference between them , and a diverse respect to be had of each . if the succession of magistrates be interrupted , in such case , of necessity , the church , of her self , maketh supply , because then god's order ceaseth . but god granting a constantine to them again , god's former , positive order , returneth , and the case is to proceed , and go on , as before . — in a word , none can seek to have the congregation so called ( as before constantine ) but they must secretly , and by implication , confess , they are a persecuted church , as that then was ; without a moses , without a constantine . 6thly . hitherto we have seen the opinion of this learned prelate in the case before us ; let us now see what application he made of what he had offer'd on this subject . you may please to remember , says he , there was not long since a clergy in place that was wholly ad oppositum , and would never have yeilded to reform ought . nothing they would do ; and ( in eye of the law ) without them nothing could be done . they had encroached the power of assembling into their own hands . how then ? how shall we do for an assembly ? then — the prince had this power , and to him , of right , it belonged . this was then god divinity : and what writer is there extant , of those times , but it may be turn'd to in him ? and was it good divinity then , and is it now no longer so ? was the king but licensed , for a while to hold this power till another clergy were in , and must he then be deprived of it again ? was it then usurped from princes ; and are , now , princes usurpers of it themselves ? — nay i trust we will be better advised , and not thus go against our selves , and let truth be no longer truth , than it will serve our turns . i shall conclude all i have to draw out of this discourse , with the same words , that the learned preacher concludes his sermon ; it remaineth that as god , by his law , hath taken this order , and his people , in former ages , have kept this order , that we do so too : that we say , as god saith , — this power pertaineth unto moses : and that neither with core we say we will not come ; nor with demetrius run together of our selves , and think to carry it away with crying great is diana . but as we see the power is of god , so truly to acknowledge it , and dutifully to yeild to it : that so they , whose it is , may quietly hold it , and laudably use it , to his glory that gave it , and to their good , for whom it was given . it will not , i hope , be thought much of , that i have so long insisted upon the judgment of this great prelate , in the present case . no man there was in that time , or perhaps in any other age of the church , that was either fitter to deliver the sense of our clergy , or better qualified to maintain it . i might add that this discourse , being preached first , and then publish'd , by the express command of the king , carries with it somewhat more than a private authority and when it shall be consider'd how little a while it was , before this , that that convocation met , which took such care both to explain its sense of the royal supremacy , and to give the utmost cononical enforcement , that could be given to it ; we may well conclude this to have been the vniversal judgment of our church divines in that reign ; as we are sure it was of those , of the reign foregoing . i have already alledged the authorities of those two eminent archbishops , whitgift , and bancroft : to these i have added those of bilson , and hooker ; and i thought it but reasonable to give them a place in the same period in which their books were publish'd . but yet i must observe , that the most of these , not only continued to the present time ; but attain'd to their highest promotions under this government the synod of 1603 , was held under the presidence of bancroft , then bishop of london : bishop bilson , was a member of it ; and , no doubt , concurr'd heartily to the passing of those canons , which relate to the king's supremacy in it . i shall therefore , here , add only the judgment of one learned man more ( who must never be mentioned but with a particular respect by us ; ) mr. mason ; and that out of a work which he wrote expresly in vindication of the reformed church , and ministry of england . champanaeus , his adversary , had thus far allow'd of the authority of the christian prince in matters of religion ; that he might make laws in defence of the true religion ( which he was to learn from the clergy ) and might , nay was bound , to see them put in execution . but that princes should have a power of judging , or defining , in ecclesiastical matters , as the proper judges , and hearers of them , this , he says , is a paradox never heard of in the christian world , before the time of henry viii . to this mr. mason replies , that it is indeed the business of pastors to explain the doubtful things of the law : but that it belongs to the prince to promulge the truth , when known , and to command his subjects to obey it . — that he must judge whether the priests do go according to the law of god. — and to that end , must search the scriptures ; pray to god ; advise with learned men ; and not be led away with the fair titles , or characters of any , nor have so much regard to the number of votes , as to truth . upon this foundation he proceeds , at large , to assert these following points . 1. that it is the prince 's business to call councils , and to appoint the time , and place of their assembling — 2. that he has the power to propose to the bishops and clergy , what shall be treated on in their synod . 3. to prescribe the rule , and measure of judging . 4. to restrain them from calling in question the faith already orthodoxly setled , in former synods . 5. to rescind the pernicious decrees of councils , and to confirm and ratify , such as are pious , and wholesom , by his authority . [ lib. iii. c. iv . p. 298. ] to which points , thus put together by himself , let me add from the other parts of his discourse ; 6. the power to preside in synods , and to govern their acts. 7. to appoint judges in ecclesiastical matters , and over ecclesiastical persons . 8. to judge between the bishops , if they shall happen to differ , even in matters of faith. and , lastly , to suspend the acts of councils , tho' in relation to points of doctrine , so that during such suspension , they shall not take effect . this is that authority which this renowned defender of our ministry and reformation , look'd upon as due , of right , to the christian prince . of what esteem this work in those days was , may be gather'd not only from the great care , and accuracy with which it was composed ; but from that concern which the archbishop of canterbury shew'd for the publication of it . twice it was solemnly dedicated to king james : and being first publish'd in our own language , it was thought considerable enough to carry both the doctrine , and defence , of our church to those abroad , in a latin translation . and i have never yet heard that any of its adversaries could charge it with any false representation of our church's sense , how little soever they pretended to be satisfied with his vindication of it . king charles i. but i shall not tarry any longer in this reign ; but proceed to pursue the history of the supremacy , in the sense of our most eminent bishops , and divines , during the unfortunate reign of that excellent prince , and true friend of our church , king charles the first . and here , one would have thought , that the account i took care , on purpose , to give , with a more than ordinary particularity , of the convocation of 1640 , might have sufficiently convinced all unprejudic'd persons , what the judgment of those times was , in the present case . but since it is insinuated by some , who cannot deny but that that prince did , in fact , both claim , and exercise , all that power over the convocation , for which i am pleading ; as if all this were done meerly in compliance with the iniquity of our laws , and not as what either the king , or his archbishop , in their own consciences , approved of ; i will proceed to clear this matter , a little farther ; and shew , that we have all the reason in the world to believe , that in the management of that convocation , they , both of them , acted not more agreeably to the laws of the realm , than to the real sense of their own judgment . it was but about twelve years before the meeting of that synod , that upon the breaking out of some disturbances , upon the account of the arminian tenets , the king was induced to publish anew the articles of religion , and to prefix his royal declaration to them , suitable to that occasion . the words of this declaration are these : being , by god's ordinance , according to our just title , defender of the faith , and supreme governor of the church within these our dominions ; we hold it most agreeable to this our kingly office , and our own religious zeal , to conserve , and maintain the church , committed to our charge , in unity of true religion , and in the bond of peace ; and not to suffer unnecessary disputations , altercations , or questions , to be raised , which may nourish faction both in the church and commonweal . we have therefore , upon mature deliberation , and with the advice of so many of our bishops , as might conveniently be called together , thought fit to make this declaration following : that the articles of the church of england ( which have been allow'd , and authorised heretofore , and which our clergy , generally , have subscribed unto ) do contain the true doctrine of the church of england , agreeable to god's word : which we do , therefore , ratify , and confirm , requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the vniform profession thereof , and prohibiting the least difference from the said articles ; which , to that end , we command to be new-printed , and this our declaration to be publish'd therewith . such is the beginning of this declaration ; and in which we may already observe , several notable instances of that supremacy we are enquiring into . for , 1st . it is plain this king thought himself authoriz'd , as supreme governour of the church within his dominions , to take care of the vnity of it ; and to put an end to those disputes , which some had raised , to the manifest endangering of it . 2dly . upon his own mature deliberation , and with the advice of such of his bishops as he thought fit to call to his assistance ; he judges anew of the doctrine of the church , contain'd in the xxxix articles , and confirm'd by so many synods of the clergy , as had met , since the first establishment of them . and , 3dly , upon that judgment , he again ratifies and confirms them ; and requires all his subjects to continue in the vniform profession of them . but we will go on with the declaration , which the king farther makes : that we are supreme governor of the church of england ; and that if any difference arise about the external policy , concerning the injunctions , canons , or other constitutions , whatsoever , thereto belonging ; the clergy , in their convocation , is to order and settle them , having first obtain'd leave under our broad seal so to do ; and we approving their said ordinances and constitutions ; provided that none be made contrary to the laws and customs of the land. this is the next paragraph ; and it gives us a clear account of the ecclesiastical constitution of the synods of this realm . to them it belongs to deliberate of what concerns the policy of the church ; and to make canons , &c. for the ordering of it . but before they can do this , they must have the king's leave , not only to sit ; but to go about any such work , being sate : and having done it , the king is to have the last review ; he is to confirm , or reject , what they do ; and even that too within the bounds that the laws have set both to him and them. but we will go yet farther . in the next place then the king thus declares ; that out of our princely care , that the church-men may do the work which is proper unto them , the bishops , and clergy , from time to time , in convocation , upon their humble desire , shall have licence under our broad seal , to deliberate of , and to do all such things , as being made plain by them , and assented unto by us , shall concern the setled continuance of the doctrine , and discipline , of the church of england now established , from which we will not endure any varying , or departing , in the least degree . and here we have not only our former reflections , again confirm'd , but with an addition of some farther instances of the prince's authority in these cases . the clergy in convocation , are humbly to move the king for his licence , to do , what they shall judge to be necessary , for the better establishment of either the doctrine , or discipline , of the church of england . to this the king is pleased to promise them , at all times , a favourable answer : that they shall have leave to do , what they desire , and he shall judge needful , to be done by them . but still he declares it shall be with this restraint , that what they desire to do , be consistent with the doctrine and discipline of the church , already establish'd : for from that , the king resolved that the clergy , even in convocation assembled , should not be at liberty to vary , or depart in the least degree . all which being supposed , yet still they are only to deliberate , and make plain to the king , what they think to be of use , even within these restrictions . but the king is to allow , or not allow of it ; and upon his rejecting , or ratifying their resolutions , the whole authority , and even subsistence of them is to depend . such was the opinion which this prince had of his own royal authority over the convocations of his bishops and clergy . wherein the power here claim'd by him , comes short of what our laws have assign'd the king , and i , in my late treatise on this argument , have contended for ; it will , i believe , be very difficult to shew . i shall only add , that this declaration was made by him , with the advice of so many of the bishops , as might conveniently be called together . who those bishops were , with whom the king consulted upon this occasion , we are not told . but that archbishop laud was one of them , we have all the reason in the world to believe . he was , at that time , a privy-counsellor ; dean of the chappel ; and one of the commissioners for the administring of the archbishoprick , upon the sequestration of archbishop abbot ; and especially advised with by the king , in all matters of importance , relating to the affairs of the church . and upon all which accounts we may venture almost confidently to say , that this declaration was , without controversy , publish'd by his advice , above any others ; and speaks his sense , in these matters , no less than the king 's . it is indeed a thing justly to be wonder'd at , after what i have formerly publish'd , that any one who pretends to have any veneration for the memory of that great prelate , should be able to make any doubt of his judgment in this particular . the integrity which he shew'd in all his actions , sufficiently assures us , that what he swore to , in the oath of supremacy ; subscribed in the articles of religion ; approved of in the canons of the church ; advised in this last declaration ; and acted under at the head of the convocation , anno 1640 , was undoubtedly agreeable to the inward sense of his own mind . and i would desire those who , upon such slender grounds , now insinuate the contrary , to consider , what a mean spirit they must take a person of his high character to have been acted by ; who can suppose , that in a matter of such vast concernment to the church , and upon which the divine rights , and authority of it , in their opinion , so much depend ; he should nevertheless , against his own conscience , run in with the iniquity of the times , and thereby give so dangerous a countenance , to those enslaving principles , to which he submitted . however , since such is the rashness of some men , that they care not what injury they do the greatest personages , so they may but seem thereby to justify their own errors ; i will now give such an evidence , not only of that archbishop's , but with his of all the other bishops , and the whole convocations sense , in this case , as will , i think , admit of no exception . in the canons of 1640 ; ( and whose authority , tho' i pretend not to assert , yet i conceive i may , without offence , produce them as a private evidence of the judgment of those who compos'd them ; ) the very first is concerning the regal power . in this they not only approve of the acts made for the acknowledgment of the king's authority over the state ecclesiastical ; but enjoin them all to be carefully observed , by all persons whom they may concern . they add : that a supreme power is given , by god himself , to kings , to rule and command all persons , of what rank soever , whether ecclesiastical , or civil . the care of god's church , say they , is so committed to kings in scripture , that they are commended when the church keeps the right way , and taxed when it runs amiss : and therefore her government belongs , in chief , unto kings . for otherwise , one man would be commended for anothers care , and taxed for anothers negligence , which is not god's way . the power to call , and dissolve , councils , both national , and provincial , is the true right of * all christian kings , within their own realms and territories . and when , in the first times of christ's church , prelates used this power , 't was therefore only , ‖ because in those days they had no christian kings . and again , in the viiith canon , they oblige all preachers positively , and plainly , to preach , and instruct the people , in their publick sermons , twice in the year , at least ; — that they ought willingly to submit themselves , unto the authority , and government of the church , as it is now establish'd under the king's majesty . it is therefore as plain , as any thing can well be ; that this convocation undoubtedly approved of all the laws ( even this of the submission of the clergy : ) made for the security of the king's authority over the state ecclesiastical ; that they look'd upon the government of the church to belong , in chief , unto kings : that they accounted the power of calling and dissolving synods , to be the true right of all christian princes ; and that the bishops have only then a power to do this , when the church is in a state of persecution , and the necessities of it enforce them thereunto . and , by consequence , that they themselves not only met and acted under the powers , * i have formerly shewn , because they were forced so to do , but approved of the vse which the king made of them ; and were satisfied , that in meeting , and acting , according thereunto , they behaved themselves so as became christian bishops , and clergy-men to do , under the favour and authority of a christian king. i shall observe only this one thing farther , to prevent any new cavils in this particular ; that we are assured by him , who best knew it , archbishop laud himself ; that these canons were pass'd with the greatest freedom , and vnanimity , that ever any canons were : so that upon that account also , we may the more undoubtedly look upon them , as delivering the real sense of the church of england in those days . to the judgment of this archbishop , and the convocation held by him , let me subjoin that of an eminent bishop in our neighbour country , the learned bramhall , afterwards archbishop of ardmagh , and primate of all ireland . in his survey of the scotch discipline , among other exceptions which he takes at it , we have these , to our purpose , particularly insisted upon by him : that they affirm , 1st , that ecclesiastical persons have the sole power of convening , and convocating synods . 2dly , that no persons , magistrates , or others , have power to vote in their synods , but only ecclesiastical . 3dly , that synods have the judgment of true and false religion , of doctrine , heresy , &c. that they have legis-lative power , to make rules and constitutions , for keeping good order in the kirk , — and all this without any reclamation , or appellation , to any judge , civil or ecclesiastical . 4thly , that they have these privileges not from the magistrate , or people , or particular laws of the country , — but immediately from god , &c. lastly ; that they have all this power , not only without the magistrate , but against him ; that is , tho' he dissents , &c. so different a notion had this great writer of these powers of the kirk , for which our late author so highly applauds them ; and sets up their discipline above our own , slavish constitution . but the archbishop proceeds ; and against these vsurpations of the kirk , lays down , chap. ii . these orthodox , church of england principles . that all princes and states , invested with sovereign power , do justly challenge to themselves the right of convocating national synods of their own subjects ; and of ratifying their constitutions . — and that he is a magistate of straw , that will suffer the church to convene , whensoever , or wheresoever , they list : — to convocate before them whomsoever they please : — to change the ecclesiastical policy of a common-wealth ; to alter the doctrine and religion establish'd ; and all this of their own heads , by a pretended power given them from heaven . synods ought to be called by the supreme magistrate , if he be a christian — and either by himself , or by such as he shall please to chuse for that purpose , he ought to preside over them — this power the emperors of old did challenge over general councils : christian monarchs , in the blindness of popery , over national synods : the kings of england over their great councils of old , and their convocations of latter times . but , say they , we give the magistrate a political power to convocate synods ; to preside in synods ; to ratify the acts of synods ; to reform the church — here are good words , but they signify nothing . for , in plain english , what is this political power to call synods , &c. — it is a duty which the magistrate owes to the kirk , when they think necessary to have a synod convocated , to strengthen their summons by a civil sanction ; to secure them in coming to the synod , and returning from the synod : — to compel obstinate persons , by civil laws and punishments , to submit to their censures and decrees . what gets the magistrate by all this ? — for they declare expresly , that neither all the power , nor any part of the power , which synods have to deliberate of , or to define ecclesiastical things , doth flow from the magistrate . — but can the magistrate call the synod to account for any thing they do ? can he remedy the errors of a synod , either in doctrine , or discipline ? no : — this is one main branch of popery , and a gross encroachment upon the right of the magistrate . and accordingly we find him charging the papists with it , in his writings against them . he maintains , that all ecclesiastical coercive jurisdiction , did originally flow from the civil magistrate . he bids them weigh all the parts of ecclesiastical discipline , and consider what one there is which christian emperours of old did not either exercise by themselves , or by their delegates ; or did not regulate by their laws , or both. and then , particularly instances in the points of , calling councils ; presiding in councils ; dissolving of councils , and confirming councils . and pag. 93. he insists upon it as one just ground of our separation from the court of rome ; that they endeavour'd to rob the king of the fairest flowers of his crown ; namely of his right to convocate synods , and to confirm synods within his own dominions ; of his legis-lative , and judiciary power , in ecclesiastical causes , &c. to the opinion of this learned prelate , were conformable the sentiments , of all the other bishops , and clergy of these kingdoms , as to these matters . christian emperours , says bishop davenant , heretofore called councils . — as in civil causes , princes advise with their learned in the law , so in theological matters , they ought to consult with their divines . — yet are they not so tied up to the opinions of their clergy , but that if they go contrary to the law of god , princes are obliged by their duty , as kings , to set forth the true religion to their subjects , tho' the clergy should never so much , or so generally , oppose them in it . and in another of his books , he proves the last judgment , in matters of religion , to belong to princes , by this argument . he to whom the holy bishops remit their decrees to be examined ; from whom they desire the confirmation of them ; whom alone they acknowledge to have the power to prescribe to the people the true religion , by a judiciary , coactive power ; him they constitute supreme judge in the business of religion . but all this is ascribed to pious emperours and kings ; as both from councils and fathers , may evidently be made appear . i add , that the clergy cannot , by vertue of their function , compel the king to receive for the true religion , whatsoever they shall resolve , by their votes , so to be : — but they must direct him by god's word , and always leave it to him to confirm that by his authority , which shall to him , upon examination of their reasons , appear to be agreeable to god's word . kings sin when they throw off all care of religion ; and leave it to their bishops alone : confirming by their authority , and defending with their sword , whatsoever faith , they shall think fit to prescribe . it is true indeed , that as other christians , so princes themselves are to be directed in matters of religion , by the fathers of the church : but they are to be directed by the light of god's word ; and not to be drawn at the pleasure of bishops , to the defence of any errour whatsoever . the church of england did not innovate , says dr. heylin , in setling the supremacy in the royal crown . — the like authority was exercised , and enjoy'd by the christian emperours , not only in their calling councils , and many times assistiug at them , or presiding in them ; by themselves , or their deputies , or commissioners ; but also in confirming the acts thereof . the like he shews to have been done by our own kings heretofore ; and then concludes thus ; so that when the supremacy was recognized by the clergy , in their convocation , to king henry the viii . it was only the restoring of him to his proper , and original ▪ power . if you conceive that by ascribing to the king the supreme authority , taking him for their supreme head , and by the act of submission which ensued upon it , the clergy did unwittingly ensnare themselves , and draw a vassallage on those of the times succeeding , inconsistent with their native rights , and contrary to the usage of the primitive church , i hope it will be no hard matter to remove that scruple . — its true , the clergy of this realm can neither meet in convocation , nor conclude any thing therein ; nor put in execution any thing which they have concluded , but as they are enabled by the king's authority . but then it is as true , that this is neither inconsistent with their native rights , nor contrary to the usage of the primitive times . — i grant , indeed , that when the church was under the command of the heathen emperours , the clergy did assemble in their national , and provincial synods , of their own authority . which councils being summon'd by the metropolitans , and subscribed by the clergy , were of sufficient power to bind all good christians , who lived within the verge of their authority . but it was otherwise when the church came under the protection of christian princes . as for the vassallage , which the clergy are supposed to have drawn upon themselves , by this submission ; i see no fear , or danger of it . — that which is most insisted on for the proof hereof , is the delegating of this power by king henry the viii . to sir thomas cromwell , — by the name of his vicar general in ecclesiastical matters ; who by that name presided in the convocation , anno 1536. and this is look'd upon both by saunders , and some protestant doctors , not only as a great debasing of the english clergy , but as a kind of monstrosity in nature . but certainly these men forget — that in the council of chalcedon , the emperour appointed certain noble-men to sit as judges , whose names occur in the first action of that council . the like we find exemplified in the ephesine council ; in which , by the appointment of theodosius and valentinian , the roman emperours , candidianus , a count imperial , sat as judge , or president . it is not possible to imagine any thing more express to our present concern , than what this learned , and zealous defender of our church has here advanced . if any one should be so uncharitable as to imagine , that this great man had any byass of private interest upon him , when he wrote this ; he may please to know , that this book was set forth by him in the time of oliver cromwel , when our church was in its worst estate ; and there seemed but little hopes remaining of its ever recovering its self to a new establishment . but indeed this was his real judgment ; and the general sense of our clergy in those days . nor had our greatest church-men then learnt either to think otherwise of the princes right ; or to run down the learning , and piety , of those holy men , by whose courage and conduct the reformation was carry'd on ; and many of whom sealed the sincerity of their opinions , with their own blood. king charles ii. i have now but one period more to pass over , and that a very short one too ; wherein i am to enquire , how this doctrine continued to be received after the restauration of king charles the ii. and upon that last reveiw , that was then made of our constitution . that , at that time , both the king , and his parliament , were not only well affected to the interests of our church , but ready to concur with whatever the convocation could reasonably have proposed to them , for the better settlement of it , is not to be doubted . but what then did they do , as to this matter ? was this enslaving act , made by our ‖ saint henry the viii . and continued by all his ⸪ oppressing successors of the reform'd religion ; repealed by this zealous , church-parliament ? or , because that cannot be pretended ; did that reverend synod , which altered so many other things , ever once touch upon this , and were stop'd in it ? neither can that be affirm'd . was there , in that large body , any one , ( but one ) generous , freeborn spirit , who being scandalized at the restraints under which the divine rights of the church had so long lain , moved the convocation to protest against the king's supremacy , if they could not yet be so happy as totally to shake it off ? neither does any thing of this occurr , in the diary , which i have seen , of that convocations proceedings . now that which makes me the rather to remark this , is , that both that parliament , and that convocation , had this very business of the king's supremacy , and the churches power , under their consideration : and an act was made for the better execution of the one , but still so as not to prejudice the other . here therefore was a just opportunity given to the convocation to have declared its self ; and for the parliament to have provided for the liberties of the church . they were actually repealing one branch of that very statute , of the first of eliz. c. 1. and two lines more had done the business . but alas ! they were both negligent in this particular : or rather , ( for that is the truth , ) they neither of them thought the church was at all oppress'd , by this just jurisdiction of the prince over it . but we know acts of parliament are obstinate things , and will no longer bend , as they were wont to do , to the ecclesiastical canon . did the synod therefore , at least , make bold with its own constitutions ; and rescind those base , and flattering canons , which stampt upon this act the churches approbation ; and , by so doing , sign'd the theta upon her rights , liberties , and authorities ? on the contrary , they continue still in force ; and have ( as far as one of king henry's convocations has power to do it ; ) ipso facto excommunicated some among us , who , while they make a noise in the world , as if they only were the true sons of the church of england , are really cut off from all communion with her. in a word ; when upon the review of the liturgie , several other alterations were made in the forms of ordaining of bishops , priests , and deacons ; did they slip aside the oath of supremacy , that bond of iniquity , contriv'd by the atheists , and erastians , of the parliament in the first of q. elizabeth , on purpose to run down the rights of the clergy ; and set up an oppressive supremacy over them ? but , they still stand as they did before ; and may move some to consider , who have been ordain'd by these forms , how to reconcile the solemn recognition of that oath , in behalf of the king's authority , with what they have since written , with so much bitterness , against it . but tho' the convocation therefore did nothing to recover the church out of that slavish estate , into which former convocations , and parliaments , had brought her ; it may be some others of the clergy , at least , in their writings on this subject , may have remonstrated against it . that any have done so , till this present controversy began , is what i never heard : this i know , that several have asserted , and , which is more , defended too , the supremacy , on its present legal bottom , beyond the possibility of a reasonable reply . among these i know not whom more properly to mention , in the very first place , than our pious , and learned bishop taylour . it was but a very little while before the restauration of king charles , that he published his excellent book of cases of conscience ; and which has never , i conceive , fallen under any censure , tho' often re-printed , since . in these having first , in general , shewn , that the prince has authority in matters of religion ; and asserted it so highly , as to say , that without it , he is but the shadow of a king , and the servant of his priests : he proceeds , more particularly , to lay down this , as his next rule of conscience ; that kings have a legislative power , in the affairs of religion , and the church . which having also shewn ; his next conclusion to our purpose is this ; § . 9. the supreme civil power , hath a power of external judgment , in causes of faith : that is , as he explains himself , a power to determine what doctrines are to be taught to the people , and what not . and to prevent mistake , he thus declares himself , more particularly , as to this matter . § . 16. i do not intend by this , that whatsoever article is by princes allow'd , is therefore to be accounted a part of true religion : for that is more than we can justify of a definition made by a synod of bishops . but that they are to take care that true doctrine be establish'd ; that they that are bound to do so , must be supposed competent judges what is true doctrine ; else they guide their subjects , and some body else rules them : and then who is the prince ? the prince then is to judge what is true doctrine ; yet this he must do , by the assistance , and ministries of ecclesiastical persons . — kings are the supreme judges of law : — yet in cases where there is doubt , the supreme civil power speaks by them whose profession it is to vnderstand the laws . and so it is in religion : the king is to study the law of god ; not that he should wholly depend , in religion , upon the sentences of others ; but be able , of himself , to judge . — but the prince's office of providing for religion , and his manner of doing it , in cases of difficulty , are rarely well discoursed by theodosius the younger , in a letter of his to st. cyrill : the doctrine of godliness shall be discuss'd in the sacred council ; and it shall prevail , or pass into a law , so far as shall be judged agreeable to truth and reason . where the emperor gives the examination of it to the bishops , to whose office , and calling , it does belong : but the judgment of it , and the sanction , are the right of the emperor ; who would see the decrees should be establish'd , if they were true and reasonable . ib. § . 5. this i observe in opposition to those bold pretences of the court of rome , and of the presbytery ; that esteem princes bound to execute their decrees , and account them but great ministers , and servants , of their sentences — and a little lower he saith ; if he ( the prince ) be not bound to confirm all , then , i suppose , he may chuse which he will , and which he will not . — § . 6. he shews that princes are not bound to govern their churches , by the consent , and advice of their bishops ; but only that it is reasonable they should . for ( says he ) bishops and priests , are the most knowing in spiritual affairs ; and therefore most fit to be councellors to the prince in them . in his fifth rule , § . 1. he affirms , that kings have power of making laws . — and therefore , as secular princes did use to indict , or permit the indiction of synods of bishops ; so when they saw cause , they confirm'd the sentences of bishops , and pass'd them into laws . before princes were christian , the church was govern'd by their spiritual guides ; who had authority from god , in all that was necessary , and of great convenience , next to necessity : and in other things they had it from the people . for the ( better ) providing for these , god raised up princes to the church . — and then ecclesiastical laws were advised by bishops , and commanded by kings . they were but rules , and canons , in the hands of the spiritual order ; but made laws by the secular power . — these canons , before the princes were christian , were no laws farther than the people did consent ; but now even the wicked must obey . this was the judgment of that great bishop , as to the princes supremacy in matters ecclesiastical . and this judgment he delivered in his full years ; in one of his last works , and that purposely design'd to guide the consciences of such as should make use of it . i shall from him descend but to one more , whom i fitly place the last of his order ; and to whose judgment , tho' i pay no more than it deserves , yet i cannot but think it may have some weight with those , whom i am now concern'd especially to convince . in his discourse of ecclesiastical polity , chap. 1. he affirms , the affairs of religion to be subject to the supreme civil power , and to no other . p. 2. that as , in the first ages of the world , the kingly power , and priestly function , were alway vested in the same persons ; — so when they were separated , in the jewish state , the supremacy was annexed to the civil power , and so continued until , and after , our saviour's death : ibid. this he more largely delivers , p. 32. tho' in the jewish commonwealth , the priestly office was — separated by a divine , positive command , from the kingly power ; yet the power , and jurisdiction of the priest remain'd still subject to the sovereign prince : their king always exercising a supremacy over all persons , and in all causes ecclesiastical . the power wherewith christ invested the governors of his church , in the apostolical age , was purely spiritual : they had no authority to inflict temporal punishments , or to force men to submit to their canons , laws , and paenalties . they only declared the laws of god , and denounced the threatnings annexed to them. but when christianity was become the imperial religion , then began its government to re-settle where nature had placed it ; and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was annex'd to the civil power . — so that tho' the exercise of the ministerial function , still continued in the persons that were thereunto originally commissioned by our saviour ; the exercise of its authority , and jurisdiction , was restored to the imperial diadem . constantine was no sooner settled in his imperial throne , but he took the settlement of all ecclesiastical matters into his own cognizance . he called synods and councils , in order to the peace and government of the church : he ratified their canons into laws , &c. in the exercise of which jurisdiction , he was carefully follow'd by all his successors . nay he doubts not to affirm , that had it not been for the care of christian princes , christianity had , in all humane probability , been utterly destroy'd by its own tumults and seditions . he adds , that this supremacy of the civil power , in religious matters , is expresly asserted by our church ; which is not content barely to affirm it , but denounces the sentence of excommunication against all that deny it . thus stood this author ' s judgment in this case , about the year 1669 : it is true , that being engaged against another sort of adversaries , and which led him to somewhat different reflections ; we find him a little gone off from this hypothesis ; in the year 1681. yet even there he is much more for the supremacy , than those we have now to do with . he affirms indeed , p. 105. that from the precedent of the apostles , in the first council of jerusalem , the governours of the church , in all ages , enjoy'd a power of making canons and constitutions , for discipline , and good order . but withal he adds , that by the example of the primitive church , our bishops submitted the exercise thereof to the king 's sovereign authority , as we see in that famous act called , the submission of the clergy . whereby ( says he , p. 106. ) they do not pass away their power of making ecclesiastical canons ; but only give security to the government , that , under that pretence , they would not attempt any thing tending to the disturbance of the kingdom , or injurious to the prerogative of the crown . which , in truth , is such a submission , as all the clergy in the world ought , in duty , to make to their sovereign , at least in gratitude , for his protection ; and that without any abatement , or diminution of their own authority ; viz. the standing laws of christianity being secured , to submit all other matters to his sovereign will and pleasure . and p. 108. he approves king james reply to cardinal perron , where he lets him know , that tho' christian kings and emperors , never arrogated to themselves a power of being sovereign judges in matters and controversies of faith ; yet for moderation of synods ; for determinations , and orders , establish'd in councils ; and for the discipline of the church ; they have made a full , and good vse of their imperial authority . such was the last sense , if i mistake not , of this writer ; and that when he was in his highest exaltation of the churches authority . and all the difference i can find between his own last , and first opinion , is but this ; that what he before gave the christian prince as his own due , he now grants him by the concession of the clergy ; yet so , as to declare the clergy bound to yeild it to him , and to affirm the churches rights to be in no wise injured , or impeach'd by it . but i shall not insist any longer on this authority ; but pass on to consider the judgment of an author , or two , of a lower rank ; but whose learning , and steddiness , will much more recommend them to all sober , and indifferent persons . of these the first i shall mention , shall be our excellent dr. falkner ; who in his discourse of christian loyalty , fully examines , and determines the case before us. concerning the christian doctrine , and profession , ( says he ) tho' no authority has any right to oppose any part of the christian truth ; yet princes may , and ought to , take care of the true profession thereof in their dominions ; and to suppress such dangerous errours , as are manifestly contrary thereunto . — but in cases of difficulty , for the deciding , or ending of controversies , about matters of faith ; the disquisition , and resolution of the spiritual guides , ought to take place , and be embraced . — in such cases , the catholick christian emperours , did , by their authority , establish the decisions of the oecumenical councils . but in matters of truth which are plain , and manifest from the holy scriptures themselves , or the declarations of approved councils agreeing therewith ; the saecular governour , so far as is necessary , may proceed upon the evidence thereof to his own understanding . in establishing rules and constitutions for order , decency , and peace , it belongeth to the ecclesiastical officers to consult , advise , and take care thereof . — but yet this with such dependance upon the royal power , as king charles has declared — [ that is ; that they first obtain the kings leave to do it ; and execute nothing but with his approbation . see above § . 28. ] in such an extraordinary case , as that in the primitive times was , when the civil power will not own the church ; the ecclesiastical governours , by their own authority , may establish necessary rules of order , as was then done . but since the external sanction of such things , doth flow from the general nature of power and authority ; wheresoever the temporal power will take that care of the church , which it ought , it hath a right to give its establishment to such constitutions ; and the ecclesiastical officers , as subjects , are bound to apply themselves thereto , for the obtaining of it . the calling of councils , so far as is needful for the preservation of the peace and order of the church , may be perform'd , as the former , by ecclesiastical officers , where the civil disowneth the church . but this being no particular exercise of the power of the keys , but only of a general authority , doth peculiarly belong to the prince , or supreme governour , if he will make use thereof . — the antient right , and exercise of the authority of kings , in summoning provincial , or national councils , is sufficiently observed , and asserted , by p. de marca . but indeed he himself in his 5th chapter , abundantly demonstrates both that , and all the rest that is contended for , in the present dispute . and the heads of which are such as these : that the antient emperours had power to call councils : p. 156 , 158 , 159 , 161 , 165 , 170 : to be present at them : p. 157 , 160. and by themselves , or their deputies , to preside in them : p. 162 , 167 , 170. to direct them what they should consult about : p. 157 , 163 , 170. to appoint the time , and place , of their meeting : p. 166 , 170. to keep the bishops from leaving the council , till all should be finish'd for which it was called : p. 163. to confirm what they do aright : p. 157 , 160 , 161 , 164 , 169 , 170. to rescind what they do amiss : p. 163. to suspend their acts from taking effect , till they should give way to it : p. 165. these are the instances which may be observed , in that chapter , of the jurisdiction and authority , which the antient emperours exercised over their synods heretofore : and by which we are to expound , as our church has taught us , the supremacy of our own princes in the like cases . i shall conclude what i have to observe from this learned writer , with a remark , which i wish some men would be perswaded a little more seriously to consider : p. 204. some things which , at first sight , may seem an abatement of the authority of the church , is rather such a way of regulating the exercise of its power , as , under religious princes , is for the churches advantage . of this nature i conceive that constitution [ of the 25 h. viii . ] that no new canons shall be enacted , promulged , or executed , without the royal assent , and licence , to enact , promulge , and execute the same . for hereby the cergy give such security to the king , against all jealousies of renew'd ecclesiastical usurpations , that thereupon the church may , under the kings favour , and with the assurance of greater safety and protection , practise upon its establish'd constitutions ; which are so good , that we have great reason to bless god for them . and hereupon it may also be hoped , that what shall be farther needful , may be super-added , by the royal licence ; and become more effectual to its end , by the confirmation of that authority . there is yet one author more , who must not be pass'd by ; our learned , and accurate dr. barrow : and a better than whom i could not have desired , to close up this collection withall . in his treatise of the vnity of the church ; ( a discourse which would some men more diligently read , and more judiciously consider , they would not talk so loosely as they do , on that subject : ) he gives us this account of the state of the church , in the times immediately after christ. each church did , seperately , order its own affairs ; without recourse to others , except for charitable advice , or relief , in cases of extraordinary difficulty , or urgent need. each church was endow'd with a perfect liberty , and a full authority , without dependence , or subordination to others ; to govern its own members ; to manage its own affiairs ; to decide controversies and causes incident among themselves ; without allowing appeals , or rendring accounts , to others . it is true that the bishops of several adjacent churches , did use to meet upon emergencies , — to consult , and conclude upon expedients , for attaining such ends ( as they met for . ) this probably they did at first in a free way , without rule , according to occasion , as prudence suggested : but afterwards by confederation , and consent , these conventions were formed into method , and regulated by certain orders , establish'd by consent ; whence did arise an ecclesiastical unity of government , within certain precincts . hence every bishop , or pastor was conceived to have a double relation , or capacity ; one towards his own flock , another towards the whole flock . of councils , he thus delivers his opinion . general councils , are extraordinary , arbitrary , prudential means , of restoring truth , peace , order , discipline . — during a long time the church wanted them ; afterwards had them but rarely ; and since the breach between the oriental , and western churches , for many centuries , there hath been none . the first general councils , ( indeed all ) were congregated by emperours ; — their congregation dependeth on the permission , and pleasure , of secular powers ; and , in all equity , should do so . and in his most elaborate treatise of the popes supremacy : the most just and pious emperours , who did bear greatest love to the clergy , — did call them without scruple : it was deem'd their right to do it ; none did remonstrate against their practise . the same he shews of national and provincial councils , p. 186 , &c. to these they summon'd the bishops in a peremptory manner , and directed both the time , and place of their meeting . the popes petition'd them to call [ councils ] and sometimes they prevailed , and sometimes they did not . this power , upon many just accounts , peculiarly doth belong to princes . it suiteth to the dignity of their state ; it appertaineth to their duty ; they are most able to discharge it . — they alone can , well , cause the expences needful for holding synods , to be exacted and defray'd : they alone can protect them ; can maintain order , and peace , in them ; can procure observance to their determinations . they alone have a sword to restrain , resty and refractory persons : — to oblige them to convene ; to conferr peaceably , to agree , to observe what is setled . it inseperably doth belong to sovereigns , in the general assemblies of their states , to preside and moderate affairs ; proposing what they judge fit to be consulted , or debated ; stopping what seemeth unfit to be moved ; keeping proceedings within order and rule ; and steering them to a good issue : checking disorders and irregularities , which the distemper , or indiscretion , of any persons , may create in deliberations or disputes . — this therefore he shews the emperours to have done , in all the first synods . the word presidency hath an ambiguity : — it may be taken for a priviledge of praecedence , or for authority to govern things . this latter kind of presidency , was disposed of by the emperour , as he saw reason . the power of enacting , and dispensing with , ecclesiastical laws , touching exteriour discipline , did of old belong to the emperour : and it was reasonable that it should . by many laws , and instances it appeareth , that appellations have been made to the emperours in the greatest causes . — so the donatists did appeal to constantine : athanasius , and the aegyptian bishops , to the same ; priscillianus to maximus : idacius to gratian. — iii. and here i shall put an end to these collections . it would have been a very easie matter to have added many more ‖ authors , than i have here alledged , and to have much enlarged upon those which i have produced . but what is already done may suffice ; till those who now advance the contrary opinion , shall be able , at least , to make some tolerable proof , that they do not forsake the received doctrine of our church , in opposing an authority , ⸪ by law , confessedly , establish'd : and , i think , no less confirm'd by our articles , and canons , too . it remains now , that i take the liberty freely to appeal to every sincere member of our communion , to judge in this case , between me , and those , who so warmly oppose me , and so highly charge me , upon this occasion : and to consider , what i have done , with relation to the rights , and liberties , of the church of england , for which i ought to humble my selfe before god , and to make a satisfaction to her. is it that i have asserted the king's authority , over the ecclesiastical synods of this church , and realm ? but so the laws speak , as well as i : and to these , both the articles , and canons of the church , require me to conform . nay , they do more ; they require me not only to conform my self , but to do , what in me lies , to move all others to the observance of them . and if for this i must be censured ; these laws , and canons , must run the same fate with me. and i shall always account it an honour , to suffer , for asserting the laws of the realm ; and for maintaining the doctrine , and constitutions of the church of england . or is it that i have gone beyond the bounds of the law , and given a greater , and more general authority , to the christian prince , than either the submission of the clergy , or the act of king henry the viiith founded thereupon , have declared to belong to him ? this , for ought i know , i may have done , and yet not be guilty of any fault neither , in the doing of it . i have before said , and do here again repeat it , with the same assurance i at first delivered it ; that i do not found the right of our kings to this jurisdiction , either upon that , or upon any other act , that has been made in pursuance of it . i fix it upon the right of ‖ sovereignty in general ; and upon that antient jurisdiction , in causes ecclesiastical , which the very statute of queen elizabeth speaks of ; and allows to have been always , of right , belonging to the imperial crown of this realm . to this our * laws themselves agree : they speak still of restoring to the crown its antient rights ; and our † lawyers have accordingly constantly affirm'd , that these acts ; and particularly that which we are here especially concern'd in , the 1 eliz. c. 1. was not introductory of a new law , but declaratory of the old. and therefore , before i can justly be condemn'd upon this account , my proofs must be answer'd ; and it must be shewn , that what i ascribe to the king , is not a parcel of that jurisdiction , which was once enjoy'd by the kings , and princes , of this realm ; and did always , of right , belong to them . and that , i believe , it will be no easie matter to do . 1st . i affirm that it is the right of every christian king , to call his clergy together in convocation ; and that without his call , they cannot regularly assemble , to any such purpose , of themselves . but so our law expresly declares ; that the convocation shall evermore be called by the king 's writ : and it is notorious to every one , who has any knowledge in these matters , how dangerous it would be for the clergy to presume to come together without it . 2dly . i assert that the very persons who meet in our convocations , are determined , and empower'd , by the king 's writ ; and that none have a right to assemble , but such as he calls by it . let the writs of summons be examined , and let it there be seen whether the case be not so , as i pretend it to be . let this author tell me , if he can , why such and such dignitaries are required , personally , to come to the convocation ; others to send such a certain number of delegates to represent them ; but that the writ of summons so directs , so authorizes them to do ? and tho' i do not suppose it to be now in the king's power to alter this form , yet the sovereign legislative authority , may , without controversy , do it ; and appoint any other method of framing the lower house of convocation , that should appear to them to be more proper and expedient . 3dly . i declare , that by our law , the convocation can deliberate on no canons , or constitutions , without first obtaining the king's licence so to do . it is the express resolution of the act of submission : and our convocations do accordingly , notoriously , govern their proceedings by it . 4thly , i add , that heretofore , the christian emperors prescribed to their synods , the very method they should observe , in handling the matters which lay before them . this indeed i affirm ; and , i think , i have proved it too . and , if to this end , our king should think fit , either himself to come ; or to appoint any other to preside in his stead , and direct the debates of our synods , as he should command them to do ; i do not see that he would therein do any more , than what some of the best christian princes have done before him . 5thly , i pretend , that to the civil magistrate it belongs to confirm , or annihilate , such of the acts of their synods as they think fit . our laws agree to it ; our kings claim it ; our convocations submit to , and approve , of it . and let those who scruple this , consider , how low they sink the authority of a prince ; if they leave him not the power , which every ordinary person claims , of judging for himself ; but would oblige him , at a venture , to confirm whatsoever the lords of the consistory shall please to define . 6thly . that the prince may alter their constitutions , i no otherwise affirm , than as i say it is in his power to make laws in matters ecclesiastical : and that for the doing of this , he may advise with his clergy , and follow their counsel , so far as he approves of it . thus charles the emperor made up his capitular : and thus any other sovereign prince , may take the canons of the church , and form them in such wise into an ecclesiastical law , as he thinks will be most for the honour of god , and the good of his people . 7thly . in cases of appeals , i shew what power the antient emperors both claim'd , and exercised : and i modestly vindicate to our own sovereign the same authority , which the fathers of the church , without all scruple , allow'd to their princes . and except it be in such cases where the king is a party , and the appeal therefore is to stop at the vpper house of convocation ; i see no reason why this authority should not be reserved to the king , and i conceive the law of our realm does allow of it . 8thly . as for the dissolving of the convocation , that is so evidently a part of the royal jurisdiction , and has been so fully adjudged to belong to the king ; that i do not see what exceptions can be taken at it . however the constant practice of our convocations , in this matter , is on my side : and i have herein ascribed no authority to the prince , but what our clergy , for above these hundred and fifty years last past , have constantly submitted to ; and , by that submission alone , have sufficiently vested in him. but if i am not mistaken in point of law , what is it that deserves so tragical an outcry , as this late author has made against me ? is it , that being a clergy-man my self , i appear'd in defence of the king's authority over the clergy ; and which , in some mens notion , is the same thing as to say , against the rights of the church ? so indeed the convocation seem'd to think , in the case of dr. standish , heretofore ; and so some seem to account it now . but , god be thanked , the reformed church of england , never yet thought it any offence in her clergy to stand up for the just rights of the prince ; nor have i any apprehension that i shall ever be condemn'd , upon this account , by any true members of her communion . and for others , give me leave to ask , only ; am i the first , of our order , that have appear'd on this occasion ? or do i stand alone in this cause ? but what then shall we say of all those learned bishops , and clergy-men , whose books i have here quoted to the same purpose ? nay rather , what shall we say of those whole convocations , who compiled our articles , and canons ? and have obliged us thereby , not only occasionally to defend the kings supremacy ; but to the best of our wit , learning , and knowledge , publickly to declare , and confirm it to our congregations , four times every year . if this be that for which i ought to be censured ; i am afraid so great a part of our order will go along with me , as may make it even scandalous to stay behind : and be number'd among that little , noisy , turbulent party , that now set themselves up as judges over us. but if both the law be on my side ; and it be no improper enterprize for a clergy-man to appear in ; what shall we say , more ? was the time improper ? did i take an unseasonable opportunity of asserting this authority ? nay but this they should have consider'd , who by appearing so eagerly against the princes power over the convocation , made it absolutely necessary for some or other of our church , to do her right ; and let the world know , that she never commission'd any of her members , to broach any such principles , on her behalf . that she is content to act under the royal supremacy ; and is sensible that it is her duty so to do . that if some hot men , ( for ought she knows her enemies , ) will under pretence of asserting such a power to her , as she has always disclaim'd , endeavour to raise any jealousies in the mind of her defender against her ; it is what she cannot help : and she hopes , she shall not be the worse accounted of , for such attempts , as she neither approves of , nor knows how to prevent . and now , there is but one thing more , that can , i think , be objected against my undertaking : and i shall lay it down in the words in which it is charged upon me . for what if the publick from such a work ( inscribed to the metropolitan ) should be tempted to proceed to further resolves against the powers hierarchicall ? this i confess would be such a use of it , as i should be heartily sorry for ; tho' even , in such a case , i cannot tell whether i should ever the more deserve to be censured for what i had done . there can nothing be either so well design'd , or so carefully perform'd , of which an ill use may not be made . and if that should be sufficient to cry down any undertaking , i do not see how we shall be able to satisfie our consciences , in anything we have to do . but , in reason , i am sure the church might have expected to suffer much more by the letter to the convocation man , than by the answer which i made to it . when church-men set up their divine rights , in opposition to the laws of their country ; and upon visionary notions , endeavour to lead men into discontents against their governours ; it is natural , not to say necesiary , for princes to look to themselves , and consider how to stop those attempts at the beginning , which , experience has shewn them , may otherwise , in time , grow too strong for them. it was the intollerable insolence , and vsurpations , of the roman church , that made her first fear'd , then hated ; and , at last , crush'd the hierarchic in many places , to peices . and whatever party shall think fit to pursue the same methods , ought , in all reason , to expect the same treatment . if clergy-men will enjoy the protection of princes , it is but reasonable that they should be content to acknowledge their authority . to contend for more power , than either christ has left us ; or our calling requires , or the bishops , and councils , under the first christian emperours , pretended to , or desired ; is neither prudent , nor justifyable : it is to render the church suspected by the state ; and to set those powers in opposition to , which ought mutually to help , and support , one-another . i have before shewn what opinion a very learned man , upon this ground , had of the act of submission , now so much railed at , in these days . he look'd upon it as a law of great benefit to the church , even for this reason alone , that it freed the civil powers from entertaining any more fears , and jealousies , of the clergy . this was a remark founded upon good reason , as well as upon the experience of those former miscarriages , which the clergy had run into , for want of such a restraint . and i cannot but every day more and more acknowledge the goodness of god towards our church , in that very thing , for which some men so tragically lament the oppression , and slavery , of it : being fully perswaded that nothing , at this day , preserves us from ruin , and desolation ; but that we have not power , of our selves , to do the church a mischief ; and the prince , who sees but too much of our tempers , is too gracious to us , and has too great a concern for the churches good , to suffer us to do it . these are the advantages which i look upon the church to derive to her self from this act. it prevents all jealousies , which either the odd principles , the violent tempers , or the wicked designs , of some men , might justly raise in the minds of our governours against us : and frees them from all . temptation , as well as from all need , of laying any farther restraints upon us. it encourages the civil powers to be willing to allow us both liberty to come together , and leave to deliberate , of what may be profitable to the church ; when ever they shall judge it to be , in any wise , needful , or but proper so to do . and , in the mean while , it hinders us from throwing all into confusion , in such times of faction , and discontent ▪ of heats and animosities , as we are at present in ; to the certain scandal , and division , of the church ; it may be , to a new confusion of all things in the state too . and thus have i deliver'd the real sense of my own conscience , in the matter before me . i have shewn what my principles , as to the kings supremacy , are ; and from whom i have learnt them . that the laws , the articles , and canons of our church , are my instructors : and all these , as explain'd to me , by the greatest , and most eminent of our profession , both for character , and ability , that our church has produced ever since the reformation . all that i desire , in return , is , that those who now appear so vehemently against me , in this point , would as freely declare their sense ; and as plainly shew from whom they have received it . if they can make as fair a plea to our church's patronage , as i have here done , i must then ingenuously own , i have been greatly mistaken . if they cannot , i shall then leave them under this character ; that whatever they may pretend , they must , in reality , be either of the conclave , or of the consistory ; and manage this cause , for the pope , or for the kirk . whether of these parties they will fly unto , to me it is indifferent . this i am sure of , that if they are resolved to hold to our church , in defiance of her doctrine ; they must , at least , be confessed to be in a very low degree of communion with her : she having solemnly , by her canons , excluded them from her sacraments ; and left them no regular method of returning to the participation of them , but by the archbishop's , absolution ; and that upon sincere repentance for what they have done , and after a publick revocation of their present wicked errors . finis . errata . page vii . margin , for 39 can. read 36. p. 9. f. 39. can. r. 36 : p. 68. l. 20. f. attain'd to , r. enjoy'd . the literal errors the reader will please to correct . in my other book of the authority of christian princes : p. 382. blot out line 5. 6 , 7 , 8. in which i find my self to have been mistaken . books printed for r. sare , at grays-inn-gate . the authority of christian princes over their ecclesiastical synods asserted ; with particular respect to their convocations of the clergy of the realm , and church of england . occasioned by a late pamphlet , intituled , a letter to a convocation-man , &c. 8 o price 5 s. a practical discourse concerning swearing 8 o. price 1 s. 6 d. also several sermons upon particular occasions . all by w. wake , d. d. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66109-e1060 municip . eccles . pref. ib. preface . municip . eccles . pref. pag. 2. ib. pag. 3. pag. 4. 39th . can. first can. ibid. p. 107. comp. p. 155. pag. 123 , 124. pag. 109. pag. 177. by the 1 , 2 , and 12. can. preface . p. 160. ⸪ def. of the apolog. p. 590. 605. &c. ‖ bilson . p. 174 179. 182. 184. 186. 200. * whitgift . fol. 700 † tort. torti . 169. 170. pag. 6. 8. 49. 55. see euseb. vit. const. l. 1. p. 352. comp. p. 405. pag. 177. pag. 177. notes for div a66109-e8550 §. 1. § 2. § 3. the act of 25 h. viii c. 19. 26. h. viii . c. 19. § 4. 1 & 2 ph. & m. c. 8. 1 eliz. c. 1. § 5. 1 eliz. c. 1. ib sect. 1. & 2. which i observe in answer to the peevish cavils of a late author against me on this account : municip . eccles. p. 108. 176. see below . §. 39. § 6 the oath of supremacy . 28. h. viii . c. 10. and 35. h. viii . c. 1. * 1 eliz c. 1 , sect. 7. which all persons in h. orders , are , at their ordination , obliged to do . see 1 of w. & m. c. 8. 1. eliz. c. 1. — from the 1st of eliz to the 1st of w. and m. above 130 years . §. 7. the nine and thirty articles . * in the latin article it is supreme . §. 8. see p. 10. municip . eccles. pag. 119. * especially if graduated in the university too . see can. 36. ibid. can. v. 13 eliz. c. 12. §. 9. of the canons of king james the first . comp. munic . eccles. pag. 165. municip . eccles . chap. x. p. 126. pag. 122 , 155 , 176. § 10. excommunication ipso facto . cap. 26. ext. de appellat . heylin ref justified . p. 19. 20. § 11. the testimony of our clergy in defence of this supremacy . municip . eccles . pag. 55. ib. p. 121. 122. § 12. of k. h. 8. & q. mary . institution of a christian man : anno. 1537. see the convocations address to the king ; subscribed by both houses . ‖ regis ▪ senatus , populique angliae sententia de concilio &c. witebergae , anno 1537. a. 5. ib. b. 5. bishop burnet . hist. ref. vol. 1. app. p. 155. 156. regis angl. epistola de synod . vincentina . vitebergae anno. 1539. munucip . eccles . pref. fox m●rt . 2 vol. 347. fox ibid. 3 vol. p. 19. 29. strype . hist. of a. b. cranmer . p. 368. § 13. the parliament . the queen sparrow's collect . p. 67. 1. eliz. c. 1. § 14. all the bishops together . bishop burnet hist of the reform . 2 vol. append . p. 365. 366. 1 eliz. c. 1. sparrows collect . pag. 83. see municip . eccles. p. 107. § 15. a. b. whitgift . defence of the answer to the admonition , &c. ib. p. 700. whose authority the municip . eccles. also , brings against it ; p. 163 , 164. ib. pag. 701. see municip . eccles. p. 173. very foolishlyly , as well as disrespectful , as to this matter . pag. 702. §. 16. archbishop bancroft . see the survey , &c. chap. xxii , xxiii . page 259. page 267. p. 269. municip . eccle . p. 123 , 124. §. 17. bishop jewell . jewell def. of the apolog. p. 582. ibid. p. 592. pag. 558. ibid. p. 600. pag. 597. ibid. p. 604. pag. 602. ibid. p. 558. §. 18. municip . eccles . pref. and pag. 7. bishop bilson . pag. 192 , to 198. — ibid. p. 200 , 249. §. 19. dean nowell . dean nowell's reproof of mr. dorman's book , entituled , a proof , &c. 4 o. lond. 1565. part second . against t. c. before : §. 15. comp. pag 51 , 68 , 257 , 263. §. 20. mr. hooker . eccles. polit. p. 457. pag 459. page 468. §. 21. king james . the king 's works , p. 255. ib p. 427. § 22. bp. andrews . tort. torti . p. 177. comp. municip . eccles. p. 14. 15. see also . p. 174. §. 23. see spotswood , lib. vii . p. 486. calderwood hist. p. 543. ⸪ let the author of the municip . eccles. answer this question better , if he can . §. 24. sermons . pag. 105. pag. 106. comp. municip . eccles. p. 100. 101. pag. 107. comp. municip . eccles. p. 131 , 132 , &c. pag 108. comp. municip . eccles p. 126 , 135 , &c. pag. 109. pag. 110. comp. municip . eccles. p. 6. ib. p. 159. ib. p. 110. ib p. 111. comp. municip eccles. p. 168. comp. municip . eccles. chapt. vi . & vii . ib. p. 112. ib. p. 113. see municip . eccles. p. 115. ib. p. 113. § 25. anno 1603. §. 26. mr. mason . de ministerio anglic. lib. 3. c. 3. pag. 271. page 272. ibid. p. 273. pag. 291 , 292 , — 294. 298. comp. munic . eccles. pag. 108 , 109. ibid. 292 , 300. ib. p. 292 , 298. — 295. — 297. — 289. §. 27. municip . eccles . p. 117. §. 28. king charles i. book of articles , printed anno 1628. rolles rep. hill. 14. jac. in cam. scacc. colt vers . glover . p. 454 , &c. §. 29. archbishop laud. municip . eccles . pag. 117. §. 30. sparrow's collect . p. 345. * therefore not of ours only ; nor by the stat. of h. 8. municip eccles. ‖ therefore not by a divine , unalienable right which they had so to do . * from the writs and commission of king ch. 1. hist. of a b. laud , p. 80 , 81 , 154 , 155 , 282. §. 31. archbishop bramhall . see his w●rks , page 496. municip . eccles . p. 116. page 494. p. 497 , 498. comp. municip . eccles. p. 123 , 124. see his works tom. 1. pag. 88. comp p. 233. ib. § 32. bishop davenant . determin . qu. xix . p. 95. de doub . controv . par . i. p. 73. ib. p. 76. ib. p. 93. § 33. dr. heylin . historic & misc. tracts fol. lond. 1681. pag. 24. comp. municip . eccles. pref. & . p. 107 , 108 , 136 , &c. ib. numb . vi . see the same tract : p. 7 , 23 , 24 , 39 , 40 ▪ 41 , &c. more to the same effect . § 34. ‖ municip . eccles . p. 107. ⸪ ib. p. 114 ▪ 122. &c. ib. p. 119. 13 car. 2. cap. xii . an act for explanation of the 17 car. 1. c. xi . entituled , an act for repeal of a branch of a statute 1 eliz. c. i. concerning commissioners for causes ecclesiastical . ibid. pref. and p. 122. ibid. pref. p. 1 , 2. ibid. p. 119. § ▪ 35. bp. taylour . book iii. ch . 3. rule 4. ib. §. 7 , 8 , 9. ib. rule 8. §. 36. bp parker . ibid. p. 43. ib. p. 48. ib. p. 49. ib. p. 50 , 51. ib. p. 53. ib. p. 56. the case of the church of england stated . § 37. dr. falkner . christian loyalty . p. 42. ib. pag. 44. ib. pag 46. can. 2. comp. munic . eccles. pref. § 38. dr. barrow . see his works , 1st vol. p. 311. ib. comp. p. 211. 216. if the author of the municip . eccles. thinks this account , of the original of synods , clearer than mine , he may take it , as an explanation of my meaning ; and which i see no cause yet to retract . municip . chap. 1. ib. p. 312. ib , p. 320. ib. p 321. comp. p. 185. ib p. 185. ib. p. 188 , 189. ib. ib. p. 191. comp. 192. ib. p. 193. ib. p. 194. 206. ib. p. 204 , 205. ib. p. 24. ib p 251. § 39. ‖ horn against fecknam : bridges against sanders : burhill and tooker mention'd §. 22. sarravia : sutcliffe : whitaker : abbot bp. of salisbury : reynolds against hart : morton bp. of durham against bellarmine : carleton bp. of chichester : dr. ferne. &c. ⸪ municip . eccles. p. 107 , 136. 176. municip . eccles . p. 177. can. 1. ‖ see mr. hooker's judgment , §. 20 bishop andrews , § 34. convoc . of 1640 , §. 30. a. b. bramhall , sect. 31 , &c. * 1 eliz. c. 1. sect. 1. † coke v. rep. cawdries case — id. 4. inst. p. 325 , 326. more 's rep. p. 755. 2. crook rep. p. 73. heylin . ref. just. p. 7 , 23. — see the queen's injunctions ; above sect. 7. canons of k. james , §. 9. 4 inst. pag. 340. §. 40. municip . eccles . pref. 1. can. § 41. §. 42. municip . eccles pref. p. 5. comp. p. 3. see above §. 37. §. 43. the armies vindication ... in reply to mr. william sedgwick / published for the kingdomes satisfaction by eleutherius philodemius. philodemius, eleutherius. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a25843 of text r21791 in the english short title catalog (wing a3718). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 189 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 37 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a25843 wing a3718 estc r21791 12226927 ocm 12226927 56574 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25843) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56574) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 118:13) the armies vindication ... in reply to mr. william sedgwick / published for the kingdomes satisfaction by eleutherius philodemius. philodemius, eleutherius. [8], 64 p. printed for peter cole ..., [london] : 1649. place of publication from wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng sedgwick, william, 1609 or 10-1669? -second view of the army remonstrance. divine right of kings. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649. a25843 r21791 (wing a3718). civilwar no the armies vindication, wherein these five things are proved: first, that there is a supream and soveraign power alwayes residing in the peo philodemius, eleutherius 1649 34829 18 60 0 0 0 0 22 c the rate of 22 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-06 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the armies vindication , wherein these five things are proved : first , that there is a supream and soveraign power alwayes residing in the people , over and above kings . secondly , that all kings have been , and still are , subject to , and under law . thirdly , that the people have power , not only to convent , but to censure , depose and punish their kings for their tyranny and misgovernment . fourthly , that no nation is so strictly tied to any one form of civill government or law , but it is lawfull for the people to alter the same to another form or kind upon occasion . fiftly , amongst all formes of civill government , aristocratical or popular is best and safest for the people . besides , here is shewed , that to claim any crown by an hereditary or successive title , is upon a false and unjust ground . in reply to mr. william sedgwick . published for the kingdomes satisfaction by elevtherivs philodemivs . 1 cor. 7.21 . but if thou mayest be made free , use it rather . printed for peter cole , at the signe of the printing presse , in cornhill , neer the royal exchange . anno 1649. to his excellency , thomas lord fairfax , lord general of the parliaments forces , and the general councel of war . my lord and gentlemen , having spent some time in looking over the histories of nations , our own records , and statutes , with severall other works of statists , politians lawyers , i found that saying truly verified of solomon ▪ in much wisdome is much grief , and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow ; and what he afterward concludes of all his own works and labour , i observed to be most true in them , touching polities and civil government , behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit , and there was no profit under the sun . for indeed men have acted and written either in reference to princes , to humor and please their lusts and will , or like the unwise builder ( the blind leading the blind ) have built upon the sand , upon unsound bottomes and false principles . and therefore as christ in the controversie betweene him and the pharisees touching divorce , sends them back to the originall and first institution of marriage , and to the fathers of the first age of the world , as being the first and best pattern ; and paul to reform the abuses in the lords supper , cals them corinthians to the first institution . so there is no better way to have a common-wealth setled in peace and righteousnesse , then to look back at the beginning , when men walked by the exact and even rules of equity , justice , conscience , and kept the clear and plain principles of reason and nature : this is the land-measure and standard whereby the faulty measures coming after are to be corrected and amended . how this light first came to be less'ned , and then by degrees afterwards upon the matter quite extinguished in some kingdomes , and darknesse to break in , as soveraignities , monarchies , kings prerogatives , arbitrary power , regal immunities , crownes hereditary and successive , &c. ( all bloody and black characters of tyrants and conquest ) it is easie to be seen , and i shall shortly ( by the good hand of god assisting me ) give you and the whole nation good satisfaction . in the mean time i have thought good to publish this small treatise , and howsoever i question not , but your present work and way is clear to you , yet to the nation generally it may serve in some good stead , as to satisfie the weaker , confirm the stronger , informe the ignorant , and leave the wilfull and obstinate without excuse . for the man with whom i deal , i have nothing here to say , neither indeed would i have sayd any thing to his work , considering what for a man he is , but that i perceived it was in the mouth of some , much cried up , people it seemes , that are not able to put a distinction between wind and words , nor know any difference between rayling and reason . and now my lord and gentlemen , upon you at the present is the eye of the nation : you are as a city set upon a hil , all kingdoms about us , are looking on you , and great things are hoped for , and exspected from you , and this i must needs tell you , the cause of christ lies much now upon your actings , if you doe the worke of the lord negligently , unfaithfully , fearfully , oh my bowels doe yearn , and i tremble to think what dishonor will come to gods great name , what scandal and proach to the glorious gospel , what sadnes and sorrow too the soules of the righteous , and what tryumph and joy there will be in the tents of wicked men . but i hope better things of you , though i thus speak , i need not tell you how much you have seen of god , and how his powerfull presence hath gone all along with you to this present time , neither need i tell you by what a strong arm and a strange providence you have beene brought up to this work . but if you should now ask of me ( as the young man did of christ ) what lack we yet ? i would say , constancy and faithfulnesse to the end will crown , not only this , but all your former actions . methinks i could say more to you , then mordecai did to hester , who knowes whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this ? we know , ( and blessed be god for it ) the lord hath made you his israels saviours , and by you hath wrought deliverance for his people , he hath put much glory already upon you , now therfore stand fast , quit your selves like men , you have the prayers of the saints with you and for you ; and for the enemies their defence is departed from them ; and the lord is with you , fear them not . but seeing the treatise is short , i shall not make too large a forespeech : i well remember your expression in the remonstrance , calling upon every man to contribute what help he can ; and truly there is all the reason in the world for it , that every one now should lay himself out to further so honorable and good a work . and for my part according to the small portion i have received i shall not be wanting in your vindication , but for the things by you proposed , and your prosecuting of them ; to wit , that the king may be brought to his tryal , the enemies of our peace punished , hurtfull laws nullified the peoples grievances and oppressions removed , freedom and liberty of conscience ( without danger to the state ) granted , & a better form of government setled , as i shall undertake the just defence thereof , so i shall shortly make it more manifest to the whole nation , that there is nothing in all things desired of you , nor prosecuted by you , but what is according to justice , reason , nature conscience , and what the lord himself doth allow and call for : in the mean time my prayer shall be for the blessing of god to be upon your labor , and his powerfull protection over your persons : sirs i am your honors devoted servant , e. p. to the reader . friendly reader , howsoever the proverb be true , he shall finde worke enough , that hath to do with the multitude , and t is a hard thing to please all ; neverthelesse i have undertaken this worke , in hope to satisfie all such , who are not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} absurd and unreasonable , but knowing men , moderate and impartiall . and confident i am , didst thou know how free i am , and disingaged in respect of any private interest , thou wouldst consider the more seriously what is here written , and reap the more profit by it . for my name , had i intended to have made it known , i could have set it down , and so have told it thee my self , but thou mayest perceive my meaning is to conceale it , and therefore thou needst not to enquire further ; onely thus much for thy satisfaction , i have purposely forborn it , that in reading thou mayest not have thy mind taken up with any thing but about the matter . i make account i shall save mr. sedgwick the labour , and all other royallists of replying , because i have in part don that my self namely collected all such objections as i conceive carry any shew of contradiction to the particulars here asserted , and shall very shortly set them forth with a full refutation . reader , the main businesse is liberty . liber captivus avi fere similis est , semel fugiendi si data est occasio , satis est : nunquam post illum possis prendere a thing desired of all living creatures , and therefore much unbeseeming man to strive for bondage . me thinks when j consider how the world hath been befool'd by kings , j could even weep and laugh , to see what tame asses men have been , to be ridden and beaten by them . but the lord is now risen up and doing his great work , throwing down and breaking to pieces the proud powers of the earth both civil and eclesiastical . it is good therefore thou consider where thou art , and what the place of thy standing is , he that hides himself under straw or chaffe will have small relief thereby when fire shall be put thereto and consume it . all powers and places in opposition to christ are but as dry stubble , which the lord is now about to destroy with the brightnesse of his comming . but i shall not hold thee up with any longer discourse , onely one thing i shall acquaint thee with , there are some faults escaped which i have observed since it was printed , and in some places greater then j wish they were , the which j could not help beeing out of town when it was don , and the badnesse of my hand may in part excuse the printer . and so j bid farewell till thou doe hear again from me . the armies vindication , in answer to mr. sedgwicks calumniation . what moves mr. sedgwick to shew himself such a bitter and cruell enemy to the army , and at this time to heat the furnace of his tongue seven times more then it was wont to be heat , may in part be gathered from the scripture set down in the title page : 2 timot. 3 9. but they shall proceed no further , &c. but more clearly a little after , where he speaks of his sermon at windsor , overturn , overturn , overturn : mentioning withall mr. saltmarsh his message , depart from the tents of these unrighteous men : and mr pinnels admonition . the thing is thus , he hath deeply engaged himself concerning the armies ruin , and the safe return of the king and his posterity to their glory and greatnesse : and having with much confidence and boldnesse a long time thus affirmed , he begins now to fear , lest this should be added to his doomsday-prophesie , and so whilst he is lifting up himself , and intruding into those things which he hath not seen , his folly be made manifest to all men : to use his own words . hence he growes angry , and flyes in the face of the army , cals them dogs and devils , that their wayes are beastly , cruell , absurd , monstrous : men led by a dark and foule spirit , enemies to the spirit and to the crosse of christ , and much more to this purpose ; as if they would at his calumniations and slanders fall down before him , and give all up to him ; that so it might not come to passe , which he foresees already is at the door , and shortly will be in all mens mouths , sedgwick , the false prophet : god hath not spoken to him in these things , but he hath prophesied a lie in his name . oh that mr. sedgwick could take notice of the visible and senceable reproof of god upon him , that blindnesse hath happened to him in part , and professing himself to be wise becomes a fool , if the thoughts of the snare which he is fallen into , lay upon his heart , he would give glory to god , and with iob humbly say , behold i am vile , what shall i answer th●e ? i will lay my hand upon my mouth . once have i spoken , but i will not answer ; yea , twice but i will speak no further . iob. 40 , 4 , 5. the epistle dedicatory is as the rest of the pamphlet , invective and slanderous : thus he begins , you drive furiously over the necks of king and parliament , laws covenants , loyalty , priviledges , and no humane thing can stand before you . here solomons words are verified , eccles. 10.13 . the beginning of the words of his mouth as foolishnesse , and the end of his talke is mischievous madnesse . you found not any thing in the remonstrance looking this way , but expressions often to the contrary , and were you as charitably minded towards his excellency , and the generall councel of war , as you are to the malignant party , you had ground sufficient to judge otherwise : but howsoever god will ere long clear their innocency , and bring forth their righteousnesse as the light , and their judgement as the noon day , when by his gracious hand assisting them , our lawes , liberties , and priviledges shall be recovered , the which by king and parliament have been trodden under foot . but he tels them , the lord is here upbraiding your unbelief : and after pag. 13. the holy god will no longer suffer you to wear the name of saints and godly , but will discover you to be white sepulchres , and cause your rottennesse to come forth . but how may we know that the lord hath called mr. will sedgwick to this work , and that it is the spirit of christ speaking in him , and he the man appointed to poure contempt upon the army , and to trample upon them as morter : must we take it as granted , because he sayes it : what if the army should say in the words of nehemiah , and lo i perceived that god had not sent him , but that he pronounced this prophesie against me , for tobiah and sanballat had hired him . therefore was he hired that i should be afrayd , and doe so , and sin , and that they might have matter for an evill report , that they might reproach me . my god think thou upon tobiah and sanballat according to these their works , and on the prophetesse noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear . neh 6.12 , 13 , 14. is there no ground for them to think , that the malignant spirit drives on his old designe here in mr. sedgwick , namely , to have the army disbanded : this hath been a long time sought after , and severall wayes attempted to effect it : but it seemes seeing all other meanes failes him , he now studies to make the army flye by a false prophesie , as if our worthy nehemiah and the rest , would give over the building through a needlesse and foolish fear . and indeed they have all the reason in the world to think that god hath not sent him : for the statutes of the lord are perfect , right , pure , clean , true , and righteous altogether : out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth not evill and good . where we find ( as in his writing is abundance ) contradiction , falshood , flattery , the wicked justified , the righteous condemned , evill called good , and good evil , darknesse put for light , and light for darknesse , bitter for sweet , and sweet for bitter , gosple truths and ordinances are scorned and derided , &c. there we may groundedly conclude , that such a one was never thereto called of god . but it seemes here to be mr. sedgwicks case , as it once happined to antonius , when he angled some dived under water , & put fish upon his hook , which he cast up and thought he had taken them . if i should lay his fish together in a heap , a man would soon perceive by the kind who put them upon the hook . for instance , look here good reader , out of what water is this fish taken , and what fish is it ? speaking to his excellency and the generall covncel of war , he tels them , it pleases me to pour contempt upon you , to be shod with scorn and indignation , and so trample upon princes as morter : if this be not the spirit of antichrist , then was it never in any man . but let us see how pope-like he sets his foot upon the neck of princes : destruction your practice , t is your work , t is your end , you cannot see beyond it , your faith understanding , god ( may i use your own words pag. 22. you lie grosly ) is sunk into your bellyes , and your rule your strength , your confidence is only in sensuall and brutish things , you act against god , and god against you , your soules loath him , and his soul loaths you . and of the whole army he saith , never were men caught in such a snare of the devil as you are : you are true to nothing , neither god nor man : your wayes are beastly , cruel , absurd , monstrous : you continue in armes against command of god and men , you are a company of deceivers and mountebancks , that talke of curing , saving , delivering , but all wast , spoyl and destroy the people . you are gone from all principles of goodnesse , from the lord to the world : you are become through blindnesse and ignorance enemies to the spirit , you love not the life of christ , you know not the mind of god , neither have any communion with god : amongst you is the greatest enmity and malignity to the spirit of god , and the greatest pride , hypocrisie , self confidence , and spirituall wickednesse : you are manifestly guilty of the present oppression upon the poor people , and the intollerable burden of free-quarter , and unreasonable taxes , you exspect the king should turn , not to god , but to your form of religion and government , and cannot count any thing a change , but yeelding to your way , which if he should , he should be seven times more the childe of the devil . you are tugging and pulling down the kingdom in pieces to satisfie your self with dominion : you hope for nothing , but for deceit , falshood and treacherie : you speak evill , but cannot speak good : you never spake any good of the king or any other but in scorn . here is some of the fish which mr. sedgwick hath cast up : we need not to describe them , they shew themselves what they are , and the black lake out which they are taken . but is this mr: sedgwicks voice , oh poor man , truly i pitty thee ; and howsoever no rabshekeh , ishmaelite , or shimei , could hardly have uttered greater slander and more falshood , yet considering the temptation thou lyest under , and what a depth of delusion god hath suffered thee to fall into , thou art rather to be pittied then punished . michael the archangel durst not bring against the devil a rayling accusation ; but you durst raile at the people of god , and charge them with notorious untruths , but take heed , lest the strength of that prayer reach you . " let the lying lips be put to silence which speaks grievous things proudly and " contemptuously against the righteous . psal. 31.18 . because i am willing that the army should take notice what mr. sedgwick writes , as well for them , as against them : thus he charitably expresseth himself at first : your eternall state is sure , t is your present wandrings that are here condemned . here is some comfort for you souldiers : but will he stand to this ? not all , for presently with the same mouth ( not minding what he had said ) he puts them all out of heaven , and out of all hope of salvation , and shuts them up in the bottomlesse pit ; and this with as much confidence and certainty , as if god had revealed to him what their future state should be : le ts hear the sentence against the army . the lord ( saith he ) appoints you a portion with hypocrites and unbeleevers , where shall be weeping & knashing of teeth . again , pag. 11. if you adhere to that you have proposed , you forsake your own interest , and espouse the devil , the god of this world , the destroyer , and will perish with him . what their eternall salvation sure , and yet may perish with the devil ? this is no true light , the spirit of god witnesseth otherwise . but again , pag. 18. you are cursing , dividing , and so are in the kingdome of darknesse , and of the devil : and often , you are no saints . pag. 23.24 . and in pag. 35. he passeth a finall doom , where he saith ; " you are reserved to be punisht from the presence of " the lord , this is your second death . as this vain and rash judging of his , shewes by what spirit he is led , so it is not worth the answering ; only it bewrayes great weaknesse and darknesse in him , and that he is not himselfe : for who but mr. sedgwick , or a man under such distempers , would write so vehemently as he hath don , against the army ( of which more in its place ) for rash judging of others , wheras i dare clearly affirm , there is hardly a precedent of any one man that fell so fouly and grosly in this very thing as he himself hath done . turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguat ipsi . for his perverting of the scripture phil 3.18.19 . scandalously applying it to the army , i mind it a thing in him neither new nor strange : for the rest of his works shew what a proper gift he hath to wrest and abuse the sacred word of god ▪ yet not to passe over the place altogether silent , there seemes to be something here which is close and hid : wherefore is phil. 3.18 19. quoted , and commented upon ? it is to make the army contemptible and odious : paul saith many are enemies to the crosse of christ , &c. ergo , the army . it was a cunning devise of nero when he hurled the christians to dogs , seeing the mastives would not touch them , to clad them in beares skin , to kindle the fury of the dogs that they might take them to be beasts and not men . i will not say it is a studied plot of mr. sedgwick , but outwardly he doth nero like : he sees there are no swords drawn against the army , gods former power and presence with them ( howsoever he often jeeres at it ) hath by this time convinced the enemie , so that he hath no minde unto any new ingagement : but what doth he now ? seeing the mastives will not touch them , he will clad them in beares skins , make them vile and odious , say , they are rebels , traitors , theeves , murderers , even the vilest and worst of men ; and thus he will kindle the fury of the dogs , that is , have the army to be taken not for men , but beasts , and so they shall doe god good service , whosoever destroyes them . but this will not do it , nor help to bring about your prophesie . thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man , thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues . psa. 31.20 . let us hear what followes . t is not only men that suffer from your violence , but the lord : you are gon so far in dissolving the foundations of government that you reach to the lord . these miserable broken powers are now the lord . a man that wants distinction , thrusts all things confusedly together . but to answer , first , is the punishing of bad governours a dissolving the foundations of government ? doth a phisitian destroy the body by removing of corrupt and filthy humors from it ? secondly , howsoever there is no power but of god , yet may people change the kind of powers , nullifie some lawes and ordinances , and take others up ; and not come neer the bowels of the lord , neither act any thing that is unlawfull . it is an unquestionable truth , that monarchy , democratie , and aristocratie , are the powers of god , each in is self a lawfull form of goverment : and it is as unquestionable , that so the case may be , as the use of one may be laid aside , and another set up , and god much seen and honoured in the change . in saying , these broken powers are now the lord : not the lords power : we understand your phrase , and your godding of all things , but it is a matter out of our way , and therefore i will not turn to it . howsoever mr. sedgwick in speaking against the army , his teeth are speares , and arrowes , and his tongue a sharp sword , yet for the king and his party , th words of his mouth are smoother then butter , and softer then oyle : oh , he is carefull to deal gently with the young man , and no marvail , he sees much beauty in absolom . the king and parliament ( saith he ) cry unto god in their distresse : and quotes isa. 63.16 . to be the words of their prayer , and presuming that he knowes the mind of god , peremptory concludes , that the lord ownes them , and will hear " their cry and deliver them . here reader thou art given to understand , that by the parliament he meanes such members as are now in the hand of iustice for raysing a new war , and other treacherous plots tending to the ruin of the whole kingdome : the owning of the king and them , is as much to say , that god will countenance and justify all their falshood , unfaithfulnesse , murders , or what else it be that the army hath to object and prove against them . but mr. sedgwicks prophesies are not yet received amongst us above scripture . we beleeve in our hearts , and confesse with our mouths , thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil , and canst not look on iniquity . thou art not a god that hath pleasure in wickednesse , neither shall evil dwel with thee . vain glorious fooles shall not stand in thy sight , thou hatest all workers of iniquity : thou wilt bring to perdition them that speak a lye : the man of bloods and of deceits iehovah doth abhor . what you lay to the armies charge pag. 1. i know no man to whome the words more truly may be applyed then to your self . in this work you manifestly shew , that you have deeply revolted , and that after you had escaped the pollutions of the world , you are again entangled therein and overcome : and with the dog returned to your own vomit : you have been exalted to heaven , and are brought down to hel . doth it not bewray a man greatly fallen from god , and what he had is taken from him , even his wisdome , largenesse , goodnesse : having been formerly zealously earnest against sin , and a professed enemy to all unrighteousnesse of men , should afterward undertake to defend the grossest and vilest wickednesse , plead for it , yea , rail at such , and reproach them as do appear against the same , that it may have a just and condign punishment . i hope the lord by this meanes will open their eyes , whom you have bewitched , giving out that your self is some great one , the great power of god . truly unlesse there be a strong delusion {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the strength of delusion , or strongest impressions of error fastened upon their mindes : if there be not ( i say ) an infatuation and besottednesse upon them , joyned with such a pertinacy and stiffenesse , that howsoever mr. sedgwicks doctrines are palpable errors , and such as may be felt , yet they will adhere to him , there is enough in this ( we will not mention his other good works ) to let them see , what he cals light , is darknesse it self , and speakes against the mind of god , as clear as the sunne that shines at noon day : for that bold assertion god will deliver them , the time shortly will shew it , but howsoever for you to be found an untrue speaker , it is a thing now so common and usuall with you , as it is not admired at , such is the hand of god now against you . having ended with the epistle dedicatory , we come now to the book , which hardly admits of any division , or laying out into parts , because the whole contains little else but bitter invectives and grievous accusations against the army ; and howsoever there is scarce a leaf but some charges or other against the army are in it , yet all is one thing often repeated . the matter of charge in one word is apostacy , that his excellency and the general councel of war in their present acting are deeply revolted , with this he begins pag 1. but let us see the ground work upon which he builds , the reason wherefore he chargeth them with backssl●ding ; it is because the army remonstrance cals for justice and judgment , to have the land purged of innocent blood , and that there may be such a peace setled on earth amongst men , as may be to the glory of god on high : at these proposals he takes exception , blots much paper with foule aspersions against the army for framing them , seeks with great swelling words to affright them , and to hinder them from prosecuting so just and necessary a work . i confesse if the army were turned royalists , so basely revolted as he acknowledgeth himself to be pag. 31. and were cast back into such blindnesse , as to make " the " king glad with their wickednesse , and the princes with their lies , as he doth , ( to his shame be it spoken ) they had no need ( following such a cursed principle ) to carry forth the worke of the lord any farther : but they dare not shew themselves such broken reedes , wandring starres , light and unconstant , neither frame their tongues to such flattery , might they gain the whole world . besides it appeares by his writing , that outwardly he can be any thing , and every thing , apply himself every way , and so cares not what oppressions be laid upon mens persons , state , consciences , nothing can reach him : but others truly fearing god , abhor such crooked wayes , and know that by the law of god , nature , and nations , they are bound to seek freedome in a just and fair way for their bodies and souls : and therfore the apostacy fals on himself , and he is become like one of the foxes , in the prophet , who hath seen a vain vision , a lying divination , saying , the lord saith , albeit he hath not spoken : with lies making sad the hearts of the righteous , whom the lord hath not made sad ; and strengthened the hands of the wicked , that he should not return from his wicked way , promising him life . but mark , mr. sedgwick , what the lord speaketh concerning such prophets . my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity & divine lies , they shall not be in the assembly of my people , neither shal they be written in the writing of the house of israel , neither shall they enter into the land of israel . in pag. 2. having laid some disgrace upon the remonstrance , he proceedeth to shew them the evil , and folly of their principles , and with such plainnesse as the wise and soberer sort of them shall be convinced , the rest condemned in themselves ; and to satisfie the readers expectation , he takes in hand , the first part of their preamble ( as he cals it ) which is the armies tender regard to the freedome and liberty of parliament : his answer to it is this , that they deal deceitfully with the world , conceale their own principle , which is , that the powers of the world are to be broken , the parliament is one of the powers of the world , and that they are called to break it in pleces , and upon this ground they know they act . cocks feeding on garlick overcome others ; but how ? with ranknesse of breath not strength , if a man should here fly , it must be for the smell , not the matter : for first , it is untrue that they hold such a principle , neither do they act upon , the ground he mentioneth . secondly , their former practise is a cleer proof to justify what they say , for had they not been tender this way , they might have prevented a great deal of their own sufferings , and not been so long under severall grievances . thirdly , at this time there lay a necessity upon them to move , for otherwise they had not been faithfull to god for the power put into their hands , neither had answered the trust of the people , who continually besought them in all parts of the land to prevent their slavery and bondage which was ready to break in , and so all their former expences of blood and goods , vainly spent and wasted . fourthly , it is so far from their thoughtt to break the power of parliament , or to think they are called thereto , as their greatest studie and endeavour is , how the parliaments power may be best improved for the common good of the people , and every ones interest . whereas in the remonstrance it is declared , that things are brought to the utmost crisis of danger , and also shewed how , and by whom : his answer is , t is true but you make an ill use of it . for the rest , he tels us his dream of two in the kingdom , the one our life , and a wicked one , which is wrath . as there is nothing in it , so there needs no answer , onely because i guesse what he would have said , a word thus : the more we depend upon a wise phisitian , the more will we observe his directions , and be the carefuller to use what he prescribeth : so every godly man the more his trust and dependance is upon god , the more he will serve gods providence in the use of meanes , and not only the ordinary , but as the remonstrance well notes it , upon publike necessity or extremity goe further , yet so , as good cautions be duly observed . this point is excellently set forth in the remonstrance , pag. 4.5.6 . and mr. sedgwick was so wise as seeing the strength thereof , to let it alone . next , he chargeth the arme , with wofull feares , and why ? because they say the publick affaires cals upon every man to contribute what help he can . it doth not not alwayes argue fear to call for help in danger , neither is all fear simply unlawfull . but his answer indeed is wofull . vain is the help of man : it is to offer help to a wicked world , cease ye foolish men , &c. we have not onely precepts for the lawfulnesse to call for others help , but the saints in all ages have practised it before us : for howsoever mans help is vain rested in , yet god gives in power to the creature , whereby succour and deliverance is obtained ▪ again the worse the world is , the more need there is of help , that enormities and abuses may redressed , and righteousnesse , truth , and peace restored . but mr. sedgwicke councell is if a man see his house a fire , not to move or seek to quench it , but leave it alone till it be burnt down to the ground : because they say in the remonstrance , and seeing no effectuall help from else where to appear , he takes them sharply up , your curse is not to see when good comes , we see salvation is nigh , god a present help , &c. and afterward ( but somewhat closely ) we have the salvation and help told us , what it is , to wit the treaty . first , that which he cals good we know to be evil : it was as the forbidden fruit , pleasant to the eye of some , and a thing to be desired , but death went along with it : for the treaty , we know the bottome of it , and its rise , in what shop is was forged , the dependences upon it , the drift and scope thereof , namely to bring about a malignant plot , to destroy the usefull power of parliament , the right and priviledges of the subject , to exempt the grand incendiaties from punishment , to suppresse the free exercise of true religion and power of godlinesse , and to subject mens consciences to humane ordinances . for the good therefore of the treaty it s only extended to him , and such royallists as should enslave themselves to the will and lust of princes , as for consciencious of men , it was to deprive them of peace , comfort , and safety . secondly , whereas he saith , you are blind and cannot see the lord an effectuall saviour . this is not so , for they doe see god to goe all along with them , and in every undertaking have large experience of his power and presence . lastly , for the curse you may take it home , it is yours not theirs , for were you not blind , you would see god , where he appeares , and powerfully shewes himself in his administrations , and not publish such vain and ridiculous visions concerning the king , as gives occasion to some of laughter , to others of teares , and to all , of pit●ying and bewayling your folly and blindnesse : but i spare you . it followes in the remonstrance , in conscience and duty to god and men , we hold our selves obliged , &c. in answer to this he saith many words , the summe in short is this , that they are not upon a sure foundation , nor dare they come to a strict examination of their own ground : kn●w not which of these two to take , for their principal god or man , with severall other reproaches . the beast bonosus not being able to defend himself with his horn , poysoneth the dogs with his dung . nothing have we yet met withall in his writing , but either unsavory meat , or swelling words , and large accusations without proof . i answer , first , they are upon a sound foundation , and for the ground of their undertaking this work , they did examine it , and find it to have a sound bottome : not hurried blindly upon weak passions of fear , jealousie , necessity , &c. but grounded on a clear call from god and men . have ye not read what david did when he was an hungred , and they that were with him ? if david and his followers in necessity , and to save their lives , did that which was not according to the letter of the law . exod. 29.32.33 . levit. 8.31 . & 24.9 . yet according to the intent of the law : for the ceremoniall rites were to give place to moral precepts . without all doubt , then in greater necessity and extremity , as when it is not only to save mens lives , liberties , priviledges , but religion and the true worship of god : if men act not in some things according to the letter of humane law , yet the intent of the law is observed , which is the safety and good of the people . if a man have maliciously set his house on fire , i may lawfully break in and quench it , if i can ; if not cast it down : duty and conscience puts me upon it ( yea , though i have no leave or permission ) if my self and others otherwise should suffer . 2. as we are to do good to them that hate us , love our enemies &c. so also to endeavour that justice and judgment may be executed on evil doers , and so doing we are not the lesse godly and spiritual men . 3. what some of the army have told him it comes not here into consideration : neverthelesse , if nothing were told him but what he relates , there is nothing in it to the matter he brings it for . 4. it is his mistake to think that it is to decline the perfect way of christ to go the waies of the heathen : for so far as the gentiles were righteous , just , sober , faithful , we may and ought to walk the same way with them . 5. though we must live under law , submit to governours and be subject to them , neverthelesse we know that all governours likewise are under the same law , and some lawes of men are prejudicial and hurtful to the people , and therefore when god by providence , puts in a fair opportunity for the suppressing of evil magistrates , and redresse of bad laws , the mercie should be improved with thankfulnesse . 6. for the example of phinehas , you did well only to name it and let it passe : for indeed 't is beyond your measure to take off the strength of it . this we learn from it . 1. zeal of justice in the cause of god , is a means to procure gods mercy to man . 2. the lord justifieth and rewards men , for the zeal of his glory , though in the carying on of the work there be some breach of rule or order : phinehas was but a priest's son , no ordinary magistrate , nor proceeded he with the malefactors judicially , neverthelsse ( carried forth by the mighty power and presence of god ) thrust them through suddenly , and because this might seem blame-worthy in the eyes of men , and might procure much il will , considering the persons whom he killed , the man being a prince in israel , and the other a princes daughter of median : therefore god himself gives witnesse , saying phinehas hath turned my wrath away from the children of israel , while he was zealous for my sake among them , that i consumed not the children of israel in my jealousie . in the last place , reader thou art to take notice how mr sedgwick hath not yet forgotten his mother romish tongue ; i pray thee ask of him where he learn'd to say saint paul , what ! mr. sedgwick to speak in the speach of ashdod , not the names of baalim yet out of his mouth ; i verily thought the power of god in the new covenant had taught him to say ishi , no more baali ; we will therefore only leave out the word saint , and paul's words may wel be applied to him , you walk as a man , are you not carnal ? speaking in the remonstrance , how that rule of , salus populi suprema lex , is of all others most apt to be abused : he puts it off with a few bad words , calling them , a company of deceivers , and mountebanks , adding god is only the salvation of the people , the which thing howsoever true , yet impertinatly brought in : unless he means that men should neither eat , drink , labour , &c. because the lord is their salvation . next he finds fault with them for two or three pages , telling them , you are triming your way to seek love ; his answer to these 2. or 3. pages is , abusing the words of solomon pro. 30.19 , 20. to vent out a great deal of wrath and rage against the army , you are gone from all solid principles of goodness : fly from one secret place to another to hide your selves from shame : you eat up king , parliament and people to satisfie your carnal love of safety ; while you think to make your selves more vendible , you make your selves more abominable : this is all , and what thinkest reader , hath he not reached home to these otht other pages ? a thing look'd upon under water , howbeit streight , smooth and fair , yet standing so it , seems crooked , rough , and deformed : so when a man looks upon another through the water of ill-wil and prejudice , his wisdom shall be taken for folly , zeal for madness , sincerity for hypocrisie , justice in him called cruelty , in a word , whatsoever he saies or does , spider-like it is turn'd to poison . now follows no more addresses to the king , and how the parliament turn'd to the course of a personal treaty . concerning this , first he saith , you do in favour to your selves , abuse the parliament , and in most things accuse others of those things that you your selves are guilty of : it is a full charge ; but where is his proof for this ? how doth he make it good ? here he useth the common practice of false accusers , but i shall leave that to some other pen : and why not the falshood as wel ? 2. whereas in the remonstrance the instability of the parliament is shewed , and the evil practices of the king's partie : here he saith , they are too harsh and without any molifying oyl , &c. first , 't is cleer to every man that hath sence , that mr. sedgwick is not sometimes at home to take an account of his own soul ; he taxes the army as over harsh & too large in opening the faults of others , whereas , he ( pitiful man ) hath written six or seven sheets and all for the most part are accusations against the army , and the grossest and vilest that can be , aggravated to the highest . 2. that the parliament for their sins are scattered and broken : this in part is true , to wit , such members as turned aside to their crooked waies ; the lord hath led them forth with the workers of iniquity : but peace shall be upon the rest . 3. that the whol kingdom is full of discontent against them . i beleeve t is so , and more discontented will they be when they shall more cleerly understand , their particular treasons , and bloody designs , in joyning with malignants , & their under-hand plottings to raise up farraign and domestick forces to destroy the army and the wel-affected through the kingdom . 4. that the king's partie are strugling to get from under their intollerable afflictions , but cannot . no marvail , seeing they grow worse and worse , and like mastives are the fiercer for their chain : and you mr. sedgwick seek to increase their miserie , by your daubing with untempered morter , prophesying peace and safty to them , and that their deliverance is at hand , ( and you know who did so ezek. 13. ) by which means they are hardened , and so fatted for destruction . 5. to that which you say of the army , that they are not like the good samaritan , but are as flesh flies , or the man possessed with devils , seek the lands ruin to the furthest . as the lord hath hitherto spoken for them , cleered their innocencie in spight of hell , and maugre all the powers of darkness ; so he will in this present work be a witness for them , and make it manifest to the world ( by setling a wel-grounded peace ) what they have desired , fought for , and sought after , and what hard things they have suffered for the good of the nation : the righteous shall see it and rejoyce , and all iniquity shall stop her mouth . we have next , his story , and 't is a wofull one . first he saith , once our king and parliament , or people , lived quietly and lovingly together , imbraced in the arms of divine goodness , prospered together as husband and wife . when was this once ? it is so known an untruth what he speaks , as i need not say any thing to it , onely wish him hereafter to pray with david , set a watch ( o lord ) before my mouth , keep the door of my lips . i could multiply instances of the continual dissentions and differences between king and parliament , from the beginning of his reign down al along to this present parliament : and for the people , such as were most sincere and pious lived not quietly and lovingly together with him , but suffered extremly under him , even to the spoiling of their goods , imprisonment , banishment , and some losse of life : and this only for the truth sake . 2. in calling the king husband , and the parliament wife : as the former was false , so this is foolish . and 3ly is that true , that the army have alwaies lusted after the royal bed : what ? alwaies , how are they then deeply revolted and turn'd back to the world ? in pag. 43. you say , they have been led up into the high things of god , and did all things in the spirit of god . but i shall not presse it further . 4. i perceive you are a stranger to the ground-work of the treaty , 't is too wonderful for you , and therefore have stated the thing amisse ; it was to advance the king's party , stop the course of justice against capital offenders , that such as had notoriosly cheated the kingdome might not be questioned , the people brought again into their former bondage , such as would not , nor could in conscience submit to their church-government and other forms might be suppressed , and under the name of sectaries banished the kingdom . lastly you say , there is a blessing in this treaty , destroy it not : & tell us how the lord will come in as a thief in the night , and steal away the evil . i answer , you may see the lord is already come in , not in the night , but at noon-day , and hath discovered the deceitfulness of it , the snare is broken and we are escaped , and blessed be the lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth . mr. sedgwick is now come to examin their reasons given in against the treaty , and here he finds sundry faults ; first , because they would make their own and the puplick interest to be one . answ. 1. howsoever such as have engaged for the publick , are in some things to be considered apart , and so their particular safety to be provided for : yet doth it not follow that they have therefore no interest in the publick , or what is offered to us by them is not the publick , but their own particular interest ? 2. i do not well know what he means by generally the people of the land ; if he intends the king's party , all papists and other malignants , i confess they go not with the remonstrance , but desire rather to see all things in the condition they were in before these wars began : but for others ( and this is properly the publick interest ) they are one with the army , holding fast to their first principles , namely , to be free from all arbitrary and tyranical power , whether in king or parliament , to enjoy all their rights , priviledges , and liberties , to have all hurtful laws and customs removed , not to have their consciences lorded over by any ; to have justice done impartially upon offenders , and such a government to be established as most tends to a publick peace and safety : and therefore whereas he saith , these devised things you propose , the people know them not , affect them less than they know them : unless by people he mean royallists , delinquents , malignants , and other treacherous plotters and their adherents , it is not true : for the publick doe desire them , call for them , and have a long time contributed their estates and engaged their persons in hope that these things would at last be procured . his second exception is , because the remonstrance propounds , that all power should be in the hands of the parliament , and that to be certain and in the hands of a subordinate officer to call &c. there is a great deal here left out , which makes the matter more full and cleer , but i let it passe , let us consider his reasons against this : it is to throw down a king and lords , and to set up the people . ans. 1. the exorbitances and abuses of kings and lords may be taken off , and yet their persons remain , and as much power left them as is their due . 2. the rights and liberties of the people are above the places of princes : for kings ( if duly chosen ) were set by the people for the better enjoying of their rights &c. and therefore there is still in the people a standing power to alter their former choise , and course of chusing if they se another way to be better for them . 3. if by setting up of the people , he mean the exercising of that power which god hath given them , in changing one kind of government and setting another more safe and profitable for them , it is well proposed : as he that helps a man ( being unjustly thrust out of his possessions ) to set him into his own again , is no way blame-worthy . 2. he saith , should you not rather propose , that all power , dominion and reign should be given to the lord ? i must ingeniously professe here is a riddle , and i understand it not : but good sir , in your next , tell us what power or dominion is taken from the lord , in seeking to have good laws established , righteous judgment executed , enormities removed , righteousness and peace practised amongst men . we have nothing more in his answer , but much harsh and bitter language . it is said of lewes the eleventh , he had a conceit , that every thing did stink about him , all the odoriferous perfumes and fragrant savours they could get could not ease him , but still he smell'd a filthy stinch . it much grieves me , that mr. sedgwick hath so ill an opinion of the army , that how precious and sweet soever their proposals are , yet all to his thinking is dung and trash . a third exception is , and a fault which he finds in them , that they all along carry the interest of the publick in opposition to the king's . here he makes a tedious and long discourse , and multiplieth words without knowledge : first he saith , the publick hath its interest in the king , and the king his interest in the publick . there is so much said in the remonstrance , from page 16. to 35. that if he had duly weighed and considered the same , he would not have written as he doth . it is not the army as sword-men that have cut the knot in pieces and divided them , but indeed ( as it is there abundantly proved ) the king's il courses , it is of himself that the union is dissolved , and he wholly lost his interest in the publick : for further satisfaction herein , i refer the reader to the book ; and mr. prin's charge against the king : and the several remonstrances and declarations of parliament to the same purpose . 2. to omit his godding again of the creature , he tels us , how god is the god of kings more than of common men , assuming their titles : kingliness agrees with all christians : it is a bastardly religion that is inconsistant with the majestie and greatness of the most absolute monarch . ans. 1. take notice reader that in all this , there is not one word which relates to the matter in hand . 2. as the lord honoreth good kings , so he is terrible to wicked ones , cuts them off and powres out cuntempt upon them . 3. howsoever we grant that true religion is not inconsistant with monarchie , yet we know , and experienee shews it , that there is no kind of civil government more averse and opposite to the kingdom of christ and lesse helpful to it than monarchie . for the rest , which is the gathering all into one god and man into one person , god and the king into one person : to mention it , is conviction enough . a fourth fault which he finds with them is , in putting all the enmity against godliness and the power of it on the king's part , and charging it upon him as his interest , and assuming all religion and godliness to themselves . here first of all , he makes a large discourse in praise of himself , and speaks much in his own behalf as the like i never observed in a man truly fearing god : it is personal and therefore i passe it over : yet so , as i wish him hereafter to remember that counsel of solomon , let another man praise thee , and not thine own mouth , a stranger and not thine own lips . it was their custom at the olimpick games , that the winner should not put the garland on himself , but some other was to do it for him . now to the answer , which is very large , but summarily thus : a justifying of the wicked , and condemning the righteous . touching the army he saith , their wayes are dark and slippery , crying up the lord the lord , when they do the works of the devil , they have not the power of godliness : and for the king's party , they do not oppose them for purity , and are in their principles more righteous than they , and many of their persons more sober , patient , loving , gentle , yea , more knowing in the things of god than they . he further tels them they are led to the destroying of others , as righteous as themselves , and are kept off from the sight of their own iniquity : next he mentioneth rom. 2.1 , 2. and matt. 7.1 . and hereupon sharply reproves them for accusing of others , and whilest he is speaking it , accuseth them to go besides all law and right , to set up will and power , that they shed the true innocent blood of christ , spoil the temple of god , harden their hearts to pride , malice , and wicked insulting over their brethren , and much more to this purpose : then speaking of the king , he saith , they persecute him whom the lord hath smitten , and he is the apple of gods eye , and that god hath declared ( and so much they know ) rich mercie to the king and his partie in his book called the leaves of the tree of life . thus reader i have in brief given thee a true accompt of all that he hath written from page 12. to page the 20. i shall here only in short take some few observations and so go on . 1. what a bold challenge that is , page 12. where he chalengeth the whol earth to accuse him of any injustice to god or man : now can there be greater injustice , than to charge gods people with manifest falshood and untruth : thine own mouth condemneth thee , and not i , yea , thine own lips testifie against thee . i hope i may without exception or offence use his own words , page 50. you may reade your description excellently pen'd long ago , 1 tim. 4. speaking lyes in hypocrisie . 2. is it not also great injustice to god ( if not to prefer , yet ) to equalize satans working in wicked men , with the spirits working upon the souls of the saints . 3. what sober , considerate , or wise man , as he is reproving another for rash judging and uncharitableness , would at the same time shew himself so uncharitable and rash in the very same thing , as there is scarce a president or example before of the like . 4. is this mr. sedgwick's justice upon the armies remonstrance ; when there is a true report made of the king's grievous crimes and miscarriages with his partie , not having any thing at all to gainsay the truth of the relation , to vilifie and reproach the reporters ? 5. in sending us to his book , we take good notic of it , and what he there saith of the rich mercy to the king and his party : and from it do observe , how extremly he is carried away with vain fancies , and publishing idle dreams to the world : the spirit speaketh expresly clearly and with fulness of certainty , which evidently demonstrates that in these things he speaks not by the spirit of god , seeing his words fall to the ground . in page 19. he begins to take into consideration some grounds laid down in the remonstrance why the king is not to be received again to peace , nor restored to his office and dignity , and promiseth to let them see how much their injustice is against god and themselves in that which they profess for justice . 1. saith he , you insist upon this pag. 24. god hath given him so cleerly into your hands to do justice , and afterward god hath given a double judgment against him &c. and pag. 5. god makes hast to judgment and hath appeared at a severe avendger . to this his answer is , the king is the greatest sufferer in the kingdom ; hath god judged him ? and why wil you not submit to his judgement ? will ye take it out of gods hand ? when did god chasten or judge men , then give him to men to chasten again ? or when did gods people fall upon punishing after god hath done it ? is god weary or remisse , that you would have men take it into their hands ? ans. 1 it is a bad consequence because a man hath bin a great sufferer , therefore , no more should be inflicted : god punished phaeraoh many wayes and greatly too , yet he hardening his heart had afterward , heavier sorer and deeper plagues . 2. men in the execution of justice upon offenders , take not judgment out of gods hand , but rather indeed are gods hand in the work . 3. when god gave in a witness against acan , that he had troubled israel , howsoever that was a divine punishment upon him , yet did the people afterwards stone him to death , and so the lord turned from the fierceness of his anger . 4. what weariness or remisness in executing judgement do men impute to god , who having by his providence cast into their hands a principal offender , if they according to his desert proceed to justice against him . the truth is , in his answer there is not one word that comes directly home to the matter for which he brings it . secondly ( he saith ) you argue page 24. no remorse appearing proportionable to the offence : if that could be seen , you would regard it with a proportionable tenderness towards him . again you say , there is no change of heart , no repentance , no free nor full yeelding to all the parts of a publick and religious interest . this he refutes thus , herein you destroy and deny that free mercy of god upon which you have lived a long while , manifest that your profession of the gospel was indeed but in letter , not in power : god loves first before we can , but you must receive good before you can give , you know not the heart , nor can you judge of the kings principles , they are too high for you , if he should turn to you he should be but seven times more the child of the devil . howsoever mr. sedgwick for his own turn , takes some broken pieces of the remonstrance and toucheth not the strength of the matter , yet so much he takes out as he cannot answer . but to the point , 1. it is agreeable to gospel truth , and walking in the power thereof , for saints upon just occasion to lay open the unrighteousness of men , and to endeavour that punishment ▪ may be inflicted , whether it be in an eclesiastical or civil way . 2. observe the loosness of his arguing , god loves first . what 's the inference ? therefore offenders , as murderers , thieves &c. ought not to be punished . 3. if i see and tast the fruit i can easily discern what the tree is , without digging to the root . he tells us page 31. the speech sheweth what is within , and cites matth. 12.34 , 35. hence we may undoubtedly conclude , that men apparently and visibly wicked , are corrupt and unfound within . 4. what the king's principles are , which are so mysterious and deep we search not after them , his known principles are known to be dangerous and destructive to the nation , & he holds them without change or amendment . 5. is mr. sedgwick in good earnest and speaks as he thinks ; that the king should be seven times more the child of the devil if he should turn to the army ? what! in a condition better than they ? yea , seven times better : surely then they are very bad . in pag. 12. he saith , he understands not the utmost of the religion they walk in . this seems to make the accusation the more probable , but many others lesse prejudiced against the army , and better principled in religion , know 't is false , and that they are as holy and pure in conversation as he himself , howbeit , with lesse noise , sound not a trumpet before them as the hypocrits do . thirdly , he brings in the remonstrance arguing against the accomodation , because there is no equal ballance of affairs , page 24. your meaning is ( saith he ) as you often express , the king's forces are wholly subdued . here he is short , noble enemies require no more but to get their enemies into their power , then they shew mercy ; for this he brings elisha's example , 2 king. 6.22 . and add how the lord never brings us down , but that he might restore us and lift us up again . ans. 1. it is sometimes so far from commendation , to spare an enemy gotten into our hands , as that not to do justice upon him , exeedingly displeaseth god . to omit many instances , 't is memorable in ahab's case , what sad tydings the prophet brought him for letting benhadad to escape , thus saith the lord , because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom i appointed to utter destruction : therefore thy life shall go for his life , and thy people for his people : 1 king , 20.24 . so saul , his sparing of agag when he was in his hands , was one cause that the lord did rend the kingdom of israel from him . again , what hath been more frequently practised by noble enemies than severity and justice upon such as they have gotten into their power ? who of all the kings of canaan taken in war by joshua , were not afterwards by his appointment put to death ? so samuel did agag : and jehu ahaziah king of judah . 3. touching elisha's example in sparing the syrians , it teacheth us thus much , that in our own cause we must render good for evil , and if our enemy hunger , feed him : and from his words to the king of israel we may gather , that men used not to kill such as in the field were taken captives , and stood not out in hostility : but there is nothing from the place to be collected , that justice may not be executed upon some offenders for special and notorious crimes , whether subdued in war or taken any other way . fourthly . the often caused war to maintain his interest against the publick interest this constantly and unweariedly ; so the remonstrance . at this mr. sedgwick grows angry , and fals into passion : you lye grosly saith he : but wherein ? these things which you propound were never thought of in the begining of the quarrel . the parliament alwaies professed never to alter the government , to protect the king's person &c. afterwards we have something said in scorn of their present form of government , with his fiction and dream touching the king . ans. 1. touching the time when some things are to be proposed , it is the necessary occasion which must alwaies be considered : in civil affairs we see what at one time may be born , others afterwards upon just and good ground may abolish and take away ; or otherwise we should deny men the use of their sense and reason . secondly , we know it is no parliament principle that their votes and agreement should be taken as the lawes of the medes and persians which altereth not : their constant practise is to alter and change as they see reason for it , and therefore it is the weakest reasoning that can be , to argue the parliament voted so and so , therefore it must stand : for instance , the prelates with their courts , cannons , service-book , and other dependances are abolished , and that by vote of parliament , now put case they should be ( which god forbid ) again re-established , aske of a royallist if there might not be enough said to justify the parliament in this latter act . thirdly , for the odium and disgrace which he puts upon their present form of government , calling it a headlesse monster , a hoddy-doddy , an all-breach , able to affright solid and serious men to their armes , and if he should fight against any thing , he should fight against it , and pag. 12. brats of their own brain . jn reading this , it makes me thinke how nichomachus in plutarch very fitly answered an ideot , that could see no beauty in the famous helena painted by zeuxis , take my eyes said nichomacus and you shall thinke her to be a goddesse . j will not here speak how treasonable his words are , as moving strongly to rebellion , and to raise a new war , and to cause commotions again in the land : but j see t is true , in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin , and he that refraineth his lips is wise . fourthly , he should have cleared the king of the things laid to his charge , as to have been the author and contriver of a most unjust war , and is consequently guilty of all the innocent blood rapine , spoyl , and mischief to the kingdome , as in the remonstrance , pag. 24. adde the losse of rochel in france , by his lending ships to the french king ; and the isle of ree and cales voyage , and the ground and reason of the quarrel . how he endevoured to stir up factions and differences between the honest party in england and scotland , that he might take advantage by such division : his open declaring in parliament , that he owes no account of his actions to none , but to god alone . what hath beene reported about his fathers death , and marquis hambleton , his designe in bringing up the northern army , and his large offers to the scots army to be brought up to london to awe the parliament , his usuall breaking of his promises , protestations , oathes , as in many particulars might be named , his sending over the jewels of the crown to be pawned by the queen for powder and ammunition , to fight against the parliament , and the priviledges , rights , and liberties of the subject . how he made 1500 widdows in one morning as mr. henderson told him . and concerning ireland , how clear it is by many severall passages , and by the examination of mar-carte , and macquire , &c. that the pretence of men for the king of spaines service a year or two before the rebellion in jreland was but a colour to keep some in armes for a foundation of that rebellion : how the jrish rebels call themselves , the kings and queens army , the first clause in the oath injoyned by the supream catholick councell at kelkenny in jreland , was to maintain his royall prerogative against the puritants in the parliament of england . jn one of his letters taken at nazeby he commanded the earle of ormond to give particular thanks to mustarre and planket the two arch-rebels in jreland : so divers of the jrish rebels had private passes from the king for the heading of the rebels there . j iet passe loans , shipmony , monopolies , knighthood , inlarging of forrests , inclosing of commons , ingrossing of gunpowder , his unparrell uxoriousnesse and affections to the queen , and compliance with the pope , &c. now all these things mr. sedgwick should first have answered , before he should have affirmed , jf there be any , reason for a prince to take up armes against his subject : he hath , and why so ? because there attempt is to destroy the king , and overthrow the very foundations of government , and a little before , the life of the king and his posterity is aymed at . answ . the premises granted to put him by , is a thing lawful and necessary ( of which more hereafter . ) and this may be done without destroying the very foundations of government , unlesse by foundations he means some particular form or kind of government , but that is not proper to say , for the foundations of government , is indeed that absolute entire and independant power residing alwayes in the people , and this foundation cannot be destroyed , j meane the right and habit of it : though the use and exercise may be wrung'd from them : so that to change and alter in respect of the forme or kinde of governments by vertue of the said power it is in the peoples liberty whensoever they see just cause and reason for it . fiftly , for the rest , which is , first reproaching the army , as to be their designe only to attain their end , malice , ambition , and revenge . and secondly , that the king shall put all into gods hand , and shall receive it again in the life and glory of god . this is capable of no other answer but reproof and pitty . to follow mr. sedgwick in his own order , next he comes to answer pag 26.27 . &c. which is the second part of the question , and a second reason against accommodation : the safety of an agreement , here he takes some words out of the remonstrance , that the king hath forfeited all his power into your hands ; that the people are free to make the best advantages , and pag. 27. having him and his party captivated , and in their power . reader , i professe unto thee in the word of truth , here i have read over some leaves , and have done my best to see what is in his answer , but for severall pages together , as 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , &c. i finde nothing therein , for i esteeme not his calumniations , rash-judging , self-prayse as any thing ; and for this be thou thy self a witnesse . saith he , we have all this while to justify our selves in this war , said , that our war was but defensive , and if it prove otherwise , we must repent of it . answ . it is not alwayes a fault to change from a defensive to an offensive way and course . a man being set upon by a highway-robber , or pirate at sea , may at first resolve only his owne safety , and yet afterward seek to wound and kill the enemy , and justly too ▪ to apply this , when the war first began betweene the king and parliament it was unknown to us , what murders , massacres , and spoyles , he would commit , in and upon the land , and people . again his former perfidiousnesse , treacheries , and destroying plots , were not then so publickly and clearly understood as since ; and therefore no marvail there is a change from defensive to offensive , seeing he hath given the cause , and so no argument of lightnesse , hypocrisie , self-ends , in persons thus changed . secondly , he is large in giving out what was in their mindes when they began the war , that the king and his party were wicked men , not fit for the places and power they had , they were saints , and no body fit to rule but they : glad when the parliment tooke armes , thinke themselves the onely true lords , and except the king would become one of their saints , &c. answ . it was a reason which elias layd down , why he was willing to die , i am no better then my fathers ; for men eminent in grace , gifts , office , &c. to have things laid to their charge , which they never knew it , hath been practised in all ages , mr. sedgwick is not the first , that hath bent his tongue like a bow against the godly this way . tiberius on a time hearing certaine persons speaking unreverently of augustus , acquainted him therwith , to whom augustus answered , let it not trouble you tiberius that any man speaketh ill of us , it is sufficient that no man is able to hurt us : gods presence with and protection for the army is such , as bad tongues cannot hurt them , neither darken their splendor and beauty in the eyes of honest and godly people . 3. next he blames them in saying , this miserable inconvenience of a treaty , this insnaring treaty , and because they call it a preposterous and self-deserting way . pag. 27. and hence he takes occasion to tel them that they have defiled their cause , count all their owne because they have fought for it , they are no saints , yet he scornes that cause that is subject to ruin and destruction . answ. 1. what is said in the remonstrance touching this last personall treaty , is true enough , for who but malignants and papists were the first contrivers and abetters thereof . the lord goring in his former intercepted letters could tell us so much , that if the king could cudgel the parliament into a treaty the king had brought his designe to perfection : and t is reported of the king himself that he should say , if such a thing could be brought about , then it should not be in the power of men or devils to hinder him from bringing all his designes to his own hearts desire . secondly , for men to act for publick rights , and to hinder wicked designes is no base and accursed way , but an approved path , walked in by the saints in all former ages . thirdly , it is not faith but fancie , when god gives in meanes and wayes of preservation and safety , not to observe the providence in the carefull use of them . fourthly , he chargeth them to be of a base and poor spirit , and unbecomming christian souldiers , to speak of persons ingaged , the party adhering , and to think the king will be revenged on them , for their eminent activity against him . it is ( saith he ) a principle very destructive to continue the disturbance of a nation , to save our lives : afterward he shewes what he would doe himself in such a case . answ. 1. it is easily observed what is the main drift and scope of his whole dicourse in many pages here together , namely a direct crossing and contradiction of christs counsel , be ye wise as serpents and harmelesse as doves : but according to his principle , a man cannot be a sheep , unlesse he runne himselfe into the lyons mouth : nor a dove , without falling purposely into the snare . because the army , to the doves innocency joyn the serpents prudence , that is , seek to avoyd danger so far as lawfully they may , hence he cryes out , feare a snare , and the pit have taken hold of you . i laugh at your destruction , and mock when your fear comes , you are no saints , you live not in god , &c. as if a provident care of safety , stood not with the fear of god . demosthenis upbraiding the athenians with improvidence and incircumspection , presented to them an innocent fool , who being struck on the one cheek , laid his hand on the place where he received the blow , and being smitten on the other did the like , never using either of his hands to defend himself from further blowes . such ideots and blocks mr. sedgwick would perswade men to be , take blows and stand still , and never seek to avoid the stroke , though god have put means into their hands , and may lawfully escape the danger . but secondly , it is a great mistake of mr. sedgwick , to think that continuance of the army is destructive to the kingdom , and that their disbanding would be for the peoples peace , good welfare , he harps often upon this string , whereas there is nothing more cleer than the contrary . thirdly , for the rest of the answer , 't is only what he hath , and what he can do , propounded in four heads : and i passe it over , if any man can make use of it much good may it do him . from pag. 27. to 37. we have a tyresome discourse of two things , the armies badness , and his goodness : their fear , his faith . 1. whereas it is in the remonstrance , we might chalenge all story for one instance in the like case : howsoever he grants a good use of story , yet in them it is a dull thing &c. ans. 1. i never observed this principle before , because men profess the kingdom of christ , and have a light of truth and justice , that therefore they should be uncapable of the use of former story : doth religion take off from a christian , because a christian ? what is proper to every man , as a man moral , civil , natural ? 2. if there be a good use of story as he grants , then might they at this time well challenge it reasoning the greater to the lesse , as thus : if all nations keeping their interest , and proceeding according to equity and justice , have upon fewer and lesser crimes refused personal treaties with their kings , and called them to an accompt and done justice upon them according to their facts : there is all the reason in the world , that the like be done to this king whose exorbitances and enormities are beyond most parrellel instances : enquire ( saith bildad ) of the former age , and prepare thy self to the search of the fathers ; for we are but of yesterday . sundry histories and authors might be produced to manifest that emperours and kings not only have been restrained for their tyranny and misgovernment , yea , for not committing the evil which this king hath done : take for instance ( his name sake ) charles the ninth king of france four or five several conclusions of peace were solemnly made and ratified between the king and the protestants , but no sooner made and proclaimed , but presently violated of the king and the popish party , by massacres and and new treacherous plots to extirpate the protestant party ; so that every accommodation proved but a seminary of a new and more bloody war almost to the utter ruin of france . in the year 1592. when a publick peace was made , and all differences to outward appearences , buried in eternal oblivion , the king contrary to his faith and oath caused the admiral of france ( the protestants cheefe piller ) as he departed from the counsel to dinner , to he shot with a harquebuze , which carried away the forefinger of his right hand and wounded him in the left arm . the king to colour his treachery , swears with an excreation to the king of navarre and others who complained of this outrage , to take such exemplary justice on the offenders , as the admiral and his friends should have cause to rest satisfied , command them to be pursued , appoints three of the parliament to make information against them , protests after this again and again , to be exeedingly sorry , that this act touching his honor , that he will be revenged for it , so as the memory of it should remain for ever , writes to governors of the provinces , chief towns , and magistrates , that he would take such order as the authors of so wicked an act should be known and punished . and to his ambassadors to forreign princes , that they should make it known to all the world , that this outrage did displease him . and for the admiral's safety he commands the captains of his guard to give him as many of his guard as he pleased ; to suffer no papists to enter his lodging ; and adviseth all the gentlemen protestants then in paris to lodge about the admirals lodging . but all this court holy-water was only to keep every bird within his own nest , and a pitfal to entrap the chief of the protestants : for the same day after dinner , the king and queen mother , the duke of guize , and others , take counsel to murder the admiral , and all the chief protestants , the night ensuing , not only in paris , but thorow out all france , whilest they were sleeping in their beds . which most tyranical barbarous tradgedy was accordingly acted , the admiral slain in his lodging , and his head cut off , carried to the king and queen mother , who causing it to be embalm'd , sent it to the pope and cardinal of lorrain for an assurance of the death of their most capital enemy : all the protestants , noblemen and gentlemen , lodging in the admirals quarters undergo the like butchery , the streets of paris are strewed with carkeises , the pavements , market-places , and river dyed with protestant blood , about ten thousand of them being thus treacherously massacred in their beds , at such a season when they thought themselves most safe , and that on the lords own sacred day , a very unsutabe time for such a bloody prophane , infernal sacrifice . no sooner was this matchlesse treachery of this king against his own natural subjects executed , but he avowes and justifies that which he but the day before so solemnly and openly disclaimed , as a means to cut off al commotions for time to come : of which we shall say more in its proper place . 2. he brings forth their main evil surmisings ( as he cals them ) as how apt princes are to break such accommodations , and how easie it is for them . page 29. his answer hereunto is , that they are pursued with fear and wrath on every side . answ . the simple beleeveth every word , but the prudent man looketh well to hi● going . do they in the remonstrance manifest a jealousie and fear ? what have they now done ? is there not a cause ? for who knows not that it hath been the continual practice , of all such kings when they have quieted the people by an hypocritical and feigned yeilding to their proposals , and gotten themselves into the throne again , to pick quarels , make breaches and commit greater outrage and insolencies , than ever they did before , without regard of faith or oath . hear what mr. prinne saith to this thing in his soveraign power of parliaments . part 2. page 34. it hath been ( saith he ) the constant practice of most of our kings ( as john , henry the 3. edward and richard the 2. with others , who after war and differences with their parliaments , lords and commons , upon accommodations made between them , assoon as ever they got possession of their castles ships ammunition seized by their subjects , break all vowes , oathes , covenants made unto them , oppressing them more than ever , enlarging their own prerogatives and diminshing the subjects liberties , ( yea taking away many of their lives against law , oathes , promises pardons ) on purpose to enthrale them , which still occasioned new commotions . and a little after brings in this observation , well then might the royal prophet give us this divine caution , oh put not your trust in princes : surely men of high degree are already laid in the ballance , they are altogether lighter than vanity , both in their oath and promises . again , this same mr. prinne in the appendix pag , 74. commends it as a maxime held by the nobles of alphonso king of castile , a cruel and treacherous prince , that a tyrant being offended will at some time revenge himself , and therefore they must not trust him upon any reconciliation . thirdly , for the rest , 't is only his prophesie touching the restitution of the king to his antient rights . how his suffering hath made him a royalist that never cared for him , ( mark it reader who taught him that ) the poor suffering oppressed king and his partie shall have his compassion , and for the army they are upon foolish wayes , hope for nothing but deceit and falshood and treachery : fear compasseth them about on every side like cain : safety flyes from them , god looked upon them every way with sadness and wrath : and much more of this language . but i have metwithit so often as i am now quite tyred out : i am glad that his excellency and the councel of warre can so patiently bear it , t is a great adition to their goodness and largenes of spirit . the eagle being provoked by the night-crow with her clamorous noise and screeching to fight yet will not stir up to battle , howsoever the crow be too weak for her . and ti is attributed to a horse as his praise and acting argueth great courage and mettle to him , when dogs bark at him and run after him , he will not turn against them but runs forward as if he neither saw them nor heard them , although he can easily trample them under his feet· for the other particular which is a large praising of himselfe , i shall say very little to it , seeing it relates not to the publicke cause for which i have ingaged : neither is it materiall to set down his words , for howsoever they are a heape , and a huge one too . ( see page 32 , 33 , 34 , 35. ) yet in short it all amounts to this much : he dwels in that mountaine where there is no hurtfull thing , feares no surprizes being in a state not apprehensive of danger , sees no evil , knowes no evil , he lives where there is no more curse , death , nor sorrow , &c. he can binde kings , yea , the devil , and cast him into the bottomlesse pit , dissolve all his works , and secure him within his own bounds , that he shall no longer destroy the earth . christ saith , if i bear witnesse of my selfe my witnesse is not true . but leaving that question whither he speaks the truth : this is a truth without question , that in this boasting practise , he walkes contrary to all sober , meeke , humble , and self-denying christians both past and present . if this doe not argue a man to be a boaster , proud , heady , high-minded , then i know not what doth : we judge the emptinesse of the vessel by the lowdnesse of the sound , brasse tinckleth more then gold , and a bladder is soon blown up , but when it is most swoln there is nothing in it , but a little ayre . the tree alpina brings forth the fairest blossomes of all trees , but the bee suspects it to be venemous , because it is so glorious , and therefore neither tasteth it , nor commeth neer it . if self praysing may be admitted as a ground or reason to suspect a person so doing not to be sound , mr. sedgwick surely more then any man i know , gives cause of such a suspition , in making himself so glorious with his own mouth . two things i shall here commend to the readers observation . 1. in page 49. speaking of the army , he saith , your condition is well-expressed , esay . 65.4 , 5. which say , stand by thy self , come not neere me , for i am holier then thou : and often he taxeth them for counting themselves saints , righteous , holy , &c. and judging the king and his party otherwise : whereas in the mean time , in 8 or 9. pages together , he hath little else but calling the army , dogs and devils , and himself a saint ; they in satan , darknesse , hel ; he in god , light , heaven ; they all fear , himself all faith ; they deceivers , hypocrites , lyars , but he righteous , sincere , true ; speake out reader , hast thou ever seen more palpable grosnesse ? 2. jn pag. 34. he expresseth himself thus : if you find any world in me , you shall doe me right to afflict it , break it , let it suffer , &c. t is the best thing j find in all his book , and it gives me the more encouragement to speak to him of his error and fayling , and the greater hope i have of his amendment : now if the tree may be known by the fruit , and the speech shewes what he is within , as a stincking breath argues rotten lungs , and filthy inwards , then without doubt this followes , to wit , that there is a great deale of world in you , many sinfull lusts , and vile affections , which need afflicting and breaking : look upon these words , they are your owne , page 36. and specially applyed to his excellency and the generall counsell of war , you are cast out and gone out , and live out the blessed and glorous presence of god , and so are dogs rated by god into a filthy kennel of base things , and are as fearful as dogs . i do not set this down as if in other places there were not the like words , but to lay it before you ( as a glasse ) that you may see there is world in you , and what an unruly tongue you have to powre out evil things . if any man seem religious , and bridleth not his tongue , but deceiveth his own heart , that mans religion is vain . likewise your boasting and glorying , it is a thing altogether unbeseeming a child of god : the saints have scorn'd and loathed it , 't is no song of zion ; paradise excludes it , in the new jerusalem are no self-praisers , but all praysers of god : 't is the spirit of antichrist to say , i am , & none else besides me : the dialect and tongue of a pharisie and hypocrite , to say , i am not as other men . but specially i must tell you of a world and wickedness in you , ( i say not a word of wickedness ) which is your idle fancies and dreams , lord , what a deal of froth and foolery is there forth in the world under the name of william sedgwick : and that late non-sense , the spiritual madman , shews how more & more satan beguiles you and carries you on with stronger delusions . now the good god for his christs sake heal your errour and restore you to sobriety , truth , and the spirit of meekness . having ended with his answer to the armies exceptions against the treaty : next he leads it unto two objections mentioned in the remonstrance 1. their former declaring for the king and compliance with him , and here he repeates some of their words , 1. partly necessitating us for the present prevention of that mischief to the publick they were running into in that kind as we apprehended . 2. that moderation was but hypocritical . 3. we aim'd not at the strengthening our selves to the ruin of any person , but to prevent &c. and afterwards you repeat and say , 't was error , unbelief and carnal counsels . to let passe how he saies , there 's no kind of men can be such compleat and neat knaves as a jesuit , a pharisie , an old well-studied-professor of religion : and also his bold speech , that he knows their waies and hearts . his answer contains a threatning , to shame them for iniquity of holy things , and to shew the abomination of their reformation . 1. he saith , " it was not their sin to carry out principles of " goodness and tenderness to all . i answer , it was jehoshaphat's failing , and the lord blames him for it , saying , should'st thou help the ungodly ? which shews that aid and assistance yeelded to some may be unwarrantable as the case stands . 2. for his saying , in your turning , now you turn not to god . the answer is , if god justifie , who can condemn ? his heaping up reproachful words proves nothing , only argues an il govern'd tongue . 3. is the fight of sin and godly sorrow for it , a miserable and dark principle and a very wicked practice ? we know better : the apostle saith , if we say we have no sin , we deceive our selves , and the truth is not in us . and therefore in the remonstrance , they speak as saints and true christians , when they say , wee find matter of acknowledgement before the lord concerning our error , frailty , unbeleef . for indeed , the dayes of faith , are as the dayes of the year , some fair sometimes foule , one while a sunshine summer , another while a long and tedious winter : a christian soul between faith and fear , is like a piece of iron between two loadstones the one drawing one way the other drawing another way . gal. 5.17 . as a valiant man may startle at the sudden discharge of a peece of ordnance behinde his back , who otherwise having time to collect and summon his spirits would not fear to stand at the mouth of a charged cannon in a good cause : thus it is with the godly and so it seems to be the armies case , a sudden gust or storme comming unawares startled them : but since the lord having drawn up their spirits , filled what was empty , and laid in promises on their hearts of his presence and protection : now they fear not what man can do , but in the strength of god are resolved to break through all difficulties , go forward in spight of all opposition , hold their own , and stand fast in the work , making this use and advantage of their former slip , to look the better to their steps and walkings , and seek in their actings gods glory the more . the second thing is , the covenant , which oblieges to the preservation of the kings person and authority . here ( as his manner is ) he takes out of the remonstrance some pieces and broken sentences , as that clause page 55. in the preseruation of true religion and liberty of the kingdom : so page 57. if it have an evil sense it cals for repentance : 't was betwixt man and man . page 59. and after ( saith he ) you would exclude god from being any thing but a witness . before i come to his answer , i shal propound some few things to the readers consideration : 1. a covenant though lawfully made , yet if afterwards it cannot be performed without sin , in such case it binds not , neither may it be kept : for it is a truth without dispute , we may not do evil that good may come thereof . 2. that covenant is not binding where the condition or thing is not performed upon which the promise or tye was made . for instance , the people oblieging themselves , to preserve the person of the king and his authority , intended withall their own safety , liberties , rights : upon this ground , i say , they covenanted , namely , the publick safety : seeing therefore the publick good is inconsistant with the preservation of his person and authority , that covenant binds not , for when something is promised for such a cause , and afterward is found not to be , that promise is void . so amesius . 3. if men either implicitely or knowingly bind themselves to breake any law of god or rule of justice , in such a case the ingagement holds not ; specially in that particular , and so farre as that clause extendeth . to apply it , if men oblige themselves to preserve the kings person and authority , &c. and god in the mean time cals for justice , their obligation must give place to his commandment . but it will be objected how joshua and the elders of the jews , kept covenant with the gibeonites , joshua 9. howsoever devoted to destruction . i answer , that covenant was lawfull : see deut. 2.26 . josh. 11.19 , 23. judg. 2.12.14 . 2 sam. 21.1 , 2.29 , 14. deut. 20.10 . by all which places it appeareth that they onely of the canaanites were devoted to destruction , who did not seek for peace ; for if they would sue for it upon these conditions , to wit , abjure their idolatry , embrace the true religion of the jews , and submit themselves , their land , good , and all they had to their dominion it was to be granted them . fourthly , it is no binding oath when either there wants power and right in the administrator , or the persons taking it are not capable of the thing put upon them : and here to speake my minde freely , i have not yet seen a cleer ground either for the one or other touching that covenant . fifthly , take notise when persons enter into covenant about things , out of their power and right , such covenants are neither lawfull nor to be kept . i would willingly know what was meant by the preservation of the kings person and authority ; whether notwithstanding all the tyranny and oppression he should commit , it was yet intended to preserve him from justice , and to keep him in his place of government ; if so , then it was an unlawfull covenant , protestation , oath , because they had no right or power to doe such a thing : it being a thing against the law of god , nature , and nations , and so went beyond their bounds . but if in taking it , it was intended , by preserving the person of the king , his authority , &c. so far as it should be agreeable to justice , law , conscience , it was tolerable , and no otherwise . these things premised , the lesse will serve in reply to his answer . 1. to that he saith , god put the preservation of the kings life and authority into the covenant on purpose to save him after all his sufferings . answ . 1. this is onely his saying , and we may deny it with as much reason , truth and authority . 2. if god save him not ( he means a temporall salvation , or else speaks impertinently ) then he put him not into the covenant for such a purpose ; for gods counsel and purpose shall stand . but 3. charity thinks no evil ; it is the rule of love when speeches or actions are doubtfull in themselves , and in their report ; and may be taken either well or ill , alwayes to interpret them in the best part . the preservation of the kings person is in the covenant , but how ? if we will judge charitably ( seeing nothing is explained ) it is thus , the covenanters intended the glory of god in the kings preservation , that is , oblieged themselves so far as it be lawfull and honorable . secondly , that oaths and covenants should be the main pillars of humane societies , we grant , but there is one thing which you still want , and that makes you to erre , namely distinctions : doe you mean all covenants and oaths , i desire to think better of you ; and that your meaning is onely just ones ; but howsoever hereafter learn to make distinction , and it will prevent much stumbling in you . 3. that these are the last and perillous times spoken of 2 tim. 3 1. we will take it so ; and doe observe your greek {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} accusers , you speak also of applying that text ; you need not goe farre to make application : for certaine , if your pamphlet were divided into ten parts nine of the ten would be found vile slanders , and false accusations . it may be the lord will smite you , and make your heart tender for it . mr. sedgwick by this time is neer come to the proposals , that the person of the king may be brought ▪ to justice : but before he takes of that , he tels us , this is a strange remedy against civill wars , to lay aside treating . answ . 1. we may well desire to have that laid aside , which we assuredly know was devised and carried on to the prejudice and hurt of the publick , and so a remedy worse then the disease . 2. you mistake your self to say , treating is laid aside , for t is neither so nor so : unlesse you will say , that a sick man layes aside the meanes and remedy of health , when he refuseth bloody and murderous mountebancks and quacksalvers , and make choise of honest able and faithfull phisitians . secondly , speaking to the army , you say of the king , pag. 41. jf he were in power you would shrinke out of the kingdom . answ . 1. jn this you shew much lightnesse and contradiction , say and unsay , and indeed know not what you say : sometimes in your propheticall fooleries you cry up the king , that when he comes again to be in power , he shall be meek , mercifull , full of divine goodnesse , and in particular doe assure the soldiers that he will forget the wrong they have done him ; and here you threaten them , if he were in power they would shrinke out of the kingdome . but 2. j verily beleeve ( howsoever like caiaphas , probably he knew not what he said , yet ) in this he speaks the very truth , that is , if he were in power , honest men would shrinke out of the kingdome . for as a lyon at liberty , after some restraint , is more fierce , cruel , bloody then he was before ; so he , following the steps of former tyrants , would exercise more cruelty outrage and oppression then ever he did before he was hunted , taken , and shut up . that is a remarkeable passage in the seventh book of the remembrances of monluc one of the marshals of france , and a profest papist , speaking of the massacre at paris , the king , ( saith he ) never forgot the chase that the admiral gave him from meaux to paris , swifter then ordinary , kings sooner forget a good piece of service then any offence . afterwards he saith , j wonder how a man so wise as the admirall in worldly matters , could trust the king , but he paid well for it , for it cost him his life and many more . this witnesse is true , and this thing well to be thought of by his excellency , lieut. gen. cromwell , and such men : for confident j am , were this king againe in his power , notwithstanding all his promises , protestations , oathes , he would not forget how they chased him in such a place , made him run for it at such a time ; and they should be served just as the admiral of france was , if he could not be revenged on them some other way . george bucanan ( king james his own tutor ) records a memorable story to shew the falshood and dissimulation of princes in their treaties with the people . durstus the eleventh king of scotland , giving himself to all deboistnesse , first ▪ banished his fathers friends from him , as the troublesome reprehenders of his pleasures , and sending for the most vicious young men to be his companions , gave himself to luxury and venery ; he prostituted his wife ( daughter to the king of britain ) to his companions , and banished her . at last the nobles conspiring against him , he awaking as it were out of sleep , considering that he should find no place of safety , neither at home nor abroad , being equally hated of strangers and subjects , thought best to counterfeit repentance of his former life , for so he might retain his crown , and afflict punishments on his enemies . wherefore recalling his wife from exile , he first of all endeavored to reconcile himself to the brittains : then calling the chiefest of his subjects to him , he ratified with a most solemn oath the oblivion of his former courses , he committed every most wicked person to prison , as if he reserved them for punishment , and religiously promised , that he would do nothing hereafter , but by the advice of his nobles . when by these things he had given assurance of his sincere mind , he celebrated the agreement with pastimes , banquets , and other signes of publick gladnesse : and now all mens minds being taken up with joy , he called most of the nobility to a supper ; where , when he had shut them up ( improvident and unarmed ) in one room , sending in his assasnates , he slew them every one . but what follwed , this inhumane action so incensed and exasperated the rest with new flames of wrath and revenge , as ( ad muisum portentum tollendum , eonjurantibus ) all agreeing together to take away this detested monster ; gathered a great army and slew him in battle with his wicked confederates . the like falshood and dissimulation he sets down of james the third king of scotland , upon promise of reformation , the nobles dismissed him , but he immediatly falsified his oath , & thought upon nothing but revenge , blood , and slaughter : whereupon , knowing him to be so false and perfideous , they would yeild to no terms of peace , but slew him in battle as a common enemy . i shall close this point with bodins observation , if a tyrant ( saith he ) he but shaken and not quite overthrown , he will commit horrible murders of the best citizens , to satisfie and settle his tyrrany : for a tyrant that hath esaped the hands of such as had conspired against him , he becomes mad and furious like a wild beast , that sees his own blood . lib. 6. 3. he makes much ado , about offering to god the blood of men as a sacrifice to appease his displeasure &c. this he calls an unparrelled wickedness . ans. as god maketh inquisition for blood , so the standing law is , he that sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed . 't is who so , whether kings , lords and commons , the commandement takes all in indiffinitly without respect of persons : ye shal take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death , but he shall surely be put to death , numb .. 35.31 . thine eye shall not pity him , but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from israel , that it may go well with thee , deut. 19.13 . signifying that the rooting out of sinners turneth away gods wrath from a people : according to solomon , to do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the lord than sacrifice , prov. 21.3 . thus solomon took away the innocent blood which joab shed from him and the house of his father . thus the fierce wrath and anger of the lord was turned away from israel when they took the heads of the people and hanged them up before the lord against the sun , numb. 5.4 . thus when seven of the sons of saul were hanged up in gibeath of saul , after that the lord was entreated for the land . 2 sam. 21.6.14 . thus we see what gods will is to appease wrath , and what the people of god have formerly done , and therein pleased the lord . to say therefore as he doth , 't is such u sacrifice as was never yet by the darkest heathens invented . it shews his ignorance , not only in humane history , but his great contradiction and opposition to sacred truth , and his seeking to have the land remain defiled and full of blood and other pollutions , that god may yet plague us yet seven times more : besides , there is nothing here propounded and desired by the army , but what the parliament hath resolved long since in the declaration of august 18. 1642. in these positive words : the lords and commons assembled in parliament , do declare , that all such persons as shall upon any pretence whatsoever , assist his majestie in this warre with horse , arms , plate , or money are traytors to his majestie , the parliament , and kingdom , and shall be brought to condigne punishment for so great an offence . and this they have since seconded in sundry other declarations and impeachments . fourthly . for that most notorious falshood of his ( because his excellency and the councel of war crave that justice may be done ) to say , it is the foule and black design of a few unbeleeving people . i let it passe , the lord i know will rebuke him for it , for as in this , so in all the rest he manifests himself to be one of that number , who have said with our tongue , we will prevail , our lips are our own , who is lord over us ? but for the persons upon whom you have laid so grievous an aspersion , this is their comfort and rejoycing in the lord , that as god knowes their hearts so he knowes the sincerity and singlenesse of them , that they look at his glory in seeking after the publick good . as the clouds can neither lessen the light of the sun , nor let the course thereof , because at the last they are scattered by the heat of the sun which shineth out most comfortable : so the innocency of their persons and justnesse of their cause , shal disperse and drive away all black clouds of calumniations , and the mouth of him that speaketh lies shall be stopt . now we come to the great work propounded in the remonstrance , that that capitall and grand author of our troubles , the person of the king may be brought to justice , for the treason , blood , and mischief , he is there guilty of . here i find mr. sedgwick in his answer to say very little to it . but 1. that no law takes hold of the king. 2. the crown is his birth-right and inheritance : for the rest it is either a justification of the king , as to be better then they : or bitter reproaches . because this is a high subject , and a businesse a foote , i shall therefore speak the more largely to it , not de facto but de jure : for the treason , blood , &c. laid to the king : i shall leave that charge to others more concerned in it , only i shall shew what justly and lawfully may be done in such a case . and for the readers clearer information and better understanding of the point , i shall here assert 5. things . first , that there is a supream and soveraigne power alwayes residing in the people above kings . secondly , that all kings , in all places , and at all times , have been , and still are subject to , and under law . thirdly , that the people have the power , not onely to call their kings to an account , but to censure and remove them for their tyranny and misgovernment . fourthly , that no nation is so tied to any form of civill government , but that it is lawfull for the people to alter it into another form or kind upon occasion . fifthly , that amongst all the formes of civil government , aristocraticall or popular is best and safest for the people . for the first , that every magistrate , ( be he emperor or king ) is inferior to the whole kingdome and people , it may plainly be demonstrated . 1. because he is not only their servant , but creature too , being originally created by , and for them : now as every creator is of greater power and authority then its creature , and every cause greater then its effect , so the authority and power of the people , which creates the prince and his princely power , and enlargeth , limits , or restrains it , as there is cause , must needs be greater then the prince or royal power . and though principallities , ( as generally considered ) be of god , yet the constitution of princes and their severall degrees of power are meerly from men : hence it is that peter speaking of kings and their supremacy , cals them {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} every creature or ordinance of man . 1 pet. 2.13 . because originally instituted , limitted , and continued , by , and for the use and service of the people , whose creatures ( as we said ) ministers and servants they are , and ought to be , and from them receive their whole jurisdiction , power , and authority . besides howbeit principallities as generally considered , be indeed of god , yet the constitution of all princes and their severall degrees of power are meerly from men : and this cannot with any shew of reason be denied . for if the regall authority of princes were meerly from the law of god and nature , it should be the same , and like it self in all kingdomes ; but t is not the same and like it self in all kingdomes , but as every people please and make a free choise of : neverthelesse every form and kinde of government is equally lawfull , and good in it self ( whether monarchy , aristocratie or democratie ) as all , on all sides doe acknowledge . 2ly . it is a thing neither probable nor credible , that any free people , when they voluntarily incorporated themselves into kingdomes , of their own accord set up an elective king over them , that there was such stupidity and madnesse in them , as absolutely to resigne up their soveraign and popular power , authority & right to kings and their heires for ever , & to give them an entire , full , and incontroulable supremacie over them , and so to make the creature inferior to the creator , the derivative greater then the primative , the servants more potent then themselves , and thus of free men to make themselves slaves , and for their more safety to be more enslaved . but the contrary appears by the peoples constant practise in all ages , as we shall manifest hereafter . but admit ( which with sence cannot be imagined ) that such a thing had been so , yet the fathers could not take in their posterity with them : neither oblige them any way in point of equity and conscience , to confirm and observe what they foolishly had done : but their children afterwards might lawfully ; yea , and ought to stand fast in the liberty which the law of god , nature and nations had made them free , and not be entangled in the slavish yoke and bondage of their fore-fathers . hence amesius in his cases of conscience , lib 5. cap. 22. qu. 2. resolves , that all fatherly power is in procuring the good of children , and shewes in the next cha. that liberty in naturall estimation is next to life it self , and of many preferr'd before it . 3. common reason , law , and experience manifests that the whole or greatest part in all publick or naturall bodies is of greater excellency , power , and jurisdiction then any one particuler member . thus in all corporations the court of aldermen and common-councel is of greater power then the major alone , though the chief officer : so the whole bench then the lord chief justice ; and the whole councel then the president . and it is aristotles expresse determination , polit. lib. 1. cap. 2. & lib. 3. cap. 8. & lib. 4. cap. 8. what forme of government soever it be ; whatsoever seemes good to the major part of the people , that is more excellent , and to be preferred before any part or member thereof ; and that it is unfit the part should be before the whole : and he gives for it his reason thus , the people know what is profitable , necessary , and good for them , better then their kings , who are their publick ministers : and thus concluding , itaque majorum rerum potestas jure populo tribuitur . therefore power of the greater things is by right the peoples . 4. this may also appear by the histories and records of all kingdoms in the world , where tyrants forc't not in by conquest and held not possession afterwards by force . in the romane state both under their kings and emperors , the chief power in all things of highest concernment , was alwayes in the senate and people ; and so much bodin grants , that the people hadt he chief soveraign power of enacting and confirming lawes , the senates decrees being of no validity , unlesse the people ratified them , and if any of their kings , consuls , emperors , or generals did things without their consent ( as making war , concluding peace , &c. ) it did not bind but was meerly voyd , unlesse the senate and people together in a great assembly ratified the same by a publick law . but to let passe forreign examples , our ancestors in this kingdome , ( which shewes what power was invested in the whole body of the people ) have not only constrained our kings by threats yea , force of armes to summon and continue parliament ▪ but likewise compelled them to give their royal assents to magna charta , charta de foresta , confirmatio chartarum , articuli super chart as , with sundry other publick statutes of right and justice for common good , and the subjects safety ; and to ratify them with their hands , seales , oathes , proclamations , against their will and liking , which forced assents have been afterward justified , and held good in law , to bind these kings and their followers to the due observation thereof ; for where the lawes are convenient , necessary , or essentiall for the kingdomes welfare , the subjects just liberty , and safety , and such as the king by duty and oath is bound to assent to , there if they compel the king to give his assent in case of denyal the assent is binding , and shall not be voyd by duresse , because the king doth no more then he is obliged by oath law and duty to condiscend unto , and the people ( whose power is above him ) may justly require . 5. and now in answer to mr. sedgwick affirming the crown to be the kings birth-right , a thing which i utterly deny , and have clear reasons against it . for 1. howsoever here in england the crown hath gon often by discent , yet never was it granted absolute successive , and heretary but arbitrary and elective . hence many of our kings have come to the crown without any hereditary title by the peoples free election , and afterward obeyed as lawful kings . thus anno. 975. after edgars disease not ethelred the heir to the former king but edward crowned . so edmund heir to king ethelred refused , and canutus a stranger elected , and crowned . so edmund and alfred both heirs , set a side , and harald and hardiknute elected and crowned kings . i might also shew how upon the death of king harald it was enacted by the english nobility that none of the danish blood should any more reign after them . so after william the first , not robert the elder brother but rufus the younger brother chosen : so after the desease of richard the first , john earl of morton was crowned and arthur the right heir refused . the like might be manifested of other nations how their kings did not reign heretarily and by succession from father to sonne , but those were chosen kings amongst them which were held worthy , which election was made by the people , and revokable by them at any time : and whensoever the crown went now and then by succession , it was by usurpation rather than right . from humane histories we might come to the holy scriptures , and shew that the original creation and constitution of the isralites kingdoms proceeded only from the authority and power of the people , and that solely by divine permission rather than institution , as is apparant by deut. 11.14 , 15. and howsoever the lord did somtimes immediatly nominate the persons of those that should reign over them , as saul , david , jehu , jeroboam &c. yet the people did constantly confirme and make them kings , and gave them their royal authority , none being made kings by divine appointment , but such as they willingly accepted , approved , and confirmed to be kings ; gods previous designation being but a preparative to their voluntary and free election . moreover , it is very cleer that the kings of judah and israel were subordinate in power to the people , and not only counselled but usually over-rul'd by them , in al matters of publick concernment ; for though they asked a king , yet they reserved sufficient authority to themselves , to restrain him , and to order and dispose of the publick affairs as they thought good . but these things we have reserved to a larger treatise . 2. howsoever , bodin contrary to aristotle , tacitus , lipsius , toloso , machavel , kirchnerus and the greatest polititions prefers succession before election of kings and instanceth several nations to be heretary ; yet this i say , quo jure ? from the beginning it was not so , for every heretary crown , is through custom not of right , howsoever people have let it passe , and admitted them in such a way , yet this hath been still in the people a free act , and it was in their liberty and power to have chosen any other . 3. whereas some kings require an oath of their subjects , that their heirs and successors shall enjoy the crown after them , and the grounds of taking this oath , is , upon an opinion that the crown goes by succession from father to child ( so that in their understanding they give not any thing away from themselves , but only acknowledg what they conceive the person already is ) now this oath being given , and taken upon a false ground cannot bind in point of conscience , because if they knew it was not the others right they would not swear , neither meant they in the least to pass away any thing of their own right , for they thought it was the others properly before . and here by the way , observe how vain and groundlesse that common question ( pro and con ) is amongst polititians , statists , civilians , and some divines , whether succession or election be the better , as if truly and rightly there were some such thing as succession , whereas it is neither so nor so . i confesse after a kings desease , the people may elect and crown the son and his sons son , but that any such thing can be claimed or chalenged as a birth-right , it is altogether untrue , there is no kingdom in the world where the crown descends from the father to the son by any true and proper succession : the most that can be is not simple succession , but a succession limitable and conditional , that is a promise on the peoples part ( for some considerable causes ) that the son shall be crowned after the fathers death if he be fit to govern , and they see it is for their good . but that any people should absolutely bind themselves to have the son reign over them after the fathers death should he be a fool , a knave , a madman , a tyrant , either such a thing was never meant , or if it were ever so , such people therein shewed themselves either to be fools , knaves , madmen , or children , as doing a thing against all reason , all right , the manifest law of god , and very light of nature . and this we further add , that whatsoever covenants or contracts have been between former kings and our ancestors about succession , and what acts of parliament , laws , statutes they have made about it , they are no way binding to us , neither are we thereto related or concern'd in the same . if two men make a contract together , that the son of the one shall marry the others daughter , if these children be under age , they have liberty and power ( especially their fathers being dead ) to do as they think good being come to age , neither doth that pre-contract binde them , but they are still free , and may dispose of themselves as they see good , that is , they have liberty and power to marry any other if they see it more convenient and necessary . so i confidently affirm , whatsoerer crown contract hath been made by our forefathers in our non-age , pitch where you will touching this succession , we have our liberty to take or refuse and are in point of conscience no more bound to crown the heir of william the conquerer , henry the eight , james the sixt of scotland , or this king charles than any other man : but if we will ( to be like other nations ) still have a king , such then is our liberty and freedome now , that we may ( yea and ought ) to elect and crown such a one whom we shall find to be best qualified and fittest for us . now we come to the next general head , that kings are , and ought to be bound by lawes , and are not to be exempted from them . i shall not at this time shew the flattery and vanity of some sycophants and parasites , who affirm , that people may not prescribe any law to their prince : that kings are above law : now touching that senselesse distinction of bodin and others , who hold that the supream magistrate , howsoever bound to the laws of god , of nature , and nations , yet are free from all civil laws prescribed by themselves : nor that court destinction between law directive , and coactive , what kings should doe ; and what kings may do : this i say with pareus , superior magistratus est subjectus legibus divinis & suae republicae : the supream magistrate is subject to gods laws , and to the lawes of his own common-wealth . comment : in rom. c. 13. dub . 6. yea , more strictly obliged to observe his own lawes than subjects , and departing from the law becomes a tyrant : and therefore the whole kingdom which is above the king , may not only bind him by laws , but question him , and punish him for the breach of them : and this is a most certain truth ( howsoever by some slavish pens opposed ) that all kings are so far bound to the laws and customs of their kingdoms , that if they violate and alter them at their pleasure , they may truly be called tyrants according to aristotle , and herein absolve their people from their aleagence which they have made unto them . take for instance , the united netherland provences , who for this very cause did declare philip king of spain to have fallen and cut himselfe off from the seignorie of the netherlands , and caused a new form of an oath to be drawn in manner of an abjuration of the king of spain , every one swearing duty and obedience unto the estates by the publick officers and magistrates of every town and province , the which thing was , and still is by all protestants and reformed churches justified and approved lawful . i could here set down many such examples of other nations , who by their lawes required their kings to be subject to their lawes aswell as any other , yea all nations ( except where tyrants have reigned ) have alwaies had some lawe to restrain their kings from excesses and abusive courses . besides all good emperours and kings in all ages have professed and practised the same . trajan acknowledged that the prince was not above law : and giving the sword to any praetor or cōmander , he would say , hoc gladio contra me utitur , si in rempublicam peccavero . the like said theodosius , and valentinian , emperours : digna est vox majestate regnantis in legibus alligatum se principem profiteri . lib. 4. cap. d. leg. prin . so antiochus the third , king of asia , is , commended that he writ to all the cities of his kingdom , if there should be any thing in his letters which should seem contrary to the laws they should not obey them . these men knew it is god only that may do in heaven and in earth what he pleaseth , as for man ( whether emperour or king ) he is under law and therefore must do nothing but what is lawfull , just , and right . and for more authentick proofe we could produce the kings of israel and judah who had no arbitrary power to do what they pleased nor exempted from laws , but inferiour too and obliged by them as well as subjects : this is evident by sundry impregnable texts , deut. 17.18 , 19. josh. 1.1.8 . 1 sam. 8.11 . to 19. and 12. 14 , 15.20 &c. ezek. 46.18 . the jewish doctors from these words i will visit their transgression with the rod of men , and with the stripes of the children of men . 2 sam. 7. write that it was a custom in israel , if their kings transgressed against the law of the king , they were to be scourged for it . but the question is not so much , whether kings are under law ( for this now begins now to be generally granted ) but the question is , if kings do break law , what 's their punishment , and who shal do it . the answer to this belongs properly to the next point yet something i shall say to it in this place . for my part i have not yet seen in any mans writing , new or old ( though never so great a kings-man ) any cleer and convincing reason , that seeing kings are subject to laws , both the law of god and of men , wherfore they should have any immunity or be priviledged from punishment appointed by law to such and such offences more than other men . plainly thus , if king or prince be a murderer , a traytor , a pirate , an adulterer , perjured &c. why the punishment due to other murderers , traytors &c. and for the like crimes inflicted upon them should not be executed upon the other , king , or prince , what the custom hath been , or what partial laws foolish & ignorant men have made , i count as nothing let reason , justice , & divine precepts be considered . hence let us take light and information . first , as for the law of god , it goes generally and takes all in , quisquis , siquis quicunque : whosoever , if any man , what mansoever , if a murderer , an adulterer &c. let him die the death : kings and princes are not here exempted . and secondly , in the point of justice , 't is without any dispute . for {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} is justice of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to part , or divide in two . hence {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} judge , ( as it were {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) because he cuts a thing in two equal parts . so in the definition , justice is perpetua constansque voluntas jussuam unicuique tribuens . and for distributive justice which according to logicians is , either rewarding or punishing this later judicatory justice is , qua paenis debitas aequalitur unicuique distribuit , which distributeth due punishment equally to every one . again , if the offender because he is great , ( as a king or prince ) should therefore be spared , it were directly to depart from justice both in propriety of speech & true definition {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} that is a right judgment not respecting the person , to wit for his greatnesse , power , place , wealth &c. thirdly , for reasons i have this to say , wherefore kings should be punished according to law if not more yet as much as other men . 1 because by their ill example they do more hurt than other men . 2. their sins do more provoke god and draw down divine wrath upon a nation and therfore there is the greater reason that the land should be purged of such pollutions . 3. the taking of this course would be very much for the publick good and safety : for if princes knew they should be punished as other men for their crimes according to law , they would be as careful as other men to observe and keep the same . oderunt peccare mali formidine paenae . 4. the practise of this would be a very helpfull means to save their souls ; for whence comes it to pass , that they care not what they doe , but because whatsoever they doe , they know no man will punish them for it . 5. if this course were taken , there would not be such horrid and execrable wayes used to get crowns , as poysning and murdering of fathers , brethren , &c. but conscience then , and a desire to do good , would be the chiefest motives leading men therunto . 6. in constitution of a prince , whatsoever is confirmed upon a man in respect of office and authority , it doth not any way make a change upon his person , neither puts him at any distance touching subjection to the law more then he was before ; this relates only to a qualification , that is , the people judging him to be fit , he is invested with a power and right to administer justice ; but for his personall estate that remaines the same as formerly , neither is he by this exempted from law either directive or coactive , more then when a man is made a judge , justice of peace , or the like . in this case , civil magistrates , and church officers are alike ; what office or function soever a man hath in the church of god , he is still under the power of the church , and for his person , the church-censure can reach him still as it did before . for the institution of pastors , teachers , or elders , doth not in the least exempt or priviledge such eclesiasticall officers , from the highest censure of the church more then any other member , if there be just cause to proceed against them . and there is something to this purpose in the popish cannon law , how in case of heresie the pope ceaseth ipso facto to be pope , looseth his spirituall jurisdiction and authority , and deserveth justly to be really deposed . can. si . papa 40. carer . azorius antonine 3. part : shewing that the office of a pope adds nothing to the person of the man , for howsoever he is above the rest for his place , yet he is still subject to the law , and under censure ; yea , to be deprived of jurisdiction and papacie , in case he prove an heretick . for conclusion then , this i positively affirm , and will stand to it , where kings are under law , and receive their crownes from the people upon protestation and oath to keep the laws , and where the supream soveraign power of a nation is invested in the senate and people , there kings for their tyranny and misgovernment may be convented , judged , and punished : neither are they more exempted from the highest civill punishment then eclesiasticall officers are from the highest church-censure , their persons are still in the same consideration as other mens persons are , and therefore for their transgressions ( as other men ) may be judged and punished . now to come to the third particular , which is , that the people have power not only to convent , but to censure , depose , and punish their kings for their tyranny and misgovernment . for the confirmation of this , i shall desire the reader to take notise : 1. what reasons there are for it . 2. what law . 3. what scripture proof . 4. what prefidents and examples both of other nations , and kingdomes , as likewise of our own . 5. and lastly , what the judgment is of learned men touching this thing . reas. 1. it is an undoubted rule of divinity and policie , that it is more expedient that one man die ( though a prince or king ) then the whole nation should perish . john 11.50 . & 18.14 . if the right eye , or right hand offend , it must be pluckt out and cut off : as in the naturall body if a member be so corrupt and putrified , that unlesse it be taken away the whole body is in danger to perish , in such a case for prevention and health sake , every one wil allow the cutting it off : so in the politick body , when the safety of the whole lies in the removing of one or more unfound and bad members , it must be don , and it is necessary it should be so : for it is a maxime in philosophy , that totum non subjicitur parti , sed pars toti ; so again , totum non regitur motu partis , sed pars totius , to which that is agreeable in the poet : — immedicabile vulnus en se recidendum est , ne pars sincera trahetur . reas. 2. kings being the people officers , ministers , creatures ( as we said ) it must needs follow that they are responsable to their masters and makers , and being found unfaithfull stewards , they have power to displace them of their trust and office . if the keeping of a city or castle be committed to a man , and he betrayes the same to the enemy , or dismantles the wals and fortifications , to expose it unto danger , is it questionable in such a case , whether the state putting him into that trust , may not call him to an account , and punish him justly for it ? reas. 3. when two men contract and covenant together upon certain conditions and termes , if one party break the agreement , the other is set free , and no further bound to him either in point of law or conscience . when kings break their coronation oaths and promises , keep not the conditions and termes upon which they were elected and crowned , but become tyrants , the bond and knot between subjects and them is essentially broken , neither is there any tribute , duty , custome , or alleagance , &c. from the people any further due unto them . i know no faster bond or knot between any two parties , then man and wife ; the relation between kings and subjects i am sure is not neerer , neverthelesse all grant adulterium etiam vinculum ipsum matrimonii solvit , adultery in either person breaks even that very bond and knot of marriage : why therefore a subject breaking his covenant with the king , in being a traitor , should be punished for it , and the king breaking his covenant with the people in proving a tyrant or traitor to the people should not be punished likewise : i am sure there is no man living able to give a just reason for it . reas. 4. if men by law may be punished ; yea , and great punishment is inflicted upon them , who are onely as instruments used by princes , to accomplish their wicked designes and meerely act to please them ; surely it is against justice , reason , and all conscience , that the first mover and grand author should escape unpunished ; gods example teacheth otherwise , who in all ages hath punished the author of sinne more severely and extreamly then the instrument ; we see many times the adulterous mother punished for her whoredome , yet the bastard spared , but that the bastard should suffer and the mother escape it is an example unheard of . reas. 5. howsoever men may remit the wrong or injury , as it it in reference to themselves and their own interest , neverthelesse as the transgression respecteth gods law , and so far as god cals for judgment and punishment , it is not in their power to spare or pardon , though they may doe with their own what they will , yet what is the lords they may not alter , mitigate , qualifie , &c. but they ought to proceed according to the directions and rules which he hath prescribed to them , i say , without addition , or dimunition , strictly , punctually and precisely . i shall end this point with the words of bodin : i am of opinion ( saith he ) that no soveraign prince , neither yet any man alive can pardon the punishment due unto the offence which is by the law of god death , no more then he can dispense with the law of god , whereunto he is himself subject : and if it be so , that the magistrate deserve capitall punishment , which despenseth with the law of his king , how shall it be lawfull for a soveraign prince to dispense with his subjects from the law of god ? and further , if the prince himself cannot give away the least civil interest of his subjects , or pardon the wrong don to another man , how can he pardon the wrong don unto almighty god , or murder wilfully committed , which by the law is death , for all the pardon he can give . vide lib. 1. de reip. cap. 10. secondly , as for lawyers law , it is just like mr. william prin , it speaks every thing , and any thing , and nothing : thus their law and he , are like the dutch mans hose , you may wear them how you will , put them up or down , for they are made to serve both wayes : but for that whirligig and busie body i do but mention him by the way , for there is an independant piece comming forth to shew his lightnesse , contradiction , extreme pride and malice . what punishment by law is due unto a traytor , it is so obvious and well known , as to cite statutes for it , would be , but as a vain repetition : now the law cleerly resolves 28. hen. 8. c. 7 that . if the king become an open enemy to the kingdom and subjects , to wast or ruin them , or shall seek to betray them to a forraign nation he becomes a traytor to the realm , and hereupon doth forfeit his very title to the crown . bracton saith the king , is the highest justiticiar in the kingdom : licet in justitia recipienda minimo de regno suo comparitur , but as low as any in receiving justice . lib. 3. cap. 9. fol. 167. &c. this indeed is law , for what is law ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) according to the strict etimologie a proper signification , but an equal distributing to every one his own , whether it be reward or punishment ; and therefore whensoever any thing hath been enacted to priviledge kings and princes from personal punishment , in case they transgressed against god and men , and should prove tyrants , traytors , murderers , pirates , witches and what not , i do avouch , it was no law , to speak truly and properly , it was not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} as contrary to the law of god , and nature as light is to darknesse ; and these were right antinomians , as opposing and denying law to establish their own wicked and lawlesse decree : law , is ratio naturalis , natural reason , but it is no principle in nature , to punish the lesser , theft , murder , treason , tyranny &c. and spare the greater theeves , murderers , &c. to execute the bastard and quit the mother as we said before . again , 't is without dispute , when princes prove tyrants , their deposition is justificable by law . now to know a tyrant king james describes him thus : a king governing in a setled kingdom ceaseth to he a king and degenerates into a tyrant so soon as hee leaves to rule by his own laws . if this be true , ( as it is most true : ) then it is the highest degree of tyranny , condemned and abhorred by god and all good men , when the king begins to invade his subjects persons , rights , liberties &c. to set up an arbitrary power imposeth unlawful taxes , raises forces , plunders wasteth and spoils his kingdom , imprisons , kills , and banisheth his most faithful & best people in an hostile and wrathful manner , whom he ought to protect and rule in peace : and whether this king have not thus done , even our enemies themselves being judges ? there is one thing remarkable in the aforesaid speech , where he saies , he ceaseth to be a king . hence i gather , that a king degenerating into a tyrant , hath no benefit , nor any thing to help himself in point of law , by any statute containing an immunity or exemption of the kings person from punishment , as death it self : for whatsoever is provided in such a case it is only in reference to a king , but when he ceaseth to be a king , he loseth the benefit of all such acts of parliament , neither is there any statute broken if he personally suffer for his crimes . thirdly , for scripture proof or presidents , zuinglius positively affirms , that the israelites might not only resist but also depose their kings for wickednes & idolatrie , yea , that al the people were justly punished by the lord because they removed not their wicked kings out of their places , and brings sundry instances for it . explinat . aut. 42. that god did punish the people for their kings enormities , t is evident by jer. 15.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. 2 king. 21.11 , 12. & chap. 23.26 . & 24.3 . and the history of the kings and chronicles in sundry other places clearly shew so much : the which thing surely god in justice would not have done , had not the people power to hinder , censure and depose them for their sins . it is said of amaziah king of judah , 2 king. 14.19 . that they made a conspiracie against him in jerusalem and he fled to lachish , but they sent after him to lachish and slew him there : not privatly but openly , as acted by publick authority for his great impiety , as having broken his oath and covenant ; whereupon we reade not of any complaint , inquisition proceeding or punishment inflicted on those that slew him after his death , either by the people or his children as there was upon those that slew king ammnon , but being slaine , they ( to wit the persons who had put him to death ) brought him on horses , and he was buried in jerusalem , and all the people of judah made ahaziah king in his stead . which plainly shews that what was formerly done by the greater part of the states at jerusalem was afterwards confirmed by common consent , and executed by command of those which might lawfully do it . fourthly , for examples , all histories are full , nothing more frequent than to reade , how people having the supream power would judiciously convent , censure , depose , yea and judge their kings to death for their evil and wicked courses . thus amongst the romans , the senate and people together proceeded against nero , julianus , vitellius , maximinius , heliogabulus &c. i speak not of traquin the proud expelled the kingdome by the people . so other emperours likewise , being found unfit & unable to govern the kingdom , have been deposed and others elected and crowned in their stead : as cbilderiek , charles the third , justinus the second , wenceslaus , all put off : and pepin , arnolph , fiberius , and rupert count palatine of rhine chosen and set in the empire . the cumaen state usually arraigned and punished their kings juditially if they saw cause . thus the french by authority of a publick councel & through the prudent care of the officers of the realm , deposed childerick the first , sigebert , theodorick , and childerick the third : so gyl , for his grievous taxes and other miscarriages they chased into soysons : theoduricus because he vexed and oppressed the people , was by the authority of the state deprived of all dignity . touching the kings of spain , we shall finde in histories and good authors , that frequently for their tyrranny and misgovernment they were deposed by their subjects : as theo-discle the tenth , vttiza , and other gotish kings , as infamous monsters were chased from their thrones . so don pedro the first , ordogno , alphonso the great astronomer , kings of castile for their cruelties , murders , and treacheries , all rejected and deprived of their realms . ramir of leon and garcia king of gallieia both deposed for their vitious and base doings . in hungaria , peter the second , and solomon the first ( to omit some others ) for their great insolencies , and injustice were both deposed , the first afterwards banished , and the other kept in prison till he died . so the bohemians deposed and banished boleslaus , rufus , berzinogius , sobeislaus , vladislaus : and twise imprisoned wenceslaus for his drunkennesse , neglegence , and cruelty . in poland the people have deposed imprisoned or expelled out of the kingdom many of their kings for their oppressions , and injustice , as ( amongst others ) miesco their second king , boleslaus his son , myoslaus , henrie &c. neither have the swedish kings been used otherwise , but for their cruelty , treachery , and tyranny have been thrust out of their thrones and realm by the people , as halsten , aminander , burgerius , magnus , henry , christierne the first and second , and others elected and crowned in their stead . so in denmark , humbus , ericus , christierne , father and son , censured and deposed by the state for their licenciousnesse and misgovernment : not to mention canutus , magnus , suano , put to death by the people . i passe over canades king of persia , dionysius the younger king of sicile , timocrates of cyrene : andronicus emperour of constantinople by the people rejected upon just cause . for scotland , if george bucanan and others of their own historians write truth as there hath seldom ever bin good king thereof so very few of them ( begin with this mans father and so go up ) that ever died an natural death . but touching the point in hand : how frequently the parliaments and nobles there have questioned their kings , imprisoned , deposed , yea judicially censured them , for their tyrannies , oppressions , whoredoms , murders , falshood and evil adminstration ; you may see at large in the aforesaid bucanan : some i have taken out of him : as durstus and his sons , so dardan , luctack , conarus , ramack , fereuhard , euginius , constantine , ethus , donald , lugrac , megal , edward , baliol , james the third : all these have been sentenced & rejected . i mention not such ( though he doth many ) whom the common people for their intollerable basenes murdered and put to death . to which i might adde , this mans grandmother , whom they imprisoned and caused to abjure and resign her interest in the crown and kingdom to her infant son ; and at last was solemnly arraigned and condemned to death by the parliament of england and beheaded at fatheringham castle , all which proceedings against her , as her deposition , imprisonment , ahd execution hath hitherto been justified as lawful . to come now to our own nation , many examples we have upon record in our chronicles concerning the matter in hand : i shall at this time but only touch things in a brief way : king vortigen after six years raign for his negligence and evil government was deposed from his crown by his subjects , and his son vortimer chosen and crowned in his stead . speed chron. pag. 207.266.267 . sigehert king of the sumptuous using exactions and cruelties upon his subjects was put by his place and kenwolfe made king in his steed . speed hist. pag. 229. so ofred king of northumberland for his ill government was expelled by his subjects and deprived of all kingly authority . speed pag. 245.246 . ethelred ( the son of mollo ) so far offended his subjects that they tooke up armes against him and slew him at cobre . beornerd king of mercia , because governed the people , not by just laws , but by tyranny , was expelled the kingdom and offa chosen and crowned . mat. westm. pa. 275. the like was edwins case king of mercia and northumberland , for his misgovernment , tyranny and oppression , and following vaine , base , and wicked councellors was removed from all kingly dignity , in whose place edgar was elected king . i might have mentioned archigallo one of our ancient brittish kings in times of gentilisme , for some misorders was deposed by the people , when he had reigned almost five yeers , and his brother elidurus chosen in his room . so emerian another old british king deprived of all kingly honor and dignity , and yowally promoted to the crown . fabian par . 2. chap. 49. p. 30.31 . & chap. 46. p. 34. since the conquest ( as they call it ) king john disavowed by his lords and commons , for wasting , burning , and spoyling the kingdome like an enemy , electing lewes of france for their king ▪ speed p. 585. edward the second for his misgovernment put down , and edward his son elected and crowned . walsing. hist. p. 398. again anno 1399. king richard the second for sundry misdemeanors objected against him in 32 articles in parliament and breach of his coronation oath , was judicially deposed , and henry the fourth elected and crowned in his stead . so in anno 1462. king henry the sixth queen margaret and edward their son by parliament dishinherited of their right to the crown and edward the fourth made king . here i shall end this point with a few proposals to the reader . 1. thou mayest observe when a king proves a tyrant it is the peoples own fault , if they relieve not themselves , and recover their ancient rights and liberties . 2. note , what mischiefs and miseries , this monarchy and king-craft brings with it , for it is no small disturbance and trouble to a nation to be forced to take up armes against a tyrant , and bring him to punishment . 3. ( and mark it wel ) according to the fact , so tyrants have been punished more or lesse : that saying in former times hath been held for a maxime , fiat justitia , mundum●●at . 4. here also thou mayst observe , how false to their trust , & prejudicial to the kingdom , the late treaty was , for what men , unlesse ignorant in state matters , dul of action , slavishly minded , fearful & unbelievers , or such as have cozened and cheated the countrey , and so made account by a generall act of indempnity to escape punishment ( hanging i should have said ) would ever have moved in such a way , as being free from a tyrant ( with great expense , and much pretious blood ) would seek to set him up again , and so by degree to be in greater slavery then before . lastly , for the opinion of learned men whether papists , lutherans or calvinists they do unanimously hold that kings for their tyranny and misgovernment may be censured and deposed by the people , because i have proposed to my self to be briefe , i shall onely mention a person or two . there is a book entituled de rege & regis institutione written by one joannes mariana a jesuite , wherein i find his words thus , a tyrannicall king continuing incorrigible after publick admonitions of the whole state , if there be no hopes of amendment , may not only be deposed , but put to death and murdered by the whole state , or any particular persons by their appointment ; yea , without it , if he be declared a publick enemy by the whole state , and in case the whole state cannot publickly assemble by reason of such a princes known notorious tyranny , then in such a case it is lawfull for any private man to murder him to free the countrey and kingdom from destruction . lib. 1. c. 9. howsoever i shall not stand to justify all that he sayes , yet his book was dedicated to philip the third king of spain , and published by his speciall priviledge afterward reprined at mentz in germany , cum privilegio sacrae caesariae majestatis , & permissa superiorem . danaeus allows , not only subjects actual resistance , but deprivation of kings , where princes set themselves to subvert religion , laws , liberties . polit. chryst . lib. 3. cap. 6. so zuinglius , when princes shall deal perfideously and contrary to the rules of christ , they may be deposed by the consent & suffrages of the whol , or at least the greatest part of the people , god helping them therein . explin . art. 42. and howsoever calvin pleads as much as a man can for tyrants and wicked magistrates , yet thus he saith , i alwaies speak of private men , for if there be any popular magistrates constituted in the behalf of the people to restrain the lusts of kings , ( such as heretofore were the ephori who were opposed to the lacedaemonian kings , or tribunes of the people against the roman senate , or the demarchi against the athenian senate , the which power peradventure as things are now , the free estates in all kingdoms enjoy when they assemble . ) i am so far from inhibiting them to withstand , the raging licenciousness of kings , according to their duty , that if they connive and wink at kings outragiously encroaching upon , and insulting over the poor communality , i shall affirm that their dissimulation is not without wicked breach of faith , because they deceitfully betray the liberty of the people , of whom they know themselves to be appointed protectors by the ordinance of god . instit. lib. 4. c. 20. sect. 31. fourthly , that no nation is so strictly tied to any form of government or law , but it is lawfull for the people to alter the same into any other form or kind upon occasion . we prove , and for the first thus . 1. because all formes of government were ordained for the peoples welfare , protection peace , &c. and therefore in case any one becomes incompatible or inconsistent with the publick safety , it may be changed without injustice , and grounded upon that first and chief law of all common-wealths , salus populi suprema lex esto , the safety of the people let that be the last law ; grounded also upon that saying of christ , mark 2.27 . the sabbath was made for man , and not man for the sabbath . whence i reason , look as man was before the sabbath , and the day made as serving to the preservation and safety of him , and so his life to be preserved by omitting the observation of the sabbath . so man being before the goverment , and government ordained for his safety , there is no form of government , but he may omit the use of it , if it be for his peace , profit and welfare . 2. it is a received principle of nature and reason , eodem modo quid constituitur , dissolvitur , in what manner a thing is constituted , it may be dissolved : again , omnia quae jure contrahuntur contrario jure pereunt . the apostle peter ( as we have already noted ) cals kings and their supreamacy , a humane creature or ordinance of man , because the same took its original and rise from men , and therfore that form of government is changable and revocable as the people ( whose creature the form is ) shall see reason and cause for it . as the potter hath power over his pots , and the gold-smith may alter and change his vessels and cups from one form to another : so here . 3. howsoever all government in general be of god , yet the kinds of it are left arbitrary to mens institution and free election : here i say people have liberty , to take or leave , as to lay aside one form and establish another , when they see it is more to the preservation of humane society , and the advancement of gods glory . thus aristotle and all politicians hold , all forms of government are changeable . lambertus danaeus polit. christ . l. 3. c. 6. pag. 217. speakes thus , when the lawes of a kingdom or common-wealth are not observed , but manifestly and obstinately violated by that magistrate , to whom and whose family the supream government is granted under certain conditions , i say , that kingdom or government so granted and conferred on conditions , may by all godly and christian people with a safe conscience be taken from him , and another form of government erected by a publick edict of the states gathered together ; if the safety of the common-wealth shall so require ▪ so he . 4. this is manifest by the diverse alterations of the monarchy in this kingdom , which hath been sometime divided into seven , sometimes into five , otherwhile into three or two kingdoms ; and at last all reduced into one . so by the great changes and alterations which have been made in forreign realms : as sometimes monarchy quite abolished and changed into aristocraticall or popular estate . thus the switzers and grisons departed from the romane empire , and became 18. common-wealths , every one holding their estate ( divided from other ) in soveraignty . the venetian common-wealth was at the beginning a monarchy , afterward changed into a popular estate , and now by little and little changed into aristocratital , yet so tacitly , in such a quiet sort that the change can hardly be perceived . so the thessalians , and people of sicile threw of monarchy , and had a popular state . the samians , corcyraeans , rhodians , cnidians , and almost all the common-wealths of greece after the victory of lysander were from monarchy changed into aristocraties . so again some nations have changed aristocraticall into popular government ; as the sabeans , sabirites , trezenians , amphilolits , chalcidians , thurians , chions , the argives , the people of delphos , tarentum , many more which i omit . and from popular some have changed into aristocratie , as the venetians , syracusians , lacedemonians , thebans , heracleans , cumaeans , megarenses , the luques , rhaguses , genes , and other . sometimes also the frame of aristocratical government hath been altered into monarchy , and it is well to be noted , what bodin notes as to be the cause and reason of such a change , namely , conquest and tyranny : and sets down many examples for it . lib. 4. de rep : c. 1. the jewes indeed desired such a thing , but how extreamly they offended god therein , the sacred history shews , who for asking a king gave them a king in his wrath . and thus much for the first particular . now we come to the other , viz. that such lawes and ancient customes as people find to be hurtfull , unprofitable or inconvenient , they may remove . for 1. many things which were convenient and necessary in former times , and therefore established in after ages are found unuseful , because there is not the same reason and cause for them as then there was . 2. there is no man of such parts and gifts , or so qualified , as to foresee in all things , what will be safest and best for the generations after him ; and therefore as many things must be left to every age , so the people in every age must look to their own safety and preservation , as to have such laws in use , as are for the present publick good , and what is otherwise to take off the force and stop the execution of them . 3. seeing the will of man ( and that often ) without reason , is the ground of law , according to his saying : sic volo , sic jubeo , stat pro ratione voluntas . it is therefore the more necessary to consider what the laws are , and how they are grounded ; for we know , mans will is full of darknesse , deceit , self-end , and what pleaseth one , is to another hurtfull and unprofitable . 4. what skilfull and prudent phisitians will not change their way and course of physick , if they see the same proves dangerous and destructive to their patients , and follow some other & better rules of art . statesmen are the peoples physitians , and therefore they ought to lay aside al such old laws & customs as are unprofitable and unusefull , and ordain wholesome and good ones in the room thereof . 5. we see that men change in condition , and one age is not like another : our ancestors some generations past , were so and so , but their posterity now are otherwise in condition , and therefore great care should be taken , that we have such laws , as are best and fittest for the time ; and to say the truth , herein consisteth much true policy : men chuse not a garment by the largenes , neither of the fineness of the cloath , but by the fitnesse , and how well it will serve the person that must wear it : i do take notice what a number there are , now ( taylor-like ) in london and thereabout , making garments for the nation and to clothe the people with new lawes ; now howsoever i professe not my selfe to be one of that trade , yet i wish wel to the work and humbly desire , that they do not so much mind largness & fineness , as to have things fit and to come well home to the nation , in a good accommodation , and a general satisfaction . 6. howsoever it cannot be denied , but we have many good laws amongst us , neverthelesse , such is our burden and misery , that they are like good mettel in a pot or vessel , so covered over with drosse and scum as the beauty and brightnesse of them shines not forth : now here is state wisdome which discovers a man to be vers'd in politicks , who studieth and labours how to remove the drosse , rather than promiscuously and without any destinction or difference to throw al away , as the scum so the precious and pure silver also . whoso breaketh a hedge , a serpent shall bite him . i know it is an ancient maxime of some polititians , that we must not change any thing in the laws of a common-wealth which hath long maintained it self in a good estate whatsoever apparent profit may be therby pretended . again , legum mutatio omnium erat peri culosa . but i have formerly proved it lawful , yea necessary to alter and chang the laws of a kingdom . yet so , as i shall desire all such as are specially concerned in this great work , to observe these cautions or rules . 1. that it be done with mature deliberation , good fore-thoughts , not hand over head , as to thrust in mens sudden and present conceits . men in their sleep , imagine they eat , drink , walk &c. and question not but it is all real and true : but being awake they perceive it was only a dream . it is not enough that a man is confident , and perswades himself it is so , but it is needful to enquire whether it be sleeping or waking , examine well how it is bottomed and grounded . my antigonist ( i dare say ) thinks he prophesieth right things , whereas poor man , he only dreams , and when the lord shall awake him of this sleep he will see and confesse so much . 2. whatsoever law or custom shall be taken away , yet it must not be , till after due examination , and finding upon proof sufficient cause and reason for it . otherwise it may happen , as it did to alexander , killing parmenio in hast , afterwards he repented and found the misse of him . 3. it must be minded , that the publick interest be especially provided for , and not to profit a few to the preiudice of many . 4. it is a principal maxime in sate-policy , when any law or custom is to be abrogated , to consider how far it is hurtful and in what regard and what sense or liking the people have thereof , and so to proceed either speedily , or to come thereunto by little and little without forcing of any thing . phisitians observe , that violent medicines in some cases raises up the humors and disperseth them so through the whol body , as the party becomes more distempered , and made the more uncapeable of health , and so the lesse hope of recovery : nevertheles , in some other cases , quick and strong phisick doth wel and safe . gal. de simp. . me . facult. c. 15. 5. this also must be looked to , what shall be next and come into the place , when such and such things shall be taken away : a man may pull down both sides of a house , who hath not the skill and art to lay one stone orderly and as it should be to build a new and better . i do ingeniously professe there are many things yet in church and common-wealth which i wish were taken away , and to me they do appear faulty : but ( hic labor , hoc opus ) if they were removed , what should come in their room ? that needs some consideration , both what , and how ? in the peoples agreement , i observe they are much for pulling downe , and it is soon said there needs , not many heads or hands for such work : now i could heartily wish , that these men or some other , would satisfie the land , if every particular by the parliament should be granted , how we might have their rooms and places fil'd again . it is an easie thing to tell where the sore is , and to shew it , but to make a salve to heal it is more difficult . 6. i do find in sundry histories , when the laws and customs of a nation hath been changed , howsoever the thing was good in it self , and some men had therein what they desired , yet afterwards great troubles and miseries have ensued , because the greater part saw no ground or cause of such changes , neither apprehended the benefit and usefulnesse thereof . and therefore it is the judgment of the wisest polititians , whensoever a state intends to alter the form of government or laws , to let the people see beforehand , upon what ground and just cause they will do it , and what conveniency , safety , and profit the publick shall have thereby . this will not only so take with the people , as to make them willing and desirous of the thing , but to contribute to the work what they are able that it may be well e●ected . now to the last point , what form of government is best . this is a great question among polititians , largely debated , and diverse men are diversly minded ; for my own ●udgement herein it is this , monarchie is the worst . and my reasons for it are these : 1. because a great part of the land is unnecessarily deteined , and kept away from the publick use and profit of the people , to maintain an unuseful creature . what a number of courts , pallaces , mannours , parks , forrests besides other rents , revenues , customs &c. there goes to maintain this king-ship , 't is hardly credible ; and how it is imployed it 's worth the noting . now what more absurd and inconsiderate than for a people to be at such unreasonable expence and charge to keep one of whom they have no need or use at all , but can do much better without him . we read how the prince of crange gave money to one bellazar gerard ( who named himself frances guyon ) to buy him provision , and therewith he bought pistols , powder , and shot and killed the prince . and what else do kings many times with the great treasury allowed them by their subjects , but procure ammunition & raise up forces to murder and destroy them . the children also of kings , are no small burden and unnecessary charge to a nation , considering their excessive riot , and expences . we speak not of doweries and other portions : and what serve they for , or what profit have the people by them ? the truth is , there is little or no good expected , if they prove not a curse and plague to the kingdom , we think it is well and take it as a great mercy : would it not therefore be better , what is needlesly wasted on them to be converted to some pious and charitable uses . 3. look upon monarchie and compare them with other forms of government , and this you shall certainly find , that whensoever corruptions and abuses break forth in a state they are not so easily , suddenly , and thorowly suppressed in the former as in the latter : and no marvail : for 1. as they have their original and rise usually from the court , so the king will labour what he can to uphold and defend the same . hence it comes to passe ( as many sad examples in this land shew ) that enormities , have so long continued and grown to such a height as the people have been forced to make war against the prince , and with the losse of much blood and other charges to reform the same which otherwise would never have been don . but where there is a free state you have no such inconvenience ; neither indeed are such abuses and corruptions ever seen , but if they did appear the matter would not be so difficult to suppresse them there . 2. put case the king hath no hand in these abuses ( which would be a strange thing ) yet are they not easily reformed , because what he heares and sees it is by other mens ears : whereas in the other government , magistrates are abroad to see and hear what is amisse with their own eyes and ears . 4. if things be compared together , this we shall find in a monarchy , the officers and ministers of state are usually ( as the king ) corrupt men , abusers oppressors of the people , and little or no help is to be had of relief and satisfaction . but in the other government , places are not open for such men , or should they once appear to be such , the people know a way soon to right themselves . besides where the people chuse their own magistrats they must needs be the best : for princes do not use to put men into office so much for the publick good , as how to carry forth their own private interest . 5. this misery and mischief ordinarily goes along with monarchies a slaughtering and murdering of the people by some devilish plot or other , pressing them forth to so me unnecessary war , to satisfie their lust and pride , or imposing intollerable taxes upon them , having some treacherous designe in hand : but in a free state there 's no fear of such things neither indeed can they happen . 7. if one form of government may be held better then another for religion and the gospels sake : then our position is certainly true , that monarchy is the worst , for by experience in all ages , under the kings of the earth the truth hath had least favour , and greatest opposition , and most have suffered death for the witnesse of jesus christ ; and therefore these powers of the world shall be first broken in pieces and consumed by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands , when the god of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed . moreover it is remarkable , what frequent changes and alterations of religion there are , where kings do reign , as from papists to protestants , from protestants back to papists , from them again to protestants ; as it was in henry the eight , edward the sixth , queen mary , and queen elizabeths days : but in the other the course of religion hath no interruption by the disease of magistrates , though they change , yet religion alters not . 7. where the government is a free state , there men are encouraged to the study of wisdom , truth , justice , &c. because not titles there , but good parts make men capable of honor , authority , and place ; neither is there a door open for them to come in by bribery and flattery , but chosen by their fitnesse , gifts , and abilities . in monarchies much preferment goes by succession , the kings cosins though fools or knaves by birth challenge great authority . 8. according to the proverb new kings new laws : hear what bodin speaks ( i mention him the oftner because he is a great kingsman ) we commonly ( saith he ) in the changing of princes , new designs , new laws , new officers , new friends , new enemies , new habits , and a new form of living : for most commonly princes take delight to change and alter all things , that they may be spoken of , the which doth many times cause great inconveniences not only to the subjects in particular but also to the whole body of the state . de rep. lib. 6. c. 4. but no such prejudice or peril is incident to the other form of government , whatsoever things are publickly altered , it is maturely don , and upon good ground , and for the general profit and welfare of the people . 9. this form of government for which i stand , must needs be the best , being the mediocrity or mean between the two extreams , monarchy and anarchy ; that one should rule alone , is against that common maxime , plus vident oculi quam oculus , two eyes see more then one ; or that none should govern or al : t is so absurd and sencelesse as no man pleads for it , onely a malignant scandal raysed up against some honest men . 10. if men would not be blind they might cleerly behold a senceable and visible hand of god against this throning of kings ( specially taking in one after another by succession ) is saul also àmong the prophets , but who is their father ? what greater shame and dishonor can a nation lie under , then to take the son of a known and apparent adultresse , and make him their king ? what this mans wife is , and what his own mother was , and his fathers mother , to go no higher , it is fit it should be considered of , no marvail god hath punished us by such a race , where no zeal of god nor justice of law hath beene shewed against such open whordoms from one generation to another , only talkt and laught at whereas by the law of god open adulterers should be severely punished . 11. it is worthy of remembrance , what marks of soveraignty some do reckon up , as being the rights and prerogatives proper to monarchs , i have not the time to name them now , onely from them this followes undeniably , that monarchy is tyranny , i will not adde tollerable to it ; for granting unto kings such soveraignties , there is nothing left the people but meer slavery , and therefore people should be lesse senceable then beasts , if they would remain in bondage under monarchy , being able to free themselves in a just and honorable way , and to set up such a form of government , whereby they might enjoy more liberty , a thing not only good in it self , but naturally desired by all men , and deemed by the wisest more pretious then gold or pearls , according to tityrus in virgil : libertas , quae sera tamen respexit inertem , candidor post quam tondendi barba cadebat , respexit amen , & longo post tempore venit . but here i wonder how men giving such soveraignty to kings , should prefer monarchy before all other forms of government it is as plain contradiction , grosse ignorance , and base flatery as a thing can be . 12. i desire also the reader to take notice , that for the reasons which are brought in favour of monarchy , they may be thus answered . 1. whatsoever is said for the usefulnesse of it , not only may be the very same be said of the other , but much more and better , as tending to the publick good and profit . 2. touching their similitudes taken from god , the body a family , bees , cranes , &c. there is nothing can be more gathered from them , as applyed to the matter in hand , but that the commonwealth should be carefully looked unto . 3. for the antiquity of monarchies , i grant them to be of a long standing ( though later then the other ) josephus makes cain to be the author , but it is generally held that nemrod was the first man , and by other tyrants after him held up with great violence , rapine , and bloodshed . and whereas it hath enlarged it self far and neer , and lasted long ; this i mind to be a judgment of god layd upon the nations of the earth , to scourge them for their impieties , and great wickednesse against the king of kings . 13. touching the things objected against the form of government , which i plead for , they are either taken upon misunderstanding , or very frivolous , and not worth the answering : neverthelesse we shall shortly speak somthing thereto . but for the present this shall suffice . onely let me acquaint thee reader , before i break off , which is , that all such as prefer monarchy before the other kind of government , do it with distinction , for though they hold the former in the nature of the thing to be more excellent then the later ; yet in this they all agree , that as certain conditions may be , in respect of times , places , and persons , the government here defended is more necessary and usefull . now what reason and cause there is , for us to change monarchy into a free state , in reference to this present time , the place , our persons , and condition , i leave the same to the two great counsels of the land to consider of . imprimatur g. m. the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments / by t.b. ... ; whereunto is added by the same author, a short treatise, wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino. bayly, thomas, d. 1657? this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a27115 of text r17476 in the english short title catalog (wing b1514). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 199 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 91 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a27115 wing b1514 estc r17476 12012113 ocm 12012113 52433 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27115) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52433) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 81:16) the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments / by t.b. ... ; whereunto is added by the same author, a short treatise, wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino. bayly, thomas, d. 1657? [30], 144 p. [s.n.], london : 1649. attributed to thomas bayly. cf. bm; erroneously attributed to thomas browne. reproduction of original in british library. eng divine right of kings. great britain -kings and rulers. a27115 r17476 (wing b1514). civilwar no the royal charter granted unto kings, by god himself: and collected out of his holy word, in both testaments. by t.b. dr. in divinitie. wher bayly, thomas 1649 36848 628 0 0 0 0 0 170 f the rate of 170 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2005-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-08 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2006-08 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion diadema regis in manu dej esaj . 60.3 . diev et mon droit ps. 36.6 . flos jesse , iudaeque leo , sacra quem lyra laudat flores atque lyram caroliquetuere leones the royal charter granted unto kings , by god himself . and collected out of his holy word , in both testaments . by t.b. dr. in divinitie . whereunto is added by the same author , a short treatise , wherein episcopacy is proved to be jure divino . matt. 22.21 . da caesari quae sunt caesaris . job 14.7 . there is hopes of a tree , if it be cut down , that it will sprout again , &c. sublato episcopo tollitur rex . king jame's bas. dor. london , printed in the year 1649. chara dei soboles magnum jovis incrementum . the of-spring of so many loyal showers of blood and tears , and heir apparent to all the love and affection that your royall father had first purchased , and then intail'd upon you by a deed of martyrdome : the anchor of hope which we expect daily to be cast upon englands shore , by the hand of providence : hope hath for a long time brought up the rear , but now shee 's in the van of all your squadrons ; and when the sun is once set in an island , how can it rise again but out of the water ? may the sighs of your people fill your sailes with such a prosperous gale , as may land you safely upon english ground , and seat you in your fathers throne ; ●ay the flower of jesse ▪ and the true lion of the tribe of judah , whom the sacred harp so often praised , defend all your lyons , harp and lillies . never was there a prince , whose people were all prophets , and whose prophets did all center in their princes future happinesse before : whilst the enemy stands like the every-where wounded man in the almanack , pointed at by all the caelestiall signs ; never was their an army , who gloried so much in their strength , when they are not able to stand , by reason of the slipperinesse of the ground undar their feet , made so , by the tears of the people , and the bloud of their soveraign . nothing but your majesties royall fathers sufferings could have made him so famous and them so imfamous : nothing but that could have made the people know the difference between a golden cepter , and an iron rod . your father had been now living , had he been lesse wise : and he had not been put to death , had not his people loved him too well . was ever prince put to death by two such hands ? they forced the laws to take away their own life ; they made wisdome to sley her own children , by whom shee should be justified ; and the love of the people the murderer of their own darling : who can help it ? to cure the kings evil requires a royall hand . i doe not teach my pen so high ambition as to undertake such cures : but it may be inke will serve to cure a tetter or a wring-worm , if it doe but so , i shall think my pains well bestowed , and my duty highly approved of , if , when i have presented this royall charter to your royall hand , it may be graced with your princely eie ; being it proceeds from as loyall a heart as can direct a pen how to subscribe the pen-man your majesties most faithfull and loyall subject t.b. to the reader . reader , this wretched kingdome , lately the envy of other nations , and now the object of pitty to all but to her selfe ; upon whom , peace had long doted , and dandled their kingdomes in her lap ; whose natives , as though they had clipt the wings of peace , so that she could not flie away from them , nor make the happinesse of peace , once common to all the world , now an inclosure , within the broad ditch of their narrow seas , and the strong fence of their innumerable ships , having attain'd to all the prosperity and happinesse that such sun-shine daies could ripen ; shee fell from thence into the most bitter war , that the greatest plenty could uphold , and thence into the greatest miseries , that the highest pride could cast her downe ; and now lies plunged in all the miseries of a civill war : whose direfull effects are as remedilesse , as those , whose causes are not to be found , and as far from redressing , as is the malady for which no reason is to be given : though we cannot fathome the depth of these our unserchable miseries , nor dive into the bottom of this ocean of calamities , yet let us wonder a little , how we could squander away so great a share of that felicity , which we once enjoyed ; out our selves of possessions so full stockt with blessings , trifle away , not sell , our birth-rights of peace , for a messe of pottage , that hath death in the pot . if for religion we have fought all this while , when did the church change her weapons ? must prayers and tears be turned into pike and musket ? did god refuse to have his temple built by david a man after his own heart , because only his hands were bloudy ? and will he now be contented to have his church repaired , and her breaches made up with skuls and carkasses ? must bloud be tempered with morter that must bind the stones of his temple in vnity ? or are the smitings of brethren , strokes fit to pollish her stones withall ? hath god refused the soft voice to remaine in thunder ? or hath his spirit left the gentle posture of descending downe upon his apostles , to the approaching of a mighty and rushing winde ? to go about the reforming of a church by humane strength , is as quite opposite to the nature of reformation , as is the going about the repairing of a castle wall with a needle and thred . he that looks for such inestimable goodnesse within iron sides , may as well looke to find a pearle in a lopster . no , no , the church must not be defended with helmets , the risisters of blows , but with miters which have received the cleft already ; not by broken pates , but by cloven tongues : not by men clad in buffe , but by priests cloathed in righteousnesse : decitions in matters of faith , must not be determined by armour of proof ; nor did the sword of the spirit ever make way to the conscience by cutting through the flesh . he therefore who takes up armes against his soveraigne , with pretenses of defending his religion , doth but take such courses , as are condemned by the same religion he would defend ; and indeed he doth but make religion his stalking-horse , to blind him , whilst he aimes at that , which he would have least suspect him , which when he hath effected , he meanes to get up upon the horse and ride him at his pleasure : they pretend the good of the church , when , you may be assured , they intend nothing more , then the goods thereof , and like dissembling lapwings , make a shew of being nearest the nest , when they are furthest of it . if we fight for our liberties , what liberties are they that we fight for ? if for liberty of conscience , what doe you meane thereby ? if by liberty of conscience you mean , that it shall be lawfull for every one to chuse his owne religion , or to be of his own opinion , those are things which we ought not to have , much lesse to fight for ; for then let us not blame every panim that bakes his cake to the queen of heaven , or every ignorant votary , who creeps to his own image , or makes his own idoll ; for in this kind of liberty , we do but sacrifice unto the net wherein we see our selves caught , and burne incense to the drag that hales us to destruction . christians are not to be at such liberty , loose christians are but lost men ; true christians will be contented to be bound up in the unity of the same spirit , and the bond of peace : if the bond be broken , the sheaf of corn is but so many loose eares , and no way fit to be carried into the lords barne : if we be sons and daughters , let us belong all to one house , if we be servants , let us be all of one family , if we be lively stones , let us be all of one building , if we be severall grapes , let us be all of one cluster , if we be severall clusters , yet let us be all of one vine ; if we be saints , let us have a communion , for this is it which is called the communion of saints , this is it which is called religion , which commeth of the word religando , which signifieth to bind . wherefore for a man not to thinke himself bound to those articles which the church proposes , is to be of no religion , and to fight for this , is to fight for nothing : and if by liberty of the subject , you mean liberty from oppression , i know not any man or woman of any quality or condition what soever , that knows what belongs to any such thing , except it be some few , who have liberty to do what they will with all the rest . if we fight for the property of the subject , i beleeve the subjects have so altered the property of their goods , that had they but their old properties restored , they would not think it good sighting for a new ; their expectations being so much deceiv'd , that instead of fighting for the property of the subject , they rather see themselves subjest to have all things in common . if we fought for the laws of the land , whose laws are they ? are they not the kings ? will he not maintaine the foundation of his house from sinking ? will he not maintaine his leggs under him ? are they not supporters of that body politick whereof he is the head ? nay , doth he not maintaine himself when he maintaineth them ? for the king and his lawes may be compared to god and his word , both inseperable : for as god is the word , and the word is god ; so the king is the law , as the life thereof , and the the law is the king , as the body of that soule , wherefore there needed not any fighting against the king for this , except it be by those , who would be kings themselves . and for priviledges of parliament , i remember to have read of jack cade , in the reigne of richard the second , who comming up as far as london-stone , and resting himselfe thereon , vowed that within three daies , there should be no other law , but what did proceed out of his mouth : now if it stand with the privilidges of parliament to have a few jack cades , relying on their london-stones , to tell them what they must doe , and they will have ; if it stands with the priviledges of parliament ; to have tumults to drive away their king , armies to awe themselves ; countries to send up their inhabitants in multitudes with petitions in their hats , cudgels in their hands , and threatnings in their mouths ; so that the king was faine to slash the citizens from white-hall , and then the parliament , the country-men from westminster-hall , then they have fought to some purpose : but suppose that the parliament did really fight for all these particulars ; so did the king too ; so that the king may safely expostulate with his parliament , as s. paul did with the rest of the apostles , are ye fighters for the protestant religion ? so am i : are you for the liberties of the subject ? so am i : are you for the laws of the land ? so am i : are you for the properties of estates ? so am i : are you for the priviledges of parliament ? so am i : and in all these things i have laboured more abundantly then you all ; where lies the quarrell then ? it must consist then in nothing but this , that they do not believe one another , in that they both fight for one and the same thing , the meanes of reconciliation is taken away : for should they differ in their grounds , the law may be judge between them , reason may be judge , the world may be judges : but rebus sic stantibus , instead of having reason to fight , we do but fight against reason , both contend for the same power , like the two women that contended for the same child : solomon judg'd the child to belong to her who would rather part with it all , then have the child divided : now the parliament would have this powerfull child divided , half to the king , and half to themselves : the king rather then so , is contented to lose all : in whom there is most affection and pitty , in him is the right of true parentage : but because there are no solomons in this age , let us go the down-right way to worke . the two houses gave out that they fought in defence of the kings person , crown and dignity , do ye beleeve them ? don't ye believe the king did ? the parliament said they ●ought only to bring him to his parliament , was the parliament at holmeby house ? or was it at carisbrook-castle in the isle of wight ? was he in honour , or was he dignified by being there ? have they not fought then all this while upon a false ground ? have not they given themselves the lie ? and will you believe them still ? but instead of being instructed by solomons divided child , they divided their solomon . o country-men , do but remember what ill luck the nation hath had , by imprisoning their kings : when they had imprisoned the old lyon and the young within their grates , the 3 henry and his son ; did they not , like the inclosed wind , make the whole land shake ? had not the whole kingdom a shrewd fit of an ague then ? did they not ( lik● fire too close beseiged with clouds ) sally out in thunder and lightning , to the terrour and destruction of all thos● who stood in the way ? what successe● had the imprisonment of edward 2 ▪ upon his imprisonment followed his deposement , and the murder of his person was a consequent of the deposement of his dignity , but what becam● of those who did it ? is there one remaining of the name of mortimer ? was not that mortimer , who was the cause of his imprisonment , beheaded ? were not all those who had a hand in it condignly punished ? nay , was not the immediate heire of this too much conniver at his fathers sufferings , and too ready accepter of his fathers office ▪ imprisoned , deposed and murdered in like manner ? and what successe ( i pray you ) had the imprisonment of richard the 2 ? it cost the kingdome whole ages of miseries , 80 of her nobility , and 100000 of her commons , & the disposing of all her royall roses in their budds , and before they were halfe blown , untill they was but one of a colour left in the royall garden of great brittaine ; and they being married , made such a composure of red and white , as blushing at the former mischiefs : and it is worth your observation , how that the last two kings ( to save their lives ) resigned their crowns , and so lost both ; whereas the former , by keeping his crown upon his head escaped the blow . let all these base begotten meteors appear glorious for a time , till by their yeilding more and more to aire , they fall to earth ; whilst kings , like suns in firmaments , look biggest when they are going down , with confidence that they shall rise againe . lastly , henry 6. and his son must be imprisoned and murdered , to make way for edward 4. and edward 4. his two sons and heires must be imprisoned & murdered to make way for richard 3. and richard 3. murders these two little children , and henry 7. slayes richard 3. with infinite of his followers , for his usurpation : if you go on with your worke , you see your wages ; gods hand is not shortned , but stretched out still , and he is as great an enemy to such proceedings as ever he was : he is yesterday , and to day , and the same for ever : do ye thinke that ever ye shall have peace till the king be restored ? ye may as well expect the needle of the compasse to leave its treppidation before it point at the north pole , as to find quietnesse in the land before the hearts of the people turne to their soveraigne . do you not see that the parliament cannot bring any thing to maturity , and what 's the reason ? but because their labours will not admit a treaty with the sun . good men should endeavour to take off , not verefie that saying of maximilian the emperour ( as johannes aventinus witnesseth de bello turcico ) viz. that the emperour of germany was rex regnum , because his princes were so great : the king of spaine was rex hominum , because his people were so obedient : that the king of france was rex asinorum , because they bare such heavie burdens but the king of england was rex diabolorum , because the people use to treat their kings so wickedly . now reader , whether thou be'st christian , or kind , or courteous , or otherwise ; whether thou be'st for one , or other , or neither , or both , yet as thou art an english-man , suffer not thy self to be so abused , and thy country so ruined , by the names of king and parliament , religion , and liberty , priviledges and properties , for many a snake lies under the strawberry leaves of such pretences , and stings you ere you be aware , and feeds you with poisons instead of dainties ; but return to your old obedience , if you would return to your old peace , and if you would have god speed the plough , begin to cry , god save the king , that we may once more hear the voice of joy and gladnesse amongst us , that our oxen may be strong to labour , that there may be no decay , no leading into captivity and no complaining in our streets ; that every man may sit quietly under his own vine , and his own hands pluck his own grapes , that the mowers may fil their sithes with their own rights , and the reapers bind up their sheaves in the bonds of justice . one word to thee o thou great city , the pantapolis of all miseries : the seminary of rebellion , the magazine of gunpowder treasons , the treasury of the wages of iniquity , the tower against david , wherein hangs so many shields and bucklers ; the mart towne for conspiracies ; you nursed up this rebellion when it was but tender ; you both fed and taught it , when it was but young : you maintain'd it in its wantonnesse , when it was in its youth ; when it came unto its full strength , ye gloried in your production ; and now rebellion is in its declining age , you ceres its wrinkles , you lend it artificiall eyes , leaden its gray haires , lend it your staffe for fear it should fall ; and now at last you help it to crutches when it cannot otherwise go : take my advice , and judge not salubrity by sweetnesse , a plaine dealing friend is like those sawces which a man praises with teares in his eyes ; though you have brought it to this , yet cast off the old man of sin , and put on the new man of righteousnesse . an eagle reneweth her age , saith david , david saith so , and therefore you must believe it : but how it is done ? you must be advised by plyny ; when the eagle hath surfeited by reason of her age , not being able to digest so great a quantity of bloud as formerly shee was wont , shee bathes and molts her self in a fountaine , untill all her feathers fall away , and beats her beak against a rock , untill it loosens and fals off , and thus with renewing of her bill and feathers , in a manner , shee becomes young againe , now after seven years sucking of the bloud of innocents , if ye find your aged stomakes to be fil'd up to your consciences , like the eagles bath and molt your selves in the tears of repentance , untill your peacocks plumes come downe , and strike with the fists of contrition , upon your hard and stony hearts , so you shall become new men ; new to god , new to his vicegerent , new to your selves ; which will be the best newes , that hath been cried in your streets these many years . and as you have been principium & caput , so be but finis hujus rebellionis , and habebis laudem ex illa , rom. 13. and as it hath been your fault to begin this rebellion , so let it be your vertue to make an end of it , for if you will not make an end of it , there will be an end of you . the contents . chap. i. god himself was the first founder , and the first that instituted the office of kings . pag. 1 chap. ii. the people cannot make an anointed king. 9 chap. iii. the meaning of the anointing of kings . 11 chap. iv. the reason why they are called the lords anointed . 19 chap. v. bad kings are the lords anointed as well as good . 25 chap. vi . it is not lawfull upon any pretences whatsoever to depose , or so much as touch the lords anointed . 29 chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords anointed . 39 chap. viii . that kings now adayes are to be had in the same veneration and esteeme as the kings of judah and israel were , notwithstanding our christian liberty . 50 chap. ix . that a king failing in his duty , and not performing those things which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) yet the people are not dis-obliged in their obedence unto him . 57 chap. x. touch not mine anointed , psal. 105. meant by princes , and not otherwise . 65 chap. xi . the objection of the ten tribes revolting from rehoboam , answered . 72 chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram , and taking the kingdome upon him answered . 79 chap. xiii . a discourse concerning the necessity and excellency of monarchy . 83 chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free-state in the world . 93 chap. xv . a discourse concerning episcopacy , proving it to be jure divino . 112 the royall charter granted unto kings , by god himselfe : chap. i. who was the first founder , or the first that instituted the office of kings . wee say some people were the first that desired them , and moved for them , and had them , and chose them . and all the people went to gilgall , and there they made saul king before the lord in gilgall . 1 samuel 11.15 . 1 samuel ● . 5 . soft and fair , good people ; do not ●istake your selves ; you desired , and moved for , and would have , and had a king ▪ but god gave him you : i gave thee a king , o israel , in mine anger , and i too● him 〈◊〉 ●n my wr●th . hosea 13.10 , 11. according to this we read , acts 13 . 2● ▪ they desired a king , and god gave unto the● saul , &c. and for your making of ● king at gilgall ; your making was bu● approving , and applauding him , tha● was made already ; for saul was bot● made a king , and confirmed king , an● executed his office , before the people a●● said to have made him king in gilgal ▪ he was anointed king over israel : 1 sam. 1 ▪ 1. he was confirm'd by signs . 1 sam. 10.2 , 3 , &c. he executed his office . 1 sam. 11.7 , ● ▪ god first , sent . and secondly , shewed . and thirdly , chose . and fourthly , anointed . and fifthly , found them out a kin● before ever i● is said , they made him . first , god sent him ; i will send thee man out of the tribe of benjamin , and thou sh●●● anoint him to be captain over my people . secondly , god shewed him ; for n●●ther the people , nor any of the sain● nor the elders of bethlehem , no , nor sam●●l himself , knew not where to find this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kings , till god said , this is he , he shall ●ign over my people , 1 sam. 9.17 . thirdly , god chose him himself ; and ●●muel said to all the people , see him ●●om the lord hath chosen : sam. 10.24 . 〈◊〉 the people ma●e him themselves , or ●●uld make him , what needed they to ●●ve come unto samuel to bid him ; make 〈◊〉 a king to judge us ? sam. 8.5 . and to 〈◊〉 , give us a king ? which deprecation ●as indeed no otherwise , then as if they s●ould have desired samuel to have asked a king for them of the lord ; for so it ●●ems by the sequell , for immediately h●reupon samuel went unto the lord , and declared their importunity , and the lord said , that he should hearken unto the ●●●ce of the people in all that they said unto him , ●●rse 7. and this most certain and agreea●le unto 1 sam. 1. where samuel tels 〈◊〉 people ; yee have this day rejected your 〈◊〉 , &c. and have said unto him , set a king 〈◊〉 us . fourthly , god anointed him ; samuel took a violl of oyle & powred it on his head , 〈◊〉 kissed him , and said , is it not because hee 〈◊〉 anointed thee to be captain over his in●●●itance : sam. 10.1 . fifthly , god found him out for them , where he was hidden from them ; for when all the tribes of israel were come together , and the tribe of benjamin was taken , and the families of that tribe drew neer ; & the family of matry was taken out of those families , and saul the son of kish from thence : 1 sam. 10.20 ▪ 21. ( the smallest tribe , the least family , the poorest benjamite , as shewing us that kings were not to have derivation from the mighty people , but from the almighty god : sam. 9.21 . ) the people sought him , but they could not find him , so that they were fain to enquire of the lord for him , , and the lord shewed them were he had hid himself in the stuffe : 1 sam. 12.22 . so that all that the people of israel had to doe , either in the election , institution , nomination , creation , or invention of their first king , was ( when god had done all this ) to shout , and say , god save the king : 1 sam. 10.24 . and for their making a king , after all this in gilgall , it could be no otherwise then their approbation of him , who was thus made by god already . neither was god only the founder of the first king of the jews , but of all the rest also : he was davids founder too , i have found david my servant , with my holy oyle have i annointed him : psal. 89.20 . it was well for david , for he should have been but a poor king , if he had been but of the peoples finding ; and it may be they would not have knowne what to have made of him when they had found him . david was not filius populi , but dei , the sonne of god , not of the people : psalm 89.26 . he was neither exalted of the people , nor chosen of the people ; i have exalted one chosen out of the people , said god , ( verse 19. ) but the exaltation was gods , and the choice not of , ●ut out of the people . kings are not children of the most voices ; but children of the most high : ps. 82.6 . yet the approbation of the people may serve ad pompam , but not ad necessitatem ; it may add somthing to the solemnity , but nothing to the essence of the constitution ; what was divinely given , may be humanely received , and so are kings . neither will we speak of the king , or the first of the kings of jud●h or israel , ●ut we will go along with the first king ●hat ere was read of ( if there be not books antienter then the books of moses ) and that was melchizedec king of salem ; this melchisedec is said to have neither father nor mother , it could not be said so in regard of his person , for wee all know who he was , and who his father and mother were ; he was sem , the eldest son of noah , but it was said so , in respect of his office ; shewing us , tha● kings , they are not the off-spring of men , but an emanation from the deity ; and teaching us , that as kings are not of the poeples making , so they ought not to be of the peoples marring , and as they are not the founders , so they ought not to be the confounders of them ; cujus est instituere , ejus est abrogare , they that institute , may abrogate , they that make , may un-make , what thou buildest thy selfe , thou maist lawfully pull down ; thou maist diruere edificar● , mutare , quadrata rotundis , but if thou destroyest that which another hath built , thou maist chance to be sued for dilapidations : if a limner draw a picture , he may alter and change it , and if he dislike it , race it out at his pleasure ; or i● a carver or ingraver mislike his owne handy-work , he may destroy it when he pleases ; but if god makes a man after his own image , and creates him after his own similitude , wee offend god in a high degree , when we cut off , or deface the least part , or member of his handy-work . now kings are lively representations , living statues , or pictures , drawn to the life , of the great deity ; these pictures , for their better continuance , are done in oyle , the colours of the crown never fade , they are no water colours ; as kings with their own statues , will not be angry , though time and age devour them ; yet they will not suffer them spitefully to be thrown down , or shot against ; so god , though he will suffer kings to dye like men , and fall like other princes ; yet he will not suffer his character , spitefully to be rased , or his image defaced ; but though he will have them die like men , yet he will have them live like gods . and if all this be not proof sufficient , you shall hear god the father , god the son , and god the holy ghost affirm as much . god the father plainly affirms , john 10.34 . dixi dij estis , i have said ye are gods ; but if the stroke had been in the people , then it should have been , nos diximus , dij estis , we have said ye are gods . god the sonne told pilate thou shouldest have no power except it were ( data desuper ) given from above ; but if the people had given him that power , then it should have been , thou should'st have no power , except it were ( data desubter ) given from beneth ; and i am sure the holy ghost tels us , per me reges regnant , by me kings reign ; but if they reigned by the suffrage of the people , then it should have been per nos , according to the moderne dialect , they reign by us ▪ and as long as we think fit , and when wee thinke it fit no longer , they shall reign no more ; they received their authority from us , and we may recall it when we please , and depose them when we list ; for they are but proxies and attornies of the people : see buch. de jure regni fickerus & renecherus &c. little thinking how by this powerfull doctrine of theirs , they ( quite contrary to the word of god ) destroy the higher powers , and give the whole trinity the lie at once : and if these testimonies are not sufficient , i know why they are not , because they never were confirmed by act of parliament . chap. ii. whither the people can make a king or not . if the question be asked , whether the people doe make the king or not ? i could no more grant it , then i should grant , that the people made heaven ; but if you ask me , whether the people can make a king ( such a one as they use to make ) if they have not one already of gods making , they may ; such are kings , and no king ; not reges , but regentes ad placitum , kings by election , are alwaies kings upon condition , and where the condition is so little worth , the obligation is the lesse , and but small security will be required : for my own part i should be a shamed to were a crown on my head , when the people must raign , and the king stand under the penthouse ; and i had as live they should make me a iack a lent , for apprentices to throw their cudgels at me , as to make me a king to be controuled by their masters , and every tribune of the people ; for as an invitation to a dinner where there is no meat , is but a distastfull banquet , so the name of a king without its adjuncts , is but a savourlesse renown ; and indeed such as they are not actu reges , ●hey do but agere regem , they are not actuall kings , they doe but act the part of a king , and i hold him that acts the part of a king an hour upon the stage , to be as reall a king for his time and territories , as the best king by election , who is chosen but for his life ; herein consists the difference , as the one must act his part as the poets please , so the other must act his part as the people please ; they must have their parts given them , they must act it accordingly , they must not so much as tread the stage awry ; their subejects are both spectators and judges , and it lies within the favour of the next society , whether or no the sonne shall come to act the fathers part . such kings as these the people may make ; but to make a sacred and an anointed king , an established and successive monarch , a king that hath this heredit●tem in him , a king that hath this noli me tangere about him ; whose writs were alwaies termed , sacri apices , whose commands divalis jussio , whose presence sacra vestigia , whose thorne is the lords , whose scepter is his rod , whose crown is his favour , and whose representation is of himself ; the people can no more make such a deity , then so many tapers can make a glorious sunne , or so many sparks of sprey and faggots , can make a firmament of stars . chap. iii. what is meant by anointing of kings . anointing , in severall places of scripture , betokens some spirituall grace , as james 5.14 . call the elders of the church , and let them pray over the sick , anointing him with oyle in the name of the lord : which the roman-catholicks call extream unction , though now adaies , we only make use of the extremity , and leave out the unction : and therefore some will have the anointing of kings to signifie some spirituall grace also , which shall inable him with religion and aptnes to govern wel ; which when they cease to doe , their anointing falleth off , and they cease to be kings ; if they be not good , they are none of gods anointed , and if they be not his anointed , they care not whose they are . this doctrine hath caused the shedding of more bloud then there is now running in the veins of living christians ; whereas the truth is , it is neither religion , nor virtue , nor grace , that is meant by this royall anointing : cyrus was christus domini as wel as josias , and saul as well as david : if religion were that that did the deed , then cyrus had not been the lords anointed ; if virtue , then not saul ; if grace , neither : if religion makes kings , then there should have been of old no kings , but those of judah ; and now no kings , but those of christendome . it is jus regnandi that is meant by this royall anointing , and royall vnction , confers no grace , but declares a just title only ; vnxit in regem , he anointed him king , includes nothing but a due title , excludes nothing but usurpation ; gives him the administration to govern , not the gift to govern , well ; the right of ruling , not of ruling right : kings are anointed with oyl , to shew , that as they have thrones to signifie that they are the cesterns of justice ; and crowns to signifie that they are the fountaines of honours ; and scepters to signifie that the hands which hold them , are the magazines wherein the whole strength and ammunition of kingdoms are reposed : so anointing is a sacr●d signature betokning soveraignity , ob●dience to the throne , submission to the scepter , allegience to the crown , and supremacy to the oyle must needs be given , for oyle will have it : poure oyle and wine , and water , and vineger , or what other liquour you please together , oyle will be sure to be the uppermost : the three first ceremonies make him but high and mighty , and puissant , but the last only , makes him sared , and therefore some have maintained that a king is mixta persona cum sacerdote , whether he be so or no i will not here insist ; but sure i am , that their is much divinity in the very name , and essence of kings ; which duly considered and believed , that kings are thus sacred ( as we ought , and gods word informs us ) we would take heed how we touch , take warning how he tear and rend in peeces , as much as in us lies ( with those leaden messengers of death ( with their gunpowder commissions ) to fetch the higher to the lower powers , and make the king a subject to the subjects wils ) the sacred person of so great a majesty ; whereas the cutting off but a piece of the lappe of sauls garment , hath checkt a greater spirit , then the proudest riser up against his soveraign : we would not speak so despicably of the lords anointed ; what is the king ? he is but a man , he is but one , he hath a soule to be saved as well as others ; for though all this be true , yet the end for which all this is said , is most false and abhominable , for though it be true , that the king is but a man , yet it is also true , that that man is the light of israel , 2 kings 8.19 . wee must take heed how we put it out . and though it be true , that such a piece of silver , is but a piece of silver , yet as it bears caesars image , and superscription upon it , it is more significant ; & if thou either pare or impare it a jot , if thou art found either clipping , or diminishing of it in the least degree , ●hou dost it to the preiudice of thine own life ; so though a king be but a man ●s in himself , yet as he ●ears the representation of god , and hath his character stamp'd upon him , he is some-what more , if you will believe him that said ●e are gods , psalm 82.6 . and therefore we must take heed how we debase or detract ●rom them who represent so great a dei●y , who by reason of their proximity ●nd neernes unto god in some respects , ●re most commonly of more discerning spirits then ordinary men : for mephi●osheth , when his servant had so grievivously slandred him to david , he makes but a short complaint , my servant hath ●landred me ; but ( as if he should say , i need not tell thee much , thou hast wisdome enough to find it out ) my lord the king is as an angell of god , doe therefore what is good in thine own eies : therefore because thou art as an angell of god , and thy selfe art a good intelligence , as all angels are , doe what is good in thine own eie ; as if he should have said , if thou doest onely that which seemeth to be good in other mens eies , it may be they will perswade thee that the thing was true , wherein my servant slandred thy servant poor mephibosheth , and he suffer wrongfully . i am of opinion that god gives to every king to whom he communicates his name and authority , this extraordinary gift of discerning ; but because they do not some times make use of it to the end it was bestowed upon them , viz. ( the better government of their severall dominions ) but are contented to see and discerne with other mens eyes , and to have false spectacles put upon their noses , whereby many a good man suffers : god in his justice gives them over , that in their own particular , and wherein their own greatest good is chiefly concerned , they shall make least use of their own judgements and advise , and wholly give themselves to be over-swayed by the advise of those , whose judgements perhaps is not so good as their own , and whose intentions ( it may be ) are no better then they should be . it is written that the hearts of kings are in the hands of the lord , and he disposeth them as seemeth best to his heavenly wisdome ; certainly i would ●ake a little advice from that heart , ●hat is so directed by that hand ; the kings head never plotted treason a●ainst the crown , and no man can wish ●etter to his majesty then the king . i ●peak not this in derogation either of the great , or privie councell ( for it is ●ritten , in the multitude of councellors there 〈◊〉 safety ) but in defence only of these ●ons of oyle , who are supreme in both . and as it is true that the king is but ●ne man , so it is also true , that one man ●s worth ten thousand of the people ; ●hou art woth ten thousands of us ( though all ●is worthies were in place ) 2 sam. 18.3 . ●nd though it be true , that the king ●ath a soul to be saved as well as others , ●et it is also true , that he should have ●o body to be crucified by his subjects , ●nd out of his dis-esteem of the person , the ceremonies of state ( as anointing , ●itting in thrones , holding of scepters , ●nd coronation it selfe ) being to be ●xploded now a daies ; and who look'd ●or it otherwise , when the lawfull and ●ecent ceremonies of the church , were ●alled reliques of popery , and raggs of the whore of babilon : was it otherwise ●o be expected , but that they would call these ceremonies of state , theatrica pompa : stage-plaies , toyes : tush say they , what need all these● fopperies , a kings throne is his justice , his crown his honour , his scepter , and cheifest strength , the peoples hearts , his holy oyle , is his religion , and zeal to gods glory ; and so it is : what then ? may we not have the signes , and the things signified also ? because the true receiving of the communion , is the receiving of the body , and bloud of christ by faith ; therefore shall we have no bread and wine ? or because that true baptisme is the washing away of originall sin , with the laver of regeneration ; therefore shall we have no water powred on the child ? we have scripture for these ceremonies , and i am sure we have no scripture for the abolishing of them , but rather scripture for their continuation for ever . reges in solio , collocat in perpetuum : god establishes kings upon their thrones for ever , job 36.7 . chap. iv. why they are called the lords anointed . the lords anointed , is as much as to say the lords christ , and christi signifieth anointed ones : in the hebrew you shall read it , who shall ●ay his hand upon the lords messiah ? for the lords anointed 1 sam. 26.9 . in the greek , who can lay his hand upon the ●ords christ . kings are taken into the ●●ociety of gods name , dixi dii estis , i ●ave said ye are gods ; and here into the society of christs name , and all to ●errefie subjects from lifting up their ●ands against the lords anointed , as ●uch as if he were god or christ him●elfe . againe , kings are not termed uncti ●omini ( for that were no prerogative to ●hem at all ) but christi domini , for not ●nly persons , but things also , were a●ointed under the law ; not only kings , ●ut priests and phrophets likewise , nei●her did it rest there , but it extended to the tabernacle it selfe , and ran down to the vessels thereof , even to the very fireforks , ashpans , and snuffers ; but unto whom said he at any time , tu es● christus meus , heb. 1.4 , 5. but unto christ , and kings ? to christ once , luke 2.26 . to kings thirty two times throughout the bible ; four times by god himself ; kings are called christ● mei , mine anointed ; six times to god , christi tui , thine anointed ; ten times of god , christi ejus , his anointed ; twelve times in termes terminant , christi domini , the lords anointed : and therefore the old translator observed it rightly , when in the same word , in the hebrew , and the greek , he speakes of the priest , he translates it unctus ; but when of the king ( alwayes ) christus . and as they are not uncti , but christi ▪ so they are not christi populi , but christ● domini ; not the peoples anointed , but the lords anointed ; there may be a master of the ceremonies , but ther● must be no master of the substance ; they are the lords christs , and they hol● their kingdomes under him , in king● service ; neither are the kingdomes o● the earth any bodies else but gods : t●● kingdomes are gods , dan. 4.17 . neither ●are they at any mans disposing but his , he giveth them to whom he pleaseth ( loco citato ) therefore for whose they are , they are the lords ; and for what they ●re , they may thanke him and none else . secondly , they are the lords , because that by him , and in him , and ●hrough him , they have their dominion , and regiment , from him they have ●heir crowns , from his hands their coronation ; diadema regis in ●manu dei , esay 60.3 . the royal diadem is in the hand of god , and out of that hand ●e will not part with it so much , as for ●nother , to place it upon the kings ●ead ; but it must be tu posuisti ( tu domine ) thou , o lord , hast set a crown of pure gold upon his heard , psal. 21.3 . the emperours used to stamp their coyne with a hand coming out of the clouds , holding a crown , and placing it upon their heads ; we have no ●uch hierogliphicks in our coyne , as a hand coming out of a cloud ; but we have grace from heaven : dei gra●ia , so that there is not a king but may say with the apostle , gratia dei , sum qui sum , by the grace of god i am that i am ; and indeed kings are kings , as paul was an apostle , not of men , neither by man , but by god . thirdly , they are the lords christs ; because , not only their crowns , are in the hands of the lord , but he puts the scepter into theirs ; nay , the scepters which princes hold in their hands , are gods scepters , being there , virga dei i● manibus ejus , it is gods rod that is in their hands , exod. 17.9 . and therefore right is the motto ▪ ( and reason is it that they should be esteemed the lords anointed ) diev et mon dro it , god and my right ; none else have to do with it , the scepter of a kingdome , in the hands of a king , is the livery and seison which is given him by god , of the whole militia , within his dominion , they that take away that , put a reed into the hand of christs anointed ; and why should it be expected that they should deal otherwise with christs anointed then they did with christ himself , first put a reed in his hand , and afterwards a spear into his heart . fourthly , kings are the lords anointed , because , they sit upon his throne : sideba● solomon in throno ▪ dei , solomon sate upon gods throne 1 cor. 29.23 . but if solomon should have lived in these our dayes , instead of his six steps ●o his great throne of gold , and ivory ; he should have six steppers to his throne , for the gold and ivory sake ; instead of having a foot-stoole of gold under his feet ; he should have much adoe to keep a crown of pure gold upon his head : instead of hands to stay his throne , he should have hands enough to pull it down , and cast it to the ground : and instead of two , and twelve lyons , fixed on each side , as a guard unto his throne , he should have found many lyons , without regard , running up and downe , seeking how they might destroy him . lastly , kings are the lords anointed , because they are anointed with his own oyl , oleo sancto meo , with my holy oyl have i anointed him , psal. ●9 . 20 . it is not with any common , or vulgar oyl , or oyl that any laies claime ●o but himself : but it is oleo meo , my oyl ▪ neither is it oyl , that was fetch'd o●● of any common shop , or warehous● , b●t it is oleo sancto , with holy oyl , oyl out of the sanctuary : and no question but this is a maine reason ( if they would speak out ) why some have such an aking tooth at the sanctuaries , because they maintain in them , oyl for the anointing of kings : but if the alablaster box were broken , the ointment would soon be lost : if they could perswade the king out of the church , into the barne , they would soon pull a reed out of the thatch , to put into his hand , instead of a scepter ; or if they could get him to hear sermons under a hedge , there would not be materials wanting to make a crown of thornes to pleat it on his head . thus you see the the reasons , why kings are called the lords anointed , because the lord hath appropriated them unto himself , not in a common and generall way , but in a particular and exclusive manner : my king , my kingdome , my crown , my scepter , my throne , my oyl , where is there left any place for claime ? pride may thrust down angels out of heaven , and violence may crucifie the son of god ; but ( all these things considered ) who can stretch forth his hand against the lords anointed , and be guiltlesse ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. v. whether bad kings be the lords anointed , or not . they are : for they are of the lords sending , and appointment , as well as the good . i will set an evill man to rule over them ( said god ) and i gave them a king in mine anger , hosea 13.11 . which king was saul , which saul was a tyrant , which tyrant was the lords anointed ; when he was at the worst , you cannot have two better witnesses then david , and the holy ghost , 1 sam. 26. cyrus was a heathen persian , and one that knew not god , yet for all that , haec dicit dominus , cyro christo meo , thus saith the lord to cyrus mine antinted , esay 43.4 . nero was no good emperour , but a monster of man-kind , yet saint peter , in whose day●s he wrote his epistle , commanded all christians to submit to him , 1 pet. 2.13 . hasaell , whom the lord fore-saw , and fore-shewed unto his prophet elisha , to be the destroyer of his people of israel , and one , that should make them like the du●● by threshing , 2 kings 13.7 . on that wil●set their strong holds on fire , slay their young men with the sword , dash their children again●● the wall , and rip up their women with child ▪ insomuch that it made the prophet weep , to fore-see all the miseries that should happen , 2 kings 8.12 . insomuch that it made hasaell himself ( when he was told thereof ) cry out , is thy servant a dogge , that he should do all these things ● vers. 13. yet for all this , god will have him to be king , and it be but to scurge his people , the lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over syria , vers. 13. julian , when from his christianity , he fell , to flat paganisme , yet this anointing held , no christian ever sought , no preacher ever taught to touch him , or resist him in the least degree ; for whilst the cruell and bloudy emperours were persecuting the poor christians , they were fitting their necks for the yoke , and teaching on another postures , how they might stand fairest for the strok of death . an● this was not quia deer ant vires , because they could not help it , for the greatest part of julians army , and the most part of his empire were christians : for saith tertullian in his appologeticall defence of the christians of those times , una nox pauculis faculis , &c. one night with a few firebrands will yeild us ●ufficient revenge , if we durst , by reason of ●ur christian obligation : and shewes , how they neither wanted forces , nor numbers , and that neither the moors , or the persians , or any other nation whatsoever , were more mighty , or more populous then they : and how they filled all places , townes , cities , emperia●l pallaces , senats , and seats of judgement ; and that they could do any thing , in their revenge , if it were any thing lawfull ; but this anointing was the thing that kept the swelling down , and hindred the corrupt humours from gathering to a head : and therefore it is not as stephanus junius , franciscus , hottomanus , georgius , buchananus , ficklerus and renecherus , with the rest of the pillars of the puritan anarchy , do answer ( being gravel'd at the practice of the primitive christian● ▪ and those precepts of the holy apostle ) that the church then ( as it were swathed in the bonds of weaknesse ) had not strength enough to make powerfull resistance ; and therefore , so the one taught , and the other obeyed : but if this doctrine were allowable , then would inevitably follow these two grosse absurdities . 1. that the pen of the holy ghost ( which taught submission even to the worst of kings ) was not directed according to the equity of the thing , but the necessity of the times . 2. that either the holy ghost must turne politician , and become a timeserver , or else the church must lose the meanes of its being , and subsistance . whereas ▪ we know the contrary so well , that when acies ecclesiae , was so far from its bene ordinata , that when al the souldiers fled , and the life-guard routed , the lord of hoast ( the generall himself ) taken prisoner , yet then , like the sun looking biggest in lowest estate , so the son of righteousnesse , thinke ye not that i can pray unto my father , and he will send l●gions of angels ; and ra●her th●n gods children shall be oppressed by a company of egiptians ( if it be his pleasure to deliver them ) he can , without the drawing of one sword , turne rivers into bloud , produce an army of froggs to destroy them : and rather then they should be necessitated for lack of means , ●end swarms of flies , that may serve ●hem in the stead of so many rescuing angel● , and therefore it was not any ●ecessity , that the church was , or could ●e in , that procured in the apostles , or the first christians , either that doctrine , ●r that use ; it was not dis-ability , but duty ; not want of strength , but a reve●end regard of the lords anointed , that wrought these effects in both : let the people be never so many and mighty , and the princes of the people never so wicked and cruell , mos gerendus est , we must obey them ; not in the performance of their unjust commands ; but in submission to their just authority ; if not by our active , yet by our passive obedience : if not for their own sakes , yet propter ▪ dominum , for the lords sake ; if not for wrath , yet for conscience sake , rom. 13.5 . if it goeth against thy conscience , say , ●s the people were wont to say , when they fell down before the asse that carried the image of the goddesse isis , upon his back , non tibi sed re●igioni ; if thy conscience condemns thee , god is greater then thy conscience , and we must look what he commands , as well as what she dictates ; the one may be mislead , the other cannot mislead ; sacrifice may be either pleasing , or displeasing to the lord , but obedience was never faulty ; thou maist offer the sacrifice of fools , when thou thinkest thou doest well ; but upon how sure grounds goes he , who can say with the prophet in all his actions , if i have gone a stray , o lord , thou hast caused me to erre ? never deviating from the expresse of his word . now god gives us expresse command , that we should not touch his anointed , what condition soever they are of : n●lite tangere christos meos , touch not mine anointed ; and where gods rules are generall , we must not put in exceptions of our own ; for the wickednesse of a king can no more make void , gods ordinance , of our orbedience unto him , then mans unbelief can frustrate gods decree in us , rom. 3.3 . let saul be wicked , and let wicked saul be hut once anointedd , david states the question neither concerning saul , nor his wickednesse , but whether he being the lords annointed ( there 's the businesse ) it is lawfull to stretch forth a hand against him ( who can stretch his hand against the lord● anointed and be guiltless ? 1 sam. 26.9 . chap. vii . whether upon any pretences whatsoever it be lawfull to depose , murder ▪ or so much as touch the lords anointed . there was the first time that ever it was put to the vote , ●hether a king might be put to death ●r not , but it was resolved upon the ●uestion in that parliament ; ne perdas , ●estroy him not ; it is well that david●ad a negative voice , or else it had been ●ut a bad president for kings : it is wel ●hat the men with whom david had this ●arley , would hearken unto reason , and ●et that sway them , otherwise david●ight have been forced to flie as fast ●way from his own men , as he did first ●rom saul : for there wanted no lay●reachers then , to preach the destruction ●nd slaughter of princes , under the pre●ences of wicked government and tyran●y ; who had the trick then , as well as ●ow , to couch their foul meaning in ●ood words and scripture phrase , with a dixit dominus , when the lord said no such thing ; as davids zealots , 1 sam. 24 . 5●this is the day wherof the lord said unto thee , i will deliv●r thine enemy into thine hand , an● thou shalt doe unto him ( what ? ) as shal● seem good unto thee , that is thou shall murder him , that was their meaning : though the word was a good word ; and we do● not read where the lord said any such thing at all : so abishai , 1 sam. 26.8 . god hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand : what then ? therefore let me smite him ; no such matter ; david denies the consequence , as if he should have said god hath delivered him into my hand , but ● will make no such bad use of his deliverance , i had rather hereby shew him hi● own errour , and my innocency , then any way stretch forth my hand against him , for he is the lords anointed ; and when sleep had betrayed saul to davids power , in the trench , and made the king a subject for davids innocence ; he esteemed himself but as a partridge in the wildernesse , when he might have caught the eagle in the nest : he passified sauls anger , by inabling his power to hurt , sent him his speare ( it seems he did not think it fit to keep the kings militia in ●●s hands ) and humbly begs , let not my ●ud fall to the earth ; when , if it had not ●●en for david , abishai would have smi●●n saul unto the earth at once , so that 〈◊〉 needed not to have smiten him the ●●cond time : but david would not , de●●●oy him not saith he , and his reason . ●as , quis potest ? who can stretch forth ●●s hand against the lords anointed ●●d be guiltlesse ? another most notable demonstration 〈◊〉 davids innocency , and subjection , ●●to a hard master , a most tyrannicall ●●ing , cruell saul ; we have 1 sam. 24. ●hen in the cave of engiddi , david●ight have cut off sauls head ; like pre●●ous oyntment , he descends only to 〈◊〉 skirts of his garment , and with a ●uid feci ? checks himself , and beshrews ●s heart that he had done so much , and ●pon a little looking back of saul ( as 〈◊〉 he had put on rayes of majesty ) da●●d bows , and stoops with his face to 〈◊〉 earth to him , when he might have ●id his honour in the dust , call'd him 〈◊〉 father ; when that father came to ●●crifice him upon the mountaines , and ●isaac-like ) nothing but see my father , ●hen he could see nothing but fire , and sword , and himself also the lamb , ready for the sacrifice . a true isaac ( though many young men staid behind with the asse ) will after his father , though he have fire in the one hand , and a knife in the other , ready for to sacrifice his follower . a right david , and he that is a man after gods own heart , though he could bite to death , and gnaw into the very bowels of his soveraign , yet he will assume no further power to hurt , then to the biting of a flea ; after whome is the king of israel come out ? after a flea ? after whom doth saul pursue ? after a dead dog ? when he might have caught the lion in the toyle . i could easily be endlesse in instances of the like nature , as our saviour christ's obedience to the death , under the reigne of tiberius , his disciples under nero , claudius and caligula , whose governments were as opposite to the propagation of the gospel , as themselves were enemies to the propagators of it ; yet we see they neither attempted the alteration of the one , or the destruction of the other ; yet christ could do much if he pleased , and if the napkins of saint paul , and the shadow of saint peter could cure diseases , if a word out of their mouthes could strike men and women dead in the place ; if an oration at the bar , could make a king tremble on the bench , then surely you will confesse that his disciples could do something : yet nothing was done or attempted against those wicked , cruell , and pagan emperours , one instance shal suffice for all : what mischief or injury could be done more to a people , then mebuchadonozer king of babylon did unto the jewes , who slew their king , their nobles , their parents , their children , and kinsefolkes , burn'd their country , their cities , their jerusalem , their temple , and carried the re●idue ( who were left alive ) captives with him to babylon . and now behold ( then ) nebuchadonozers good subjects : will you hear wat advice the prophet daniel gives them for all this ? baruch . 1.11 . pray you for the life of nebuchadonozer king of babilon , and for the life of balthasor his son , that their dayes may be upon earth , as the dayes of heaven , and the lord will give us strength ; ( what to do ? to wage war against him ? ) and lighten our eyes ( what , with new revelations how they may be reveng'd ? o no ) that we may live under the shadow of nebuchadonozer king of babylon , and under the shadow of balthasor his son , and that we may serve them many dayes , and find favour in their sight : truely shewing that a king is alkum , prov. 30.31 . one , against whom there is no rising up ; that is , not upon any pretences whatsoever : there can be no pretences whatsoever more faire and specious , then those of defending the church , and red●essing the common-wealth . for the first , if religion be any thing push'd at , think you that rebellion will keep it up , or that it ever stood in need of such hands ? when god refus'd to have his temple built by david , because he was a fighter of the lords battailes , thinke you that he will have his church defended by fighters against the lords anointed ? to defend religion by rebellion , were to defend it by meanes condemned , by the same religion we would defend ; and to reforme or redresse the common-wealth , by insurrection and rebellion , were to rectifie an errour with the greatest of all mischiefs ; no government worse then a civill war , and the worst governour is alwayes better then the best rebell : rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and stubbornnesse is as idolatry : and how perilous a thing it is , for the feet to judge the head , the subjects to choose what government and governours they will have , to condemne what , and whom they please , to make what pretences and surmises they have a mind to , this kingdome by wofull experience hath had sad resentments . imbecilities and weaknesses in princes , are no arguments for the chastisements , deposing , or murdering of kings ; for then giddy heads will never want matter or pretences to cloak their rebellion . shall moses , because pharaoh was an oppressour of gods people , and had hardned his heart , and would not let the israelites depart , therefore inflict punishments upon pharaoh , or so much as depart without his leave ? though moses could inflict punishments upon the whole land , yet his commission never went so far , as to touch pharaoh , in the least degree , though swarmes of flies came into the house of pharaoh , and frogs entred into the kings chamber ; yet we read not that they seized on pharaohs person ; there were lice in all their quarters , saith the psalmist , and there became lice in man and beast , upon the smiting on the dust , but none were smitten of the person of the king : boyles and blaines were upon all the egyptians , and upon the magicians , so sore , as they could not stand in the presence of pharaoh , but they were not on pharaoh , that he could not stand himself ; pharaoh his eldest son may die , but vivat rex , pharaoh must not be touch'd . did absolon doe well to conspire against his father , though he defiled vriahs bed , and cloaked adultery with murther ? should the priest , peers , prophets , or people , offer to depose solomon , because he had brought strange wives into the land , and as strange religion into the church ? shall elias entice a●abs subjects to rebellion , because he suffered jezebell to put naboth to death , and killed the lords prophets ? shall peter take vengeance upon herod because he put him in prison , beheaded john the baptist , and killed james ? shall reuben be no patriarch , becuse he was unstable as water ? shall simeon and levi lose their patriarchal dignity because they were brethren in iniquity , & instruments of cruelty , because in their anger they slew a man , and in their self-will digged down a wall ? shall judith be deposed from his rule and government for making a bargain with a harlot upon the high way ? shall issacher not be numbred amongst the other twelve , because he was none of the wisest ? no reason ; they were patriarchs as well as the rest , which was the immediate government before kings ; and ( indeed ) were princes themselves : princeps dei es inter nos , gen. 23.6 . thou art a mighty prince amongst us : and thus much shall suffice , ( and i hope sufficient ) to shew , that no faults or pret●nces whatsoever , can make it lawfull to depose , or so much as to touch the lords anointed . chap. vii . what is meant by touching the lords anointed , or stretching forth the hand against the lords anointed . not dare to touch the lords anointed , is an awfull reverence , and a supposed difference to be kept , between every subject and his soveraign , especially in point of violence . a mother doubting the discretion of her children , and being to leave some curious looking-glasse in a place , doth not command her children that they should not break it , but that they should not touch it ; knowing full well , that if they have the liberty to meddle with it in the least degree , they may break it before they are aware , and destroy it when they think least of any such matter ▪ so god is very chary of his king , wherein he beholds the representation of himself , and knowing him to be but brittle , and though the most refined earth , yet but glasse : he commands his people that they should not touch his anointed ; knowing that if they were permitted but to tamper with him in the least degree , their rude hands may break it in peeces , when they doe but think to set it right . a touch is but of one man , though but with one of his fingers , yet this must not be ; nolite tangere , it is not said ne tangete , wherein only the act of touching is forbidden , but nolite tangere , whereby the will is also prohibited : how wary should we be in touching , when the lord is so cautious in his prohibition ? now stretching forth the hand may signifie a combination of many into one confederacy , the hand being a part of the body , composed of five members ( one and all ) but this must not be ; a most unhappy instrument is that hand that turns it self into the bowels of its own body ; if the head break out be chance , the hands must not presently be in the head , clawing , with invenom'd nails , the corruption there , lest that itching desire , turn into smart in the end , lest when the peaceable day springing from one high , shall happily visit us , that now sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death ; we then see our bloudy hands , and this ( once happy ) kingdome , the only pillow , whereon peace had laid her head , streamed ( like the aegyptian rivers ) all with bloud : in a word , by touching the lords anointed ; or by stretching forth the hand against him , is meant any kind of violence ▪ that is used against sacred majesty ; and the signification thereof is of a large extent ; for we stretch forth our hands when we doe but lift up our heels in scorne against him ; who so lifteth up his heel , psalm 41.9 . secondly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when wee doe but raise up armes in our own defence ; whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and draweth damnation upon himself . rom. 3. thirdly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when wee stretch not our tongue and voice , when we hear of any traiterous plots or conspiracies against the lords anointed , and so bring such conspiracies to light : it is a foul thing to hear the voice of conspiracy , and not to ●tter ●● : lev. 5.1 . as good lay thy hand upon the lords anointed , as lay thy hand upon thy mouth & conceal the treason . fourthly , we stretch forth our hands against the lords anointed , when we doe not stretch forth our hands for the lords anointed , when we see him assaulted with any danger , or traiterous opposings . should a man see his own father feircely assaulted , and should not presently run into his rescue , but should suffer him to be slain before his face , would we not equally exclaim against him with the murtherers , qui non vetat peccare quum potest , jubet , he bids , that doth not forbid with all his power ●like a true son ) such outrages and vio●●nces , to be committed against the fa●●er of his country . fifthly , we touch the lords anoin●ed , when we touch his crown and dig●ity , intrench upon his regalia , hold or withhold his sons or daughters , kill or ●ake prisoners his men of warre . wee must take heed of defacing the garment , as well as of hurting the person , for they are both sacred ; the precious oyntment , wet not aarons head alone , but it ran down upon his beard , and down unto the skirts of his garment , making all sacred that was about him ; such touchings therefore are worse , then when we touch the person with the greatest violence , for then the anointed are most touched , when they are touched where the anointing is , which is their state and crown , dearer to them then their lives ; touch both , the murder of the person , is but a consequence to the deposement of the dignity . sixthly , we touch the lords anointed , when we take away his revenue and livelyhood from him , the devil thought that he had stretched forth his hand exceedingly against job , touch'd ( and touch'd him to the quick ) when he had procured gods permission , that the sabeans and caldeans should take away his oxen and asses , his sheep and camels , and plundred him of all he had ; god called this a destruction unto job , job . 2.3 . and that before ever a hand was stretch'd forth to touch either his bone , or his flesh . seventhly . is there no stroke but what the hand gives ? yes , the tongue can strike as well as the best : jere : tels us so , venite percutiamus eum lingua : come let us smite him with the tongue , jer. 18 , 18. and david said , his tongue was a two-edged sword : there is , ( saith solomon ) that speaketh ( and that waiteth too ) like the piercing of a sword : it is bad enough in any , or against any man , but worst of all against the lords anointed ; for it is said thou shalt not revile the gods , nor speak evil of the ruler of the people : saint paul , but for calling a high priest , painted wall , ( though ) when he caused him to be smitten contrary to the law , yet he eat his words , and confessed his errour ; and now many , that would seem to be followers of paul , are revilers of kings , and make no bones thereof . the same god that commanded laban , in respect of his servant , vide ne quid loquare durius , ●ee thou give him no ill language ; certainly expects that subjects should set ● watch before their mouths , to keep the door of their lippes , lest they offend with their tongue , in speaking ill of princes . eightly , as the tongue can strike without a hand , so the heart can curse without a tongue : eccl. 10.2 . curse not the king , no not in thy heart , for a bird in the ayre shall carry the voice , and that which hath wings shall tell the matter : the hand implies both ; never was the hand stretched forth to any evil act , but the heart was the privy counsellor , & the tongue the chief perswader unto such enormities ; therefore it is good , obstare principiis , to crush the cockatrice egg , kill it in the heart , lest those pravae cogitationes want room , and then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh , and perswades the hand to be the destruction of the whole body ; if hand , and heart , & tongue , & pen were thus regulated , we need not long look for peace , or despaire of an accomodation , but whilst the hand is up , and the heart is set at liberty , and the tongue saith , our tongues are our own , 〈◊〉 ought to speak , who is lord over us ? and every pen is a ready writer , in matters pertaining to the king : in vaine it is to seem christians , whilst we are such antichrists : the bible under our arme ▪ fals to the ground , whilst we stretch forth our hand against the lords anointed : why do we take gods word into our mouthes , if we let it not down into our hearts , to do as that word directs us ? christian liberty never cut the string , that tied the tongue to those observances . of these things there might be applications made , but lapping as they go along is best for doggs , where there are cordials in the river . it seemes by the story , that kings may be coursely dealt withall , if men make no bones of being guilty ; they stand like the forbidden tree , in the midst of the paradise of god , men may touch them , but they had better let them alone ; if god had placed ( at the first ) cherubims , and a flaming sword , turning every way to defend that tree , how could there have been a triall of adams obedience ? so if god by some instinct , ●ad chain'd the hearts of men , and tied ●heir hands , and bound them to the ●eace , so that they could neither in ●hought , word , nor deed , have committed violence against his vicegerent , how could there have been a triall of the subjects duty ? the tree had no guard , ●or fence about it , but only , thou shalt not ●at thereof , if thou doest , thou shalt die the death . princes have no better security ●or themselves , then the almighties command for their preservation , nolite ●angere , &c. touch not mine anointed , ●o break the first , was but death , the second is damnation ; if you resist the ●igher powers , you resist the highest god , and he that resisteth shall be damned , rom. 13.2 . the commandment concerning the tree of paradise , was only thou shalt not eat thereof ; but we are forbidden to touch so much as a leaf of our forbidden tree , much less to shake down all his fruit ; there is hopes of a tree , saith job , that if it be cut down , yet it will sprout again , but not only a finger , a hand , but an axe must be laid to the root of the tall cedar of our lebanus ; yea , they must be rooted up like the names of taronius ; they will not leave so much as a of stump nebuchadnezzars tree chain'd to the earth , up must all root & branch , till all the royall branches lie like sprey upon the ground : these men had rather be destroyed themselves , then say the lords anointed is not to be destroyed . go on blind zelots , hearken to your wives , and let them perswade you to disobedience , and the divel them , as eve did adam , and the divel her , behold the objects shee presents unto your view ; how good they seem , how fair they look , how pleasant they are to thine eye , how wise you thinke you shall be , how full of knowledge , when poor wretches , you shall find all these promises turned into fig-leaves , to hide your nakednesse : all these golden apples of palestine once touch'd , evaporated into stench and blindnesse : and that your disobedience hath given you nothing but curses , and brought you nothing but sorrows and death upon your selves and children , and profitted you nothing but the turning of an edom into a wildernesse , till you be glad to eat the herbs of the field , and by the same fault , fall into the same punishment with our neighbours of germany , ●ye with grasse in your mouths . these ●●ings fell upon adam for his disobedi●●ce unto god , and the like will fall ●pon us ( the sons of adam ) for our dis●bedience unto gods anointed . o then ●et us not by any meanes lift up our ●ands against the lords anointed , lest ●like adam ) we fall from our state of ●nnocence , and be guilty : guilty of all the bloud that hath , and shall be spilt ●pon this land ; guilty of the teares of ●o many fatherlesse children and wi●owes : and if we will not be obedient ●nto a prince of men , guilty of all the ●ternall thraldome and submission unto ● prince of devils : take then the advice of the wise solomon , prov. 30.32 . if thou ●ast done foolishly in lifting up thy selfe , or if ●hou hast thought evill , lay thy hand upon thy ●outh : fear god , honour the king , have nothing to doe with them that are subject unto ●hange , for their destruction commeth sodainly ; and so will yours . let no man deceive himself , he who is not good in his perticular calling , can never be good in his general calling , he is no good man , that is no good servant , and if he be no good subject , he is no good christian , he that honoureth not the king , doth never fear god ; and except he obeyes both , he obeyes neither . chap. viii . whether kings now adayes are to be had in the same veneration and esteeme , as kings were under the law , by reason of our christian liberty . certainly the murmuring of corab , dathan and abiram , with their complices : thou seekest to make thy self altogether ▪ a prince over us , the lord is among us , we are all alike holy unto the lord , ( and therefore moses and aaron must be no more excellent then the rest of the people ) was no prophesie to be fulfilled in these our dayes , for if it had , surely our saviour would never have paid tribute for himself and peter , mat. 17.27 . which was a symbole of their subjection to heathen pagans ; for this cause pay ye tribute , rome . 13.6 . we have those who are apt enough to make arguments with our saviour , bearing this conclusion , then are the children free , mat. 17.26 . but few that will imitate his peaceable example , to fish for money , rather then offend the higher powers , mat. 17.27 . ●nd if you conjecture that our saviour ●id this meerly for quietnesse sake , behold the question rightly stated . is it ●awfull to give tribute to cesar or not ? mat. ●2 . 17 . seriously propounded ( master we ●now that thou art true ( and therefore we ●ope thou wilt not deceive us with a ●ie ) and teachest the way of god in truth 〈◊〉 and therefore thou wilt not cause us ●o erre through the deceiveablenesse of ●nrighteousnesse ) neither carest thou for ●ny man ( and therefore thou wilt not ●e afraid to speak the truth ) thou regar●est not the persons of men ) therefore fea●ing only god , thou wilt boldly , & faith●ully without partiality , or fear , plainly ●ell us , whether it be lawfull or not ) ●learly determined and concluded upon ; da caesari quae sunt caesaris , mat. 22.21 . if christian liberty , should loose the ●eignes of civill government , then christ would never have acknowledged pilates power to have been of god , john 19.11 . if subjection unto kings were a hinderance to the propagation of the gospel , then saint peter would never have exhorted the christians to submit themselves to every ordinance of man . 1 pet. 2.9 . we have too many submitters now-adayes unto every ordinance of men , but they are not unto such ordinances , whereof the king is supreme , 1 pet. 2 , 13. object . it is better to obey god then man , and therefore for his sake we cannot obey every ordinance of man . sol. the apostle doth not in this place discourse of obedience , but of submission : obedience is to be given to things , only lawfull ; submission is to be given to any ordinance whatsoever , though not for the things sake , which is commanded , yet propter dominum , for the lords sake who doth command , so absolute submission : where god commands one thing , and the king commands another thing . we may refuse his will , and there is perfect obedience , when god commands one thing , and the king commands the contrary , we may not resist his authority , and therein is true submission ; and this the apostle doth not only assure us to be the will of god , but puts this well doing in the stead of knowledge and wisdome , whereby the ignorance of foolish men may be ●ut to silence , 1 pet. 2.15 . when freedom ●ands of tiptoes , her coat is too short ●o cover her malitiousnesse , therefore the apostle exhorts us to behave our ●elves as free , but not using our liberty , as a ●loak for malitiousnesse , 1 pet. 2.16 . if christian liberty did break the ●choole of civill government , then ●aint paul would never have been ●uch a schoole-master to the romans , rom. 13. let every soul be subject to the ●igher powers : an excellent rule for ●ur obedience , every soul , no exem●tion by greatnesse , or holinesse , or ●ny by-respect whatsoever , but if he ●ave a soul , let him be subject to the higher ●owers : if two powers clash one against another , here we know which to stick ●o in our obedience , that is , which is ●ighest ( and that saint peter plainly tels ●s is the king , whether to the king as supreme , 1 pet. 2.13 . ) there is no power but ●f god , the powers that be , are of god , who●oever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , and they that resist shall ●eceive to themselves damnation . vers. 2. what christian then can have his con●cience so misled , as to resist those powers out of conscience , when the apostle plainly tels us , verse 1. we must needs be subject , not onely for wrath ( that is , fo● fear of them ) but also for conscience sak● because god commanded it . there were anti-monarchists , and anti-dignitarians even in the apostle● time , but if it had been laudable , or agreeable to christian liberty , the sain●jude in his epistle , verse 8. would never have called the despisers of domini●● and evill speakers of dignities , filthy dreamers , and defilers of the flesh ( as he put them , so we find them both together ) he never would have compared them to bruit beasts , verse 10. he never would have pronounced woes unto them , as unto the goers into the wayes of cain : greedy runners after the errour of balaam , for reward ; and perishers ( as in the gain-saying of corah ) ver. 11. he would never have compared them to clouds without water : carried about with wind : to fruitlesse withered trees , twice dead , plucked up by the roots : to raging waves of the sea , foaming out their owne shame : wandering stars , to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever . verse 12 , 13. he never would have described them unto you so fully , to be murmurers , complainers , walkers after their own lusts , widemouth'd , speakers of great swelling words , having of mens persons in admiration , by reason of advantage , separatists , sensuall , ( and though they pretend never so much unto it ) having not the spirit , verse 16.19 . christian liberty frees from the ceremoney of the law , not from the substance of the gospel : whereof we see submission & subjection unto kings , is a great part thereof . the romane yoke , and the romans hands which held the plough , ploughing upon the christians backs , and made long furrowes , and for a long time , were both adverse to the propogation of christs gospel , yet during all that time , neither christ , nor any of his disciples , ever attempted either the change of the one , or the displaying of the other ; and shall we thinke our selves more wise then he , who is the wisdome of the father ? or better advised then by him , who is the everlasting councellour ? or that any mans doctrine can settle us in more peace and quietnesse then he , who is princeps pacis , the prince of peace ? will you have more orthodox fathers then the apostles ? or the children of this generation to be wiser then the fathers of old ? christ and his apostles with all the antient fathers taught , and subscribed to this doctrine : first , christ , da caesari quae sunt caesaris : then saint paul , render to all their due , tribute to whom tribute is due , custome , to whom custome , fea● to whom fear , honour to whom honour , and all to cesar : then saint peter , submit your selves , &c. fear god , honour the king , &c. sic passim in scripturis . dear christians , are we better pleased with the glittering tinsell of a painted baby from a pedlers shop , then with the rich , and inestimable jewels of divine truth ? will we suffer our selves to be cosened with the guilded slips of errour ? and what enthusiasmes every pretended spirit , if not every cobler , weaver , groome , or coach-man , shall dictate , who are but velut igneae , and velut flatus , as it were of fire , or as it were a mighty and rushing winde , but nothing sensible , some hot exhalations of the braine set on fire , by the continuall motion , and agitation of the tongue . good god , have we thus learnt christ ? is this the fruit of so clear a gospel ? and the return of all our holy mothers care , and paines for education ? shall we take gods word into our mouthes and preach sedition , rebellion and insurrection , contrary to that word which we pretend to preach ? to maintaine religion by insurrection , is to maintaine it by meanes , condemned by the ●ame religion we would maintain . chap. ix . whether a king failing in his duty and not performing those things which he hath sworn unto at his coronation ( so solemnly ) the people are not disobliged in their obedience unto him , and may , thereupon , depose or put him to death . if kings held their crowns by indentures from the people , then were the people disobliged to their obedience unto him , upon his failing ( in those things whereto he hath been sworn ) on his part ; but if they receive their crowns immediatly from god , and that by him alone kings reign ( as hath been heretofore proved at large ) then all the failings that can be in a king , can but make him a bad king ; but still he must remain a king ; the oath assures us of his being a good king , not of his being a king ; for he was king before he took it : coronation is but a ceremony , and his oath is but at his coronation ; the issue of ceremony , must not dis-inherit the right heire , of all that substance : king and kingdome , are like man and wife , whose marriages are made in heaven , who are betrothed by god himself ; now as in the ceremony between man and woman , the husband in the presence of god and angels , and al the congregation promiseth ( which is as solemnly binding as any oath ) that he will live together with her after gods holy ordinance in the state of matrimony , that he will love and cherish her , maintain and keep her , and forsaking all other , keep himself onely unto her : now if he performe all these things , he doth well , he is both a good husband , and a good christian ( considering the vow that he hath made ) but if he doth not live with her according to gods holy ordinance , nor love , nor cherish her as he should , nor maintain and keep her as he ought ; shall it be lawfull for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? matt. 19.3 . much lesse can it be lawfull for the wife to put away her husband upon every distaste ; it was god that made them male and female : mat 19.4 . and therefore it is fit they should continue together so ; they twain are but one flesh ; matt. 19.5 . therefore they cannot be divided ; god joyned them both together : matt , 19.6 . therefore no man can put them assunder . now to apply this to the king wedding himself to his people at his coronation ; the king ( solemnly ) takes his oath at his coronation before all the people , that he will live together with them according to the lawes of the land , that he will protect and defend them to the uttermost of his power , with all other protestations contained in the said oath , which if he doth perform , he doth wel , and is both a good man and a good king ; but if he should not govern them according to the laws of the land , and if he should not cherish and defend his people , shall it be lawfull for this wife to make away this husband ? god forbid ! god made him king , them subjects , therefore they must continue so , like man and wife , for better for worse , they two are both one , the head may not be divided from the body , and quae deus conjunxit , nemo separet ; there have been bils of divorcement given unto these king● husbands in former times : but of those bils , i may say , as our blessed saviour said of the bils of divorcement which moses commanded ; it was propter duritiem cordi● , matt. 19.7 . deut. 24.1 . for the heardnes of mens hearts ; and then again , this durities cordis , never went so far as that the woman might put away her husband , but only the husband his wife , and that only in the case of adultery ; & if it had been otherwise , it had but a late begining , a bad foundation : for our saviour saith , matt. 19.8 . in principio autem non erat sic , it was not so from the beginning ; and a hard heart is but a bad foundation for a good christian to build upon . i will conclude this application with words not of my own , but of saint paul , which words are a commandment , neither is it i ( saith the apostle ) 1 cor. 7.10 , but the lord , that gives you this commandment , let not the wife depart from her husband ; no , if shee be an heretique , or which is worse a heathen ; if the woman hath a husband which believeth not if he be pleased to dwell with her , let her not leave him : 1 cor. 7.13 . if i would resist my soveraign in any kind , it should be ●or my religion , but when my religi●n tels me that i must not resist him in ●ny case ; then i think i should but doe ●in doing so ) like the boasting jew , ro. ● . 13 . who boasted of the law , and dis●onoured god through breaking of that law , which he had boasted of : what if some did not believe , shall their unbelief make the faith of god of none effect ? saith paul rom. 3.3 . god forbid : no more can the wickednesse of a king , make void gods ordinance of our obedience unto him : our obedience must look upon gods command , not upon the kings good behaviour ; god doth not command things because they are fitting , but it is fit that wee should obey , because he commands them ; neither ought we to have respect so much unto the goodnesse , as unto the authority of a king ; for kings do not consist in this , that they are good , but in this , that they are kings ; for as it is possible for one to be a good man , and a bad king , so it is often seen , that a bad man may be a good king ; and it is an observation here at home , that the best laws have been made by the worst of kings . it is an observation , that divers kingdomes have long continued in peace and happinesse under bad lawes , and worse governours . well observed ; when unwarrantable attempts to better both , and inconsiderable courses to mend all , hath brought all to ruine and confusion . he that sets a kingdome in combustion , to advance his own opinion , and preferre his private judgement , doth but set his house on sire to roast his egges . god makes kings of severall conditions , sometimes he gives a king , whose wisdome and reach in government is like sauls , head and shoulders higher then all the people : and then , when we have wise kings , and learned judges , psalm 2.10 . we shall be sur● to have all those breakers of their bonds asunder , and those casters away of their cords from them ; verse 5. to be bruised with a rod of iron , and broken in pieces like a potters vessell ; verse 9. sometimes god will send us a little child , sometimes a child in years , otherwhile a child in understanding , which of both it be , vae regno ( saith sol. ) cui puer dominabitur ; woe to the kingdome , over which a child reigns . for then the whole kingdome is sure to be put upon the rack . sometimes god in his ●udgement sends a tyrant amongst us , 〈◊〉 will set an evil man to rule over them , saith god himself , & then we are never in hope ●o be from under the lash ; and some●imes in mercy he sends meek and ●hild princes ( like moses ) who carried his people in his bosome , one that shall only make use of his prerogatives , as christ did of his miracles in cases of necessity ; one who shall say with the apostle saint paul , ● i have no power to doe hurt , but to doe good , to edification , but not ●o destruction : one who shall continue his reign , as saul began , videre ne quid sit populo , quod fleat , who will hear and ask why do the people cry ? deserve well and have well ; shall we receive good from the hands of the lord , and shall we not receive evil princes ? though they be ●amarae sagittae , yet when we consider that they are edulci manu domini emissae , wee should not refuse them , but be contented with whomsoever his mercy or his justice sends , or throws upon us : never was there a bad prince over any people but he was sent by our heavenly father for a scourge to his children ; and shall we kisse , or snatch the rod out of our fathers hand ? to conclude , there is nothing can disoblige the people from their king , because his authority over them is a domino , from the lord , bu● their obedience towards him is prop●e● dominum , for the lords sake ; though i● himself there be all there asons that ca●● be given to the contrary , many will be glad to hear the father of their country , say , i and the lord will go , and to be sol● elect , and to hear his father tell him , de●● providebit , as abraham said to his son isaac ; but if he takes fire and sword in hand threatning his follower , how many followers will he have ? i had rather , with isaac , follow my father ● know not wherefore ; and with abraham , obey my god , contrary to my own nature , and beyond all hope , then to serve so great a god and his vicegerent by rules drawn by my own fancy and reason . chap. x. psal. 105.15 . touch not mine anointed , meant by kings . by the words touch not mine anointed , is meant kings and princes : neither ●n any other interpretation , whatso●●er , be obtruded upon this text , with●●t a great deal of impudence and igno●●nce ; if there were no other argument 〈◊〉 be used but this , to a modest man , it ●ere sufficient . viz. that not any ●hurch , nor any church-men , nor ●●y christian , nor any father , nor any ●xpositor whatsoever , did ever give it ●ny other interpretation , before such ●●me as the jesuite and the puritan , and ●●ey both at a time , and that time , bea●ing not above 100 years date neither , ●egan to teach the world that it was ●awfull to murder kings ; and no mar●ell if this found some querke or other ●o turne the streame of scriptures sence , ●ut of its proper channell , and constant course ; the two birds of a feather , persecutors of one another , like two fighting cocks who quarrell among●● themselves , being both of the same kind , and yet both agree in taking councell together against the lord and against his anointed : or like pilate and herod they could not agree but in the principles of condemning the lord● christ . but it is objected , that as a little child upon a gyants shoulders , may see farther then the gyant himself , so a weaker understanding comming after those fathers , and taking advantage of such helps , getting up upon the shoulders of time and learning , may see more then they did , or hath been seen in former ages ; and therefore it is no wonder , i● a man without aspersing himself with the least immodesty , may pretend to set more , then all those who went before him had observed , and what hath this child pick-a-poke spied ? a birds-nea●●● can there be a simpler thing imagined , whereby to give impudence the chaire , and throw all the antient fathers flat upon their backs , then this so common and so much approv'd of instance to usher innovation , not only into the church , but also into the very soul of scripture it self ? for what if it be granted , that a child upon a gyants shoulders sees further then doth the gyant himself , doth the child know better what he sees then doth the said gyant ? must not the child aske the gyant what is what , of all that he beholds ? must not the child be informed by the knowing gyant , of the difference between the mountaines & the vallies , the water and the skie , a cock & a bull ? if the child be thus ignorant , what doth the childs getting up upon the gyants shoulders advantage the child in points of controversie ? except it be such a child as saint christopher had got upon his shoulders , that was judge of all the world : if the child be not so simple but understands all these things ; then believe me he is no child in understanding , but a gyant himselfe in knowledge , and so the similitude , the child , and the gyant come tumbling all down together ; seat a child never so high , he is but a child still , and sits but at the feet of a gamaliel , when he is upon the shoulders of a gyant ; no child was ever thought worthy thy to pose all the doctors , but the child jesus . now to clear the text from those blots and blurs that are throwne upon the words , going before this text of scripture , touch not mine anointed , viz. i have reproved kings for their sakes , ergo , the word anointed could not betoken kings , because kings were reproved , for their sakes who were the lords anointed : now say they , the word anointed must necessarily signifie the people of god , for whose sake these kings were reproved , and so it doth ; but yet my corahmites , dathamites , and abiramites , you must not thinke to be all alike holy unto the lord , as that ye are all concern'd in this nolite tangere : there is no question but that in some sence the elect of god are anointed ones of the lord , but not peculiarly the lords anointed : they are filii olii , sons of oyl , as the prophet termes them , but not christi mei , or christi tui , or christi ejus , or christi domini , which were attributes that were never given by the holy ghost to any but to christ , and kings : the priests who were anointed ( really ) never were term'd in scripture the lords anointed , and the proudest , and most ●ebellious people that ever were , whose ●rrogance claim'd an equality with , ne●er ( in sacris ) strove to be above their priests . now if you expect clearnesse ●n the fountaine , do not ye trouble the ●aters , and you shall behold the springs of truth arise ; 't was the elect and ●hosen of the lord that were here meant by anointed , and it was the seed of abraham , and it was not kings that were meant by this word anointed in the text . but it was not all the elect of god , that must not be touch'd , it was not all the seed of abraham who have this noli me tangere about them , but it was abraham , isaac and jacob , for whose sake god reproved kings , as they are plainly nominated in the same psalm , and none else ; if there be mention made of the seed of abraham , isaac and jacob were the seed of abraham ; who were else mentioned ? and though we cannot comprehend these three under the notion of nominall kings , yet we may be pleased to consider them as reall princes , principi dei es inter nos , as it was said to abraham , thou art a mighty prince amongst us , so kings may be reproved for their sakes ; they may be kings too , and yet the lords anointed for whose sake kings were reproved , for we doe not dispute about the name , but the thing : now wheresoever you find this word nolite tangere , you shall find this word , saying , going before it , which of necessity must have some reference to some other place of scripture to which it must allude , and in reference to which it must be spoken , for the word , saying , makes it rather a question of some authour , then the psalmist's own , this allusion you may easily perceive , gen. 26.11 . where it is set down , how that god touched the heart of abimelech king of the philistims , in the behalfe of isaac , one of the three named in the psalm ; so that king abimelech charged all his people , saying , he that toucheth this man , shall surely die : so abimelech and king herod were both reproved for abrahams sake , gen. 12.10 . and to what place of scripture can this nolite tangere be more aptly applied , then to this , where we find the same words reiterated ? or what clearer testimony can be given of the scriptures alluding to this saying , touch not mine anointed , then to gen. 16.29 . where totidem verbis , it is said to abimelech in the ●ehalfe of isaac , we have not touched thee ●●ou blessed of the lord ; what difference ●etween these words , and touch not mine anointed ? besides the marginall notes of all our bibles directs us to abraham , isaac and jacob , as to the anointed of the lord , ●nd as the princes of gods people , which must not be touch'd , and for whose sakes kings were so much reproved ; the word , king , in the text , doth not exclude ●hose who were princes , but it only includes those princes who were called kings , and were reproved for their sakes who were kings themselves re , though not nomine so that all the ground that will be gained hereby , will be , that one prince was reproved for another , though not called kings . to conclude , as no christians ever interpreted this place of scripture but of kings and princes , untill jesuites and puritans , undertook that it is lawfull to murder kings : so no english author ever interpreted it otherwise , till within this 7 or 8 years ; when presbyters and independents began to put this doctrine in execution , and if the former of these two would wash their hands in innocency , as relating to this last unparallel'd act of regicide , let them remember charls the proto-martyr of gods church , and people , his own words , in his book of meditations , wherein he tels them , how vaine is the shift of their pleading exemption from that aspersion , to grant commission for shooting of bullets of iron and lead in his face , and preserving him in a parenthesis of words . chap. xi . objection . rehoboam hearkened unto young men which gave him evil councell , and would not hearken unto his sages which gave him good advice , but answered the people roughly , wherefore they renounced the right they had in david , and the inheritance they had in the son of jesse , fled to their tents , and crowned jeroboam king : ergo , we may doe the like upon the like occasion , hahaving a president from the word of god , and warrantable , because god said , this thing was from the lord , 1 kings 13.8 . answer . all this proves only that such a thing was don , not that it was well don ; for if it be a sufficient proof to prove out of scripture , that such a thing was don , and thereupon conclude that therefore we may do the like , then this is as good an argument as the best , judas betraid christ , therefore it is lawfull for a servant to betray his lord and master ; first , the scripture blames him in a most patheticall climax , 1 kings 11.26 . jeroboam the son of nebat , the servant of solomon , whose mothers name was zeruah , even he lifted up his hand against the king , shewing how he had desperately run through all those obligations , and ties that were upon him ; 2ly he & al his adherents are called rebels for their paines , not only by abijah his enemy , but also by the holy ghost , who is enemy to none who are not gods enemies , 2 chron. 10.19 . and israel rebelled against the house of david unto this day , his adherents were termed in scripture ●aine men , and sons of belial , they were punished with a destruction of five hundred thousand of them , which was one hundred thousand more then there were true subjects for the slaughter , the scripture saith , god smote abraham , verse 5. if it be objected , that the thing could not but be well done , because god saith , 1 kings 14. i exalted thee from among the people , and made thee prince over my people israel , and rent the kingdom from the house of david , and gave it thee : then it could not but be well done of rehoboam ( by the same reason ) to answer the people as he did , for it is written , that rehoboam hearkened not unto the people , for the ●ause was from god , that he might performe the saying which he spake by abijah unto jeroboam the son of neba● , 1 kings 12.15 . both were passive , and neither of them could resist the will of god ; but these places of scripture are often times mistaken , and misapplied , and interpreted either by those who are not well acquainted with the nature of scripture language , or else by those who wilfully and wickedly laid hold of such a meaning as the scripture may seeme to give them leave ; for all these and the like places of scripture we must no● take as gods beneplacence or approbation , but only for his permission , for ●therwise we should make a mad piece ●f worke of it , for god said , 1 sam. 12. ●1 . i will raise up evil against thee out of thine 〈◊〉 house , and i will take thy wives before ●●ine eyes , and give them to thy neighbour , ●nd he shall lie with them in the sight of the ●●n : doth this justifie absolon for lying with his fathers wives and concubines ●n the sight of all israel ? is there any euil ●hat i have not done it , saith the lord ? therefore did the citizens do well to do evill , because the lord said , i did it ? god did it , that is to say , he caused it to be done , as the evill of punishment , not as the tolleration of evill , so this thing was from the lord , that is to say , the lord suffered such a thing to come to passe as a punishment of solomon for his idolatry on his posterity , and yet may no way approve of any such rebellious courses : neither was rehoboam so much to be blamed for his answer , as may be supposed , nor the people justified in their rebellion neither , for they grounded their discontents upon a false ground , for the people complained when there was no cause , and demanded that which was not reason ; hear the whole grievance and consider it a little , 1 kings 12.4 . thy father made 〈◊〉 yoake grievous ( that was false ) do t●● make it light ( no reason for that ) fo● the people never lived happier neithe● before nor after , then they did in thi● kings fathers time , and might have done in his time , if they had know● when they had been well , and god● judgements would have suffered them to have seen it . for , 1. they were a populous nation , as the sand on the sea for multitude , 1 kings 4.20 . 2. they liv'd merrily eating and drinking and making merry . 3. the nation was honoured abroad , for solomon reigned over all the kings that were round about him , verse the 21. 4. they lived peaceably , they had peace on all sides round about them , verse 24. 5. they liv'd securely and quietly , every man under his owne vine , and under his own figtree . 6. they had much trading in his dayes , and much merchandize , 1 kings 10.15 . 7. he was very beneficiall to those merchants , for he gave solomon , not only large wisdome , but largenesse of heart , and let those merchants have commodities from them at a price , ver. 28. 8. he maintained a brave fleet at sea , kings 4.21 . 9. he made silver and gold to be in jeru●●●em as plentifull as stones , and cedars as ●●amore trees , 2 chron. 1.16 . 10. these felicities were not only in the ●●urt , or among the nobility , or between the ●●tizens , but they were universall , even from ●an unto beersheba . 11. they were not for a spurt and no more , 〈◊〉 at one time and not at another , but all the ●●yes of solomon . o me prope lassum juvate posteri . neither doth the scripture make any ●ention of any such hard yoke at all , ●nly the margent of the bible directs ●s from the complaint of the people , to ●ooke upon the first chapter of the kings verse 7. and there you shall only find how solomon had 12 officers over all israel , which provided victuals for the king and his houshold , each man his moneth in a year , but here is but a very slender ground for a quarrell , when the immediate verse after the naming of those 12 officers tels us , that the multitude of people as numberlesse as the sand upon the sea shore , were● merry eating and drinking as the kin● and this place unto which we are di●●●cted ( and no other ) to find out t●● grievousnesse , appears by the context ● the same chapter , to be mentioned 〈◊〉 an expression of solomons glory and wi●dome , rather then of any tyranny , 〈◊〉 polling of his people : for the whole r●lation ends with an expression , that 〈◊〉 the people were as the sand of the 〈◊〉 for number , so the largeness of the king● heart extended as the largenesse of the sea for bounty , all were partakers of it , 1 kings 4.29 . pardon me therefore if i thinke that rehoboam had more reason 〈◊〉 answer the people as he ●id , then the people had just reason to complaine . o ●●titudo ! o the unserchable wayes of god where god suffers his people to be ● rod to visit the sins of the fathers upo● the children , he permits them to take a wrong cause in hand , that he may also cast the rod into the fire . i pray god the merchants of london b● not too like those merchants of jerusalem , who traded so long , untill they brought over , together with other merchandize , apes and peacocks , and the traders begin to be too like their traffique , apes for manners and behaviour , peacocks for pride , and rusling untill the apes grow to be so unhappy , as to be brought to their chaines , and the peacocks , so vaine glorious , as to loose their feathers : and so i leave them both , tasting the fruits of their own follies . chap. xii . the objection of jehu slaying his master joram answered . objection . thus saith the lord god of israel , i have anointed thee jehu king over the people of the lord , even over israel , and thou shalt smite the house of ahab thy master , that i may avenge the bloud of all the servants of the lord at the hands of jezebel , ergo , if a king be thus wicked , we have gods warrant , for the deposing and putting such a one to death . answer . but stay untill you have this warrant , and then we will allow it to be lawfull ; for though every one is apt enough to be a jehu in his own case , yet every one is not a god-almighty , we must not clap his seal to our own warrants ; what god commands at one time , we are not to make it our warrant to doe the like at all times , this is a prerogative of the almighty , no priviledge of a subject ; god may command abraham to slay his son , but we must not go about to murder our children ; god may command the israelites to spoile the egyptians , but we must not rob and cosen our neighbours ; christ may give order for the taking away of another mans goods because the lord hath need of it , but we must not make necessity our pretence for arbytrarie power ; these acts of the almighty are specially belonging unto him , and we must have his speciall warrant before we go about any such thing . but setting all such plea aside , i utterly deny that either jehu did , or that ●od gave jehu any such authority as to ●ay king joram . jehu slew joram , but ●ehu did not slay the king , for jehu by ●●e lords immediate appointment was ●ing himself , before ever he laid hand ●pon joram ; joram was but then a private ●an , for in the verses going before , it 〈◊〉 set down how that jehu was anoin●●d king , how he was so proclaimed , ●nd accordingly how he took the state ●f a king upon him and executed the ●ffice : 2 kings 12.13 . before ever any ●ention is made of jehu slaying joram , ●●rse 14. therefore here is no regicidium , ●s yet here is but plaine man-slaughter , ●nd a lusty warrant for that too ; again , ●e must not ▪ only take heed of unwar●antable actions , but of false warrants , the private spirit is no sufficient war●ant to lay hold on such a publique ma●istrate ; as there are false magistrates , ●o there is a false spirit , for an erroneous ●pirit may as well condemne a good magistrate , as a bad magistrate may be ●ondemned by a good spirit : but there may be a higher mistake then all this , ●nd i wish it were not too common amongst us now adayes , to mistake the workes of the flesh , for the fruit of the spirit : let us compare them both together , as the apostle hath set them i● order . the works of the flesh . adultery , fornication , vncleanness , laciviousness , idolatry , witchcraft , hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , strife , seditions , heresies , envyings , murders , drunkennesse , revellings . the fruit of the spirit ▪ love , joy , peace , long-suffering , gentlenesse , goodnesse , faith , meekenesse , temperance . by which of these two was charls the first's head cut off ? chap. xiii . of the necessity and excellency of monarchy . a jove principium , let us begin with heaven , and behold its monarchy ●n the unity of the blessed trinity ; ●hough there be three persons , yet there must be but one god : for the avoiding of that which we are fallen into , a confounding of persons , and dividing of substance . descend lower , and consider the angels , and you shall find one arch-angel above the rest , as the angels monarch . lower yet , to those senselesse and inanimate rulers of the day and night , the sun and moon , and you shall not find ( or so much as the appearance of such a thing ) more suns or moons in the same firmament then one ; without a prodegie or portent , of some dire , and direfull event . come down to the regions and you shall find in the head of the highest region a prince of the aire . come to the lowest and you shall find amongst the wing'd inhabitants thereof , the soveraigne eagle , as the king of birds . come amongst the beasts of the field , and the lion will soon let you know , that there is a king of beasts . run into the sea , and there is a king of fishes . descend into hell and there is a prince of devils : and shall only man be independent ? do we not observe the delving labourer what paines he takes to joyn house to house , and land to land , til there be no more room for any competitor within his dominions ; and when he hath wrought his petty dunghils into a mixen , he thinkes it law and reason , that the place should not admit the dominion of more cocks then one , this mans dies a monarch in his own thoughts , and his son lives to inlarge his fathers territories , but at last dies big with thoughts of a principality , his son laies hold of all the advantages that may help him to the accomplishment of his hereditary desires . juno , lucina per opem obsecro , he is a prince , caelo timendum est regna ne summa occupet qui vicet ima , he must be an emperour , divisum imperium cum jove caesar habet , he must have all or none , none but jupiter must share with him . mundus non ●ufficit unus , when he hath all , and when all is done , the empire after that it hath disimbogu'd , and incorporated into it selfe , all the kingdomes of the earth , terminates in an everlasting kingdome , that shall never be destroyed ; quam primum appropinquaver at regnum caelorum , as soon as the kingdome of heaven shall be at hand : and what 's all this ? but to shew us that not only nature , but god himself , who is the cod of nature , affects monarchy . the further off any government is to monarchy , the worse it is , the nearer the better ; the reason 's thus , that government which avoids most the occasion of differences , must be most happy , because most peaceable ; and peace only consists in unity : now where there are many governours there must be differences : where there are few , there may be differences : where there is but one , there cannot . the romans , when they shooke off their government by kings , and were distasted with their government , for their governours sake ; tried all the contraverted governments of the world , of two by their consuls , of three by their triumvira● , of ten by their decemviri , of ten thousand by their tribunes : when they found that the farther o●● they departed from monarchy , the center of all government , the more they lost themselves in the the circumference of their own affaires , they began a little to look back upon the government from which they had deviated all the while , but yet with squint eyes ; first , a king , and no king , a thing that was like a king , but not a king ; a thing that was so re , and tempore , but not nomine ; he must be only so , pro una vice , unoque anno , such were their dictators : at last this sucking government gathered strength , and grew to be perpetuall , which perpetuity in one , begot an everlasting monarchy in all ages , which is to continue unto the end of the world ; for the prophet daniel tels us , that at the end of the last and fourth monarchy , which was the roman , christ should sit upon his everlasting kingdom that should never be destroyed ; therefore my enthusiasticks , must either leave dreaming of pulling down all kingdomes , and empires in the world , or else thinke themselves the kingdome of christ , that we have pray'd for all along . neither is it unworthy of your observation , that as soon as ever this monarchy was restored , there was universall peace over the whole world ; and the saviour of the world , who was princep●● pacis , vouchsafed not to come into the world , under any of the forementioned governments ; but imperante augusto natus est christus , who was the first emperour of the romans . he who affects purity , let him begin it in his own house , and as he likes it in the modell , so let him attempt it in the fabrick : for my part , i have read their arguments , and am so far from being evinced by any of them , that i do not believe that there is any such thing : i have been in all the common-wealths in europe , & i could not find any such thing as a free-state , i could find the word , libertas fairely written over their gates , but within ther wals the greatest bondage & arbitrary power that could possibly be imagined in any part of the world , but no liberty at all that i could find , but only some few there were , who had liberty to do what they would with all the rest . geneva may of six , genoa may have seven , venice may have eight , the holla●ders nine or ten , england may have five members or leading-men as they call them ; but what 's all this but taking the government from off its shoulders , and putting it in some hand ? and when you have done , its ten to one but you shall find one of the fingers longer then all the rest , and if you please you may call that king , and all the rest subjects ; what 's this but a change from a monarchy with one crown , to a tiranny with so many heads ? if it were so that all free-states , as they call themselves , had all equall power , it would be so much the worse , all these kinds of government have their continuation and subsistance upon this only ground , viz. that necessity and craft drive them to come so near to monarchy , and sometimes to an absolute monarchy , when you reckon your hog and mogons only by the pole , and not by the polar star , that commonly is fixed amongst them , about which , all the rest move and turn . but what do we talke of monarchy or aristocracy or democracy , behold a wel regulated parliament , such a one as ours ●ight have been , and ought to be ; hath the benefit and goodnesse that is in all ●hese three kind of governments , of monarchy in the king , of aristocracy ●n the peers , of democracy in the house of commons , where the acerbities of any one is taken away by their being all three together , but if one will be all , ●hen all will be nothing . this stupendiously wise , and noble way of government had its dissolution by inverting the course it took in its originall . when the first william had conquered the nation , the normans would not admit that any laws should be observed , or rules obeyed , but only the will of the conquerour ; and why so ? but because thereby the conquerour might take away the estates of any english-man , and give them to his conquering normans ; but in process of time ; when these normans became english , they began to insist a little upon m●um and tuum , and would know the what that was belonging to the king , as a king , and to themselves as subjects ; for by the former rule , the king might as well take away the estates from one norman , and give it to another , as he did formerly from the english , and give to his normans ▪ wherefore they would have no more of that , but joyntly and unanimously petitioned the king to the same effect , the king thought it reasonable , condescends to their desires , consultation was about the premises , the result of the consultation was , that the king should issue out writs to the lords spirituall ( who in those ) dayes were thought the wisest and most consciencious ) to reason with the king , and advise with him , as well concerning the bounding of the ocean of soveraignty , as bridling in the petty rivers of private interest . these spirituall lords thought it a work of too high a nature for their private undertakings , wherefore they supplicated his majesty , that the lords temporall might be also summoned by writ , and joyn with them in the same authority ; 't was done accordingly ; being done , they both thought it a businesse so transcendent , and of so universall concernment , that they found a way to involve the whole nation in a joynt consent , which was , that all free-holders in the kingdome , in their severall precincts , might by the election of two in every county , disimbogue all their suffrages into theirs , and to remaine the countries proxies , to vote for , and to be directed by their several countries ; and thus the commons were brought in : but behold the viper , that eats through the sides of its own parent ; behold the asses foale , who when she hath done sucking , kicks her own dam . the king brings in the lords spirituall , the lords spirituall bring in the lords temporall , both bring in the commons , the commons destroy both , both destroy the king . neither was kingship ( as they call it ) and episcopacy better rewarded , for being the principall , and so zealous reformers of the gospel , to have both their crowns and miters broke in pieces by the same hammer of reformation ; and the wals of their pallaces mingled with abby dust , casting thereby such a blot upon the very name of reformation , that it will scarce be legible by christians , except what went before , and what may follow after , may help the future ages to the true sence and meaning of the word : thus rivers run backwards and drowne their own head ; thus the monsterous children who are borne with teeth in their mouthes , bite of the nipple , and starve themselves for lack of sustenance ; thus blind sampsons revenge themselv●s upon their enemies , by pulling downe the house upon their own heads ; thus the formes of the most glorious government of a church & state , are wounded to death through the sides of reformation : if you are not , i am sure you will ere it be long be satisfied , that all the specious pretences of popular government , free-state , liberty of the subject , are but figments and delusions of the people , obtruded by vaine-glorious and haughty men , who knowing that they could not be that one governour of all the rest , yet they hope to be one of many ; thus foolish children set their fathers barnes full of corne on fire to warme their hands , when they are ready to starve for lack of bread : who had not rather live under a government , wherein a man i● only bound to submit to him , whom it is honour to obey , then to live under a government where every man is a slave , because every one is a master ? finally , my opinion is this , i had rather have my liberty to kneel before a throne , then 〈◊〉 be the tallest man in a crowd , and should ●●inke it more for my ●ase and honour . chap. xiv . that there is no such thing as a free-state in the world . if by a free-state , you mean a people who have shook off their allegiance to their prince , there are many such free-states to be found , but a beggars-bush , or a company of gipsies ( who propound to themselves new laws , renouncing the old , and yet chuse a king and queen amongst themselves , pleasing one another with a selfe-conceited opinion of a thing they call liberty , which is no otherwise then an ignoble bondage of their own chosing , preferring the correction of a bundle of rods ( because their own hands have made them ) before the sway-meant of a scepter , which god himself hath put into their soveraignes hand ) is as good a common-wealth , or free-state as the best : but if you mean by a free-state , a freedom from tyranny , you will be as far to seek for any such thing in rerum natura , as for a reason why tyranny may not be in many , as well as in one : but if you mean by freedome an exemption from all such tyrannicall oppressions as are expressed in the petition of right ; i see not why such a free-state may not be under a monarchy : certainly i have seen such petitions , and insistances , during the late kings reigne , as having relation to free-born people of england , and should thinke that the magna charta defended by one , who had power to make it good against the infringement of many breakers , and by a parliament of many , authorized to the same purpose against the pessundation of it by any one , be it by the highest , may not be as good a way to make , preserve and keep a nation free , as well as the intrusting of a nations freedome into the hands of a few , whose independency deny all remedies to be either above them , or below them . it may be it will not be thought tedious , if i entertaine your eye and consideration with some observations of my owne , in those free-states of christendome ( as they call themselves ) wherein i have been . i shall begin with the free-state of genoa , wherein i have been resident some time , and the rather , because whilst england was a kingdome , they could not have the face to stand in any competition with us ; but now the kings armes were cut off as well as his head , how should we do to make a distinction between them and us ? for both the state of genoa , and the state of england give the very same coat of armes , and saint george i● both our patrons : certainly england must give the halfe-moon as the younger brother ; and why should not the moon crescent follow after , now the turkish alcoran is come before ? when the overspreading romane monarchy , like nebuchadnezzars overgrown and lofty tree was brought only to a stump chained to the ground , and when the keyes of heaven and hell had so wel fitted the locks belonging to the gates of rome , as to give way to the enterance of that high priest into the imperiall seat , then was genoa a lop of that great fall , and soon after it was wrought into a bundle or faggot of a common-wealth , untill such time as charls the great recovered all his right in italy , saving only the holy land , whose princely sword could never strike at the already cloven miters , but at helmets . amongst other counties whose subduements , acknowledged charls to be the great , genoa was one ; which city was no lesse happy then famous , in affording a man who honoured her wals , with making it known unto the world , that he came out of them under the name of andreas dory , a genoese ; this famous andreas dory was a zealous common-wealths-man , and one of the new gentlemen , as they call'd themselves , ( for you must understand , that when these states-men had shooke off the yoke of soveraignty , they expelled all their gentry or nobility ; which no sooner done , but they made a new gentry or nobility amongst themselves ) and being a deserving man , the emperour charls the great , will'd this andreas dory to aske and have what he desired of all that he had conquered : he asked genoa , the emperour gave it him , to do with it what he pleased , he gave it ●●e citizens , together with all their ●iberties , and former freedomes , upon ●●is condition , that they should recall ●●e old gentry in againe , and settle ●●em again in all their rights and privi●edges , which being assented unto , ge●oa became a free-state againe ; but be●old the freedom , or rather the power ●nd bonds of love and gratitude , nei●her the old or new gentry , nor the common people , would allow of any ●hing that was said or to be done , but what this dory should command or say : ●or was there a more absolute and pow●rfull monarch upon the earth then he ; ●nd whilst he liv'd he did continue so , because the people would obey : who being once dead , the people soon found they did obey , because they must : yet still it must be a free-state , because libertas was written over the senate-house , and city-gates , but neither within their senate , or their wals , was there ever such tyranny over the common people , or the citizens , then hath been all along , and is at this day practised by some few , who spit monarchy in the face , and make no bones to swallow down all its adjuncts ? exercising their severall tyrannies with this justification , that they are the supreme authority , whilst they deny supremacy ; gulling the people into a sottish beliefe , that they are not suppressed by one hand , because it hath many fingers . i shall instance unto you one particular , which was done whilst i was there , whereby you may easily judge in what free-state their commons live ▪ there was a substanciall citizen , between whom , and a noble genoese there was some grudge , this senator studies a revenge , and thus he intends it to be put in execution . he gives command to one of his braves ( for so they call their executioners ) to kill this citizen : this slaughter-man ( being by reason of some former obligations ) struck with some remorse , of doing so high an act of ingratitude , to one , who had so well deserved at his hands ; discovers the whole plot to his so much acknowledg'd patron , who very much acknowledges and commends the ingenuity of this discoverer ; bids him to follow him where he leads him over a trap , where the leader knew full wel how to order his steps , so that he might advance safely over the place , but the follower ( ignorant of these observations ) must needs fal down a precipice , no lesse terrible , then destructive ; the poor man is slaine : this perfidious murderer watches his opportunity of meeting this designer of his death , in the merchato , and gently takes him by the arme , and desires him that he might speak a word with him ; they withdraw themselves out of the walke to a private corner : the citizen tels this noble-man that his servant had betraid him , in discovering his design to him on whom it should be executed ; in detestation of which perfidiousnesse , he had given him the reward of a traytor ( declaring the manner and forme as is expressed ) and desired in all humility that he would be pacified , and that whatsoever differences were between them , that he would bepleased to be his own judge , whereupon they both became friends , no lesse satisfaction being acknowledged by the one , then ingenuity on the other party . such shifts as these , are these free-borne people faine to make , to appease the wrath and fury of their lords and masters : in a word , as their territories is no otherwise then a continued breach of three hundred miles along the sea-shore , so the inhabitants live no otherwise then do the fishes in the sea , the greater fishes devour the lesse ; so where there is no king in israel , every man doth that which is good in his own eyes : it cannot be otherwise . from thence i went unto the free-state of lucca , and there i found the free-men to have six princes every year ; and the senate chusing six men , who elect a prince for the common-wealth every two moneths ; this prince ascending his throne up these six steps , acts what he pleaseth : nor have the common people any more liberty , then the most rigid calvinist will allow a papist , free-will : neither is there any other difference between this government of the free-state of lucca , and the empire of germany ; but that the one have so many prime chusers , and the other so many prince electors , the one keeps it within the house of austria , and the other keeps it out of the house of the medices . i went from thence unto the ancient common-wealth of venice , whose government ( if in any ) i should approve of , because they never revolted from a better : but yet i must tell you , that at my first enterance into that city , i found the people full of complaints , of the heavy taxes , exorbitant power and arbitrary government , which seized upon all their plate , and what other goods of value they had , for the use of the state , toward the maintenance of a war , which was both foolishly begun , and most carelesly run into by their trustees , or representatives ; for the pope of rome had certaine intelligence that the turke was preparing to make war against some part of christendome ; the pope sends to all the fronteir princes of christendome , advising them that they should all agree as one man to make it their own case , and that they would assist one another , on what part of christendome soever the storme should fall , and that the severall embassadours would take it into consideration , about proportioning every prince or state according to their abilities , for their severall supplies of men and money ; to which they all soon condescended , except the venetian , who told the rest , that there was a league between the grand seigniour and the venetians , and therefore they were not t● fear any such war to be intended against them ; to which it being demanded , that if the turke prevailed against other parts of christendome round about the venetians , whether they thought he would let the venetians alone at last or whether the venetians thought so or no● , whether they did not thinke themselves bound in honour and christianity to defend their neighbour-christians against so common an enemy ? to which it was answered , by the venetians , that the very entring into such a league and covenant with them , were enough to break the peace between them and the turke ; whereupon the juncto was dissolved , and every tub was faine to stand on his own bottome : but it fell out , that ( by the machiavillianisme of the card. richlieu , who taught and perswaded the turke to break the league between him and the venetians , because he would not have the venetians to lend the emperour so much money , but would find them wayes how to disburse it otherwise ) the turkes waged war only against the venetians , and none else , whereupon they were faine to endure the whole brunt of the war themselves , and had no body to help them : this being so grievously found fault with by the common people , and their goods taken away , ad placitum , their persons prest de bene esse , whether they thought so or no : i would faine know what liberty these people had , who could find such faults without remedies , and lose their goods without redresse ? what liberty is there in having freedome in the state , and none in the condition ? i shall part with my children with tears in mine eyes , and through the same water behold the word , libertas , written upon the rialto ; what am i the better for this freedome ? am i robbed of all my money , because one thief takes it away ? and am i not rob'd because six or seven layes hold upon me ? believe it , i never heard such complaints , neither in the king or parliaments time , of oppression and tyranny , as i heard in this city during the time that i was there ; and this not only during the war , but also in the times of peace , five or six men rule the whole state , and it may be the prince none of them neither . i shall relate unto you a story of one loridan a noble venetian , who keeping a curtisan , on whom he was intended to bestow a favour , he went into a rich shop for to buy her some cloth of gold to make her a gowne , the prentice was only in the shop , whom he commanded to cut out so much of such a piece as the taylor gave directions , which done , he will'd the prentice to tell his master , that he would be accomptable to him therefore ; the boy excus'd himself , it being but a servant , and not having any such directions from his master , not doubting , but that if his master were there , he would willingly trust him for what he should be pleased to command ; the noble venetian takes his leave , willing the boy to tell his master , that he should rue the day that ever he kept such a sawcy boy to give him such an affront , and so departed in great fury : the master of the shop presently comming in , and hearing the relation of what had happened , tore his haire , wrung his hands , stampt upon the ground , and like a mad-man cryed out that the boy had undone him , and and all his posterity ; takes the whole piece with him , follows this noble venetian to his curtisans , offers to bribe the curtisan with the whole piece , if she would intermediate for him ; which with much difficulty , & many pleadings she so appeas'd his wrath , that he was satisfied : and this was as common for a senatour of venice to do , as for a parliament-man to pay no debts . neither is there any law or justice to be had against any of these states-men : there was a noble-man who was an austrian both by birth and family , who being a traveler , chanc'd to cast his eyes upon a fair and virtuous lady , who in every respect were deserving of each other : this noble-man had no sooner made his mind known unto this paragon for beauty , but he was soon obstructed with a corrivall , who was a nobile venetiano ; who perceiving his mistresse affections to this stranger , to be more liberally expressed then unto him , contrives his death , and soon effects it , shee loving her martyr more then either others conceived , or shee her self could brook so great a crosse concerning them , studies revenge , and being an italian found her selfe easily prompted by her own naturall inclination , she pretends much love , that she might the better put in execution her greatest hatred , shee gets him into a chamber , where shee praies him to rest himself in a chair , wherein he was no sooner sat , but his arms and thighs were caught with springs , & being thus fastened , shee murders him with her owne hands , and flies for sanctuary to the next nunnery within the popes dominions , leaving behind her , by the murdered , these words , written with her own hand in a piece of paper , because there is no justice to be executed against a noble venetian , i have been both judge and executioner my self . men may talk what they will , and fancy what they please , but there is no more difference , in point of freedom between a monarchy and a free-state ( as they call it ) then there is between a high sheriffe of a shire , and a committee of a county ; v●rum horum mavi● accipe . now for the free-state of our neighbour netherlands , otherwise called the states of holland ( who have sprung up ( as all other free-states will do at last ) from the submissive and humble stilings of the distressed , to the high and mighty ) the particulars which occasioned their revolt from their soveraign the king of spain i shall not insist upon , but referre you to the spanish and netherland histories ; only i shal hint upon the main inducements to their rebellion ; viz. religion and freedome . for the first , there is not a people amongst whom the name of god is known , to whom religion is a greater stranger , then unto these stilers of themselves , reformed protestants ; for if this free-state , who allow all religions both of the jews and gentiles , whose severall churches own , in capitall letters over their doors , the severall s●cts of religions , to which each libertine is inclined , be religious , then the pantheonists were as truly reformed and religious as the amsterdamians ; but as he , who sacrificed to all the gods in generall must needs have sacrificed unto the true god , and yet know him not , because he joyned others with him , who was to be worshipped alone : so that country which embraceth all religions , happily may have the true religion among●● them , and yet have no religion , because they admit of many , being there is b●● one : this i speak in reference to the country , not to particular men . neither is there a sort of christians in the world who are less servants unto christ , if it be enough to make them so , to be the greatest prophaners of his day : for the sabbath day is only distinguished from other daies , by a sermon in the church , and the alehouse being full of mechannicks , drinking and carousing from morning untill night , the shops are open , and buying and selling all the day long , excepting halfe the window , which is to distinguish the day , but the door is open to let in the buyers , and the other halfe of the window is open to let in the light : and wonderfully strange it is and remarkable to consider how these people , who shook off their allegiance to their prince upon pretences of reformation , should be so besotted , as to fall into such a strange and unheard heard of prophanenesse of him , and the day whereon christ himself is to be worshipped , as in their metropolis , or chief city , to have a dog ●arket kept to the utter scandall of ●●ue religion , and christianity it selfe , ●●is is no more then what i have seen , ●●d if it were not true , it were easily re●●rned upon my self as the greatest im●●udence that could be imagined ; but o ●●e partiality of the picture-drawer , ●hen he receives large wages for a si●ilitude ! he insults over his own work ●nly because it is like , when the face it ●elf is most abhominable . now for their freedome from ty●anny and oppression ; if the turkes or tartars had conquered them , they never would ( nor never did where ever they extended their dominions ) impose such taxes and rates as they have imposed on one another , incredible ; even to the full value of the severall commodities , which run through their natives hands ; but you will aske me , how it is possible they should live then , to which i answer you , by sharking and cosening of strangers : let any forraigners come there and ask for a dinner , and for such a dinner as they may well afford for eight pence a piece , they will ask you five shillings a man ; find but the least fault with them , and they will demand twelve pence a piece more for fouling of linnen ; and if you seem angry at that ▪ you shall mend your self with the payment of six pence a piece over and above , for fouling the roome : and seeke a remedy , and you shall be told , the prince of orange himself if he were there could not help it : altom all , is all the reason they will give you ; if in sadnesse you shall complaine of such abuses to indifferent judges , they will tell you , that the states do lay such heavy taxes upon the inhabitants , that they are faine to fly to such shifts for their subsistance ; thus men pleased with the itch of innovation , are contented to scratch the bloud out of their own bodies , till they feel the greatest smart ; rather then their physitian should let out a little spare bloud , to cure the disease , and preserve them in good health ; but you will say , that for all this , they thrive and prosper abundantly , so do the argiers men , but with what credit and reputation in the eye of the world ? i believe both alike : it was not their strength or policy , which brought them to this height and flourishing condition : but it was our policy of state , in ●●mulation to other princes , which hel●ed these calfes to lions hearts , teeth , ●nd clawes , untill the high and mighty ●utter-boxes stood in competition with the crowne : and i am afraid the siding with such rebels , hath turned rebel●ion into our own bosomes , as a just ●udgement from that god who is a re●enger of all such iniquities ; they may call it the schoole of war , whilst wanting a good cause , it could be no otherwise then the christians shambles : i should be sorry that holland should be the english-mans looking-glasse : a spur for his feet , or a copy for his hand . i hope the hand of providence will cure us , like the physitian , who cur'd his patient by improving his disease , from a gentle ague , to a high feaver , that he might the better help him . chap. xv . that episcopacy is jure divino . in this discourse i shall not trouble my selfe , nor you with titles , names and words of apostles , evangelists , arch-bishops , bishops , patriarchs , presbyters , ministers , angels of churches , &c. which were all from the highest to the lowest , but tearmes reciprocal ; and were often taken in the church of god , and in the scripture it self , for one and the same : for if any man , though never so meane , a minister of the gospel converted any nation , the church ever called him , the apostle of that country ; as austin , though but a monke , was every where tearmed the apostle of england : and saint paul , being an apostle , stiles himselfe a minister of the gospel of jesus christ : paul bids timothy being a bishop , to do the work of an evangelist ; and therefore no wonder if bishops and presbyters be ●ften mentioned for one and the same : ●ut it is a great wonder that any man●er of men , should make this a ground ●or any argument against episcopacy ; ●hese kind of arguments instead of stri●ing fire that should light the candle , ●hey do but pin napkins over our eyes ●nd turne us round , untill we know ●ot where we are ; and then we grope ●or we know not who , and lay hold ●f we know not what : he that will ●ut down this over-grown up-start tree ●f errour , must first clear his way to the ●oot , and brush away all those bram●les , and briers , which grow about it ; ●e must not leave any thing standing ●hat may lay hold of the hatchet , and ●eviate the stroke , turning the same ●dge upon the feller , that was intended ●or the tree : if we should insist upon ●ames and titles , we should make but a ●onfounded piece of worke , and run our ●elves into a most inextricable labourinth and mazes of errour ; where we might run and go forwards , and backwards , and round about , and nere the near : christs are kings , kings are gods : god is christ , and christ is bi●hop of our souls : bishops are presbyters , presbyters are ministers , a minister is an apostle , an apostle is a minister : and so if you will quite back againe . i must put off these , as david threw away sauls armour , non possum incedere cum iis , i love to knock down this monstrum informe ingens in lumen ademptum , with a blunt stone taken out of a clear river , which with the sling of application may serve well enough to slay this erroneous philistine , though he were far greater then he is . in the first place therefore let as understand what is meant by jus divinum , if any man meanes that episcopacy is so jure divino , that it is unalterable , and must continue at all times , and in all places ; so that where it is left off there can be no church , he meanes to give much offence and little reason ; for there is no question but the church may alter their own government ( so that it be left to themselves to alter ) as they shall thinke most convenient , as well as alter the sabbath from the seventh day to the first of the week , or as well as they chang'd immersion into aspersion of the baptised , and many other things which carried as much jus divinum with them as episcopacy , and yet were chang'd . the jus divinum , that is in episcopall government , doth not consist in the episcopacy , but in the government , be it episcopall or what it will ; but where the government is episcopall , no question but there episcopall government is jure divino , because a government ; and if it were otherwise that government into which episcopacy degenerateth , would be jure divino , as well it , provided that none touch this ark of the church but the priests themselves ; for if the hand which belongs to the same body pull the hat from off the head , the man loses not his right , only he stands in a more humble posture , but he is in as strong possession of his owne right , as when 't was on his head ; but if another hand should chance to pull it off , the party stands disgracefully depriv'd of his highest right and ornament : so if episcopall government of the church be put down , or altered by church-men themselves , the jus divinum is but removed from the supremacy of one , and fastened in the stronger hold of many members , for this is a maxim that admits no posterne ; power never fals to the ground , neither in church nor state , but look what one lets fall , another takes up before ever it comes to ground , wherefore loosing nothing , they keep their own ; but whether this power in church or state in the point of convenience , be better in the hands of one or many , let whose will look to that , that 's not my work ; neither the names of governments nor the numbers of governours shall ever be able to fright away this jus divinum out of the church government , be the government what it will , bene visum fuit spiritui sancto & nobis , keeps in the jus divinum , be the government never so altered , whereas forbidden and improper hands , actions , as unusuall , as unwarrantable lets out this jus divinum , when they have changed it to what they can imagine ; now whether or no it be proper for a lay parliament or a representative of lay-men , by the power of the sword declining the kings authority , will and pleasure , who was appointed by god to be a nursing father of his church , to alter church-government so antient , so begun by christ himself in his own person , over so many apostles , so practis'd by the apostles over others , so continued all along , i mean episcopacy , that is to say , one minister constituted an overseer of many , and to lay hold upon tumults and insurrections , to pull down these overseers , and for men who in such cases should be governed by the church , to pull down the church-government without any the least consent of the church-governours ; i leave it for the world to judge , only my own opinion is this , that any government thus set up , or by such practises as these altered , must needs be so far from being jure divino , that it must needs be jure diabolico ; but it may be objected , that if they should have stayed untill the bishops had altered themselves , they might have staied long enough ; to which it may be answered , that had the bishops been but as poor as job , there would have been no such haste to change their cloathes : the ark was a tipe of the church , and whatsoever was literally commanded concerning the tipe , must be analogically observed in the thing tipified ; god sate in the mercy-seat that was over the ark , the ark contained within it aarons rod , and a pot of manna , so the church containes the law & the gospel , the killing letter and the reviving spirit ; others interpret the rod to signifie the government and discipline of the church , as the manna the doctrine of christ , and food that came down from heaven : i take it to signifie both , and both answers my purpose , if both be therein contained , neither must be touch'd but by the priests themselves ; neither must we confine this prohibition to the priests of the law only , but we must extend it also to the ministers of the gospel , both which were tipified by the two cherubims , or ministring angels of the almighty ; these ministers or angels , though opposite to one another , yet they both lookt alike , and neither of them upon one another , but both of them upon the ark that was between them , there was mutuality in their looks , and their wings touch'd one another ; so though the ministers of the law and the gospel seem opposite in the administration of the same grace , yet they must come so near as to touch one another in the manner of the administration , exempli gratia ; as there was in the old law high priests , priests and levites , so in the new law , bishops , presbyters and deacons ; as none but priests were to touch the ark , so none but the ministers should reforme the church . thus much for government ; now for episcopacy , the question then concerning episcopacy will be , whether or no jure divino , one minister ( which answers to all names and sorts of church-men , and church-officers whatsoever ) may not exercise jurisdiction and power over many ministers within such a place or territory ? if this be granted , the bishops aske no more : if it be denied , how then did christ jesus , bishop of our souls , give orders and directions to his twelve apostles , and taught them how they should behave themselves throughout this dioces the whole world ? how did saint paul exercise jurisdiction over timothy and titus who were both bishops ? and how did these two bishops exercise jurisdiction over all the ministers of creet and ephesus ? was not this by divine institution ? if i find by divine writ , that christ laid the foundation of his church in himselfe alone being over all the apostles , and if i find that these apostles , every apostle by himselfe ( in imitation of ou● saviour ) accordingly exercised jurisdiction and authority over many minister● which were under them , and commanded others to do the like , as paul , timothy and titus , and if i find the practise of the church all along through the whole tract of time , to continue the like discipline ; shall not i believe this discipline to be jure divino , except christ sends down a new conje deslier from heaven , upon the election of every new bishop ? christ laies the foundation , we build upon it , he gives us the modell , we follow the pattern , the church is built ; is not this by divine right , because he doth not lay the severall stones with his own hands ? christ promised that he would be alwayes with his church , and that he would send his holy spirit amongst them , which should lead them into all truth , so that the gates of hell should not prevaile against it ; but if episcopacy be anti-christian , then the gates of hel have not only prevailed against it a long time ; but all along . as all judgements are given in the kings name , and all records run rege presente , though the king be not there in person , but in power ; so the universall and un-interrupted and continued and generally received discipline of his holy catholick church ( which church we are bound to believe by the apostolical creed ) is christo presente ( ergo jure divino ) though christ be not there in person , but in power ; which power he conferr'd upon those who were to be his successours , which were called apostles , as my father sent me , so send i you : and he that heareth y●u , heareth me ; and loe i will be with you alwayes unto the end of the world : surely this discipline of one over many , call it what you will , is to descend and continue unto the end of the world . object . but it may be objected , how can you prove that christ commanded any such thing , or that christ gave to the apostles any such power , as to make successors in their steads , with a warrant for it to continue from age to age ? sol. where do you find that christ gave the sacrament to any but his disciples ? drike ye all of this , but they were all apostles to whom he said so ? where did you find that christ administred the sacrament , or commanded it to be administred unto any lay-men , or women ? therefore is not the sacrament given unto them jure divino , because the words were left out in the conveyance ? when there grew a disputation concerning divorcements , christ sends us to the originall , sic autem , not fuit ab initio , if christs rule be good , then the bishops are well enough , for they may say concerning episcopacy , i mean one over many ( and that safely too ) sic erat ab origine , some are very unwilling that this episcopacy should be intaild by christ upon his apostles and their successours , out of these words , mat. 28.20 . i will be with you alwaies to the end of the world ; they will not have it to mean in their successours ; but the meaning to be this , i will be with you alwayes unto the end of the world ; that is to say , in the efficacy and power of my word and gospel , to all ages : why may it not signifie this , and that too ? that it doth one , is no argument but that it may do both : god made all things , in number , weight , and measure , and will you ●●●ike his word ? shall sensus factus thrust out sensus destinatus out of the scriptures ? the first ministers of the gospel must adequate to the first minister of the law , and behold the same method observed in both their institutions : what difference is there between christs words to his disciples , i am with you alwayes unto the end of the world , mat. 28.20 . and gods words unto aaron at his setting him a part for the high priests office ? this shall be a statute for ever unto thee , and to thy seed after thee , exod. 28.43 . certainly if the gospel be nothing else but the law revealed , and the law be nothing else but the gospel hidden ; whatsoever is written or said of the ministers of the one , must needs have reference also to the ministers of the other : and i shall desire you to look a little back upon the words which god said to aaron : when god speakes of the seed of aaron , he only maketh mention of the seed after him ; but when he speakes of the statute , he saith it shall be for ever : if i do not flatter my own judgement that tels me , that this statute of high priest-hood , or episcopacy , call it what you will , must have heires after the seed of abraham is expired , and did not the catholick church all along call the receiving of the holy ghost , the order of priest-hood ? did ever any record above seven years date call it making of ministers ? and why are they angry with the word priest ? is it because the prophet isaiah prophecying of the glory of christs church tels us , we shall be named priests of the lord , but that men shall call us ministers of god ? isay 61 , 6. if the ministration of the law be glorious , shall not the ministration of the gospel be much more glorious ? 2 cor. 1.3 . and shall the ministers of the same gospel be lesse glorious ? when you see a man that cannot abide to see anothers glory , you may be sure he is no kin to him , or very far off ; so you may be assured that these are no true sons of the church , nor no right children , who thinke a chaire too great state for their fathers to sit in : in the apostles time these bishops , or if you will , superintendents ( which are all one in signification , only a good greek word chang'd by mr john calvin , into a bad latin word ) were stiled embassadours of the almighty , stars of heaven , angels of the church , ●c . but now these embassadours are ●sed like vagabonds ; these stars , are ●ot stars but fallings , and the angels ●re no where to be found bu● ascending ●nd descending jacobs ladder , whilst ●his reputation was given unto the church , and to its officers : the stones ●f its building were in unity , but as it ●s now it seemes no otherwise , then as a corps kept under ground seemingly in●ire , but once touch'd , soon fals to dust and ashes : never was there such a monster as this ruling , and thus consti●uted pre●bytery , the father of it rebel●ion , the mother insurrection , the midwife sacriledge , the nurse covetousnesse , the milke schism , the coats armour , the rattle drums , a bloudy sword the corrall , money the babies it delights to play withall , it grows up to be a stripling , and goes to school to a councel of war , its lesson is on the trumpet , its fescue a pistoll , its going out of school in ranke and file , its play-dayes the dayes of battaile , and blackmunday the day of judgement ; it comes of age and is married with a solemn league and covenant , it begets children like it self , whose blessing upon them is the power of the sword , an● whose imposition of hands are broke● pates ; this monster cries downe th●● truely antient catholick and apostollick power which the bishops exercised , and then take it up againe and use it themselves in a higher nature then eve● any bishops or apostles themselves did or durst have done , even to the excommunication and deposement of their kings ( to the delivering of them up unto satan , and to hang-men , if they stood but in their way ) to whom the apostles taught submission ( how faulty so ever they were ) and if not obedience , yet submission , to every one of their ordinances , if not for their own sakes , yet for the lords sake , and for conscience sake : these men cry down the same authority , as popish , whilst they exalt themselves above all that are called gods , in a higher manner , then ever any pope of rome ever yet did : we will begin with this monster in the very place of its nativity , and so observe him all along through the whole tract of time ; we will consider how it dealt with the first prince , under whose dominions it pullulated , which was under the prince and bishop of geneva , and these two were both nullified in the same person , as they were both here in england by the same parliament ; verefying that max●m of ours ( with that fore-running of theirs ) no bishop , no king ; and then we will shew you how they dealt with our princes here at home , where ever they had a power , viz. with mary queen of scots , and james and charls the first kings of england and of scotland both , and then usurpe a power themselves higher then popes or kings . calvin with his gladiators , having expuls'd the prince and bishop of geneva , sets up a government so high , and unexpected , that the people would have nothing to do either with him , or his government : and thereupon they banished him the city : calvin ( in exile ) bethinkes himselfe how he might appease their fury , and give them satisfaction , and be invited in again ; calvinus de tristibus thinks it his best course of endearing himself unto the people , to make them sharers with him in the government , whereupon he invented his new fangle of lay-elders , and so all parties were agreed ; in comes mr john calvin ( whilst he was scarce warme in his seat ) i shall present you with a story of him and of his demeanour of himself towards the temporall throne : there was a noble-man of italy , who liked the reformation which he had begun so well , that he forsook his religion , and country , sold his lands and fortune , converted all into money , and took sanctuary in geneva ; as soon as he came there , great rejoycing & insulting there was , that their cause was honored with so high a convert : the grand seigniour fals a building ; directing his masons , he found one of them something more sawcy then to what his lordship ( in his own country ) had been accustomed , little thinking that where there was promised so large a respect of souls , there had been so little respect of persons : this noble-man hereupon gives this mason a gentle tap upon the head , the mason flies upon him like a dragon , and fhakes him by the beard : my lord not being used to such course salutations , stabs him with his dagger , thinking nothing lesse but that so high a provocation would have pleaded his indempnity ; no such matter , my lord was soon ●aid hold on and brought to his triall : calvin upon the tribunall , not as a ●emporall judge in such cases ( take ●eed of him ) but only to be asked his opinion in cases of conscience ; the delinquent pleads for himself , tels them ●ow insolently he was provoked , and wonders , considering such provocation , he should be questioned for so vile a ●arlet : hereupon mr calvin soon starts up , and tels him , that with god ( whose seat they held ) there was no respect of persons , and for ought he knew , that man whom he despis'd to death , was as near and dear to god and his favour , as himself ▪ their laws knew no such distinction as man-slaughter , and murder ; but they were regulated by the divine law , that told them , that the man that shed mans bloud , by man shall his bloud be shed , that there was no exemption by greatnesse , nor buying it off by favour ; the noble-man replied , that he had not been long enough amongst them to be acquainted with their laws ; it was answered , that the law of nature did forbid that , of which he could not be ignorant ( all this was well enough ) my lord told them how hard a case it would be , for a man out of his love and liking to the place and manners , should seeke to it as a sanctuary for his conscience , and so soon find it his grave : that he was heartily sorry for what he had done , and would give any satisfaction to his wife and children that the court should order , or his estate allow ; h● intended the man no hurt , before such rough hands shook him out of himself , that he knew not what he did , and therefore he humbly begg'd their pardon , assuring the● for the future , that his waies should be so directly answerable to those paths they walked in , that he would not by gods grace hereafter step aside ; the temporall judges , wonne with his humble and submisse behaviour , began to relent , and desired mr calvin to abate a little of his rigour , for the reasons before mentioned , assuring him that his case was no common case , and therefore it ought to have respect accordingly ; hereupon there grew a hot dispute between the spirituall , and the temporall judges ; calvin remained stiffe in his opinion and would not be bent to the least mercy ; the nobleman thought to throw one graine of reason more into the ballance , that should turne the scales , and that should be taken out of a consideration had of their own good : for saith he , if you shed my bloud hand over head , without any the least respect had to my years , to my birth , to my education , to the little time i had of being acquainted with your laws , nor to the provocation it self , nor to the suddennesse of the action , nor to the surprize of all my senses , nor to the satisfation i would have given , nor ro the repentance of my very soul , who will come amongst you ? what lord or gentleman will live within your wals ? wherefore if you will have no consideration of me , yet consider your selves ; consider what a blow it wil give to your religion , how many this very thing will stave off from ever having any thing to do with you ; by this time they were all prone to mercy , but calvin alone , who stands up and cries fiat justitia ruat caelum , neither could he be brought to give his opinion , that the jury ( as we call them ) might not passe upon him , but out went the jury ▪ and contrary to their owne law , hearing the noble-mans plea , and observing well the inclination of the bench in generall , they brought in their verdict , not guilty ; whereupon the noble-man was acquitted : hereupon john calvin rises from the bench , and whilst the rest proceeded to their matters , cals all the ministers within the wals and liberties of geneva , who appear before the judgement sets , with white wans in their hands , which they laid down , telling them , that with those wans they laid down their offices , protesting that they would never preach the gospel to a people whose humane laws should run contrary to the laws divine ; and suddenly turned about and took their leave : which being acted with so much gravity , wrought so much upon the beholders , that they presently sent for them back againe , and hanged the noble-man . this story i have read in their own history in geneva , then which my thoughts were then , as they are still , that never any pope of rome , did act as pope of rome , or so much as claime halfe that authority over the civill magistrate , as this anti-pope did virtually act ; and yet was not ashamed to make lesser matters then this , the ground of his quarrell with the bishop , who also was their prince , when in his own person he acts the part of both . now we will see how these kind of ●reatures have plaid the masters of mis-●ule among our princes here at home . king james in his discourse at hampton court , tels us , how the presbyterians ●ecame lords paramount in his kingdome of scotland , and how they used his mother the queen of scots , viz. knox●nd buchanon and the rest of that gauge , came unto mary queen of scots , and told ●er , that by right , no pope nor poten●ante whatsoever , had any superiority over her in her own dominions , either ●n cases civill or eccesiasticall , but that ●hee her self was supreme in both ; and constituted by god as the only nursing mother of his church , within her dominion , and therefore conjured her to look about her , and not to let the pope of rome or any of his agents , to have any thing to do within her territories , and to have care of christ evangil as ●hee would answer it at the dreadfull day of judgement ; shee gives them her ●ar , and at last her authority , they make use of it in the first place , to the pulling down of the bishops , and exalted themselves in their roome ; when the queen look'd for an absolute supremacy , behold all the supremacy that these men would alow her , was , not so much as to have one private chappell for her self , nor one priest whereby shee might serve god according to her own conscience ; shee finding her self so much deceived , labours to recall her authority ; they kept her to it , shee takes up armes , they oppose her , fight her , bea● her out of her kingdome , shee flies into england , they follow her with invectives , thrust jealousies into the queen of englands bosome concerning her , shee is imprisoned , and after a long imprisonment put to death : king james having related this passage in the forementioned discourse unto dr renolds , and knewstubs and the rest , turnes unto the bishops , and closes his discourse with this animadversion , wherefore my lords , i thanke you for my supremacy , for if i were to receive it from these men , i know what would become of my supremacy ; the shining light of the gospel , and the burning zeal of the ministers thereof may fitly be compared to fire , which if it be not in every roome confind to on hearth , and limited to one tunnell , that may convey out of this so comfortable and necessary a blessing , all that may be destructive and offensive in it , up toward the highest ●egion , but is suffered like wild-fire to ●un up and down the house , it will soon ●urne all to flames and high combusti●ns ; so the government of the soul ●eemes to be of so transcendent nature ●o what the government of the body ●nd goods is , that if it be not overtopt with superintendency or episcopacy , ●nd so disimbogued into the supreme ●uthority , this comfortable heat if limited , as it turnes to our greatest benefit , so neglected and boundlesse , soon converts its self into a suddaine destru●tion and ruine , if you will hear how these men dealt with king james her son , and father to charls the first , you shall find it in his basilicon doron , crebrae adversus me in tribunitiis conscionibus callumniae spargebantur non quod crimen aliquod designassem sed quia rex eram quod omni crimine pejus habebatur , are these men good subjects ? did they not convene him diverse times before them , school him , chatechize him like a school-boy ? did he not protest unto his son henry , that he mislik'd their proud and haughty carriage ever since he was ten years of age ? did he not say that monarchy and presbytery agreed like god and the devil ? and have we not found it so , if we consider the behaviour of our new mad● presbyterians in england to charls the frist his son ? o but the presbyterian● had no hand in it , they pray'd and preach'd , and writ against it , fasted and pray'd for a diversion of all such intentions : but i pray , who took the scepte● out of his hand , in taking away the militia , of which it was an emblem , that should have defended him , was it not the presbyterian ? who cast down his throne by taking away his negative voice , was it not the presbyterians ? who took off his crown , the fountaine of honour from off his head , by denying those honour on whom he had confer'd it without them , was it not the presbyterian ? who took away his supremacy singnified by the sacred unction wherewith he was anointed , in not allowing him the liberty of his owne conscience in the point of episcopacy and church government , was it not the presbyterian ? who would not ●reat a minuite with their king before they had made him acknowledge himself guilty ( as they say ) of all the bloud that had been spilt throughout his dominions , was it not the presbyterian ? who ( notwithstanding all the concessions on his ●●rt that could be granted , even to the ●ery grating his princely conscience , ●hen he bid them aske flesh from off his ●ones and he would not deny it them , ●it might have been a benefit unto his ●eople , prayed that he might keep his ●onscience whole , it was the queen ●●gient of all good mens actions , and ●e hoped there were none would force ●is queen before him in his house , as ●●asuerus said to haman ) voted not sa●isfactory so long , untill the indepen●ent army came from edenb●rough , and ●urpriz'd and murdred him , was it not the presbyterians ? he that said the pres●yterians held him down by the haire , while the independents cut off his head , said true enough , they murdred him as ● king , before ever they murdred him as a man ; for what may the independent say to the presbyter , if yuo 'l take off his authority , we 'l take of his head ; if you 'l make him no king , we 'l make him no body ; if you 'l make him a man of bloud , we 'l use him accordingly ; therefore at your doors o persybterian hypocrites do i lay his innocent bloud , it is but like the rest of your actions , committed by your ancestors to former princes all along . one thing i pray you well observe● ▪ there was never any reformed church in christendome , but when they shook off their bishops , they made their apologies to all the christian world , how they were necessitated to alter that antient and best form of government of the church by bishop● , in regard that they could not be drawn off from their obedience and dependance on the pope of rome ; and if possible they would retaine that laudable government as most convenient ; but never were there any reformers in the world , but ours , that ever held episcopacy to be unlawfull and anti-christian before ; and will you know the reason , which is only this , the bishops what they receive , they lay down at his majesties feet , as acknowledging him to be supreme in all cases , when they would have him to be supreme in no case , as buch. de jure regini plainly tels us that princes are no more but the proxies , and atturneies of the people , and yet for all this the authority which they hold to be as anti-christian in the chaire , they practise as most christian on the bench , and much improve it ; these monsters , that they may the better cry downe the divine right that is in episcopacy , and descended to them , from the apostles , tel us ●hat the calling of the apostles was extraordinary , and died with them : to make answer to which assertion , we must consider how many wayes a thing may be taken to be extraordinary , and if we find that it may be taken so many wayes , if we can prove a thing extraordinary one way , we must not take it to be extraordinary in every respect , exempli gratia ; saul was extraordinarily called by god , because imediately by him , but this doth not make the calling of kings to be an extraordinary calling , for that succeded ; so the apostles were extraordinarily called by god , as not being called out of the tribe of levi , nor taken from the feet of gameliell , nor brought up in the schools of the prophets , yet this doth not follow , that the calling of the apostles should be extraordinary , for they had their successours : it may be extraordinary à parte ante , but not à parte post , only in regard of the manner of their election , but not in regard of the nature of their commission , they were called apostles in regard of their mission , not in respect of their commission , which was no more but what bishops had , neither doth the word apostle signifie so great authority as doth the word bishop , the one betokening but a messenger , the other an overseer , and therefore there is no extraordinarinesse hitherto , that they should not b● extraordinary . 2. a man may be said to be extraordinary , in regard of some extraordinary gift and endowment● which god hath given unto a man , as unto the apostles the gift of tongues , of healing , &c. but thi● doth no way make the calling extraordinary for then it would follow , that if god almighty should give unto any ordinary minister , extraordinary gifts , then his calling should be extraordinary , or that the calling of kings should be an extraordinary calling , because god bestowes on some kings the extraordinary gift of healing . it may be further urg'd , the calling of the apostles was an extraordinary calling , because they were pen-men of the holy ghost , and in regard that the holy ghost sate upon each of them , no , that doth not make it extraordinary quoad nos , that it should not descend , for other divines and evangelists , were pen-men of the holy ghost as well as they , therefore what was not extraordinary to themselves , cannot be extraordinary to us . 4. for their receiving the holy ghost 〈◊〉 is no otherwise but what all bishops , ●astors and curates do receive , when they ●eceive orders , receive ye the holy ghost , only the difference is this , they received it by the fleeing of cloven tongues , and they by ●●position of hands , but still the extraordinaries , consists in the manner , but not the matter of the thing received , so that ●ll this while there is no reason why this calling of the apostles should be so extraordinary , as that it should not descend ; if christ promised to be with his apostles unto the end of the world , and they did not continue unto the end of the world ; surely i should thinke without any straining of gnats , or swallowing of cammels , that the meaning of our saviours words should be this , that he would be with those in the assistance of his holy spirit , that should succeed the apostles in their offices of supervising his church , and propogation of his gospel , except i should see more reason then i do yet , why the apostles calling should be so peculiar , that it must not descend , or that the government of one over many , be so inconsistent with the church her good in after-times , more then in the beginning , that episcopacy should be so abominable . briefly i can compare these presbyt●● pulling down the bishops , to no oth●● thing , then to a company of unhappy boy● who being not tall enough to reach 〈◊〉 fruit , and wanting a ladder , for the fr●●● sake , lay hold upon the branches and br●●● down a bow , making it thereby no part 〈◊〉 the tree , so these men , wanting mer●●● to taste the fruit of learning , and not h●ving capacity enough in themselves , t● reach those preferments , which the church holds out to those who are deserving , they render that which was part of the church ▪ as sever'd from the body , which is the highest kind of sacriledge , not only in depriving the church of part of its goods , but part of it self . lastly , if there were no other reason to be given if not for the divine right of episcopacy , yet for the lawfulnesse thereof , but this one topicall argument which i sha● use , raised out of the continued practise of the church in all ages , to men whose faces are not bras'd so thick , that it were reason proof , it were sufficient in my understanding , viz. suppose all the arguments which were for episcopacy , were as weak as so many strawes to support a cause , yet though four strawes are not able to support a table , yet 〈◊〉 thousand bound up together in 〈◊〉 bundels , will hold it up as firme as so 〈◊〉 props of iron ▪ so though some few 〈◊〉 of some few men within some few 〈◊〉 , are not able to make an argument 〈◊〉 episcopacy , that shall be evincing , yet 〈◊〉 practise of the church all along for 〈◊〉 hundred years , in fourteen hun●red dioces , and throughout fourty ages , ●ake● good the argument against any few 〈◊〉 straws or wat tilors whatsoever . 〈◊〉 but there were no diocesan bishops 〈…〉 primitive times . sol. was not christ a diocesan bishop ? ●nd was not the world his dioces ? were 〈◊〉 the apostles diocesan bishops , when ●●e whole world , divided into twelve 〈◊〉 , were their twelves dioces ? were not ●imothy and titus diocesan bishops , when creet and ephasus were alotted to be their dioces ? ob. there were no lord bishops in those daies ? sol. those who ruled well were to be accounted worthy of double honour , and will you not allow them single lordship ? ob. the lords of the gentiles exercised dominion , but so shall not you . so. no , not such dominion as they exercised , there is a great deal of differe●● betwixt dominion and domineering , ●●●twixt lordship and lording it over go●● inheritance ; a paternall government 〈◊〉 never accounted intollerable but by unru●●● children ; if this were not to be allowed 〈◊〉 how did christ rule his apostles ? paul , t●mothy and titus ? both these , all the ministe●● in creet and ephasus ? ob. st paul laboured with his hands th●● he might not be chargable to the brethren ▪ sol. so might the bishops if they neede● no more to study divinity then did the apostles , but if any benefactory had bestowed large revenues upon s. paul , i see n● reason why he might not be a keeper 〈◊〉 hospitality , as well as he advised timo●●● so to do ; but now julians persecution is reviv'd ; do not ( saith julian ) destroy the christians , but take away the maintenance of the church , and that will bring their ministers in●o contempt , and so destroy their religion ; and now they are at it . libera me domine ( saith sain● augustine ) ab homine impio id est libera me 〈◊〉 me , so we had need to pray unto almighty god , that he would save his church out of the hands of her church-men , for shee now lies upon the ground like the tree that complained , that she was rent in sunder by wedges made out of her own body . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a27115e-2290 see buch. de jure . reg. sam. ●4 . 5 . the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures by will. sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. 1684 approx. 271 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 116 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59793) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99742) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 476:2) the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures by will. sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. [6], 221 p. printed for fincham gardiner ..., london : 1684. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng government, resistance to. divine right of kings. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved , according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures . by will. sherlock , d. d. rector of st. george buttolph-lane , london . london : printed for fincham gardiner , at the white-horse in ludgate-street . 1684. to the right honourable francis lord guilford , lord keeper of the great seal of england , and one of his majesties most honourable privy council . my lord , i humbly beg leave to present to your lordships hands , a very plain discourse , but very necessary in such an age as this , wherein the principles of rebellion are openly profest and taught , and the doctrine of non-resistance and passive obedience , not confuted , but laught out of countenance . there ▪ have been indeed a great many excellent books writ upon this argument by learned men ; but i fear most of them are too learned for ordinary readers , who most need instruction , and are most easily poisoned with seditious ▪ doctrines ; and therefore there is still occasion enough ▪ for such a small treatise as this , which i hope is fitted to the understanding of the meanest men , who will be so honest , as impartially to consider it : and those who will not read nor consider , what is offered for their conviction , are out of the reach of all instruction , and must be governed by other methods . my lord , your lordships known loyalty and zeal for the service of the crown , which by the favour of a wise and discerning prince has deservedly advanced you to so high as station , made me presume , that such a present as this , though in ▪ it self very mean , might not be unacceptable to you , especially when it is intended as a publick acknowledgment ( the best which my mean circumstances in the world enable me to make ) of those great favours i have received from your lordship . that god would bless your lordship with a long life , and vigorous age , and encrease of honour , for the service of the king , and of the church , is the prayer of , my lord , your lordships most humble and most obedient servant ▪ w. sherlock . the case of resistance of the supreme powers stated and resolved , according to the doctrine of the holy scriptures . the introduction . i presume , i need make no apologie for the seasonableness of this discourse at this time : for if e-ever it be fit to put people in mind of that subjection which they owe to the higher powers , no time can be more proper for it , than when we see the peace and security of publick government disturbed and endangered by popish and fanatick conspiracies , who like sampson's foxes , though they look very different ways , yet are tyed together by the tail with a firebrand between them ; and had not the good providence of god wonderfully appeared for the preservation of his anointed , i am sure it had been a very unseasonable time now to have treated on this subject ▪ and therefore , setting aside all apologies , i shall onely give a brief account of the designe of this following treatise . there are three ways of proving and confirming the doctrine of non-resistance , or subjection to soveraign princes . 1. by the testimonies of the holy scriptures . 2. by the doctrine and practice of the primitive christians . 3. by the fundamental constitutions of that particular government under which we live . i have considered the last , as much as was necessary to my purpose . the second i have not meddled with : for whoever has a mind to be satisfied about it , may consult that admirable discourse of archbishop usher , about the power of the prince , and the obedience of the subject ; which will not cost much money , nor take up much time to read it . but the designe i proposed to my self , was carefully to consider the testimonies of scripture , which are beyond all other authorities , and to vindicate them from the cavils and exceptions of the several patrons of resistance . and the whole discourse is divided into these following chapters . 1. the first contains the authorities of the old testament ; wherein i have plainly shewn , that god himself set up a soveraign and irresistible power in the iewish nation ; and that during all that time , it was unlawful for subjects , upon any pretence whatsoever , to resist their princes . 2. the second contains the doctrine of our saviour , concerning subjection to soveraign princes . 3. the third contains an account of our saviour's example in this matter . 4. the fourth considers what saint paul's doctrine was about subjection . 5. the fifth , the doctrine of saint peter . 6. the sixth contains an answer to the most popular objections against non-resistance . in examining the authorities of scripture , i have carefully considered whatever has been plausibly urged in defence of the doctrine of resistance , and reduced it under those particular texts which have been thought most to favour it : and i do not know of any thing material , which has been pleaded in this cause , which i have wholly omitted . possibly some may complain , that i have not observed the exact rules of art and method in this , to propose the question , to explain the terms of it , to produce my proofs , and then to answer the objections which are made against it . now this i must acknowledge in part to be true ; and i think this discourse never the less perfect for that . the proposition i undertake to prove , is this : that soveraign princes , or the supreme power in any nation , in whomsoever it is plac'd , is in all cases irresistible . this is a plain proposition , which needs no explanation : and the way i take to prove it , is as plain ; by producing the testimonies of scripture both of the old and new testament , as they lie in order , and shewing what power they grant to princes , and what obedience they require of subjects . this is the fairest way i could think on , to give my readers a full view of the doctrine of the scriptures in this matter ; and this was all i intended to do : for i am verily perswaded , that were men once convinced that resistance of princes is expresly contrary to the doctrine both of the old and new testament , it would be no easie matter , by any other arts or pretences , to draw the most fanatical and factious persons amongst us ( who retain any reverence for god ) into a rebellion . chap. i. wherein the unlawfulness of resisting the supreme powers is proved , from the authority of the old testament . to prove the unlawfulness of resistance , i shall begin with the old testament . now there is nothing more evident , than that god set up such a supreme and soveraign power in the iewish nation , as could not , and ought not to be resisted by the fundamental laws of their government . for this is all i am concerned at present to prove , that it is never lawful to resist the higher powers ; not that the supreme and soveraign power is always to be in a single person , but that wherever it is , it is irresistible , and that whenever this supreme power by the laws of the nation , is invested in a single person , such a prince must not upon any pretence whatsoever be resisted . the first governour god set over the children of israel , when he brought them out of the land of egypt , was moses ; and i think i need not prove how sacred and irresistible his authority was . this is sufficiently evident in the rebellion of korah , dathan , and abiram , against moses and aaron , when god caused the earth to open her mouth and swallow them up , 16 numbers . and lest this should be thought an extraordinary case , moses and aaron being extraordinary persons , immediately appointed by god , and governed by his immediate direction ; the apostle st. iude alleadges this example against those in his days , who were turbulent and factious , who despised dominions , and spake evil of dignities , that they should perish in the gainsaying of core , iud. v. 11. which he could not have done , had not this example extended to all ordinary , as well as extraordinary cases ; had it not been a lasting testimony of gods displeasure against all those , who oppose themselves against the soveraign powers . but moses was not always to rule over them , and therefore god expresly provides for a succession of soveraign power , to which they must all submit . the ordinary sovereign power of the iewish nation after moses his death , was devolved either on the high priest , or those extraordinary persons whom god was pleased to raise up , such as ioshua and the several iudges , till in samuels days it setled in their kings . for as for the iewish sanhedrim , whose power is so much extolled by the iewish writers , who are all of a late date , many years since the destruction of ierusalem , and therefore no competent witnesses of what was done so many ages before , it does not appear from any testimony of scripture , that there was any such court of iudicature , till after their return from the babylonish captivity . but yet god took care to secure the peace and good government of the nation , by appointing such a power as should receive the last appeals , and whose sentence in all controversies should be final , and uncontroulable , as you may see in the 17 deut. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 v. there were inferiour magistrates and iudges appointed in their several tribes and cities , which moses did by the advice of iethro his father-in-law , and by the approbation of god , exod. 18. but as the supreme power was still reserved in the hands of moses , while he lived , so it is here secured to the high priest , or iudges , after his death ; for it is expresly appointed , that if those inferiour iudges could not determine the controversie , they should come unto the priests , the levites , that is , the priests of the tribe of levi , ( who by the 12 ver . appears only to be the high priest ) and to the iudge that shall be in those days , that is , if it shall be at such a time , when there is an extraordinary judge raised by god , ( for there were not always such iudges in israel , as is evident to any one who reads the book of iudges ) and of them they should inquire , and they shall shew the sentence of iudgment ; and thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place , ( which the lord shall choose ) shall shew thee , and thou shalt observe to do according to all they shall inform thee . where the place which god shall choose , signifies the place which he should appoint for the ark of the covenant , and for the levitical worship ; which was the place where the high priest , and the chief iudge or ruler of israel , when there was any such person , had their ordinary residence ; which was at first at shilo , and afterwards at ierusalem . and what the authority of the chief priest , or of the iudge when there was one , was in those days , appears from v. 12. and the man that will do presumptuously , and will not hearken to the priest , ( that standeth to minister there before the lord thy god ) or unto the iudge , even that man shall die , and thou shalt put away the evil from israel . this is as absolute authority , as the most absolute monarch in the world can challenge , that disobedience to their last and final determination , what ever the cause be , shall be punisht with death : and what place can there be for resistance in such a constitution of government as this ? it is said indeed in v. 11. according to the sentence of the law , which they shall teach thee , and according to the judgment that they shall tell thee , thou shalt do . and hence some conclude , that they were not bound to abide by their sentence , nor were punishable , if they did not , but onely in such cases , when they gave sentence according to the law of god. but these men do not consider that the matter in controversie is supposed to be doubtful , and such as could not be determined by the inferiour courts , and therefore is submitted to the decision of the supreme iudge ; and as he determined , so they must do ; and no man , under the penalty of death , must presume to do otherwise : which takes away all liberty of judging from private persons , though this supreme iudge might possibly mistake in his judgment , as all humane iudicatures are liable to mistakes ; but it seems god ▪ almighty thought it necessary that there should be some final judgment , from whence there should be no appeal , notwithstanding the possibility of a mistake in it . so that there was a supreme and soveraign , that is , unaccountable and irresistible power in the iewish nation appointed by god himself : for indeed it is not possible that the publick peace and security of any nation should be preserved without it . and i think it is as plain , that when the iews would have a king , their kings were invested with this supreme and irresistible power : for when they desired a king , they did not desire a meer nominal and titular king , but a king to judge them , and to go out before them , and fight their battels ; that is , a king who had the supreme and soveraign authority , 1 sam. 8. 6. 19. 20. a king who should have all that power of government , excepting the peculiar acts of the priestly office , which either their high-priest or their iudges had before . and therefore when samuel tells them what shall be the manner of their king , 11 ver . though what he says does necessarily suppose the translation of the soveraign and irresistible power to the person of their king , yet it does not suppose that the king had any new power given him more than what was exercised formerly by their priests and iudges . he does not deter them from chusing a king , because a king should have greater power , and be more uncontroulable and irresistible than their other rulers were : for samuel himself had had as soveraign and irresistible a power as any king , being the supreme judge in israel , whose sentence no man could disobey or contradict , but he incurred the penalty of death , according to the mosaical law. but the reason why he disswades them from chusing a king , was because the external pomp and magnificence of kings was like to be very chargeable and oppressive to them . he will take your sons and appoint them for himself , for his chariots , and to be his horsemen , and some shall run before his chariots . and he will appoint him captains over thousands , and captains over fifties , and will set them to ear his ground , and to reap his harvest . and thus in several particulars he acquaints them what burdens and exactions they will bring upon themselves by setting up a king , which they were then free from : and if any prince should be excessive in such exactions , yet they had no way to help themselves ; they must not resist nor rebel against him , nor expect , that what inconvenience they might find in kingly government , god would relieve and deliver them from it , when once they had chose a king : ye shall cry out in that day , because of your king which ye have chosen you , and the lord will not hear you in that day , v. 18. that is , god will not alter the government for you again , how much soever you may complain of it . this , i say , is a plain proof that their kings were invested with that soveraign power which must not be resisted , though they oppress their subjects to maintain their own state , and the grandeur and magnificence of their kingdom . but i cannot think , that these words contain the original grant and charter of regal power , but only the translation of that power which was formerly in their high-priests or iudges to kings . kings had no more power than their other governours had : for there can be no power greater than that which is irresistible ; but this power in the hands of kings was likely to be more burdensome and oppressive to them , than it was in the hands of their priests and iudges ▪ by reason of their different way of living ; which is the onely argument samuel uses to dissuade them from transferring the supreme and soveraign power to princes . and therefore i rather choose to translate mishpat , as our translators do , by the manner of the king , than as other learned men do , by the right of the king , thereby understanding the original charter of kingly power : for it is not the regal power which samuel here blames , which is no other but the very same power which he himself had , while he was supreme iudge of israel , but their pompous way of living , which would prove very oppressive and burdensome to them , and be apt to make them complain , who had not been used to such exactions . and here before i proceed , give me leave to make a short digression in vindication of kingly government , which some men think is greatly disparaged by this story . for 1. it is evident that god was angry with the iews for desiring a king ; and declared his anger against them , by sending a violent tempest of thunder and rain in wheat-harvest ; which made them confess , that they had added to all their sins this evil , to ask a king , 1 sam. 12. 16 , 17. &c. from whence some conclude , that kingly power and authority is so far from being the original appointment and constitution of god , that it is displeasing to him . and 2. that samuel in describing the manner of the king , represents it as oppressive and uneasie to subjects , and much more burdensome , and less desirable than other forms of government . 1. as for the first , it must be acknowledged , that god was angry with the children of israel for asking a king : but then these men mistake the reason , which was not because god is an enemy to kingly government , but because he himself was the king of israel ; and by asking a king to go in and out before them , they exprest a dislike of gods government of them . thus god tells samuel , they have not rejected thee , but they have rejected me , that i should not reign over them , 1 sam. 8. 7. and thus samuel aggravates their sin , that they said , nay but a king shall reign over us ; when the lord your god was your king , 12 chap. 12. v. now the crime had been the same , had they set up an aristocratical or democratical government , as well as regal power , in derogation of gods government of them . their fault was not in choosing to be governed by a single person ; for so they had been governed all along , by moses and ioshua , by their high priests , or those other extraordinary iudges whom god had raised up , and at this very time by samuel himself ; for it is a great mistake to think that the jews , before they chose a king , were governed by a synedrial power , like an aristocracy or democracy , which there is not the least appearance of in all the sacred history ; for as for those persons whom moses by the advice of iethro set over the people , they were not a supreme or soveraign tribunal , but such subordinate magistrates as every prince makes use of for administring justice to the people . they were rulers of thousands , rulers of hundreds , rulers of fifties , rulers of tens , 18 exod. 21. and were so far from being one standing judicature , that they were divided among their several tribes and families : and were so far from being supreme , that moses still reserved all difficult cases , and last appeals , that is , the true soveraign power to himself , as it was afterwards by an express law reserved to the high priests , and iudges extraordinarily appointed : and there is so little appearance of this soveraign tribunal in samuels days , that he himself went in circuit every year , as our judges now do , to bethel and gilgal , and mizpeh , and judged israel , 1 sam. 7. 16. but the fault of israel in asking a king was this , that they preferred the government of a king , before the immediate government of god. for the understanding of which , it will be necessary to consider briefly , how gods government of israel differ'd from their government by kings . for when they had chose a king , did god cease to be the king of israel ? was not their king gods minister and vicegerent , as their rulers and judges were before ? was not the king god 's anointed ? and did he not receive the laws and rules of government from him ? yes , this is in some measure true , and yet the difference is very great . while god was the king of israel , though he appointed a supreme visible authority in the nation , yet the exercise of this authority was under the immediate direction and government of god. moses and ioshua did not stir a step , nor attempt any thing without gods order , no more than a menial servant does without the direction of his master . in times of peace , they were under the ordinary government of the high priest , who was god's immediate servant , who declared the law to them , and in difficult cases , referred the cause to god , who gave forth his answers by him : when they were opprest by their enemies , which god never permitted , but for their sins , when they repented and begged gods pardon and deliverance , god raised up some extraordinary persons endued with an extraordinary spirit , to fight their battels for them , and subdue their enemies , and to judge israel ; and these men did every thing by a divine impulse and inspiration , as moses and ioshua did . so that they were as immediately governed by god , as any man governs his own house and family . but when the government was put into the hands of kings , god in a great measure left the administration of it to the will and pleasure of princes , and to the methods of humane governments and policy . though god did immediately appoint saul , and afterwards david to be king , yet ordinarily the government descended not by god's immediate choice , but by the right of succession : and though some kings were prophets too , yet it was not often so ; they were not so immediately directed by god as the iudges of old were , but had their councels of state for advice in peace and war , and their standing armies and guards for the defence of their persons and government . they were indeed commanded to govern by the laws of moses , to consult the oracles of god in difficult cases , and god raised up extraordinary prophets to direct them , but still it was in their own power , whether they would obey the laws of god , or hearken to his prophets ; good kings did , and bad kings did not ; and therefore the government of israel by kings , was like other humane governments , lyable to all the defects and miscarriages which other governments are ; whereas while the government was immediately in god's hands , they did not only receive their laws , and external polity from him , but the very executive power was in god : for though it was administred by men , yet it was administred by god's immediate direction , with the most exact wisdom , justice and goodness . this was the sin of the iews , that they preferred the government of an earthly king , before having god for their king ; and this must be acknowledged to be a great fault , but it is such a fault , as no other nation was ever capable of , but only the iews , because god never vouchsafed to be king of any other nation in such a manner ; and therefore we must not compare kingly government , for there is no competition between them , with the government of god , but we must compare kingly government with any other form of humane government ; and then we have reason to believe , that notwithstanding god was angry with the iews , and this was a case peculiar to the iews for desiring a king , that yet he prefers kingly government before any other , because when he foresaw that the iews would in time grow weary of his government , he makes provision in their law , for setting up a king , not for setting up an aristocratical or democratical power , which their law makes no allowance for , as you may see , 17 deuter. 14. 2. another objection against kingly power and government , is , that samuel in this place represents it as very oppressive and burdensome to the subject . for what some men answer , that samuel speaks here only of the abuse of regal power , i think is not true ; for the meer abuse of power is no argument against it , because all kind and forms of power are lyable to be abused , and by this reason we should have no government at all . and it is evident , that samuel does not mention any one thing here , that can be called an abuse of power , nothing but what is absolutely necessary to maintain the state and magnificence of an imperial crown . for how can a prince subsist without officers and servants of all sorts , both men and women , both for the uses of his family , and the service of his government both in peace and war ? and how can this be maintained , but by a revenue proportionable to the expence ? and since none of them had such an estate , as to defray this charge themselves , whoever was to be chosen king , must have it from others , by publick grants and publick taxes , which he here expresses by taking their fields and their vineyards , and their olive-yards , the tenth of their fields , and their vineyards , and the tenth of their sheep , for himself and his servants , the tenth ●●●ng the usual tribute ▪ paid to the eastern kings . this is not an abuse of power , though some princes might be excessive in all this , but it is the manner of the king , that which is necessary to his royal state. there is nothing of all this forbid in 17 deuter. where god gives laws to the king ; and indeed to forbid this , would be to forbid kingly power , which cannot subsist without it . indeed i find some learned men mistaken in this matter ; for they take it for granted , that what samuel here calls the manner of the king , is such an abuse of power , as god had expresly forbid to kings in the 17 of deuter. 16 , 17. but why the abuse of regal power should be called the manner or the right of the king , is past my understanding . mishpat , however you translate it , must signifie something which is essential to kingly government , otherwise samuels argument against chusing a king had been sophistical and fallacious . for there is no form of government but is lyable to great abuses , when it falls into ill hands : and this they had experience of at this very time ; for the miscarriages of samuel's sons , was the great reason , why the people at this time desired a king ▪ 1 sam. 8. 3 , 4 , 5. and if we compare these two places together , what god forbids the king , with what samuel calls the manner of the king , we shall find nothing alike . in the 17 of deut. 16 , 17. v. god tells them , that their king shall not multiply horses to himself , nor cause the people to return into egypt , to the end that he should multiply horses , for as much as the lord hath said unto you , ye shall henceforth return no more that way . god would not allow them to have any commerce or intercourse with egypt , and therefore forbid their kings to multiply horses , with which egypt did abound , that there might be no new familiarity contracted with that idolatrous nation . neither shall he multiply wives to himself , that his heart turn not away . where multiplying wives seems plainly to refer to his taking wives of other nations and other religions , as appears from what is added , that his heart turn not away : that is , lest they should seduce him to idolatry , as we know solomon's wives did him , who are therefore said to turn away his heart , 1 kings 11. 3 , 4. neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold . for such a covetous humour would mightily tempt him to oppress his subjects . this is all that god expresly forbids their kings , when they should have any . but now samuel in describing the manner of the king , takes no notice of any thing of all this , but only tells them , that their king would appoint out fit persons for his service of their sons and daughters , that they should pay tribute to him , and should themselves be his servants ; not as servants signifies flaves and vassals , but subjects , who owe all duty and service to their prince as far as he needs them . but what is it then that samuel finds fault with in kingly power , & which he uses as an argument to dissuade the children of israel from desiring a king ? why it is no more , than the necessary expences and services of kingly power , which would be thought very grievous to them , who were a free people , and at that time subject to no publick services and exactions . the government they then lived under was no charge at all to them they were governed , as i observed before , either by their high priest , or by iudges extraordinarily raised by god. as for their high priests , god himself had allotted their maintenance sutable to the quality and dignity of their office ; and therefore they were no more charge to the people when they were their supreme governors , than they were , when the power was in other hands , either in the hands of iudges or kings . as for their iudges whom god raised up , they affected nothing of royal greatness , they had no servants or retinue , standing guards or armies to maintain their authority , which was secured by that divine power with which they acted , not by the external pomp and splendour of a court. thus we find moses appealing to god in the rebellion of korah , i have not taken one ass from them , neither have i hurt any of them , 16 numbers 15. and thus samuel appeals to the children of israel themselves , behold , here i am , witness against me before the lord , and before his anointed ; whose oxe have i taken ? or whose ass have i taken ? or whom have i defrauded ? whom have i oppressed ? or of whose hands have i received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? and i will restore it , 1 sam. 12. 3. now a people , who lived so free from all tributes , exactions , and other services due to princes , must needs be thought sick of ease and liberty , to exchange so cheap , so free a state , for the necessary burdens and expences of royal power , though it were no more than what is necessary ; which is the whole of samuels argument , not that kingly government is more expensive and burdensome than any other form of humane government , but that it was to bring a new burden upon themselves , when they had none before . no humane governments , whether democracies or aristocracies , can subsist , but upon the publick charge ; and the necessary expences of kingly power are not greater than of a commonwealth . i am sure this kingdom did not find their burdens eased by pulling down their king ; and i believe , whoever acquaints himself with the several forms of government , will find kingly power to be as easie upon this score , as commonwealths . so that what samuel discourses here , and which some men think so great a reflection upon kingly government , does not at all concern us , but was peculiar to the state and condition of the iews at that time . let us then proceed to consider how sacred and irresistible the persons and authority of kings were under the iewish government ; and there cannot be a plainer example of this , than in the case of david . he was himself anointed to be king after saul's death , but in the mean time was grievously persecuted by saul , pursued from one place to another , with a designe to take away his life . how now does david behave himself in this extremity ? what course does he take to secure himself from saul ? why he takes the onely course that is left a subject ; he flies for it , and hides himself from saul in the mountains and caves of the wilderness ; and when he found he was discovered in one place , he removes to another : he kept spies upon saul to observe his motions , not that he might meet him to give him battel , or to take him at an advantage ; but that he might keep out of his way , and not fall unawares into his hands . well , but this was no thanks to david , because he could do no otherwise . he was too weak for saul , and not able to stand against him ; and therefore had no other remedy but flight . but yet we must consider , that david was a man of war , he slew goliah , and fought the battels of israel with great success ; he was an admired and beloved captain , which made saul so jealous of him ; the eyes of israel were upon him for their next king , and how easily might he have raised a potent and formidable rebellion against saul ! but he was so far from this , that he invites no man to his assistance ; and when some came uninvited , he made no use of them in an offensive or defensive war against saul . nay , when god delivered saul two several times into david's hands , that he could as easily have killed him , as have cut off the skirts of his garment at engedi , 1 sam. 24. or as have taken that spear away which stuck in the ground at his bolster , as he did in the hill of hachilah , 1 sam. 26. yet he would neither touch saul himself , nor suffer any of the people that were with him to do it , though they were very importunate with him for liberty to kill saul ; nay , though they urged him with an argument from providence , that it was a plain evidence that it was the will of god that he should kill saul , because god had now delivered his enemy into his hands , according to the promise he had made to david , 1 sam. 24. 4. 26 ch . ver . 8. we know what use some men have made of this argument of providence , to justifie all the villanies they had a mind to act : but david , it seems , did not think that an opportunity of doing evil , gave him license and authority to do it . opportunity , we say , makes a thief , and it makes a rebel , and it makes a murderer : no man can do any wickedness , which he has no opportunity of doing ; and if the providence of god , which puts such opportunities into mens hands , justifies the wickedness they commit , no man can be chargeable with any guilt whatever he does ; and certainly opportunity will as soon justifie any other sin , as rebellion and the murder of princes . we are to learn our duty from the law of god , not from his providence ; at least , this must be a setled principle , that the providence of god will never justifie any action which his law forbids . and therefore , notwithstanding this opportunity which god had put into his hands to destroy his enemy , and to take the crown for his reward , david considers his duty , remembers , that though saul were his enemy , and that very unjustly , yet he was the lords anointed . the lord forbid , says he , that i should do this unto my master the lords anointed . to stretch forth my hand against him , seeing he is the lords anointed . nay , he was so far from taking away his life , that his heart smore him for cutting off the skirt of his garment . and we ought to observe the reason david gives , why he durst not hurt saul , because he was the lords anointed ; which is the very reason the apostle gives in the 13 rom. 1 , 2. because the powers are ordained of god ; and he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. for to be anointed of god , signifies no more than that he was made king by god. thus iosephus expounds being anointed by god , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one who had the kingdom bestowed on him by god ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one who was ordained by god. for it seems by this phrase , he look'd upon the external ceremony of anointing to be like imposition of hands , which in other cases consecrated persons to peculiar offices . for this external unction was onely a visible signe of gods designation of them to such an office ; and when that was plain , they were as much god's anointed without this visible unction as with it . cyrus is called god's anointed , though he never was anointed by any prophet , but onely designed for his kingdom by prophesie , 45 isai. 1. and we never read in scripture , that any kings had this external unction , who succeeded in the kingdom by right of inheritance , unless the title and succession were doubtful ; and yet they were the lord 's anointed too , that is , were plac'd in the throne by him . so that this is an eternal reason against resisting soveraign princes , that they are set up by god , and invested with his authority ; and therefore their persons and their authority are sacred . but yet there are some men , who from the example of david , think they can prove the lawfulness of a defensive , though not of an offensive war. for david , when he fled from saul , made himself captain of four hundred men , 1 sam. 22. 2. which number soon increased to six hundred , 1 sam. 23. 13. and still every day increased by new additions , 1 chron. 12. 1. now why should he entertain these men , but to defend himself against the forces of saul ? that is , to make a defensive war whenever he was assaulted by him . 1. in answer to this , i observe , that david invited none of these men after him , but they came volunteers after a beloved captain and general ; which shews how formidable he could easily have made himself , when such numbers resorted to him of their own accord . 2. when he had them , he never used them for any hostile acts against saul , or any of his forces ; he never stood his ground , when he heard saul was coming , but always fled , and his men with him ; men who were never used to flie , and were very ready to have served him against saul himself , would he have permitted them . and i suppose they will not call this a defensive war , to flie before an enemy , and to hide themselves in caves and mountains : and yet this was the onely defensive war which david made with all his men about him : nay , all that he would make , and all that he could make , according to his professed principles , that it was not lawful to stretch out his hand against the lord 's anointed . and when these men are pursued , as david was , by an enraged and jealous prince , we will not charge them with rebellion , though they flie before him by thousands in a company . 3. yet there was sufficient reason why david should entertain these men , who voluntarily resorted to him , though he never intended to use them against saul : for some of them served for spies to observe saul's motions , that he might not be surprized by him , but have timely notice to make his escape . and the very presence of such a number of men about him , without any hostile act , preserved him from being seized on by some officious persons , who otherwise might have delivered him into saul's hands . and he being anointed by samuel to be king after saul's death , this was the first step to his kingdom , to have such a retinue of valiant men about him ; which made his advancement to the throne more easie , and discouraged any oppositions which might otherwise have been made against him ; as we see it proved in the event , and have reason to believe that it was thus ordered by god for that very end . it is certain , that gad the prophet , and abiathar the priest , who was the onely man who escaped the furie of saul when he destroyed the priests of the lord , were in david's retinue ; and that david enterprized nothing , without first asking counsel of god : but he who had anointed him to be king , now draws forces after him , which after saul's death should facilitate his advancement to the kingdom . 2. it is objected further , that david intended to have staied in keilah , and to have fortified it against saul , had not he been informed that the men of the citie would have saved themselves by delivering him up to saul , 1 sam. 23. now to maintain any strong hold against a prince , is an act of war , though it be but a defensive war. and i grant it is so , but deny that there is any appearance that david ever intended any such thing . david and his men , by god's appointment and direction , had fought with the philistins , and smote them with a great slaughter , and saved keilah from them ; and as it is probable , did intend to have staied some time in keilah . but david had heard that saul intended to come against keilah , to destroy the citie , and take him ; and enquires of the lord about it , and received an answer , that saul would come against the citie . he enquires again , whether the men of keilah would deliver him up to saul , and was answered , that they would . and upon this , he and his men leave keilah , and betake themselves to the strong holds in the wilderness . but now is it likely , that if david had had any designe to have fortified keilah against saul , he would have been afraid of the men of the citie ? he had 600 men with him in keilah , a victorious armie , which had lately destroyed the philistins who oppressed them ; and therefore could easily have kept the men of keilah too in awe , if he had pleased , and have put it out of their power to deliver him to saul . but all that david designed was , to have staid there as long as he could , and , when saul had drawn nigh , to have removed to some other place : but when he understood the treacherous inclinations of the men of keilah , and being resolved against all acts of hostilitie , he hastened his remove before saul drew near . so that these men must find some other example than that of david , to countenance their rebellion against their prince : for david never rebelled , never fought against saul ; but when he had a very potent armie with him , he and his men always fled , and hid themselves in the wilderness , and places of difficult access . the sum is this : god from the very beginning , set up such a supreme and soveraign power in the iewish nation , as could not , as ought not to be resisted . this power was at first in the hands of moses ; and when korah and his companie rebelled against him , god vindicated his authoritie by a miraculous destruction of those rebels : for the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up . afterward , when they came into canaan , the ordinary exercise of this power was in their high-priests and iudges , whom god raised up ; whose sentence and judgment was final , and must not be resisted , under penaltie of death ▪ when the children of israel desired a king , this soveraign and irresistible power was transferred to him , and setled in his person . saul was the first king who was chosen by god , and anointed by samuel ; but for his disobedience , was afterwards rejected by god , and david the son of iesse was anointed king to succeed after saul's death : but in the mean time david was persecuted by saul , who sought after his life . and though he himself was anointed by god , and saul was rejected by him , yet he durst not resist nor oppose him , nor defend himself by force against the most unjust violence ; but fled for his life , and hid himself in caves and mountains . nay , when saul was delivered into his hands by god , he durst not stretch out his hand against the lord 's anointed . but to proceed in the story . solomon , david's son , who succeeded him in his kingdom , did all those things which god had expresly forbid the king to do . he sent into egypt for horses , 1 kings 10. 28. he multiplied wives , and loved many strange women , ( together with the daughter of pharoah ) women of the moabites , ammonites , edomites , zidonians , and hittites , 1 kings 11. 1. he multiplied silver and gold , 10 chap. 27. contrary to the command of god. for this god ( who is the onely judge of soveraign princes ) was very angry with him , and threatens to rend the kingdom from him ; which was afterwards accomplished in the days of rehoboam : but yet this did not give authoritie to his subjects to rebel . if to be under the direction and obligation of laws , makes a limited monarchie , it is certain the kingdom of israel was so . there were some things which the king was expresly forbid to do , as you have already heard ; and the law of moses was to be the rule of his government , the standing law of his kingdom . and therefore he was commanded , when he came to the throne , to write a copy of the law with his own hand , and to read in it all his days , that he might learn to fear the lord his god , and to keep all the words of this law , and these statutes to do them , 17 deut. 18 , 19 , 20. and yet he was a soveraign prince : if he broke these laws , god was his judge and avenger ; but he was accountable to no earthly tribunal . baasha killed nadab the son of ieroboam , and reigned in his stead , 1 kings 15. 25 , 26 , 27. and for this and his other sins , god threatens evil against baasha , and against his house , 16 chron. 7. zimri slew elah the son of baasha , and slew all the house of baasha ; but he did not long enjoy the kingdom , which he had usurpt by treason and murder : for he reigned but seven days in tirzah ; which being besieged and taken by omri , he went into the palace of the king's house , and burnt the king's house over him with fire , and died , v. 18. this example iezebel threatned iehu with : had zimri peace , who slew his master ? 2 kings 9. 31. and yet nadab and elah were both of them very wicked princes . and if that would justifie treason and murder , both baasha and zimri had been very innocent . this is a sufficient evidence , how sacred and inviolable the persons and authority of the iewish kings were , during the time of that monarchie . but it will not be amiss , briefly to consider what obligations the iews were under to be subject to the higher powers , when they were carried captive into babylon . now the prophet ieremiah had given an express command to them , seek the peace of the city whither i have caused you to be carried away captives , and pray to the lord for it : for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace , 29 jer. 7. which made it a necessary duty to be subject to those powers , under whose government they lived . and accordingly we find , that mordecai discovered the treason of bigthana and teresh , two of the king's chamberlains , the keepers of the door , who sought to lay hand on the king ahasuerus , 6 esther 2. and how numerous and powerful the iews were at this time , and what great disturbance they could have given to the empire , appears evidently from the book of esther . king ahasuerus ; upon the suggestions of haman , had granted a decree for the destruction of the whole people of the iews ; which was sent into all the provinces , written and sealed with the king's ring . this decree could never be reversed again ; for that was contrary to the laws of the medes and persians . and therefore when esther had found favour with the king , all that could be done for the iews , was to grant another decree for them to defend themselves ; which accordingly was done , and the effect of it was this : that the iews at shusan slew three hundred men , and the iews of the other provinces slew seventy and five thousand , and rested from their enemies , 9 esther 15 , 16 , 17. without this decree , mordecai did not think it lawful to resist , ( which yet was a case of as great extremity and barbarous cruelty , as could ever happen ) which made him put esther upon so hazardous an attempt , as to venture into the king's presence , without being called ; which was death by their law , unless the king should graciously hold out the golden scepter to them , 4 esth. 11. and yet when they had obtained this decree , they were able to defend themselves , and to destroy their enemies ; which is as famous an example of passive obedience , as can be met with in any history . and therefore the prophet daniel acknowledges to belteshazzar , the most high god gave nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom , and majesty , and glory , and honour : and for the majesty that he gave him , all people , nations , and languages trembled and feared before him . whom he would he slew , and whom he would he kept alive ; and whom he would be set up , and whom he would he pulled down , 5 dan. 18 , 19. and if these heathen kings receive their power from god , as the prophet here affirms , st. paul has made the application of it , that he that resisteth , resisteth the ordinance of god. this may serve for the times of the old testament ; and i shall conclude these testimonies with the saying of the wise man , who was both a prophet and a king : i counsel thee to keep the king's commandment , and that in regard of the oath of god : be not hasty to go out of his sight , stand not in an evil thing ; for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him . where the word of a king is , there is power ; and who may say unto him , what dost thou ? 8 eccl. 2 , 3 , 4. chap. ii. the doctrine of christ concerning non-resistance . let us now consider , what christ and his apostles taught and practised about obedience to soveraign princes ; whereby we may learn , how far christians are obliged by these laws of subjection and non-resistance . 1. i shall distinctly consider the doctrine of christ while he lived on earth : and here are several things very fit to be observed . 1. we have no reason to suspect , that christ would alter the rights of soveraign power , and the measures of obedience and subjection , which were fixt and determined by god himself . this was no part of his commission , to change the external forms and polities of civil governments , which is an act of secular power and authority , and does not belong to a spiritual prince . he who would not undertake to decide a petty controversie , or to divide an inheritance between two contending brethren , 12 luke 13 , 14. can we think that he would attempt any thing of that vast consequence , as the changes and alterations of civil power , which would have unsetled the fundamental constitutions of all the governments of the world at that time ? our saviour tells us , that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets , but to fulfil it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to fill it up , to compleat and perfect it , 5 matth. 17. that is , to fulfil the ancient types and prophecies in his own person , to perfect an external and ceremonial , by a real and evangelical righteousness , to perfect the moral laws with new instances and degrees of vertue ; but he abrogated no moral law , and therefore not the laws of obedience and subjection to princes , which has always been reduced to the fifth commandment . nay , he abrogated no laws , but by perfecting and fulfilling them ; and therefore he could make no alteration in the doctrine of non-resistance , which is as perfect subjection as can or ought to be paid to soveraign princes . his kingdom was not of this world , as he told pilate : though he was a king , he neither was an enemy nor rival to caesar ; but had he absolved his disciples from their obedience to princes , had he made it in any case lawful to resist , ( which was so expresly forbid the iews by god himself , and which is such a contradiction to the very notion of soveraign power ) he had been somewhat worse than a rival to all the princes of the earth ; for though he had set up no kingdom of his own , yet he had pulled down theirs . whereas he took great care , that his religion should give no disturbance to the world , nor create any reasonable jealousies and suspicions to princes , who had been very excusable for their aversion to christianity , had it invaded the rights and royalties of their crowns . this makes it very improbable that our saviour should make any alterations in civil powers , or abridge the rights of soveraignty ; which is so foreign to his design of coming into the world , and so incongruous to the person which he sustained : and yet he could not alter the duties of subjects , but he must alter the rights of princes too ; he must take away the soveraign power of princes , at the same time that he makes it lawful for subjects in any case whatsoever to resist . we may safely then conclude , that our saviour has left the government of the world as he found it : he has indeed given such admirable laws , as will teach princes to govern , and subjects to obey better ; which is the most effectual way to secure the publick peace and happiness , to prevent the oppression of subjects , and rebellions against princes : but he has not interposed in new modelling the governments of the world , which is not of such consequence , as some men imagine . it is not the external form of government , but the fatherly care and prudence and justice of governours , and the dutiful obedience of subjects , which can make any people happy . if princes and subjects be good christians , they may be happy under most forms of government ; if they be not , they can be happy under none . had our saviour given subjects liberty to resist , to depose , to murder tyrannical princes , he had done them no kindness at all ; for to give liberty to subjects to resist , is only to proclaim an universal licence to factions and seditions , and civil wars ; and if any man can think this such a mighty blessing to the world , yet me thinks it is not a blessing proper for the prince of peace to give . but he who instructs princes to rule as god's ministers and vicegerents , and to express a fatherly care and concernment for the happiness of their subjects , and that teaches subjects to reverence and obey their prince , as the image of god , and quietly to submit and yield to his authority , and that inforces th●se laws both on princes and subjects in the name and authority of god , and from the consideration of the future judgment , when princes who abuse their power shall give an account of it to their great master , when subjects who resist shall receive to themselves damnation , and those , who patiently and quietly suffer for god's sake , shall have their injuries redrest , and their obedience rewarded : i say , such a person as this , takes a more effectual course to reform the abuses of civil power , and to preserve good government in the world , than all our wise politicians and state-menders , who think to reform the government of the world , by some statespells and charms , without reforming those who govern , and those who are governed . this our saviour has done , and this is the best thing that could be done , nay this was all that he could do in this matter . he never usurpt any civil power and authority , and therefore could not new model the governments of the world : he never offers any external force and compulsion to make men obey his laws , and therefore neither forces princes to rule well , nor subjects to obey ; but he has taken the same care of the government of the world , as he has done of all the other duties of piety and vertue ; that is , he has given very good laws , and threatned those who break them with eternal punishments : and as the laws and religion of our saviour prevail , so will the governments of the world mend , without altering the model and constitution of them . 2. but yet we have some positive evidence , what our saviour taught about obedience to the higher powers . i shall give you two instances of it , which are as plain and express , as can be desired . 1. the first is , that answer our saviour gave to the pharisees and herodians , when they consulted together to intangle him in his talk , 22 matth. 15. &c. they come to him with great ceremony and address , as to an infallible oracle , to consult him in a very weighty case of conscience . they express a great esteem and assurance of his sincerity , and faithfulness , and courage , as well as of his unerring judgment , in declaring the will of god to them . master , we know that thou art true , and teachest the way of god in truth , neither carest thou for any man , for thou regardest not the person of man ; that is , thou wilt not conceal nor pervert the truth for fear nor favour : and then they propose an insnaring question to him . tell us therefore , what thinkest thou ? is it lawful to give tribute to caesar , or not ? they thought it impossible that he should give any answer to this , which would not make him abnoxious , either to the roman governours , if he denied that the iews might lawfully pay tribute to caesar , or to the pharisees and people , if he affirmed that they might : for there was a very potent faction among them , who thought it unlawful for the iews to own the authority or usurpations of any foreign prince , or to pay tribute to him , as to their king. they being expresly forbid by their law , to set a stranger over them for their king , who is not their brother , ( i. e , ) who is not a natural iew , 17 deuter. 15. and it seems they could not distinguish between their own voluntary act in choosing a stranger for their king , [ which was indeed forbid by their law ] and their submitting to a foreign prince , when they were conquered by him . our saviour , who knew their wicked intention in all this , that they did not come with an honest design to be instructed in their duty , but to seek an advantage against him , expresses some indignation at it : why tempt ye me , ye hypocrites ? but yet to return them an answer to that their question , he bids them shew him the tribute-money , that is , the money in which they used to pay tribute , and inquires whose image and superscription it had . for coining of money was as certain a mark of soveraignty , as making laws , or the power of the sword. well , they acknowledge that the image and superscription on the tribute-money was coesars ; upon which he replies , render therefore unto coesar the things that are coesars , and unto god the things that are god's . the plain meaning of which answer is this , that since by the very impression on their money , it is evident , that coesar is their sovereign lord , they must render to him all the rights of soveraignty , among which tribute is one , as st. paul tells us , render therefore unto all their dues , tribute to whom tribute is due , custom to whom custom , fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour . 13 rom. 7. whatever is due to soveraign princes , and does not interfere with their duty to god , that they must give to coesar , who at this time was their soveraign . in which answer there are several things observable . 1. that our saviour does not examine into coesar's right , nor how he came by this soveraign power ; but as he found him in possession of it , so he leaves him , and requires them to render to him all the rights of soveraignty . 2. that he does not particularly determine , what the things of coesar are , that is , what his right is , as a soveraign prince . hence some men conclude , that this text can prove nothing ; that we cannot learn from it , what our saviour's judgment was in this point ; that it is only a subtil answer , which those who askt the question could make nothing of ; which was a proper return to their ensnaring question . this , i think , is as great a reproach to our saviour , as they can well cast upon him , that he , who was the wisdom of god , the great prophet and teacher of mankind , should return as sophistical and doubtful answers , as the heathen oracles , and that in a case , which required , and would admit a very plain answer . it is true , many times our saviour , when he discourst of what concerned his own person , or the mysteries of his kingdom , which were not fit at that time to be publisht in plain terms , used a mystical language ; as when he called his body the temple , or he taught them by parables , which were not obvious at the first hearing , but still what he said , had a certain and determined sense , and what was obscure and difficult , he explained privately to his apostles , that in due time they might explain it to others ; but to assert , as these men must do , that christ gave them such an answer as signifyed nothing , and which he intended they should understand nothing by , shews that they are not so civil to our saviour as these pharisees and herodians were , who at least owned in complement , master , we know that thou art true , and teachest the way of god in truth , neither carest thou for any man , for thou regardest not the person of men . but certainly the pharisees did believe , that there was something in our saviour's answer ; for they marvelled , and left him , and went their way : and yet those who had wit enough to ask such ensnaring questions , could not be so dull as to be put off with a sophistical answer , ( an art below the gravity of our saviours person and office ) but would have urged it a little further , had they not been sensible , that they were sufficiently answered , and had nothing to reply . for indeed , can any thing be plainer than our saviour's answer ? they ask him , whether it were lawful to pay tribute to coesar ; he does not indeed in express words say , that they should pay tribute to coesar , but he gives them such an answer , as withal convinc'd them of the reason and necessity of it . he asks whose image and superscription was on the tribute-money ; they tell him coesar's ; from whence he infers , render therefore unto coesar the things that are coesar's . therefore ? wherefore ? because the tribute-money had coesar's image on it ; therefore they must render to coesar the things that are coesar's ; which certainly signifies , that tribute was one of those things which belonged to coesar , and must be rendred to him , as appeared by it's having coesar's image : not as if every thing that had coesar's mark and stamp on it , did belong to coesar , and must be given to him , ( as some men profanely enough , how wittily soever they imagine , burlesque and ridicule our saviour's answer ) for at this rate all the money of the empire , which bore his image , was coesar's ; but the money which was stampt with coesar's image , and was the currant money of the nation , was a plain sign , as i observed before , that he was their soveraign , and paying tribute was a known right due to soveraign princes ; and therefore the very money which they used , with coesar's image on it , resolved that question , not only of the lawfulness , but the necessity of paying tribute : and this was so plain an answer , that the pharisees were ashamed of their question , and went away without making any reply ; for they no more dared to deny that coesar was their king , than they thought he dared either to own or deny the lawfulness of paying tribute to coesar . and this was all the subtilty of our saviour's answer . but then our saviour not confining his answer meerly to the case of paying tribute , but answering in general , that we must render to coesar the things that are coesar's , extends this to all the rights of soveraign princes , and so becomes a standing rule in all cases , to give to coesar what is coesar's due . and when our saviour commands us to render to coesar the things which are coesar's , without telling us what coesar's things are , this is so far from making his answer doubtful and ambiguous , and of no use in this present controversie , that it suggests to us three plain and natural consequences , which are sufficient to end this whole dispute . 1. that our saviour did not intend to make any alteration in the rights of soveraignty , but what rights he found soveraign princes possest of , he leaves them in the quiet possession of ; for had he intended to make any change in this matter , he would not have given such a general rule , to render to coesar the things which are coesar's , without specifying what these things are . 2. and therefore he leaves them to the known laws of the empire to determine what is coesar's right . whatever is essential to the notion of soveraing power , whatever the laws and customs of nations determine to be coesar's right , that they must render to him ; for he would make no alteration in this matter . so that subjection to princes , and non-resistance , is as plainly determined by our saviour in this law , as paying tribute ; for subjection and non-resistance is as essential a right of soveraign power , and as inseparable from the notion of it , as any thing can be . so it is acknowledged by the laws and customs of nations , and so it is determined by the apostle st. paul , as i shall shew hereafter . 3. i observe farther , that when our saviour joyns our duty to our prince , with our duty to our god , render to coesar the things which are coesars , and to god the things which are god's , he excepts nothing from coesar's right , which by the laws of nations is due to sovereign princes , but what is a violation of , and an encroachment on gods right and soveraignty ; that is , we must pay all that obedience and subjection to princes which is consistent with our duty to god. this is the onely limit our saviour sets to our duty to princes . if they should command us to renounce our religion , and worship false gods ; if they should challenge divine honours to themselves , as some of the roman emperours did ; this we must not do , because it is to renounce obedience and subjection to god , who has a more soveraign power , and a greater right in us , than our prince : but all active and passive obedience , which is consistent with a good conscience towards god , and required of us by the laws of our country , and the essential rights of soveraignty , is what we owe to our prince , and what by our saviour's command we must render to him . this i hope is sufficient for the explication of our saviour's answer to the pharisees and herodians , which evidently contains the doctrine of obedience and subjection to princes , enforced on us by the authority of our saviour himself . 2. our saviour's rebuke to st. peter , when he drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear , is as plain a declaration against resistance , as words can make it , 26 mat. 52. then said iesus unto him , put up thy sword into his place : for all they that take the sword , shall perish with the sword . for the understanding of which , we must consider upon what occasion st. peter drew his sword : for we must not think that our saviour does absolutely forbid the use of the sword ; which is to destroy all civil governments , and the power of princes , and to proclaim impunity to all the villanies which were committed in the world . the sword is necessary to punish wickedness , and to protect the innocent . in the hands of princes it is an instrument of justice , as st. paul tells us , that they bear not the sword in vain but are the ministers of god , revengers to execute wrath upon him that doth evil , 13 rom. 4. in the hands of private persons it may be lawfully used in self-defence . thus our saviour , a little before his crucifixion , gave commission to his disciples to furnish themselves with swords , though they parted with their garment for the purchase , 22 luke 36. which we may suppose was not designed as a meer modish and fashionable thing , but to defend themselves from the private assaults of robbers , and such-like common enemies , who , as iosephus tells us , were very numerous at that time . for no man wants authority to defend his life against him who has no authority to take it away . but the case of st. peter was very different : he drew his sword indeed in his master's defence , but against a lawful authority . the officers of the chief priests and pharisees came with iudas to the place where iesus was , to seize on him . this was a lawful authority , though employed upon a very unjust errand ; but authority must not be resisted , though in defence of the greatest innocence . men who draw their swords against lawful powers , shall perish with the sword . which does not signifie what the event shall always be , but what is the desert and merit of the action ▪ rebels may sometimes be prosperous , but they always deserve punishment ; and if they escape the sword in this world ▪ st. paul tells us , they shall receive damnation in the next . what can be said more expresly against resistance than this ? st. peter never could have drawn his sword in a better cause , never in the defence of a more sacred person . if we may defend oppress'd innocence against a lawful authority , if we may oppose unjust and illegal violence , if any obligations of friendship , gratitude , or religion it self could justifie resistance , st. peter had not met with this rebuke . what , should he tamely suffer his lord and master to be betrayed , the most admirable example of universal righteousness and goodness that ever appeared in the world ? shall one who had done no evil , who had neither offended against the laws of god nor men , who had spent his whole time in doing good , be so barbarously used , and treated like the vilest malefactor ? shall he who was so famous for miracles , who gave eyes to the blind , and feet to the lame ? shall he who was the great prophet sent from god to instruct the world , shall their dear master be haled away from them , and they stand by , and see it , & suffer it ? thus might s. peter have argued for himself . but though it was a very unjust action , yet it was done by a just authority : and lawful powers must not be resisted , though it were in defence of the saviour of the world . and if st. peter might not use the sword in defence of christ's person , there is much less pretence to fight for his religion : for though some call this fighting for religion , it is onely fighting for themselves . men may keep their religion , if they please , in despite of earthly powers ; and therefore no powers can hurt religion , though they may persecute the professors of it : and therefore when men take up arms to avoid persecution , it is not in defence of religion , but of themselves , that is , to avoid their suffering for religion . and if st. peter might not fight to preserve christ himself , certainly neither he nor we might take up arms to defend our selves from persecution . christ was the first martyr for his own religion ; his person was infinitely more sacred and inviolable than any of us can pretend to be . and if st. peter must not fight for christ , certainly we must not fight for our selves , though we absurdly enough call it fighting for our religion . and who were these powers st. peter resisted ? they were onely the servants and officers of the high-priest . the high-priest did not appear there himself ; much less pilate , much less caesar : and yet our saviour rebukes st. peter for resisting the inferiour officers , though they offered the most unjust and illegal violence . it seems , he did not understand our modern distinctions between the person and the authority of the prince ; that though his person be sacred , and must not be toucht , yet his ministers , who act by his authority , may be opposed . we may fight his navies , and demolish his garrisons , and kill his subjects , who fight for him , though we must not touch his person . but he is a mock prince , whose authority is confined to his own person , who can do nothing more than what he can do with his two hands ; which cannot answer the ends of government . a prince is not meerly a natural , but a political person , and his personal authority reaches as far as his commission does . his officers and ministers of state , and commanders , and souldiers , are his hands , and eyes , and ears , and legs ; and he who resisteth those who act by his commission , may as properly be said to resist the personal authority of the prince , as if he himself were present in his natural person , as well as by his authority . thus our saviour , it seems , thought , when he rebuked st. peter for striking a servant of the high-priest , and smiting off his ear . and if s. peter were rebuk'd for this , how comes the pope to challenge the sword in s. peter's right , when our saviour would not allow s. peter to use it himself ? and if st. peter might not draw his sword against an inferiour officer , by what authority does the pope pretend to dispose of crowns and scepters , and to trample on the necks of the greatest monarchs ? and i suppose the presbyter can challenge no more authority than the pope . whether they will allow st. peter to have been a bishop or presbyter , this command to put up his sword , equally concerns him in all capacities , and ought to secure soveraign princes from the unjust usurpations and treacherous conspiracies both of geneva and rome . there is but one objection , that i know of , against all this from the doctrine of our saviour , and that is , that he seems to disallow that very authority which is exercised by secular princes ; and therefore cannot be thought such a severe preacher of obedience & subjection : for authority and subjection are correlates , they have a mutual respect to each other ; and therefore they must stand or fall together . there is no authority where there is no subjection due , & there can be no subjection due where there is no authority . and yet this is the doctrine which christ taught his disciples , 20 mat. 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 v. ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them , and they that are great , exercise authority upon them . but it shall not be so among you : but whosoever will be great among you , let him be your minister . and whosoever will be chief among you , let him be your servant . even as the son of man came not to be ministred unto , but to minister , and to give his life a ransom for many . this text has been press'd to serve as many ill purposes , as most texts in the bible ; and therefore deserves to be carefully considered . some hence infer , that it is unlawful for a christian to be a magistrate , or a king. as if our saviour either intended that humane societies should be deprived of the advantages of government , which is the greatest temporal blessing and security to mankind ; or had made it necessary that some men should continue heathens and infidels , that they might govern christians : which i doubt would be a sore temptation to many to renounce christianity , if they could gain a temporal crown by it . others from hence conclude , that there must be no superiority of degree between the ministers of the gospel , but they must be all equal ; as if because the apostles were to be all equal , without any superiority over each other , therefore they were to have no superiority over inferiour ministers . as if because the apostles might not exercise such a secular power and soveraignty as the kings of the gentiles did , therefore there must be no different degrees of power in the ministers of the church ; that is , that because secular and spiritual power differ in the whole kind , therefore there are no different-degrees of spiritual power . as if christ himself were not superiour to his apostles , because he did not assume to himself the secular authority of earthly princes , but came not to be ministred unto , but to minister , as he commands them to do according to his example . others conclude , that at least christian princes must not usurp such a soveraign , and absolute , and uncontroulable power as the princes of the gentiles did , but must remember that they are but the publick servants and ministers of the commonwealth , and may be resisted , and called to an account by their people for the male-administration of government . but how they infer this , i confess , i cannot tell : for it is evident our saviour does not here speak one word in derogation to that civil power and authority which was exercised by secular princes . he tells us indeed , that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them , and they that are great , exercise authority upon them : but does he blame the exercise of this authority ? does he set any narrower bounds or limits , than what the heathen princes challenged ? by no means ; he says not one word of any such matter . st. matthew indeed expresses this power of princes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which some think intimates the abuse of their authority : but st. luke renders it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which onely signifies the exercise of soveraign power . and though most of the roman emperours were guilty of very great miscarriages in government , yet our saviour onely refers to that lawful authority wherewith they were invested , not to the abuse of it : and therefore he takes notice of that honourable title which was given to many roman emperours , that they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or benefactors ; which certainly does not argue his dislike of civil authoritie . but all that our saviour tells his disciples is , that it should not be so among them , that they should not exercise such a secular power and authoritie as earthly princes do . now is it any disparagement to kingly power , to tell a bishop that he must not exercise such a soveraign authoritie over the church , as the prince does over the state ? which is the whole of what our saviour intended in this place . for the occasion of these words , st. matthew tells us , was to check that vain ambition of zebedee's two sons , who came to christ , and employed their mother to ask of him , that one might sit on his right hand , and the other on his left hand , in his kingdom ; that is , that they might have the greatest places of dignitie and power next himself . st. luke tells us , that it was to compose that strife and contention which was among them , which of them should be accounted the greatest ; which most likely refers to the same story , though it is plain they quarrelled more than once about this matter . and the occasion of all these quarrels , was a mistake of the nature of christ's kingdom . they , as well as the rest of the iews , expected their messias should be a temporal prince ; and they being convinced by the miracles of christ , that he was indeed the messias who was to come , they lived in dayly expectation when he would take the kingdom upon himself ; and then they did not doubt but that they should be the chief ministers of state , and have the greatest places of trust and power in his kingdom : & this made them jealous of each others greatness , and so forward to bespeak preferments for themselves . now to cure these earthly ambitions , he tells them , that his kingdom was no such thing as they dreamt of , and that he had no such preferments for them as they expected . earthly princes lived in great pomp and splendour , and had great places of trust and honour to bestow on their servants ; but they saw no such thing in him : he came not to be ministred unto , but to minister , to live a mean , industrious , and laborious life , and to die as a malefactor , and give his life a ransom for many . and they could not expect by being his servants , to be advanced to secular power and authoritie , which he had not himself ; but when he came into his kingdom , they should indeed share with him in his power and authoritie ; they should sit upon twelve thrones , judging the twelve tribes of israel ; that is , they should have the supreme authoritie in his church , which is his spiritual kingdom . but there was nothing of external state and grandeur in this , as they expected ; but it was a life of humilitie and modestie , and contempt of this world , and earthly greatness . the greatest ministers in his kingdom must be as humble as a child , as he elsewhere tells them , and as diligent and industrious , and condescending , as the meanest servant , and should very often differ nothing from servants in their external fortune and condition of life . this is the sum of what our saviour here teaches his disciples ; and he is a wonderful man , and very quick-sighted , who can discover any reflection on civil power and authoritie in all this . i shall onely observe farther , that when our saviour calls them here , the princes and kings of the gentiles or nations , he does not speak this in disparagement of them , that they were onely heathen and infidel princes , who did this : for there were no other princes at that time in the world . heathen and pagan princes sounds now as a note of infamie , whereby they are distinguished from christian kings and princes ; but the kings of the gentiles or nations in our saviour's time , signified no more than soveraign princes , who were invested with civil authoritie : and our saviour onely distinguishes between that civil power and authoritie which was exercised by secular princes , and that spiritual kingdom which he was now about to erect in the world ; and the distinction had been of the same force , though there had been at that time jewish or christian , as well as heathen princes . still the difference between civil and ecclesiastical authoritie is the same ; and no apostle or bishop , as such , can challenge the power or authoritie of earthly princes , or any share in it . chap. iii. what we may learn from our saviour's practice about non-resistance . having seen what the doctrine of our saviour was , let us now consider his practice . and we need not doubt but our saviour lived , as he preacht . he taught his disciples by his example , as well as by his laws . his life was the best comment upon his sermons , was a visible lecture of universal righteousness and goodness ; and it is impossible to conceive a more perfect and absolute example of subjection and non-resistance , than our saviour has set us . when our saviour appeared in the world , the iews were very weary of the roman yoke , and in earnest expectation of their messias , who , as they thought , would restore the kingdom again unto israel ; and this expectation of their messias , whom they mistook for a temporal prince , made them very apt to joyn with any one , who pretended to be the messias , and to rebel against the roman government . such most likely were theudas and iudas of galilee , of whom we have mention , 5 acts 36 , 37. and it is not impossible but the aegyptian , who led 4000 men into the wilderness , 2 acts 38. either pretended to be the messias , or some fore-runner of him : to be sure , such were those false christs , and false prophets , of whom our saviour warns his disciples , 24 matth. 23. then if any man shall say unto you , lo here is christ , or there , believe it not . this being the temper of the iewish nation at that time , so extreamly inclined to seditions , and rebellion against the roman powers , how easie had it been for our saviour , had he pleased , to have made himself very potent and formidable ! how easie could he have gained even the scribes and pharisees to his party , ( whose great quarrel was at his meanness and poverty ) would he once have declared himself a temporal prince , and invaded the throne ! but he was so far from this , that when he perceived the people had an intention to take him by force and make him a king , he withdrew himself privately from them , and departed into a mountain himself alone , 6 iohn 15. and yet i presume , there might have been as many plausible pretences to have justifyed a rebellion then , as ever there were in any nation since . he had at that time fed five thousand men , besides women and children , with five barley loaves and two small fishes ; and what a formidable enemy would he have been , who could victual an army by miracles , and could , when he pleased , conquer by the same miraculous power also ! this the people , whom he had miraculously fed , were very sensible of and did hence conclude , that he was the prophet that should come into the world , and that it was time to take him ; and set him upon the throne : but though our saviour was indeed the messias , yet he was not such a messias , as they expected ; he was not a temporal prince , and therefore would not countenance their rebellion against coesar , though it were to make himself a king. it is sufficiently known , that christ submitted to the most unjust sentence , to the most ignominious and painful death , rather than resist the higher powers , though he could so easily have called for legions of angels to his rescue . but he went as a lamb to the slaughter , and as the sheep before the shearer is dumb so he opened not his mouth : when he was reviled , he reviled not again ; when he suffered he threatned not , but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously . he rebuked peter , when he drew his sword in his defence , and tells pilate the reason , why he was so easily apprehended , and used at their pleasure , without any resistance and opposition , though he had been formerly attended with such crouds of his disciples ; because he was no temporal prince , and therefore did not require his disciples to fight for him , as other temporal princes used to do . iesus answered , my kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world , then would my servants fight , that i should not be delivered to the iews ; but now is my kingdom not from hence , 18 iohn 36. which plainly shews , that our saviour's subjection was not matter of force and constraint , because he wanted power to resist ; but it was matter of choice , that which was most agreeable to the nature of his kingdom , which was not to be propagated by carnal weapons , but by suffering and death . and when our saviour has set us such an example as this , it is wonderful to me , that any , who call themselves his disciples , can think it lawful to rebel against their prince , and defend themselves from the most unjust violence by a more unjust resistance . but there are few men , who are contented to follow christ to the cross ; they do not like that part of his example , and are willing to perswade themselves , that they are not bound to imitate it . and there are two things , which i find urged by some men to this purpose , which must be briefly considered . 1. that it is no wonder , that christ suffered patiently and quietly without resisting the most unjust violence , because he came into the world to die , and to make his soul an offering for sin . and how could so innocent a person die , but by the hands of unjust and tyrannical powers ? and it was inconsistent with his design of dying for sin , to resist and oppose . this is the account our saviour himself gives of his patient suffering . when st. peter drew his sword in his defence , he tells him , thinkest thou , that i cannot now pray to my father , and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled , that thus it must be ? 26 matth. 43. 54. and the cup which my father has given me , shall i not drink it ? 18 iohn 11. but what is this now to us ? our saviour did not resist the most unjust and tyrannical powers , because god had decreed he should die by their hands , and he came into the world for this very purpose ; but has god as peremptorily decreed , that we must suffer also by unjust violence ? were we born for this very end , to suffer death by herods and pontius pilates ? to be the slaves and vassals , the scorn and the triumph of insolent tyrants ? certainly god had a greater care and regard for mankind than so : and then our case is very different from our saviour's ; and though he died patiently , we may defend our lives , and our liberties , which are as dear as our lives , if we can . 2. and therefore they add , that christ took upon himself the person not only of a private man , but of a servant , that he might make us free , and that not only as to our spiritual , but as to our civil liberties , as the virgin mary sings ▪ he hath shewed strength with his arm , he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart : he hath put down the mighty from their seats , and hath exalted them of low degree , 1 luke 51 , 52. which they think , does not signifie that christ has established tyrants in their thrones , and subjected christians to the vilest slavery . as christ has taught us by his example to bear servitude and sufferings with an equal mind , when we cannot help it ; so he has not forbid us to vindicate and recover our natural rights and liberties , when we can , according to the express direction of st. paul , art thou called being a servant ? care not for it : but if thou mayest be made free , use it rather . ye are bought with a price , be not ye the servants of men , 1 cor. 7. 21 , 23. now in answer to this , we may consider in general , that if all this proves any thing , it proves , that christ did not intend , that his sufferings should be an example to us : and yet st. peter expresly tells us , that he did ; christ also suffered for us , leaving us an example , that we should follow his steps : & wherein we must imitate christ in suffering , he tells us in the same place , viz. in suffering wrongfully , in taking it patiently , when we do well , and suffer for it , 1 pet. 2. 19 , 20 , 21. and i think st. peter's authority in this case is better then all the arguments that can be urged against it ; and therefore whether we could answer these arguments or no , yet it is evident , that they are not good , because they prove that which is manifestly false , that christ is not our example in suffering , when st. peter tells us , that he is : but yet it is a mighty satisfaction , not only to know , that an argument is false , but to discover , wherein the fallacy consists ; and therefore i shall give a more particular answer to these objections . 1. as for their first argument , that christ came into the world on purpose to die as a sacrifice for sin , and therefore it was inconsistent with his design , and the person he undertook , to resist and oppose , had it been never so lawful to resist ; i grant it is very true , but yet this does not prove , that he cannot be our example in suffering . for , 1. this is not the only reason our saviour gives of his non-resistance , and patient suffering . he gives peter another reason , because it is unlawful to draw the sword against a just authority , though our cause be never so just : put up thy sword again into his place , for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword ; which i have already explained to you at large . so that our saviour acknowledges it as unlawful to resist a lawful authority , as it was inconsistent with his design of dying for the sins of men ; and herein certainly he is fit to be our example , in not resisting a lawful authority in his own defence . 2. i grant , it had not been agreeable to the person which our saviour took , to have avoided death by a forcible resistance ; but then our saviour voluntarily took such a person , as was fit to be an example to us . his person and his religion were very well suited to each other ; a meek , humble , suffering person , to be an example of a meek , humble and suffering religion . his person and external circumstances of his appearance were on purpose fitted to his religion ; and it is none of the least wonders of the divine wisdom , that the work of our redemption was accomplisht in such a mysterious way , as at once made our saviour the author of our redemption , and an example of all the graces and vertues of the christian life . might not these men , if they pleased , by the same argument prove , that christ is not to be our example in meekness and poverty , and contempt of this world , and forgiving enemies , &c. because he came into the world on this design , not to be ministred unto , but to minister ? he chose a mean and low fortune ▪ and all the affronts and indignities he suffered , were part of his voluntary humiliation , and therefore it became him to bear them patiently , and to forgive them , as much as it did to die patiently by wicked hands ; but there is not the same reason for us to do so : and thus it will be hard to find any thing , wherein christ is to be our example , because the very reason of his coming into the world , the manner and circumstances of his appearance , all that he did and suffered , may be resolved into the decree and appointment of god , and his voluntary undertaking , and the accomplishment of ancient types and prophecies ; and therefore he is no more to be an example to us , than a man who acts the part of a beggar or of a prince , is to be an example to all that see him . but methinks it is worth considering , why christ chose such a person as this . why he was born of mean and obscure parents , and chose a poor and industrious life , and an accursed and infamous death ? was it impossible for infinite wisdom to have laid a more glorious and triumphant scene of our redemption ? was there no possible way , but the condescension and sufferings of his own son ? let those say that , who dare venture to determine , what infinite wisdom can do . it is enough for me to know , that christ took such a mean and suffering person upon him , because it was most agreeable to the religion , which he preacht , and of which he was to be an example ; and therefore though christ suffered for other reasons , and to other ends and purposes , than we do or can suffer , yet his sufferings are an example to us , because god chose to save and redeem us by the sufferings of his son , not only that he might expiate our sins by his blood , but also that he might be an example to us of meekness , and patience , and submission to the divine will , and subjection to government , even in the most unjust and infamous sufferings . 3. we may consider further , that christ's suffering in obedience to the will and appointment of god , does not make him unfit to be our example . for though god has not so peremptorily decreed , that all christians should suffer , as he did that christ should suffer , yet whenever we are called forth to suffer , ( as we always are , when we cannot avoid suffering without resisting a lawful authority ) our sufferings are as much the effects of god's decree and appointment , as the sufferings of christ were ; and in such cases every christian may , and ought to say , as his lord did , the cup which my father hath given me ▪ shall i not drink it ? thus st. peter expresly tells the christians to whom he wrote , and gives it as a reason , why they should suffer patiently , even for doing well . for even hereunto were you called , because christ also suffered for us , leaving us an example , that we should follow his steps , 1 pet. 2. 21. now calling in the new testament signifies the choice and election of god , and always supposes a divine decree , appointment , and constitution , as the foundation of it . thus st. paul tells us , that the gifts and calling ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) of god are without repentance , 11 rom. 29. that is , that decree he made to choose the pesterity of abraham for his people , which still intitled all those of them to the blessings of the gospel , who would believe in christ. thus the state of christianity is our calling , and holy calling , 2 tim. 1. 9. 3 heb. 1. because it is the way and means god hath chosen and appointed for the salvation of mankind : and christians are often stiled the called , because god has now decreed to chuse all the sincere disciples of christ , as he formerly did the posterity of abraham , to be his peculiar people ; and throughout the scriptures of the new testament , god is never said to call , nor any one to be called of god , but with respect to some divine decree and constitution ; and therefore when st. peter tells the christians , that they are called to suffer , it signifies that god has appointed them to it , by his positive will and decree . this st. paul discourses more at large in his epistle to the romans , and comforts them under their sufferings from this very consideration , that the sufferings which they underwent , were not the effects of meer chance and accident , nor of the wickedness and injustice of men , nor barely of gods permission , but of his decree and appointment ; and therefore they might certainly conclude , that what ever their sufferings were , they should turn to their good , 8 rom. 28 , 29 , 30. and we know that all things work together for good to them that love god , to them that are called according to his purpose , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to those who are called , that is , to suffer , which is the argument the apostle is discoursing of , according to his will and pleasure and appointment . sufferings are not for the good of all profest christians , for they may tempt hypocrites to renounce their religion , and great and severe sufferings may be too powerful a temptation for weak though sincere christians ; and therefore when the rage and malice of men boils and swells , god sets bounds to it , and does not suffer these persecutions and afflictions promiscuously to light upon all christians , but exerciseth a very particular providence in chusing out fit persons to suffer , in directing the storm and tempest of persecution to fall where he pleases , upon such persons , who are armed with saith and patience to resist its fury , and to bear and conquer its rage . and such persons , who are thus appointed , who are thus called by god to suffer , shall be sure to conquer , and to receive the reward of conquerours . for thus the apostle adds , for whom he did foreknow , he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son , that he might be the first-born among many brethren . this conformity to the image of christ in this place , does plainly signifie a conformity to him in sufferings , as is evident from the whole scope of the place . some persons it seems there are , whom god does predestinate or fore-appoint to be conformed to the sufferings of christ : for this is not the actual portion of all christians , though it is the condition of our discipleship ; and they are those whom he did foreknow . now the fore-knowledge of god includes his choice and election ; he chuses out of the body of christians , some fit persons to make his martyrs and confessors , to be examples of faith and patience and courage to the world , and whom he did predestinate , them he also called ; and whom he called , them he also justified ; and whom he justified ▪ them he also glorified ; that is , those persons whom god thus chuses , and preordains to suffer as christ did , in time he calls forth to suffer ; and when he does so he justifies them , that is , he brings them off with triumph and victory , and owns and applauds their faith and patience . for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies ; and therefore to be justified , is expounded by to conquer and overcome ▪ 3 rom. 4. that thou mightest be justified ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) in thy sayings , and mightest overcome when thou art judged . and indeed this is properly to be justified in any trial or combate , to overcome and conquer ; and that god who gives the victory , gives the reward too ; and whom he justifies , them he also glorifies : which seems to refer not to those rewards which are common to all christians , but to some peculiar degree of glory , which is prepared for such conquerours , as the apostle speaks ; if so be , that we suffer with him , that we may be also glorified together , 17 v. so that though god has not made us slaves and vassals to the humour of every tyrant , yet all the afflictions and sufferings of christians , especially those , which befal them on the account of religion , are as particularly ordered and determined by god , as the sufferings of christ himself were : and therefore there is no difference upon this account between the sufferings of christ , and the sufferings of his disciples ; and therefore though christ came into the world on purpose to suffer in obedience to the divine will , this does not make him ever the less fit to be an example to us . nay , his obedience to the will of god in suffering the hardest things from the most unjust and tyrannical powers , is an example to us of the same patient suffering , and submission to the will of god. it is true , none of us in particular can know that god has decreed , that we shall suffer such or such things , and from such or such hands , as our saviour did ; but yet this we know , that it is god's will and pleasure , that we should patiently endure those sufferings , which we cannot avoid without sin ; and since he has forbid us by express laws to resist the higher powers , whatever sufferings cannot be avoided without resistance , it is god's will and pleasure , that we should submit to them . and since none of these sufferings , which are unavoidable to us , befal us without the particular decree and appointment of god , we have reason in imitation of our great master , to submit to them with the same cheerfulness and self-resignation as he did . there is something indeed in the example of our saviour , which in our circumstances we are not bound to imitate . for he punctually knowing , what god's will and pleasure was concerning him , voluntarily chose that condition , which he so well knew , god had allotted for him . he freely chose a mean and servile fortune , he chose suffering and death ; when his time of offering up himself was come , he went up to ierusalem on purpose to die there : but we are not bound to choose poverty and disgrace and suffering , we are not bound voluntarily to deliver up our selves into the hands of tyrants and persecutours , who thirst after our blood. we may and ought to use all just and honest arts to make our condition easie and comfortable in the world , and to avoid the rage and fury of bloody men , because we cannot tell , that it is the will and appointment of god , that we shall suffer , till our sufferings are unavoidable ▪ and then when we must either suffer or sin , when we must either renounce our religion , or resist the powers , we must embrace suffering and death , as that portion , which god has allotted for us . i shall onely observe , by the way , what a mighty security this is to all good christians , how absolute or tyrannical soever the power be under which they live ; that they are safe in god's hands , and all the powers of men and devils cannot touch them , till god by a positive decree appoints and orders their suffering . there could not be greater nor more absolute tyrants than the roman emperours were at this time , and yet they had no power over the meanest christian , but by an express commission from heaven . this is the special priviledge of the christian church above the rest of mankind , that they are god's peculiar care and charge ; that he does not permit any sufferings or persecutions to befal them , but what he himself orders and appoints . it is a great security to the world , that there is no evil happens to men but what god permits , and that he permits nothing but what he can over-rule to wise and good ends ; but it is a greater happiness to have our condition immediately allotted by god. god may permit a great many evils to befal us in anger and displeasure ; but when he takes us into his immediate protection , and under his own government , whatever evils he appoints for us , whoever are the instruments of them , are certainly for our good : and therefore there is no such danger in the doctrine of non-resistance , as some men imagine . how absolute soever this may be thought to render princes , sincere christians can suffer nothing by it : for they shall suffer nothing , more nor less , than what god appoints for them to suffer . 2. it is also urged against the obligation of our saviour's example to suffer as he did , that christ by his state of servitude and sufferings , has purchas'd liberty for us ; and that not onely a spiritual and internal , but an external and civil liberty . we are no longer bound to submit to usurping and tyrannical powers , when we have strength and power to deliver our selves from that necessity . there is no help for it , but men who are weak and unable to resist , must obey and suffer ; but this is matter of force , not of duty : we are now bought with a price , and therefore must not chuse a state of subjection and servitude to men . 1. now in answer to this , we may consider first , that this obedience and subjection to soveraign princes , either was a duty before christ's appearing in the world , or it was not . if it were not , then our deliverance from this subjection to princes , is no part of that liberty which christ has purchas'd for us , because it was the natural right of mankind before ; and therefore there was no need of christ's dying to purchase this , which he cannot give us a greater right to than we had before his death . if subjection and non-resistance were our duty before , and ceases to be our duty now , then christ by his death has cancelled the obligations of our duty , and purchas'd a liberty and freedom not to do that now which by the laws of god or nature we were bound to do before ; that is , christ by his death has abrogated not onely the ceremonial , but some moral laws ; which i shew'd you before was contrary to the nature and designe of his undertaking . 2. it is strangely unaccountable , how obedience to any law should abrogate and cancel it . how christ by subjection to the higher powers , should for ever after deliver his disciples from the necessity of subjection , and make them free from the authority and government of princes , whenever they dislike their government . a typical law may be fulfilled and receive its just accomplishment , and then its obligation ceases . thus the death of christ fulfilled the levitical sacrifices , and put an end to them : but the authority of a moral law is confirmed and strengthened , not abrogated and disanulled by great examples . when christ quietly and patiently submitted to the most unjust sentence , in obedience to lawful authoritie , he either did well or ill in it : if he did ill , his example indeed is not to be imitated ; but if he did well , how did his doing well deliver us from the obligation of doing well ? did his doing well , make it ill for us to do as he did ? why did not his perfect and unsinning obedience as well deliver us from the obligation of all the other laws of god , as from obedience and subjection to princes ? the antinomians indeed are so absurd as to say , that christ fulfilled all righteousness in our stead , and that every believer has fulfilled the law in christ ; and therefore is not bound to fulfil it in his own person as a condition of life and salvation . but yet they are not so absurd as to say that christ by the righteousness of his life and death , has altered the nature of good and evil , and cancelled any one law of god. the law is in force still , and the dutie is the same ; but the law cannot take hold of them , nor exact a personal righteousness from them , because they have already fulfilled the law in christ. but now these men must say , that christ has not onely fulfilled the law of subjection and non-resistance , as a condition of salvation , but has cancelled it as a rule of life . 3. the death of christ could not purchase any civil rights or liberties which we had not before , nor make any change in the external fortunes or conditions of men . the death of christ is represented in scripture either as an atonement or expiation of sin , or as the purchase and seal of the new covenant . now how does the death of christ , by expiating our sins , deliver us from subjection to our civil governours ? what connexion is there between the expiation of our sins , and our freedom from the authoritie of princes , that he who does one , must be supposed to do the other ? and as for the new covenant , where does that grant any new franchises and liberties to subjects ? let them produce their new charter to justifie their exemption from subjection to princes ; let them shew any one saying in the gospel of our saviour , if they can , to that purpose . what the doctrine of christ is , you have already heard ; and when christ died to confirm the new covenant in his bloud , it is absurd to say that he has purchased any liberties for us , but what he has expresly granted to us in his gospel . he does indeed promise libertie & freedom to his subjects , but it is a libertie of another nature ; a libertie from the power and dominion of sin . ye shall know the truth , and the truth shall make you free , 8 john 32. that is , the power of the gospel-revelation should deliver them from the empire of their lusts , and give them the true government and masterie of themselves : and therefore he adds , verily , verily , i say unto you , whosoever committeth sin , is the servant of sin . and the servant abideth not in the house for ever : but the son abideth for ever . if the son therefore shall make you free , ye shall be free indeed , 34 , 35 , 36 v. but does not st. paul advise the corinthians to assert even their civil and political freedom when they can , and that from this argument , that they are the freemen of christ ? which seems to intimate , that there is such a connexion between our spiritual and civil liberties , that it does not become christ's freemen to be slaves and servants unto men . 1 cor. 7. 21 , 22 , 23 v. art thou called , being a servant ? care not for it : but if thou mayest be made free , use it rather . for he that is called in the lord , being a servant , is the lord 's free man : likewise also he that is called , being free , is christ's servant . ye are bought with a price , be not the servants of men . but what is it they would prove from these words ? that our subjection to men is inconsistent with our freedom in christ ? that the apostle expresly denies . for he that is a servont , is christ's freeman . or that christ , when he made us free , did deliver us from the subjection of men ? not that neither . for he does not advise christian servants to leave their masters , as he might and ought to have done , if christ had bestowed this civil libertie on them ; but he was so far from this , that when onesimus had run away from his master philemon , and was converted by st. paul , and proved very useful and serviceable in the ministrie , yet he would not detain him from his master , without asking his leave : which occasioned the epistle to philemon , as you may see 10 , 11 , 12 , &c. and in this place he advises the christian servants not to be concerned at their being servants ; which was no injury at all to their christian libertie : but if they could procure their libertie by any fair and just means , they should chuse to do it ; which is upon many accounts more desirable , especially when christians were servants to heathen masters , as it often was in those days . but does not the apostle expresly tell them , ye are bought with a price , be not ye the servants of men ? yes , he does : but sure this cannot signifie that servants should cast off the authoritie of their masters . for that is directly contrary to what he had advised them before , and contrary to his own practice in the case of onesimus , whom he sent back to his master philemon . but all that i understand by it , is this ; that those christian servants who could not obtain their freedom , should yet take care not to be servants to the lusts and passions of their heathen masters . for though a state of civil bondage and slavery is not inconsistent with their christian libertie , yet to be ministers and servants to the vices of men , is : and therefore when they lay under any such temptation ( as christians who served heathen masters could not long escape it ) they must then remember that they are christ's freemen , who were bought with a price ; and therefore must neither be servants to their own lusts , nor to the lusts of other men . and the reason why i chuse this sence of the words , is this ; because the apostle opposes being bought with a price , that is , their being redeemed by christ , or being christ's freemen , to their being the servants of men , as inconsistent with each other . and therefore their being the servants of men , cannot be understood of civil servitude , which he before had told them was not inconsistent with their christian libertie , but of being servants to the vices of men . but what now is all this to subjection to soveraign princes ? does the apostle exhort the christians too to throw off the civil powers ? it was possible for a christian servant to purchase his libertie , or to obtain it some other lawful ways ; but how can subjects deliver themselves from the authoritie of princes ? unless they go into some country where there is no government , or resist and rebel against the higher powers where they are : neither of which is agreeable to our apostles doctrine , who would not allow servants to run away from their masters , much less rebel against them to procure their libertie . nor was the case the same between christian subjects and soveraign princes , and between masters and servants ; and therefore neither is the reason the same , why subjects should desire freedom from the higher powers . servants in those days were slaves and vassals , and were kept in such constant attendance on their masters , that it must needs be very difficult ; besides the other temptations they were exposed to , to gain any time or libertie for attending on christian worship , and the instructions of the church . but christian subjects are more at their own disposal , even under heathen princes ; and have all that libertie , excepting the case of persecution , which is necessary for the purposes of religion ; which yet is the onely reason intimated here , why the apostle advises servants to procure their freedom , if they can . to conclude this argument ; there were a sort of men , even in the apostles days , who boasted mightily of their christian libertie , and thought scorn for a christian either to be a servant or a subject . for this reason st. paul in this place instructs servants , that their christian libertie is not injured by their being servants : for this reason are there such frequent directions to servants to obey their masters . for this reason does st. peter caution the christians against this pretence of christian libertie , which some abused then , as they do still , to the disturbance of civil governments ; as free , but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness , but as the servants of god. chap. iv. what st. paul preached about non-resistance of the higher powers . having thus concluded what the doctrine and example of our saviour was , about subjection to the higher powers ; let us now consider the doctrine and example of his apostles . not as if the authority and example of our saviour were not sufficient of it self to make a law , but stood in need of the confirmation and additional authority of his own apostles ; but we might justly suspect our selves mistaken in the meaning of our saviour's words , or in the intention and design of his sufferings , had none of his apostles , who were immediately instructed by himself , and acquainted with the most secret mysteries of his kingdom , ever preacht any such doctrine as this , of subjection to princes . and therefore to give you the more abundant assurance of this , i shall plainly shew you , that the apostles taught the same doctrine , and imitated the example of their great master . i shall begin with st. paul , who has as fully declared himself in this matter , as it is possible any man can do by words , 13 rom. 1 , 2. let every soul be subject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but of god : the powers that be , are ordained of god whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god ; and they that resist , shall receive to themselves damnation . this is a very express testimony against resistance , and therefore i shall consider it at large ; for there have been various arts used to pervert every word of it , and to make this text speak quite contrary to the design and intention of the apostle in it : and therefore i shall divide the words into three general parts . 1. the doctrine , the apostle instructs them in : let every soul be subject to the higher powers . 2. the reason whereby he proves and inforces this doctrine : for there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god. whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. 3. the punishment of such resistance : and they that resist , shall receive to themselves damnation . 1. i shall begin with the doctrine , that every soul must be subject to the higher powers . and here are three things to to be explained . 1. who are contained under this general expression of every soul. 2. who are meant by the higher powers . 3. what is meant by being subject . 1. who are contained under this general expression of every soul , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . which by an ordinary hebraism , signifies every man. for man is a compounded creature of body and soul , and either part of him is very often in scripture put for the whole . sometimes flesh , and sometimes soul signifies the man ; and when every soul is opposed to the higher powers , it must signifie all men , of what rank or condition soever they be , who are not invested with this higher power . popes and bishops and priests , as well spiritual as secular persons ; the whole body of the people , as well as every single individual . for when every soul is commanded to be subject , without any exception or limitation , this must reach them in all capacities and conditions . the design of the apostle , as you shall hear more presently , was to forbid all resistance of soveraign princes ; and had he known of any men , or number of men , who might lawfully resist , he ought not to have exprest it in such general terms , as to forbid all without exception . had st. paul known the prerogative of st. peter , and his successors the bishops of rome , would he have written to the christians of rome to be subject to their emperours , without making any provision for the greater authority of their bishops ? the reason he assigns why every soul must be subject to the higher powers , is , because all powers are of god. so that whoever is bound to be subject to god , must be subject to their prince , who is in god's stead . and this i think will reach the pope of rome , as well as any private christian ; unless he will pretend to more authority on earth , than god himself has : for the prince has god's authority , and therefore cannot be resisted , but by a greater authority than god's . and by the same reason , if the whole body of the people be subject to god , they must be subject to their prince too , because he acts by god's authority and commission . were a soveraign prince the peoples creature , might be a good maxime , rex major singulis , sed minor universis , that the king is greater than any particular subject , but less than all together ; but if he be god's minister , he is upon that account as much greater than all , as god is . and that the whole body of the people , all together , as well as one by one , are equally concerned in this command of being subject to the higher powers , is evident from this consideration , that nothing less than this will secure the peace and tranquillity of humane societies . the resistance of single persons is more dangerous to themselves than to the prince , but a powerful combination of rebels is formidable to the most puissant monarchs . the greater numbers of subjects rebel against their prince , the more do they distress his government , and threaten his crown and dignity : and if his person and authority be sacred , the greater the violence is , which is offered to him , the greater is the crime . had the apostle exhorted the romans after this manner : let no private and single man be so foolish , as to rebel against his prince , who will be too strong for him : but if you can raise sufficient forces to oppose against him , if you can all consent to depose or murder him , this is very innocent and justifiable , nay an heroical atchievement , which becomes a free-born people : how would this secure the peace and quiet of the world ? how would this have agreed with what follows , that princes are advanced by god , and that to resist our prince , is to resist the ordinance of god , and that such men shall be severely punisht for it in this world or the next ? for can the apostle be thought absolutely to condemn resistance , if he makes it only unlawful to resist when we want power to conquer ? which yet is all that can be made of it , if by every soul the apostle means only particular men , not the united force and power of subjects . nor can there be any reason assigned , why the apostle should lay so strict a command on particular christians to be subject to the higher powers , which does not equally concern whole nations . for if it can ever be lawful for a whole nation to resist a prince , it may in the same circumstances be equally lawful for a particular man to do it : if a nation may conspire against a prince , who invades their rights , their liberties , or their religion , why may not any man by the same reason resist a prince , when his rights and liberties are invaded ? it is not so safe and prudent indeed for a private man to resist , as for great and powerful numbers ; but this makes resistance only a matter of discretion , not of conscience : if it be lawful for the whole body of a nation to resist in such cases , it must be equally lawful for a particular man to do it ; but he does it at his own peril , when he has only his one single force to oppose against his prince . so that our apostle must forbid resistance in all or none . for single persons do not use to resist or rebel , or there is no great danger to the publick if they do ; but the authority of princes , and the security of publick government , is only endangered by a combination of rebels , when the whole nation or any considerable part for numbers , power , and interest , take arms against their prince . if resistance of our prince be a sin , it is not the less , but the greater sin , the greater and the more formidable the resistance is ; and it would very much unbecome the gravity and sacredness of an apostolical precept , to enjoyn subjection to private christians , who dare not , who cannot resist alone ; but to leave a powerful combination of rebels at liberty to resist . so that every soul must signifie all subjects whether single or united : for whatever is unlawful for every single person considered as a subject is unlawful for them all together ; for the whole nation is as much a subject to the higher powers , as any single man. thus i am sure it is in our government , where lords and commons assembled in parliament own themselves the subjects of the king , and have by publick laws disclaimed all power of raising any war either offensive or defensive against the king. 2. let us now consider what is meant by the higher powers , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] which signifies the supreme power in any nation , in whomsoever it is placed . whether in the king , as in monarchical governments ; or in the nobles , as in aristocratical ; or in the people , as in democracies . at the time of writing this epistle , the supreme power was in the roman emperours ; and therefore when st. paul commands the roman christians to be subject to the higher powers , the plain meaning is , that they be subject to the roman emperour . and thus st. peter explains it , 1 epist. 2 chap. 13 v. be subject to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake , whether to the king as supreme , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the word used in my text , as to him who hath a supereminent power , and is above all others . it is absolutely necessary in all well-governed societies , that there should be some supreme and soveraign power , from whence there lies no appeal , and which cannot and must not be resisted . for otherwise there can be no end of disputes , and controversies ; men may quarrel eternally about rights and priviledges , and properties , and preheminencies ; and when every man is judge in his own cause , it is great oddes but he will give judgement for himself , and then there can be no way to determine such matters , but by force and power . which turns humane societies into a state of war , and no man is secure any longer , than he happens to be on the prevailing side . whoever considers the nature and the end of government , must acknowledge the necessity of a supreme power , to decide controversies , to administer justice , and to secure the publick peace : and it is a ridiculous thing to talk of a supreme power , which is not unaccountable and irresistible . for whatever power is liable to be called to an account , and to be resisted , has some power above it , and so is not supreme . of late years , whoever has been so hardy , as to assert the doctrine of non-resistance , has been thought an enemy to his country , one who tramples on all laws , who betraies the rights and liberties of the subject , and sets up for tyranny and arbitrary power . now i would desire those men , who think thus , to try their skill in framing any model of government , which shall answer the ends and necessities of humane society , without a supreme power , that is , without such a power , as is absolute and unaccountable . if there be no supreme power in any society , when ever there happens any difference among the members of such a society , nothing can be done ; and such a society is an arbitrary and voluntary , not a governed society ; because there is no body to govern , and no body to be governed : they may govern themselves by mutual consent ; but if they cannot agree , there is an end of their government . where there is any government , there must be some-body to govern , and whoever has the power of government , must not be contradicted or resisted , for then he cannot govern ; for a power to govern men onely when , and in what cases they please to be governed , is no power . now place this power where you will , in a single person , or in the hands of some select persons , or in the people , and the case is the same ; where ever the power rests , there it is absolute and unaccountable : wherever there is any government , there must be a last appeal , and where the last appeal is , whether to a prince , to a parliament , or to the people , there is soveraign and absolute power , which cannot be resisted without a dissolution of government , and returning to a state of war ; which is a direct contradiction to the first institution of humane societies , and therefore that which cannot be allowed by the fundamental constitutions of any society . the result of all in short is this : 1. that in all civil governments , there must be some supreme and soveraign power . 2. that the very notion of supreme power is , that it is unaccountable and irresistible . and therefore , 3. whatever power in any nation according to the fundamental laws of its government , cannot and ought not to be resisted , that is the supreme power of that nation , the higher powers to which the apostle requires us to be subject . and from hence it is evident , that the crown of england is an imperial crown , and has all the rights of soveraignty belonging to it . since according to the fundamental laws of the realm , the person and authority of the king is sacred and irresistible . the oaths of allegiance and supremacy , those laws which declare , and acknowledge the king to be supreme in his dominions under god , to have the sole power of the sword , that it is treason to levy war against the king within the realm , and without ; that both or either houses of parliament cannot , nor lawfully may , raise or levy war offensive or defensive against his majesty , his heirs , or lawful successors ; that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take arms against the king , and that we must abhor that traiterous position of taking arms by his authority against his person , or against those who are commissionated by him : these , i say , and such like declarations as these , both formerly and of late , made by both houses of parliament , and enacted into publick laws , are a sufficient proof , that the supreme power of these realms is lodged in the prince . for he who is unaccountable and irresistible is supreme . but to avoid all this , there are some who tell us , that by the higher powers in the text , the apostle means the law. for laws are the highest and most venerable authority in any nation ; and we ought indeed to be subject to princes who themselves are subject to the laws , which they are as much obliged to by virtue of this apostolical command as meaner persons . for the law is as much superior to them , as they are to their own subjects ; and therefore when princes violate publick laws , they are no longer to own them for the higher powers , but may vindicate the laws against them , may defend the legal authority of their prince against his personal usurpations , may fight for the authority of the king against his person . but in answer to this , we may consider , 1. that it is evident from the whole context and manner of speaking , that the apostle does not here speak of laws , but persons ; not of imperial laws , but soveraign princes . laws were never before called the higher powers , neither in sacred nor profane writers ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the new testament always signifies the authority of a person , not of a law . and hence it signifies the person invested with this authority . it were easy to prove this by numerous instances ; but it will be sufficient to shew , that thus it must signifie in the text. these are such powers as are of god , appointed and ordained by god ; which i suppose does not signifie the laws of every nation , many of which are far enough from being divine . they are expresly called rulers in the 3 v. and are the object of fear ; which can punish and reward : if thou wilt not be afraid of the power , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , do that which is good , and thou shalt have praise of the same . now i think no law , but the power , which executes laws , can apply punishments or rewards according to mens deserts : and in the 4 v. this very power is called the minister of god , and said to bear the sword , which does not belong to laws but persons ; and in the text the apostle speaks of resisting these powers , opposing force to force . now though laws may be disobeyed , it is onely lawgivers and rulers , who are capable of resistance . 2. but however , these higher powers may signifie princes and rulers , as governing according to known laws . no , this cannot be neither , because the apostle speaks of such powers as were under the government of no laws ; as it is sufficiently known the roman emperours were not ; their will was their law , and they made or repealed laws at their pleasure . this epistle was wrote either under claudius or nero ; and i think i need not tell you , that neither of those emperours had any great reverence for laws , and yet these were the higher powers to whom the apostle commands them to be subject : and indeed , though there be a vast difference between a prince , who by the fundamental constitutions of his kingdom , ought to govern by laws , and a prince whose will is his law ; yet no law can come into the notion and definition of supreme and soveraign powers : such a prince is under the direction , but cannot properly be said to be under the government of the law , because there is no superior power to take cognizance of his breach of it ; and a law has no authoritie to govern , where there is no power to punish . but i shall have occasion to discourse this more largely hereafter . 3. let us now consider , what is meant by being subject , now subjection , according to its full latitude of signification , includes all those duties , which we owe to soveraign princes ; a chearful and willing obedience to all their just and lawful commands ; an humble submission to their reproofs and censures , corrections and punishments ; to honour and reverence their persons and authority ; to pay custom and tribute , and all legal taxes and impositions , as our apostle addes , verse the 7. render therefore unto all their dues , tribute to whom tribute is due , custom to whom custom , fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour . but the principal thing he has regard to in the text , is non-resistance , which is the onely perfect and absolute subjection we owe to princes . we are not always bound to do what they command , because they may command , what we ought not , what we must not do ; but we are always bound to be subject , that is , never to resist . though a prince abuse his power , and oppress his subjects , we must not take upon us to right ourselves , but must leave our cause to god , who is the great protector of opprest innocence : for as the apostle tells us , he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god ; and they that resist , &c. this is the doctrine the apostle teaches , that we must be subject to , that is , that we must not resist , nor rebel against soveraign princes . 2. let us then now consider the reason , whereby the apostle proves and inforces this doctrine of subjection or non-resistance . for there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god. whosoever therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. the plain meaning of which is this : that soveraign princes are advanced to the throne by god , and are his ministers and vicegerents , invested with his authority and power to govern ; and therefore when we resist our prince , we resist the ordinance , constitution , and appointment of god. such men do not resist , rebel , or fight against man , but god. as he who resists any subordinate magistrates , resists his prince , from whom they receive their authority and commission . and this is a very forcible argument to subjection to princes : for whatever our prince be , it is certain , that god has an absolute and uncontroulable right over us , as being the natural lord and governour of the world ; and if earthly princes are plac't in the throne by him , who is at liberty to put the government of the world into what hands he pleases , who will dare to oppose god ? or ask him , why hast thou done so ? whoever has any sense of god's dominion and soveraignty , dares not rebel against him ; and he , who believes that princes are made by god , will no more dare to rebel against his prince , than against god himself . the patrons of resistance have used all manner of arts to evade the force of this text , and to make the apostles argument signifie just nothing ; and therefore it will be necessary to consider briefly what they say . 1. then some of them own the truth of what st. paul asserts , that soveraign princes are of god , are advanc't and set in their thrones by him ; but then they say , princes are from god , no otherwise than every thing else is of god. the divine providence governs all things ; and plague and pestilence and famine , and whatever evil and calamity befals a nation , is from god too ; but does it hence follow , that when god brings any of these judgements upon us , we must not endeavour to remove them ? no more , say they , does it follow , that we must not endeavour to break the yoak of a tyrant , because it was put on by god. that is , in plain english , that when the apostle proves , that we must not resist princes , because they are set up by god , he does not reason truly ; for notwithstanding this , we may resist tyrannical princes , as we would do the plague , though they are both sent by god : and i suppose these men believe that st. paul was no more inspired by god , than princes are made by him . otherwise they might as easily have concluded , that since st. paul founds no doctrine of non-resistance upon god's authority and dominion in advancing princes , ( and his argument must be good , if he were an inspired man ) that therefore there is some little difference between god's making a king though a tyrant , and his sending the plague : and any man of an ordinary understanding might guess , that when god sets up a king with a soveraign power , he sets him up to govern ; and therefore though he may prove a scourge and a plague , yet he is such a plague , as god will allow no man to remove , but himself . for it is a contradiction in the nature of the thing , to give authority to a prince to govern , and to leave subjects at liberty to resist . tyrants are god's mininisters , though they be but executioners of his just vengeance ; but an executioner , though he be as dangerous as the plague , cannot be resisted , without resisting the prince . 2. at other times they tell us , that when st. paul asserts , that there is no power but of god , the powers that be , are ordained of god , he means this onely of the institution of civil power and government , not of every prince that is advanced to this power . the institution of civil government they will allow to be from god , but they think it a reproach to god to own that tyrants and oppressors , wicked and impious kings , are advanced by god. his providence many times , for wise reasons , permits this , as he does all other evils ; but they cannot believe , that such men are advanc't by his council and approbation , and positive will and appointment . but this admits of various answers . for , 1. can there be no wise reason given , why god may advance a bad man to be a prince ? if there may , then it is no reproach to the divine providence . the natural end of humane societies is the preservation of publick peace and order ; and this is in some measure attained even under the government of tyrants . but god has a further end than this , to bless and reward a virtuous nation , or to punish a loose and degenerate age ; and there cannot be a greater blessing than a wise and virtuous prince , nor a greater plague than a merciless tyrant : and therefore the providence of god is as much concerned in setting a good or a bad prince over any people , as in rewarding or punishing them . upon this account , god calls the king of assyria the rod of his anger , whom he raised up for the punishment of an hypocritical nation , 10 isai. 5 , 6. 2. i have already proved , that by the powers in my text , the apostle means the persons of soveraign princes ; and therefore according to his doctrine , those princes who were then in being , that is , the roman emperors , were advanc't by god ; the powers that be , that is , the princes and emperors who now govern the world , are ordained and appointed by god. and that thus it is , god himself tells us , 27 jerem. 5 , 6. i have made the earth , and given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me : and now i have given all these lands into the hands of nebuchadnezzar king of babylon my servant . thus he called cyrus by name , many years before he was born , to be his shepherd , and to perform his pleasure in rebuilding ierusalem , 44 isa. 28. 45. ch . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. this was the belief of the primitive christians under heathen and persecuting emperors . tertullian who wrote his apologie under severus , asserts that caesar was chosen by god , and therefore that the christians had a peculiar propriety in caesar , as being made emperor by their god. sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate christiana in imperatorem , quem necesse est suspiciamus , ut eum quem dominus noster elegit , & merito dixerim , noster est magis caesar , a deo nostro constitutus . tert. apol. cap. 33. and this he assigns as the reason , why they honour and reverence , and pray for him , and are in all things subject to him . 3. if these men will grant , the institution of civil power and authority by god is a necessary reason why we must not resist those who have this power , it shall satisfie me ; and i will dispute no further , whether by powers in the text the apostle means civil government , or the persons of princes , so long as the doctrine of non-resistance is secured : but if they will not grant this , then they must grant , that either the apostle reasons weakly , or that this is not the sense of his words . st. chrysostom indeed by the powers that be ordained of god , understands no more than that civil power and authority is from god , as being afraid to own that all princes , though never so wicked are appointed by god ; but then he owns the doctrine of non-resistance , because the power is from god , whoever have the possession of it , or however he came by it . but i think the argument for non-resistance is much stronger , if we acknowledge , that soveveraign princes themselves are appointed by god , and have this power put into their hands by his peculiar and ordering providence . 4. others in plain terms deny , that this is true , that princes receive their power from god , and are ordained and appointed by him , though the words of the apostle are very plain and express in the case . but let us set aside the authority of the apostle a while , and examine why they say so . and this they think is very plain in all nations , that princes are advanc't to the throne by the choice and consent of the people , or by right of inheritance , confirmed and settled by publick laws , which include the consent of the people , and therefore they receive their power from those who chose them ; which is no more than a fiduciary power , which they are lyable to give an account of to those who choose them . now grant this to be true , that princes are advanc't to the throne by the people , which will not very well hold in conquests , nor in hereditary kingdoms ; yet , i say , suppose it to be true , since it was manifestly the case of the roman empire , when the apostle wrote this epistle , their emperors being chosen either by the senate or the army ; yet i would desire to be resolved in some few plain questions . 1. whether god does nothing , but what he does by an immediate power ? whether he cannot appoint and choose an emperor , unless he does it by a voice from heaven , or sends an angel to set the crown upon his head ? whether god cannot by a great many unknown ways , determine the choice of the people , to that person , whom he has before chosen himself ? may we not as well say , that god does nothing but miracles , because every thing else has some visible cause , and may be ascribed either to natural or moral agents ? god may chuse an emperor , and the people chuse him too , and the peoples choice is onely the effect of god's choice ; and therefore notwithstanding all this , princes owe their crowns and secepters to god : the powers that be are ordained of god. 2. how does it follow , that because princes are chose by the people , therefore they derive their power from them , and are accountable to them ? this is not true in humane governments . a city or any corporation may have authority to choose their magistrates , and yet they do not derive their power from their fellow-citizens , who chose them , but from their prince . thus the people may chuse , but god invests with power and authority . for indeed , how can people , who have no power of government themselves , give that power , which they have not ? god is the only governour of the world , and therefore there can be no power of government , but what is derived from him . but these men think , that all civil authority is founded in consent ; as if there were no natural lord of the world , or all mankind came free and independent into the world . this is a contradiction to what at other times they will grant , that the institution of civil power and authority is from god ; and indeed if it be not , i know not how any prince can justifie the taking away the life of any man , whatever crime he has been guilty of . for no man has power of his own life , and therefore cannot give this power to another : which proves that the power of capital punishments cannot result from meer consent , but from a superiour authority , which is lord of life and death . if it be said , that every man has a natural right to defend his own life by taking away the life of any man who injuriously assaults him , and he may part with this power of self-defence to his prince , and that includes the power of life and death : i answer , 1. suppose the laws of self-preservation will justifie the taking away another man's life in preservation of our own , yet this is a personal right , which god and nature has given us ; and unless we can prove , that we have authority to make over this right to another , as well as to use it our selves , our consent cannot give authority to the magistrate to take away any man's life in our cause . 2. this natural right of self-defence cannot be the original of the magistrates power , because no man does give up this right . every man has the right of self-preservation , as intire under civil government , as he had in a state of nature . under what government soever i live , i may still kill another man , when i have no other way to preserve my own life from unjust violence by private hands . and this is all the liberty any man had in a supposed state of nature . so that the magistrates power of the sword is a very different thing from every man's right of self-preservation , and cannot owe its original to it . for , 3. the magistrates power of the sword is not meerly defensive , as the right of self-preservation is , but vindicative , to execute vengeance on evil doers ; which power no man has over his equals in a state of nature . for vengeance is an act of superiority , and supposes the authority of a lord and judge ; and therefore the consent of all mankind cannot give the power and authority of a sword to a prince , because they never had it themselves . a prince , as he bears the sword , is not the peoples officer , but the minister of god , a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil , as our apostle adds , v. 4. and this is the true reason of our subjection . wherefore you must needs be subject , not only for wrath , but also for conscience sake . 4. there is another objection against what the apostle affirms , that there is no power but of god ; the powers that be , are ordained of god. for is the power of victorious rebels and usurpers from god ? did oliver cromwell receive his power from god ? then it seems , it was unlawful to resist him too , or to conspire against him : then all those loyal subjects ▪ who refused to submit to him , when he had got the power in his hands , were rebels and traitors . to this i answer , that the most prosperous rebel is not the higher powers , while our natural prince , to whom we owe obedience and subjection , is in being . and therefore though such men may get the power into their hands by gods permission , yet not by gods ordinance ; and he who resists them , does not resist the ordinance of god , but the usurpations of men . in hereditary kingdoms , the king never dies , but the same minute that the natural person of one king dies , the crown descends upon the next of blood ; and therefore he who rebelleth against the father , and murders him , continues a rebel in the reign of the son , which commences with his fathers death . it is otherwise indeed , where none can pretend a greater right to the crown , than the usurper ; for there possession of power seems to give a right . thus many of the roman emperours came to the crown by very ill means , but when they were possest of it , they were the higher powers ; for the crown did not descend by inheritance , but sometimes by the election of the senate , sometimes of the army , and sometimes by force and power , which always draws a consent after it . and therefore the apostle does not direct the christians to enquire by what title the emperours held their crowns , but commands them to submit to those , who had the power in their hands : for the possession of supream and soveraign power is title enough , when there is no better title to oppose against it . for then we must presume , that god gives him the irresistible authority of a king , to whom he gives an irresistible power ; which is the only means , whereby monarchies and empires are transferred from one nation to another . there are two examples in scripture which manifestly confirm what i have now said . the first in the kingdom of israel : after the ten tribes had divided from the house of iudah , and the family of david , god had not entailed the kingdom upon any certain family ▪ he had indeed by ahijah the prophet promised after solomons death ten tribes to ieroboam the son of nebat , 1 kings 11. 29. &c. but had afterwards by the same prophet threatned ieroboam , to destroy his whole family , chap. 15. 10 , 11. baasha fulfils this prophecy by the traiterous murder of nadab , ( who succeeded his father ieroboam in the kingdom ) and usurpt the government himself , and slew all ieroboam's house , 28 , 29. v. this murder and treason is numbred among the sins of baasha ; for which god afterwards threatned to destroy his house , as he had done the house of ieroboam , 16 chap. v. 7. and yet he having usurpt the throne , and got the power into his hands , and no man having a better title than his , god himself is said to have exalted him out of the dust , and made him prince over his people israel , v. 2. elah succeeded baasha , who had no better title than his father ; and yet zimri , who slew him , is accused of treason for it , v 20. zimri usurpt the kingdom when he had slew his master , but he was only a vain pretender to it , when he wanted power ; for when the people who were encamped against gibbethon , heard that zimri had killed the king , they made omri king , and went immediately and besieged tirzah , where zimri had taken possession of the kings palace ; who finding no way to escape , set fire to it himself , and died in the flames of it . and now israel was divided between omri and tibni ; but those who followed omri prevailed against those who followed tibni ; and tibni died , and omni reigned , v. 21 , 22. all which plainly shews , that where there is no regular succession to the kingdom , there possession of power makes a king , who cannot afterwards be resisted and opposed without the guilt of treason : and this was the case of the roman empire , at the writing of this epistle ; and therefore the apostle might well say , that the powers that be , are ordained of god. that whoever had the supream power in his hands , is the higher power , that must not be resisted . but it was otherwise in the kingdom of iudah , which god himself had entailed on davids family , as appears from the example of ioash , who was concealed by his aunt iehosheba , and hid in the house of the lord for six years . during this time athaliah reigned , and had the whole power of government in her hands ; but yet this did not make her a soveraign and irresistible prince ; because ioash the son of ahaziah , the right heir of the crown , was yet alive . and therefore in the seventh year iehoiada the priest set ioash upon the throne , and slew athaliah , and was guilty of no treason or rebellion in doing so , 2 kings 11. which shews , that no usurpations can extinguish the right and title of a natural prince . such usurpers , though they have the possession of the supream power , yet they have no right to it ; and though god for wise reasons may sometimes permit such usurpations , yet while his providence secures the persons of such deposed and banished princes from violence , he secures their title too . as it was in nebuchadnezzar's vision ; the tree is cut down , but the stump of the roots is left in the earth . the kingdom shall be sure to them , after that they shall know , that the heavens do rule , dan. 4. 26. 3. the apostle adds the punishment of those , who resist the higher powers : they that resist , shall receive to themselves damnation . where , by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgment and damnation , it is plain the apostle means the punishments of the other world . prosperous rebellions are not always punisht in this world , but they are in the next . and therefore we must be subject not only for wrath , for fear of men ; but out of conscience towards god , and a reverence of his righteous judgments . the sum of all in short is this . that all men , whatever their rank and condition be ; not only secular , but spiritual persons ; not only private men , but subordinate magistrates ; not only single men , but whole bodies and communities , the united force and power of a nation , must be subject to soveraign princes ; that is , must obey all their just and lawful commands , and patiently submit even to their unjust violence , without making any resistance , without opposing force to force , or taking arms , though it be only in their own defence . for soveraign princes are made and advanced by god , who exerciseth a particular providence in the disposal of crowns and scepters , and over-ruleth all external and second causes , to set up such princes as he himself has first chose ; and therefore he that resisteth , resisteth not man , but god ; he opposeth the constitution and appointment of the soverain lord of the world , who alone is our natural lord and governour , and who alone has right to put the government of the world into what hands he pleases ; and how prosperous soever such rebels may be in this world , they shall not escape the divine vengeance and justice , which will follow them into another world : they shall receive to themselves damnation . this was st. paul's doctrine about subjection to the higher powers ; and he did not only preach this doctrie himself , but he charges timothy and titus , two bishops whom he had ordained , the one bishop of ephesus , the other of crete , to preach the same . thus he charges titus , to put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers , to obey magistrates ▪ to be ready to every good work , 3 titus 1. when he commands him to put them in mind to be subject , he supposes , that this is a known duty of the christian religion , and a duty of such great weight and moment , that people ought to be frequently minded of it ; that the bishops and ministers of religion ought frequently to preach of it , and to press and inculcate it upon their hearers . for it is a great scandal to the christian religion , when this duty is not observed : and yet in many cases this duty is so hard to be observed , & requires such a great degree of self-denial and resignation to the will of god , and contempt of present things , that too many men are apt to forget it , and to excuse themselves from it . and therefore st. paul gives this in particular charge to titus , and in him to all the bishops and ministers of the gospel , to take special care to instruct people well in this point , and frequently to renew and repeat their exhortations ; especially when they find a busie , factious , and seditious spirit abroad in the world . thus he instructs timothy the bishop of ephesus , 1 tim. 2. 1. i exhort therefore , that first of all , supplications prayers , intercessions , and giving of thanks , be made for all men ; for kings , and for all that are in authority , that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life , in all godliness and honesty . but you will say , what is this to such an absolute subjection to princes as includes non-resistance in it ? cannot we pray for any man , without making him our absolute and soverain lord ? are we not bound to pray for all our enemies and persecutors ? and does our praying for them , make it unlawful to resist and oppose their unjust violence ? how then can you prove from the duty of praying for kings , that it is in no case lawful to resist them ? if it were lawful to resist tyrannical princes , yet it might be our duty to pray for them . and therefore though it be our duty to pray for princes , it does not hence follow , that we may in no cases lawfully resist them . in answer to this , i grant , that praying for any man , nay praying for kings and princes cannot of it self prove , that it is unlawful to resist them , if it otherwise appear , that resistance is lawful ; but if it be our duty to make supplications , prayers , and intercessions for persecuting princes , as the apostle commands them to pray for the roman emperors , who were profest enemies to christianity ; that is , if they must beg all good things for them , a long and happy and prosperous reign , which is included in intercessions and prayers ; this strongly infers , that they must not resist their power , nor undermine their thrones . for we cannot very well at the same time pray for the prosperity of their government , and endeavour to pull it down . the apostle did not understand those conditional prayers , that god would convert or confound them ; a prayer , which thanks be to god , was never found in any christian liturgie yet ; which possibly is one reason , why some men are no great friends to liturgies . and when the apostle directs them to pray for kings and all that are in authority , that they must live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty , that is , that they might enjoy peace and security in the profession and practice of the true religion ; this seems to imply , that when they are persecuted for their religion , which was the case at that time , they must pray for persecuting princes , that god would incline their hearts to favour his people ; but must not fight against them . this is the only direction the apostle gives them in the case ; and we may reasonably suppose , that had he known any other , he would not have concealed it . if it is always the duty of christians to pray for the prosperous and flourishing state of the empire , as by this apostolical exhortation it appears to be , it could never be lawful for them to resist the powers ▪ for i cannot understand how any man without mocking almighty god , can pray for the prosperity of his prince , and the good success of his government , at the same time , when he fights against him . when st. paul had so freely and openly declared against resisting the higher powers , which timothy , who was his scholar and companion , and fellow-labourer , could not but know ; what other interpretation could he make of the apostles exhortation , to pray for kings , and all that are in authority , that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty , but only this , that prayer is the last and only remedy that we can have against persecuting princes ? had it been lawful for them to resist , it had been a more proper prayer , that god would give them strength and courage and counsel to oppose all his and their enemies : that he would appear as miraculously for their defence , as he formerly did in fighting the battels of israel ; that he would set christ upon his throne , and make all the princes of the earth give place to a more glorious kingdom . time was , when it was all one , whether he saved with many or a few . he knew how to destroy potent and formidable armies , without any humane strength and power , or by such weak & contemptible means , as reserved the glory of the victory intire to himself : and he is the same still that ever he was , and his power is the same . but st. paul very well knew , that it was not lawful for them to pull emperours out of their thrones , to give any disturbance to civil powers , or to attempt any changes or innovations in government ; and therefore since they must submit to such princes as they had , there was no other remedy left them , but to beg of god so to incline the hearts of princes , that they might enjoy a quiet and peaceable possession of their religion , even under pagan princes . for as much as some men of late days profanely scoff at prayers and tears , these have been always thought the onely remedy the church has against persecuting powers ; and it seems st. paul thought so too , for he prescribes no other ; and yet he does not allow them to pray against the king neither , but exhorts them to pray for him , and that they might enjoy peace and security under his government . chap. v. st. peter's doctrine about non-resistance . having heard what st. paul's doctrine was , let us now consider what st. peter taught about this matter : he had as much reason to learn this lesson as any of the apostles , our saviour having severely rebuked him for drawing his sword against the lawful powers , as you have already heard . and indeed , his rash and intemperate zeal in this action cost him very dear ; for we have reason to believe , that this was the chief thing , that tempted him to deny his master . he was afraid to own himself to be his disciple , or that he had been in the garden with him ; because he was conscious to himself , that by drawing his sword , and smiting the servant of the high priest , he had incurred the penalty of the law , and had he been discovered , could expect nothing less , but to be severely punish't for it , it may be to have lost his life for his resistance . and indeed , this has very often been the fate of those men , who have been transported with a boistrous and intemperate zeal to draw their swords for their master and his religion against the lawful powers , that they commonly deny their master , and despise his religion , before they put their swords up again . but st. peter having by our saviour's reproof , and his own dear-bought experience learn't the evil of resistance , never drew his svvord more , and took great care to instruct christians not to do so , 1 peter 2. 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake , whether it be to the king as supreme ; or unto governours , as to them that are sent by him , for the punishment of evil doers , and for the praise of them that do well . for so is the will of god , that with well doing , ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolishmen . as free , and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness , but as the servants of god. this is the very same doctrine , which st. paul taught the romans : let every soul be subject to the higher powers ; for the same word is used in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and therefore to submit and to be subject is the same thing , which , as st. paul tells us , signifies non-resistance . onely as st. paul speaks onely of not resisting the higher powers , that is , emperours and soveraign princes , herein including all those , who act by their authority ; st. peter , to prevent all cavils and exceptions , distinctly mentions both , that we must submit to all humane power and authority , not onely to the king as supreme , that is , in st. paul's phrase , to the higher powers , to all soveraign princes who are invested with the supreme authority ; but also to those , who are sent by him , who receive their authority and commission from the soveraign prince . st. paul tells us at large , that all power is of god , and that the power is the minister of god , and he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god ; and therefore we must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , that is , for fear of being punish't by men , but also for conscience sake , out of reverence to god , and fear of his judgement . this st. peter comprises in one word , which includes it all ; submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake : for how is god concerned in our obedience to princes , if they be not his ministers , who are appointed and advanced by him , and act by his authority , and if it be not his will and command , that we should obey them ? and therefore he addes , for this is the will of god , that with well doing , that is , by obedience and subjection to princes , ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men , that is , that you may put to silence those foolish men , who ignorantly accuse you , as fond of changes , and troublesome and dangerous to government . but then st. peter observing , that christian liberty was made a pretence for seditions and treasons , he cautions them against that also , as free , but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness , that is , to cover and excuse such wickedness as rebellion against princes , but as the servants of god : you must remember , whatever freedom christ has purchas 't for you , he has not delivered you from obedience and subjection to god ; you are his servants still , and therefore must be subject to those , who receive their power and authority from god , as all soveraign princes do . this is as plain , one would think , as words can make it ; but nothing can be so plain , but that men who are unwiling to understand it , and who set their wits on work to avoid the force and evidence of it , may be able to find something to say , to deceive themselves , and those who are willing to be deceived : and therefore it will be necessary to consider , what false colours some men have put upon these words , to elude and baffle the plain scope and designe of the apostle in them . as first , they observe , that st. peter calls kings and subordinate governours an ordinance of man , or a humane creature , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and from hence they conclude that kings are onely the peoples creatures ; they are made by the people , and receive their power from them , and therefore are accountable to them if they abuse their power . in answer to this , we may consider , 1. that this interpretation of st. peter's words , is a direct contradiction to st. paul , who expresly asserts , that there is no power but of god , the powers that be are ordained of god : but according to this exposition of humane creature , or the ordinance of man , there is no power of god , but all power is derived from the people . kings and princes may be chosen by men , as it is in elective kingdoms , and as it was at that time in the roman empire ; but they receive their power from god , and thus st. paul and st. peter may be reconciled : but to affirm , that st. peter calls kings an ordinance of man , because they receive their power and authority from men , is an irreconcilable contradiction to st. paul , who affirms , that they receive their power from god , that they are god's and not the peoples ministers . now though st. peter and st. paul did once differ upon a matter of prudence , it would be of ill consequence to religion , to make them differ in so material a doctrine as this is : and yet there is no way to reconcile them , but by expounding st. peter's words so as to agree with st. paul's ; for st. paul's words can never be reconciled with that sence , which these men give of st. peter's ; and that is a good argument to me , that is not the true interpretation of st. peter ; for i verily believe , that these two great apostles did not differ in this point . 2. st. peter exhorts them to submit to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake ; which plainly signifies , that whatever hand men may have in modelling civil governments , yet it is the ordinance of god , and princes receive their power from him . for it is no act of disobedience to god to resist our prince , nor of obedience to god to submit to him , if he does not derive his power from god , and act by his authority and commission ; especially in such cases , when he opposes the government of god , and the interest of religion ; and oppresses not onely god's creatures , but his most faithful and obedient people , who are his peculiar care and charge ▪ in such cases as these , if princes do not receive their power from god , they are opposite and rival powers , and we can no more submit to them for god's sake , than we can submit to a rebel for the sake of , that is , out of duty and loyalty to our natural prince . and therefore when the apostle exhorts them , for god's sake to submit to their king , he plainly supposes , what st. paul did particularly express , that kings receive their power from god , and therefore are god's ministers , even when they abuse their power ; and he that resists , resists the ordinance and authority of god. 3. but suppose we should grant , that when st. peter calls kings the ordinance of man , he means , that they receive their power and authority from men ; yet i cannot see , what good this will do them : for he plainly disowns their consequence , that therefore princes are accountable to the people , as to their superiours , and may be resisted , deposed , and brought to condigne punishment , if they abuse this power ; as will appear from these two observations . 1. that he gives the king the title of supreme , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who is above them all , and is invested with the supreme and soveraign power . now the supreme power in the very notion of it , is irresistible and unaccountable ; for otherwise it is not supreme , but subject to some superiour jurisdiction ; which it is evidently known the roman emperours , of whom the apostle here speaks , were not . and 2. that he requires subjection to this humane ordinance , which , as appears from st. paul , signifies non resistance . so that though we should grant that the king derives his power from the people , yet it seems , god confirms and establishes the crown on his head , and will not suffer people to take it off again , when they please . 4. but after all , there is no colour for this objection from the apostles words : for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : humane order or ordination , signifies nothing but humane authority , such power and authority as is exercised by men for the good government of humane societies . and the meaning is only this ; that out of reverence and obedience to god , from whom all power is derived , they should submit to that authority , which is exercised by men , whether to the supream power of soveraign princes , or that subordinate authority which he bestows on inferiour magistrates . 2. it is farther objected , that though st. peter does command christians to submit to kings and governours , yet it is with a limitation , as far as they govern well , while they exercise their authority in pursuance of the great ends of its institution ; for the punishment of evil doers , and for the praise of them that do well . and here st. peter agrees very well with st. paul , who assigns this as the reason , why they may be subject to the powers : for rulers are not a terrour to good works , but to the evil ; wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? do that which is good , and thou shalt have praise of the same . for he is the minister of god to thee for good . but if thou do that which is evil , be afraid , for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is the minister of god , an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil , 13 rom ▪ 3 , 4. now we cannot be bound to obey and submit , any farther than the reason of our obedience reaches : and if the reason why we must obey princes , is , because they punish wickedness , and reward and encourage vertue , which is so great a blessing to humane societies , then we are not bound to obey them , when they do quite contrary ▪ when they encourage vice , and oppress the most exemplary innocence . now in answer to this , let us consider , 1. whether these great apostles intended to oblige the christians of that age to yield obedience to those powers ▪ which then governed the world . if they did , ( as i think no man will be so hardy as to say , that they did not ) then it will be proper to enquire , whether what they here affirm , and assign as the reason of their subjection , that rulers are not a terrour to good works , but to the evil , were true of the roman emperours and governours , or not . if it were true , then i believe it will hold true of all kings , in all ages of the world ; for there cannot well be greater tyrants than the roman emperors were at this time : and so this will prove an eternal reason , why we should be subject to princes , notwithstanding the many faults and miscarriages of their government . if it were not true , it is very strange , that two such great apostles , should use such an argument to perswade christians to submit to the powers , as only proved the quite contrary , that they ought not to be subject to the present powers , because they were unjust and tyrannical , and in contradiction to the original design and institution of civil power , were a terror to good works and not to the evil . the christians were at that time persecuted by iews and heathens , by all the powers of the world. the apostle exhorts them not to resist the powers , because they were not a terror to good works , but to the evil . if by this he only means , that they should be subject to them , while they encouraged vertue and vertuous men , but might rebel against them , when they did the contrary ; how could the christians of those days think themselves obliged by this to submit to the higher powers ? for this was not their case . they suffered for righteousness sake ; the powers were a terrour to them , though they were innocent , though they could not charge them , either with breaking the laws of god or men ; and therefore they were not bound to submit to them , whenever they could find it safe to resist . so that either these men put a false comment upon the text , or while the apostle undertakes to deter them from resistance , he urges such an argument as was proper only to perswade them to rebel . 2. we may also consider , that this interpretation of the words makes the apostles argument childish and ludicrous , and wholly useless to perswade any man to be subject , who needs perswasion . for i take it for granted , that there is no need to perswade any man , especially the good and vertuous , not to resist the powers , when he meets with the just rewards and encouragements of vertue . the usual pretence for seditions and treasons , is to redress publick grievances , to deliver themselves from a state of oppression and slavery ; but all mankind agree , that they ought to obey governours , who govern well ; and no man thinks it just or honourable to rebel , who has not , or cannot pretend some cause of complaint . the tryal of our obedience is , when we suffer injuriously for righteousness sake , when our rights and liberties are invaded , when we groan under such oppressions , as are enough to make a wise man mad , and to transport him to irregular and unjustifiable actions . this was the case of the primitive christians to whom the apostles wrote , and therefore we might reasonably expect , that he should urge such arguments to subjection , as should reach their case : but if these men be good expositors , the apostle says nothing to perswade any man to obedience to the powers , who finds the powers uneasie and troublesome to him ; and those who have nothing to complain of ▪ one would think , should need no arguments to perswade them to subjection to so easie and gentle a yoak . 3. nay , according to this interpretation of the doctrine of subjection , that we are bound only to be subject to those princes , who rule well , who punish wickedness and reward vertue ; this doctrine of subjection gives no security at all to the best governments in the world . the most factious and seditious spirits can desire no greater liberty , than this principle grants them . for no humane government can be so exact and perfect , but it may be guilty of great miscarriages . good men may suffer , and bad men may flourish under a vertuous prince , and therefore ill designing men can never want pretences to misrepresent the government , and to foment discontents and jealousies between prince and people . this unhappy nation has been a sad example of this , twice in one age , under two as just and merciful princes , as ever sate upon the english throne . when there were never fewer real grievances to be complained of , and never more loud and tragical complaints : and if subjects are not bound to obey any longer than all things please and gratifie their humors , it is a vain thing to name the doct●●●● of subjection ; which is of no use at all 〈◊〉 peace and security of humane 〈◊〉 4. this is absolutely false , 〈◊〉 are bound to be subject to 〈◊〉 princes no longer than th● 〈…〉 , according to the measures 〈…〉 and righteousness . the apostle i am sure supposes the contrary , when he tells the christians , but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake , happy are ye ; and be not afraid of their terror , neither be troubled , 1 pet. 3. 14. thus he commands servants to be subject to their masters with fear , not only to the good and gentle , but also to the froward . for this is thank-worthy , if a man for conscience towards god endure grief , suffering patiently . for what glory is it , if when ye be buffeted for your faults , ye take it patiently ? but if when ye do well and suffer for it , ye take it patiently , this is acceptable with god , 2 chap. 18 , 19 , 20. and certainly there is as perfect a subjection due to a soverain prince as to a master , for he is more eminently the minister of god , and acts by a more sacred and inviolable authority . and that this does extend to our subjection to princes , appears from the example of christ , which the apostle there recommends to our imitation , who was the most innocent person in the world , and yet suffered the most barbarous usage , not from the hands of a private master , but of the supreme powers . and therefore when he commands in the same chapter to submit to governours , as to those who are for the punishment of evil doers , and the praise of them that do well , it is evident , that he did not intend this as a limitation of our subjection , as if we were not bound to be subject in other cases ; since in the very same chapter , he requires subjection not only to the good and gentle , but also to the froward , in imitation of the example of our lord , who suffered patiently under unjust and tyrannical powers . 5. i observe therefore , that the apostle does not alleadge this as the reason of our subjection , but as a motive or argument to reconcile us to the practice of it . the reason of our subjection to princes is , that they are advanced by god , that they are his ministers , that those who resist , resist the ordinance of god , and therefore we must submit for gods sake , out of reverence to his authority . but it is an encouragement to subjection , to consider the great advantages of government , that rulers are not a terrour to good works , but to the evil . but though this motive should fail in some instances , yet while the reason of subjection lasts , ( and that can never fail , while we own the soverain authority of god ) so long it is our dutie to be subject , whether our prince do his dutie or not . 6. but to examine more particularly the meaning of these words . when the apostle says , that rulers are not a terror to good works , but to the evil ; that they are for the punishment of evil doers , and the praise of them that do well ; i see no necessitie of expounding this of good and evil works in general , that all good and virtuous actions shall be rewarded by them , and all evil actions punish't ; for this is almost impossible in any humane government ; and there never was any government in the world , that appointed rewards for all virtuous actions , and punishments for all wicked ones . but these good and evil works seem to be confined to the matter in hand , to subjection and obedience , as a good and virtuous action . and so the apostle enforces this dutie of subjection , not onely from the authoritie of god , but from the power of princes : be subject to the higher powers ; for rulers are not a terrour to good works , but to the evil . we need not fear the powers , when we obey them , and submit ourselves to them ; but they will punish us if we rebel . the force of which argument is this : the best way to obtain safetie and protection under any government , is by being peaceable , quiet , and obedient ; such men generally escape under the greatest tyrants , for tyrants themselves do not use to insult over the peaceable and obedient : but if men be seditious and troublesome to government , then he beareth not the sword in vain , but is the minister of god , a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil , that is , upon all disobedience and rebellion ; for whatever wickedness escapes unpunish't , princes for their own securitie must not suffer disobedience and rebellion to escape . and that this is the meaning of it , appears from the next verse , where the apostle sums up the whole argument for subjection , which he reduces to conscience towards god , and fear of the secular powers : wherefore ye must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , but also for conscience sake . and that st. peter by well doing means subjection to princes , is very plain . for so is the will of god , that with well doing , ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ; that is , by obedience and subjection to princes , which is the dutie he there exhorts them to . and therefore it is very probable that he means the same by well doing in the verse before , that governours are for the punishment of evil doers , and the praise of them that do well ; to punish the disobedient and rebellious , and to reward and protect those , who live in all quiet and peaceable subjection . and if this be the meaning of it , i think they can find no limitation here of our subjection to princes . 7. but let us suppose , that when the apostle says , that rulers are not a terror to good works , but to the evil , he understands by it in general , the great advantages of civil government , that is , for the suppression of wickedness , and incouragement of virtue , which is the true end and the best improvement of humane power ; this also is in a great measure true of the worst and most tyrannical princes , and therefore the argument for subjection is good even under a tyrant . publick justice was administred under the government of nero , and good men were rewarded , and bad men punish't : and though justice be not so equally and so universally administred under a bad prince , as under a good one ; though a tyrant may oppress many of his subjects , and be the occasion of great calamities , yet while there is any publick government maintained in the world , it lays great restraints upon the unruly lusts and passions of men , and gives great securitie to the just and innocent . and therefore good men are concerned to promote the peace and securitie of government , though the prince be a tyrant : for there is more justice to be had under a tyrant , than in a civil war. in ordinary cases it is very possible for good men to live easily and tolerably under a very bad prince ; & though it should be their lot to suffer , yet since the peace and quiet of humane societies is in it self so great a blessing , and the publick good is better consulted by the preservation of government , than by resistance , it becomes every good man rather to suffer patiently under a tyrant , than to shake and unsettle humane government , and disturb the natural course of justice by seditions and tumults . 8. nay let us suppose , that the apostle here speaks of such an equal administration of justice , as cannot be expected under the government of a tyrant ; yet so the argument holds good against resistance , though our prince be never so bad . and it lies thus : we must not resist the powers , because rulers are not a terrour to good works , but to the evil . this is the great blessing of humane government , to preserve justice and righteousness among men . for this reason god has intrusted the princes with the power of the sword , for the punishment of evil doers , and the praise of them that do well ; and therefore we must not resist him , because publick justice is so great a blessing to the world . but how does this follow , you will say , that we must not resist a tyrant , who is so far from administring justice , that he oppresses his subjects , because civil government and publick justice is so great a blessing ? what agreement is there between civil government , and publick justice and a tyrant ? why the consequence is very plain . civil government , which is for the administration of publick justice , is a great and inestimable blessing to the world : but now there can be no civil government without a supreme and irresistible power ; publick justice cannot be administred , unless there is some power from whence there is no appeal . it is not necessarie indeed , that the power should always be in the hands of one man ; but if god have placed this power in the hands of a prince , there it must be irresistible too , however he uses it : for if once it be made lawful to resist the supreme power , wherever it is plac't , you dissolve humane societies , or at least expose them to perpetual disorders and convulsions . factious and ambitious men will find pretences to resist good princes as well as the bad , and no government can be any longer secure , than while ill-designing men want power to resist . now then , to pass a true judgement of this matter , we must not onely consider , what present inconveniencies we may suffer from the irresistible power of a tyrant , but what an irreparable mischief it is for ever to unsettle the foundations of government . we must consider whether civil government be the greater blessing to mankind , or a tyrant the greater curse : whether it be more desirable to endure the insolence and injustice of a tyrant , when the power falls into such a hand ; or for ever to be deprived of the securitie of government , and the blessings of peace and order . and therefore there is great reason , why god should so severely forbid the resistance of princes , though tyrants ; and why we should quietly and contentedly submit to this divine appointment , because the resistance of the supreme power , were it once allowed by god , would weaken the authoritie of humane governments , and expose them to the rage and frenzie of ambitious and discontented statesmen , or wild enthusiasts . this i think is a sufficient answer to this pretence , that the apostle limits our subjection to princes to the regular exercise of their authoritie . 3. it is objected also from st. peters words , that the inferiour and subordinate magistrates receive their power from god also , as well as supreme and soveraign princes ; governours are sent by him , that is , say they , by god , for the punishment of evil doers , and the praise of them that do well ; and therefore though private men may not resist a soveraign prince , yet publick magistrates may , though they be not supreme ; for it is their dutie also to see wickedness punish't , and virtue rewarded ; and therefore it is part of their commission to give check to the soveraign power , and to defend subjects from the unjust violence and oppressions of their prince . and this the emperour trajan learn't from the common principles of justice and equitie , who delivered a sword to one of his officers with this charge , to use it for him , while he governed well , but against him if he governed ill . now in answer to this , we may consider , 1. that there is no foundation at all for this in the text , for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by him , cannot by any rules of grammar be referred to god , but to the king. submit to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake , whether to the king as supreme , or unto governours , as unto them who are sent by him . by him ? by whom ? by god ? that is not said , but by the king , for that is the next antecedent ; and that is the evident truth of the case . inferiour magistrates do not receive their power from god , but from the king , who having the soveraign power in himself , commits the exercise of some part of it to others , and taketh it away again , when he pleases . and the very phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , those who are sent by him , plainly refers it to those who were sent by the emperour into forreign countries , to govern the roman provinces ; such as pontius pilate and felix were : and so the meaning is , that they were not onely obliged to submit to the roman emperours , but to all those governours , whom they sent to rule the provinces under their jurisdiction ; which is no more than for a preacher to instruct the subjects of ireland , that they must not onely submit to the king , but to all those whom he sent to govern them , with the power and authoritie of deputies , or lord-lieutenants . 2. nay st. peter , as if he had foreseen this objection , takes particular care to prevent it , and therefore makes an apparent difference between that submission we owe to soveraign princes , and that which we owe to governours ; we must submit to the king as supreme , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to him who is above all , whose power is unaccountable and irresistible ; but to governours , as unto them who are sent by him : which both signifies the reason of our submission to governours , and prescribes the bounds and measures of it . the reason why we must submit to governours , is because they are sent by our prince , they act by his authoritie , and therefore we must submit to , and reverence his authoritie in them . it is not for their own sakes , nor for any inherent authoritie in them , but as they receive their power from our prince . and this also determines the bounds and measures of our subjection to governours . as that authoritie , which they receive from the king , is the onely reason why we must submit to them at all : so we must submit no longer , than that authoritie lasts ; when ever the prince recalls them , and transfers this power to another , we must obey them no longer . nay , since we are only bound to reverence and obey the authoritie of our prince in them , we must never submit to them in opposition to our prince . our primarie obligation is to submit to the king , who is our soveraign-lord , and must in no cases be resisted ; our submission to governours and subordinate magistrates is onely a part and branch of our dutie to the king , as they are his officers and ministers : and therefor eit can never be our dutie to obey or comply with subordinate magistrates , but onely when it is an act of dutie and subjection to our prince ; and certainly it is no act of subjection to our prince to obey subordinate magistrates , when they rebel against their prince : for , to resist a prince , or to joyn with those who do resist him , is an odde kind of instance of our subjection to him . this is not to submit to the king as supreme , nor to governours , as unto those who are sent by him , and receive their authoritie from him ; but it is to submit to governours , as the supreme and soveraign iudges of our prince , and the patrons and protectors of the people against their prince ; which is directly contrarie to st. peter's doctrine . it was no new thing for the governours of remote provinces to revolt from the obedience of the roman emperours , and to usurp a soveraign and imperial authoritie to themselves ; and therefore st. peter expresses their dutie to governours with this caution and limitation , that though they must submit to those , whom the emperour sent to govern them , yet it must be in subordination to the imperial authoritie , and with a reserve of that more absolute subjection , which they owe to the emperour himself , who is their soveraign lord. while governours are subject to the emperour , who is their lord and master , we must be subject to them ; but if they rebel , we must be subject to the emperour still , and oppose those , whom we were before bound to obey . when st. peter so expresly commands them both to submit to the king , and to submit to governours , it is impossible he could consider the king and governous , as two distinct and rival authorities ; for then it might so happen , that they could not submit to both , if ever they should oppose each other : and therefore when he commands them to submit to both , he must suppose them to be both one , as the fountain and the stream is one . the authoritie to which they must submit is but one , it is originally in the king , as in its source and fountain , and it is derived and communicated to governours ; but is the same power still , which as necessarily depends upon the king , as light does upon the sun ; and therefore when these powers grow two , when this derivative and dependant power sets up for it self in opposition to that power which gave it its being , we are delivered from our subjection to it , because it ceases to be one with that soveraign power , to which we must be subject ▪ once more . st. peter commands the christians to submit to the king , and to governours , that is , to the king's ministers , who receive their authority from him to govern . but when such persons rebel against their prince who gave them authority , they cease to be the kings ministers and governours , and therefore cease to be such governours to whom the apostle commands submission . we are to obey them while they are the kings ministers and deputies ; but when they assume to themselves an independant power , we must submit to them no longer , but to our prince : we may and ought to obey our prince , and those magistrates whom he sets over us , but we cannot submit to our prince and to rebels ; and certainly when men become rebels , they are no longer the kings ministers , but his rivals . 3. it is a very ridiculous pretence also , which has no foundation in st. peter's words , that governours or subordinate magistrates have power to controul or resist their soverain prince . the apostle tells us , that the king is supreme ; but over whom is he supreme ? certainly over all in his dominions , or else he is not supreme ; and therefore he is supreme with respect to subordinate magistrates , as well as private subjects ; and then they have no more power or authority to resist , than any private subject has . for st. paul tells us , the higher power is irresistible ; which would be a strange paradox , if every little officer had authority to resist him . and yet if men will grant , that it is never lawful for any private man to resist his prince , it is not worth disputing , whether subordinate magistrates may or not ; for if private men must not resist , these inferiour magistrates cannot , or at least they will resist to no purpose . he may make them private men again when he pleases ; or however , he must be an unfortunate prince , whom all his own officers and ministers conspire against ; and he must be a very weak prince , who has not force and power to oppose them . for what does the discontent of the greatest ministers signifie , who can raise no forces to oppose their prince ? and yet there are no forces to be raised , if private men must not resist . when inferiour magistrates must submit , or rebel alone , ( as they must do , if private men must not rebel ) whatever authority they have to controul their prince , they will want force and power to do it . and yet it would be a lewd way of burlesquing this doctrine of non-resistance , to make no more of it than this , that when st. paul so severely threatens damnation against those who resist , his meaning is , that private subjects must not resist their prince , unless they have some discontented and factious magistrates to head them . but how should these subordinate governours come by this power to resist their prince ? they must either have it from god , or from their prince . not from god. for soverain princes receive their authority from god ; and if god have bestowed the supreme and soverain power on the prince , it is a contradiction to say , that he has advanced his own ministers and officers above him , which would be to place a superiour power over the supreme . nor is it reasonable to suppose , that inferiour magistrates receive such a power as this from their prince , though it is evident , they have no power , but what they receive from him . for notwithstanding trajan's complement , which he never intended should be made a law for himself , or other soverain princes ; no prince can give such power as this to a subject , without giving him his crown . he gives away his soverain power , when he gives any subject authority to resist ; he ceases to be a soverain prince , if he makes any man his superior : for he cannot give away soverain power , and yet keep it himself . and it would be a hard case with princes , had they as many judges and masters , as they have officers and ministers of state. indeed , no prince without parting with his crown , can grant such an extravagant power to any subject : for while he continues soverain , god has made it necessary to the greatest subjects to obey and submit . for as for trajan's saying to one of his commanders , when he delivered him the sword , use this for me if i govern well , and against me if i govern ill , it only signified his fixt resolution to govern well , and that he would imploy it in no ill services : but it conveyed no more power to him to rebel , if he should govern ill , than a father's saying to his son , that he should forgive his disobedience , if ever he would prove unkind , would justifie the disobedience of the son , if his father should prove unkind . the duties of these relations are fixt by god , and cannot be altered by men . a prince may divest himself of his kingdom , and royal power ; but while he continues soveraign , he cannot give liberty to any man to resist him . 4. there is another objection not only to invalidate st. peters authoritie , but to answer all the arguments that are produced from the doctrine and practice of christ and his apostles , to inforce this dutie of non-resistance and subjection to princes ; and that is , that these commands were onely temporarie , and obliged christians while they wanted force and power to resist , but do not oblige us , when we can resist and conquer too . i have sometimes thought , that this objection ought to be answered onely with indignation and abhorrence , as an open contempt of the authoritie of the scriptures , and blasphemie against the holy spirit , by which they were indited ; but it may be , it is better to answer and expose it , and let the world see , besides the notorious folly of it , how near a kin the doctrine of resistance is to atheism , infidelity , and blasphemy . 1. first then i observe , that this very objection supposes that the doctrine of the gospel is against resistance ; for those who evade the authoritie of the scriptures , by saying , that christians were then forbid to resist , because they wanted power to conquer , must grant , that resistance is forbid . which is a plain confession , that they are conscious to themselves , that all the arts they have us'd to make the scriptures speak their sence , and justifie the doctrine of resistance , will not do . and therefore when men are once reduced to this last refuge , to confess , that the scriptures are against them , if they have any modesty left , they ought never to pretend to the authority of the scriptures in this cause more . and this is a sufficient answer to all men , who have any reverence for the authority of the scriptures , that they cannot resist their prince without disobeying the plain and express laws of the gospel ; for he is a bold man , who will venture his eternal salvation , upon pleading his exemption from any express law. 2. i would desire all men who have any reverence left for the religion of our saviour , to consider seriously how this pretence does disparage and weaken the authority of the gospel , and make it a very imperfect , and a very uncertain rule of life , which every man may fit and accommodate to his own humour and inclinations . christ and his apostles do in the most express terms , and under the most severe penalties , forbid the resistance of soveraign princes . but say these men , this law does not oblige us now , though it did oblige the christians of those days ; for our circumstances are much changed and altered . the christians at that time were weak , and unable to resist , and therefore were taught to suffer patiently without resistance ; but thanks be to god , the case is not thus now ; and therefore we may vindicate our natural and religious rights and liberties against all unjust violence . now observe what follows from hence : 1. that the gospel of our saviour is a very imperfect and uncertain rule of life ; that it absolutely forbids things , which are not absolutely evil , but sometimes lawful , without allowing for such a difference : that it gives general laws , which oblige onely at certain times , or in some circumstances , without giving any notice in what cases they do not oblige ; which is a mightie snare to mens consciences , or a great injury to their christian libertie . it imposes this hard necessitie upon them , either to make bold with a divine law , if they do resist tyrannical powers , which is grievous to a tender conscience , which has any reverence for god ; or to suffer injuriously , when they need not , had they been plainly instructed in their dutie , and acquainted in what cases they might resist , and in what not . and i think , there cannot be a greater reproach to the gospel , than to make it such an imperfect and insnaring rule . 2. nay , this charges christ and his apostles with want of sinceritie in preaching the gospel ; for either they knew , that this doctrine of non-resistance did not oblige all christians , but onely those who are weak and unable to resist , or they did not . if we say they did not , we charge them with ignorance : if we say they did , with dishonestie : for if they knew , that all christians were not obliged to such an absolute subjection to princes , as in no case to resist , why did they conceal so important a truth , without giving the least intimation of it ? did they think this so scandalous a doctrine , that they were afraid or ashamed to publish it to the world ? and can any thing be a doctrine of the gospel , which is truly scandalous ? but was the doctrine of resistance more scandalous ▪ than the doctrine of the cross ? would this have offended princes , and make them more implacable enemies to christianitie ? but would it not also have made more converts ? would not a libertie to resist the powers , and defend themselves , been a better inducement to imbrace christianitie , than a necessitie of suffering the worst things for the name of christ ? would not this have contributed very much to the conversion of the whole iewish nation , who were fond of a temporal kingdom , had christianitie allowed them to cast off the roman yoke , and restored their ancient liberties ? how soon should we have seen the cross in their banners , and how gladly would they have fought under that victorious signe , under the conduct of so many wonder-working prophets ? and how soon would this have made the doctrine of non-resistance useless and out of date , by making christians powerful enough to resist ? so that there is no imaginable reason , why christ and his apostle should conceal this doctrine of the lawfulness of resisting persecuting and tyrannical powers , especially at that time , when if it had been lawful , there was as much use for it , and as great reason to preach it , as ever there was , or ever can be . and therefore we must either think very ill of our saviour and his apostles , or a knowledge , that this is no gospel-doctrine , never was , and never can be any part of the religion of the cross. there is no reason , why christ should at first plant christianity in the world by sufferings , if it might afterwards be maintained and propagated by glorious rebellions . 3. if this plea be allowed , it weakens the authoritie of all the laws of the gospel , and leaves men at libertie to dispence with themselves , when they see or fancie any reason for it . non-resistance is as absolutely commanded , as any other law of the gospel ; but these men imagine , without any other reason , but because they would have it so , that this law onely concerned christians in the weak and infant-state of the church , while they were unable to resist . now should other men take the same libertie with other laws ( and i know no reason but why they may ) how easie were it to expound christianitie out of the world ? meekness , patience , humilitie , selfdenial , contempt of the world , forgiving enemies , contentment in all conditions , are parts and branches of this suffering religion ; and may we not with as much reason say , that these duties were calculated for the afflicted and suffering state of the church , when the profession of christianitie was discouraged in the world , and exposed them to the loss of all things , and therefore made it impossible for them to enjoy those pleasures and advantages of life , which other men did ; but that they do not more oblige us than resistance , now the church is flourishing and prosperous ? and thus men may justifie their pride and ambition and covetousness , and may be as very idolaters of the riches and pleasures and honours of the world , as heathens themselves , when christianity became the religion of the empire : it did indeed make too great an alteration in the lives of christians . but according to this way of reasoning , it made as great an alteration in religion it self ; at this rate we ought to have two gospels , one for the afflicted , the other for the prosperous state of the church ; which differ as much as christianity and paganism in the great rules of life . but we are hard dealt with , that we have but one gospel , and that the suffering gospel ; and for my part , i dare not undertake to make another . so that this plea for resistance in opposition to the plain and express laws of the gospel , in the consequences of it , strikes at the very foundations of christianitie , and becomes the mouth of none but an atheist or an infidel . 4. this is a very absurd pretence ▪ that the apostle forbids the christians of those days to resist , onely because they were weak , and unable to resist . this is a great reproach to the apostle , as if he were of the temper of some men , who crouch and flatter , and pretend great loyaltie , when they are afraid to rebel , but are loyal no longer than they have an opportunitie to rebel . this is dissimulation and flatterie , and inconsistent with the open simplicitie of the apostolick spirit ; but it is very strange that the apostle should so severely forbid resistance , when he knew they could not resist . one would think common prudence should teach such men to be quiet and subject ; and therefore his zeal and vehemence would perswade one , that as weak as the christians were , yet in those days they could have resisted . nay , it is evident , that there were a sort of men who in those days called themselves christians , and yet did resist the powers ; such were the gnostick hereticks , who despised government , who were presumptuous and self-willed , and were not afraid to speak evil of dignities , 2. peter 2. 10. jude v. 8. for to reproach and vilifie government , is one degree of resistance ; and no men are so weak , but they may do that . nay , though christians had not power enough of their own to have rebelled against the roman government , yet they had opportunitie enough to joyn and conspire with those who had , and to have made good terms and conditions for themselves . they lived in a very factious age , when both jews and heathens were very apt to rebel , and could both have promoted and strengthned the faction , if they had pleased , and have grown very acceptable to them by doing so ; and though no man knows what the event of any rebellion will be ▪ till he tries , yet they might have escaped as well as other men . this the apostle knew , and this he was afraid of , and this he warns them against ; and that for such reasons , as plainly shew , that it was not a meer prudential advice he gives them , for that time , but a standing law of their religion . 5. for this doctrine of non-resistance is urged with such reasons and arguments , as are good in all ages of the church , as well when christians have power to resist and conquer , as when they have not . thus ( 1. ) st. paul inforces this dutie of subjection to the higher powers , because all powers are of god ; the powers that be are ordained of god ; and therefore he that resisteth the powers , resisteth the ordinance of god. now if they must obey the powers , because they are from god , subjection and non-resistance is as much our dutie , when we have power to resist , as when we have not ; and is as much our dutie at this day , as it was in the time of the apostle , if we believe , that god has as great a hand in setting up kings now , as he had then . 2. he threatens eternal damnation against those , who resist : he that resists shall receive unto himself damnation ; which supposes , that there is a moral evil in resistance , and therefore that non-resistance is an eternal and unchangeable law : which cannot be true , if it be lawful to resist , when we can resist to some purpose , when we can resist and conquer . it is foolish indeed to resist a prince , when we have not sufficient force to oppose against him ; but it would be a hard case , if a man should perish etenally , for doing an action , which is lawful in it self , but imprudently undertaken . these men had need look well to themselves , how lawful soever they think resistance to be , if every imprudent and unfortunate rebel must be damned . 3. st. paul addes , that we must needs be subject , not onely for wrath , but also for conscience sake ; that is , not onely out of fear of men , but out of conscience of our dutie to god. now if resistance were not in its nature sinful , it were a very prudential consideration , not to resist for fear of wrath , that is , for fear of being punish't by men , if we cannot conquer ; but there would be no conscience in the case , no sence of any dutie to god ▪ unless we think , that non-resistance is our duty , when we cannot conquer , and resistance when we can . 4. st. peter tells us , that this subjection to kings and governours is a good and vertuous action , and therefore he calls it well-doing : for so is the will of god , that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ; that is , by submitting to kings and governours , as you have already heard . now the nature of vertue and vice cannot alter with the circumstances of our condition ; that which is good in one age , is so in another ; which shews , that subjection and non-resistance was not a temporary law , and meer matter of prudence , but an essential duty of christian religion . 5. for it appears by what he adds , that it was a great credit and reputation to christianity , that it made men quiet , peaceable , and governable ; by well-doing they put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ; by their peaceable and obedient behaviour to their governours , they sham'd those men , who ignorantly reproach't the christian religion . now hence there are two plain consequents : 1. that subjection to government is a thing of very good repute in the world , or else it could be no credit to christianity ; and this is a good argument that subjection to government is a great vertue , because all men speak well of it . it is a thing of good report , and therefore becomes christians , 4 phil. 8. 2. it hence follows also , that subjection to government was a standing doctrine of the christian religion , because it was the will of god , that they should recommend christianity to the world by subjection to princes . but certainly god never intended they should put a cheat upon the world , and recommend christianity to them , by that , which is no part nor duty of christianity . this is abundantly sufficient to confute that vain pretence , that the doctrine of subjection and non-resistance obliged christians only , while they were unable to resist and defend themselves ; and this is enough to satisfie us , what the doctrine of the apostles was about subjection to princes . as for their examples , i think there was never any dispute about that . it is sufficiently known , that they suffered martyrdom , as a vast number of christians in that and some following ages did , without either reproaching their governours , or rebelling against them : and this they did , as they taught others to do , not meerly because they could not resist , but out of duty and reverence to god , who sets princes on thrones , and has given them a sacred and inviolable authority ; and in imitation of their great lord and master , who went as a lamb to the slaughter , and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb , so he opened not his mouth . chap. vi. an answer to the most popular objections against non-resistance . i proceed now to consider those objections , which are made against the doctrine of non-resistance ; though methinks after such plain and convincing proof , that non-resistance is the doctrine both of the old and new testament , though witty men may be able to start some objections , yet wise and good men should not regard them : for no objection is of any force , against a plain and express law of god. indeed , when we have no evidence for a thing but only natural reason , and the reason seems to be equally strong and cogent on both sides , it renders the matter very doubtful , on which side the truth lies : but when on one side there is a plain and express revelation of the will of god , and on the other side some shew and appearance of reason , i think there can be no dispute , which side we chuse ; unless any man think it doubtful , which is the most certain and infallible rule , scripture or meer natural reason . and therefore till men can answer that scripture-evidence , which i have produced , ( which i am not much concerned about , for i guess it will take them up some time to do it ) all their other objections , whether i could answer them or not , signifie nothing at all to me , and ought to signifie as little to any man , who reverences the scriptures . but let us consider their objections ▪ for they are not so formidable , that we need be afraid of them . now i know no body , but will acknowledge , that in most cases it is the duty of subjects not to resist their prince ; but they only pretend , that this is not their duty , when their prince oppresses and persecutes them contrary to law ▪ when their lives and liberties and properties and religion are all secured by the laws of the land , they see no reason why they should tamely suffer a prince to usurp upon them , why they should not defend themselves against all unjust and illegal violence ; and they urge several arguments to prove , that they may do so ; which may be reduced to these five . 1. that they are bound by no law to suffer against law. 2. that the prince has no authority against law. 3. that they have a natural right of self-defence against unjust violence . 4. that otherwise we destroy the distinction between an absolute and limited monarch ; between a prince whose will is his law , and a prince who is bound to govern by law ; which undermines the fundamental constitution of the english government . 5. that if resistance in no case be allowed , the mischiefs and inconveniencies to mankind may be intolerable . i suppose it will be acknowledged , that these five particulars do contain the whole strength of their cause ; and if i can give a fair answer to them , it must either make men loyal , or leave them without excuse . 1. they urge , that they are bound by no law to suffer against law. suppose , as a late author does , that a popish prince should persecute his protestant subjects in england for professing the protestant religion which is established by law ; by what law ( saies he ) must we die ? not by any law of god surely , for being of that religion , which he approves , and would have all the world to embrace , and to hold fast to the end . nor by the laws of our country , where protestancy is so far from being criminal , that it is death to desert it , and to turn papist . by what law then ? by none that i know of , saies our author : nor do i know of any ; and so far we are agreed . but then both the laws of god and of our countrie , command us not to resist : and if death , an illegal unjust death follow upon that , i cannot help it ; god and our countrie must answer for it . it is a wonderful discoverie , which this author has made , that when we suffer against law , we are condemned by no law to die● ; for if we were , we could not suffer against law : and it is as wonderful an argument he uses to prove , that we may resist , when we are persecuted against law , because we are condemned by no law to die ; which is supposed in the very question , and is neither more nor less , than to affirm the thing which he was to prove . we may resist a prince who persecutes against law , because we are condemned by no law , that is , because he persecutes against law. this proves indeed , that we ought not to die , when we are condemned by no law to die ; but whether we may preserve our selves from an unjust and violent death by resisting a persecuting prince ▪ is another question . 2. it is urged , that a prince has no authoritie against law ; there is no authority on earth above the law , much less against it . it is murder to put a man to death against law ; and if they knew who had authority to commit open , bare-faced , and downright murders , this would direct them where to pay their passive obedience ; but it would be the horridest stander in the world to say , that any such power is lodged in the prerogative , as to destroy men contrary to law. now i perfectly agree with them in this also , that a prince has no just and legal authoritie to act against law ▪ that if he knowingly persecure any subject to death contrary to law , he is a murderer , and that no prince has any such prerogative to commit open , bare-faced and downright murders . but what follows from hence ? does it hence follow , therefore we may resist and oppose them , if they do ? this i absolutely denie ; because god has expresly commanded us not to resist : and i see no inconsistencie between these two propositions , that a prince has no legal authoritie to persecute against law , and yet that he must not be resisted , when he does . both the laws of god , and the laws of our countrie , suppose these two to be very consistent . for notwithstanding the possibilitie , that princes may abuse their power , and transgress the laws , whereby they ought to govern ; yet they command subjects in no case to resist : and it is not sufficient to justifie resistance , if princes do , what they have no just authoritie to do , unless we have also a just authoritie to resist . he , who exceeds the just bounds of his authoritie , is lyable to be called to an account for it ; but he is accountable onely to those , who have a superior authoritie to call him to an account . no power whatever is accountable to an inferiour ; for this is a contradiction to the very notion of power , and destructive of all order and government . inferiour magistrates are on all hands acknowledged to be lyable to give an account of the abuse of their power ; but to whom must they give an account ? not to their inferiours ; not to the people , whom they are to govern , but to superiour magistrates , or to the soveraign prince , who governs all . thus the soveraign prince may exceed his authoritie , and is accountable for it to a superiour power ; but because he has no superiour power on earth , he cannot be resisted by his own subjects , but must be reserved to the judgement of god , who alone is the king of kings . to justifie our resistance of any power , there are two things to be proved . 1. that this power has exceeded its just authoritie . 2. that we have authoritie to resist . now these men indeed prove the first very well , that princes , who are to govern by law , exceed their legal authoritie when they persecute against law : but they say not one word of the second , that subjects have authoritie to resist their prince , who persecutes against law ; which was the onely thing , that needed proof : but this is a hard task , and therefore they thought it more adviseable to take it for granted , than to attempt to prove it . they say indeed , that an inauthoritative act , which carries no obligation at all , cannot oblige subjects to obedience . now this is manifestly true , if by obedience they mean an active obedience ; for i am not bound to do an ill thing , or an illegal action , because my prince commands me ; but if they mean passive obedience , it is as manifestly false ; for i am bound to obey , that is , not to resist my prince , when he offers the most unjust and illegal violence . nay , it is very false and absurd to say , that every illegal , is an inauthoritative act , which carries no obligation with it . this is contrarie to the practice of all humane iudicatures , and the daily experience of men , who suffer in their lives , bodies , or estates by an unjust and illegal sentence . every judgement contrarie to the true meaning of the law , is in that sence illegal ; and yet such illegal judgements have their authoritie and obligation , till they are rescinded by some higher authoritie . this is the true reason of appeals from inferiour to superiour courts , to rectifie illegal proceedings , and reverse illegal judgements ; which supposes that such illegal acts have authoritie , till they are made null and void by a higher power : and if the higher powers from whence lies no appeal , confirm and ratifie an unjust and illegal sentence , it carries so much authoritie and obligation with it , that the injured person has no redress , but must patiently submit ; and thus it must necessarily be , or there can be no end of disputes , nor any order and government in humane societies . and this is a plain demonstration , that though the law be the rule according to which princes ought to exercise their authoritie and power , yet the authoritie is not in laws ; but in persons ; for otherwise why is not a sentence pronounced according to law by a private person , of as much authoritie , as a sentence pronounced by a judge ? how does an illegal sentence pronounced by a judge , come to have any authoritie ? for a sentence contrarie to law , cannot have the authoritie of the law. why is a legal or illegal sentence reversible , and alterable , when pronounced by one judge , and irreversible and unalterable , when pronounced by another ? for the law is the same , and the sentence is the same , either according to law or against it , whoever the judge be ; but it seems the authoritie of the persons is not the same , and that makes the difference ; so that there is an authoritie in persons , in some sence distinct from the authoritie of laws , nay superiour to it . for there is such an authoritie , as , though it cannot make an illegal act legal , yet , can and often does make an illegal act binding and obligatorie to the subjects , when pronounced by a competent judge . if it be said , that this very authoritie is owing to the law , which appoints judges and magistrates to decide controversies , and orders appeals from inferiour to superiour courts : i would onely ask one short question , whether the law gives authoritie to any person to judge contrarie to law . if it does not , then all illegal acts are null and void , and lay no obligation on the subject : and yet this is manifestly false , according to the known practice of all the known governments in the world . the most illegal judgement is valid , till it be reverst by some superiour power ; and the judgement of the supreme power , though never so illegal , can be repealed by no authoritie but its own . and yet it is absurd to say , that the law gives any man authoritie to judge contrarie to law : for , to be sure , this is besides the end and intention of the law . whence then does an illegal act or judgement derive its authoritie and obligation ? the answer is plain , it is from the authoritie of the person , whose act or judgement it is . it will be of great use to this controversie , to make this plain and obvious to every understanding ; which therefore i shall endeavour to do , as briefly as may be . 1. then i observe , that there must be a personal power and authoritie antecedent to all civil laws . for there can be no laws without a law-maker , and there can be no law-maker , unless there be one or more persons invested with the power of government , of which making laws is one branch . for a law is nothing else , but the publick and declared will and command of the law-maker , whether he be the soveraign prince , or the people . 2. and hence it necessarily follows , that a soveraign prince does not receive his authoritie from the laws , but laws receive their authoritie from him . we are often indeed minded of what bracton saies , lex facit regem , that the law makes the king ; by which that great lawyer was far enough from understanding , that the king receives his soveraign power from the law ; for the law has no authoritie , nor can give any , but what it receives from the king ; and then it is a wonderful riddle , how the king should receive his authoritie from the law . but when he saies ▪ the law makes the king , he distinguishes a king from a tyrant , and his meaning is , that to govern by laws , makes a soveraign prince a king , as king signifies a just and equal and beneficial power and authoritie ; as appears from the reason he gives for it , non est enim rex , ubi dominatur voluntas , & non lex ; he is no king , who governs by arbitrarie will , and not by law : not that he is no soveraign prince , but he is a tyrant and not a king. 3. and hence it evidently follows , that the being of soveraign power is independent on laws ; that is , as a soveraign prince does not receive his power from the law , so , should he violate the laws by which he is bound to govern , yet he does not forfeit his power . he breaks his faith to god and to his countrie , but he is a soveraign prince still . and this is in effect acknowledged by these men , who so freely confess , that let a prince be what he will , though he trample upon all laws , and exercise an arbitrarie and illegal authoritie , yet his person is sacred and inviolable , and irresistible ; he must not be touch'd nor opposed . and allow that saying of david to be scripture still , who can stretch forth his hand against the lord 's anointed , and be guiltless ? now what is it , that makes the person of a king more inviolable and unaccountable than other men ? nothing , that i know of , but his sacred and inviolable authoritie : and therefore it seems , though he act against law , yet he is a soveraign prince , and the lord ▪ s anointed still ; or else i see no reason , why they might not destroy his person also . and yet if nothing but an inviolable and unaccountable authoritie can make the person of the king inviolable and unaccountable , i would gladly know , how it becomes lawful to resist his authoritie , and unlawful to resist his person . i would desire these men to tell me , whether a soveraign prince signifies the natural person , or the authoritie of a king ; and if to divest him of his authoritie , be to kill the king , why they may not kill the man too , when they have killed the king. thus when men are forc't to mince treason and rebellion , they always speak nonsense . those indeed who resist the authoritie of their prince , but spare his person , do better than those , who kill him ; but those who affirm , that his person is as resistible and accountable as his authoritie , speak more consistently with themselves , and the principles of rebellion . 4. and hence i suppose , it plainly appears , that every illegal act the king does , is not an inauthoritative act , but laies an obligation on subjects to yeild , if not an active , yet a passive obedience . for the king receives not his soveraign authoritie from the law , nor does he forfeit his authoritie by breaking the law ; and therefore he is a soveraign prince still ; and his most illegal acts , though they have not the authoritie of the law , yet they have the authoritie of soveraign power , which is irresistible and unaccountable . in a word , it does not become any man who can think three consequences off , to talk of the authoritie of laws in derogation to the authoritie of the soveraign power . the soveraign power made the laws , and can repeal them and dispence with them , and make new laws ; the onely power and authoritie of the laws is in the power , which can make and execute laws . soveraign power is inseparable from the person of a soveraign prince : and though the exercise of it may be regulated by laws , and that prince does very ill , who having consented to such a regulation , breaks the laws ; yet when he acts contrarie to law , such acts carrie soveraign and irresistible authoritie with them , while he continues a soveraign prince . but if it be possible to convince all men how vain this pretence of laws is , to justifie resistance or rebellion against a prince , who persecutes without or against law , i shall only ask two plain questions . 1. whether the laws of god and nature be not as sacred and inviolable as the laws of our country ? if they be , ( and methinks no man should dare say that they are not ) why may we not as well resist a prince , who persecutes us against the laws of god and nature , as one , who persecutes against the laws of our countrey ? is not the prince as much bound to observe the laws of god and nature , as the laws of his country ? if so , then their distinction between suffering with and against law signifies nothing . for all men , who suffer for well-doing , suffer against law ▪ for by the laws of god , and the natural ends of humane government , such men ought to be rewarded , and not punisht . nay , they suffer contrarie to those laws , which commanded them to do that good , for which they suffer . thus the christians suffered under pagan emperors , for worshipping one supreme god , and refusing to worship the numerous gods of the heathens ; and therefore , according to these principles , might have justified a rebellion against those unjust and persecuting powers ; but the apostles would not allow this to be a just cause of resistance , as i have already shewn you ; and yet i confess i am to seek for the reason of this difference , why we may not resist a prince , who persecutes against the laws of god , as well as him , who persecutes against the laws of england . 2. my other question is this , whether a prince have any more authority to make wicked and persecuting laws , than to persecute without law ? these men tell us , that if paganism or popery were established by law , they were bound to suffer patiently for their religion , without resistance ; but since christianity and protestancy is the religion of the nation , they are not bound to suffer , but may defend themselves , when they are condemned by no law. but if we examine this throughly , it is a very weak and trifling cavil . for what authoritie has a wicked and persecuting law ? and who gave it this authoritie ? what authoritie has any prince to make laws against the laws of god ? if he have no authoritie , then it is no law ; and then to make a wicked law to persecute good men , is the same thing , as to persecute without law , nay as to persecute against law. the pretence for resistance is , when the prince persecutes without authority . now i say , a prince has no more authoritie to make wicked persecuting laws , than to persecute without law. should a popish prince procure all our good laws for the protestant religion to be repealed , and establish popery by law , and make it death not to be a papist , he would have no more real authoritie to do this , than to persecute protestants without repealing the laws . a soverain and unaccountable power will justifie both , so as to make resistance unlawful ; but if it cannot justifie both , it can justifie neither . for a prince has no more authoritie to make a bad law , than to break a good one ; so that this principle will lead them a great deal farther than they pretend to ; and let the laws of the land be what they will , in time they may come to think it a just reason for rebellion , to pull down antichrist , and to set up christ iesus upon this throne . this i hope is a sufficient answer to the two first objections , that we are bound by no law to suffer against law ; and that the prince has no authoritie against law. 3. the next objection is , that they have a natural right of self-preservation and self-defence against unjust and illegal violence . this very pretence was made great use of to wheadle people into this late conspiracie . those who were employed to prepare and dispose men for rebellion , askt them , whether they would not defend themselves , if any man came to cut their throats : this they readily said they would : when they had gained this point , they askt them , whether they did not value their liberties , as much as their lives ; and whether they would not defend them also . and thus they might have proceeded to any part of their liberties , if they had pleased ; for they have the same right to any part , as to the whole , and thus self-defence would at last reach to the smallest occasion of discontent or jealousie , or dislike of publick government . now in answer to this , i readily grant , that every man has a natural right to preserve and defend his life by all lawful means ; but we must not think every thing lawful , which we have strength and power and opportunity to do ; and therefore to give a full answer to this plea , let us consider , 1. that self-defence was never allowed by god or nature against publick authority , but only against private violence . there was a time , when fathers had the power of life and death over their own children ; now i would only ask these men , whether if a son at that time saw his father coming to kill him , and that as he thought very unjustly , he might kill his father to defend himself . this never was allowed by the most barbarous nations in the world ; and yet it may be justified by this principle of self-defence , as it is urged by those men ; which is a plain argument that it is false . it is an express law , that he that smiteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death , 21 exod. 15. and yet then the power of parents was restrained by publick laws . and the authoritie of a prince is not less sacred than of a parent ; he 's god's minister and vicegerent , and subjects are expresly forbid to resist ; and it is a vain thing to pretend a natural right against the express law of god. 2. for the sole power of the sword is in the king's hands , and therefore no private man can take the sword in his own defence but by the king's authoritie , and certainly he cannot be presumed to give any man authoritie to use the sword against himself . and therefore as christ tells peter , he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword ; he who draws the sword against the lawful powers , deserves to die by it . 3. we may consider also , that it is an external law , that private defence must give place to the publick good . now he that takes arms to defend his own life and some few others , involves a whole nation in blood and confusion , and occasions the miserable slaughter of more men , than a long succession of tyrants could destroy . such men sacrifice many thousand lives , both of friends and enemies , the happiness and prosperity of many thousand families , the publick peace and tranquillity of the nation , to a private self-defence ; and if this be the law of nature , we may well call nature a step-mother , that has armed us to our own ruine and confusion . 4. and therefore we may farther observe , that non-resistance and subjection to government , is the best way for every mans private defence . our atheistical politicians , who know no other law of nature , but self-defence , make this the original of humane societies ; that it is a voluntarie combination for self-defence . for this reason they set up princes and rulers over them , and put the power of the sword into their hands , that they may administer justice , and defend their subjects from publick and private violence : and they are certainly so far in the right , that publick government is the best securitie not onely of the publick peace , but of every mans private interest ; nay it is so , though our prince be a tyrant , as i have already shewn you , that no government can be secure without an irresistible and unaccountable power . so that the natural right of self-defence is so far from justifying rebellion against princes , that it absolutely condemns it , as destructive of the best and most effectual means to preserve ourselves : for though by non-resistance a man may expose his life to the furie of a tyrant , so he may loose his life in any other way of defence ; but publick government is the best and surest defence , and therefore to resist publick government , is to destroy the best means of self-defence . 5. however , this principle of self-defence , to be sure , cannot justifie a rebellion , when men do not suffer any actual violence ; and therefore those men who were drawn into this late conspiracie , when they saw no bodie attempt cutting their throats , when they saw none of their liberties invaded , were so well prepared to be rebels , that they needed no arguments to perswade them to it . 4. the next objection against the doctrine of non-resistance is this , that it destroys the difference between an absolute and limited monarchy , between a prince whose will is his law , and a prince , who is bound to govern by law ; which undermines the foundamental constitution of the english government . if this were true , i confess , it were a very hard case for the ministers of the church of england , who must either preach up resistance , contrarie to the laws of the gospel , and the sence and practice of the christian church in all ages , or must preach up non ▪ resistance , to the destruction of the government under which they live ; but thanks be to god , this is not true . for the difference between an absolute and limited monarchy , is not , that resistance is unlawful in one case , and lawful in another ▪ for a monarch , the exercise of whose power is limited and regulated by laws , is as irresistible , as the most absolute monarch , whose will is his law ; and if he were not , i would venture to say , that the most absolute and despotick government , is more for the publick good , than a limited monarchy . but the difference lies in this , that an absolute monarch is under the government of no law , but his own will ; he can make and repeal laws at his pleasure , without asking the consent of any of his subjects ; he can impose what taxes he pleases , and is not tied up to strict rules and formalities of law ▪ in the execution of justice ; but it is quite contrarie in a limited monarchy , where the excercise of soveraign power is regulated by known and standing laws , which the prince can neither make nor repeal without the consent of the people . no man can loose his life or estate without a legal process and tryal ; no monies can be levyed , nor any taxes imposed on the subject , but by authority of parliament ; which makes the case of subjects differ very much from those , who live under an arbitrary prince . no , you will say , the case is just the same : for what do laws signifie , when a prince must not be resisted , though he break these laws , and govern by an arbitrarie and lawless will ? he may make himself as absolute , as the great turk or the mogul , whenever he pleases ; for what should hinder him , when all men's hands are tied by this doctrine of non-resistance ? now it must be acknowledged , that there is a possibilitie for such a prince to govern arbitrarily , and to trample upon all laws ; and yet the difference between an absolute and limited monarchy is vastly great . 1. for this prince , though he may make his will a law to himself , and the onely rule of his government , yet he cannot make it the law of the land ; he may break laws , but he can neither make nor repeal them ; and therefore he can never alter the frame and constitution of the government , though he may at present interrupt the regular administration of it : and this is a great securitie to posteritie , and a present restraint upon himself . 2. for it is a mightie uneasie thing to any prince , to govern contrarie to known laws . he offers as great and constant violence to himself , as he does to his subjects . he cannot raise mony , nor impose any taxes without the consent of his subjects , nor take away any man's life without a legal tryal ( which an absolute prince may do ) but he is guiltie of rapine and murder , and feels the same rebukes in his own mind , for such illegal actions , though his impositions be but reasonable and moderate , and he put no man to death , but who very well deserves it , that an absolute tyrant does for the most barbarous oppressions and cruelties . the breach of his oath to god , and his promises and engagements to his subjects , makes the excercise of such an arbitrarie power very troublesome : and though his subjects are bound not to resist , yet his own guilty fears will not suffer him to be secure : and arbitrarie power is not so luscious a thing , as to tempt men to forfeit all the ease and pleasure , and securitie of government , for the sake of it . 3. though subjects must not resist such a prince , who violates the laws of his kingdom ▪ yet they are not bound to obey him , nor to serve him in his usurpations . subjects are bound to obey an absolute monarch , and to serve his will in lawful things , though they be hard and grievous ; but in a limited monarchy , which is governed by laws , subjects are bound to yeild an active obedience onely according to law , though they are bound not to resist , when they suffer against law. now it is a mighty uneasy thing to the greatest tyrant , to govern always by force ; and no prince in a limited monarchy can make himself absolute , unless his own subjects assist him to do so . 4. and yet it is very dangerous for any subject to serve his prince contrary to law. though the prince himself is unaccountable and irresistible , yet his ministers may be called to an account , and be punish't for it ; and the prince may think fit to look on quietly , and see it done : or if they escape at present , yet it may be time enough to suffer for it under the next prince ; which we see by experience makes all mon wary how they serve their prince against law. none but persons of desperate fortunes will do this bare-fac't ; and those are not always to be met with , and as seldom fit to be employ'd . 5. and therefore we may observe , that by the fundamental laws of our government , as the prince must govern by law , so he is irresistible : which shews , that our wise law-makers did not think , that non-resistance was destructive of a limited monarchy . 6. and in this long succession of princes in this kingdom , there has been no prince that has cast off the authority of laws , or usurpt an absolute and arbitrary power : which shews how vain those fears are , which disturb the fancies and imaginations of rebels , if they be not pretended onely to disturb the publick peace . 7. non-resistance is certainly the best way to prevent the change of a limited into an absolute monarchy . the laws of england have made such an admirable provision for the honour and prosperous government of the prince , and the security of the subject , that the kings of england have as little temptation to desire to be absolute , while their subjects are obedient and governable , as their subjects have , that they should be so . and if ever our kings attempt to make themselves absolute ( which thanks be to god , we have no prospect of yet ) it will be owing to the factious and traiterous dispositions of subjects . when subjects once learn the trade of murdering princes , and rebelling against them , it is time then for princes to look to themselves ; and if ever our posterity should suffer under so unhappy a change of government , they will have reason for ever to curse the fanatick rage and fury of this age ; and the best way to remove that scandal , which has been already given to princes , is by a publick profession and practice of this great gospel-duty of non-resistance . 8. the last objection against non-resistance is this , that if resistance in no case be allowed , the mischiefs and inconveniences to mankind may be intolerable . to which i shall briefly return these following answers . 1. that bare possibilities are no argument against any thing . for that which may be , may not be ; and there is nothing in this world , how good or useful or necessary soever it be in its self , but may possibly be attended with very great inconveniences ; and if we must reject that which is good and useful in it self , for the sake of some possible inconveniences , which may attend it , we must condemn the very best things . modesty and humility , justice , and temperance , are great and excellent vertues ; and yet we may live in such an age , when these vertues shall beggar a man , and expose him to contempt . mercy and clemency is a noble quality in a prince , and yet it is possible , that the clemency of a prince may ruine him , and he may spare traitors lives , till they take away his . marriage is a divine institution , which contributes as much to the happiness and comfort of humane life , as any one thing in this world ; and yet it may be you cannot name any thing neither , which many times proves so great a plague and curse to mankind . thus non-resistance is a great and excellent duty , and absolutely necessary to the peace and order and good government of the world ; but yet a bad prince may take the advantage of it , to do a great deal of mischief . and what follows from hence ? that non-resistance is no duty , because it may possibly be attended with evil consequences ? then you can hardly name any thing , which is our duty ; for the most excellent vertues may at one time or other expose us to very great inconveniences ; but when they do so , we must not deny them to be our duty , because we shall suffer by it ; but must bear our sufferings patiently , and expect our reward from god. and yet that there is not so much danger in non-resistance , as these men would perswade the world , i hope appears from my answers to the last objection . 2. when we talk of inconveniences , we must weigh the inconveniences on both sides , and consider which are greatest . we may suffer great inconveniences by non-resistance , when our prince happens to prove a tyrant ; but shall we suffer fewer inconveniences were it lawful for subjects to resist ? which is the greatest and most merciless tyrant ? an arbitrary and lawless prince , or a civil war ? which will destroy most mens lives ? a nero or dioclesian , or a pitcht battel ? who will devour most estates ? a covetous and rapacious prince , or an insolent army , and hungry rabble ? which is the greatest oppression of the subject ? some illegal taxes , or plunderings , decimations , and sequestrations ? who are most likely to abuse their power ? the prince , or the people ? which is most probable , that a prince should oppress his dutiful and obedient subjects , or that some factious and designing men should misrepresent the government of their prince , and that the giddy multitude should believe them ? who is most likely to make a change and alteration in government ? an hereditary prince , or the people , who are fond of innovations ? while soverain and irresistible power is in the hands of the prince , it is possible we may sometimes have a good one , and then we shall find no inconvenience in the doctrine of non-resistance . nay , it is possible , we may have a great many good princes , for one bad one ; for monsters are not so common , as more natural productions : so that the inconveniences we may suffer by this doctrine will but seldom happen ; but had the people power to resist , it is almost impossible , that publick government should ever be quiet and secure for half an age together : they are as unstable as the seas , and as easily moved with every breath , and as outragious and tempestuous too . these are not some guesses and probabilities , but demonstrations in this unhappy age , wherein we have seen all these things acted . the conclusion , containing a short dissuasive from resistance and rebellion . having thus largely proved that subjection and non-resistance is a necessary duty , which subjects owe to soverain princes , and answered all those objections which are made against it ; the result of all is , to perswade subjects to the practise of it . and st. paul urges two very powerful arguments to perswade us to it , rom. 13. 1. that the powers are of god , and he that resisteth the powers , resisteth the ordinance of god. and certainly he is no christian who disputes obedience to the divine ordinance and constitution . a prince is the image , the vice-gerent of god , and therefore princes are called gods in scripture , and be he what he will , a good or a bad prince , while god thinks fit to advance him to the throne , it becomes us to submit and reverence the divine authority . will you lift up your hand against god ? will you cast off his authority and government too ? does not he know how to rule us ? how to chuse a prince for us ? the greatest rebel would blush to say this in so many words , and yet this is the language of rebellion . men dislike their prince , that is , that governour , whom god sets over them : they rebel against their prince , they depose him , they murder him ; that is , they disown the authority of god , they deface and destroy his image , and offer scorn and contempt to his vice gerent . earthly princes look upon every affront and disgrace done to their ministers and lieutenants , to be a contempt of their own authority ; and so does god too : he who pulls down a prince , denies gods authority to set him up , and affronts his wisdom in chusing him . 2. and therefore such men must not expect to escape a deserved punishment , they shall receive to themselves damnation . now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may either signifie the punishment of rebellion in this world , or in the next ; and here it signifies both . 1. they shall be punisht in this world . and whoever consults ancient and modern histories , will find , that rebels very seldom escape punishment in this world . how often does god defeat all their counsels , discover their secret plots and conspiracies ! and if they be prosperous for a while , yet vengeance overtakes them ; if they escape punishment from men , they are punisht by some such remarkable providence , as bears the characters of a divine justice in it . 2. however , such men shall not escape the punishments of the other world ; and if you believe there is a hell for rebels and traitors , the punishment of resistance is infinitely greater than all the mischiefs which can befal you in subjection to princes , and a patient suffering for well doing . what shall it profit a man , though he should gain the whole world , which is something more than a single crown and kingdom , and loose his own soul ? though an universal empire were the reward of rebellion , such a glorious traitor , who parts with his soul for it , would have no great reason to boast much of his purchase . let us then reverence the divine judgments , let us patiently submit to our king , though he should persecute and oppress us ; and expect our protection here from the divine providence , and our reward in heaven ; which is the same encouragement to non-resistance , which we have to the practise of any other vertue . were the advantages and disadvantages of resistance and non-resistance in this world fairly estimated , it were much more eligible to submit , than to rebel against our prince ; but there can be no comparison between these two , when we take the other world into the account . the last judgment weighs down all other considerations ; and certainly rebellion may well be said to be as the sin of witchcraft , when it so inchants men , that they are resolved to be rebels , though they be damned for it . the end . books printed for fincham gardiner . 1. a perswasive to communion with the church of england . 2. a resolution of some cases of conscience which respect church-communion . 3. the case of indifferent things used in the worship of god , proposed and stated , by considering these questions , &c. 4. a discourse about edification . 5. the resolution of this case of conscience , whether the church of englands symbolizing so far as it doth with the church of rome , makes it unlawful to hold communion with the church of england ? 6. a letter to anonymus , in answer to his three letters to dr. sherlock about church-communion . 7. certain cases of conscience resolved , concerning the lawfulness of joyning with forms of prayer in publick worship . in two parts . 8. the case of mixt communion : whether it be lawful to separate from a church upon the account of promiscuous congregations and mixt communions ? 9. an answer to the dissenters objections against the common prayers , and some other parts of divine service prescribed in the liturgy of the church of england . 10. the case of kneeling at the holy sacrament stated and resolved , &c. in two parts . 11. a discourse of profiting by sermons , and of going to hear where men think they can profit most . 12. a serious exhortation , with some important advices , relating to the late cases about conformity , recommended to the present dissenters from the church of england . 13. an argument for union ; taken from the true interest of those dissenters in england who profess and call themselves protestants . 14. some considerations about the case of scandal , or giving offence to weak brethren . 15. the case of infant-baptism ; in five questions , &c. 16. the charge of scandal , and giving offence by conformity , refelled , and reflected back upon separation , &c. 1. a discourse about the charge of novelty upon the reformed church of england , made by the papists asking of us the question , where was our religion before luther ? 2. a discourse about tradition , shewing what is meant by it , and what tradition is to be received , and what tradition is to be rejected . 3. the difference of the case between the separation of protestants from the church of rome , and the separation of dissenters from the church of england . 4. the protestant resolution of faith , &c. some seasonable reflections on the discovery of the late plot , being a sermon preached on that occasion , by w. sherlock , d. d. rector of st. george buttolph-lane , london . king david's deliverance : or , the conspiracy of absolon and achitophel defeated , in a sermon preached on the day of thanksgiving appointed for the discovery of the late fanatical plot. by thomas long , b. d. one of the prebendaries of exon. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a59793-e11630 milton pro pop. angl. defensio . p. 68. notes for div a59793-e19640 iulian the apostate . iulian apostate dr. sherlock's case of allegiance considered with some remarks upon his vindication. collier, jeremy, 1650-1726. 1691 approx. 394 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 84 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33908) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61435) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 274:2) dr. sherlock's case of allegiance considered with some remarks upon his vindication. collier, jeremy, 1650-1726. [10], 160 [i.e. 154] p. [s.n.], london : 1691. attributed to jeremy collier. cf. bm. errata: p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. -case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers. church and state -great britain. divine right of kings. allegiance -great britain. 2003-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion dr. sherlock's case of allegiance considered with some remarks upon his vindication . london , printed in the year mdcxci . to the reader . there has been lately , as i am informed , several considerable treatises published against dr. sherlock's case of allegiance ; and though i have perused none of these answers , excepting the author of the postscript ; yet , from the general reputation they have gained , i have reason to conclude , they are likely to give the reader satisfaction , and the dr. diversion enough , if he intends a reply . so that had not the following papers been almost finished before i understood there were so many pens drawn upon him , i think i had neither put my self , nor any body else , to any trouble upon this subject . however , since the dr. has hung out the flag of defiance , sent us a general challenge , and seems desirous to charge a whole party , he of all men has no reason to be disobliged , for being attacked from all quarters . indeed , this circumstance , besides its complyance with his inclinations , must do him a kindness , let things happen how they will : for , if he is obliged to quit the field , it affords him the excuse of being oppressed with numbers . if he succeeds , the forces of the enemy must add to the glory of his triumph . i shall apply my self to the consideration of the body of his book , without making any large animadversions upon his preface ; his business in these preliminary pages being not to argue upon the controversie , but only to report matters of fact with reference to his late behaviour , and to draw up an history of his integrity . which design of the dr's , how necessary soever it might be to undertake , is , in my opinion , but odly pursued : for , he has shewn an open partiality in his conduct before his complyance , and made large steps towards the revolution , when he was convinced of its being the wrong side . he calls it faction to appear with heartiness and concern in defence of the old oaths , though we believe them to remain in full force . he prayed in the royal stile for the present possessors , as early ( one week excepted ) as the most forward . he gives hard language to those of the church of england , who absent themselves from the publick communion since the late alterations in the service , which , in their judgments , are both sinful in the matter , and defective in the authority . he seems sollicitous , lest the rightful government should recover , and declares , his inclinations were engaged against it . 't is true , he prayed heartily to god , that if he was in a mistake , he might discover it , and comply : but he doth not tell us he spent any of his devotions the other way . he does not say , that he prayed for constancy and perseverance , provided he was already in the right : that he desired the divine assistance , to stand firm against interest , and noise , and numbers , and be neither bribed nor frightned out of his duty . now , to act in this manner is a much more difficult performance than the other ; and therefore the preparatory dispositions ought to be begg'd of god almighty with the greater earnestness . a little praying is sufficient to incline a man to consult his ease , and preserve his fortune , but to hazard or part with them both , is a piece of discipline very unacceptable to flesh and blood , and requires a more than ordinary degree of courage and resignation to undergo it . these things considered , the dr. had reason to call the reader his confessor , for i am much mistaken , if he has not frankly discovered his failings to him . however , the dr. assures us , he has received that satisfaction he desired . which is not unlikely ; but whether it was the return of his prayers , or not , will be best understood by examining his principles . i have nothing farther to add by way of introduction , but only to desire it may be observed , that the dr. all along supposes the revolution unjust and illegal , and argues upon a case of usurpation . and therefore , if the reader meets with any unexpected freedoms in this discourse , he may please to charge it upon the nature of the dispute , and thank the dr. for giving the occasion . the contents . the laws relating to the present controversie vindicated , from the exception of obscurity . pag. 3. several consequences drawn from the dr's principles , by which the danger and vnreasonableness of them is made apparent . p. 5. bishop overall's convocation-book , no favourer of the dr's opinion . p. 11. this proved from the convocation's maintaining several propositions , inconsistent with the dr's principles p. 12. his citations from the convocation-book unserviceable to his purpose . p. 18. the authority of the aramites , moabites , and aegyptians unexceptionable . p. 21 , 22. the four monarchies all legal governments . p. 23. the case of jaddus considered . p. 27. a brief account how the romans came by their government over judea . p. 35. the dr's notion of settlement inconsistent with it self . p. 41. the 13th . of rom. 1 , 2. concerns only legal powers , proved from 1st , the doctrin of the scriptures , p. 44. 2dly , from the testimony of the ancients . p. 51. 3dly , from the general sentiments of mankind at and before the apostles times . p. 53. the pretended difficulties of this interpretation removed p. 55. the dr's argument from matth. 22.21 , answered . p. 59. his doctrin concerning providence and events , considered . p. 62. the abettors of his opinion in this point , produced . p. 65. amos 3.6 . recovered from the dr's interpretation . p 67. hobbism proved upon the dr. p. 73. the insignificancy of legal right upon his principles p. 82. his doctrin concerning the different degrees of submission , &c. examined . p. 85. intruding powers have no right to a qualified obedience , nor to the royal state. p. 86. the original of government easily accounted for , without the assistance of the dr's scheme . p. 90. the objections raised by the dr. defended against his answers . p. 94. the first objection , that his doctrin makes a king lose his light by being notoriously injured , made good . ibid. the injustice of deserting a prince upon the score of religion ; and the sophistry of this pretence discovered . p. 96. allegiance bound unconditionally upon the subject , by the laws of nature , and of the land. p. 97. all subjects , upon demand , bound to hazard their persons in defence of their prince ; proved from the resolution of the iudges , &c. p. 97 , &c. the dr's distinction of the parts of the oath of allegiance , ill founded , and misapplyed . p. 99. the king's authority entire , after dispossession . p. 101. the pretences for a king de facto confuted . p. 102. to maintain in the oath of allegiance , implies an endeavour to restore . p. 103 , &c. treason may be committed against a king out of possession . p. 107. the dr's assertion , that the oath of allegiance is a national oath , &c. untrue and dangerous . p. 111. the objection , that his doctrin makes it impossible for an injured prince to recover his right , defended . p. 115. the case of private robbers and vsurpers the same . p. 117. no difference between an human and a divine intail , as to the firmness of the settlement . p. 125. the object . from hosea 8.4 . defended ; with some remarks upon the iewish theocracy . p. 130. his doctrin not founded upon the same principle with the doctrin of passive obedience . p. 133. his objection , that the disowning illegal powers limits the providence of god in governing kings , &c. answered . p. 134. his argument drawn from the necessity of government , considered , and counter-principles set up against him . p. 136 , &c. the relation between government and allegiance examined . p. 144. the dr's objections against an immoveable allegiance unsatisfactory . p. 145. the vsurpation under the rump and cromwel , and had divine authority by the dr's principles . p. 148. absolom a providential monarch . p. 155. the insufficiency of the dr's plea from a national submission , and the consent of the estates . p. 157. errata . page 4 , line 28 , after nullum dele in , p. 8. l. 23. after the add dr's , p. 9. l. 5. after were add a , p. 10. l. 26. aft . own'd add . p. 11. l. 36. for these r. those , p. 14. l. 9. for fall r. fell , p. 17. l. 7. del . by , p. 17. marg. for heb. 12 , r. heb. 11. p. 28. l. 40. aft . canon add . p. 31. l. 27. for uncouttly r. uncourtly , p. 37. l. 32. for there r. here , p. 42. l. 24. for any r. an , p. 46. l. 27. after disallow add it , p. 50. l. 14. for these r. there , p. 51. l. 28. for of r. and , p. 53. l. 36. marg. for sept. r. lept . ibid. l. 37. for aritogiton r. aristogiton , p. 54. l. 17. for valena r. valeria , p. 59. l. 36. aft . answer dele , ibid. add , after which , p. 61. l. 20. for has r. was , p. 62. l. 35. after state add . p. 68. l. 15. for imploys r. implies , p. 69. l. 11. aft . dr. add may , p. 71. l. 29. for king r. kings , p. 73. l. 12. aft . we add can , p. 83. l. 15. for the see r. see the , p. 88. l. 4. for crowned r. owned , ibid. l. 32. aft . and add the , p. 93. l. 26. aft . would de● , p. 99. l. 24. for asserting r. assisting , ibid. l. 25. for possession r. profession , p. 101. l. 28. del . other , p. 104. l. 31. for from r. for , p. 114 l. 35. aft . seek add it , p. 115. l. 4. for them r. him , p. 118. l. 19. for disputet r. disputes , ibid. l. 28. for remains r. remain , p. 119. l. 17. for draws r. draw , ibid. l. 18. for translates r. translate , p 121. l. 28. for returning r. recurring , p. 124. l. 30. aft . laws del . and , p. 125. l. 2. for them r. him , p. 151. l. 4. for of r. and , p. 153. l. 16. for countries r. counties , p. 156. l. 3. for goth r. gath. dr. sherlock's case of allegiance considered , &c. that we may not be surprized with the doctors novelties , he very frankly at first acquaints us what we are to expect from him . he makes no scruple to aver , that the intermixing the dispute of right with the duty of obedience , or making the legal right of princes the only foundation of allegiance , is that which has perplexed the controversy . his reason is , because allegiance can only be paid to government , ( he means force ) and therefore it can be due to no other title . from whence it 's plain , that illegal violence is preferable to legal right , i. e. a man ought not to pay his debts to his creditor , but to atturn to the next highway-man he meets . i wonder the doctor , who seems so much concerned for good manners , should set the constitution aside with so little ceremony . for if legal right must always give place to unjust power , the priviledges of law signifie nothing , except they could make a man invincible , which i fear is a task somewhat difficult . if you enquire why the author has such a mean opinion of right , he 'll tell you , because all arguments from this ground serve only to confound the cause , and the conscience , and to lead men into dark labyrinths of law and history . first , as for history , in an hereditary kingdom it 's no doubt a difficult point to find out the royal family . to distinguish a king's son from his daughter , and the next in blood from iack cade , or wat tyler . and at this rate , except matters of fact clear up , if we pretend but to know our right hand from our left , we may be carried into a labyrinth . and , secondly , as for the laws , they are as dark , it seems , as if the parliaments met only to propound riddles , and proclaim unintelligible jargon to the nation . and if the case stands thus , those gentlemen who have endeavoured to justifie the legality of the present establishment , were certainly out in the management of the dispute . for if right and wrong are not distinguishable ; if good and evil are of the same colour ; if it 's unsafe to make any enquiries into such niceties as these , for fear of wildring our understandings ; then i confess all revolutions are alike to us , and ought to be complied with . however the doctor might have been a little kinder to his own party , who no doubt did their best , and not have told the world that they engaged in an unnecessary argument , which it was both unfit to dispute , and impossible to manage to satisfaction ; and that their performances , how well soever meant , have served only to confound the cause . i perceive if the doctor had not gone in to their relief , all had been lost ▪ and therefore he is resolved to make them sensible of his assistance , and not to allow them the least share in the glorious defence of the revolution . but if they are contented with this character , i have no more to say . to return to the laws , which the doctor avoids as so many rocks and shelves in dispute , fit only to wrack conscience upon . now this character , as it s far from a complement to the english constitution ; so it s somewhat surprizing to one who remembers that this gentleman has formerly been of another mind . in his case of resistance , he does not complain that the laws which settle the rights of the crown were so mysterious , and hard to be understood ; ( and yet this is not that one principle which he says he has only renounced in that book ) there he asserts the prerogative , and maintains non-resistance from the constitution , as well as from any other topick . i wonder he should lose his law , after almost seven years improvement of study and conversation . after all , the doctor owns that the laws , setting aside their obscurity , are good things ; and were they easily understood , he would willingly cast the cause upon this ( issue ) ; if we could readily find where the seat of government is fixed ; who is our king , and what are the great lines of prerogative and subjection ; if we could attain to this perfect skills in the government , he plainly intimates , that the law would then be a clear and safe rule of conscience . from whence it follows , that where the laws speak out , there is no need to recur to events and providence : for where-ever the constitution is plain , it ought to carry it . so that the doctor 's fundamental principle of divine right , ( or power ) upon which his whole scheme is erected , falls to the ground . for by his own concession , providence is but a secundary rule of conscience , and only to take place where the directions of law are defective and unintelligible . it will not be improper therefore to cite some of the laws , for possibly they are not so intricate and obscure , as the doctor represents them . the 24 h 8. c. 12. begins thus : by sundry old and authentick histories and chronicles , it is manifestly declared and expressed , ( without labyrinths ) that this realm of england is an empire , and hath been so accepted in the world , governed by one supreme head and king , unto whom a body politick , compact of all sorts and degrees of people — been bounden and owen a natural and humble obedience , he being instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferances of almighty god with plenary , whole , and entire power , &c. 5 el. c. 1. and be it further enacted , that every person which shall hereafter be elected or appointed a knight , citizen or burgess , &c. for any parliament or parliaments , hereafter to be holden , shall from henceforth , before he shall enter into the said parliament house , or have any voice there , openly receive and pronounce the said oath , ( the oath of supremacy ) before the lord steward for the time being . — and that he which shall enter into the parliament house without taking the said oath , shall be deemed no knight , citizen , burgess , &c. for that parliament ; nor shall have any voice . in 3 iac. 1. c. 4. there is this remarkable paragraph : and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid , that if any person or persons — shall put in practice to absolve , persuade , or withdraw , any of the subjects of the king's majesty , or of his heirs or successors of this realm of england , from their natural obedience to his majesty , his heirs or successors , or move them , or any of them , to promise obedience to any other prince , state , or potentate ; that then every such person , their procurers , counsellors , &c. be to all intents judged traytors — and being thereof lawfully convicted shall have iudgment , suffer , and forfeit , as in cases of high treason . the 7 th iac. 1. c. 6. concerning the oath of allegiance , enacts , that all and every knights , citizens , burgesses , &c. of the commons house of parliament , at any parliament , or session of parliament , hereafter to be assembled , before he or they , shall be permitted to enter the said house , shall make , take , and receive a corporal oath ( of allegiance ) upon the evangelists , before the lord steward for the time being , &c. in 14 car. 2. c. 3. it 's declared , that within all his majesty's realms and dominions , the sole and supreme power , government , command , and disposition , of the militia , and of all forces by sea and land ; and of all forts and places of strength , is , and by the laws of england ever was , the undoubted right of his majesty , and his royal predecessors , kings and queens of england ; and that both , or either houses of parliament cannot , nor ought to pretend to the same ; nor can nor lawfully may raise , or levy any war , offensive or defensive , against his majesty , his heirs or lawful successors . to these may be added 13 car. 2. c. 1. 12 car. 2. c. 31. 25 ed. 3. c. 2. not to mention any more . now i believe most people will conclude that the meaning of these statutes is not very hard to come by : and that a moderate share of english and common sense is sufficient to understand them . i shall insert two or three maxims relating the same subject . the first tells us , the king never dyes . the second , the king can do no wrong . the third affirms , nullum in tempus occurrit regi , that is , no length of usurpation can prejudice the king 's right . and least the doctor should take these for no more than to many quaint sentences , he may please to observe from a very authentick authority , that maxims are one of the grounds of the law ; that they need no proof , but are sufficient authority to themselves ; that they are equivalent to a statute ; and that all inferences from them are of the same force with the principle from whence they are drawn . having shewn that the laws with respect to allegiance and prerogative are not full of mystery and labyrinth , as the doctor would suppose , but are plain , easy and unperplexed , in these great points ; ( indeed were they otherwise it would be no ordinary misfortune and reproach to the government ; ) i shall proceed to examine the doctor 's scheme , which he owns may startle some men at first , because it looks paradoxically , and carrys the face of singularity . however it 's so much for the ease and safety of subjects , &c. that every one has reason to wish it true . how much his principles are for the ease of society will be disputed afterwards . but allowing them this advantage , his inference is by no means conclusive , nor proper for his character . for if we are to wish every thing true that makes for our ease , than we ought to wish the christian religion false ; because there is so much mortification and self-denial enjoyned by it . which made the gnosticks , from an inward principle of self-preservation , abjure it in times of persecution . soul take thine ease , is so far from being good divinity , that a generous heathen would scorn such advice ; if he found it prejudicial to justice and honour . but before i enquire more particularly into the truth of the doctor 's scheme , i shall briefly represent some of the consequences which follow from the supposal of its being true . by which we may be in some measure able to guess how much the doctor has obliged the world by his discovery . 1. if power ( as he affirms , pag. 15. ) is a certain sign of god's authority ; if , by what means soever a prince ascends the throne , he is placed there by god almighty ; and the advantages of success are always to be interpreted the gifts of providence , then the best title may be defeated , without either antecedent injury , consent , or an express revelation from god. and if so , the nature of property is perfectly destroyed , and all dominion is resolved into occupation ; and no one has any right to any thing any longer than he can keep it . this doctrin condemns a man to poverty , for being ill used ; and makes a prince forfeit , for no other reason but because his subjects were disloyal . if it s said , that an unjust seizure of a private estate extinguishes no title ; but for the peace of mankind god has so ordered it , that whosoever possesses himself of a government is immediately the proper owner . that it s not thus ordered , i shall prove more large afterwards . at present i only desire to know , whether god loves peace more than justice ? whether he delights to see men brethren in iniquity , and combine for the support of violence ? besides , is it for the peace of mankind , that great thieves should be rewarded , and little ones punished , that a man that steals a horse must suffer as a felon , but he that steals a kingdom , and flies at nobler quarry , must be worshipped and obeyed , though the right owner is still claiming , contesting , and in view ? what is this , but to encourage universal violence , to animate ill men to more towring flights of ambition , and to make them enlarge their projects of wickedness ? a man need little skill in inferences to see what an admirable expedient this is likely to prove for the quiet of the world ▪ the doctor was sensible of this inconvenience , and endeavours to avoid it , by saying , that ambitious spirits , without a great dose of enthusiasm , can't make this construction of his doctrin . for unless they can flatter themselves that god has ordained them to be kings , their attempts according to his principle will be checked . and why should they not believe god has ordained them to be kings , if they find apparent symptoms of weakness and decay in a government , if they perceive the inclinations of the people for them , if they can form a strong party , and have a probable prospect of success ? a moderate share of enthusiasm , with some principles , would be apt to make ambitions men to interpret such accidents and advantages to be broad intimations of the favour of heaven . that god was designing some great revolution , and calling them to crowns and scepters . and as for enthusiasm , it s no wonder to find the world overdosed with that ; especially at a time when men pretend to understand prophesies almost as well as those who wrote them ; when they can expound st. iohn's visions upon piedmont and savoy ; and point out the time and geography of a mystery ▪ 2. this doctrine supposes there is no such thing as usurpation after possession ; which is not only ▪ contrary to the language of our laws , 1 e. 4. c. 1 &c. but to the common sense of mankind ; it being generally agreed by those who have any notion of common justice and morality , that what is unlawful to take away , its unlawful to keep . which must be allowed to be true , unless violence and ill usage are valuable consideration for the conveying of property . whereas by these principles , let a man come into his power never so unjustly ; let there be never so fair a claim continued against him , yet if bare possession gives him a divine right , it 's as much his property as if he had the clearest and most uncontested title in the world. the doctor endeavors to get clear of this consequence , by coining a distinction between legal and divine right . but this will do no execution upon the difficulty . for if possession always conveys a divine right , all legal claim must immediately determine . i suppose the doctor will not deny that god can repeal a human constitution . now when god transfers any property from one person to another , it 's certain he must null the first title . for to explain this matter ; providence either conveys the right with the thing , or it does not . if not , then the right remains where it was , and the thing is wrongfully transferred ; which i believe no one will be so hardy as to affirm . if providence does transfer the right with the thing ▪ then the legal claim must be extinguished ; otherwise this absurdity will follow , viz. there will be a human and divine law , contradictory to each other , in force at the same time . and since human laws when duly circumstantiated are confirmed by heaven , god's authority must be engaged on both sides , and by consequence opposed to it self . 3. this principle destroys the nature of repentance , by which it's generally understood that every one is bound to restore that which he has unjustly taken away . but if we pursue the doctor 's reasoning to its just consequences this doctrin will not hold . for if possession , though never so unjustly gained , has always god's authority to confirm it , one would think there should be no obligation to restitution . for why should a man restore that which he is vested in by a divine right ? and yet i doubt not but the doctor will grant that injustice cannot be forgiven without repentance , nor repentance practised without restitution ; so that by this gentleman's scheme a man is both allowed and forbidden the same thing ; and has a divine right to keep that , for which he will be damned if he does not restore it , which certainly is something more than ordinary . 4. the doctor 's principle puts it in the subjects power to depose their prince when they please , i don't say it makes it lawful for them to undertake it ▪ that would be to misrepresent him ; but when it 's once done , his notion of power and settlement confirms their injustice , and ratifies their treason , and by consequence makes a standing army necessary . 5. it cantonizes kingdoms , and removes the boundaries of dominion . for if power be a certain sign of god's authority , then we ought to submit to every one who challengeth the name of a king , though for never so small a precinct ; if he has but force to back his pretensions : and by consequence every parish may set up for an independent government ; and we may be obliged to swear allegiance to a constable . 't is to no purpose to say , that the kingdom has not agreed to such a division . for the limits of kingdoms are founded upon nothing but legal right , and human constitutions , and therefore they ought not to oppose god's authority , which is always visible in power . seas , and rivers , and mountains , the usual barrieres of empire and jurisdiction , ought not to hinder divine right from taking place ; nor shut providence out of the world. 6. this doctrin gives thieves and robbers a good title to whatever they can steal and plunder . the doctor was sensible of this inconvenience , and endeavours to remove it , but without success : he offers to shew a disparity between common thieves and usurpers . that the scripture tells us kingdoms are disposed by god , and that all power is of god : but no man pretends that thieves have god's authority . 't is not pretended ; but if the principles hold , it will be very difficult to disprove it . for if power is a certain sign of god's authority , it follows , that he who is strong enough to take a purse must have a divine right to keep it . if providence orders and disposes all events , and there be no evil in the city which the lord has not ( barely permitted but ) done ; then why this divinity should not hold upon salisbury plain , or newmarket heath , as well as upon any other occasion , will be no easy question to resolve . the scriptures which he alledges , that kingdoms are disposed by god , do not come up to his point . for we are likewise told , that private estates are under the disposal of providence , 1 sam. 2.7 . prov. 22.2 . therefore if possession gives a divine right in one case , why not in the other ? this reasoning may be further improved by the doctor 's logick ; where putting out the word kings , i argue thus in the doctor 's expression , all possession is equally rightful with respect to god : for those are rightful owners who are put into possession by god. and its impossible there should be a wrong possessor , unless a man can make himself master of his neighbours fortune , whether god will or no. farther it will not be denied but that the sabeans who took away iob's cattel , ( iob. 1.15 . ) were company of robbers ; and , which is worse , they committed their rapine by the instigation of the devil . and yet , ver. 21. it 's said what was stollen by them , was taken away by the lord. which according to the doctor 's method of interpretation will go a great way towards the proving their divine right . he urges rom. 13.1 . that all power is of god. but this text makes against him , as he is pleased to expound it ; i. e. that it is meant of power , as power , without any respect to right . for his former interpretation of legal power he has solemnly recanted in his preface . now if all power be from god without regard to law , and human justice , why a captain of moss-troopers , who is an usurper in little , may not come in for his share of prerogative , i can't imagine . for an usurper , and his adherents , are as much combined ▪ against justice as any private robbers ▪ they offer violence to the constitution , they out-rage all those who oppose their rapine ; and muster all their force and cunning to keep honest men out of their own . so on the other hand , thieves are generally formed into a society . they have their articles of confederacy , their original contracts , and fundamentals , as well as other people . and therefore they must not be refused the privilege of usurpation , upon the score of being out-lyers . upon the whole , why inferiour thieves should be denied divine right any more than usurpers is unimaginable . unless the bigness of a piece of injustice is a circumstance of advantage : and a man ought to be encouraged by providence for robbing in a greater compass than his neighbours . these , with some others of a resembling nature , are i conceive evident consequences from the doctor 's scheme of government . which besides that they prove the insufficiency of his principles ; ( for nothing but truth can follow from truth ) they shew us at the same time that they are by no means so much for the good of mankind , as he insinuates : and that we ought not to be so fond of them as he would make us ; nor so glad to see them well proved . how much honour he has done the scriptures , and the convocation-book , by making them the abettors of such doctrin as this , may easily be guessed . i hope therefore it may be no hazardous undertaking to joyn issue with the doctor upon this point ; nor over-difficult to disengage these authorities from seeming to give any assistance to his cause . sect . ii. bishop overall's convocation-book no favourer of the doctor 's opinion . before i enter upon this part of the argument , i must observe to the reader , that it has been managed with so much advantage against the doctor already , that it might have been very well omitted here , were it not possible that these papers may fall into some hands that may not be so fortunate as to meet with other satisfaction . however i shall venture to be shorter upon this head , than otherwise i should have been . where i must 1. premise , that supposing the convocation was unquestionably on the doctor 's side , he would be far from gaining his point . for allegiance is a duty which arises from our subjection to the temporal power ; and therefore the laws of each respective kingdom , must be the rule of our practice in this case . a synod , though it may deliver its opinion upon such a point , has no authority to determin against the state. the church , as she did not give princes their crowns , so there is no reason . she should pretend to take them away . if she will be a iudge , and a divider in these matters , she claims a greater privilege than our saviour owned , i hope the doctor won't say , an ecclesiastical canon can set aside the common law , and repeal an act of parliament . this , besides other inconveniences , of which the doctor might be made sensible , would be no other than graffing the roman pretences upon a new stock ; and translating the supremacy from st. peter's to st. paul's . but that this convocation should maintain such doctrin as this is unimaginable , since the great design of their book is to prove the independency of princes ; to vindicate their rights against church-encroachments ; and to shew that ecclesiasticks are as much their subjects as the laity . 2. if we consider the time in which this convocation sat , we shall find it very improper to fix the doctor 's principles upon them , without the clearest and most convincing evidence in their writings . for they met the first of king iames i. when the act of recognition was passed in parliament , where the bishops of this convocation were present , and gave their votes for the bill . in which they recognize and acknowledge ( being bounden thereunto by the laws of god and man ) the king 's right to the crown by inherent birth-right , and undoubted succession . and oblige themselves , their heirs and posterity for ever , to submit to ( or stand by ) this right , until the last drop of their bloods be spent . and would these reverend prelates concur to the making a law , drawn up with such clearness and solemnity of expression , and go presently and contradict it in their synod ? was it their way to make the bishop vote against the lord ; and not only clash with the state , but with themselves ? what! declare themselves bound by the laws of god and man , to stand by the succession to the last drop of their bloods ; and at the same time lay down doctrin , which will help us to as many governments in a year as there are moons ; and ( as has been smartly observed ) make captain tom the most soveraign and divine thing upon earth . those who can believe the convocation guilty of such singularities as these , must have a mean opinion of them ; and ought to lay very little weight upon their authority . having premised these observations , i shall proceed to examin the sense of the convocation as to the point in hand . and 1. i agree with the doctor , that usurped powers , when throughly settled , have god's authority , and are to be reverenced and obeyed ; i. e. these princes who , as the canon speaks , got their authority unjustly , and wrung it by force from the true and lawful possessor ; are to be submitted to as god's ministers , when the legal claim is either surrendred or extinguished . for where there is no other title , possession is sufficient ; in which men ought to acquiesce for the peace of society . but that meer possession in relation to government , ought to over-rule law ; and that might , can turn itself into right ; and give a through settlement in the sense of the convocation , this , though the doctor affirms , i must deny . and in order to the disproof of what he alledges , i shall 1. endeavour to shew , that the convocation maintains several propositions inconsistent with the doctor 's opinion . 2ly . i shall give a distinct answer to the passages cited by him . 1. i shall endeavour to shew , the convocation maintains several propositions inconsistent with the doctor 's opinion . for instance they assert , that adam and noah , while they lived , were chief governors under the son of god , over all their off spring . that god committed the government of all their descendents to them during their lives . now if these two persons had a right to govern during their lives , then certainly possession could not give it to another ; which is a contradiction to what the doctor makes these gentlemen maintain . for according to him , if cain by calumnies , or any other artifice , could but have alienated adam's children from him . if he had set up a title against his father , and got the majority on his side ▪ if the whole administration had been in his hands , and he had been able to have crushed those who would not submit . if the new interest could have advanced thus far , his government had been setled as the doctor expounds the convocation ; and then by consequence cain would have had a divine right to have governed his father . and to call him to an account , if he had refused to comply . and which is somewhat harder , adam if he could not have made his escape , had been obliged in conscience to have resigned , and sworn allegiance upon demand , to his son cain . and though the doctor tells us , that there was a time when fathers had the power of life and death over their own children ; ( which one would think if ever , was the time we are speaking of ) and that under this dispensation it was never allowed by the most barbarous nations for the son to kill his father , though in his own defence . but by this new principle , cain might lawfully have killed adam purely for refusing to submit to his settlement . for he who has a divine right to govern , has certainly the same divine right to dispatch those who will not be governed by him . and thus we have not only made the convocation fall soul upon it self ; but have given an admirable account of paternal authority into the bargain . here the doctor 's usual evasion of an entail can stand him in no stead , there being no such priviledge upon record in reference to adam . 2ly . the convocation asserts , that upon the death of alexander , the iews were as free from the macedonians as any of their bordering neighbours . by which words they must mean they were free de jure . if you enquire the reason of this freedom : they immediately give you a very remarkable one , viz. because none of alexanders captains had any lawful interest , or title to iudah . no lawful title ! why so ? had they not power and possession on their side ? but this is not sufficient in the opinion of the convocation to give them a divine right . and to oblige the people to obey them for conscience sake . and therefore the doctor 's inference that those princes who have no legal right to their thrones may yet have god's authority ; is a direct contradiction to the reasoning of the synod . the doctor tells us , and grounds himself upon the synod ; that since power will govern , god so orders it by his providence as never to entrust soveraign power in any hands without giving them his soveraign authority . the gentleman of the convocation are quite of another opinion : and affirm that the jews were free , and under no tyes of subjection ; to any of alexanders captains ; notwithstanding any claims they could make from providence and possession . and by consequence they suppose that god's authority is always conveyed in a legal chanel ; where there is not express revelation to the contrary . i can't foresee what the doctor can object against this instance , excepting that the macedonians were not in possession of iudea . now this objection depending upon matter of fact may easily be answer'd from iosephus , and the maccabees . to shorten the dispute , i conceive the doctor will not deny that alexander dyed seized of the kingdom of iudea . that he governed it by his vice-roys , and lieutenants , as he did the other provinces of the persian empire ; as fast as they submitted . and therefore some of alexanders officers were in possession of iudea when their master dyed . now that the jews dispossessed the macedonians , and recovered their liberty , though for never so small a time , is not in the least hinted by the convocation : now these gentlemen who have been so punctual in giving an account of all the successive changes of the jewish state , from the first formation of their commonwealth . they who have so particularly taken notice of their theocracy , their government by kings , their captivity , and the variety of masters they fall under , would not have omitted one would think so remarkable an interval of liberty if there had been any such . but instead of this they plainly suppose the contrary in their historical account ; and pass the jews immediately from alexander , into the hands of the aegyptian , and syrian kings . now it 's the sence of the convocation , not the truth of history which we are disputing about : so that since we have gained their opinion the argument must hold good against the doctor though they should prove mistaken in matter of fact. but that this learned assembly followed the generally received opinion uncontradicted by any historian cannot be denyed . and to put the matter beyond all dispute : let us consider the case of antiochus epiphanes , against whom as the convocation observes , mattathias made open resistance . which they suppose was lawfully done because the government of that tyrant was not then either generally received by submission or setled by continuance . whence it will appear that the doctors notion of a settlement , and the convocations , are by no means the same . according to him , antiochus was as well setled as a man would desire . for as for power , the infallible sign of divine authority , that he wanted not ; but was absolute master of iudea , as is evident from the maccabes and iosephus . so that we may be assured the administration of affairs was entirely in his hands . as for the great body of the people they were his own in an extraordinary manner , and complied not only with his government but with his religion too . iason and menelaus the two high priests the convocation informs us , made all the interest for him they could . and the latter , as iosephus reports it , was the occasion of the defection of the whole nation of the iews from their religion . 't is true , as it happens in some other revolutions , they did not all submit to a man , and i conceive the doctor will not insist upon the necessity of this condition . but those who stood out antiochus was well able to crush , and did it to a very severe purpose . as for the time of his government it held no less than three years ; which the doctor must own is long enough in all conscience to justify a compliance . these arguments for submission are as strong as the doctor 's principles can require ▪ and yet we see the convocation dislike antiochus his settlement ; and allows of mattathias his resistance . so that nothing is more plain than that these reverend divines did not believe that the concurrence of the majority of a debauched nation : a full and uncontrolable possession of power , lengthened out to three years of government , were advantages sufficient to infer a divine authority , and to change a bad title into a good one . i know the doctor urges , that antiochus his governmert was not owned by any publick national submission ; which is both more than the convocation says , or the doctor can prove . for if by a national submission he means a recognition of his title in a publick meeting of persons of condition ; he might probably receive such an acknowledgment . it 's not unlikely that iason and menelaus who were so forward in making their court , being persons of the first quality , might engage the nobility to render their new allegiance in a solemn and publick manner ▪ however the business of form is not material ▪ 't is certain from iosephus , that the generality of the jews complied ; and when a nation submits , one would think there was a national submission . indeed why should they not submit ? here was most certainly power in a very large and irresistable proportion , which is a thing we are told will govern ; and therefore god always seconds it with his authority . i hope the doctor does not believe antiochus could make himself king of iudea whether god would or no : and if not , how could these jews have the liberty to stand out against providence , and oppose a divine right ? 3. to give a farther instance that the convocation did not agree with the doctor in his notion of power and settlement . we are told , that if any man shall affirm that the jews might have withstood any of their kings , who claimed by succession , without sin ; and opposing themselves against god , or that the kingdom of iudah by god's ordinance going by succession ; when one king was dead ; his heir was not in right their king , ( however by some athaliah he might be hindered from enjoying it ) or that the people were not bound to obey him , as their lawful king , he does greatly err. now for an assembly to affirm , that where a succession is established the people cannot withstand it without opposing themselves against god ; that a person who is heir apparent , is immediately upon the death of his predecessor their lawful king ; and ought to be obeyed as such ; notwithstanding the usurpation of some athaliah ; i say for them to affirm all this , and at the same time to make force a certain sign of divine authority ; and that we ought to obey it from what point soever it rises ; to put it in the subjects power to break all the links of succession , and to give away an hereditary prince's right by a national submission , or treason , as often as they please ; these are such rank , such staring contradictions , that they are beneath the inadvertencies of common sense , much more the judgment of that venerable assembly . if the doctor replies , that the canon is to be restrained to a succession which was settled by god's ordinance , or express appointment , and consequently to be understood only with relation to the kings of iudea , which had their grown entailed by a particular revelations ▪ to this i answer , 1. that to take the canon in this sense is to make it insignificant , and foreign to their design . whereas it is evident their book ( the first especially ) was written to assert the right of princes , and to state and fix the duty of subjects . but if the examples they alledge , and the doctrine they maintain , are not to be drawn down to application and practice , what are we the better for them ? if their precedents and conclusions hold only for the kings of iudah , to what purpose are they brought ? if we are unconcerned in them , why are they couched into canons and principles , and reported with that particularity and exactness ? we are not now to expect any express orders from heaven for the regulating successions ; and therefore if the convocation is to be understood only of entayles by revelation , they might have spared their pains , for we are not likely to be the wiser for their determination ; as they might easily perceive . 2. i answer , that succession founded upon humane right , is of equal force with that which is supported by revelation , and requires as strong an authority to defeat it . 't is true , god in reward to david's piety , enntayled the crown upon his posterity by special designation : and no doubt it was no small satisfaction to him to be assured that his family should reign as long as it continued , and not be set aside by god's express order to make room for another line , as that of saul's was for himself . but if , by by the fundamentals of the state , the crown was before hereditary ; i cannot conceive what additional strength could accrue to the title from an entayl by revelation ; eventually stronger i grant it might make it , by refreshing the peoples minds , and conveying an awfull impression by the solemnity of the declaration , but their obligation to preserve the descent was the same before . for all humane provisions stand upon a divine bottom ; for which reason the apostle commands us to submit to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake . the laws of a kingdom when the authority is competent , and the matter just , are as much , as to the ground of the obligation , the laws of god , as those he gave upon mount sinai : and kings are his representatives as well as angels , by whose disposition that law was given . therefore those who pretend a divine repeal ought to bring miracles and revelation in one case as well as in the other . these are such obvious truths , that the convocation could not possibly overlook them ; and therefore could not lay any of that stress upon a scripture entayl , upon which the doctor insists : but must suppose compliance with athaliah would have been as unaccountable in any other country not governed by revelation as it was in iudea , provided her title was illegal . to urge this argument a little farther upon the doctor ; if that which he phraseth providence and settlement ▪ is sufficient to null the constitution thô never so clear and unquestionable ; then a great part of the ceremonial law was abrogated under antiochus epiphanes , and the iews were bound in conscience to eat swines flesh ; and forbear circumcision , because they were so commanded by the king , who had the actual government of their country , and sufficient power to crush them upon their refusal . from whence it follows , that those men of resolution , who were tortured for their noncompliance , and whom the apostle is supposed so highly to commend , threw away their lives when they ought to have kept them , and were self-murtherers instead of martyrs . he can't say these precepts they were commanded to transgress , carried any moral obligation in them ; he must therefore recur to his distinction between humane and divine laws ; but this expedient will not do his business : for i have proved that both of them as to their authority are equally divine . now as to the matter in dispute , it 's granted that god as universal lord may alter the seat of property and dominion ; and transfer one man's right to another : but we ought not to conclude he has done it , except we can prove our new claim by the course of humane justice , or express revelation . having shewn from the principles of the convocation , that they cannot understand providence and thorough settlement as the doctor does , without the plainest inconsistency with themselves . i shall proceed to give a distinct answer to the passages cited by him : 1. to prove that princes who have no legal right may have god's authority ; he tells us the convocation teach , that the lord in advancing kings , &c. is not bound to those laws he prescribeth others , and therefore commanded iehu , a subject , to be anointed king. from whence the doctor infers , that what god did by prophets in israel by express nomination , he does by his providence in other kingdoms , without any regard to succession , or legal titles . this he affirms as the doctrine of the convocation , and attempts to prove it from their saying , that the lord both may and is able to overthrow any kings , notwithstanding any claim or interest which they can challenge . in answer to this we may observe , first , that upon iehu's being anointed by the prophet , he is called the lawful king of israel ; and ioram his master is said to be his subject . now if ioram was iehu's subject , it was treason for him to attempt the recovery of his kingdom , and consequently he could have no legal right after dispossession . for if iehu was lawful king , then ioram the dispossessed prince had no right to recover ; unless two opposite and contesting claims , can have a legal right to the same thing ; which certainly is a contradiction in law. from hence one ( if not both ) of these conclusions must necessary follow . 1. either that his distinction of legal and divine right which he coined to answer an objection , is chimerical , and then the difficulty he propos'd remains unanswered . or , 2. if there was any singular advantage in iehu's case , because he was anointed by god's immediate designation , then it follows that revelation about the disposal of crowns , is a much safer warrant , then that which the doctor calls providence ; and that we can't argue with the same authority from the one as from the other , though the doctor is pleased to affirm the contrary , viz , what god did by prophets in israel , &c. he does by his providence in other kingdoms . where by providence we must understand the doctor means success . now that the convocation does not suppose revelation , and success equivalent , to justify alterations in government , but makes a wide difference between them , will appear from the consideration of the place before us . they teach us in the instance of iehu , that god in advancing kings is not bound to those laws which he prescribes others . which is a plain intimation that where governours are not changed by god's express order , allegiance ought to be paid according to the direction of each respective constitution . for those laws of subjection which god is here said to prescribe others , can be no other than the laws which establish the rights of the crown in each particular country ; which laws according to the reasoning of this passage are to be inviolably observed , where god does not expresly interpose to the contrary . and therefore in their canon upon this place they determine , that if any man shall affirm that any prophets , priests , or other persons , having no direct and express command from god ; might lawfully imitate the said fact of elizeus , ( who caused iehu to be anointed ) in anointing successors , to kings , which had otherwise no just interest , title , &c. to their kingdoms ; or that it is lawful for any captain or subject , high or low , whatsoever , to bear arms against their sovereign , &c. by the example of iehu ( except it might first plainly appear that there are now prophets sent extraordinarily from god , with sufficient and special authority in that behalf ) he doth greatly err. and since the convocation condemns the removing of princes , without particular orders from heaven ; it 's plain they could not believe that every effectual revolution had god's approbation . for if they did believe that god does that by his providence now , which he did formerly by his prophets ; i. e. if they did believe his will is to be interpreted by events , and that he approves and acts in all revolutions which are successful ; why do they pronounce all practices of this nature unlawful , except they are warranted by express and immediate authority from heaven ? certainly they could not declare that unlawful , which they believed to be god almighty's doing . what is the reason they tell us , no man must imitate the example of iehu , thô , like him , he should be chosen by the captains of the army ; and have power , and the consent of the people to dethrone the lawful prince : if they thought revelation and success , principles of equal certainty ; if it was their opinion that providence was always on the prevailing side ; and that kings had no right to govern any longer than the major part of their subjects were willing to obey them ? the doctor 's instance to prove that providence or success is a certain manifestation of the divine approbation , is clearly against him . for thô the lord may , and is able to overthrow kings , notwithstanding any claim , title , &c. yet it 's evident by this example , and the canon made upon it , that the convocation did not think this was ever done , without god's particular commission . for it 's positively affirmed by this reverend synod , that ehud and othoniel , the deliverers mentioned in this place , were raised up by god almighty with a full assurance of their lawful callings , and made judges immediately by him ; without which prerogatives it had been altogether unlawful for them to have done as they did . — because that god foresaw what mischief private men ( as all subjects are in respect of their prince ) might do , under the colour of these examples . now if it 's unlawful for any person to step out of his private sphere , and to act counter to the laws of subjection , and common justice , without an especial dispensation from heaven ; then , when such irregular measures are taken , we must not affirm they have the countenance of god almighty , and are brought about by the conduct of his providence . to say this , is by the principles of the convocation to make god the author of sin ; and to prompt men to those actions , they will be damned , for doing . in a word , if , as these gentlemen inform us , those who disturb and overthrow governments without an express commission from god , do that which is altogether unlawful ; then certainly they cannot plead god's authority for what they did . and if so , success and revelation are not principles equally warrantable , unless that which is lawful and unlawful be the same . and by consequence it 's a great mistake to say that victorious force is as clear an evidence of a divine interposition , as the most unquestionable inspiration . or , to use the doctor 's words , that what god did by prophets in israel , by express nomination of the person , he does by his providence in other kingdoms . so that to fasten such a meaning as this upon the convocation , is to interpret them contrary to the obvious construction and scope of the passage , and to make them inconsistent both with truth and themselves . to give an instance in a lower case . there is no doubt but god can dispose of private property as well as crowns , notwithstanding any title to the contrary ; as we know he gave the egyptians gold and jewels , to the israelites ; but now if any man should run away with a sum of money he had borrowed of his neighbors , and plead providence for his knavery , in all likelihood he would not have gotten a verdict from the convocation . to go on ; the doctor tells us , that the moabites and aramites could never have a legal right to the government of israel , and yet the convocation asserts , that it was not lawful for the israelites to take up arms against those kings . but why could those princes never have a legal right over the israelites ? the convocation , i 'm sure , says no such thing . the doctor may please to observe , that at this time there was no king in israel . there was no royal line established by succession ; no governors set up by divine appointment . this conquest of the aramites , &c. hapned before the date of the iewish monarchy , and in the interval of the judges . and since the israelites were under no preingagements to a dispossessed prince , what should hinder them from ranging themselves under the obedience of a foreign governor , when they were in no condition to resist ? in this case their submission gives away no man's right , nor does any injury to a third person . and thus being at liberty to make over their subjection , when they had once actually submitted ; the kings to whom they gave up their liberty , had a legal right to govern them , though they might acquire it by unjustifiable methods . but when people are under a former obligation to a prince , who insists upon his right , and demands their obedience , there their hands are tied up , and they cannot acknowledge any new master without breach of duty to their old one. our author proceeds with the convocation to the kings of of egypt and babylon , where he says , they teach that submission was due to these princes who never had a legal right to govern israel : and the like it seems they affirm of the four monarchies , which were all violent usurpations . but 1. the doctor misreports the convocation ; ( it 's hoped out of inadvertency ; ) for they neither affirm that the kings of egypt , and babylon , had never any legal or natural right to govern israel ; nor any thing like it . or that any of the monarchies stood upon usurpation , when the iews were bound to submit to their authority . as for the king of egypt , they make no exception to his title , they only say , he oppressed the people very tyrannically ; which all men know may be done by a lawful prince . and that the kings of egypt were such to the israelites , will appear if we consider in what condition the children of israel were when they went into egypt . now the scripture informs us , they were driven thither partly by necessity and famine . they were but one single family . and being in these circumstances , we cannot imagine that iacob set up for monarchy in egypt ; or indented with pharaoh for independency . it 's very unlikely that prince would suffer a few indigent persons , who came for bread and protection , to set up a distinct kingdom in the midst of his own dominions . such pretences and proposals as these to one of the most powerful monarchs in the world , would have looked very extravagantly from a poor distressed family . and to take things at the lowest , we must acknowledge that the first generation of the israelites , owed pharaoh a local allegiance . for thus much sir ed. coke and others agree is due to those princes into whose country we travel ; notwithstanding our subjection remains still uncancelled to our natural prince . but iacob , as appears from the history of scripture , was not under the jurisdiction of any of the princes of palestine , and therefore it was in his power to make himself and family entirely pharaoh's subjects . and that he did so , needs not be disputed any farther . for i suppose it will be granted of all hands , that the israelites were far enough from reigning in egypt . and since there was no prince of palestine that could claim any right over the israelites ; all those who were born in egypt , which were no less than three generations , were pharaoh's natural subjects ; and he by consequence their natural and legal-prince . of this truth the convocation seem very sensible , as may be collected from their saying ; it may not be omitted , when god himself sent moses to deliver them from that servitude ; he would not suffer him to carry them thence , till pharaoh their king gave them licence to depart . this is a pregnant proof what a mighty regard the convocation thought god almighty had to the legal rights of princes ; that he is so far from giving them away to blind events , to treachery and unjustifiable force , that revelation and repeated miracles are scarce thought sufficient to disengage subjects from their allegiance , without the consent of their prince . if any one questions the reasoning of the synod in this point , i am not bound to make it good ; their opinion is sufficient for my purpose . i shall now proceed to the kings of babylon , and prove against the doctor that they likewise had a legal right to govern israel ; both before , and after the captivity . i suppose it will not be denied , that when a prince either submits himself , or is expresly commanded by god to resign , there his sovereignty ceases , and the legal right is transferred to the resignee : if the latter case be questioned , i desire to know whether god has not the supreme dominion of the world ? if he has , he may extinguish any man's right , and dispose of it as he pleases . and thence it follows , that when he has given it away by express grant , the former possessor has no longer any right ; and if not any , no legal one . farther , if a legal right should continue after god has expresly given it away , this absurdity will follow , that god cannot repeal a humane law , and consequently has a lesser authority than men. i have already proved that revelation and success are quite different principles ; and that we have no manner of reason to infer god's approbation from the latter , as from the former ; and therefore the doctor can take no advantage from this way of reasoning . to return to the kings of babylon , whose title may easily be made out from the scripture . for first iehoiakim submitted to nebuchadnezzar , and became his servant , and was afterwards deposed by him for his revolt . after him nebuchadnezzar being sovereign paramount , sets up iehoiachin son to iehoiakim , who was afterwards carried away captive , and his uncle zedekiah made king by the babylonian monarch . thus we see the kings of iudah , who only had the right to govern that nation , became vassals to the king of babylon , held their crowns of him , and were contented to reign durante beneplacito . and though nebuchadnezzar might possibly oblige them by unjust force to these conditions , yet after they had submitted their act was valid , and obliged to performance . this is sufficient to make nebuchadnezzar a legal monarch : but this is not all ; for moab , ammon , tyre , sidon , &c. are expresly given to him by god himself , and all those princes , together with iehoiakim and zedekiah , are commanded to come under the protection , and to own the authority of the king of babylon . and destruction is denounc'd against those who refused to comply . that nation and kingdom which will not serve the same nebuchadnezzar king of babylon ; and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of babylon , that nation will i punish , saith the lord , with the sword , and with the famine , and with the pestilence , till i have consumed them by his hand . thus we see the kings of babylon reigned dei gratia with a witness ; they had their charter for government signed and sealed in heaven , and delivered to notice and publick view , by authentick and unquestionable hands . this certainly is enough in all reason to make nebuchadnezzar a rightful prince . if the doctor has any thing of this nature to justifie the present revolution , the cause is his own ▪ therefore if he knows of any prophets he would do well to produce them : let them but shew their credentials , and prove their mission , and we have done . but if he has none of this evidence , the places cited by the convocation , that god takes away kings , and sets up kings , are foreign to his purpose . 't is true , when god speaks from heaven all humane laws ought to give place , and be silent . but then we must consider , that revelation , and the doctor 's notion of providence , are widely different ; the the one is an infallible direction , the other will lead us into all the labyrinths of confusion and injustice : and make us abettors of all those unaccountable practises which ungodly power has the permission to act . if any man will be of this opinion he ought not to make the convocation his voucher . do they not say then that god removes , and sets up kings ? not just in the doctor 's words : they affirm , that god has ever used the ministry of civil magistrates in other countries as well as in iudea , &c. and may not all this be done without giving his authority to usurpers ? 't is true , they instance in nebuchadnezzar , but this prince had both the submission of the kings of iudah , and the immediate appointment of god ; either of which were sufficient to make his title unquestionable . and since his authority was thus fortified , it 's no wonder that the convocation pronounces that the iews were bound to obey him . so that in their sense god is said to take away kings , and set up kings , either 1. by express nomination : this way , if there was no other , the babylonian and persian monarchies may be defended . the former has been spoke to already ; and of the latter it was foretold by isaiah long before the birth of cyrus ; that he should be a conqueror , that god had holden his right hand , or strengthened him , to subdue nations : and that he should restore the iews to their own country ; which could not be done without the destruction of the babylonian empire . 2. god is said to take away and set up kings , when he suffers one king to conquer another ; and the right heir is either destroyed , or submits . and since we are not to expect new revelations , we are to conclude , god removes kings no other way but this : which is no limiting the providence of god in governing kings , and protecting injured subjects , as the doctor supposes . for god can , when he sees it convenient , either turn their hearts , or take them out of the world , or incline them to resign . these are all easy and intelligible expedients , and don 't bring any of those difficulties of providence upon us , as the doctor has entangled himself with . this keeps the ancient boundaries of right and wrong unremoved ; and settles the duty of a subject upon a legal basis. indeed where revelation fails , what is so reasonable a direction to steer by , as the constitution ; which is confirmed by the laws of nature , and the authority of god ? is not this a much more accountable method , than to resign up our consciences to violence , and impetuous accidents , and to make treason our oracle ? now setting aside the scripture-right the babylonian and persian monarchs had to their empire ; it 's easy to conceive that these victorious monarchs either destroyed those kings they dispossessed , or made them submit their claim , as edgar atheline did to william the conqueror . that this practice of dispatching them was usual to settle the new conquests , and prevent competitors , is very probable . upon this account it was that nebuchadnezzar slew zedekiah's sons , and all the nobles of iudah . and at the fall of the babylonian empire belshazzar was slain , as we may learn from daniel and xenophon . and how kindly the romans used their royal captives may be guessed , without other examples , by the treatment of perseus , and his family . now where the right owner of the government is destroyed , though never so wickedly , the usurper becomes a lawful prince : for possession is a good right , where there is no better . these observations are sufficient to justify submission to the four monarchies , without having recourse to the doctor 's new scheme . i am now to attend the doctor to alexander the great , whom he gives a hard character , and thinks any prince who gets the throne may pretend as much right as he . whether the ground of alexander's war was defensible , or not , is not material to the point● however he insists very much upon the justice of his cause , and tells his soldiers they were ingaged in a holy war ; and that his design was to revenge the injuries done to religion , by darius and xerxes kings of persia ; who made a barbarous descent upon greece , and violated all laws , humane and divine . and in his letter to darius he sets forth , by way of declaration , how the grecian colonies in ionia , and about the hellespont , had been oppressed and harassed by his predecessors . how greece was over-run with fire and sword ; and besides other terrible articles of accusation he tells him , that his father philip was assassinated by some persian's instigation : and at last appeals to the gods with a great deal of assurance . now i don't find darius ever offered to purge himself , and therefore the charge might be all true , for ought appears to the contrary . and if so , i hope the doctor will be kinder to alexander's title , and not censure such a religious expedition ; especially where liberty and property were so much concerned . and if this won't do , there are several other considerable circumstances after darius his death , to alledge in behalf of alexander's legal right . 1. we don't find darius his son who was taken with his mother at the battel of issus , outlived his childhood ; and therefore it may be taken for granted , he never put in his claim . 2. alexander married statyra darius his eldest daughter , which made him at the lowest a matrimonial king. and no doubt this lady would not contest the administration of affairs with him at that time . and for fear the doctor should find out a salick law in persia ; it may be observed in the third place , that oxatres , darius's brother submitted to alexander , and rid in his guards . and now for ought i see his title is clear on all sides . but the doctor attempts to prove from the authority of the convocation , that the iews were bound to submit to alexander , when he summoned iaddus the high priest and the rest of them to surrender , though it cannot be denied that darius was then living . in answer to this i shall prove , first , that this assertion is a manifest misconstruction of the convocation . secondly , that considering the condition darius was then in , such a submission as the doctor contends for , must be unlawful by his own principles . first , the doctor misrepresents the convocation . 't is true , the convocation asserts , the iews were the subjects of alexander after his authority was settled among them . but then they plainly suppose that alexander's authority was not settled while darius lived . for , 1. they inform us , that iaddus sent alexander word that he could not lawfully violate his oath of allegiance to darius , whil'st that prince lived . now in reporting this answer of iaddus , they don't add the least mark of censure or disapprobation . whereas it 's their custom throughout their whole book , when they relate any unwarrantable passages of history ; to shew their dislike , and to condemn the fact. this method as it was necessary to declare their opinion , and make their narrative instructive : so there never was a more important occasion to pursue it , than in the place before us . for if they were of the doctor 's mind , they must have thought iaddus was wonderfully to blame , for giving alexander such a categorical peremptory denial . and therefore they ought to have censured , and exposed such a dangerous mistake for fear of the malignity of the precedent . not submit to alexander while darius lived ! what a mortal obstinacy was this ? no less in the doctor 's divinity , than a direct standing out against providence , and opposing a divine right . and would the convocation , who are wont to take notice of lesser failings , suffer an error of such a pernicious consequence to pass without the least stroke of correction ? this if the doctor 's sentiments and theirs had been the same , would have been an unpardonable omission ▪ a negligence that common honesty , and discretion , could never have been guilty of . but to shew they were of a different opinion , we find iaddus's behaviour justified by the authority of their canon , where we have these remarkable words : if any shall affirm that iaddus having sworn allegiance to king darius , might lawfully have born arms himself against darius ; or have solicited others , whether aliens or jews thereunto , he doth greatly err. they tell us in the foregoing chapter , ( out of which this canon is drawn , that alexander desired iaddus to assist him in his wars against the persians ) and in the canon which is nothing but the historical part formed into doctrines and practical truths ▪ they assert that it 's a great error to say that iaddus might have born arms against darius , i. e. that it was unlawful for iaddus to have assisted alexander , and by consequence , that his refusing this prince , was a commendable instance of loyalty . and yet after all this evidence , the doctor is pleased to say , that the convocation in their canon takes no notice that jaddus could not submit to any other prince while darius lived . no notice ! do they not say it was unlawful for iaddus to have born arms , or to have solicited any others to a revolt ? which is as plain a justification of his incompliance with alexander's demands ; and as full an evidence that success , does not transfer allegiance as is possible . and is all this nothing ? but the words whil'st darius lived ; are not transcribed from the history into the canon , it 's granted . however this omission upon which the doctor founds himself is not at all material : for 1. the sense of the canon concerning the unlawfulness of iaddus's taking arms against darius is indefinitely expressed ; and by the rules of reasoning ought to be understood without any limitation of time , unless the subject matter requires it ; which it 's far from doing to the doctor 's purpose in the case before us . for the canons being but an abridgment of the history of the chapters , drawn into practical propositions ; they ought to be taken in the same sense , and understood in the same comprehensive latitude with the history ; unless there is a plain exception to the contrary . for unless the chapters and canons are to be understood alike ; to what purpose is the history premised in the one , and repeated in the other ? since the chapters are the body from whence the canons are extracted , they ought to regulate their meaning , and explain their ambiguities , if there should happen to be any . besides , it 's the custom of conclusions of this nature , to be contracted into a lesser compass than the principles from which they are inferred . all unnecessary lengths of expression being industriously avoided upon such occasions . what wonder is it then to find the canons less wordy than the historical chapters ? 2. unless the canon holds out the full meaning of the chapter , the sense must be uncertain , and uninstructive . they tell us it was unlawful for iaddus to have taken up arms against darius . but how long was this allegiance to last ? why according to the new interpretation no longer than an armed enemy , or a company of revolters should order him to break it , and put him upon a dedition . so that the meaning of the canon it seems amounts only to this , that iaddus ought not to have invited alexander into iudea ; nor to have run after him , as soon as he heard he had taken the field against darius . but when the new prince came once near him , he was immediately to go out in his pontificalibus , and surrender without any farther dispute ; though darius was still living , master of a prodigious army , and had by far the greatest part of his empire in his possession . this no doubt is an admirable direction for the loyalty of future ages , and fit to create an entire confidence between prince and subject ! if every man may transfer his subjection when his prince is in danger , and himself is judge of that danger , allegiance is no more than a ridiculous and arbitrary relation , contrived only to impose upon the credulity and good nature of princes , without giving them any tolerable security . for when they have most need of their subjects they may go look them . so that the principal design of the oath centers in the convenience of the subjects . a man swears that he will be sure to take care of one , and never rebel , when he believes his prince too strong for him , and that he must be hanged at home for his pains . in this extravagant meaning the canon explains itself , if we do not take it in connexion with the foregoing chapter , and extend it to the words of the history , viz. that iaddus was not to bear arms against darius , whil'st darius lived . which construction is unforced , and natural , avoids all the former inconveniencies ; and makes the canon a very intelligible and useful direction for the subject . 3. let the meaning of this passage be restrained to a less extent than darius's life ; it will not come up to the doctor 's purpose ; for both the canon and chapter are point blank against him . he cites them to prove that iaddus's submission to alexander ( though an usurper ) was lawful ; whereas they say the direct contrary . they relate the history of iaddus's non-compliance in the chapter . and to recommend his example with the more advantage ; they fortify it with their own authority : and immediately decree in their canon , that if any man affirms that iaddus might lawfully have born arms against darius , he doth greatly err. well , but iaddus did not mean this by it , for he immediately submitted to alexander as soon as he came to jerusalem . he did so : however , under favour , this is foreign to the argument . for we are not disputing iaddus's practice , but the sense of the convocation . now they don't make the least mention of iaddus's submission , and therefore the doctor ought not to insist upon it , at least not amongst his convocation-proofs . the reason of their silence no doubt was either because they thought iaddus's submission to alexander unlawful , or they believed , as iosephus reports , that he had inspiration to justifie him . which because it is not now to be expected , the convocation waves the relation ; for fear enthusiasm , and religious imposture might take occasion from thence to unsettle kingdoms , and lead men into rebellion . the doctor in his case of allegiance takes no notice of this revelation , which was the only ground of the iews submission ; but in his vindication he attempts to prove from iosephus , that jaddus never question'd whether it was lawful to submit to alexander in these circumstances . and therefore when god is said to appear to them in his dream , he answered , no question , about the lawfulness of submitting to alexander ; but directed him how to do it in such a manner as might prevent the threatned danger . in reply to this i must observe , that this relation about iaddus's dream , does not affect the sense of the convocation ; for they take no manner of notice of it , but by necessary implication commend him for his resolute answer to alexander . i shall therefore undertake this answer of the doctors as an argument of his own , independent of the convocation book . having premis'd this , i reply by way of enquiry , is the doctor certain that iaddus never questioned whether it was lawful for him to submit to alexander , when he was coming with a great force against jerusalem ? if the case be thus , what is the reason of his sending word that he could not submit as long as darius lived ? was iaddus assured that alexander could not march his forces to ierusalem as long as darius was living ? he could not suppose darius thus invincible , since he was lately defeated , and retired towards babylon ; what made him then return alexander such an untoward excuse , romance against his own interest , and give such an uncouttly and impolitick answer ? one would almost think the doctor owed iaddus a spite , he makes him so ridiculous upon all occasions . if he had thought it lawful to submit , why did he not do it before ? what made him delay it to the last minute , and give a needless provocation to the conqueror ? 't is plain from iosephus , that iaddus did not submit till he had received direction from god. now if he was at such perfect liberty to transfer his allegiance , one would imagine he should have sent a tender of it to alexander , before things had come to this extremity . but of this the historian makes not the least mention . he tells us , that alexander threatned iaddus that he would be with him shortly , and instruct him better in the doctrine of oaths ; that iaddus notwithstanding kept his point , and his gates shut ; that the macedonians expected ierusalem would be sacked , and that iaddus would pay dearly for his obstinacy : which is a demonstration there had been no overtures of submission . it likewise appears from iosephus , that when iaddus had his oracular dream , alexander was within a days march of ierusalem . now if he was so entirely satisfied about his new master , why did he risque his affairs at this rate , and stand off till alexander was just in view ? this was an early submission indeed , and likely to attone for his former contumacy ! so that if a man may conclude any thing , his deferring to surrender thus long , is a pregnant proof he believed it unlawful . but possibly he was sure of assistance and direction from god when ever it was desired . how could that be ? there was neither urim nor thummim after the captivity ; and prophecy ceased with malachy . besides , what need was there of a supernatural direction for the resolution of a plain case ? yes , though the matter of the action was clear , there was a difficulty in the manner of doing it . whose fault was that ? if iaddus had gone in sooner , his own discretion though but ordinary , would have been sufficient to have managed his submission . for alexander was known to be a more generous and prudent prince , than to insist upon unreasonable rigors , especially at the beginning of his fortunes . well! but iaddus possibly did not think it lawful to submit till alexander was just upon him . and what made him think so then ? why could not he stand a siege as well as the iews had formerly done against nebuchadnezzar ? why did he fall short of the resolution of tyre , and gaza , and be out done by mere heathens in point of loyalty ? or does the doctor believe it lawful for a governor of a town to surrender as soon as he hears the enemy is approaching ? if he does , he would make an excellent garison divine . but does not iosephus say , iaddus was extremely concern'd how he should meet the macedonians ? meet them ! in what manner ? in a submissive petitioning way ? no such matter . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , will bear a hostile signification ; and the series of the history requires such a construction . for alexander was very angry , and his army expected the plunder of the town , and the iews stood upon their guard ; which are strong arguments that there had been no treaty , or signs of a surrender . besides , the doctor is mistaken , in saying that god answered no question about the lawfulness of submitting to alexander . for god bid him open his gates , which is a clear proof that iaddus stood upon his defence ; and kept the countenance of an enemy ; and thought himself obliged so to do , till he had a dispensation from god almighty . this i conceive is a sufficient reply to the doctor 's answer concerning iaddus's revelation . and if there was any additional strength wanting , it will be fortified in the next paragraph as the reader may observe . to return to his case of allegiance , to which i answer 4thly , that the doctor does not only argue against the sense of the convocation , but against himself . for considering the condition darius was in , when iaddus was summoned by alexander , the high priest ought not to have submitted by the doctor 's principles . for when alexander is supposed to have come to ierusalem , he had conquered nothing but the proconsular asia , phoenicia , and syria : which probably was not much more than the tenth part of the persian empire . it was before the great battel at arbela , and not long after that at issus . where though darius had the disadvantage , yet he was so far from being discouraged by the defeat , that he writes to alexander at a very magnificent rate , treats him as his inferior ; and demands , rather than desires the liberty of his queen and children . now the doctor owns , that when the dispossessed prince has such a formidable power as makes the event very doubtful , ( which darius unquestionably had ) the revolution is incompleat , and we cannot yet think the providence of god has settled the new prince in the throne . and therefore we ought not in such a case so much as to pray against the dispossessed prince . and if so , certainly not to swear to another master , which according to his reasoning is a much greater submission . and though he tells us , ( and would fix the doctrine upon the convocation ) that jaddus had sinned if he had refused alexander an oath of allegiance when he received his summons . yet here he grants by undeniable consequence , that iaddus had sinned if he had sworn . for then he must have had more than one king at a time , and been bound to two opposite and contrary . allegiances : which is a contradiction to the doctor 's 6th proposition , and indeed to reason itself . the truth is iaddus , as our author represents him , makes a very odd figure . he solemnly professes , that he could not submit to alexander while darius lived . and yet , like a wary man , his meaning , if we believe the doctor , was no more but this : that having sworn allegiance to darius , he could not make a voluntary dedition of himself , &c. but when he was in alexander 's power , ( to which he resigned himself without the least resistance ) he made no scruple to become his subject . which is in effect as if he had sent alexander word , sir , though our preingagements of allegiance to king darius hinder us from surrendring at your summons , yet i hope your majesty won't take us for men of an obstinate and incurable loyalty . if you please to march your army to ierusalem , you will find the behaviour of the iews not ungreeable . for though in point of conscience we are bound not to run in quest of new governors , yet any body may have us for the fetching . and were not iaddus and his countrymen admirable subjects at this rate ? don't they deserve to be commended by ptolomeus lagi , and antiochus magnus , for their fidelity to darius , and to be entrusted with places of strength upon this account , as iosephus reports ? these iews , no doubt , were fit to make any town impregnable . they would defend it against all mankind but an enemy . but if he had once appeared they were ready to open their gates , and their arms to receive him . indeed as this historian represents them , their loyalty was considerable ; because though they were threatned to be attacqued by a powerful and victorious army , yet nothing could persuade them to change their prince , but an express command from god himself . but as their behaviour is described by the doctor , they have very little reason to value themselves upon their constancy . and now it may not be improper to go on to the roman empire . in behalf of which the convocation is again cited by the doctor to prove , that the iews were bound to pay tribute to caesar , to pray for him , and give him the security of an oath . why the doctor quoted these passages , except he thought the reader would not consult the original , i can't imagine . for not only the 32 chapter , but these very canons stand in direct opposition to his opinion . they all along suppose the roman government was legally established : and condemn the non-compliance and resistance of the iews upon that account . the 33 canon in the beginning , which the doctor took care to omit , plainly affirms , that the royal assamonean family , which only had a right to the sovereignty of their nation , had resigned their crown , and owned the romans for their masters . their words are . that aristobulus , and his two sons alexander and antigonus , had all of them submitted themselves to the government of the romans . and then it s no wonder that the canon decrees . they sinned in rebelling against them . the submission of these princes is no doubt the reason why the iews are said to have wilfully drawn the tyranny of the romans upon their heads . and to make the matter plain beyond all contradiction , the very passage quoted by the doctor , calls the romans their lawful magistrates . a man must be very sharp-sighted to spy out any countenance given to usurpation by these authorities . i confess i am almost amazed to find them alledged by one of the doctor 's sense . now though i am only concerned to vindicate the convocation from the doctor 's construction ; yet possibly a brief touch of the history may not be unacceptable to the reader . we are to observe then , that about the year 65 , before the incarnation , the two royal brothers , hyrcanus and aristobulus hapned to dispute the sovereignty of iudea . in which contest hyrcanus , though the eldest , was by misfortune and duress , compelled to resign . and the articles between his brother and him , for the more solemn ratification were agreed to in the temple . however this resignation being forced , made hyrcanus uneasie ; who for remedy applies himself first to aretas king of arabia , and afterwards to pompey the great . who , glad of the invitation , marches his army into the country , takes ierusalem , and makes iudea a part of the roman empire . hyrcanus is contented to receive the high priesthood from his patron pompey ; and aristobulus is sent prisoner in chains to rome , with his children . after several varieties of fortune he was enlarged by caesar , and had the command of two legions under him . and the next news of him is , that he was poysoned by some of pompey's faction , and his eldest son alexander beheaded by scipio . the younger antigonus recovers ierusalem by the help of the parthians , cuts off his uncle hyrcanus's ears to unqualifie him for the priesthood ; and afterwards submits to sosius and herod , who commanded for the romans , and is beheaded by mark antony . upon this herod , who was some time since made king of iudea by the romans , goes on with his project to dispatch the royal line . and to colour his design the better , he invites hyrcanus , who was in parthia , to his court ; and gets him into his power . then he makes aristobulus , son to alexander abovementioned , and brother to mariamne , high priest ; and soon after procures him to be drowned in a canal . and , to make sure work , he proceeds to the murther of mariamne his queen , and hyrcanus her mother's father . and thus we see how the romans came by their title to iudea , which though they might introduce by stratagem and force , yet it soon improved into an unquestionable authority . for first they had the submission , and afterwards the extinction of the royal family ; either of which were sufficient to support their claim , and make them a lawful magistracy . by this time i suppose it 's sufficiently apparent , that this convocation is far from teaching , that princes who have no legal right to their thrones , are either placed there by god , or vested with his authority . but before i conclude this argument , i must consider what the doctor has lately advanced to fortify his opinion , that the moabites , aramites , and aegyptians , could not have a legal right to govern israel . for by the constitution of the iewish common-wealth . they could not give the power of the government to a stranger . the four monarchies likewise were erected with the most manifest usurpation . in answer to this objection . i shall endeavour to prove that these governments were all free from the charge of usurpation ; both from the sence of the convocation ; and likewise by arguments independent of their authority . 1. in answer to the text of deuteronomy , 17 , 15. upon which the doctor relies . we may take notice , that every breach of a constitution does not make a governor an illegal prince ▪ solomon multiplied wives and horses contrary to the express command in this chapter , and several others of the israelitish kings were guilty of greater errors : yet these miscarriages did not in the least disoblige their title ; or make them cease to be legal princes . 2. we may observe there were some things the jews were forbiden to do : which when they were once done , their act was valid and firm , and they were bound to maintain it . for example , the jews were expresly prohibited intermarrying with the seven nations , of which the hittites are first named . however we read that bethsheba a jewess , daughter to eliam the son of achitophel , was married to uriah the hittite . but notwithstanding this obstacle , the marriage was undoubtedly lawful , as appears from nathan's application of the parable , and the aggravation of david's sin. to give another instance . the gibeonites were a remnant of the amorites , which the isralites were commanded to destroy ; but after they had received them into their protection , they became their natural subjects , whom they were bound to preserve . by parity of reason , though the jews were forbidden to elect a stranger for their king. yet when they had once made choice of him , ( provided they were not preingaged to another ) he becomes their lawful prince , and ought to be acknowledged as such . 3. either these foreign governors the doctor excepts against were lawful princes , or usurpers , the latter they were not . for as to their authority they neither usurped upon the right of the people or the crown ; for either the people submitted , that is , consented to be governed by them , when their was no king in israel . or else they had a resignation from the royal line . now if the doctor knows any mean between usurpers , and legal kings , he would do well to acquaint the world with it , for it will be a perfect discovery . having premised this , i shall proceed to a more particular consideration of the doctors defence , and examine his monarchies accordingly as they fall in order of time. to begin with the aegyptian kings . and there i need not repeat what i have urged already to prove , that they had a natural and legal right to govern israel . it s sufficient to observe that the doctor 's main . objection does not affect them . for the israelites were under their government before the delivery of the mosaical law , by which they were enjoyned not to choose a foreign prince . so that deuteronomy 17.15 . cannot be alledged against the legality of pharaoh's title ; because this text was wrote long after the children of israel came out of aegypt . this the convocation must needs know , and therefore could not reckon pharaoh an illegal prince with respect to the israelites . 2. the kings of the aramites and moabites are called tyrants by the convocation ; not with respect to their title , but their government . god gave them judges to save them from the tyrants that oppressed them . for that they were no usurpers ( in continuance , whatever they might be at first ) appears . 1. from the comparison the convocation makes between ehud and iehu , ioram and eglon. they expresly tell us , that the case of iehu was like unto this of ehud . now to make the case parallel , the kings that were removed must have the same title to their government . and since the doctor must allow that ioram was a lawful prince of the israelites , it follows that eglon was so too . for the convocation mentions them without any manner of distinction , and requires the same extraordinary commission from heaven to enterprize any thing against either of them . 2. by their general conclusion , which they make immediately after the recital of these cases ; it plainly appears , they believed eglon to be a lawful prince with respect to the israelites . their words are as follow . both these examples ( of ioram and eglon ) do make it known to us , that the lord may overthrow any kings , &c. notwithstanding any claim , right , title , or interest which they can challenge to their kingdoms . now this inference cannot be drawn from the premises , unless eglon had a good and unexceptionable right to the government of israel ; for if eglon's title was defective in any point , it could not be a ruled case against those princes who had a better . but the convocation affirm that from these examples of ioram and eglon , its evident that god can overthrow any kings , notwithstanding any claim ; right , title , &c. which reasoning supposes that eglon had all the right , and claim , title , &c. which was requisite , and by consequence was a legal prince : from whence it appears , that the convocation does not mean a king de facto , in opposition to one de iure , ( for the examples before them , gave them no occasion for such a distinction ) but only a prince in actual administration of the government , without any reflection upon his title . 3. i have proved above , that the babylonian monarchy was legally established over iudea : the jews being expresly commanded by god himself to submit to the king of babylon . now though the jews were not allow'd out of their own voluntary motion to chuse a foreign prince , especially when they had one of their own ; yet without question , they might accept of one of god's chusing . god doubtless has the liberty to dispense with , or repeal his own positive laws . and as the government of the babylonians over israel was unquestionable ; so likewise was that of the persians , who succeeded to the right of the former . thus the convocation affirm , that the kings of persia continued a supreme authority over the jews by god's appointment . and that nehemiah and zorobabel were lawful princes . which they could not have been , unless the kings of persia were such , because they acted by their deputation . 4. as to alexander the great , the convocation declares that the jews were as much his subjects , as they had been before the subjects of the kings of babylon and persia. and if they were as much his subjects , his title to command them must be as good as that of the preceding kings . besides i have already made it appear that the jews submitted to him by god's particular direction . lastly , the convocation affirms , that it was unlawful for aristobulus the father , or either of his two sons alexander , or antigonus , having all of them submitted themselves to rebel against the romans . this is a clear argument that this reverend assembly believed the right of the crown of iudea translated by the submission of the royal line ; and that the romans by consequence were their legal governors . and to make their testimonies demonstrative , they expresly pronounce that the romans were the jews lawful magistrates . and what countrymen were the romans ? were they not foreigners ? the doctor sure does not think the convocation took them for native jews . and if not , they could not understand deut. 17.15 . in his sense . farther . to argue with the doctor independently of the convocation : as this command in deuteronomy , was not given till after the aegyptian monarchy , so the force of it expired under the roman : for after the coming of shiloh , the scepter was to depart from iudah . now the command of choosing a king of their own nation could not extend to a time in which it was foretold by sacred writ that their state should be dissolved , and there was no more kings of iudah to be expected . so that after the messiah appeared , it was lawful for the jews to submit to a foreign power notwithstanding the text of deuteronomy , or else they were obliged to live in hobs's state of nature . for if they might not submit to foreign princes they must break up society , and be independent of all government ▪ for iacob's prophecy had barred them from having any governors of their own . which latter supposition all men will grant to be impracticable and absurd . but if the jews might lawfully submit to a foreign power ; then those they submitted to were their lawful governors . besides at the death of our saviour , all the mosaick law unless the moral part of it was cancelled . so that the roman emperors were as much the natural princes of the jews ; as the kings of portugal and spain are over their posterity who now live in those dominions . from whence it follows that when st. paul wrote the 13. to the rom. upon which the doctor ▪ so much insists : he could not suppose the roman authority could receive the least blemish from deut. 17.15 . which i desire may be remembred ▪ against another time. in short the meaning of this last . text appears to be no more than this , that the jews were not permitted out of levity to make a voluntary choice of a foreign prince : but when they were under hard circumstances and injured none but themselves by their submission ; they were at liberty to consult their advantage , this as to the main is the opinion of grotius , and has been the doctor 's too . who seems to wonder the pharisees could not distinguish upon the prohibition ; but took it in too unlimited a sence ? so that its in vain for the doctor to reply , that if force dissolves the obligation of a positive divine law ; a meer human one cannot hold ▪ out against it . for the command we see does not reach a case of force ; but points at circumstances of liberty , and inclination . and what is farther very remarkable . it does not follow that because the israelites might submit to prevent hard usage , when they were in their own power . when they were unengaged to any prince of their own . i say it does not follow from hence , that they had any authority to desert their prince in his distress ; and to give away his right to save themselves harmless . these two cases are extreamly different . in the first , a man resignes nothing but what belongs to him ; and is at his disposal . but the other confounds the nature of property , makes a man forfeit without consent , or provocation given : and puts it in the subjects power to translate their allegiance without their princes allowance ; and to depose them when they please . i shall now proceed with his book of allegiance ; and before i take leave of the chapter i was examining , i shall just observe , how inconsistent the doctors notion of settlement is with it self ; and of what incoherent parts its compounded . he tells us , when the whole power of the nation is in the hands of the prince ; when the estates of the realm , and the great body of the nation has submitted to him ; and those who will not submit can be crushed by him ; when all this is done ( and i suppose not before ) he concludes the settlement compleat . by which definition he plainly makes force , and consent , power , and law , essential to a settlement , and by the same logick , he might have compounded it of fire , and water . if power will govern and is a certain sign of god's authority , to what purpose are the states convened ? cannot providence dispose of kingdoms without their leave ? or does a divine right depend upon humane forms and solemnities ? in short either power implies a necessary conveyance of divine right or not : if not , then it s no certain sign of god's authority ; and so the doctor 's fundamental principle is out of doors . if it does ; then there is no need of the submission of the estates to perfect the settlement . but since the doctor has call'd them together , i desire to know whether they are legal , or illegal estates , if illegal , they had better have kept at home , than meet to break the laws . if they are a legal body , let this be proved . and thus , at last , we must be brought to debate the legality of a revolution , which , the doctor tells us , is an unnenecessary , unfit , and impracticable undertaking ? however , as the doctor has ordered the matter , the estates can have nothing to do with it ; and therefore i can't imagine what he brought them in for , unless it were for a varnish . it 's likely he thought naked unornamented violence , would make but an untoward figure ; and that people would be too much frighted , to spell out its divine authority . for this reason he has dressed up his power in the habit of justice ; and supplied the defect of law , with pomp and pageantry . but he seems not well pleased , because his definition of settlement is not allowed him ; and would gladly hear a good reason why the general submission of the people can't settle the government , unless the prince submit also . i hope it 's no bad reason to say the submission of the prince is necessary in this case , because no man can lose his right without forfeiture , or consent ; nay , forfeiture itself supposes a conditional right , and implies consent at a remoter distance . the doctor himself acknowledges , that consent is necessary to transfer a legal right . from whence it follows , that where the princes legal right is not transferred by his own submission , it still remains in him , unless kings are in a worse condition than other people ; and lose the common privilege , by being god's representatives . now one part of the king 's right is to govern his subjects ; and if he has a right to govern , they must of necessity be under any obligation to obey him . and that must needs be a firm settlement , which all people that make it are bound to unsettle again . as for his distinction between legal and divine right , i have shewn the vanity of it already . to conclude this section ; if the doctor is resolved to persist in his new opinion , that all soveraign or usurping powers have god's authority , and that subjection is due to those who have no legal right ; he must look out for some other supports , for that of the convocation , and church of england , will be sure to fail him . now that the reader may not think him unprovided with abettors , i shall shew by and by , from what quarter he may receive a considerable assistance . sect . iii. the doctor 's arguments from scripture and reason examined . having done with the convocation , i must go on with the doctor to scripture and reason , from both which intermix'd with each other , he attempts to prove , that all soveraign princes , ( that is , every one that has force to crush the dissenting party , prince ▪ massianello not excepted ) who are settled in their thrones , are placed there by god , and invested with his authority . that is , in plain english , they must be obeyed as god's ministers , though they have no legal title ; and the people know they have none . this , in so many words , he knew would sound harshly : and therefore has given the expression a turn of advantage . to come to his proofs : which he has reduced into propositions . among these , his first proposition , that all authority is from god , is undeniable . second proposition , that civil power and authority is no otherwise from god , than as he gives his power and authority to some particular person or persons to govern others . this is likewise granted him : but what use he can make of it i cannot imagine . for though no man can govern by god's authority , unless god gives it him ; it does not follow from hence , that god gives his authority to usurpers . the doctor knows god did not give it to athalia , and why other usurpers should be in a better condition , he has not yet offered any satisfactory reason . force , and authority , ( though our author confounds them ) have always been looked upon as things vastly different . the first is nothing but violence and irresistibility . the other ( authority ) is a moral capacity to do an action , and always implies a right . so that they who pretend to god's authority , must make good their title either by the ordinary plea of humane laws , or by the extraordinary one of revelation . they must prove they have a right distinct from their power , otherwise they contradict the sense of mankind , and destroy the very being of morality . however the doctor thinks it plain from st. paul and st. peter , that all those who exercise supreme power are set up by god , and receive their authority from him , notwithstanding they have no other title but the sword. in order to the removing this mistake , i shall endeavour to prove , that by the higher powers , the apostle meant only lawful powers . 1. because we have a rule in the scripture to interpret the apostle in this sense . for the distinction between lawful and usurped powers , is not unknown to scripture , as the doctor pretends . 2. this interpretation is supported by the authority of the ancient doctors of the church . 3. it s agreeable to the sentiments the generality of mankind had of a usurpation . at , and before the apostles time. 1. we are warranted by the scriptures of the old and new testament to conclude that by the higher powers , are only meant those who are lawfully constituted as appears . 1. from the instance of athaliah . who though she had power and settlement in as ample a manner as can be desired ; yet she had no divine authority , nor any right to the peoples obedience as is plain from the history . the doctors solution of this difficulty from the entail of the crown upon davids family , has been shown insufficient . i confess the doctor has offered something farther lately in defence of his notion ; though i think much short of his point . however the learned authour of the postscript being particularly engaged in this case ; and having managed it with so much advantage , i shall forbear to insist any farther upon it . 2. another argument from scripture , that by the higher powers are meant only lawful ones . may be taken from 1 pet. 2. v. 14. the next verse to that which the doctor quotes for a contrary opinion . in which place the apostle commands us to submit to the king , as supream ; and unto governors , as unto them who are sent by him . now if we are bound to submit to subordinate governors , by virtue of their delegation ; because they are sent by the king , or supream power : it follows that when they are not sent by him ; but challenge our submission upon the score of independent right , they are not to be obeyed . suppose then the emperor's procurator of iudea had set up for himself in the apostles time , and brought over the sanedrim and the majority of the jews to his party , and possessed himself of the civil and military power of that nation ; were the jews bound to submit to the procurator or not ? by the doctor 's rule undoubtedly they were . for here is nothing less than his through settlement ; and by consequence providence and divine authority ; to oblige them to acquiesce . but on the contrary st. peter's doctrine , teaches us to look upon this procurator as a treasonable usurper , and to have nothing to do with his settlement . for we cannot suppose him acting in his masters name , when he rebels against him ; unless we can imagine the emperor would grant a commission to fight and destroy himself . if therefore the reason of our submission to inferior magistrates , is founded in their subordination ; in their being sent by the supream ; as is evident by the apostles argument : then certainly we are not to obey them how successful soever they may be , when they act upon their own pretended authority ; and against him that sent them . i can't foresee what the doctor can reply ; excepting that iudea was but a small part of the roman empire ; and therefore a general revolt in that country alone , could not plead god's authority from their success , nor oblige the noncomplying subject to obedience . to this i answer ; that if we are to obey the higher powers , i. e. those who can crush us without respect to the legality of their title . if soveraign force , and soveraign authority , are the same , then we ought to obey them as far as their power reaches : for so far their divine authority must extend . if the revolt be general , and the power undisputed , the largeness of dominion is not at all material : for , as has been observed , the boundaries of empire are of an inferior consideration . they depend only upon pacts , and humane laws ; and ought not to stand in competition against providence , and hinder the exercise of a divine right . god , without question , can change the limits , as well as the governors of a kingdom ; ( and ought not to be confined in this respect no more than in the other . ) and since settlement and success is a certain sign of divine authority , we ought , according to the doctor ▪ to submit to every subdivision of power , though never so illegally cantonized ; as long as they keep distinct , and unsubordinate to each other . 3. that the distinction between lawful and usurped powers , is not unknown to scripture , will be manifest from the consideration of hebr. 13.17 . there the inspired author commands the hebrews to obey those who have the rule over them , and submit themselves . i grant the place is to be understood of church-governors : but it 's as plain by universal practice , that this submission is to be paid to none , but lawful spiritual powers . for if any bishop should offer to govern another's diocese , and usurp his see ; such intrusions have been always condemned by the church ; and the people obliged to adhere to their first bishop . and since this scripture concerning ecclesiastical rulers , has been always understood of those who are lawfully and canonically set up ; though these words are not expressly in the text ; why the higher powers should not be restrained to magistrates legally constituted , is somewhat hard to imagine : what reason have we to suppose god should confirm an intrusion upon the state ; and disallow in the church ? why should he give his authority to temporal usurpers , and deny it to spiritual ? are not bishops de facto as good as kings of that denomination ? to put the case more home , and to draw it into a narrower compass . let us suppose , according to st. cyprian's principle , every see independent of each other ; and that a lawful bishop is deposed by his people , and another chosen and consecrated by the presbytery , ( who are the spiritual estates ; ) and nothing of the usual solemnity omitted . now i desire to know whether the new man is a bishop , and has a divine right to govern the diocese ? if the doctor says yes , he contradicts the universal church , and destroys the episcopal authority . if he says , no ; i would gladly hear his reason . the person we are speaking of , is generally submitted to , and called bishop , and wears the episcopal habit ; and had all the ceremonies performed at his consecration ; and is disown'd by none but a few obstinate people , and what would you have more ? if you say the clergy were under tyes of canonical obedience to their former bishop ; that neither they nor the laity , have any power to depose their bishop , or to ordain a new one ; that such proceedings are contrary to the fundamental laws of church-government , and subversive of its monarchical constitution . this is all truth i grant ; but am afraid it will disoblige the doctor 's argument . for , under favor , are not the states bound by natural and sworn allegiance to their king ? what right have the members to depose the head , and inferiors to displace their supreme ? and what law is there to chuse a prince in an hereditary kingdom ? by what authority do they these things ? and who gave them this authority ? i put these questions to the doctor , because i hope he will be so kind as to take them for no more than enquiries . farther , by the doctor 's assistance it may be urged . that in the first ages of christianity , bishops were nominated by the holy ghost , ( as kings were in israel ) and elections apparently governed by miracles and inspiration ; as we may learn from clemens romanus ; and as it hapned afterwards in the case of fabian bishop of rome . but now since miracles are ceased , god does that in the church by his providence , which he did at first by express nomination . therefore though one layman should consecrate another , his episcopal character ought to be acknowledged , ( against the canonical bishop ) provided the great body of the diocese has submitted to him ; and the whole administration of ecclesiastical government is in his hands ; and every thing is done in his name ; and those who won't submit can be crushed by him . and if any one objects against this bishop de facto , i hope the doctor 's parallel reasons will satisfie him ! for first , here is as good a spiritual settlement according to our author's interpretation of that word , as a man would wish . to go on . no man can make himself a bishop any more than a king , whether god will or no. god is then said to set up a bishop , when by his providence he advances him to the episcopal throne , and puts the spiritual authority into his hands . all events are directed , and determined , and over-ruled by god ; so that it 's plain , that all elections of schismatical and heretical bishops , were over-ruled by providential appointment . besides , if there was any distinction between god's permissions and appointments ; yet we ought in reason to ascribe the advancement of bishops , to god's decree and councel , because it 's one of the principal acts of providence , and which has so great an influence upon the government of the church , and the salvation of mens souls . and if he decrees any events , certainly he peculiarly orders such events as will do most good or most hurt to the church . from the absurdity of this way of reasoning , it evidently follows , that the author to the hebrews must be interpreted of lawful rulers , though the distinction is not expressed . and since the scripture , by undeniable consequence , teaches us not to submit to those who govern in the church without right , we ought to conclude our duty the same with relation to the state. it 's in vain to urge that this epistle was written after that to the romans ; and therefore st. paul could have no reference to it . this objection must vanish before those who own the new testament written by the holy ghost . for whatever is dictated by inspiration , must be coherent and uniform ; especially when duties of a moral and unalterable obligation are delivered . so that unless the doctor can show a disparity between church and state , such a one i mean as destroys all proportion of reasoning from the one to the other , he must grant that those higher powers mentioned by st. paul , are to be understood only of those who are lawfully such . i now perceive by the doctor 's vindication ( which i did not before remember ) that the author of the postscript has touched upon this argument . and since i am somewhat concerned in the vindicator's answer , i shall beg leave of the above-mentioned author to make a short reply . for as the doctor has ordered the matter a few words will serve . he says the cases mentioned . rom. 13.1 . and heb. 13.17 . are by no means paralel . and that the apostle to the hebrews had no reason to make any such distinction , which it was necessary for st. paul to have done , rom. 13. if he intended to be understood only of lawful powers . this he endeavours to prove from the universality of the expression . because st. paul gives a general charge to be subject to the higher powers , and generally affirms that all power is from god. to this i answer , that the text to the hebrews is as comprehensive as that to the romans . obey them that have the rule over you , is an indefinite proposition , which he knows is equivalent to a universal . st. paul it 's true affirms all power is from god : and does not the author to the hebrews say , with relation to spiritual jurisdiction , that no man takes this honour to himself , but he that is called of god as was aaron ? besides , if all power is from god , then all spiritual power is from him , which makes way for heretical intruders , and is a contradiction to the 13th . of the hebrews by his own concession . but if the words all power are to be restrained to a particular sense , the universality the doctor contends for is gone . if they must be confined to temporal powers , why are they not capable of a farther limitation ? why should they not be understood only of lawful temporal powers , as well as the rulers mentioned by the author to the hebrews , though with the same extent of expression , are meant of none but those who are lawfully ordained ? but the apostle to the hebrews knew who had the rule over them at that time ; and that they were lawful ministers ; and had he added any such distinction ( i. e. expresly commanded them to submit only to lawful rulers ) he might have made the hebrews jealous about the title of their church governors , and spoiled his exhortation of obeying them . in answer to this i observe , first , that this inconvenience which the doctor imagines might easily have been avoided without omitting this distinction . for the apostle might have added a clause , that he did not question the authority of their present governors , but only gave them a caution not to be led away with every pretending heretick for the future . secondly , i observe that the doctor grants that if the apostle , or the hebrews , had known that either nullity , or forfeiture , could have been truly objected against the authority of their spiritual rulers , there would neither have been submission enjoyned by the one , nor obedience given by the other . thirdly , i have already proved , and shall do farther , that the roman emperors at the writing of st. paul's epistle were legal princes ; and if so , st. paul ( or the spirit he wrote by ) must know it . and as for the romans , they had as good an opportunity of being satisfied about their temporal governors as the hebrews had about their spiritual . and therefore by the doctor 's reason st. paul might forbear adding the word lawful to higher powers , because he knew the emperor's title to be good , and for fear of making his subjects jealous by such a distinction . but fourthly , is the doctor sure that the apostle to the hebrews knew that their spiritual rulers were all lawfully constituted ? the doctor concludes this apostle to be st. paul. now st. paul complains that these was schisms and heresies in the church in his time ; yet there was false apostles who transformed themselves into the apostles of christ. and is he certain the hebrews were troubled with none of these ? he may please to remember that the ebionites , gnosticks , nicolaitans , and cerinthians , sprung up in the age of the apostles ; and most , if not all of them , in palestine . fifthly , granting the apostle knew the present church of the hebrews was free from unlawful governors : he likewise knew that other churches were not ; and that even this would not be always in so good a condition ▪ now if the apostle wrote for the instruction of all ages and countrys , ( and i hope the doctor will not limit the authority and usefulness of the scriptures to a particular climate or country ) he could not suppose the church had always lawful pastors ; and by consequence the doctor 's reason why he omitted the distinction must necessary fail . for when their governors were unlawful they ought to think them so , and not be barred up by any scripture expressions from a reasonable enquiry . sixthly , i would gladly know the doctor 's reason why title and legality must always be expected in sacred , but not in civil authority ? why god allows usurpers to represent him in the state , and denies this privilege to those of the same character in the church ? and what arguments he has to prove that the jurisdiction of kings ought to be more precarious , and uncertain , than that of bishops . 2. this interpretation of rom. 13.1 . which i am contending for ; is supported by the authority of the fathers ▪ i shall produce some testimonies from them . st. chrysostom upon the place puts the question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is every governor chosen and set up by god almighty ? to this he answers in the apostles name ; i affirm no such thing ▪ for i am not now discoursing of every particular prince ; but of government it self . the constitution of magistracy does indeed proceed from the divine wisdom , to prevent confusion and disorder . therefore the apostle does not say , that there is no prince of god : but that those powers that be , are ordained of god. therefore where the wise man tells us , that it's god who joyns a woman to a man ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) he means no more then that god instituted matrimony . not that every one who lives with a woman , is joyned to her by god. for we see many cohabit sinfully ; and not according to the laws of marriage . which is by no means to be attributed to god almighties doing . this comparison without the rest of this father's testimony , is sufficient to show that he was far from believing that power , and god's authority , always went together . for as a man and a woman can't be joyned together by god , though they receive each other with never so much freedom , unless the essentials of matrimony are premised : especially when either of them are preingaged . so an usurper though he may debauch the subjects with presents of flattery , from their former obligations ; yet the whole commerce is no better then civil adultery , and therefore must not pretend to be authorized from heaven . the next testimony shall be taken from theodoret , who affirms , that the power of unjust men ( as all usurpers are ) does not proceed from god's choice , but only the dispensation of government in general . now if unjust powers , or usurpers , are not chosen , or delegated by god , then they can have none of god's authority . for no man can have god's authority , but he to whom it 's given : bare permission to govern , ( as the doctor goes on ) will not do . and yet this is all theodoret allows to such unqualified persons . occumenius , and theophylact , express themselves to the same purpose with st. chrysostom . only they add , that all kinds of power whatsoever are orderly , ( as theophylact has it , ) ordained by god. whether it be that of a father over his children , or a husband over his wife , &c. now these two jurisdictions of father and husband , are on all hands granted to be unexceptionable ; and founded in the laws of nature , and revelation . and since these fathers have made their instance only in powers confessedly lawful . we have reason to believe they understood the apostles higher powers , in this sense ; had they given us no other argument which it's evident they have . these testimonies of the fathers , not to mention others , together with the concurrent sense of our own divines , the doctor is pleased to call a common evasion ; and tells us , he knows not what they mean by civil authority , unless it be that god intended that mankind should live under government . and is not this a sufficient meaning ? no. this does not prove that all power is from god , unless those who exercise this power ( which he must mean by authority ) receive it from god. right ! and is the doctor offended at this ? is he angry because they don't contradict themselves , which they must have done , if they had asserted successful violence had a divine commission to act by . their maintaining civil authority to be of divine institution with an exception to particular persons , proves that all legal power is from god ; and that they took power , not for meer force , ( as the doctor does ) but under the notion of right and authority . if the doctor is resolved to stick so very close to the letter , i am afraid it will carry him to a construction he will not approve . what does he think of the kingdom of satan , is not that called the power of darkness ? will the doctor say , these powers are ordained by god ? i hope he is not so much straitned for government , as to make the devil a magistrate . 3. the interpreting the text in dispute only of lawful powers , is agreeable to the sentiments the generality of mankind had of usurpation at , and before the apostles time . i shall give some instances out of the most famous governments in the world , by which it will appear that mankind has always had a very unkind opinion of usurpers . and notwithstanding their success , they have not thought them so much the favourites of providence ; nor their calling so divine , as we are lately made to believe . to begin : astartus , contemporary with rehoboam , recovered the kingdom of tyre , after it had been held twelve years by usurpers , as sir walter ralegh informs us . it seems these tyrians knew nothing of the divine right of possession , from whence i conclude it 's no innate principle . the same author observes , that the ten tribes did never forbear to revenge the death of their kings , when it lay in their power , ( of which he gives some instances ) nor approved the good success of treason , unless fear compel'd them . so that it 's plain when they did comply , it was interest , not duty which engaged them . from whence it follows , that they were as much unenlightned as to this point , as the heathenish tyrians . to continue the argument , the counterfeit smerdis was in possession of the empire of persia for some months : who after he was understood to be an impostor , the princes of the blood immediately removed him ; which practice of theirs is mentioned by iustin with commendation . and the just odium which usurpation lay under , was probably the reason why this usurper's government is pretermitted , and not reckoned by itself in the chronological accounts ; but added to the reign of cambyses , as the misrule of cromwel was to that of king charles ii. from persia , let us travel homewards into greece , and to the most polite part of it athens ; where we shall find the memories of harmodius and aritogiton honoured , and their families exempted from paying taxes , for delivering their country from the tyranny of hippias , who broke in upon their government , and was expelled by the athenians after several years usurpation . the learned bodin gives us the sense both of the greeks and romans , in this matter as fully as can be desired . 1. he defines a tyrant ( or usurper ) to be one who unlawfully seizes upon the government . and then adds : such a person the laws , and writings of the antients , command to be slain ; and propound the highest rewards to those who can dispatch him . neither in such a case are the qualities of the person considered , or any distinction made between a kind , and a cruel usurper . — let this therefore be laid down as an undoubted truth ; that whosoever in a monarchy shall wrest the government from the lawful king , or shall set himself up for a prince , where the supream power is by the constitution in the people , may be lawfully killed by all , or any person of the community . and for this conclusion he quotes the lex valena among the romans . and solon's law at athens ; which was not much different from the other . and that this doctrine concerning tyrants might not be prejudicial to rightful governors , under pretence of maladministration . he takes care to subjoyn . that lawful princes , where they are supream in their government : such as they are in france , spain , england , &c. are not to suffer in their dignities , fortunes , or lives , whether by force , or formality of iustice ; though they are never so flagitious , and oppressive . these passages i have cited from the greeks , romans , &c. not that i approve of their expedient of assassination , but to show what an aversion they had to usurpation . alas ! they were perfectly to seek in the modern doctrine of possession . they never dreamed that violence , and right , were words of the same signification . or that the continuation of an injury , could give an improvement of title , and supply the defect of the first injustice . they believed that the property of crowns , and scepters , was at least as well fixed , as that of private persons , and that it was not in the power of violence and treason to take it away . these observations are sufficient to prove , that unless we will make st. paul clash with st. peter ; and contradict other plain● texts and inferences from scripture . unless we will expound the text contrary to the fathers ; run counter to the sentiments of mankind in general ; and debase christianity below the justice and generosity of heathenism ; we must understand st. paul's all power , of all legal power : and therefore i think there was as little reason as decency , in the doctor 's making so bold with the apostle ; as to say , that he ought ( i. e. god ought ) to have made an express distinction between legal and illegal powers ; otherwise no body could reasonably have understood him that he meant only the first . as to the difficulties which he imagines will follow from this interpretation , viz. it will be necessary for subjects to examine the titles of princes , and to be well skilled in the history and laws of a nation . i answer , 1. that all these inconveniences ( as the doctor reckons them ) the iews were liable to , under the family of david . upon which he owns the crown was so firmly entailed , that it could not be defeated by usurpation . this entail was made by god's appointment . and does god put his own people upon all these intolerable inconveniencies ? did his infinite wisdom fix the government upon the most incomprehensible basis ? does god use to oblige men to determine disputes above their capacity ; to lead them into labyrinths of history , and perplexities of conscience ? i suppose the doctor does not imagine the iews were all inspired with the knowledge of david's family , and of the elder branches of it ; and yet we don't read they were ever at a loss about it , but found the right way to their sovereign easily enough : and so doubtless they may do in other countries , without the doctor 's assistance . it requires no great reach of understanding to resolve all the questions incident to this matter . a man needs not be any great lawyer to tell whether he lives under a monarchy , or a commonwealth . it 's no difficult matter to distinguish the king from a subject , especially in a country where the oaths of allegiance and supremacy are almost universally taken . there are very few people with us so ignorant , as not to know that it's treason to take up arms against the king. and as for the right heir to the crown , he is generally as easily known , as the louvre , or whitehall . one would have thought that since god , by immediate designation , has given the royal authority to a particular family ; and tied the obedience of the subject to legal right , the doctor would have concluded that an adherence to legal right was most for the advantage of society . and not have given us reasonings which reflect upon the divine model ; and which suppose the seat of authority much more unaccountably fixed in the iewish government , than in those of meer humane contrivance . but the legality of princes titles , is a great dispute among learned men ; and how then should unlearned men understand them ? 1. he may remember that himself , and the generality of the learned in this kingdom , had not long since very different thoughts of the present controversy , from what they now have ; and whether their improvements in learning , or some other reasons , have altered their opinion , is a great question . 2. can unlearned men understand nothing about which the learned differ ? then without doubt they are not bound to understand the creed . for there are , and always have been a great many learned jews , and heathens , and hereticks , who dispute about these things . nay , why should they believe any religion at all , since there are several learned atheists who deny it ? what he adds concerning the title of the roman emperors , which for many ages together were either stark nought , or the very best of them very doubtful , is of the same complexion with the rest ; for 1. the emperors titles when st. paul wrote this epistle to the romans , ( which is the time pointed at by the doctor and the controversy ) could not be stark nought for many ages together , because at the time of the apostle's writing , the empire itself was little more than one hundred years standing . 2. what authority does the doctor bring to shew the emperor's titles defective ? why none but his own : indeed he had no other ; for if we consult the historians who treat of this argument , we shall find the matter quite otherwise than our author represents it . the reader may be satisfied from tacitus , that augustus and tiberius were chosen by the consent of the people and senate . the consuls , senate , army , and people , swore an oath of allegiance to tiberius . if part of this author's works had not been lost , we might no doubt have received the same testimonies from him concerning the titles of caligula and claudius . for dion cassius , an historian of unquestionable credit , speaks home to all four . he tells us , that the whole senate pressed augustus , by earnest entreaties , to take the soveraign authority of the empire to himself . tiberius was likewise made emperor by the importunity of the senate , and consent of the people . caligula and claudius had the same charter for their authority : for as the same author informs us , they received the empire by the choice of the senate , and army . i might cite suetonius , who is full to the same purpose , were not what is already alledged sufficient for the point in hand . however there is one thing in cassius very remarkable , which shews how comprehensive and absolute the emperor's power was . for all other great branches of authority which lay before dispersed in several offices of state , were annexed to the imperial dignity . the emperors used to be consuls , tribunes of the people , high-priests , censors ; and out of the iurisdiction of the city , they are called proconsuls , and are legibus soluti , i. e. above the punishment of the laws . now if the senate and people , who had the right to dispose of the roman government , resigned themselves and their authority into the emperor's hands , what should hinder the title of these princes from being unquestionable ? nothing can be plainer than that as bodin affirms , the people may give away all their right to govern if they please . and adds agreeably to the foregoing testimonies , that the lex regia was understood in this sense . this is so evident that the doctor himself is forced to confess it , though in lame imperfect language . the emperors he grants did gain some kind of consent from the senate . and if their consent was once gained , it 's to no purpose to object the indirect methods of obtaining it ; for allowing it was extorted by fear , or flattery , or other arts ; this is not sufficient to null the translated authority . that when once resigned is past recall . it being than too late to plead that a man was wheedled , or frighted out of his consent . this the doctor very well understood , and therefore tells us that the romans themselves were great usurpers ; and therefore i suppose had no right to translate . but this objection i have already answered in the dispute concerning the convocation-book . and since the then present powers were legal powers , the apostles direction was very significant to christians of other ages ; from which they ought by parity of reason to conclude it was their duty to submit to none but lawful governors . what he urges from scripture of the jews being bound to submit to the four monarchys has been considered in the foregoing section : as for his saying they were manifest usurpations ; and yet set up by the council and decree of god ; and foretold by a prophetick spirit : this comes short of the case , unless he has any prophesies to produce in behalf of the revolution . besides his argument proves too much ; which is a sign it 's of kin to the emperor's titles stark nought . for our blessed saviour's passion was decreed by the counsel of god , and foretold by prophecy ; and yet i conceive the doctor is not so hardy as to affirm , the iews and romans had a divine right to crucify him . but we have no example in scripture that any people were ever blamed for submiting to the present powers , whatever the usurpations were . to this it may be answered . 1. there are a great many actions in the history of the scriptures unquestionably unlawful ; which notwithstanding are mentioned without any censure upon them . thus neither noah , nor lot , are blamed for their intemperance ; nor rebeckah , for teaching iacob to gain his father's blessing by deceit : and to come nearer the point , absalom is not directly blamed for rebelling against david ; and will the doctor conclude from hence , that lie did well in it ? the reason why the scripture does not condemn every irregular practice is , because it supposes men endowed with principles of natural religion and morality : which teach them to distinguish between good and evil ; and that they are to take their measures of virtue and vice , from the rules of reason and revelation ; not from precedent and example . 2. we may observe , that in the usurpation's upon the kingdom of the ten tribes , it was the custom of the usurpers to destroy the family of their predecessor : and when there is no competition from a legal claim , possession is a good title . and therefore it 's no wonder the israelites were not blamed for submitting to the present powers ; for in that case they were legally established . and as for the house of david it was never set aside by usurpation till the time of athaliah . now after iehoiada had discovered that their legal soveraign ioash was living ; i desire to know of the doctor whether the iews were bound to submit to athaliahs government , or not . if he says , yes . he not only condemns iehoiada for deposing athaliah ; but makes the divine entail upon davids family , upon which he lays so much stress , signify nothing . if he says , no ; he gives up the argument : for then we have undoubted principles of scripture ; which condemn a submission to usurpation ; which are much safer rules , than examples for conscience to rely upon . the doctor proceeds to prove that obedience is due to usurpers when they are seized of the administration of the government ; from our saviours answer to the pharisees and herodians concerning tribute mony , render to caesar the things which are caesar's . before i give a distinct reply to this objection , it will not be improper to consider the occasion of the text : now we are to observe that the pharisees and herodians , enquired of the lawfulness of paying tribute to caesar , not out of a desire of instruction from our saviour but to entrap him . they proposed an ensnaring question concerning tribute ; a plain catagorical answer , to which they knew must of necessity provoke either the roman , or the pharisees party against him . this our blessed saviour calls an hypocritical tempting of him . and since the time of his passion was not yet come ; we may conclude he intended to avoid the danger of the question ; not by declining it , but by giving an answer of an obscure and uncertain sense . upon which no charge could be grounded , because of its ambiguity . this the proposers well understood ; they knew they could not fix any determinate meaning upon our saviour's words , which made them marvel at the prudence of his answer , and leave him : whereas had he plainly resolved the question either way , they had gained their intended advantage upon him : and since there was a designed obscurity in our savior's answer , as being most proper to secure himself ; and to discourage the malice of those who came to entangle him ; it 's unreasonable to draw any conclusions about government from thence ; especially such , which not only contradict other plain places of scripture , but are repugnant to the notions of common justice and the sense of mankind . having premised this i answer , 1. that the doctor by this argument of tribute should have come in to the revolution when the new money was first coyned ; as he has been told already . 2. caesar as i have proved was the lawful prince of iudea ; and the right owners of the soveraignty , as well as the jewish nation , had submitted to him . and since he was not only possessed of the government but of the title to govern , the right of coinage belonged to him ; and when this prerogative of royalty was produced by the pharisees , it 's no wonder to find his right to tribute inferred from thence . the doctor urges , that our saviour's argument relies wholly on the possession of power . and if this be a good reason , it 's good in all cases of possession . say you so sir ! then athaliah ought to have been obeyed notwithstanding ioash his title ; if she could have kept the mint , and the power in her hands . now if this be not true , as the doctor must grant , then our saviour's argument does not rely wholly on possession , but upon right to possession . for that the divine entail of the crown upon david's family does not make the case exempt , and particular , has been shown already . 3. we are to observe , that our saviour left the civil rights of society in the same state he found them . he did not intend to alter the laws of common justice , to weaken the titles of princes , and put them into a worse condition then private men. so that if according to the principles of reason , and the laws of particular kingdoms , whoever has a right to the crown ; ought to have the obedience of the subject ; we cannot conclude our saviour's answer has made any alteration in the case . 4. if the royal image and superscription always supposes possession , and infers obedience , his majesty at st. germains is still the doctor 's soveraign ; and he ought to have continued his submission to him , till his money had been cryed down . and which is more surprizing , the subject must be bound to two opposite and contrary allegiances as long as the coin of the two contesting princes is currant among us ; which the doctor owns to be an impracticable absurdity . what he observes concerning the prophesy of the four monarchies not being at an end , is somewhat surprizing . all people agree , that the roman monarchy has the last of the four , and that has had its period long since . now it 's a little strange that events should be foretold concerning things that are not ; and that the prophesies concerning the four monarchies should extend to greater lengths of time , than the monarchies themselves . but what if the four monarchies were not at an end ? must we comply with all successful disorders , under pretence of fulfilling prophesies , though we neither know their meaning , nor the time of their accomplishment ? does god need the wickedness of men to bring his own counsels to pass ? doubtless he who has omnipotence in his hand , can change times , and seasons ; set up kings , and remove kings , as in his wisdom he thinks fit ; without obliging the subject to break the laws of their country , and to fail in their allegiance when it 's most needed . god , in whose hand are the hearts of kings , who has the disposal of life and death , of the passions and tempers of men , may change his representatives as often as he pleases ; without pitching upon such methods which without a revelation , must of necessity in a great measure confound the notions of right , and wrong ; encourage violence , and weaken the good correspondence ; and mutual securities between king and people . but the continuation of the doctor 's reason for compliance , is still more extraordinary , viz. under the fourth monarchy the kingdom of antichrist is to appear , and the increase and destruction of the kingdom of antichrist is to be accomplished by great changes . and are we obliged to comply with every revolution , to swim down every tide of state , for fear the kingdom of antichrist should not increase fast enough ? are we as much bound to support violence , and clap justice under hatches ; as the iews were to obey the express orders of the prophet jeremiah ; only because the doctor fancies , the prophecy of the four monarchies is not at an end ? if this be not enthusiasm , which the doctor denies ; pray god it be not something worse . but to consider his argument more fully , i must go back to his 12th page , where he gives in his reasons to prove , that now god governs the world , removes kings , and sets up kings , only by his providence . by which he means nothing but force and success ; let the means by which they are gained be never so unaccountable . these advantages though they come from hell , are always attended with divine authority , and draw the allegiance of the subject along with them . and because soveraign and rampant wickedness sounds but harshly , and is very unlikely to have the entail of all these priviledges , he gilds it over with the pompous name of providence . this , he says , is god's government of the world by an invisible power : whereby he directs , determines , and over-rules all events ; in distinction from his more visible government , by oracles , prophets , &c. so that now it seems neither scripture , nor law , nor reason ; signifie any thing towards the stating the right of kings , and the obedience of subjects . no : we must submit to the infallibility of the sword , which is the only proper judge to decide all controversies of state , ( and why not of religion too . ) we must conclude , that all civil confusions , all publick injustice , though never so horrid , is directed by god almighty . and all events , how impious soever they may be in their causes and consequences , are determined and over-ruled by his providence . to fortifie this extraordinary position , he attempts to make god's permissions and approbations the same , as to events : though the distinction between these two , is both necessary , and generally acknowledged . but to make god , as the doctor does , the author of all the good or evil which happens either to private persons , or publick societies , is an untrue , and dangerous proposition . for first , it 's a contradiction to plain scripture . secondly , it makes god the abetter and maintainer of sin. thirdly , it destroys the notion of his patience . 1. it 's a contradiction to plain scripture . for though the doctor affirms , that the scripture never speaks of god's bare permission of events ; these following citations , not to mention any more , will shew he is mistaken . for don't we read that the devils besought our saviour that he would suffer them to enter into the herd of swine , and he suffered them ? now by the doctor 's principle , our saviour must either have forced the devils into the swine , or at least have raised their inclination to enter , and concurred with it . but the scripture speaks no such language . it affirms no more than a bare permission of the devil's malice . another proof to confirm the distinction between what god does , and what he permits , as to events , may be taken from acts 13.18 . where god is said to suffer the manners of the israelites forty years in the wilderness . he did not , as the doctor 's proposition supposes , direct them in the making of the golden calf : he did not determine their idolatries , nor over rule them into all their murmurings and disobedience . farther , was not the destroying iob's cattle and servants , and the afflicting his person , an event ? and will our author say , that all this was brought to pass by the influence and direction of providence ? and that the devil would not have used iob thus hardly , if he had not been over ruled by god almighty ? i am sorry the doctor should support his new scheme of government with such divinity as this . 2. to suppose no distinction between what god permits , and what he does , with respect to events , destroys the notion of his patience . for patience supports aversion or dislike , to things or persons : but no omnipotent being can be said to suffer , or be displeased , with those events which he promotes , and brings to maturity and effect . it 's unintelligible sense to say , god bears with his own decrees ; and suffers those things which he determines and over-rules . 3. this opinion makes god though not the first contriver , yet the abetter and maintainer of sin ; as will appear if we consider the plain english of directing , determining , and over-ruling an event . to direct an event , is to put it into the road of success . and he that does so is an accessary to it , and a party to the quality of the action . to determine an event , must be nothing less , even in the author's sense , than a divine decree that such things shall come to pass by the help of fixed , and particular , means and circumstances . and therefore the commendation or blame of the action must belong to him by whom they are appointed . lastly , by over-ruling an event , the doctor must mean a change , either in the circumstances or success of the action ; by which it is diversified from what it would have been , had it been left to the conduct of inferior agents . and then by consequence if the event is accomplished by ill means , the over-ruler is accountable . for his interposal has distinguished the kind of the event ; and given life , and form , and complexion to it . god indeed does sometimes over-rule events ; i. e. he restrains the wickedness of men , and hinders them from doing so much mischief as they would do otherwise : but to affirm , that he prompts them to the violation of his own laws , and inspires them with courage and conduct to be successful in disloyal and treasonable enterprizes , is very singular doctrine ; and has been seldom thought proper to explain any part of the unsearchable wisdom of providence , till the disturbances under king charles the i. and cromwel's usurpation . i confess in those times this doctrine of providence was very much in vogue . and that the doctor may not seem to argue without precedent , i shall quote some of the learned in rebellion for his opinion . 1. the prentices and porters ( as palmer has it ) were stimulated and stirred up by god's providence to petition the ( rebellious ) parliament for speedy relief . cockain , in his sermon to the commons , discoursing concerning the king of syria's coming against israel , and being taken prisoner , makes this inference ; viz. that the mind of god was ( which he discovered only by that present providence ) that justice should have been executed upon him . this passage he applies to encourage them to the murther of the king , who was then in their hands . some persons ( says the sufferers catechism ) may be stirred up to do some things , which are not in themselves so just and seemingly warrantable , ( at least in all circumstances ) which yet the over-ruling hand of god may be in ; as in moses killing the egyptian . the next testimony is dr. owen's , which to give its due is very moving , and had without doubt a considerable effect upon the army saints . where is the god of marston-moor , and the god of naseby , was an acceptable expostulation in a gloomy day . o what a catalogue of mercies has this nation to plead by in a time of trouble ! god came from naseby , and the holy one from the west . selah . ienkins in his petition , is no less full to the doctor 's purpose ; for , without mincing the matter , he does not stick to affirm , that a refusal to be subject to this authority , ( i. e. to the rump and cromwel ) under the pretence of upholding the title of any one upon earth , is a refusal to acquiesce in the wise and righteous pleasure of god. the same doctrine you may find , in his conscientious queries . milton , in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , speaking in justification of the king's murther , tells us , that god has testified by all propitious and evident signs ( that is , by over-ruling events ) whereby in these latter times ( instead of oracles , prophets , or express significations of his will ) he is wont to testifie what pleases him ; that such a solemn , and formerly unexampled act of due punishment , was no mockery of justice , but a most grateful and well-pleasing sacrifice . let ienkins speak once more for the cause . he delivers himself thus : god's providence , that is , his permission of events , and success , are antecedent declarations of his good will , and approbation . which comfortable doctrine he applies to the commonwealth . to conclude . saunders is admirable in his descant upon rom. 13.1 . where within the compass of one single question , he determines the great dispute on the doctor 's side , there is no power but of god. is not , says he , the late king , with his heirs and successors , dispossessed by god ? besides , he has several other choice observations . for he founds authority in providential power . he answers the objection concerning athaliah the doctor 's way . he quotes his texts of scripture to the same purpose . and presses obedience to the common-wealth , from their having the administration and force of the kingdom in their hands . thus i have given a small catalogue of the doctor 's worthies ; these are the chariots of his israel , and the horsemen thereof . and were i not reasonably assured that the doctor is both well inclined , and furnished , for this argument ; i should suspect he had borrowed some of his artillery from the authors abovementioned , their thoughts , and even their expressions being so like his own . what the doctor urges upon this occasion in pursuit of his point , is as remarkable as any thing we have had yet , viz. god permits men to do wickedly , but all events which are ; for the good or evil of private persons , or publick societies , are ordered by him . he permits men to do wickedly , &c. now one would think we had gained a distinction of the usual latitude from the doctor , between what god does , and what he permits . for permission signifies a liberty of action . and where there is such a freedom , it 's a contradiction to say , the agent is determined by any superior power . and if the agent is free , the action or event must be so too . for an event is nothing but an execution and train of actions . no : the doctor will tell you , that events ▪ notwithstanding are ordered and over-ruled by providence . that is , though god permits them to do wickedly , yet all events , i. e. every thing they do is over-ruled by him . which is in other words , to affirm that liberty , and force , or necessity , are the same things . if the doctor meant nothing more by god's ordering events , then that by his wisdom he draws good out of evil ; and makes the wickedness of men tend to the promoting his own glory , and the happiness of his servants . this construction would be orthodox and intelligible ; but then it will do him no service . this sense will give no divine right to rapine and robbery . nor set providence at the head of every usurpation . this the doctor knew very well ; and therefore enlarges his principle accordingly . but with what reason , and consistency the reader may judge . as for the text which he cites from amos , shall there be evil in a city , and the lord has not done it ? this place is meant only of the evil of affliction , and therefore is foreign to his point . it does not make god the patron of injustice ; nor imply his over-ruling men into wickedness . if we had no authority on our side , common sence ought to make us avoid such an unaccountable interpretation . for the scriptures ought not to be so expounded as to contradict the natural , and unquestionable notions of the divine perfections . this is the reason those expressions are counted figurative which attribute hands , and eyes , and other corporeal parts and affections to god almighty . now men had better degrade him to the littlenesses of body ; than make him a party in unjust undertakings . for natural imperfections are a far less blemish to a rational being , than those which are moral , and though the forementioned sence is sufficiently confirmed from the reason of the thing ; it may not be improper to produce the concurrence of some of the antient and modern interpreters . st. hierom tells us : that the evil which the lord does in the city , is not contrary to virtue , but imports affliction and calamity ; in which sence we read , sufficient for the day is the evil thereof . i. e. the hardship and tribulation . let us take an instance from the prophet ionah . and g●d saw their works that they turned from their evil way ; and god repented him of the evil that he said he would do unto them . whereby evil is only meant the threatned destruction of niniveh : not any thing which carries an opposition to probity , and virtue . st. cyrill of alexandria speaks to the same purpose . by these words we are to understand some evil in the city proceeding from god almighty ; but not with any resemblance to wickedness . god forbid ! no. the phrase is to be expounded of afflictions ; and the judgments of god ; which he sends for the reformation of sinners . to come nearer our own times . drusius observes that evil imploys the evil of punishment , as the school-men speak , and signifies vexation , trouble , and calamity ; in this sence god is said to create evil. calamity is in it self no evil , but is so called because it seems such to those who undergo it ; or because that which is against the grain of a man's inclination may be called evil. episcopious agrees with drustus , his words are these . as touching physical evils , which are only misfortunes or inconveniencies to particular persons , these in strict speaking are no evils : and therefore they may without doubt be the objects of god's will ; so that he may either send them himself , or suffer them to be inflicted by others . — and afterwards towards the close of the argument he cites amos 3.6 . in confirmation of what he had said . if the doctor replys upon these expositors , that , afflictions are not only sent by the immediate hand of god , but occasioned by wicked men ; who often cut off malice , covetousness , or ambition ; defame , circumvent , and oppress their neighbours ; from whence it will follow that if god is the authour of all the evil of affliction , a great many immoral actions must be over-ruled by him in the doctor 's sence . to this the answer is plain : those calamities which are inflicted by wicked instruments , providence is no otherwise the authour of , than by permitting them . he may be said in a qualified , figurative sense to do that , which he does not hinder by his omnipotence : but to affirm more than this , that he either excites ill men to engage in unlawful enterprizes ; or assists them in the execution ; is to charge him with unrighteousness ; and makes him partaker of their sins . and if such assistance is never given ; it 's neither true , nor over pious , to say that all events though begun and prosecuted by never somuch villany , are determined , ordered , and made successful by him . well! though the doctor have lost this point , he has another reserve behind . for , says he , if there were any such distinction as this , that some events god permits only ; and some he orders and appoints : yet we ought in reason to ascribe the advancement of kings to god's decree and counsel , because it 's a principal act of providence ; and if he decrees and orders any events , he peculiarly orders such events , as will do most good , or most hurt in the world. to this i answer : 1. that god does not chain up the liberty of mankind with respect to any sin ; but permits them to do wickedly one way as well as another . and therefore it 's no wonder to see rebellion succeed sometimes . but then we must no more impute such wickedness as this to his decree , then private murther , or adultery . 2. since kings are god's ministers , as the doctor observes , and their advancement is a principal act of providence , we may conclude that god has not put them into worse circumstances than other men : that he does not allow violence to devest them of their authority . that he has secured their royalty to them ; not only by the common laws of justice and property , but by the indispensible tyes of allegiance . and not left them to the courtesie of their subjects , to be set aside according to the discretion and conscience of phrenzy , atheism , and ambition . such a liberty as this would make the doctor 's great wheels of providence jolt into disorder , like those of phaeton's chariot , and be ready to set the world on fire at every motion . as for his saying , god must order those events which will do most good or harm in the world. i will only ask him , what he thinks of the rebellion in heaven ? that was a very memorable event , and the occasion of as much good and harm in the world , as any he can almost imagine . now did god raise a commotion in his own kingdom ? did he order and decree the revolt of those glorious spirits , and over-rule them into damnation ? however we can't but think god will exercise a particular care in appointing his great ministers . right ! but usurpers are not his ministers . a bare advancement to the throne invests a man with god's authority no more , than taking a purse gives him a right to the money . none can have god's authority but by legal claim , immediate designation , or vacancy of right . and therefore god neither gives his authority to usurpers , nor permits them to take it . the doctor goes all along upon a mistake , as if force and authority were the same . he might as well have said , there is no difference between violence , and justice ; between reason , and a whirlwind . does the authority of a father last no longer than the children are pleased to obey him ? and have they a right to his house as soon as they can turn him out ? is a wife bound to entertain an husband de facto ? now if the priviledge of fathers and husbands holds in case of dispossession , why not that of kings ? why should publick authority , upon which the common security depends , have a less firm establishment than that of single families ? if private disobedience can't challenge a divine right to govern upon success , why should a national rebellion pretend to it ? he goes on to acquaint us ; that to give authority to a man does not signify to permit him to take it . and that no man can have god's authority , but he to whom it 's given . by which it 's plain , he means that no person can be vested with god's authority , barely by his permissive will ; but that consent and approbation is always implied . but this proposition is not only foreign to his point , ( because usurpers have no authority from god either one way or other , ) but is likewise untrue and dangerous . for suppose an eldest son murthers his father privately ; in this case it must be granted he has god's authority to possess his estate , and to govern the family , for he who has a legal claim , has by consequence a divine one ; all humane laws being ultimately resolved into the divine warrant and appointment . but then i conceive the doctor wont say this unnatural murtherer has god's authority in the family any other ways than by bare permission . god indeed suffered him to murther his father , as he suffers all other wickedness . and because the murther was secretly committed , the villany turns to advantage , and the party becomes master of his father's fortune . but to say that he had god's consenting authority in this matter , would sound very harshly ; and amounts to no less than god's approbation of parricide . for he who absolutely approves the end , without any regard to the lawfulness of the means , must consent to the means though never so unlawful . and to apply this remark : an usurper , when the royal line is either extinct or surrenders , comes by god's authority the same way with the forementioned murtherer . the next rub the doctor casts in the way is , that unless we take our governors as they rise , without minding their titles , we shall not be able to distinguish those god permits only , from those he appoints . now this difficulty is easily removed : for the constitution of each particular country will inform us who governs by permission , and who by appointment from god almighty . the laws of succession , &c. were made for this purpose , and to prevent usurpation . so that there is no need of the doctor 's expedient to teach us to distinguish between god's king , and those who would be so , of their own making . we need not be at a loss whom we must obey out of conscience , and whom we must not obey ; for we have the direction of law ready to inform us : the same direction which there is in private cases , to know the right owner from an intruder . he comes on with the repetition of his former extraordinary doctrine ; that by what means soever a prince ascends the throne he is placed there by god as truly as if he had been nominated by him , and anointed by a prophet . so that cromwel was as much god's vicegerent as david ; and if so , our laws are very much to blame for attainting him of treason , and exposing him to ignominy after his death . however the doctor is sure god never suffers a prince to ascend the throne but when he sees fit to make him king. no! does god suffer nothing but what he sees fit to be done ? does he not suffer all the wickedness which is committed , for no man can do an ill thing whether god will or no ? and will the doctor take the freedom to say , that god sees it fit and convenient that men should be unjust , and lewd , and atheistical ; that they should disturb the world , and damn themselves ? such practises as these certainly can never gain the approbation of the divine wisdom , nor seem agreable to his goodness . his fourth proposition gives us another admirable piece of politicks ; viz. all kings are equally rightful with respect to god. why so ? because it 's impossible there should be a wrong king , unless a man could make himself king whether god would or no. nay then farewell all property ! for by the help of this logick i will prove there can be no such thing as cheating , stealing and oppression in nature . the argument lyes thus ; all possession is rightful with respect to god , for it 's impossible there should be a wrong possessor , unless a man could make himself master of his neighbour's goods whether god will or no. this is comfortable doctrine for the gentlemen of the high-way ; and were it admitted , would serve to plead off their indictment ▪ but if this plea should fail , which is not likely , the doctor can reinforce them with another . for he has told us , that all events which are for the good on evil of private persons are ordered by providence . now is not the taking a purse , or stealing a man's cloaths , an event ? doubtless it is ; and sometimes very much for the evil of him who looses them . such events as these have been very frequent since the doctor 's book came out . but why he that stole these goods should be bound to make restitution , except in point of generosity , is past my skill to understand . for if god orders a man a sum of money , it 's certainly lawful for him to keep it . his fifth proposition affirms , that god is not bound by humane laws . true : but if men are , it 's sufficient for our purpose . for we are not disputing about god's prerogative , but the duty of subjects . however , may not god make whom he pleases king without regard to legal rights ? no doubt he may : but then we are to observe , that every thing which is done is not of god's doing . and the apparent injustice of an action , is a very bad argument to prove the righteous god had a hand in it . 't is true , god is the chief proprietor of all things ; but it does not follow from hence that whatever a man can catch is his own . if the doctor has no supernatural credentials to produce , he must be contented to let the common laws of justice take place : unless he has a mind to cut the sinews of all property ; and in a great measure to destroy the nature of right and wrong . his sixth proposition says , we have but one king at a time ; which is a good hearing , were it not misapplied in his seventh , where he affirms , that king is the name of power , not of meer right . which assertion is not only contrary to the common notion or justice , but to the language of our own laws . in which the lancastrian princes , who though for kings de facto had several peculiar advantages ; such as a formal resignation of the legal king ; a long silence and interruption of claim in the right line , which must occasion perplexity of title when revived ; yet these princes are called pretended kings ; and henry the vi. though the third monarch by successive descent , is called an usurper ; and said to be rightfully amoved from the government . so little was our author's doctrine of providence and events understood in those days . there is something behind in this proposition which is worth the having , and that is this ; he who has a legal right to the crown , but has it not ; ought by the laws of the land to be king , but is not . the laws of the land are the measure of all property ; so that whatever estate , title , or jurisdiction the laws give any man , they ought to be acknowledged his own . he that has a clear indisputable title to an estate , is nevertheless a proprietor ▪ for being disseized : and all persons concerned ought to endeavour to give him possession . the doctor 's next business is to avoid the charge of hobbism , which he had reason to apprehend would be objected against him : let us see how he clears himself from this imputation . why he says mr. hobbs makes power , and nothing else , give right to dominion . and pray does not the doctor do the same ? i am much mistaken if this be not the design of his whole book . no , the doctor will tell you , that mr. hobbs found god's right to govern the world in his omnipotence : whereas he makes him natural lord of the world , because he created it . under favor , we are not disputing god's title to govern , but man's ; which i 'm sure the doctor grounds solely upon power , as much as mr. hobbs . however i desire to be resolved this question , would god have a right to govern the world if he was not omnipotent ? if he would , then right ought to carry it against power ; which is the thing i am contending for . if he would not , then his dominion depends upon his omnipotence ; and so the doctor and mr. hobbs are perfectly agreed . the connex●on of the doctor 's consequences are somewhat remarkable in this paragraph ▪ god has a right to govern the world , because he made it no creature has a right to govern any part of it , but as he receives authority from god. thus far all is well , but observe what follows . therefore since power will govern ; god always gives soveraign authority to the man who has soveraign power . therefore since power will govern . wherefore will power ( humane power ) govern ? because god made the world. these two propositions will want a great deal of cement to fasten them into any coherence . what! will power govern whether god will or no ? that were hard indeed . will it govern right or wrong ? most certainly . and since it 's such a righteous quality , god always rewards it with his authority . that is , since ambitious men will usurp upon their neighbours dominions ▪ since there will be sometimes a general revolt from lawful governors , and a prince has not personal strength enough to manage his rebellious subjects , therefore that such unjust and treasonable enterprizes might not be disturbed in their success , god always gives the engager his authority to settle and confirm them ; which is no doubt an extraordinary encouragement . and by parity of reason may we not say , that since god knows men will steal , and commit adultery ▪ therefore if they are strong enough to get their neighbors goods and wives into their possession , they have a divine right to keep them : for why a lesser sinner should be denied the security of god's authority , when it s granted to a greater , is somewhat difficult to understand . for all this the doctor will have it that power does not give right and authority to govern ; though his reason for this assertion is a demonstration of the contrary . for he affirms that power is a certain sign that god has given the authority where he has placed the power . now , if power be a certain sign of god's authority , then god's power and authority are inseparable ; and we may infallibly conclude the former from the latter . and if power be an invincible argument to prove the concurrence of god's authority ; then right if god's authority can give any ; may be demonstrated from power : and if a right to govern is demonstrable from power , then power must give a right to govern . 't is true the doctor denies power this priviledge in the case of antiochus ; but this proves no more than a contradiction of himself . but because the doctor seems somewhat shy of mr. hobs's company : i shall endeavour to make them a little better acquainted . first , they both agree , as we have seen , that dominion is founded in power ; which is a fair step towards a good correspondence . to go on . mr. hobs owns , that the right of the sovereign is not extinguished by a prosperous invasion , or rebellion ; yet the obligation of the members ( the subjects ) is . and does not the doctor say the same in other words ? that notwithstanding the legal right of the dispossessed prince continues , our allegiance is only due to him who has the actual administration of sovereign power . mr. hobs says , the obligation of the subject to the sovereign , is understood to last as long , and no longer than the power lasts , by which he is able to protect them . now it will be hard to find any difference between this maxim , and that which follows of the doctors . the preservation of human society ( right or wrong , for he takes care not to distinguish upon the means ) is the ultimate end of government ; and will justifie whatever it makes necessary . and elsewhere ; i believe no man in his wits would take an express oath , to follow his king into banishment , or venture being hanged at home . again , mr. hobs pronounces , that he who wants protection ; may seek it any where , and when he has it is obliged to protect his protection , as long as he is able . and what does the doctor come short of this liberty , in averring , that we ought in duty to swear to live peaceably under an unlawful government . that we ought to give him whom we believe to be an usurper , the title of king. to pay him taxes , and pray for him , because we owe the secure possession of our estates to his government . and can the doctor find in his heart to quarrel with mr. hobs after all this harmony in opinion ? i hope the moral resemblance between them , will make him kinder for the future . after the doctor has argued thus vigorously for power ; one would think he might give up his notion of legal right . however he is resolved to keep it against a rainy day ; and attempts to answer an objection against its significancy upon his principles . he tells us , legal right bars all other human claims . no other prince can challenge the throne of right . ( which , by the way , is a great commendation of him that keeps it wrongfully . ) the doctor 's legal right puts me in mind of epicurus's deities ; whom , for fashion sake , he supposed to exist ; but gave them such a slender constitution , that it was impossible for them to hold out against the least rencounter of his atoms . just so kind is the doctor to a prince , whose title stands upon the fundamentals of the government . for what does this legal right signifie ? are the subjects bound to restore him ? no. this would oblige them to two opposite allegiances . are they at liberty to stand neuter ? not that neither . for allegiance signifies all that duty which subjects owe to their king. and if this , as the doctor affirms , falls all to the share of him who has the actual administration of government . i 'm afraid there will be but little left for the other . and as if all this was not sufficient to mortify his legal prince ; he musters the laws , and lawyers against him : and says , it s a very wise constitution which obliges us to pay our allegiance to a prince who is not the legal heir , i. e. to an usurper . and the reasons and order , and necessity of government require it . the reason and necessity of government is a very serviceable principle to the author ; whether he does not misapply and overstrain it , shall be farther examined afterwards . at present i shall only desire to be informed of the doctor , whether it 's any part of the business of reason to do an unreasonable thing , what necessity there is to destroy justice , and establish a revolt ? indeed if there was a law that a king should forfeit his kingdom , as soon as the disobedience of his subjects should oblige him to retire ; though the singularity of such an act would be amazingly remarkable ; yet it would not be absolutely unintelligible . but this is not the case : for both the doctor and the dispute , supposes that the king 's right continues after he is dispossessed . now this is that which makes it superlatively wonderful : his right continues in full force ; and , yet as far as the laws can provide , he is barred from all possible means of recovery . for , it seems , the subjects are bound to stand by the usurper ; and to distress , and fight the king de iure , if he offers to regain that which they own belongs to him . he has a right it 's granted as much as ever ; say you so ? then , i hope , it 's to govern ; and if so , his subjects are bound to re-establish him . hold there , cries the doctor ! they are bound to stand by the usurper . i confess i always thought , that if a king had a right to the crown , the subjects were obliged to pay him allegiance . right one would think should relate to something : for to have a right to nothing , is to have no right . but the see improvements of time ! here we have a right without a property ; a king without a subject . one who has a legal right to govern ; and yet all the kingdom has a legal right , and a legal duty to kill him if he goes about it . thus the doctor makes the laws fall foul upon each other : and gives the people a legal right to oppose a legal right in the crown . which is somewhat a plainer , though not a truer contradiction , than his bringing in a divine , and a legal right , clashing with each other . for here the repugnancy lyes in the constitution , so that the word providence , which uses to be so serviceable , can give him no assistance . in short , to tell a man he is a king , and yet to assign all his subjects over to another , and to barr him all possible means of recovery ; is such a jest of iniquity , and supposes the legislators so incomprehensibly singular and unreasonable , that for the credit of our countrey we ought not to interpret the laws in such a wild sense . if the doctor had a mind to turn st. stephen's into bedlam , and make the nation mad by representation ; he could scarcely have gon a more effectual way to work . to conclude this business ; if the subjects are obliged to defend an usurper in possession , as much as if he was their rightful prince ; i would gladly know what priviledge the one has above the other ? i grant the doctor allows the dispossessed legal prince a right to make war upon the usurper . but then as he has ordered the matter , he can have none of his subjects to help him , but those he brings along with him : besides this principle gives two contending parties a right to the same thing ; and makes a war justifyable on both sides ; which is something more than usual . in answer to a second objection , he observes , that an oath of allegiance can oblige no longer than the regal character continues ; which is most true . but his inference concerning the grounds of the oaths being removed , is altogether inconclusive . for where the crown is settled upon hereditary right ; and fortifyed by irresistable authority : there the king must necessarily continue in being , as long as the man : because the subjects can have no power to call him to an account , or displace him . the doctor encounters a third objection , but with the same success . the objection is , that we swear to defend the king 's right , and the right of his heirs , &c. to which he returns . that we dont swear to keep them in the throne . right ! for some mens practises would make one believe we swore to throw them out , as soon as we had an opportunity . but the keeping our prince in the throne is sometimes impossible for us to do against a prosperous rebellion . does it therefore follow that we must joyn such a prosperous rebellion ; and support it with our interest ? is it the meaning of the oath , that we should desert our prince in his distress , and refuse him when he has most occasion for our service ? if subjects should swear with such declarations as these , there are few princes would thank them for their solemn security . i grant it 's sometimes impossible for us to keep our prince in possession , against a rebellion . but certainly we ought not to follow a multitude to do evil. we ought to stand upon the reserve , and not fortifie the rebels by our revolt . soldiers don't swear , that they will always get the victory ; for that may be out of their power . but if they endeavour to debauch the fidelity of the army , and make seditious harrangues to defame the general , they very much misbehave themselves : much less is it agreeable to change their sides upon the loss of a pass , or a battel . 't is true , upon the prospect of an exchange , they may sometimes submit to be made prisoners of war : but if their surrender will not be accepted , without translating their allegiance ; they ought rather to carry their honour and honesty into the other world , than take their life upon such scandalous conditions . to this firmness in loyalty , not only christians , but heathens , upon whom virtue and bravery had made any considerable impression , always thought themselves obliged . what the doctor adds in this place , concerning his providential kings , has been sufficiently taken notice of already . thus i have done with his propositions ; which , thô i think some of them a great deal too plain , yet i cannot perceive they carry any evidence with them to the author's advantage . his doctrine , that different degrees of settlement require different degrees of submission ; is such a masterly stroke in politicks , that i think in this paragraph he may be said to have out-done himself . such a posture of affairs seems to require , at least to justifie , such a qualified submission . but , 1. this is a needless distinction . for such a limitted compliance cannot be justified , unless it 's required , i. e. unless 't is a duty to comply . the reason is , because no subject is independent of the constitution . he is not at liberty to qualifie his allegiance at his discretion , and to choose to submit to what governour he pleases . such a latitude would make subjection an arbitrary relation ; which the people might throw off at their pleasure . for if their private unauthorized will is sufficient to translate part of their allegiance , the whole must , by the same reason , lye at the mercy of their inclinations . thus much is granted by the doctor himself : for though at present he seems to make these degrees of submission no more than politick provisions , and a little ceremony to an approaching revolution ; yet when he comes to state the business , he calls them duties , and carves out several branches of allegiance , such as praying , paying taxes , &c. under the notion of an obligation ; which is a sufficient argument they are required to be done . 2. his proportioning submission to the degrees of settlement , seems in plain english no less than a license for men to turn , as the tide does ; to shake off all sense of honour and justice , when they are likely to prove expensive ; and to make an idol of interest . as if a man should say thus , look ye , gentlemen , things are so kindly ordered , and so fair an allowance is given ; that when you find a government going down , you may draw in your loyalty , and sink your allegiance . but pray take care you do it by degrees ; for if you are too quick , the king may recover , and you may live to repent it . so on the other hand , when you see rebellion in a thriving condition , and to have gotten the better of the laws , you must be sure to comply with the success as fast as it rises ; and follow it step by step , as it gets ground . by this means you will not fail to keep pace with providence . to sleep in a whole skin , and enjoy the secure possession of your estates . and if the new interest gains farther , and encreases into a full and plenary ( i. e. into a twice full ) possession ; and looks vertically upon you . ( at least as you fancy ; and if you are out , you must look to that . ) if it will not give you leave to stand between two governments any longer , but presses you to a final declaration , under considerable forfeitures , than you must come in with a full tide of duty , and fall to swearing as fast as you can . if the reader can make any other sense of this passage , i shall be glad of it : but , for my part , i think it paraphrased naturally enough . i shall now briefly touch upon the dutyes , ( and the reasons of them ) which the doctor says we ought to pay such a prince , whom we cannot think the providence of god has settled in the throne , i. e. whom we must believe , an unlawful prince . and here the doctor is very liberal . for , first , we must promise , swear , or give any other security , upon demand to live quietly , and peaceably under his government . but why his government ? when the doctor supposes he has no title either from law , or providence ? what reason has an usurper , who has neither humane nor divine authority , to make himself a iudge , and a ruler over men ? and if by the supposition the government does not belong to him , and he has no authority over the subjects ; upon what account are they bound to enter into engagements , and to give him security to establish his violence ? can the doctor deny that subjects are bound to assist their prince in all just quarrels ? if he cannot , by what law are they at liberty to swear a neutrality to the usurper , and to make themselves as useless to their prince , as if they were dead ? if they may renounce their active obedience , why not their passive too ? why may they not attack their lawful sovereign in the feild ; draw their sword against acknowledged justice ; and fire upon god almighty ? but what if the usurper won't let the subjects have the priviledge of their countrey without these conditions ? why then i desire to know whether they are not bound to follow their king into banishment ; or , if that liberty is denyed , to suffer whatever shall be put upon them ? a second branch of duty to an usurper ( who by his name has a right to nothing ) is paying of taxes . for , it seems , these are due for the administration of government , i. e. for medling with that which he has nothing to do with ; for seizing upon the revenues , and power , and jurisdiction , which the doctor grants belongs to another . this is great liberality in the doctor : however , it appears by what i have already proved , that he might have spared citing rom. 13.6 . to this purpose . but , it seems , it 's his way to bring in the apostles , as he does his kings right or wrong . there is another reason behind , viz. because we owe the secure possession of our estates to the protection of the government , let the government ( the usurpation ) be what it will , we ought to pay for it . that is , though lucifer were at the head of it , we ought to give him provender , and bring our money in the sacks mouth ? we ought to give a man money to secure our estates , though we know he intends to levy men with it against the decalogue , and buy powder and ball to shoot our parents . the primitive christians chose rather to lose their lives , than be at any expence towards the furnishing out the heathen worship : and if parricide , and regicide be not as bad as the worst idolatry , i have no more to say . if people may take this liberty to secure an estate ; i think they need not be very scrupulous how they get it . thirdly , we must give the title of king to an usurper when we live in the countrey where he is crowned : because this is a piece of good manners . it 's somewhat strange that the doctor , who in so many passages of his book , has used a certain prince at such an uncourtly rate , should be thus full of ceremony ; though , after all , i much question whether it 's any part of manners to give the king's title to an usurper , when we believe him to be such . an usurper , who has no right to the crown , can have none to the title of king ; for this is one of the crowns prerogatives . the royal style is for very good reasons an incommunicable indivisible right ; and cannot be given to another , without taking it from the true owner : and if stealing is breeding , it 's time to have done . this puts me in mind of what my lord bacon observes , concerning the giving wrong names to things which he terms idola fori , which he tells us , is one of the principal causes that sciences are so often disturbed ; and the understandings of men so much perplexed . and doubtless where the matter relates to conscience and morality , the dressing up an uncreditable character , in the habit of reverence and dignity , is very apt to draw a false idea upon the mind , and disorder the practise of the generality . and if the doctor pleases to look into the statute book , and parliament rolls , he will find our own legislators of the same mind . for there the three henrys of lancaster , though they had considerable advantages above other de facto men , are called pretensed kings , and their reigns usurpations ; and henry the fourth is styled earl of derby . the same cautiousness of expression we shall find in the case of richard the third , and lady iane grey ; who , notwithstanding their possession of the crown are attainted of high-treason ; and mentioned in the style of subjects . and if we consult the scripture we shall find the royal style never given to usurpers . for though asa's mother , and ester are called queens , notwithstanding the first was but dowager , and the other had no more than a matrimonial royalty : yet athaliah with her six years mis-rule is never allowed this title , either in holy writ , or by iosephus . i grant hushai , in his salutation of absalom , was a very mannerly person , and cryed , god save the king , god save the king : and told him moreover , that he was a providential monarch , and chosen by the lord , and all the people of israel . but then we are to observe , that hushai acted the part of a deserter all this while , and spoke the language of rebellion : but in all other places , where the history speaks the words of the inspired writer , absalom is never called king ; though david is mentioned , as such , when his fortunes were at the lowest ebb. if it 's objected , that absalom was not sufficiently raised for this title : i shall prove afterwards ( which at present , i desire the reader would take for granted ) that absalom had more advantages , than the present dispute requires : that he did not only administer the regal power , but was likewise settled upon the doctor 's principles ; and ought to have been entirely obeyed . if it 's said , that abimeleck is called king. i answer , that there was at that time no lawful prince dispossessed , and claiming against him : and therefore , though he unjustly seized the government ; yet since there was no rightful competitor , possession gave him a title both to the name , and thing . but to support an usurper in his majesty , the doctor says , he is king indeed while he administers the regal power . how can that be , when it 's supposed in the dispute , that he has neither legal nor divine authority ? fourthly , we must pray for an unsettled prince ; ( that is an usurper in his own sense ) under the name and title of king : why so ? because the doctor has lead the the way ? i wish that is not the main reason . however he gives two others . 1. because we are bound to pray for all in authority ; which is more than an usurper , especially in this condition , can pretend to : for to give him legal right , is a contradiction in terms . and as for divine authority , the doctor can allow him none of that , till he is thoroughly settled . his 2. reason why we should pray for him as king , is because he has power to do a great deal of good , or a great deal of harm . now upon this score we might pray for many more kings , than iulius cesar found in kent . there is a certain person that shall be nameless , ( for whom , i hope , the doctor does not pray under the title of king , ) who has it in his power to do a great deal of good , and in his will a great deal of harm ; as the indians are very sensible , and order their devotions accordingly . as for his direction , that we must take care to do it in such terms , as not to pray against the dispossessed prince ; it is contradictious and impracticable . for , first , this dividing our prayers between two contesting princes , is to split our duty into halfs , and obliges us to two opposite allegiances ; ( which he condemns . ) for certainly prayers for the king are one part of the subjects duty , especially of those of the doctors function . secondly , his advice is impracticable . for the proclaming him king to the people is a great injury to the dispossessed prince . and as the doctor well observes , his very possession of the throne ; and every act of authority he does , is against the interest of the king de iure . and therefore such a prayer cannot be justified , unless we pray to be rid of him . thus i have considered his main principles . the remainder of his book , being most of it consequences from these intermixed with repetitions , and naked affirmations , will go off with less trouble . he observes , that the taking away the distinction between rightful and usurped powers , gives the most intelligible account of the original of government . this he attempts by induction ; and endeavours to prove that government take it which way you will , is not to be explained upon a foundation of legal right . he begins with paternal or patriarchal authority . and says , that no man had authority , either to give it away , or usurp it . i easily agree with the doctor , that no man had authority to usurp paternal power , or any other : but why it might not be fairly parted with , is not altogether so plain . the doctor knows emancipation was frequently practised among the romans , and allowed by their laws . this was no other than a resignation of fatherly authority into the hands of the child . indeed , to chain a man thus inseparably to his right , is in effect to take away the advantage of it : for it bars him the liberty of disposing of his own ; and makes him a slave to that , of which he should be master . but suppose a father can't give away his authority ; i hope the doctor will permit him to leave it behind him , when he dyes . now this is sufficient for the patriarchal scheme : for by this hypothesis , adam , and the other patriarchs , who had sovereign dominion from god , left their jurisdiction to go by descent to their heirs ; who were lords , not only of their immediate brethren , but of all the remoter branches of the younger families . so that here is no need of the resignation of paternal power : for the successive conveyance of original authority , to the heirs , or reputed heirs , of the first head , is as much as this hypothesis requires . this is the substance of sir robert filmer's opinion ; and because the doctor has said nothing to confute it , i shall vindicate it no further . his next business is to shew how impracticable and precarious a government would be , if it was settled upon the choice of the people . now , thô i don't pretend to understand the doctrine of original contracts , yet upon supposition any kingdom was fixed upon this foundation , i can't perceive it would be so sandy as is pretended . yes ; if subjects give princes their authority , they may take it away again when they think fit . that is to say , after they have solemnly parted with their freedom , and resigned themselves up to the disposal of another , they may break their oaths and promises to god and man , and enfranchize themselves whenever the humour takes them . this is to out-do mr. hobs , who obliges his common wealths-men to stand to their pacts , when their words are once past . but there can be no irresistable authority derived from the people . why so ? may they not transfer their right to resistance , without any limitation of conditions ? this cannot be denied ; and if their liberty to resist is thus absolutely conveyed away , one would imagine they should be obliged to performance of articles . if securities depend only upon the inclinations of those that make them , the philosophers and divines have very much misinformed us . at this rate no man ought to trust another any farther than he can throw him ; and all society and intercourse must grow impracticable . the doctor pursues his point , and discovers , that a government must be res unius aetatis : for there can be no hereditary monarchy upon these principles of choice ; because one generation can choose for none but themselves : for what right had my ancestors to choose a king for me ? 't is well for the doctor 's ancestors , he did not ask them what right they had to be his ancestors ? such a question , for ought one knows , might have brought difficulties along with it . but , in answer to the doctor 's demand , i desire to know of him , whether our ancestors have not a right to govern us ? if they have , why may they not assign over their jurisdiction , and choose a governor for us ? by the doctor 's logick , we may refuse obedience to any law which was made before our own time : for if our ancestors could not possibly have any right to choose us kings , they could have none to choose us laws . his saying , one generation cannot bind another , is a manifest mistake , as the settlement of inheritances will inform him : i think he needs go no farther than a bond for his satisfaction . to come nearer the point , all the reverend judges , in calvin's case , affirm , that every subject , as soon as he is born , oweth , by birthright , ligeance and obedience to his sovereign . and if he owes this duty by vertue of his birthright , one would think it should be upon the score of his relation to his parents , whose act he is bound to stand by ; unless we can suppose he consented to the constitution in the state of preexistence . to put the matter beyond dispute , i shall produce a remarkable instance from scripture . it 's the case of the gibeonites ; who , notwithstanding they over-reached the children of israel into a treaty , by a false relation of their country , yet after the league was once made , the then israelites , and their posterity , were bound to observe it . and when saul , out of a zeal for the interest of his kingdom , made a slaughter of the gibeonites , god punished this breach of faith with three years famine ; and the gibeonites had satisfaction given them . we are now to examine conquest ; which he tryes to unsettle , by saying , if conquest gives a right , then the most unjust force is right ; and every one who is stronger than his neighbour , has a natural right to govern him . i confess these are sad stories , if they were true : but who may we thank for them , but the doctor and mr. hobbs ; who by founding dominion in power , have as much as in them lyes brought these consequences unavoidably upon us . his speculation about submission is somewhat surprizing : this he calls a forced and after consent to own him , who has made himself king. and affirms , by implication , that we might disown a prince who has thus scared us into subjection , were it safe to do so . that is , oaths and promises are not to be kept , though the matter be never so lawful , if we are put upon them against our will. this is strange casuistry , and if allowed would make wild work. for if an unwilling consent ( if one may speak so ) is a sufficient dispensation , it 's easie to pretend it in all cases ; which liberty would , in a great measure , destroy the securities of trust and commerce between man and man. his last effort upon legal government , is in these words . the continuance of an usurpation can never give a right , &c. a bad title can never improve into a good one , though it remains after the right heirs are extinct ; which is as great a paradox as any of the rest . for all mankind have hitherto agreed , that possession alone is a good title , when there appears no better . the reason of this universal maxim is plain . first , because no man ought to be molested in what he enjoys , excepting upon the plea of right : for he that disturbs a man without right , disturbs him without reason . but by the state of the case , no person has any right to molest the forementioned possessor , in regard the legal heirs are supposed no longer in being . secondly , the practise of this maxim , is necessary to the peace of society , which would be very much disordered , if a long continued possession might be disturbed without any pretence of right . now where there is no third person injured , nor no injustice done , those principles which tend most to the peace of society ought to carry it . thus the doctor has made it his business ( with what success the reader must judge ) to disparage and unsettle all legal titles , to make way for his leviathan model , which resolves all government into providence , that is into power . the doctor now proceeds to objections ; and in answer to one , concerning the injustice of adhering to an usurper against a lawful prince , he replies , that the right of a lawful prince is to administer the government ; and not to obey him when he does not , and cannot govern , is to deny no right . but on the other hand , if a prince has a right to administer the government , certainly he ought to have this right ; and the people are bound to help him to the administration of this right , when it 's forcibly detained from him : for if he has a right to the administration of the government , he has a right to command his subjects ; and consequently they are bound to reserve their duty for him only , and to range themselves under his obedience as soon as may be . to acknowledge a right , and at the same time to deny the duties consequent upon it , is to say that we are resolved not to render to all their dues , notwithstanding the common reason of mankind , and the apostles command to the contrary . but he ( the legal prince ) does not , and can't govern : if that is none of his own choice , it ought not to be alledged to his prejudice . if nothing but the disobedience of his subjects hinders him from governing , it 's unreasonable for them to plead their own crime in discharge of their allegiance , and to make a privilege of rebellion . his next answer has nothing new in it , excepting an admonition to all princes , to be upon their good behaviour . for they must take some care to preserve their crowns by good government ; i. e. they must govern as the doctor and the rest of their loyal subjects think fit . which courtly advice must end in an appeal to the judicious mobb , and make the vulgar the last resort of justice : for these , being the majority , ought not to be denied the common privilege of examining the actions of their sovereign . but what is the penalty the doctor lays upon princes , if they don't give satisfaction ? why , then their subjects are allowed to stand neuter , and not to maintain them , so much as in possession . just now the doctor told us , that the duty of the subject was to obey the laws of the prince in possession . some of which laws provide expresly for the defence of his person , crown , and dignity . now to allow this priviledge to an usurper , and deny it to a lawful prince in possession , amounts to little less then asserting , that justice ought to be discountenanced ; and that a bad title is better than a good one . but is the doctor sure the people are at liberty , not to assist a prince when he does not please them ? are they not bound to defend a divine right , which he grants is never parted from possession ? is not god's authority in a bad prince ( supposing he was really such ) as much as in a good one ? if not dominion is founded in grace ; and so we are gotten off from thomas hobs , to iohn of leyden and knipperdolling . and though the doctor , was not very sure the subjects are bound to defend an unacceptable prince in his throne ; yet a little time has better informed him : for ( pag. 29. ) he grants it's reasonable enough to venture our lives and fortunes to defend the king's person and government while he is in possession . this i mention , that the doctor may have the honour to confute himself ; neu quisquam ajacem possit superare nisi ajax . however , at present , he will not be thus liberal : for if the subjects have a bad prince , who notoriously violates their rights ; what follows ? then to be even with him they may be bad subjects , and notoriously violate his rights . in such a case , if he cannot defend himself , and fight an army singly , let him go ; though we are bound to support him , by the fundamental laws of government in general , and of the constitution in particular . but what if he strikes at religion ? if he does , it 's able to bear the blow without any damage . a man might as well undertake to stab a spirit , as to destroy religion by force . we can never lose our faith , unless it 's thrown away by negligence , or surrendred by treachery . religion is out of the reach of injury ; and invulnerable , like the soul , in which it 's seated . for it 's not in the power of violence to rifle our understandings , or ravish the freedom of our wills. religion , instead of being weakned , rises , upon an opposition , and grows more glorious by sufferings ; as is manifest from the history of the primitive christians . i don't mention this as if we lately either felt , or indeed had any reason to fear any thing like a persecution ; but only to shew the sophistry of the doctor 's argument . for if the religion of the subject be out of the prince's power to alter ; it ought not to be pretended as a reason of deserting him . besides , to pretend religion for the breach of oaths , and natural allegiance is the greatest reproach we can lay upon it ; and makes one part of it to contradict and destroy another . and though the doctor says , it 's a little too much for the subjects to venture their lives to keep a prince in the throne to oppress them : that is a prince the people are not pleased with ; for if they don't fancy him , they will either say he is , or will be an oppressor . now if allegiance depends upon the qualities of the prince , and his subjects were made judges of his behaviour , as the doctor will have it ; it 's impossible for any government to continue . at this rate the ignorance and levity of some , the disgust and ambition of others , would soon argue themselves into liberty , and the state into confusion . and therefore obedience is unconditionally bound upon us by the laws of nature ; which are part of the constitution of this realm , as the judges agree in calvin's case : this faith and ligeance of the subject is , as they observe , proprium quarto modo to the king , omni , soli , & semper ; and by consequence forecloses all objections against rigour and maleadministration . allegiance , as all the judges resolve it in the case of the post nati , follows the natural person of the king ; and by consequence must continue as long as his natural person is in being , without any respect to his moral qualifications . but a subject and a soldier are two things ; and a man may be the first , without any obligation from the laws of god or man , of being necessarily the latter . to this i answer , that though every subject needs not be a soldier by profession , yet whenever his prince is in danger , and requires his service , he is bound by the laws of god and man to fight for him . i doubt not but the doctor is so far of sir edward coke's opinion , that the duty of the fifth commandment extends to the king , who is pater patriae . now one part of the duty we owe our parents , is to defend their persons from violence : which assistance seems due a fortiori to the father of our country , who has the jurisdiction over all private families , and from whom both our selves and our parents have received protection . solomon tells us where the word of a king is , there is power . and if the subject is bound to give a general obedience to his prince , then certainly he is not at liberty to decline his service , when his crown and person are concerned , the same conclusion is plainly implied in our blessed saviour's answer to pilate ; if my kingdom were of this world , then would my servants fight , that i should not be delivered to the iews . from which words this proposition naturally follows , that subjects , as subjects , are bound to hazard their persons in defence of their prince . indeed this doctrine stands in little need of the support of authority , it being sufficiently evident from the reason of the thing . for , first , every subject receives security and protection from the king ; and therefore ought to protect his legal protector : for as all persons receive the common benefits of government , so they ought to joyn in a common defence of it . secondly , all persons are born equally subjects ; from whence it follows , that the essential duties of subjection ( of which , defence of the king is one chief branch ) must necessarily extend to them all . thirdly , all persons are obliged to venture their lives for the publick safety , and to appear against the enemies of their country : but the direction of this affair belongs solely to his management , who is vested with the power of the sword , and has the prerogative of making peace and war. those whom he declares the publick enemies , are to be accounted such , and no others . to him only it belongs to judge of the bigness of the danger , to proportion the preparation for war , to appoint the time and place for battel . by vertue of which privilege , all his subjects are bound to comply with his appointment , and to bring their persons into the field upon demand . if we look into the laws of our own country , we shall find them clear and decisive against the doctor . in the famous case of the post nati , argued before the lords and commons in the painted chamber , 4 iac. 1. all the judges agreed that allegiance extends as far as defence , which is beyond the circuit of the laws ; that is , the subjects are bound to defend the king , in what place soever he resides , whether in his dominions , or elsewhere . for , as these reverend judges go on , every king may command every people to defend any of his kingdoms , this ( i. e. defence ) being a thing incident to the allegiance of all his subjects . now , if the defence of the king's person and kingdoms is a thing incident to the allegiance of all his subjects , or necessarily implied in the notion of subjection , then every man is obliged to be a soldier , whenever his prince shall think fit to employ him in that manner . this is no more than the resolution of all the judges in calvin's case ; who declare , that every subject is by his natural ligeance bound to obey and serve his sovereign . and since this obligation of the subject is thus general and comprehensive , it must certainly hold in cases of greatest necessity and importance . the duty of an english subject is more particularly described in the old oath of ligeance , mentioned by britton ; which , as sir edward coke adds , is yet commonly in use to this day , in every leet , and in our books : the tenour of it runs thus ; you shall swear , that from this day forward you shall be true and faithful to our sovereign lord the king , and his heirs ; and truth and faith shall bear of life and member and terrene honour , &c. this oath , as sir edward coke observes elsewhere , is to be taken of all above twelve years of age. the oath of allegiance , made 3 iac. 1. c. 4. takes in the same compass of duty : for there the subject swears to bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty , his heirs , &c and him and them will defend to the uttermost of his power , against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever . this , if it were duly performed , were enough in all conscience , and as much as can be expected from any soldier ; unless the being listed obliges a man to impossibilities . now this oath every person of the age of eighteen years is bound to take , if required by authority . lastly , that the extent of allegiance reaches to the assisting the king in the feild , we may learn from 11 h. 7. c. 1. where we are told that the king calling to mind the duty of allegiance of his subjects , that by reason of the same they are bound to serve their prince — in his wars , against every rebellion , power and might , reared against him , &c. this statute we may observe does not found the subjects duty of asserting their prince in his wars , upon their military oath and possession , but upon their allegiance ; and therefore since all subjects owe a natural allegiance to their king , they ought to defend him in the feild , when , and where he shall command their service . and thus , if the judges and laws may be allowed to determine the case , the doctors fine speculations about non-assistance , must come to nothing . his distinction of the parts of the oath of allegiance into the natural duty of subjects , and an obligation superinduced by law , is both ill founded , and misapplyed . first , this distinction has no foundation either in reason or law. our oath of allegiance does not extend our obedience ( as bishop sanderson well observes ) and make us more subjects than we were before : it only gives a new security , by the solemnity of the action , for the performance of that to which we were antecedently obliged . the oath finds us subjects , ( otherwise we might refuse it ) it does not make us such . and therefore those who have not sworn such an allegiance , are bound to all the duties of subjection contained in it . this sworn obedience is enjoyned by authority , only as a recognition of our natural duty ; to which it adds nothing , but the enforcement of a religious circumstance : which is agreeable to the judges resolution in the forementioned case of the post nati ; that allegiance was before laws . and in calvin's case it 's averred , that a true and faithful ligeance , and obedience , ( which is all we are sworn to ) is an incident inseparable to every subject as soon as he is born. secondly , as the doctors distinction is chimerical ; so the application of it is mistaken and unreasonable . he says , natural allegiance is due only to him who has the actual administration of the government . natural allegiance , under favour , can be due to none but him who is our our natural prince , no more than filial obedience can be challenged by any , excepting our natural parents . but possession abstracted from right , does not make any man our natural prince , no not in the doctor 's opinion . for he elsewhere tells us , that the kings of egypt , and babylon , never had a legal and natural right to govern israel . by which words it's plain , he makes a legal and natural right to be the same . but bare possession does not give a legal right , and by consequence not a natural one . thirdly , natural allegiance is due to him who is king by the laws of nature ; but he who can prove his title by nothing but the administration of government , is no king by the laws of nature ; for nature , i. e. right reason does not found dominion in power , nor gives any countenance to injustice . and if an usurper has no prerogatives of royalty from the laws of nature , then natural allegiance cannot be challenged upon this score . for a principle which gives a man no right to govern , can't lay an obligation upon any persons to obey him . the laws of nature enjoyn us obedience to our kings . but they don't tell us , that every powerful pretender ought to be acknowledged as such : but refer us to the constitution for satisfaction . for authority and iurisdiction is as much a property as land ; and therefore the measure of it ought only to be taken from the laws of each respective countrey , which brings me to the doctor 's application of legal allegiance ; which he affirms , is sworn only to a king in possession . and by his reasoning he lets us plainly understand , that this allegiance is due no longer than the possession continues . to this i conceive the doctor 's arguments will afford a sufficient ground for a reply : for he explains legal allegiance by maintenance , or defence ; and says , it signifies no more than to maintain and defend the king in the possession of the throne , as having a legal right to it . if it signifies thus much , its sufficient . for if we are sworn to maintain and defend the king in the possession of the throne , because he has a legal right to it ; we ought to defend him as long as this legal right continues : for as long as the grounds of allegiance remain in full force , the consequent duties ought to be performed . now the doctor grants a prince's legal right remains after his dispossession ; and that he may insist upon his claim , when he finds his opportunity . he argues farther , that we can legally take this oath only to a king in possession , because it must be administred by his authority . to this i answer , first , that from hence it follows , that whenever a lawful prince has been possessed of the government ; those who swore to him during his possession , are bound to perform the contents of their oath ; for then by the doctor 's argument it was lawfully administred . secondly , to put the matter beyond dispute , we are to observe , that the king's authority continues after dispossession : this , waving other authorities , i shall prove from the two other famous cases of the post nati , above mentioned , reported by sir francis moore , and sir edward coke ; in both which we have the resolution and concurrence of all the judges . in the first , among other things , it 's affirmed as unquestionable law ; that allegiance follows the natural person of the king ; not the politick . for instance , si le roy soit expulse per force , & auter usurpe , uncore le allegiance nest toll ; comment que le ley soit toll . that is , if the king is by force driven out of his kingdom , and another usurps ; notwithstanding this , the allegiance of the subject does not cease , though the law does . secondly , allegiance extends as far as defence , which is ( sometimes ) beyond the circuit of the laws . for every king may command every people to defend any of his kingdoms ; this being a thing incident to the allegiance of all his subjects , without respect to the extent of the laws of that nation , where they were born ; whereby it manifestly appears , that allegiance follows the natural person of the king. from this resolution of the reverend judges these inferences necessarily follow . 1. since allegiance follows the natural person of the king , it must be due to him as long as his natural person is in being , i. e. as long as he lives : so that possession or dispossession does not alter the case . 't is true they make a change in the king's fortune , but the allegiance of the subject remains the same . 2. when the prince is ejected by force , the laws are said to cease , or expire : from whence it follows that the usurper has no authority to execute justice , or administer any part of the government ; which overthrows all the pretences for a k. de facto . 3. allegiance extends as far as defence , and does not , as the judges observe , depend upon the formalities of law ; but is founded in natural subjection . and as a king may command his subjects of one kingdom , to defend him elsewhere , though they are obliged by no express provisions to travel with , or transport their allegiance into another country ; so by parity of reason all subjects , in vertue of their general allegiance , are bound to defend their prince in their own country , thô there should be no particular laws assigned to bring them upon duty ; which is more than the doctor will allow . 4. if allegiance reaches as far as defence , then without question it ought to be paid to the king , when dispossessed ; for then it is , he has the greatest need of his subjects assistance . 5. if allegiance follows the natural person of the king , and is due to him out of possession ; then it cannot be due to an usurper in possession : for this would oblige us to two opposite allegiances , which , as the doctor observes , is absurd , and impossible . 6. if allegiance follows the king's natural person , his royal authority must do so too . for an obligation to obey always supposes a right to command ; and if the sovereign authority always attends upon the person of the king , then a commission granted by a king out of possession , must be a valid commission . and thus the doctor 's great question , which he was not lawyer enough to decide , is answered against him . calvin's case is full to the same purpose ; which because i have already mentioned , i shall cite the less of it now . in this solemn and deliberate determination , it 's resolved by the reverend judges , first , that allegiance and faith are due to a king by the law of nature . they must mean a rightful king : for the law of nature does not encourage injustice and usurpation . secondly , they affirm , that the law of nature is part of the law of england ; and cite bracton , fortescue , &c. for this point . and , thirdly , that the law of nature is immutable . from whence i infer , that if allegiance is due to a rightful king by the law of nature , if this law is incorporated into our english constitution , and of an immutable obligation ; from hence it necessarily follows , that as long as we have a rightful prince , our allegiance is part of his right , and ought to be exerted for his service . secondly , they observe , that in the reign of edw. 2. the spencers , father and son , to cover the treason hatched in their hearts , invented this damnable and damned opinion , that homage , and the oath of ligeance , was more by reason of the king's crown , ( that is his politick capacity ) than by reason of the person of the king. upon which opinion they inferred execrable and detestable consequents . 1. that the king might be removed for maleadministration . 2. that he might be reformed per aspertee . 3. that his lieges were bound to govern in aid of him , and in default of him . now if it is such an impious and unreasonable assertion to maintain that homage and ligeance , is tyed to the king 's politick capacity : then it must follow his natural person ; which makes the resolution of this case the same with the former . and though i don't pretend to know what the doctor is hatching in his heart ; yet i 'm afraid he has slipped into this damnable and damned opinion of the spencers ; for he has ventured to affirm , with great assurance , that the diminution of the crown , and the personal right of the king , are very different things . now if they are so very different it is because they are separable from each other . and if the crown may be diminished without injuring the personal rights of the king ; then the rights of the crown are not tyed to the king's person . that is in the spencer's language , allegiance the great prerogative of the crown , follows the king 's politick capacity , not his personal ; and is due not to any hereditary advantage of blood , but may be challenged by possession and power ; especially if the administration be cast into a monarchical figure . from these observations , 't is evident , that to maintain and defend the king's person , crown and dignity , implyes an endeavour to restore him . for not to repeat what has been said already ; the crown is in construction of law the ius regnandi : so that to swear to maintain his crown , imports an obligation to defend his right , which is inseparably annexed to his person , and runs parallel with his life , unless he resigns . from whence i conclude , against the doctor , and republican saunders , that in the sense of the oath , to restore , is necessarily included in maintaining . but possibly we are not aware what a monstrous contents the oaths of allegiance will be big with , if restoring is included in maintaining : for then besides several other terrible things , which i shall consider afterwards , we swear , it seems , to disturb all governments , and raise rebellions if we can , to restore our king ; which are such absurd and unreasonable engagements , that had they been expressed in the oath , no man in his wits would have taken it . i think so too , as the doctor has represented the matter . but then before he drew such tragical inferences , it had not been amiss for him to have proved , that there is any government to disturb under a usurpation . for , by way of quere , i would gladly know , how there can be a government without any authority to administer acts of government ? and how a man can have any authority , who has no right to ground it upon ; or to give him a publick character ? if allegiance , as we have seen , is inseparably tyed to the person of the king , one would think there was no danger of a crime in the performance of it : unless we should stretch it beyond the duration of his person ; and appear from him after he was dead . if the asserting the laws , and supporting the constitution , and engaging in the cause of justice , is a raising of rebellion ; the names of things are very much altered of late ; and if the things are not so too , some persons , i fear , are in no good condition . but to insist upon this no farther : i believe the doctor forgot that this extravagant oath of allegiance cannot be refused by any person ( except women covert ) of the age of eighteen years , without incurring a premunire . now by the iudgement of a premunire , a man is thrown out of the king's protection : and his lands and tenements , goods and chattels are forfeited to the king : and his body is to remain in prison at the king's pleasure . now a man , though he had no higher aim than self-preservation , might better venture the inconvenience of following his king into banishment ; and run the risque of the rest , then have this act executed upon him . for these are present and severe punishments , whereas the other are but contingent and remote misfortunes at the worst . so that no man in his wits , who considers the danger of declining this oath , would scruple the taking it , though it was drawn up with all that strictness of loyalty which startles the doctor . and though he has dressed up this oath in frightful colours , and given it an unkind parting blow ; which looks like a sign that there was more of convenience , than inclination in their former correspondence ; yet if we take off the disguise , and wipe off the marks of the doctor 's hard usage , we shall find it of a complexion agreeable enough , that it obliges us to no more than what was our duty before , and implied in our natural allegiance ; and that the contents of it are both reasonable and necessary to the support of government . the dr. proceeds to remove another difficulty contained in the oath of allegiance , viz. we swear to the king's heirs and lawful successors , who are not in actual possession ; and therefore that must signifie to give them possession . right ! if the king dies possessed of the crown , we must swear to maintain the succession , otherwise it seems not . but , 1. i can't conceive what security this construction of the oath can give to an hereditary monarchy : yes , very much says the doctor . for if the king dies possessed , we swear to maintain the succession , and to own none but the true heir . but how long is this maintenance and owning to last ? truly no longer then his sword can challenge it . if he gets possession , we are for him ; and so we are for any body else . for if iack straw steps before him , and proves lucky in his events , the true heir must be contented to live upon the metaphysical dyet of legal right , without any subjects to support him . and thus the oath of succession , when prudently interpreted , resolves it self into this kind interpretation , that we solemnly swear to be unalterably true to our own ease and convenience , and to adhere religiously to the nimblest and strongest party . and for fear this should not satisfie the lawful successor , we swear moreover , if you please , not to make it our act to set up any prince , who is not the right heir . true ! for there may be danger in doing otherwise ; especially when the king dyes possessed : for then the posse of the kingdom is usually conveyed immediately to the right heir , and his interest is much the strongest . we ought therefore to be faithful to him , when it 's unsafe for us to desert ; and assist him as long as he is able to live without us . 't is granted , we are not to be too busy at first in setting aside the succession , for fear of burning our fingers ; but if any ambitious person is strong enough to make a break in the line , we may lawfully comply with the intrusion . so that it seems we must not form an unjust interest , nor set out with it at first ; for possibly it may sail us : but when it has gathered strength by the conjunction of more wickedness , and improved into a thriving condition , we may fix and support it fairly enough . i perceive some people , out of a tenderness to society , won't give us leave to break our fast with rebels , for fear we should ruffle our concerns , and miscarry before noon ; but when the day is once their own , we have liberty to come in at the evening , and sup with them ; and may wipe our mouths after all , with the same good conscience the woman did in the proverbs . but truly i think those who won't venture to ride the chace , ought not to be admitted to the eating of the venison . however , if we examine the matter critically , it 's hard to tell which sort of revolters , the early or the later , ought to be preferred . they have each of them their peculiar excellencies : the one has more courage , the other more caution , and both the same staunchness of principles . ambition is predominant in the first ; fear and covetousness in the latter , who is such a flexible apprehensive creature , that whoever can command his interest , may likewise command his actions , and fright him out or into any thing , at their pleasure . i observe , 2. that this construction of the doctor 's determines against k. charles ii. as fully as is possible . for he was driven into banishment , before he could gain his right : and the rump and cromwel mounted the seat of government : and the king his father dyed dispossessed of the crown . so that by the doctor 's reasoning , the people were not only disingaged from the successionary part of the oath , but were bound to stand by the commonwealth , and oppose the restauration . if any one questions k. charles i. his being dispossessed at his death , he may please to consider , that this prince was not only defeated in the field , and made prisoner by his rebellious subjects ; but there was a high court of justice erected to try him for treason . the supream power and authority was declared to be in the commons of england : and monday 29. ian. 1648. ( the day before his majesties martyrdom . ) the commons in the name of the present parliament enact , that in all courts of law , justice , &c. and in all writs , grants , &c. instead of the name , style , test , or title of the king , heretofore used ; that from thenceforth the name , style , &c. of custodes libertatis angliae shall be used and no other . in short , the king's name was enacted to be struck out in all judicial proceedings , in the date of the year of our lord , in juries , in fines , in indictments for trespass and treason . from these unquestionable matters of fact it 's manifest , beyond contradiction , that the king had not so much as the shadow of authority left him ; but was perfectly out of possession before he lost his life . i shall draw one advantage more from this citation , and so dismiss it . the inference is this , that treason lies against the king , though out of possession . for the regecides who were not comprehended in the act of indemnity , were excepted , for sentencing to death , or signing the instrument of the horrid murther , or being instrumental in taking away the life of king chales i. for this reason , they are left to be proceeded against , as traytors to his late majesty , according to the laws of england . if the doctor desires another instance , that treason may be committed against a king out of possession ; he may receive satisfaction from the first 12 years reign of king charles the second . for in this act of indemnity , it 's said , that by occasion of great wars , and troubles , that have for many years past been in this kingdom , divers of his majesties subjects are fallen into , and be obnoxious to great pains , and penalties . and to the intent , that no crime committed against his majesty , or royal father , shall hereafter rise in judgment , or be brought in question against any of them , to the least endamagement of them , either in lives , liberties , or estates ; his majesty is pleased that it may be enacted , that all treasons , misprisions of treasons , acted or done since the 1. ian. 1637. to the 24. of iune , 1660. — shall be pardoned , released , &c. from this act we may observe , 1. that though the king was newly restored at the making of this act , it 's said , notwithstanding divers of his subjects , ( not his fathers ) had for many years past been obnoxious to great pains and penalties , &c. which is a plain argument , that as his reign was dated from the death of k. ch. i. so they looked upon the people of england as his subjects from that time ; and that his authority to punish , was entire , during his dispossession ; otherwise they could not have been obnoxious to great pains and penalties , for acting against him . 2. the king pardoned all crimes committed against himself , which would have risen up in judgment , and endamaged his subjects in their lives , liberties , or estates : some of which crimes , as they can amount to no less than treason , so they must relate to the time of the usurpation ; because the king was but very lately entered upon the actual administration of the government . neither do we read of any treasons committed against the king from the 29 th . of may to the 24 th . of iune ; which was the utmost term to which the pardon extended . 3. all treasons , misprision of treason , &c. ( excepting those excepted ) are pardoned from ianuary 1. 1637. to iune 24. 1660. now if treason did not lye against a king though out of possession ; this pardon should have reached no farther then 1648. because then k. charles i. was murthered , and his then majesty deprived of his kingdoms , till the year 1660. the general pardon , i say , ought to have stopped at 1648. unless we can imagine the king intended to rank those among traytors , who appeared for his own interest ; and to pardon the treasons committed against cromwel and the rump , which is a supposition sufficiently romantick , especially if we observe , that the pretended indictments of high treason against any of the usurped powers , are considered by themselves in the next chapter , and pronounced null and void : and the styles of the usurpation , keepers of the liberties of england , protectors , &c. notwithstanding their plenary possession , are declared to be most rebellious , wicked , trayterous , and abominable , and detested by this present parliament . and why all these hard words ? because these names of authority when misplaced , were opposite in the highest degree to his majesties most just and undoubted right . that the doctor may not complain for want of evidence in this matter , i shall cite him a proclamation of both houses , for proclaiming king charles the second , dated may 8. 1660. it begins thus , although it can be no way doubted , but that his majesties right and title to his crowns and kingdoms is , and was every way compleated , by the death of his most royal father , &c. without the ceremony , or solemnity of a proclamation : yet since the armed violence of these many years last past has hitherto deprived us of any such opportunity , wherein we might express our loyalty , and allegiance to his majesty ; we therefore , &c. now if the king 's right was every way compleated at his fathers death , and the allegiance of the subject was due to him before his restauration , than treason was committable against him ; for treason is nothing but a high breach of allegiance . but this proclamation is so plain , that there needs no farther comment upon it . and thus i have made it appear from the resolution of all the judges in two distinct and celebrated cases ; by proclamation , and acts of parliament , that treason lyes against the king , though out of possession : which performance the doctor is pleased to call proving the point ; and looked upon it as an impossible undertaking . the doctor 's next observation begins very obligingly for the crown : and seems to insinuate , that the subjects need not disturb themselves with fears and jealousies : for in case a prince should be enclined to stretch his prerogative , he can't hurt them , unless they will betray their own liberties , and venture to be hanged for it . and who would venture an execution only for robbing himself ? there is no fear the majority of the english nation especially should ever be guilty of such an extravagance : so that now , one would think , all was safe enough : but it happens quite otherwise . for the doctor flyes out unexpectedly against arbitrary power , makes indecent reflections ; and gives all princes a second admonition to take warning . and after this sit of schooling is over , he argues thus , that if the oath of allegiance does not oblige subjects to defend a prince in the exercise of an arbitrary power ; he thinks it much less obliges them to restore such a prince . to this granting the doctors supposition , for disputes sake , i answer ; that notwithstanding the subjects are not to act for the promoting of arbitrary power ; yet they are bound to support an arbitrary prince , supposing they have one . this the doctor must grant , unless he will maintain , that a sovereign , and unaccountable power , may be forfeited by maladministration ; which , i think , is a contradiction . for all forfeitures imply a legal and superiour court , to take cognizance of the cause , and pronounce sentence ; which cannot be supposed in this case , without making a superiour to a supreme . and if sovereign power is unforfeitable , than the right of him , who is vested with it , must always remain : and if so , the subjects are bound to support him in the exercise of it , though it may be sometimes over-strained into rigour . let us try the doctor 's argument once more . the subjects are not obliged to defend a prince in the exercise of arbitrary power . they are not bound to maintain the excesses of a prince's prerogatives ; therefore they may deny him his just rights . they are not bound to give him more than his due ; therefore they may give him less , or take all away from him . 't is a fault to break the laws in favour of the crown ; therefore we may break them for rebellion ; where lyes the equity and logick of these propositions ? a less master of thinking than the doctor would have found out the distinction between arbitrary and regal power , and concluded that our obligations not to promote the one , did not discharge us from supporting the other . his inference , that the making and receiving addresses of lives and fortunes , is supposed to signifie some other defence than the oath of allegiance obliged the people to , is not mathematically drawn . for may not men make a recognition of their duty , and give fresh assurances to perform that which they were obliged to before ? what is more common in religion , and civil conversation , than to renew former engagements , by repeated promises , and solemnities of action ? these addresses of loyalty refresh the obligation of the subject , and the good opinion of the prince : and therefore it 's no wonder they are kindly received , though they present him with nothing but his own : i don't mean that the people have no property in their lives and fortunes ; but only that they are bound to expose and resign them to the publick , i. e. their prince's interest , when occasion requires . the doctor remarks farther , that the oath of allegiance is a national oath , and therefore the defence or maintenance we swear is national ; that is , to joyn with our fellow subjects in defending the king's person and crown . — but in case the body of the nation absolve themselves from these oaths , and depose their king , and drive him out of his kingdom , and set up another prince in his room ; it 's worth considering , whether some private men are still bound by their oath . and immediately concludes , certainly this was not the intention of the oath ; for it is a national , not a private defence , we swear . i confess the doctor has stated the matter of fact notably enough , about , absolving , deposing , driving out , setting up , &c. but the consequence he infers from thence i cannot understand , for these following reasons . first , because there is nothing in the form of the oath to countenance this interpretation ; but the contrary . for by the oath of allegiance every person swears to bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty and his heirs , &c. and him and them will defend to the uttermost of his power . whence i observe , 1. that the swearing in the singular number , and without conditions of assistance , is an argument that every individual person is bound to unalterable fidelity to the crown ; without any relation to , or dependance upon , the behaviour of his fellow subjects . 2. he that runs in to a majority of revolters , does not defend the king to the uttermost of his power : for the king has neither his counsel , the reserve of his person , nor the example of his constancy ; some or all of which might have been serviceable in their way , and were in his power to give him . nay , he is so far from defending the king to the utmost of his power , that he consigns himself and all his power into the hands of the usurper , to be employed against his lawful sovereign ; which is as direct a contradiction to the words and intention of the oath as can possibly be imagined . farther , the oath declares , i do believe , and am in conscience resolved , that neither the pope , nor any person whatsoever , hath power to absolve me of this oath , or any part thereof . but the doctor is of another mind , and concludes , that when the great body of the nation has absolved themselves , their neighbours are absolved too . i suppose the doctor will not quibble upon the word person , and argue that though the pope , nor any other person , has any power to absolve us , yet the people may ; because they imply another number , and include a plurality of persons . if he objects in this manner , the latter end of the sentence is sufficient to disappoint him . for there we renounce all dispensations to the contrary : which clause is levelled against popular , as well as papal plenitude of power , and comprehends the vvestminster-infallibility , as much as that of rome . lastly , all these things are sworn according to the express words spoken ; and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words ; and without any equivocation , or mental evasion , or secret reservation whatsoever . but to swear with this private supplemental sense , that we will bear faith and true allegiance to the king , provided the majority of his subjects will do so too ; if this is not a plain wresting of the common sense and understanding of the words ; if this is not a mental reservation to purpose , i despair of seeing any such in the iesuits morals . secondly , this construction of the oath makes government very uncertain , and precarious . the dr. frequently flourishes with the body of the nation ; i hope he does not think the nation is all body . by this great body i suppose he must mean the majority of the kingdom . now if a government lyes at the discretion of the multitude , it must needs be admirably provided for ! if a king must go to the poll for his sovereignty ; and and we are obliged to tell noses , to know whether our allegiance continues , or not ; we are likely to enjoy the blessings of peace and order at a great rate . the generality of mankind formerly don 't use to be over ▪ burthened either with prudence or conscience ; and i don't perceive that this age has much mended the matter : which makes me wonder why the dr. should give them such an unbounded privilege ; to pull down and set up kings ; to dispence with oaths and other commandments ; to repeal laws ; to transferr titles , and turn the world topsy turvy , at their pleasure . but which way does the great body of the nation absolve themselves from these oaths ? by law ? no. they are not the legislative power . the parliament it self cannot pretend to this privilege without the king. this great body are subjects like other people when they are separate , and dispersed . whence then comes the sudden alteration ? can they rendezvouz themselves into independency ? can a crowd give a man a dispensation purely by the magick of their numbers , and the disorder of their meeting ? this makes the composition work incredibly beyond the vertue of the simple ingredients . who would live alone , if company can do all these wonders ? well! possibly the dr. means , this great body can't absolve themselves from their oath lawfully ; but when they have once done it , their act must stand . can they not do it lawfully ? then certainly not at all : for in these cases id tantum possumus quod jure possumus . who ever heard , that unlawful absolving , or a dispensation against authority and right , signified any thing ? however , this is the dr's meaning , which makes him still more incomprehensible . for , 3 dly . this construction confirms the highest breaches of law , and gives force and authority to the most irregular proceedings . it does not warrant the deposing act , it 's true ; but when it 's over , it gives it a blessing , and pronounces it valid . the pope sometimes pretends to depose princes by a privilege of right : but this doctrine scorns to be beholden to a colour of justice , but does the same thing by a privilege of wrong . it sets violence in the place of law , and gives treason and authority the same effect . and how the difference between good and evil can consist with such a latitude , is somewhat difficult to understand . but what can the minor part of the subjects , perhaps but a little handful , do towards the restoring their king ? why , they can shew an exemplary firmness and resolution , which may probably encrease their numbers , and awaken the better-meaning part of the people into right apprehensions of their duty . they can wait god almighty's leisure , retain their integrity , and save their souls : and is all this nothing ? the dr. has a farther reserve , and that is , an oath to fight for the king , does not oblige us to fight against our country , which is as unnatural as to fight against our king. as unnatural ; then it 's unnatural to fight against our king ; which is worth the observing . to go on , and , 1. as the oath of allegiance does not oblige us to fight against our country , so neither does it to sight against our king : if it did , it has been well kept . besides , i would gladly see a reason why we ought to preferr the country to the king. did we swear allegiance to the country , or has it any authority over us independent of the king ? if not , why should we esteem multitudes above justice , and side with the subject against the soveraign ? 2 dly . we are to remember , that the dr. disputes upon a supposition of usurpation ; and therefore the assistance of our country does not belong to his plea : for those who appear for the rightful prince , for the laws and establish'd government of the country ; they , and no other , are properly speaking the friends of the country . if the dr. takes the country on any other notion , he must make it a wilderness of disorder , or a den of thieves . and to carry on the dr's supposition ; to fight against revolters , is not to fight against our country . they have no country to lose , but have forfeited the privileges of their birth and industry , by their defection : and though they may find favour if they seek in time , yet they can challenge none . the dr. was apprehensive , that this post was scarcely tenable , and therefore after a little skirmishing , retires to the main fort , his pretended disposal of providence : and after all , he grants , that subjects must have regard to legal right . and if they pull down a rightful king , and set up a king without right , they greatly sin in it . most certainly . and therefore one would think , when they have set up a pretended king without right , they ought to pull them down again , and not persevere in the breach of their duty . what the dr. adds by way of parenthesis , that subjects ought not to remove or set up kings without legal-right , unless the constitution of the government should in some cases allow it ; is somewhat unintelligible . 't is true , some people would make us believe , though without reason , that the constitution does acknowledge an illegal prince , after he is once set up and established : but that it should allow the setting him up in any case , i suppose was never heard of till now . if the constitution allows of its own violation , and the laws grow lawless , and give men authority to break them , it 's time to look out for some other government . i can guess what the dr. would have called such disputing as this is , if he had catched an author at such a disadvantage . the dr. proceeds to another objection , viz. this doctrine of his makes it impossible for an injured prince to recover his right . this is a severe charge ; how does he purge himself ? surprizingly enough . he tells you , it may be called a difficulty in providence , if you please ; but it 's no difficulty to the subject , unless a passionate affection for the dispossessed prince makes it a difficulty . otherwise it will rub off easily enough : for , 't is but yielding to necessity , and leaving every thing else to providence , and there is an end of that business . but what if the subject has a passionate affection for justice , as well as for his prince , and can't draw his sword against the laws with any manner of satisfaction ? what if he is afflicted to see a brave , a generous , and good-natur'd prince so deeply injured ? what if he has an aversion to violence , and hates to strengthen the workers of iniquity ? if he has not command enough of his conscience to conquer all these scruples , what relief can the dr. give him ? very little that i know of . and as for his calling it a difficulty in providence , he must either mean , that it 's a difficulty to god almighty , or else , that it is to human understandings an incomprehensible way of proceeding ; for providence to bar a good prince of his right , only for having treacherous subjects , and bad neighbours . and if this be his meaning , i agree with him , unless we had a particular revelation to clear the point . but then i must add , that the dr's scheme bearing thus hard upon the attributes of god , is but a bad argument to conclude the reasonableness of it . he says , no man could have foreseen how ch. the second should have returned , who had a powerful army against him ; or j. the second be driven out of his kingdom at the head of a powerful army , without shedding of blood. now , the reason why the latter instance of this mystery was so difficult to penetrate , is given by the prophet : because the heart is deceitful , and desperately wicked , who can know it ? however , according to the dr's application , providence was as much concerned in the one as in the other ; as much engaged to incline men to desert and betray their prince , as to return to their duty to him . he goes on to inform us , that all the plots and conspiracies of the loyal party were vain , and had no other effect , but to bring some worthy and gallant men to an unhappy end. all the plots , &c. that is , the loyal party plotted to restore the government , and conspired against rebellion . this is somewhat oddly expressed ; but new language , and new notions , do well together . i perceive the dr. is resolved to furnish out cloth and trimming too , for one bout . but after all these fine words , if his doctrine holds true , these gallant worthy men were no better than men worthy , and traytors to god and the common-wealth . some people will likewise wonder , since he had bestowed such commendations upon the royallists , why he should tarnish their character , by saying they came to an vnhappy end. if he means it with respect to their friends , it might be so : if in relation to themselves , it 's utterly deny'd : for , is it in earnest a misfortune to sign our loyalty with our blood , and to dye in defence of the laws ? is it an unhappiness to value our honour and integrity above our lives , and to expire in constancy and greatness ? if the case be thus , the martyrs came to an vnhappy end : but i shall dismiss this argument . the dr. is at last apprehensive , lest this doctrine should prove inconvenient and dangerous to princes ; and answers the objection , by saying , the contrary doctrin is much more dangerous to subjects : whose interest , it seems , must be preferr'd , though their behaviour be never so monstrous and irregular . i shall afterwards endeavour to shew , that the security of the subject is better provided for , upon the old principles , than by this new scheme . but why is the contrary doctrin so dangerous to the subject ? because it 's a folly to believe any princes will endure those who are obliged by principles of conscience to oppose and disown their government . is it folly to think any prince will endure such things ? then it 's folly , it seems , for him to endure them . here the dr. has given us a cast of his good nature , and shewn what a kind advocate he is for his brethren the non-swearers ! but why will he not endure them ? does the dr. think no prince will endure a man that has any principles of conscience ? not when they are turned against him . why not , if there is no malice in the opposition ? why should any power persecute people to the death , meerly because they are willing to go heaven , and are afraid of being damned ? an intruding prince , if he has any spark of honour or generosity in him , if his temper be not as ill as his title , won't sacrifice such persons to rage and resentment : not only because such sort of revenges look uncreditably and mean , but because he knows his interest is not declined out of humour or animosity , but upon the score of principles and duty . the dr. undertakes another objection , which lies against his doctrin of providence , viz. that pyrates and robbers have as good a title to his purse , as an vsurper has to the crown . what he has brought in answer to this in his case of allegiance , i have already considered . but he has since endeavoured to support himself upon some new reasons in his vindication , and therefore these must be likewise examined . before i enter upon this matter , it may not be improper to take notice , that the dr. was forced to make use of such extensive principles in his first book , that , like a large town , they are much the weaker for their compass : which makes the defence of them at all quarters utterly impracticable . i am mistaken , if that which i have formerly alledged , together with the obvious consequences which result from it , does not contain an answer to what the dr. has lately produced : for if , as he maintains , all power , whether legal or illegal , is from god , and a certain sign of his authority ; if providence orders all events which are for the good or evil of private men , as well as publick societies ; if there is no difference between the divine permissions and approbations ; no evil in the city which the lord has not ( barely permitted , but ) done . if all this be true , i confess i cannot understand why a robber's title is worse than a usurper's . however , since the dr. continues of another mind , the grounds of his dissent shall be considered . now he endeavours to shew , that private robberies and vsurpations have not the same effect and confirmation from providence . because all private injuries are reserved by god himself , to the redress of publick government , therefore his providence has no effect at all upon such personal rights . — but such disputet which are too big for a legal decision , for the decision of which god has erected no vniversal tribunal upon earth , he has reserved to his own iudgment ; such as the correction of kings , and the transferring of kingdoms . and here the final determination of providence , in settling princes upon their thrones , draws the allegiance of the subjects after it . 't is granted , that government is appointed by god for the redressing private injuries ; but it 's likewise as true , that all injuries of this kind are not actually redressed . there are very many irregularities committed by the subjects , towards each other , which remains uncensured and unrectified by the courts of justice ; and therefore , why should not providence interpose by way of supplement , and determine private property by events , as well as the dominions of princes ? subjects , by their immoralities and mismanagement , deserve oftentimes to be chastized , and dispossessed of their fortunes : why therefore should there not be a court of events set up to assert the soveraignty of providence , and to supply the defects of human justice in one case , as well as in the other ? but providence has no effect upon such personal rights . is it because they are personal ? then it can have no effect upon the crown ; for that surely belongs to the king's person . the dr. cannot deny , that god is supreme lord of private estates , as well as of kingdoms ; and that he disposes them according to his pleasure : and since he orders all events which are for the good or evil of private persons , it follows , by inevitable consequence , that whatever any man can catch , is god almighty's gift , and then surely there is no reason to question the title . god in erecting courts of judicature , did not intend to make the subjects , any more than the prince , independent of his own jurisdiction ; or to exclude himself from any part of the government of the world. and therefore , if all publick changes and revolutions of kingdoms are certain signs of god's approbation , and fortified with his authority , we ought to conclude the same with respect to inferiour concerns . if the successes of violence always draws allegiance after them , and translates the authority from the rightful prince to the usurper , i see no reason why they should not have the same consequence upon private property ; for , that cause which can produce a greater effect , may , no doubt , produce a less of the same kind . if providential events can unsettle the crowns of princes , 't is strange they should not have an equal jurisdiction over things of an inferiour value . if this principle is sufficient to overturn the fundamental laws of a kingdom , and to transferr the prerogatives and royalties of government , i wonder how any petty private rights can stand before it . have private rights a firmer establishment than the publick ? and is the property of crowns more precarious , and slenderly guarded than that of a cottage ? if events can give an island or a continent , to every victorious usurper , why should a more modest robber , who makes himself master of a small sum of money , be denied the same privilege of his industry or courage ? this is great partiality , and by the dr's reasoning , a confining providence with a witness , and fettering it with courts of human justice : so that god can't dispose of the property of the subject , unless the judges and jury are pleased to consent to it . the truth is , the dr. has made the condition of princes very lamentable . as for subjects , when they are injured by theft or intrusion , their property remains entire , and they have the remedy of law to relieve them : but princes must not pretend to these securities , when they are once disseized , though never so unaccountably ; their authority is out of doors , and they must sit down by their misfortune without redress : they are to govern only durante bene placito , no longer than the sence and conscience of the people will give them leave ; two qualities which seldom fall to the share of the majority : and which is an harder consideration than all the rest , it 's their honourable relation to god almighty which puts them into these circumstances of disadvantage : had they not had a commission from him , their right had been fenced , as well as those of other men ; but their being his ministers , to rule the world , has cut them off from the common privilege . this must needs be a mortifying consideration to princes , and make their charge a very dangerous undertaking . who , that could live any other way , would wear a crown at this rate ? who would change the title of private property , and throw himself out of the protection of the law , for such a glittering uncertainty ? who would quit a certain and solid interest , and expose himself to all the humours and accidents , the wickedness and extravagance of human nature is capable of producing ? 't is certainly much more eligible to have the security of stated justice , than to stand to the courtesie of events , and lye at the mercy of ambition , and the madness of people . but , such disputes which are too big for a legal decision , for the decision of which god has erected no vniversal tribunal upon earth , he has reserved to his own iudgment . what sort of dispute does the dr. mean , and between whom does it lye ? is it between the lawful prince and the usurper ? if so , the very names of the parties are sufficient to end the controversie . for certainly there is no need of disputing , whether right is right , or wrong is wrong . the dr. i fear to perplex the argument , seems to perplex the title , and disputes , as if it was equally doubtful on both sides ; and then , i confess , events , i. e. possession might determine it . but this cannot be supposed , without altering the state of the question : for the dr. has put the case at the worst , and reasoned upon the supposition of vsurpation ; and owns , that his principles oblige him to do so : and would our author have a vniversal tribunal erected , to overthrow universal justice ; to dispossess and exterminate lawful princes , and determine the cause in favour of violence ? well! possibly the dr. means , this dispute is between god and the lawful prince . 't is for the correction of princes , and the transferring of kingdoms . touching the transferring of kingdoms , there are several ways , as i have already observed , of maintaining the divine soveraignty in this point , without making any difficulties in providence , and sapping the foundations of common right . and as for the correcting of princes , god does not stand in need of injustice and rebellion for this purpose ; he can execute this discipline without the necessary wickedness of the subject : he can afflict princes in their families , and in their persons : he may likewise suffer them to be over-run by violence , without giving any approbation or authority to the oppression . as he suffers the devil to do a great deal of mischief , though he neither gives him a commission , nor ratifies his acts. besides , there will be an vniversal tribunal erected at the last day , where princes must appear as well as meaner persons ; and where mighty men , if they have done amiss , will be mightily tormented . thus we see kingdoms may be transferred , princes punished , and god's prerogative asserted , without returning to the doctrine of events . these expedients are plain , and lye easie upon the understanding , and answer all the difficulties objected by the dr. without running us upon greater . thus kings , who are only less than god , are left to his sentence and correction . whereas the dr's scheme puts them in the power of the people ; and gives a rebellion , when it 's grown general , a privilege to cancel the regal authority , and to absolve the people from their allegiance . now , for subjects to sit judges upon their prince , and inferiours upon their undisputed supream , is the greatest affront both to decency and duty imaginable . the dr's remark , that the final determination of providence , in settling princes ( i. e. usurpers ) draws the allegiance of the subject after it ; is worth considering : for what sort of determinations are these ? they are against law and human right . when do they commence , and what signs have we to distinguish them by ? why , when wickedness is in its exaltation , and rebellion is grown invincible , then it is that providence determines the point for usurpation , and gives it a divine authority ; then god , it seems , discharges the people from their former engagements , and gives them leave either to chuse or submit to a new power . the dr. thought to clench the business by the word final , but , as ill luck would have it , it has spoiled all : for the dr. in his case of allegiance , has observed , that the usurpers being placed in the throne at present , and the lawful prince removed , does not prove , that it is god's will it should alwaies be so . and upon this argument he founds the ejected prince his legal right . now , if this determination is of an uncertain continuance , it cannot be termed final ; for providence may reverse it in a short time , for ought we know to the contrary . farther . either this determination is final , or not ; if it is , then god cannot restore the rightful prince , nor dispossess the intruder : and is not this to confine him to events , i. e. to human actions , and to hinder him from the free disposal of kingdoms ? if this determination is not final , then it signifies nothing ; for by implication from the dr's argument , it draws no allegiance after it . besides , the reader may please to take notice , that i have proved above , that events are no declarations of the will of god , nor any good grounds for practice ; especially when they are neither agreeable to the rules of justice , nor warranted by express revelation . the dr's next argument for a disparity between usurpers and robbers , runs thus . kings must be throughly settled in their government before it becomes unlawful for subjects to dispossess them . therefore to make the case parallel ; he who seizes another man's estate , must be throughly settled in it , before it becomes vnlawful to dispossess him : but that no private man can be , who is under the government of laws , and has not the possession of his estate given him by law. under favour , i conceive the case is exactly parallel . for instance ; if a man picks my pocket , and runs away with the money , it must , by the dr's principles be his own ; for the event is clearly on his side : he has possession as well as an usurper , and the same countenance of law for keeping it . he has moreover the consent of the great body of pick-pockets , who all submit to his success , and acknowledg the justice of his title ; and , who can now deny his being throughly settled in the money ? if the dr. replies , he may be punished , and obliged to refund , provided he can be seized . i answer . so doubtless may an usurper be served , if the lawful prince can catch him . but then it follows , that so long as he remains undiscover'd , he is , i can't say a legal , but a providential proprietor , and therefore not bound to restitution . however , to give the dr. entire satisfaction , i shall not insist upon his concealment , but bring him into open view ; which may be done without disturbing his settlement ; for it often happent , that thieves , with a guard of their own perswasion , retire into boggs and mountains , where , though the true owners know their retreat , there is no coming at them . now , as long as they remain in these impregnable circumstances , together with the advantages i just now mentioned , i can't see the least colour of reason from the dr's principles , why they should not have a divine right to all their booty . lastly , the dr. to prove these two cases unparallel , apprehends a great difference between a legal right to the crown , and the legal rights of subjects to their estates . — in settling estates there is nothing more required , but a meer human right : but to make a legal king , besides an human right to the crown , he must have god's authority ; for a meer human right cannot make a king. this the dr. urges , to obviate an objection , that it is as wicked and unjust for subjects , whatever their circumstances are , to own any other prince , but the l●gal heir , as it would be for tenants to pay their rent to any but their true legal lord. but his answer is by no means satisfactory . for , 1. i have proved , that an usurper has neither human nor divine right ; and therefore i desire the dr. would not bring him in for his share of privilege , among legal landlords , and legal kings , till those arguments are answered ; for certainly , he that has no right or authority , ought not to have the same treatment and duties paid those with those that have . 2 ly . if a private landlord , who , it seems , has no more than a meer human right to his estate , does not forfeit his title by being unjustly disseized , why should a prince be in a worse condition , who claims under greater advantages , and has the laws of man , and the authority of god to secure him ? if a single legal right is able to hold out against force and intrusion , one would think it should improve by being doubled , and not grow weaker by having divine authority superadded to it . now the dr. grants , that every legal prince is fortified with divine authority ; and therefore , if violence cannot extinguish a private right , it must be , if possible , less prepared to do any execution upon a crown . 3 ly . to take away the difference the dr. apprehended between private and publick property , i answer , that if he means by meer human right , an authority from men , only as men , without any higher original ; then there is more required for the settling an estate than a meer human right . for , men abstracting from the commission they receive from god , and the subordination he has placed in the world , are all equal , and have no authority to make laws and and bind property ; they have no superiority of nature over each other ; they have no prerogative from creation , from preservation , from omniscience and omnipotence ; they have neither heaven nor hell at their command , and therefore have no reason to claim a jurisdiction over their fellow-creatures in their own right . if their laws had not their sanction from a superiour authority , it would be no sin to break them , for every one might take his measures as humour or interest should direct them : therefore , to keep the world in order , god has confirmed human laws with his own authority , and threatned to punish the violations of them with no less than damnation . from whence it follows , that whoever has an human right to an estate , has likewise a divine authority to secure it ; for we are commanded to obey the ordinances of man , by god himself , and property is of his appointment : so that as long as the human right to an estate continues , the owner enjoys it , by god almighty's order and appointment ( unless he declares expresly to the contrary ) which , doubtless , carry his authority along with them . 't is true , private proprietors have not a divine authority for the same great purpose with princes ; they have it not to govern , and make laws ; to represent the majesty and soveraignty of god ; but they have it to fix the bounds of meum and tuum , no less than princes have to assure their government . farther . if kings , as the dr. grants , are made by a divine authority , their publick acts , particularly their laws , must have the same privilege : for those acts which are but executions of the royal office , and for which the office it self was intended , must have the same authority with the office ; and if the laws of kings have a divine authority , the estates which are settled by those laws , must partake of the same advantage , and have more than a meer human right for their security . thus i have considered what the dr. has urged for a disparity between usurpers and private robbers , and unless he has something farther to say in his defence , the consequence i have drawn upon this head must stand in full force against him . the next objection which the dr. endeavours to remove , is the instance concerning ioash and athaliah , which , he says , was a peculiar case , because god had entailed the kingdom of judah on the posterity of david . i have made it appear above , that there is no difference between an human and a divine entail , as to the strength and firmness of the settlement , because they are both founded upon god's authority . but since the dr. has endeavoured to reinforce his answer in his vindication , i shall briefly consider what he has there alledged . first , the dr. grants , that princes have their authority of government , and consequently of making laws from god. but yet we are to think divine political laws much more sacred and universally obligatory than meer human laws . 't is confessed , that divine laws are to be preferred to human upon several accounts , but this difference does not in the least affect the obligation of the subject , and therefore is nothing to the dr's purpose . however , it may not be improper to point out the circumstances of advantage : by the way we may remember , that we are not now disputing about moral laws , but only those which are positive and political . now , the preference which divine laws of this nature ought to have above those which are meerly human , depends upon these following reasons . 1. because of the solemnity of their publication , they are deliver'd in a more majestick manner , proclaimed by miraculous and extraordinary appearances of nature . these advantages of promulgation exhibit the authority of god as it were visibly to the senses of the people , and make a more reverential and lasting impression upon their minds , than any human grandeur and magnificence can do . 2. divine laws oblige the conscience by a direct and immediate authority , for god is that one law-giver , who has an original and independent authority over us . as for the ordinances of men , they do not bind in vertue of their own right , but only upon the account of a delegated power , because god has commanded us to submit to them for his sake , because they are made by those who are his ministers , and act in his name . 3. divine laws are preferrable in regard of the excellence of their matter ; they are the results of infinite wisdom and goodness , and exactly proportioned to the circumstances and convenience of those for whom they are made : there is nothing of over-sight , passion , or private design in them , to which imperfections human laws are liable . upon these three accounts , the laws which are of god's own making , ought to be more highly esteemed than those published by human governours . but then these advantages have no relation to the sanction , nor hinder the obligation to obey , from being the same in both ; for where the reason of obedience is the same , the duty must be so too . now human laws being confirmed by god's authority ( which is the ground of our obedience ) as much as those which are called divine , our consciences must be equally engaged to both . 't is true , the divine authority is somewhat more remotely conveyed in human laws than in the other ; but this distance does not make the obligation less obligatory , nor give the subject any liberty to dispute ; for , as the orders of a prince are to be obeyed , tho' delivered by inferiour magistrates , so god expects our submission and complyance , as much when he commands by his representatives , as when he does it more immediately by himself . and therefore , what the dr. observes concerning divine political laws , that they are more universally obligatory than any meer human laws , is not always true ; and when it is so , it does not proceed from the kind of the law , but the privilege of the legislator . i say it is not alwaies true ; for the mosaick ceremonies were divine laws , but these laws were in force only in palestine , and among the nation of the jews , and therefore the obligation to obey them could not reach so great an extent by far , as an edict of the babylonian or persian monarchs , whose empire was much larger . 't is true , a divine political law may be more universally obligatory than a meer human one , because god is universal lord , and has a right to govern all mankind ; which , it 's likely , no one prince will ever have . but this disparity , if it should happen , does not proceed from the unequal authority of the laws , but from the different jurisdiction of the law-makers : the one , it 's granted , may command farther , but the other within its proper precints is equally valid . the dr. affirms , that the dispute between divine and human laws , and a divine and human entail of the crown , are of a very different nature . but here he makes a distinction without a difference ; for , are not all entails grounded upon law , divine upon divine , and human upon human laws ? therefore in disputing the entails above mentioned , we must debate the nature of human and divine laws , because these are the basis upon which the respective settlements are supposed to stand : from whence it will follow , that if the authority of divine and human laws is the same , the entails depending upon either of them , must have an equal firmness . this consequence it 's likely the dr. foresaw , which made him run out into a mystical discourse about providence ; which principle i have already undertaken , and proved , that providence , as the dr. understands it , is no rule of practice : however , i shall consider the remainder of this paragraph a little farther . now , the dr's reason why a divine entail is stronger than a meer human one , is , because the first is founded upon express revelation ; the later has nothing more than a providential settlement of the crown , upon such a family ; but providence is not to be expounded against the express revelation of god's will. to this i answer , that an human entail has a great deal more to plead than the dr's notion of providence . it has a legal right to support it's title , which gives it an equal firmness with a claim made from divine designation : for we have plain texts of scripture to submit to the constitution of our respective countries , and to look upon our lawful governours as god's ministers . and since a legal right is fortified with express revelation , it must have an equal privilege with a divine entail , and carry it against all providential pretences , by the dr's own argument . he goes on , and attempts to prove the difference between divine and human laws , as to their force ; because in the first case the authority of god gives an immediate divine authority to the laws made by god ; in the other case , the authority of god terminates on the person , and does not immediately affect his laws . to this it may be replied , 1. that according to the dr's description of a divine law , there are few or none of this character to be found , either in the old or new testament ; for the mosaick law was given by the disposition of angels ; and the gospel was delivered by the apostles . 't is true , those precepts given by our saviour , may be said to proceed from a supreme and soveraign power . but then we are to consider , that his humanity was the organ of their conveyance : so that by our author 's reasoning these practical manifestations of the will of god , are but human or angelical laws at the highest : for , not being delivered by the deity himself , the authority of god must be conveyed at a distance , and terminate on the person of the minister who represents him ; and by consequence cannot immediately affect his laws . now , this immediate conveyance is the dr's distinguishing privilege , which he makes essential to the character of a divine law : and therefore i would gladly know why an entail , grounded only upon a prophetical or angelical law , may not be over-rul'd by providential events , as well as an human legal settlement ; for angels have no original immediate authority , any more than kings , and kings are called elohim , gods , as well as the other ▪ and have as ample , and i may add , a more standing authority to govern mankind , than any of the heavenly hierarchy . now , if providence , understood in the dr's sence , ought to have the same effect upon those laws , which were given by angels or prophets , as upon others , which are meerly human , as by his argument it must have , then ioash's entail was cut off by athaliah's possession , and iehojada was guilty of treason for deposing her . 2 dly . it 's not at all material as to the dispute in hand , whether the divine authority affects the laws of princes immediately or mediately ? as long as we are certain of the thing , the manner of its conveyance is no abatement of the original vertue . the dr. grants , that princes have god's authority to make laws . now god's authority to make laws , implies a right to make them : and since , as the dr. observes , there are no degrees of right , there can , for the same reason , be none of authority ; and therefore it must be full and perfect where-ever it is . if the divine commission of an human law-giver is certain and unquestionable , we need enquire no farther ; for god's authority receives no prejudice by being delivered to his representatives : so that provided the truth of the thing is secured , the way of its coming to us , whether by removes , or not , signifies nothing ; for in this case the distance of the conveyance does not in the least weaken the force of the operation . what the dr. adds concerning divine laws , that they have 〈◊〉 superior authority to all human laws , is true , but foreign to his purpose ; for god can null his own laws , as well as those which are purely human , as he has actually done in the mosaick dispensation ; so that the possibility of a divine repeal does not make any difference between human and divine laws , they being both of them equally liable to such an alteration . besides , we are to observe , that though god can repeal the laws made by himself , or his representatives , yet we are by no means to suppose , that events and providence , as the dr. takes it , are any authentick declarations of the divine will. his instance in the by laws of a corporation , is likewise unserviceable ; for these private laws , within the precincts of the respective towns , have the same force with the more general laws of the kingdom , provided their charter is comprehensive and full , and granted by those who have the entire legislative power ; which last privilege cannot be denied to god almighty ; and therefore his authority must be as strong in the delegation as in its more immediate exercise . the dr. in his case of allegiance , to which i am now returned , endeavours to gain a text in hosea , from the usual interpretation , and make it consistent with his principles . here , as the dr. observes , god expresly charges israel with making kings without him ; they have set up kings , but not by me ; they have made princes , but i knew it not . to this the dr. replies , that this was not true , as to all the kings of israel , after their separation from the tribe of judah . if it was true of some of them , it 's sufficient to justifie the objected exposition against him . this answer therefore being perfectly inoffensive , i shall pass to his second , in which he argues , that baasha slew nadab the son of jeroboam , and made himself king without god's express nomination . and yet god tells him , i have exalted thee out of the dust , and made thee prince over my people israel . now , if there were any difficulty in this text , the dr. has effectually removed it in his case of resistance ; the passage is not only well managed , but stands unrecanted . and thus it is . god having threatned to destroy jeroboam ' s whole family , baasha fulfills this prophecy , by the trayterous murther of nadab , ( who succeeded his father jeroboam in the kingdom ) and usurped the government himself , and slew all jeroboam ' s house . this murther and treason is numbred among the sins of baasha ; for which god afterwards threatned to destroy his house , as he had done the house of jeroboam . and yet he having usurped the throne , and got the power into his hands , and no man having a better title than his , god is said to have exalted him out of the dust , and made him prince over his people israel . — all which plainly shews , that where there is no regular succession ( i. e. where the kingdom is not hereditary , or the royal line is extinct ) to the kingdom , there possession of power makes a king. from whence it follows , that where there is a regular succession established , and an undoubted title , there meer possession of power does not make a king. if the dr. can confute this reasoning , he may remember it is his own . but in my opinion it is unanswerable ; and so i shall leave it , and proceed to the 3 d. which he calls the true answer to this text of hosea ; by which character we may understand what he thought of his two former . in this answer he affirms , that israel was originally a theocracy , ( he must mean , after the revolt of the ten tribes ) as well as judah ; and though god at their request allowed them to have kings , yet he reserved the appointment of them to himself , and appointed jeroboam to be their first king : therefore the fault the prophet taxes them with , is , their omitting to consult god for his nomination , after jeroboam 's and jehu 's line were cut off ; for these were the only kings named by god. but by the dr's argument the ten tribes should have consulted god about a new king , immediately after ieroboam's death , because his line was cut off ; for the crown was promised to his posterity , upon condition of his own good behaviour ; which condition was notoriously broken by him . i might likewise observe , that it 's very unlikely the prophet hosea , who lived so many generations after ieroboam and nadab his son , should charge the children of israel with an omission at so great a distance of time , which no mortal then living could possibly beguilty of . but to come closer to the dr. the theocracy was determined when baasha made himself king ; as the learned dr. spencer has proved to satisfaction : the theocracy ( says he ) was mightily weakened , and in a manner expiring under saul and david , but was quite as it were extinguished under solomon . when the kingdom was made successive , and the ark fixed in the temple , and the vrim supposed to be no longer oracular , — then it was plain , god had given up the government , and resigned the political supremacy to the kings of israel . if the reader is desirous to see this argument managed at length , he may consult the author ; for to avoid tediousness , i have cited him but briefly . indeed , i need not make much search after authorities , for the dr. in his case of resistance , speaks as home as one would desire ; he there observes , that after saul was chosen king , the government ordinarily descended not by god's immediate choice , but by the right of succession , ( though now he is pleased to contradict it . ) and having given an account how the face and motions of the government were changed , and that the jewish monarchs , in their councils , in their state , and defence , were conformable to their neighbours . he adds , therefore the government of israel by kings was like other human government , liable to all the defects and miscarriages which other governments are ; whereas , while the government was immediately in god's hands , the administration , as he goes on , was under a quite different management . so that we see the dr. has given up the theocracy rather sooner than the learned author i quoted before . now , if the theocracy was determined before israel and iudah were parted into two kingdoms , we have farther reasons to believe it had its period after their division , especially in the kingdom of israel ; for in that kingdom there was neither tabernacle , nor temple , nor ark ; there was no regular authorized priesthood ; no vrim and thummim , no symbols of god's presence , excepting the calves at dan and bethel , which were unacceptable to him. 't is true , they had prophets sometimes sent them ; so had the ninevites , and other neighbouring nations ; where they were very far from being under god's immediate government . and therefore though the theocracy should have continued till this time in the kingdom of iudah , we have no reason to believe the ten tribes in the same condition ; for they wanted the signs of the theocratical superintendency , the organs of inspiration , and the ministers , by which god was wont to execute his orders , and direct the state. now , what does the dr. bring to confute himself , and the reverend dean , and the inference i have drawn from them ? why , nothing but that ieroboam and iehu were made kings by god's immediate designation : but this remark does not come up to the point ; for nebuchadnezzar had several countries given him , by god's express designation , and yet the babylonian monarchy was never taken for a theocracy . the dr's next essay is , to prove , that this doctrin of allegiance to the present powers , is founded on the same principle with the doctrin of non-resistance and passive-obedience , and therefore both must be true , or both false . this argument he knows some men will not like : which is no wonder , for i am pretty sure it 's no good one ; as will appear by examining his proof . he tells us , passive-obedience is founded on this principle , that god invests kings with his authority . true ; god does invest them with his authority ▪ when they are either appointed by his immediate designation , or claim their soveraignty by the constitution of the country ; for god declares , that the higher powers are his ministers ; and commands us to submit our selves to every ordinance of man , for his sake ; and confirms human laws with his own authority . so that where the laws make it treason to resist the prince , there the gospel makes it damnation . and upon this bottom the doctrin of non-resistance stands . but it does not follow from hence , that illegal powers are vested with god's authority : yes , says our author , this principle equally proves , that all kings who have received a soveraign authority from god , and are in the actual administration of it , must be obeyed , and not resisted . but here the dr. takes the matter in dispute for granted ; he supposes a king and an usurper to be terms equivalent ; he confounds the notion of authority and force , and inferrs a divine right from the actual administration of power . now i have made it appear , that king is the name of right , not of meer force ; that authority and power are things vastly different ; that usurpers have no authority from god , neither soveraign nor unsoveraign ; and that their actual administration of government is no more an evidence of a commission from heaven , than any other success of private injustice : therefore , unless he can disprove what i have urged upon these heads , there is no danger of his making passive-obedience dependent upon his new scheme . to the remainder of this paragraph i have given an answer already , which needs not be repeated . he complains , the old-church-of england principles limit the providence of god in governing kings , and protecting injured subjects ; for , it seems , god has no way to do this , but either to turn the princes hearts , or to take them out of the world. very well ! and is not their reformation a sufficient redress of the peoples grievances ? or are they not punished if they are damned for oppressing their subjects ? besides , there are other expedients , as i have shewn , by which providence may correct princes and relieve the subject ; and if there were not , those remedies i have just now mentioned are much more intelligible than what the dr. prescribes ; for what can be a greater reflection upon an all-wise and almighty being , than to make him stand in need of the sins of his creatures ? as if the course of providence must be stopped , unless it were releived by perfidiousness and rebellion : as if god could not govern the world without setting it on fire ; nor work any deliverance without involving whole nations in guilt , and blood , and ruin. if this is not confining providence with a witness , i am much mistaken . and tho' the dr. seems to lament the subject's misfortune , because the old principles deny them the liberty to own an illegal prince , though he would be never so kind to them ; yet i conceive , he will have no reason upon second thoughts , to be dejected at this consideration : for people are sometimes very liberal in disposing that which does not belong to them , and bribe high , at least in promises , to gain their designs : but if every one might engage with those who would be kind to them , without any regard to virtue and honour , private families would be very much disorder'd , and the dr. might possibly be a sufferer by this latitude himself . and why must that usage be put upon princes , which , if it was offer'd a private person , would be thought a great injury ? since the duties of subjection are bound upon the conscience , as strictly as any domestick relation , we ought , doubtless , to take our lot , for better for worse , and not be governed by our inclinations in these matters . however , it seems hard that we must refuse our deliverance , and not allow god to deliver us unless he do it by law. but waving the familiarity of this last sentence , i answer ; that we have no reason to believe any deliverance comes from god , unless it 's managed in a regular defensible way : to the law , and to the testimony , if they speak not according to this , it is because there is no light in them . he whose character it is to still the madness of the people , we may be sure , will never authorize and encourage it . the righteous god of peace always speaks in the still voice of law and justice , and is never to be found in popular commotions , nor in the tempests of rebellion . but if this argument fails , he has another , which is more considerable at hand , viz. the necessity of government , to preserve human societies ; for human societies must not dissolve into a mobb ; or mr. hobbs's state of nature , because the legal prince has lost his throne , and can no longer govern , — the preservation of human societies does of necessity force us to own the authority even of vsurped powers . — i believe it will be hard to perswade any considering men , that that which in such cases ( in revolutions ) is necessary to preserve a nation , is a sin. — for the end of government is the preservation of human societies , — and the great law of all . in answer to this argument , i shall endeavour to prove these three things upon the dr. i. that he over values the preservation of societies , which ought not to be maintained by irregular and unjust actions . ii. there is no reason to apprehend , the strictness of the old principle should dissolve a country into a mob . iii. if this event should sometimes happen it would turn to the general advantage of society . 1. society ought not to be upheld by acts of injustice . since god does not allow private persons to preserve themselves by injuring their neighbours , why should we imagine he grants this liberty to great bodies of people ? unless the universality of an evil practice can change its nature , and correct its malignity . does god hate injustice in private persons , and permit it at the same time to whole communities ? it 's somewhat strange , a multitude should not be bound to the common laws of justice and humanity ; and that sinners should grow saints , meerly by crowding together . and if this supposition is absurd , then certainly justice and moral honesty are to be preferr'd before the concerns of society . now , to deny any person his right , much more to break the fundamental laws of a kingdom , is certainly injustice , and therefore the number of adherents can't alter the quality of the action , though they may aggravate the crime . 't is true , self-preservation is a good thing , but as some people order the matter , we shall have little left worth the preserving . when we talk of preserving our selves , we should comprehend the whole interest of human nature , especially the nobler part of it , and not confine our notion to the satisfactions of epicures and atheists . we should take care to preserve our integrity , as well as our wealth ; our reputation , as well as our ease ; and our souls , as well as our bodies . which cannot be done , unless the measures we go by are regular and defensible . to illustrate this general discourse by an instance , let us suppose a whole country or nation reduced to such streights , that they have no other way to save their lives , but by turning turks or heathens ; what is to be done in this case ? have they the liberty to comply , or must they submit to the penalty ? if they may comply , the evangelists were mistaken , and the martyrs self-murtherers . if they may not , it follows , that some things may be necessary to the preservation of a society , which are notwithstanding utterly unlawful . and , that the general danger of refusing to comply with an imposition , does not make the complyance warrantable ; tully , though a heathen , could say , that there some things so lewd and flagitious , that a wise and virtuous man would not be guilty of them , tho' his country lay at stake . and elsewhere he tells us , that to take away that which belongs to another , and to enrich our selves at the disadvantage of our neighbour , is a greater contradiction to nature ( and by consequence ought to be more avoided ) than death , than poverty or pain ; and in short , than all the accidents which can happen to life or fortune . again . the law of nations , which stands both upon an human and divine authority , does not suffer us to make our selves rich or powerful with the spoils of others . the same author cites several noble precedents ( as he calls them ) where the publick was concerned , in which honour and honesty were valued above the considerations of security and power . amongst other instances , he gives one concerning themistocles , who told the athenians at a publick meeting , that he had something to propose very much to the advantage of the state , which was not convenient to mention in that place , and therefore desired they would assign him a proper person , to whom he might communicate it . they ordered aristides to attend him . themistocles tells him , that the lacedemonian fleet , which was laid up at gytheum , might be burnt , provided the matter was managed with secrecy ; which loss must of necessity ruine the lacedemonians . upon the hearing of this , aristides comes into the assembly , and makes his report in general terms ; that themistocles's proposal was indeed useful , but by no means fair and equitable : the athenians understanding this , and not believing that any thing which was dishonest could be really serviceable , damned the whole project upon aristides's authority , without so much as hearing it . in this discourse he likewise observes , that the stoicks had such an esteem for justice and generosity , that they positively pronounced , that nothing which was mean and dishonest could be really profitable . the peripateticks , another famous and numerous sect of philosophers , though they held , that honesty and interest might sometimes be separated , yet they owned at the same time , that the first was always to be preferr'd to the latter . i wish these heathens don't rise up another day , and condemn some generations of christians , who with all their advantages of revelation fall so unfortunately short of natural religion and pagan virtue ; who startle at the meer idea of justice , and can't bear the confinements of honesty so much as in the theory ; whose principles and practices tend to no other point , but to debauch and debase mens spirits , to make them mean and mercenary , and indifferent to right or wrong . in short , government had better be dissolved than upheld by unlawful means . god never intended society should be made a sanctuary for vice , and serve only to promote the ends of injustice ; people had better live singly and dispersed , than incorporate for mischief , and be tyed together with the bands of iniquity : if men can't be honest in company , let them break up and retire into solitude . there is a necessity for a man to keep his faith unbroken , and his honour untarnished ; but it 's not necessary to live either in towns or villages , or indeed any where else , when life must be bought at the expence of virtue and conscience . if ease , and the regaling our senses are to be preferr'd to truth and justice , it 's time to resign up the privileges of human nature ; instead of pretending to these things , we ought rather to go down upon all four , and resemble the shape and posture , as well as the qualities , of irrational creatures . is it not much more eligible , to be dissolved into mob , than to range our selves in order , for the support of injustice , and to play tricks in mood and figure ? let us rather chuse to wander in desarts and mountains , in dens and caves of the earth , than combine , like the men of sodom , for lewdness and violence ; for the pretence of a community is no good plea for immoral actions , nor any shelter against fire and brimstone . fiat justitia & ruat mundus ; better no world than no honesty . but 2. there is no reason to apprehend the strictness of the old principle should dissolve a nation into mob ; for , the usurper's interest will be sure to keep up the face of a government ; there seldom wants complyers in such cases , to supply the courts of justice , and to take care of publick administrations . a lawful prince is never dispossessed without a powerful faction , who will be sufficiently vigilant to nurse up their new settlement , and to throw their irregularities into the usual form . and therefore , as we have no warrant , so neither have we any necessity to own a pretended authority , or to engage in the business of government ; for there is no fear , but that there will be ambition , covetousness , cowardice , and other ill principles enough , to fill up the vacant places , and to manage the concerns of this nature . but ▪ 3. supposing this event the dr. is so careful to provide against , should happen by disowning the usurpation , it would produce very good effects . for , 1. such a general disorder would disappoint the revolters of the advantage they designed . now , if their expectations were always baulked , this would be a mighty check to faction and ambition , and we should seldom see any wickedness of this nature attempted . if men had no prospect of building up another government in the room of that which they pull down , nor any hopes of thriving by their rebellion , the world would not be plagued with incendiaries and traytors so often as it is . if confusion , and a kind of civil chaos , was the necessary consequence of a defection ; and there was no likelihood an usurpation should ever settle into any order and consistency ; there would seldom be madmen enough in a nation to overturn the constitution ; for the worst of people don't love danger for danger 's sake : 't is true , they have no regard to conscience , but they have a tender sense of every thing which is offensive to their ease , and prejudicial to their temporal concerns , and will no more do an ill action than a good one , when it looks so frightfully upon them , and is apparently against their interest . 2 dly . when an usurpation is actually on foot , the best expedient to re-establish the dispossessed prince , is , to let the state fall into disorder ; for , if the illegal powers were generally disowned , if their commissions were refused , their pretended courts neglected , and the places of government unsupplied ; if all things were thus disjointed and out of frame , it would introduce an happy change , and justice would soon recover her jurisdiction . the making a lawful government essential to the peace and being of society , will mightily refresh the allegiance of the people , recommend the doctrines of loyalty , and encline the subjects to return immediately to their duty : if for no other reason , yet because they see they cannot live tolerably without it : and when the majority of a nation agree in a desire , they are seldom long before they are masters of their wishes . in short , whatever maxims render an illegal possessor unacceptable ; whatever shocks the general security , and throws the state into convulsions , must by consequence promote the recovery of the lawful prince ; whereas a principle of latitude , which contrives an usurpation regular and easie , is the way to fix it , and to make the subject acquiesce , and grow indifferent , whether the title is good or bad ; for many people are too much governed by secular regards , and don 't love their concerns should be ruffled , and their pleasures interrupted for the best cause whatever . 3 dly . a general disorder would effectually discover the wickedness and danger of an usurpation , and create a proportionable aversion . such confusions would make men abhor the thoughts of disloyalty , and start from it as from an apparition . they would go with the same forwardness and concern to suppress a rebellion , as they would to put out a fire , or stop a sea-breach : a rebel then would be looked on as a monster of mankind , and hooted from conversation and day . now , such apprehensions as these must contribute very much to the establishment of justice , and the peace of society : and though the disowning an illegal power might possibly for a little time dissolve a state into its first principles , yet , like ore , it would improve by melting , and be refined into a more shining and solid body . this would prevent the frequent returns of usurpations , and make them much more impracticable and uncommon . now , the design of government is , to provide for the general advantage of mankind ; and that state is best contrived which is liable to fewest miscarriages ; and therefore it 's a maxim with us , that the law will rather suffer a mischief than an inconvenience ; i. e. it 's much better for a kingdom to have particular persons , or times , exposed to hazard and misfortune , than to be made up of principles of ruin , and have mala stamina in its constitution . and though the justice and regularity of the mobile are no desirable things , yet a civil war , raised by rebellion , is a more terrible and lasting evil , and occasions more bloodshed and desolation . farther . it 's not amiss to ask upon whose account the appearance of government is to be secured under an usurpation ? would the dr. have all this care taken for the sake of revolters ? must the laws be broken , and justice be banished , that people may live at ease in their sins , and enjoy the advantages of rebellion ? must they not be disturbed , left they should repent and be saved , and for fear honest men should have their own again ? if this be the dr's aim , he seems indulgent to an excess ; for government was never intended to be a protection for wickedness : and as revolters don't deserve that affairs should be put into this easie posture , so those who are truly loyal don 't desire it . they know it 's their duty , and the main design of their allegiance , to stand by their prince , when he is under a disadvantage : they are willing to be governed by those maxims by which the crown may be most effectually served ; which promote the most comprehensive and lasting interest of government , and tend to the support of justice . they know it 's decent and reasonable the subjects should suffer under a rebellion , as well as the prince . besides , since , as i have proved , allegiance is due to the king out of possession , and the subjects are bound to assist him in the field upon demand , it follows by parity of reason , that they are bound to run the same hazards any other way , rather than renounce their soveraign ; for the same allegiance which obliges them to venture their lives in the field , does likewise oblige them to stand the shock of the mob , or of a more settled usurpation . the pretences of hazard and disadvantage are uncreditable and unjustifiable motives to desert the crown , and ought to be over-ruled by decency and duty . it would be counted an odd remonstrance , if an army , upon their being ordered to fight the enemy , should tell their general , that his orders and interest was to give place to the security of his troops : that the design of their being listed , was only to be disciplin'd , and receive their pay ; but as for fighting , there was a great deal of danger in that . they knew well enough , that a battel could not be managed without some-bodies coming short home : and since death would certainly light somewhere , it was every person 's concern to avoid it : for their parts , they were an innocent and conscientious army , and therefore it 's very unreasonable to press them to lose their lives and their baggage , upon the account of any cause or engagements whatsoever ; for , it can be no good principle to expose such honest men as they are to the greatest sufferings . now this is but an untoward excuse , but would be a very good one , if the consideration of danger , or the vertue of the subject , was sufficient to null the obligation of oaths and allegiance . these observations i have set up as counter-principles to the dr's . and must leave it to the reader to judge , whether those principles which discourage rebellion , and press hardest upon usurpation ; which assure the fidelity of the subject upon all emergencies , and create a good understanding between prince and people , do not answer all the ends of government , better than those other doctrines , which assert the divine authority of power ; that different degrees of submission are to be paid proportionably to the growth and success of an usurpation ; that the oath of allegiance is a national oath , and that the minor part may be absolved by the majority : and that the preservation of societies , though they are no better than that of romulus , is the great law of all . now one would think it required no great depth of understanding , to determine the case ; a moderate proportion of unbyassed reason will inform us , that those principles which have the fore-mentioned advantages , which promote the improvement of humane nature , which oblige us to good faith , and gratitude ; and give life to generosity and honour , are much to be prefer'd to others , ( in point of security ) which have a quite contrary effect . the dr. observes , that self-preservation is as much a law to the subjects , as to the prince ; ( he means the subjects have the same privilege by it ) and he is as much sworn to govern his subjects , as they are to obey him : and if the necessities of self-preservation absolve him from his oath of governing his people , the dr. desires to know why the same necessity , will not absolve subjects from their oaths to their prince . now i think , this question is easily answer'd : for self-preservation is allowable , where the means are lawful , and not otherwise now there is no law which bars a prince from visiting a foreign country , or from travelling from one part of his dominions to another . the coronation-oath does not bind him to impossibilities , nor oblige him to govern those who bid him defiance , and will not be govern'd . it 's none of the duties of a king to sight whole armies singly , or to stay amongst his rebellious subjects , to be outraged in his person and honour . but on the other hand , it 's not impossible for subjects to stand off from an usurpation , and to reserve themselves for their dispossessed prince ; and that their natural and sworn allegiance obliges them so to do , has been proved already . it 's in vain therefore to insist upon the plea of danger , when we are under these solemn pre-engagements : if self-preservation will absolve us from our oaths , and justifie our breach of faith , we may excuse any other apostacy upon the same score . but government and allegiance , it seems , are such relatives , that the one cannot subsist without the other ; if the prince cannot govern , the subjects can't obey , and therefore , as far as he quits his government , he quits their allegiance . the dr. talks of quitting the government , as if there had been a resignation in the case , and the subject had been discharged under hand and seal . now certainly there is a great difference between the king 's throwing up the government , and the peoples throwing up their king. yes , the dr. grants he may , notwithstanding his dispossession , have a legal right to allegiance , and the crown ; and from whom is this right due ? from the people ; then sure they ought to give it him , and by consequence the relation continues . no such matter , says our author , the subjects can't pay him their allegiance , without his being restored . let them stay then till they can ; if a man ows a sum of money , and can't pay it at the day , is this either a legal , or an equitable discharge of the debt ? is there any reason the creditor should forfeit , for the insufficiency or knavery of the debtors ? an honest man , if he can't give full satisfaction at present , is willing to pay as far as he is able : above all things he will avoid assigning over his estate into such hands , which he knows will not only defraud the right owner , but employ his money against him. the dr. both here , and in his vindication , goes upon the old mistake , that meer actual dominion , and soveraign power make a king , and compleat the royal part of the relation : but this is begging the question , as the dr. seems sensible , by the objection he raises in his adversary's behalf , which with a little improvement , will contain an answer to what he has further urged . it is to this purpose : the relation between king and subject must continue as long as the fundamentum relationis , or , the ground of the relation continues ; which ground being built upon legal right , while this right remains , the dispossessed prince is still king , and the subjects owe him their former allegiance . and what has the dr. to say to all this ? truly as little as a man would desire . he tells you , that a legal hereditary right is not the fundamentum relationis , the foundation of that relation which is between prince and subjects ; for then there would be no foundation for such a relation in any but hereditary kingdoms , which is a mistake . but , pray who says hereditary right is the only ground of the relation between king and subject ? the dr's adversaries affirm no such thing ; they say , that this relation is founded upon right in general , according to the nature of the constitution ; in hereditary kingdoms , upon hereditary right ; in elective kingdoms , upon elective right ; and where the person is nominated by god , the ground of this relation is a right from revelation . neither do these different foundations , as the dr. calls them , ( which are nothing but diversify'd right ) affect the authority consequent upon them ; the different ways of acquiring soveraignty , does not work any change upon the royal prerogatives , nor hinder the relation between king and subjects from being the same . the dr. foresaw it would be objected , that an immoveable and unalterable allegiance is the best principle to prevent all revolutions , and to secure the peace of human societies ; as , i think , has been made good already . now , his answer to this objection is ( were the subject less important ) entertaining enough . for ( says he ) if this principle would prevent all revolutions , it 's a demonstration against it , that it 's a bad principle , a meer human invention , which cannot come from god. it seems then we are all ruined , if we have nothing but peace and quietness amongst us . if there is not care taken for the returns of rebellion , to destroy and debauch mankind , the world in a little time would be insufferably over-stocked with honesty and numbers . i will say that for the dr. he has provided against this inconvenience as well as any author living . but in earnest , can't god remove and set up kings , unless the sins of the people help him ; nor exercise his soveraign prerogative , without damning his creatures ? i hope i have made it appear , that a being of infinite perfections has no necessity to take such measures , or make use of such instruments as these : i wish those principles which imply such consequences as these , and several others of the same extraordinary tendency , are not something worse than a meer human invention . the dr. urges farther , against the sufficiency of this immoveably-loyal principle , that it has not force enough to attain its end ; and though it was too strong in the last objection , yet now , it seems , it 's grown too weak ; for it cannot prevent the revolutions of government , for there have been such revolutions in all ages . and what follows ? are such revolutions occasion'd by those principles which condemn them ? or , by the people , who desert or break in upon their principles ? don't men frequently ruine their health and their fortunes , and make themselves miserable , by their vices ? and ought we therefore to conclude , that god's laws , which provide against these mischiefs , are either defective or unreasonable ? i suppose not . but , those principles which expose the most innocent and consciencious men to the greatest sufferings , without serving any good end by them , cannot be true. and , is not the maintenance of right and the defence of the constitution , the tryal of integrity , and the giving a noble example , a very good end ? i 'm sorry if the dr. does not think it's worth a man's while to suffer upon these accounts : what he subjoins , that it s no true principle which obliges honest men to lose their lives in opposition to the government ; is a misrepresentation of the case ; for non-complyance with an usurpation is no opposition to the government ; for there can be no government without authority , nor any authority without right ; but right and usurpation are contradictions in terms . farther : to oppose the government , is to oppose the laws of the government , which cannot be done by adhering to a lawful prince , without destroying the very supposition , unless opposing and defending are the same thing . but if the dr. or any body else , should mean in general , that a principle which obliges honest men to lose their lives , &c. is not true , then by the same reason ; christianity is false ; for a great many honest men have lost their lives by suffering for this religion , and were obliged by their principles so to do . now , we are as much bound to the performance of justice , and the other duties of the second table , as to defend the articles of our creed : nay , the latter were revealed on purpose to enforce the practice of the former , to teach us to live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world , and to make us a peculiar people , zealous of good works . what he mentions concerning the scripture , has been considered above . at last the dr. is pleased to own , that we must chuse rather to suffer than to sin ; but then we must be very sure , that it is our duty , that it is expresly enjoyned us by the laws of god or nature , before we venture to suffer for it . what if it is enjoyned us by undeniable consequence , is not that sufficient without a plain text ? i perceive the dr. is resolved to be a favourable casuist . farther . i would gladly know what the dr. means by being expresly enjoyned by the laws of nature : has the dr. any of nature's volumes by him ? i confess , i thought nature's laws had been written upon the minds of men , and never heard that her works were books , till now . but to end this dispute , the dr. may please to take notice , that whatever is expresly enjoyned us by the laws of the land , ( provided the matter of it is not sinful ) is likewise enjoyned us by the laws of god and nature ; for we are bound by the laws of god and nature to obey the constitution . the dr's harangue , in his next paragraph , upon the being of societies , and the safety and preservation of subjects , has been answered already . i shall now proceed to examin the answer he gives to the famous instance of the loyal nobility , &c. during the exile of king charles the second , who thought themselves bound in conscience to oppose that vsurpation , at their utmost peril . this the dr. calls a great prejudice , but no argument : for , if his principles are true , they might have complyed with those vsurpations . might they so ? then doubtless those brave persons , who chose rather to lose their estates and their lives , than own that pretended authority , were worse than infidels in st. paul's sence , and guilty of self-murther , because they did not provide for their families , nor preserve their lives , when it was lawful for them to do it . the comparison the dr. draws from the two revolutions of 48 and 88 , and his inferences from them , are , i think , the slenderest performance in his whole book , and in which he has given an adversary the plainest advantage . the dr. himself seems very sensible , that this part of the argument had no good colouring , and therefore has touched it over again in his vindication ; where he tells us , that they are two very different questions , when it 's lawful to submit to vsurping powers ; and , when it becomes a duty to do it ? it 's lawful to submit when we are under such a force as can compel us ; it 's our duty to submit when the government is throughly settled . in answer to this , i shall endeavour to prove , 1. that if it was lawful for the nobility , gentry , &c. to submit to the common-wealth and cromwel , it was their duty so to do . and , 2. that by the dr's principles they were obliged to submit to this usurpation . 1. if it was lawful for them to submit to the common-wealth , &c. it was their duty so to do . for , first , as i have proved above , subjects must own some authority or other , and are not allowed to live independently of all government . this proposition may likewise be made good , from the dr's principles ; for he elsewhere asserts , that subjects , when their government is violently changed , are at liberty to submit to the new government ; for force will justifie submission . now , though this principle is untrue , and rank hobbism ; yet since the dr. will have it , he must stand by the consequences . i argue therefore , that if force or conquest cancels the subjects obligation to the vanquished prince ; then they must always become the property of victory , and be immediately passed into the hands of a new master ; for all advantages of conquest ought to accrue to the conqueror . in a word , either conquest transferrs allegiance , or not : if it does not , it 's not lawful for the subjects to comply with a new government , because their former obligations are still in force : if it does , it must transferr it to the conqueror , and then it follows , that the people are not at liberty to submit , or not , at their pleasure . secondly , the dr's argument for his opinion is very surprizing ; for , what is the reason the subjects are thus turned loose , and enfranchized from all service and authority on the sudden ? has the prince resigned or given a discharge under the broad seal ? or , does the nature of subjection leave them at discretion , and bind no longer ▪ than they see convenient ? not so neither . whence comes it to pass then they are so perfectly sui juris , without a release ? why , its force and irresistible power , which puts them into this masterless condition ; its necessity , it seems , which has enlarged their freedom ; if they had not been conquered , they must have been slaves to their old master for ever : but now , since they are fallen into the enemies hands , and the sword 's point is at their throat , they may do what they list , and are as independent on all mankind as adam . i confess this is a wonderful privilege , and as wonderfully proved . thirdly , if upon a revolution , the people have the liberty to submit , or not to submit , then if they should all insist upon their privilege , and cry out for a state of nature , we must dissolve into a mob , ( which the dr. won't allow ) and which is worse , all government must be lost , only for the peoples humour . fourthly , by submission in this case , we must understand an acknowledgment of the right of the power we submit to . if the dr. takes the word in any other sence , he does but play with it . now , if the loyal party might submit to cromwel's common-wealth in this sence , they must own their government : but all government supposes authority , which the common-wealth could not have , by the dr's principles , unless they had either a legal or a divine right , to ground it upon : a legal right they had not by the supposition , therefore it must be a divine one . now , if they had a divine right , and acted upon god's authority , the people were undoubtedly under an obligation to obey them , and had not the liberty to comply or stand off , as they thought fit . fifthly , the dr. affirms , that neither the doctrin of our church , nor the laws of the land , pronounce it absolutely unlawful to submit to a prince ( an usurper ) possessed of the throne . 't is true , both these propositions are great mistakes ; as i have shewn from the laws , and from the convocation-book : and as to the doctrin of the church , the reader may have farther satisfaction ; if he pleases , from the history of passive obedience . however , since the dr. maintains the contrary , i shall argue from his own tenents against him ; that if neither the constitution of the church or state suppose it unlawful to submit to an usurper in possession , then we are under an obligation to submit , rather than disoblige our interest by non-complyance : for the dr. is sure the scripture teaches us ▪ to suffer patiently in obedience to government , but not to suffer in opposition to it . and for fear we should use our selves too hardly , he tells us , before we expose our selves to suffering , we must be very sure that it is our duty , that it is expresly enjoyned us by the laws of god and nature , before we venture to suffer for it . but it s impossible the loyal party could have any of this assurance for suffering under cromwel , if , as the dr. affirms , neither the laws of religion , nor of the land , declare it unlawful to submit to an usurpation . and therefore i think the great body of the nobility , gentry , and clergy , have reason to take it ill from the dr. for making their forefathers a company of mad-men , who , notwithstanding they had all imaginable authority and obligation from human and divine laws , to acquiesce , and consult their own safety ; yet out of a romantick notion of loyalty , chose rather to hazard their souls , and bodies , and estates , than submit to the determinations of god almighty , who is always supposed to set up a governour when by his providence he puts the soveraign power into his hands . 2. by the dr's principles , it was not only lawful to submit to cromwel's usurpation , but the people were directly obliged to it . for , 1. it 's well known , that the common-wealth of cromwel were absolute masters of the three kingdoms , and entirely possessed of the government . now , the dr. has solemnly told us , that since power will govern , god so orders it by his providence , as never to intrust soveraign power in any man's hands , to whom he does not give the soveraign authority . this usurpation therefore having soveraign power , in an high and irresistible degree , could not be disowned without rejecting god's authority , which certainly no man can have any privilege to dispute . 2. the dr. expresly averrs , that the preservation of human societies does of necessity force us to own the authority even of vsurped powers . and if we are under a necessity of owning their authority , one would think we could not have the liberty to refuse them . 3. the dr. observes , that our saviour's argument for paying tribute , relies wholly on the possession of power , ( without any mention of consent ) and inferrs from thence , that if this be a good reason , it 's good in all other cases ; that we must submit to all princes who are possessed of the soveraign power , and are in full administration of government . and can the dr. deny these advantages to the usurpers upon k. charles ii ? no : there was not so much as the least garrison which held out against them . and as for the administring part , all affairs , civil , military , and ecclesiastical , were managed solely by their direction . 4. if we were unprovided of other proofs , a few questions in the dr's words would decide the controversie . i desire to know therefore , whether god rules in a kingdom while an vsurper fills the throne . particularly , did god govern in england , scotland , &c. from 1648 , to 1660 ? if he did , who was it he governed by ? not by k. charles ii. for he was dispossessed : it must therefore be by the common-wealth and cromwel , to whom the government was disposed by god's own will and counsel : for , to allow no more than a divine permission , is , in the dr's opinion a great error : for , will any man say , that god governs such a kingdom , as is not governed by his authority and ministers ? does providence and government signifie only his permission ? — to resolve providence into a bare permission , especially in matters of such a vast consequence as the disposal of crowns , is to deny god's government of the world. now , if cromwel , &c. did not rule these kingdoms barely by the permission of providence , but had god's positive authority , and bore the character of his ministers , then their right was unquestionable , and their persons sacred , and it was great wickedness to resist or disobey them . and since the dr. has laid down such notions as these , concerning providence , and given such prerogatives to power , it 's too late for him to recall his liberality to the rump and cromwel , he must not think of unsettling them again , for want of a national consent , unless he has a mind to recant the main of both his books : for , if they had god's authority on their side , the people , whether willing or not , were bound in conscience to obey them . however , i shall briefly consider what the dr. offers to disprove the settlement of the fore-mentioned usurpation . he tells us , the convocation all●dges two ways whereby a government , unjustly and wickedly begun , may be throughly settled , viz. by a general submission , or by continuance . i have proved above , that the convocation does not take settlement in his sence ; and that he has no reason to make use of their authority for illegal proceedings : but , granting his own supposition , i can't perceive what service it can do him ; for , if general submission or continuance , without legal right , are either of them sufficient to compleat the notion of settlement , it will be difficult to find an objection against the rump's and cromwel's authority . for , 1. as for continuance the rump held the government from 1648 , to 1653 ; and cromwel was the supreme power from 53 to 58 : and if five years of soveraign and uncontested power is not sufficient to make a through settlement , i doubt the dr. has been too quick in his late complyance . but , 2 dly . though after a continuance of this length , the rump and cromwel , by the dr's principles , had no need of any national consent and submission , to perfect their settlement ; yet it does not appear , that the dr. has disproved their title so much as in this point . as for submission , it was generally paid them . there was not so much as the face of an enemy in the field : their courts were frequented , their coin was current , and their authority undisputed in all posts of government ; but there was no national consent , because the greatest part of the representatives were slung out of the house , excepting a few rumpers . 1. how does the dr. know , but that the rumpers had a national consent for secluding these members ? the consent of silence and submission they certainly had ; for the nation neither offer'd to restore these members by force , nor shewed any publick dislike of their being expelled . 2 dly . does the dr. think there can be no national consent testified any other way , than by the peoples chusing a few men from towns and countries to represent them . if the matter stands thus , the four monarchies had no national consent , nor any through settlement ; for there was no such things as parliaments in those times and countries . but , before we take leave of these rumpers , the dr. may remember , that they were summoned by the king's writs , and had his royal assent to sit as long as they pleased : if some people had such a colour of authority , they would flourish with it at no ordinary rate . 3 dly . the dr. objects against cromwel's parliaments , that they had no national consent , &c. because they were not chosen according to the ancient customs and vsages of the nation . some people will not be sorry to hear , that a national consent cannot be given by representation , unless the representatives are legally chosen , and the ancient customs of the constitution observ'd . i wonder how this reason dropped from the dr. for it overthrows the design of his books , and puts him upon a necessity of proving the legality of the present establishment . he urges farther , that these pretended parliaments , under cromwel , were not the representatives of the nation , but of a prevailing party . if they were elected by a prevailing party , it 's a sign they represented the majority . and if the dr. will not be satisfied , unless every individual person agrees to an election , he is not likely to see a national consent in haste . well : but some part of cromwel ' s second parliament published a remonstrance , for being denied admittance : so did the parliament in the beginning of the civil wars , publish several remonstrances , of an higher nature against the government of k. charles the first . and yet , i suppose , the dr. will allow , that these oppositions did not un settle his authority , nor discharge his subjects from their allegiance . and thus i have proved , that the rump and cromwel had as fair an authority , and as through a settlement , in all points , as the dr's principles require . as to the villanies of those days , which the dr. insists upon , they don't in the least affect the obligation of the subject ; for , granting the dr's revolution was more agreeable than that of 48. yet since , by the dr's reasoning , the one had god's authority as much as the other , it ought to have been equally submitted to ; for , in such a case , no rigour of administration can discharge the people from their obedience . the dr's remark upon the bishops being turned out , and the alienation of their revenues under cromwel , is not calculated for the whole island . he forgot , i conceive , the flourishing condition of the present church of scotland , when he drew up this part of the parallel , — iam proximus ardet vcalegon . but this dispute being not material to the argument , i shall insist upon it no farther . what the dr. mentions concerning antiochus's right to the government of iudea , has been considered . however the dr. has something remarkable in this paragraph , which must not be overlooked , viz. though force requires a long continuance to settle a government , yet a national consent settles a government in a short time . thus the submission of jaddus , and the governing part of the nation , to alexander , settled his government in a few days . the case of alexander and iaddus has been argued above , and needs not be repeated . i might likewise observe , that consent , how general soever , without authority , signifies nothing , as has been made good already , and shall be farther confirmed by and by ; but at present , i shall grant the dr. his assertion , and draw an inference from it against him . for , supposing a national consent will settle a government in a few days , then absolom's government was sufficiently settled , and all the people of israel were bound in conscience to obey him ; and which is more , they were bound to fight his father david , ( who had taken arms against absolom . ) the reason is , because , as the dr. affirms , god's authority is always to be preferr'd to legal right , and the subjects can't be bound to two opposite allegiances . that absolom was sufficiently possessed of the kingdom , will appear by comparing his circumstances and david's together . now david's condition was so low , that he was forced to quit his capital city ierusalem , and encamp in the fields and desarts , with not many more than 600 of his guards , as sir walter raleigh observes ; from thence he retires over iordan , and leaves absolom master of more than nine tribes and an half of the twelve ; and not thinking himself secure at this distance , he continues his retreat to mahanaim , which was upon the borders of his kingdom , towards ammon . hither absolom pursues him , and encamps near gilead , which was a fronteir town , as we may learn from iosephus . nay , he is said to have abdicated all his dominions , and to have fled out of the land for absolom . that david was very weak , and unlikely to recover , appears by shimei's throwing stones and cursing him at the head of his troops . besides , 12000 men , after he had reinforced himself , were enough to have beaten him ; as is plainly intimated in the scripture . we have likewise reason to conclude that number was sufficient for this purpose , by achitophel's proposal , who was too wise a man to have ventured his person and fortunes with so small a body , unless he had been morally assured of success . and therefore iosephus tells us , that hushai understood that david might have been easily destroyed this way which achitophel proposed ; which was the reason he gave contrary advice . the same author informs us , that david had but 4000 men , notwithstanding by hushai's dexterity he had time given him to raise them : which was a poor remnant in a kingdom which was able to muster 1300000 fighting men . lastly . to shew how lamentably king david , though a man after god's own heart , was deserted by his subjects ; we may observe , that this small army consisted in a great measure of foreigners . the gittites , who marched with him , were certainly citizens of goth ; as appears from the scripture , especially from the translation of the septuagint . the cherethites and pelethites are likewise supposed to be philistines ; which is very probable , since the gittites are mentioned with them . to these we may add the assistance he received from shobi son of nahash , formerly king of ammon , who came in to him at mahanaim . on the other hand , if we take a view of absolom's affairs , we shall find them as firm and flourishing as can be desired . this made hushai congratulate his success , and tell him , that the lord , and all the people , had made choice of him . and who can now deny him the title of a providential monarch ? if any one suspects hushai's salutation to be no more than a piece of ceremony , the scripture will convince him of the contrary ; for , absolom had every thing but god and justice on his side ; all the men of israel were at his command , from dan to beersheba , as the sand of the sea for multitude : he was , as iosephus observes , saluted king by unanimous and universal acclamations : he was anointed by the men of israel ; and all the elders , the estates and governing part of the nation , submitted to him . here was a national consent with a witness , and by consequence , as good a settlement as the dr. can demand , unless he will retract his own definition . how many months or years absolom was possessed of this general submission , is not material to enquire ; for the dr. roundly affirms , that a few days is sufficient to do the business . the dr. goes on to the other part of the comparison , and pretends , that some extraordinary methods taken by the crown , helped some men easily to absolve themselves from the obligation of their oaths . right : but , under favour , did they do well or ill in absolving themselves ? why the dr. won't dispute the legality of all this , i suppose , for fear of disobliging our great patrons of liberty . nay , he is so far from condemning such singular casuists , that he seems to argue in justification of them ; for , they ( says he ) could not think that oaths , which were made and imposed for the preservation of a protestant prince , and the protestant rights and liberties of church and state , could oblige them to defend and maintain a prince in his vsurpation , as they thought , upon both . the dr. by his wording it , would almost make an ignorant man believe , that the protestant religion was the supreme power in england , and that we were bound to support it in the field against the king : but those who will take the pains to peruse the oaths of allegiance and supremacy , will see , they oblige us to bear true faith , &c. to the king , and to defend him and his heirs and lawful successors , without making any enquiry into their creed . it was never known , that the kings of england held their crowns by the tenure of religion : if their claim had not been wholly founded upon birthright , and proximity of blood , there had been no pretence for the late bill of exclusion . but such absurdities as these are too gross to deserve any farther consideration . and since we are indispensably bound to serve and defend our prince , without any regard to his perswasion , it must be a very bad religion , which teaches us to desert or oppose him . there can't be a greater reproach cast upon the reformation , than to make it give countenance to such horrid and treacherous practices as these . what our author means by the protestant rights and liberties of the state , is hard to understand ; for the rights of the state are purely secular and civil : he may as well call a farm a protestant farm , as give that epithete to the rights of the state ; but the word protestant must be crammed in , otherwise the charm will not work . the dr. once more lays a great stress upon a national submission and consent , and makes it necessary to the introducing a settlement : now i have shewn , that this expedient must be altogether unserviceable to our author upon his own principles ; for if by whatsoever means a prince , ascends the throne , he is placed there by god's authority , of which , power is a certain sign ; to what purpose is the consent of the people required ? have they the liberty to refuse submission to god's authority , when it produces such infallible credentials , and appears in such a demonstrative manner ? besides , as has been already hinted , his making submission a necessary assistant of power , is not only a contradiction of himself , but likewise brings a farther inconvenience along with it , and makes that absurdity which he endeavours to throw upon hereditary principles , return upon his own ; for , if god's authority is not given to any prince before a through settlement , and this settlement cannot be compleated without a national submission , then god , as well as men , is confined by human laws ( or by human inclinations , which is as bad ) in making kings ; which is to say , that the right of government is not derived from god , without the consent of the people . how the dr. will disengage , is best known to himself . farther , i must ask him the old question over again ; whether this national submission must be legal or illegal ? if an illegal submission will serve his turn , this is no better than plain force , under the disguise of a new name ; 't is a violent combination against the laws and rightful governour , and resolves it self into the principles of power . if the submission ought to be legal , he must not only prove it such , but be obliged to give up the main design of his books , and dispute a point which he has declared is nothing to his present purpose . however , i must follow him through all the windings of his discourse . he says , though some men dispute , whether a convention of the estates , not called by the king's writs , be a legal parliament ; yet all men must confess they are the representatives of the nation , &c. i suppose , very few people besides the dr. will dispute , whether a convention is a legal parliament , or not , if they consider that the king's writs are necessary to impower the people to make and return elections . and , supposing they had the advantage of this preliminary , yet unless the members take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy , all their proceedings are declared null and void , by express statutes . now , if a convention is no legal assembly , their deputation from the people signifies nothing ; it only makes them the mouth of publick disorder and the illegal representatives of the nation . and how the dr. can oblige them by such a character , i can't imagin . but the nation can have no representatives but such , when there is no king in the throne . to make this argument good , the dr. should have prov'd , that the throne is immoveably fixed at whitehall ; that the king was legally ejected by his subjects ; that after this retirement they sent to entreat him to return , and promised a more agreeable behaviour ; that upon these submissions he refused to engage any farther , and resigned up the government into their hands : the dr. should have proved , that all this was either done , or else unnecessary , before he set the nation a representing at all adventures . as for his flourish with the word estates , i question whether it will do him any service ; for , who made them estates ? does their number and quality make them such ? then they are estates in the intervals of parliament , in their own houses , in a tavern , as well as at other times and places . does the choice of the people , though altogether illegal , give them the advantage of this character ? if so , i would gladly be informed , whether every riotous meeting may not furnish out their proportion towards a body of estates , to be compleated by the general distraction of the nation ? i perceive , i must enquire farther ; i desire therefore the dr. would tell me , whether the parliament house has any peculiar vertue , to raise private persons into a publick character ? if it has , great care ought to be taken who comes into it . besides , it 's worth the knowing , which way this mysterious privilege is conveyed . have we any legislative brick and stone ? or , does the house work by way of steams and exhalations , as the oracle at delphos is said to have done ? the dr. i perceive , does not trouble himself with these scruples , but is resolved to go on with his submissions , &c. and tells us , that the consent and submission of the convention , especially when confirmed by subsequent parliaments , is a national act . therefore i must ask him a few more questions , how a convention can sublimate it self into a parliament ; i. e. how a private and illegal assembly can give it self the privilege of authority and law ? now , a national act , without and against the authority of the constitution , is , to speak softly , no better than a national disorder : but , the generality of the kingdom have willingly and cheerfully submitted . so much the worse ; unless they had the liberty to do so . what if they should willingly submit to the setting up the alcoran ? what if they have an inclination to murther , or adultery , does the universality of the consent make such practices innocent and warrantable ? does not the dr. know , the generality have frequently a mind to do those things which they ought not , and will he thence inferr , that we must follow a multitude to do evil ? well! but they have bound their ( new ) allegiance by oath . if they have , can they not keep it as well as they did their former one ? however , by the way , it 's not amiss to consider , whether oaths are powerful enough to transferr titles , without the owner's consent , and to alter the seat of authority ? whether a man can swear away another's right without asking his leave ? if he can , justice and property are very precarious , uncertain things , and not worth the regarding . i should now have proceeded to a more particular examination of the law-part of his book , but having considered his most material objections from that topick already , i suppose it needless to dispute this branch of the controversie any farther . i shall therefore take leave of the dr. and , if he thinks i have used him with too little ceremony , i desire he would remember the unnecessary provocations he has given ; and when he considers how freely he has reflected , censured , challenged , and contemned , he will have no reason to be disobliged with his brethren , for an abatement of their esteem . however , after all , i have no manner of quarrel to the dr's person ; but to his new principles i am , and ever hope to be , an enemy . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a33908-e60 pref. id. p. 3. pref. p. 5. p. 3. pref. p. 6. notes for div a33908-e2870 alleg. p. 1. pag. 17. pag. 2. pag. 1 , 2. case of resist . pag. 107 , 111 , 191 , 196. pag. 2. doct. & stud. cap. 8. p. 16. pag. 3. ibid. pag. 13. pag. 15. pag. 12. p. 14. prop. 4. pag. 3. vid. an answer to a late pamphlet , intituled , obedience and submission , &c. demonstrated from bishop overall's convocation book . luke 12.14 . john 18.36 . can. 28. convoc . p. 84. pag. 86. pag. 86. alleg. p. 9. case of resist . p. 204. pag. 66. pag. 5. alleg. p. 15. pag. 66 , 68. convoc . convoc . p. 67. 1 maccab. c. 1. joseph . antiq. jud. lib. 12. cap. 6 , 7. joseph . ib. c. 7. convoc . p. 69. joseph . ib. c. 15 1 maccab. 1.57 . compared with cap. 4.52 . & 2 maccab. 10.5 . joseph . antiq. jud. lib. 12. cap. 7 , 11. page 48. can. 17. 2 sam. 7. 1 pet. 2.13 . act. 7. heb. 12. pag. 6. conv. p. 46. ibid. conv. p. 57. id. p. 46. alleg. p. 26. alleg. p. 6. can. 25 p. 47 , 48. 2 kings 9. conv. p. 53. pag. 52 , 53. pag. 53. pag. 6. conv. p. 83. pag. 58. coke's reports lib. 7. calvin's case . conv. p. 58. 2 king. 24.1 . 2 chron. 36. 2 chron. 36.10 , 11. jer. 27.2 , 3.11 , 12. ibid. v. 8. dan. 4.17 . isa. 45. v. 1 , 4 , 13.44 . v. 28. alleg. p. 37 , 38 pag. 32. curt. lib. 3. id. lib. 4. diodor. sic. curt. lib. 7. alleg. p. 8. can. 31. conv. p. 64. can. 30. pag. 65. pag. 64. alleg. p. 8. alleg. p. 8. conv. p. 64. alleg. p. 8. pag. 20. l. 11. c. 8. vind. ib. ibid. vind. ib. joseph . l. 11. c. 8. ralegh . hist. &c. pag. 583. curt. lib. 4. alleg. p. 17. ibid. alleg. p. 8. pag. 17. pag. 14. conv. p. 64. alleg. p. 8. antiq. jud. l. 12. c. 1 , 3. alleg. p. 7. can. 33 , 34. can. 33. ibid. joseph . antiq. jud. l. 14. c. 1. id. cap. 2 , 3. ibid. cap. 7 , 8. ibid. cap. 13. ibid. cap. 25 , 28. id. l. 15. c. 2 , 3. l. 15. c. 9 , 11. alleg. p. 8. deut. 17 , 15. vind. p. 11 , 12. deut. 7.3 . 2 sam. 11.3 . id. 23.34 . 2 sam. 12. 2 sam. 21.2 . deut. 20.17 . conv. p. 52. conv. p. 53. pag. 55. jer. 27. pag. 61. pag. 62. can. 33. pag. 82. deut. 17.15 . gen. 49. case of resist . p. 50. alleg. p. 8. alleg. p. 15. alleg. p. 1 , 2. pag. 9. ibid. pag. 9. alleg. p. 10. pag. 10. ibid. pag. 11. rom. 13.1 . 1 pet. 2.13 . alleg. p. 19. 2 kings 11. vindic. p. 40. &c. rom. 13.1 . matth. 21.23 . alleg. p. 6. ep. ad corinth . euseb. hist. eccles. hist. alleg. p. 6. id. p. 9. alleg. p. 14. id. p. 12. ibid. ibid. ibid. rom. 13.1 . vindic. p. 57. ibid. heb. 13.17 . heb. 5.4 . vind. ibid. rom. 16.17 . 1 cor. 11.18 , 19. 2 cor. 11.13 . tit. 3.10 . euseb. eccl. hist. lib. 1. prov. 19.14 . 70 interpr . theod. in loc. alleg. p. 13. in loc. alleg. p. 11. luke 22.53 . ephes. 6.12 . ralegh . hist. p. 295. id. p. 298. just. l. 1. scaliger de emend . temp. p. 403. animad . p. 90. demost. adv . sept. p. 382. gell. noct. att. l. 9. c. 2. thucid. l. 6. p. 450. just. l. 2. plut. in arat. & timol. bodin de repub. l. 2. c. 5. p. 207. id. p. 210. rom. 13.1 . alleg. p. 19. ibid. ibid. alleg. p. 19. pag. 20. tacit. annal. lib. 1. ed. lips. ibid , p. 7. dion . cass. lib. 53. p. 503. id. lib. 57. p. 602 , 603 , 606. id. lib. 59. p. 640 lib 60. p. 664 , 665. id. lib. 57. p. 507 , 508 , 509. bodin . de rep. l. 1. c. 8. p. 82. alleg. p. 21. ibid. ibid. pag. 20. alleg. p. 21. matth. 22.21 . alleg. p. 21. alleg. p. 14. pag. 22. ibid. ibid. pag. 12. ibid. ibid. ibid. luke 8.32 . ibid. palmer to the earl of essex , epist. ded. 1644. cockain's serm. nov. 29. 1648. pag. 32. dr. owen's ebenezer , p. 13. jenkins's petit . 1651. p. 2. 1651. alleg. p. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 237. petit. oct. 1651. sermon at exeter to the judges . march 23 1650. pag. 24. dan. 2.21.4.17 . saunders . ib. p. 13 , 16 , 19. alleg. p. 12. amos. 3.6 . in am. 3.6 . jonah 3.10 . comment . in amos , tom. 3. p. 279. in loc. isa. 45.7 . episcop . inst. l. 4. p. 305. alleg. p. 12. alleg. p. 13. alleg. p. 13. ibid. ibid. pag. 14. pag. 12. pag. 14. cotton's abridgment , fol. 670.671 . baggot's case . 9 e. 4. alleg. p. 15. ibid. ibid. alleg. p. 48. leviath . p. 174. alleg. p. 14 , 15. leviath . p. 114. alleg. p. 40. pag. 29. leviath . p. 174. alleg. p. alleg. p. 15. pag. 14. pag. 15. alleg. p. 53. pag. 57 , 58. alleg. p. 26. pag. 16. ibid. ibid. pag. 17. pag. 17. ibid. ibid. ibid. nov. org. l. 1. print . stat. 1 e. 4. c. 1. rot. par. 1 e. 4. l. bacon . vit. h. 7. p. 1004. 1 mar. sess. 2. c. 17. 1 king. 19.13 . 2 sam. 16.16 , 18. judges 9. alleg. p. 17. ibid. ibid. vid. caution ●gainst inconsistency . alleg. p. 14. pag. 62. pag. 23. ibid. gen. 27.29 . alleg. p. 24. ibid. ibid. coke's rep. part 7. calv. case . josh. 9.15 ▪ 2 sam. 21.1 , 6. alleg. p. 24. pag. 15. pag. 24. ibid. pag. 26. pag. 27. pag. 27. ibid. ibid. cok●'s rep. 7 part calv. case . moore 's rep. alleg. p. 27. calvin's case , fol. 13. s. joh. 18.36 . moore 's rep. fol. 798. &c. fol. 14. calvin's case , fol. 6. instit. part 1. fol. 69. 7 jac. 1. c. 6. alleg. p. 50. pag. 67. moore 's rep. fol. 798. &c. calvin's case , fol. 5. alleg. p. 28. alleg. p. 6. alleg. p. 28. ibid. alleg. p. 15.26 . moore 's rep. fol. 798. &c. alleg. p. 31. alleg. p. 14. alleg. p. 31. calvin's case . fol. 12. ibid. fol. 11. alleg. p. 62. alleg. p. 29. saunders serm. before the judges at exeter , 1650. p. 23. alleg. p. 29. 7 jac. 1. c. 6. coke's instit. part 1. l. 2. fol. 129 , 130. alleg. p. 29. pag. 30. walkers hist. of independency , part 2. p. 100 , 110. 12 car. 2. c. 11. ibid. 12 car. 2. c. 12. alleg. p. 60. alleg. p. 30. ibid. alleg. p. 31. alleg. p. 31 , 32. 13 car. 2. c ▪ 1. p. 33. ibid. ibid. ibid. ibid. alleg. p. 33. jer. 17.9 . alleg. ibid. ibid. ibid. alleg. p. 34. alleg. p. 15.34 . alleg. p. 12. ibid. vind. p. 46. alleg. p. 25. pref. to the case of alleg. alleg. p. 26. vind. p. 47. vind. p. 54 , 55 id. p. 54. alleg. p. 34 , 35 vind. p. 42. jam. 4.12 . 1 pet. 2.13 . rom. 13.4 . vind. ibid. vind. p. 43. 1 pet. 2. rom. 13. vind. ibid. acts 7. psal. 82. vind. p. 6. vind. p. 44. ibid. 1 kin , 15.27.16.2 . p. 130. 1 kings 14 , 10 , 11. 1 kings 15.28 , 29. chap. 16.7 . alleg. p. 36. 1 kin. 11.38 . vid. hos. 1. dissert . de theoc. jud. l. 1. c. 4. sect. 2. p. 19.20 . jer. 27. alleg. p. 36. rom. 13. 1 pet. 2.13 . alleg. p. 36. alleg. p. 37. alleg. p. 38. ibid. isa. 8. p. 38 , 40 , 41 , 44. matt. 16.24 , 25. mar. 8.34 , 35. cic. lib. 1. de offic. id. lib. 3. de offic. ibid. ibid. heb. 11.31 . alleg. p. 44. ibid. alleg. p. 15. p. 17. p. 31. p. 41. alleg. p. 47. ibid. alleg. p. 33 vind. p. 38. vind. p. 39. ibid. alleg. p. 44. ibid. ibid. tit. 2.12 , 14. alleg. p. 45. alleg. p. 46. 1 tim. 5.8 . vind. p. 66. vind. p. 13. vind. p. 65. alleg. p. 44. id. p. 45. alleg. p. 12. id. p. 15. id. p. 41. id. p. 21. vind. p. 59. ibid. vind. p. 67. ibid. vind. p. 67. ibid. ibid. vind. p. 69. alleg. p. 46. ibid. alleg. p. 48. alleg. p. 14. 2 sam. 15.14 . raleigh . hist. &c. p. 281. 2 sam. 17.26 . anti jud. l. 7. c. 9. 2 sam. 19.9 . 2 sam. 16.5 , 6 2 sam. 17.14 . ant. iud. l. 7. c. 9. ioseph . ibid. 2 sam. 24.9 . 2 sam. 15.18 . grot. in 2. ● reg. c. 8. v. 18. 2 sam. 15.18 . 2 sam 17.27 . 2 sam. 16.18 . 2 sam. 17.11 . antiq. jud. l. 7. c. 8. 2 sam. 19.10 . 2 sam. 17.4 . alleg. p. 49. ibid. ibid. ibid. alleg. p. 50.51 . id p. 13 , 15. alleg. p. 25. alleg. p. 50. id. p. 50 , 51. 7 jac. i. 30 car. ii. ibid. plut. de def. orac. alleg. p. 51. ibid. ibid. master geree's case of conscience sifted wherein is enquired, vvhether the king (considering his oath at coronation to protect the clergy and their priviledges) can with a safe conscience consent to the abrogation of episcopacy. by edward boughen. d.d. mr. gerees case of conscience sifted. boughen, edward, 1587?-1660? 1650 approx. 459 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 81 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28864 wing b3814 estc r216288 99828026 99828026 32453 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28864) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32453) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1944:2) master geree's case of conscience sifted wherein is enquired, vvhether the king (considering his oath at coronation to protect the clergy and their priviledges) can with a safe conscience consent to the abrogation of episcopacy. by edward boughen. d.d. mr. gerees case of conscience sifted. boughen, edward, 1587?-1660? [8], 71, 70-141, [1] p. [s.n.], london : printed in the yeare, 1650. an edition of: boughen, edward. mr. gerees case of conscience sifted. a reply to: geree, john. a case of conscience resolved. text is continuous despite pagination. reproduction of the original in the congretional library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng geree, john, 1601?-1649. -case of conscience resolved -controversial literature -early works to 1800. church of england -government -early works to 1800. solemn league and covenant (1643). -early works to 1800. episcopacy -early works to 1800. divine right of kings -early works to 1800. church polity -early works to 1800. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-06 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion master geree's case of conscience sifted . wherein is enquired , vvhether the king ( considering his oath at coronation to protect the clergy and their priviledges ) can with a safe conscience consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . aug . de trin. l. 4. c. 6. contra rationem nemo sobrius , contra scripturas nemo christianus , contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit . cypr. ep. 27 dominus noster , cujus praecepta metuere , & observare debemus , episcopi honorem , & ecclesiae suae rationem disposuit . dr. corn . burges . fire of the sanctuary . p. 68. men now count it an high piece of zeal to direct their directors ; and like clock-makers to take the church all in pieces at their pleasure . by edward boughen , d. d. london . printed in the yeare , 1650. to the most excellent and pious prince , charles , king of england , scotland , france , and ireland , defender of the faith , and guardian of the church . sir , it may seem strange to some ; but , my hope is not to your majesty , that i make this dedication , at this time , to your sacred person . the matter of this treatise is in your behalf ; it justifies your solemn oath at coronation , the just necessitie of this oath ; as also your crown and dignity , and the goodliest floure in that crown , supremacy . to whose hands then should i chiefly present it , but to yours ? the times affright me not from my faith , and duty . i remember well , that during the ecclipse of heaven and the king of heaven , there was one , that durst acknowledge our saviours kingdom ; and in the full assurance of his title , preferr'd his petition to him as a king. and shall i be ashamed to do the like ? i know , you are my onely soveraign here on earth . i know , you represent my saviour in his kingly office ▪ though your crown be wreathed with thorns . with all humility therefore i present this acknowledgement of my most loyall affections , which are due to your sacred majestie , from your poore , but most faithfull subject , edward boughen . to the intelligent reader . i was intreated by a very good friend to take mr. gerees case of conscience into consideration , and to bestow some pains in disclosing the weaknesse and foulnesse of his arguing . truly i was willing to undeceive my seduced countreymen , and yee ded to his request . the treatise i finde to be small , but dangerous . it aims at the ruine both of church and kingdom . it perswades the king , that his oath as coronation is a wicked oath , and that he ought to break it . and then wo be to his soul , and the kingdoms safety . yea he affirms it to be a vinculum iniquitatis , the bond of iniquitie . thus he hath knit up out most gracious soveraign , with all his religious predecessors , in the bundle of iniquity no sooner read i this , but b my heart was hot within me ; and while i was musing upon this , and the like blasphemies ▪ the fi●e was kindled within me , and at the last i spake with my tongue . c why should this shimei blaspheme my lord the king ? and d slander the footsteps of those anointed of the lord , that have so long slept in peace ? e because he hath done this wickednesse , the lord shall return it upon his owne pa●e and king charles shall eblessed ; and his throne shall be established before the lord for ever . consult i pray you , with dr. cornelius burges a feirce assembly man , and of great authority among them ; and he will tell you , that f god is tender not onely of the safety , but also of the honour of his anointed . in so much , that g he hath made a law to all , not to revile the gods , nor curse the ruler of the people . which law ( saith he ) not onely proh●biteth imprecations , and seditious railings which are an hellish impiety , though it be but in word onely , ●e the prince never so impious ) but even all rude , bitter , and unseemly speeches . and mr. nathaniel ward in his sermon upon ezech. 19. 14. preached before the commons , june 30. 1647. affirmes h that besides the male administrations of government by magistrates themselves , there is no readier way to prosti●ute it , then to suffer vile men to blaspheme and spit in the face of authority . all this master geree hath done most undeservedly . if then i shall cleare the kings oath from these foule imputations , i shall prove mr. geree to be involved i in the bond of iniquity . and he that is so , k his heart is not right in the sight of god , l he is in the very gall of bitternesse just in simon magus case . i shall therefore take up s. peters words , and advise him , to m repent of this his wickednesse , & to pray god , if perhaps the thought of his heart may be forgiven him . if you conceiv●● i have ventered upon some questions , not so fit to be handled ▪ & without my profession , i beseech you take notice , that this minister hath led me into these undesired , and unpleasant pathes . he that undertakes to answer a book , is bound to confute all , but what he approves . silence in such passages , speaks consent . good reader , let true reason , scripture , and authority guide thee , and then thou shalt be sure to judge impartially . take notice , that j g. stands for mr. john gerees case of conscience . i d. for jus divinum regiminis ecclesiastici . sir robert cotton ; for his treatise , that the soveraignes person is required in the great councels , or assemblies of the state. his majesties oath published by himself in an answer to the lords and commons in parliament . 26. may. 1642. sir , will you grant and keep , and by your oath confirm to the people of england , the laws and customs to them granted by the kings of england , you lawfull and religious predecessors ; and namely the laws , and customs , and franchises granted to the clergie by the glorious king s. edward , your predecessor , according to the laws of god , the true profession of the gospel established in this kingdom , and agreeable to the prerogative of the kings thereof , and the ancient customs of this realme ? rex . i grant and promise to keep them . episcopus . sir , will you keep peace and godly agreement entirely ( according to your power ) both to god and the holy church , the clergie and the people ? rex . i will keep it . episcopus . sir , will you ( to your power ) cause law , justice , and discretion in mercie , and truth to be executed in all your judgments ? rex . i will ▪ episcopus . will you grant to hold and keep the laws and rightfull customs , which the commonaltie of this your kingdom have , and will you defend and uphold them , to the honour of god , so much as in you lieth ? rex . i grant and promise so to do . then one of the bishops reads this admonition to the king , before the people , with a loud voice . our lord and king , we beseech you to pardon & grant , and to preserve unto us , and to the churches committed to our charge , all canonicall priviledges , and due law and justice : and that you would protect and defend us , as every good king ought to be a protector and defender of the bishops and churches under his government . rex . with a willing and devout heart i promise and grant my part , and that i will preserve and maintain to you and the churches committed to your charge ▪ all canonicall priviledges ▪ and due law and justice : and that i will be your protector and defender , to my power , by the assistance of god , as every good king in his kingdome by right ought to protect and defend the bishops and churches under his government . then the king ariseth , and is led to the communion table where he makes a solemne oath , in sight of all the ●●op●e , to observe the premises , and laying his hand on the booke saith , the oath . the things , that i have before promised , i shall perform and keep , so p 〈…〉 me god , and the contents of this book . the contents . chap. i. vvhether the king may lawfully consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . 1. chap. ii. whether the kings oath taken at his coronation , be an unlawfull oath . 4. chap. iii. whether prelacy in the church of england were an usurpation . 9. chap. iv. whether the king may consent to the abrogation of episcopacy , if so that calling be lawfull . 18. chap. v. whether ye have not bound your selves by your solemne league and covenant to maintaine episcopacy . 22. chap. vi. whether the king , without impeachment to his oath at coronation , may consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . 31 chap. vii . whether the king may desert episcopacy without perjury . 37. chap. viii . whether the kings oath to the clergie be injurious to his other subjects , and inconsistent with his oath to the people . 41. chap. ix . how far forth , and wherein the clergie is subject to a parliament , and to what parliament . 52 chap. x. whether it be lawfull for the king to abrogate the rights of the clergie . 60. chap. xi . whether the clergie and laity be two distinct bodies , or one body politicke . that church-men in all ages had some singular priviledges allowed them . 69. chap. xii . whether to sit and vote in parliament be incongruous to the calling of bishops . 78. chap. xiii . certaine light and scandalous speeches concerning prince & preist , tenderly touched . 87. chap. xiv . whether the lands of the church may be forfeited by the misdemeanour of the clergie . 93. chap. xv. whether it be lawfull to take away the bishops lands , and to confer them upon the presbytery . 104. chap. xvi . how far forth the king ought to protect the church & bishops . 114 chap. xvii . whether there be two supremacies in this kingdome . 127 mr. gerees case of conscience sifted . chap. i. whether the king may lawfully consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . 1. i find a case of conscience proposed by mr. geree , and this it is ; a whether the king ( considering his o that coronation , to protect the clergie and their priviledges ) can salvâ conscientiâ consent to the abrogation of episcopacy ? but why ( i pray you ) is the question proposed here , when you have determined it before ? for doth not your title page speak thus ? in this case of conscience it is cleared , that the king may , without impeachment to his oath , touching the clergie at coronation , consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . thus you have full magisterially determined , before the question be so much as proposed . is this the fashion , first to resolve , and then to argue the case ? this may be the course of hereticks ; it is otherwise with good catholicks . but you are resolved to maintain , that a christian may swear and forswear , without the least prejudice to his soul . 2. and your practice is accordingly ; witnesse the oaths of allegiance and supremacy ; which you with your great masters have taken more then once . and those of your perswasion have taken up arms against their soveraign lord , without impeachment to their oath of allegiance ; and maintain that b the parliament is subordinate to no power under heaven , without any breach of the oath of supremacie . and your self , like a good preacher of gods word , have taken the oath of canonicall obedience to the bishop ; and yet endeavour the abrogation of episcopacy , and the extirpation of that order , from whence you had your orders , and without which you could have had no orders . 3. me thinks , the smectymnuans should not endure this proposition , since with them a bishop and a presbyter are one and the same . thus , while you endeavour to ruinate episcopacy , you subvert the presbytery , according to their tenets . i wonder much , how your case hath passed so long unsifted , and uncensured by the divine masters of your learned assembly . 4. but i shall take it for your best advantage , as it is distinguished , or ( as we say ) a distinct order from presbytery . i shall also take into consideration , the severall motives , which you produce for the abrogation of episcopacy . 5. whereof your first is this ; that c there is no hope of the kings or kingdoms safetie , without an union between our king and parliament . i must confesse with anguish of spirit , as matters have been handled , the king and kingdom are driven into a great streight ; and an vnion between our king and your parliament hath been prayed for , and sought for by all commendable , or tolerable means . the hope left us is onely in our god and saviour , whose custome it is to d scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts ; to pull down the mighty from their throne , and to exalt the humble and meek . thus can he e shew strength with his arm , and do great things for us . and this , i hope , in his due time he will do , and reduce this kingdom from irreligion and sacriledge ; and not cast off the innocent with the prophane blasphemers . oh , that we might begge that blessing from heaven , to see a parliament rightly regulated , religiously minded , and with-out any by ends of their own : f men of courage , fearing god , men dealing truly , hating covetousnesse . such , as will not be g led by a multitude to do evil , or to subvert the truth . i am certain , we should then have an union , a blessed vnion between king and parliament . 6. but by you it seems , that h there is now no probable or possible means of reconciliation left , in mans judgement , unlesse the king yeeld to the extirpation of episcopacy . you should have added , unlesse he lay down his lands , royalties , and just prerogatives at his subjects feet : unlesse he abandon the wife of his bosome , and become a stranger to the children of his loins : unlesse he sacrifice his friends to the malice of his foes , and the ruine of whole families to their avarice : unlesse he cast off the service of god , that most excellent form of common prayer , and give up the houses and lands of god , and all that is accounted holy , to satiate their sacrilegious appetite . 7. but , in sober sadnesse , do you beleeve that the abrogation of episcopacy is that , they yawn at ? you are mistaken , good brother , the episcopall houses and lands , as also what ever belongs to deans and chapters , to archdeacons and prebendaries , are the things they hunger and thirst after ; they will wipe your mouthes of all such morsels : as their ordinances for the sale of such lands have fully manifested . 8. and wheras you seem to be much troubled for his majesty , lest i he should condescend renitente conscientia , against conscience , to gratifie you in this kind , and to bring sin upon himself . which you perceive , and in a manner confesse , he must do , if he do , as you would have him : for you say , it would be sinfull to himself . thus you endeavour to perswade our soveraign into sin , upon pretence to sin : how you can salve it , we shall see hereafter . in the mean space i must tell you , that you trouble your self for the king , blessed be god , without cause ; for we cannot perceive , that he is inclinable to gratifie you in this kinde . neither doth every reluctance of conscience make a grant sinfull ; but onely when my conscience checks me upon just grounds . it is not the renitence , or strugling , of conscience , but the pulling down of gods ordinance , episcopacy , that makes the sin ; though , i confesse , the sin is the greater , if it be done upon deliberation against conscience ; let the pretence be , what you please . if this indeed should prove to be the kings case , which god forbid , then must it necessarily follow , that k it would be sinfull to him ; and so he should forfeit inward to procure outward peace ; and be represented to times in the glasse of conscience , to adventure the heavenly , to retain an earthly crown . nothing more certain . wo then be to him , or them , who ever they be , that plot , how they may endanger the kings earthly crown , that so they may deprive him of his heavenly inheritance . he hath been tried as gold in the furnace ; he hath been enforced thorow fire and water ; but for all this , with gods blessing he shall arrive in the haven of happinesse . 9. but there is an l oath , that stands in the way , which was taken at the kings coronation . this hath been prest by some learned pens , with that probabilitie , that ( by your own confession ) may stumble a right intelligent reader . but you are none of that number , you stumble not , but smoothly passe over such rubs ; and though m they have not hitherto received any satisfactory answer , yet now we shall have it in print n . by your pains the obj●ctions shall be cleared , which while they stand unanswe●ed , cast an ill reflection upon the king , in condescending to abrogate episcopacy . i beseech you , do you dream ? who told you , that his majestie had condescended to this impious and antichristian demand ? no , no , blessed be god , he hath done christ , and his church , and himself that honour , in the refusall of this proposition , that his memory shall be glorious in our histories , and his name high in the book of life . but for certain , they will cast an ill , a foule , an infamous ref●●ction upon those , who ever they be , that shall presse him to this unchristian act . this you , and your masters of the assembly can never avert with all your dutch devices , and geneva fallacies . i say it now , it shall be explained hereafter . 10. but why am i so forward , when o the kings oath may be taken off two wayes ; either by clearing the unlawfulnesse of it ; or else by manifesting , that p though episcopacy be lawfull , yet notwithstanding that his oath , the king may consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . both these your wayes shall be severally taken into consideration ; and first for the unlawfulnesse thereof . chap. ii. whether the kings oath taken at his coronation , be an unlawfull oath . 1. you say , and say truly , that a the oath , which is vinculum iniquitatis , the bond of iniquitie , is void the first day . and your reason is firme ; for qui jurat in iniquu● , obligatur in contrarium , he that swears to do that , which is unjust , is bound to performe the contrary . your argument hitherto is good ; and upon these very grounds we will joyne issue . but how will you proove , that his majestie hath sworne to uphold that , which is unjust or impious ? this shall be done by manifesting that b the king hath sworne to maintaine that , which is contrary to christs institution . and what is that ? episcopacy , say you . your resolution is high and peremptory , as if you were settled upon infall blegrounds ; which upon just try all will dissolve into sand . and yet with you i readily acknowledge , that c if prelacie in the church be an usurpation contra●y to christs institution ; then to maintain it , is to sin , and all bonds to sin are frustrate . 2. i hope you use no tricks ; but fairely without any fallacie , according to the question proposed , by prelacie you mean episcopacy , properly and strictly so called . otherwise there are foure termes in your syllogisme . now if this proposition be firme , upon the same grounds it will follow , you cannot deny it , that if supremacie in the parliament be an usurpation contrary to christs institution ; then to maintain it , is to sin . but supremacie in the parliament is an usurpation contrary to christs institution ; ergo to maintaine it , is to sin . that supremacie in the parliament is contrary to christs institution , is evident by st. peter , who placeth supremacie in the king ; in these words , d submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the lords sake , whether it be unto the king as supreme , or unto governours , that are sent by him , by the king. and every rationall man cannot but discerne , that there can be but one , not two supremes , in the same kingdome , e as you would have it . but of this more fully in the last chapter . secondly , it followes , if ordination by presbyters be an usurpation contrary to christs institution , then to maintain it , is to sin . but o●dination by presbyters is an usurpation contrary to christs institution . to maintain it therefore is to sin . the minor with gods blessing , shall suddenly be made good against the presbyterian jus divinum . thirdly , if episcopacy in the church be no vsurpation , but christs institution , then to endeavour the extirpation thereof , is sin . but episcopacy in the church is no usurpation ; but christs institution . therefore to endeavour the extirpation thereof , is sin . 3. that f you , your assembly , and parliament , have made and taken an oath to extirpate episcopacy , is too notorious to be denyed . but if i shall prove , that episcopacy is not contrary to christs institution , then shall i cleare the kings oath from sin . secondly , if i shall demonstrate , that episcopacy is the institution of christ , then is your covenant g vinculum iniquitatis , the very bond iniquitie ; and you are bound in conscience publickly and penitently to retract it . that the same order cannot be christs institution , and contrary to christs institution , is so apparent a truth , that a meer idiot may discern it . but the order of bishops is christs institution : and yet ye have sworne to up with it root and branch . much like to those in the prophet , h let us destroy the tree , with the fruit thereof . and yet the root of episcopacy is our b. saviour ; who is called i the bishop of our soules ; from him it takes his rise ; from him it receives life , it springs up , and is watered with the dew of his heavenly blessing . 4. we know , that he , from whom a familie springs , is called the root of that familie . that * our saviour is the root of episcopacy , that from him it received being and life , is evident in the apostles strictly so called , who had their orders immediately from christ , as is evident s. mat : 10. s. luk : 9. s. i● : 20. 21. &c. to them he gave power to ordain apostles , in gratis accepistis , gratis date . s. mat. 10. 8. so s. k ambrose , so s. l jerome , so m gennadius patriarch of constantinople , with seventy and three bishops more in a full synod . our saviours words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which the greekes understands thus , a gift ye have received , give ye this gift . this commission he renewed unto them after his resurrection , in these words , n as my father sent me , so send i you . so s. o hilarie , so p s. cyril , and other with them , upon the strength of this commission christs apostles ordeined some other to be apostles , conferring upon them the same honour and power which they themselves had received from christ . this is evident in s iames bishop of hierusalem , in epaphroditus , bishop of philippi , and in apollos bishop of corinth . these are called apostles in scripture ; s. iames , gal. 1. 19. epaphroditus , phil. 2. 25. apollos , 1 cor. 4. 9. and these are confessed to be apostoli ab ipsis , ap stolis ordinati , apostles o●dained by the apostles ; even by q s. jerome , r calvin , and your mighty champion ſ walo melsalinus . 5. apostles they were at that time called , but afterwards that title , upon just occasion was taken from them , and the name of b●shop was setled upon them , and their successors in office. so theodoret. t the same persons were sometimes called both presbiters and bishops , but those who are now named bishops , were then called apostles . but in processe of time the title of apostle was reserved to those , who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apostles properly and t●uly so called . and the name of bishop became appropriated to those , who were lately called apostles . hence is it , that timothy and titus are called bishops and apostles : bishops in the postscripts of those epistles , which were written to them by s. paul ; but apostles by k ignatius , l theodoret , and m many other . 6. bishops they were at that time called , when episcopacy was distinguished from the presbyteriall order ; but n apostles they were named , when a bishop and a presbyter were one and the same . these were o apost●es not onely by name , but in office and power ; and p governed churches and their presbyter-bishops by the same right , and with the same authority , that the cheife and prime apostles swaied them with . and as they governed , so they , and they onely ordained pres●yters . 7. from hence we argue thus . they , that have the same name and office with the true apostles , are of the same order with the true apostles . bu● bishop timothy , and bishop titus , and bishop epaphroditus have the same name and office with the true apostles . they are therefore of the same order with the true apostles . q the major is smectymnuus his proposition , and not to be doubted of . the minor , or second proposition shall be justified by salmasius ; who in severall passages acknowledgeth this name , and office , and power in epaphroditus bishop of philippi . take this for all ; r epaphroditus pau●o dicitur apostolus philippensium ; quia ad philippenses eum miser at ad ecclesiam eorum confirmandam , & constituendos in eâ presbyteros & episcopos ▪ that the name of apostle was usually given to timothy and titus , i have already manifested . that the apost●licall power was in each of them , is evident by those epistles , which s. paul wrote unto them : and more briefly in these words to titus ſ for this cause left i thee in creete , that thou shouldest set in order , o● redresse , what is wanting , or a misse , and ordain presbyters in every city as i have appointed thee . herein is both jurisdiction and ordination allowed him ; and the maine power of the apostolicall order consists in jurisdiction and ordination . herein the bishops , and onely bishops , succeed them . 8. since then the apostleship and episcopacy , are one & the same office , he that is the root and author of the one , is the root and author of the other . but christ is the root and author of the apostleship ; he is therefore the root and author of episcopacy . in covenanting then to take away episcopacy root and branch , you have done no lesse then covenanted to take away jesus christ , t who gave the ap●stles , and u ordeined them in the church . indeed ye have taken the ready way to root him out o● our hearts & soules . for ye have absolutely stripped the church of the three creeds , the ten commandments , and the lords prayer , with the epistles and gospels ; wherein was daily mention made of our b. god. and saviour , as also of his power , pleasure , and mercy . and what i pray you , is become of the lords supper , x which we are commanded to administer and receive , in remembrance of our b. saviour ? and y unlesse we eat his flesh , and drink his blood , in that holy sacrament , we have no life abiding in us . many parishes in this kingdom have been utterly deprived of this heavenly supper , even since their lawfull parsons or vicars have been imprisoned , or sequestred by your instigation . so farewell ro●t and branch , and fruit , as much as in you lieth . and now , i hope , the kings oath is cleerly discharged of sin ; and your covenant sufficiently proved to be the bond of iniquity . 9. but how comes it to passe , that if root and branch must up , yet by your ordinance some branches of that root may be preserved ? for it is resolved , that z ordination performed by a bishop , being a presbyter , j●yned with other presbyters , is for substance va●id , and not to be disclaimed●y any , that have received it . and most probable it is , that you are a branch , or sucker , of that root . for a presbyters so ordained , shall he admitted to a charge , without any new ordination . is not this a flat contradiction ? some branches lopped off , and some spared ; is this according to your solemne league and covenant ? indeed had they taken all branches away , which spring from that root , there had hardly been a man of any learning left . and is not that clerke , who hath been ordeined by a bishop , a wise man , to sware to root himselfe up , if not here , yet out of the land of the living . for he that is not a member of the church militant , can never be a saint in the church triumphant . chap. iii. whether prelacy in the church of england were an usurpation . 1. the question proposed is , of episcopacy ; the oath is for the maintenance of episcopacy ; and your endeavour is for the abrogation of episcopacy . according to your sense therefore by prelacy i understand episcopacy , which you have vowed and covenanted to extirpate . whether upon just grounds , or no , shall be now enquired . for the office is either good or bad , lawfull or unlawfull , necessary or indifferent . if in it self bad , and utterly unlawfull , god forbid , but we should joyne in the extirpation of it . if indifferent , it is in the breast of authority , to allow , or disallow it . but if simply lawfull , and good , and necessary , for the being and continuation of a church , then it is not in the just power of man to discard it , or cast it off . and yet you resolve , that b the kings oath to uphold episcopacy is sin . if sin , then it necessarily followes , that episcopacy in it self is naught , and utterly unlawfull . thus in the first place you condemne all the kings and queens of this kingdome , that have taken this oath . secondly , you condemne those many saints of god , that have discharged this office of episcopacy . thirdly , you condemne all those fathers , and councels , which justify a necessity of bishops . and last of all you condemn the whole church of christ , which from her infancie hath been governed by bishops . is not this to c blaspheme the footsteps of the lords anointed ? is not this to question the actions of those saints d to whom the faith was first delivered ? is not this to vilifie the spouse of christ , and christ himselfe ▪ who hath suffered the church to erre so foully from the beginning . 2. but how shall it be proved , that episcopacy is so bad , that it is a sin to defend it ? an universall proposition must have an universall proofe . exparticulari nonest syllogizari . a particular makes no proofe , but for that particular , whereof it treats . i● i manifest , that monarchy , or arist●cracy hath been a●used in such a state or nation , by such or such a prince , or peeres , do i therefore justifie , that it is a sin to defend moarchy , or aristocracy ; o● if i shall make it appeare , that some parliament men have abused that trust , which is committed to them , is therefore a parliament naught ? this follows not ; but hereby i manifest , that they who at that time sat at the helme in that place , did abuse that , which in it self is good . is the apostleship naught , because judas abused himself and that ? is episcopacy bad , because gregory vii ▪ of rome , george of cappadocia , or paulus samosatenus abused their place and function ? far be it from me to argue , or conclude in this manner . i have learned to distinguish between the office and the officer : the office may be simply good , and the officer extremely bad . this then is no argument against episcopacy , though perchance you may prove , that episcopacy hath been ill managed . 3. but view we your own words , which are the minor of your conditionall syllogisme ; which are these . e and truly as prelacy stood with us in england ingr●ssing all ruledome in the church into the hands of a few l. bishops , i think it may be cleered to be an usurpation . and truly i think not . so you and i are of two severall opinions . but truly your thinking shall be cleered ●y this one argument . f that power , that dispoiles any of christs officers , of any priviledge , or duty indulged or injoined them by the word of god , that power is an usurpation against the word . but this prelacy did , as it stood in england ergo , english prelacie was an usurpation against the word of god. 4. how properly you speake , and how strongly you argue , let the intelligent judge : that you , and others may be sensible of the strength of your argument , under favour of parliament , i shall invert it thus . that power that despoiles any of christs officers of any priviledge or duty indulged or injoined them by the word of god , that power is an usurpation against the word . but this the parliament doth , as it stands now in england ergo , the english parliament is an usurpation against the word of g●d . i hope you know your own argument ; though it alter a terme , it alters not the forme . g the major , you say , is cleer of it self , it needs no proofe , as you conceive . the difficultie is in the minor ; and that i make good thus , out of your own words . h presbyters are by christs warrant , in scripture indued with power to rule in their own congregations , as well as preach . but the parliament hath banished many hundreds of us from our own congregations , and barred us from preaching therein . ergo , the parliament hath despoiled many of christs officers of their priviledges and duties indulged , and injoyned them by the word of god. you cannot deny us to be christs officers , since we are presbyters . that we are presbyters , is acknowledged by your great masters ; i who grant all those to be presbyters , who have been ordained by a bishop j●yned with other presbyters . and so , i am sure , we are . 5. let a review be taken of the soliditie of your former argument ; and then we shall finde you offend in limine , in that major , which is so clear of it self . for do not you say thus ? that power , that despoils any of christs ●fficers of any priviledge , or duty indulged or injoyned them by the word of god , that power is an usurpation against the word . had you said , that power , that wrongfully , or causelesly despoils any of christs officers , &c. you had said something . you have not , it seems , learned to distinguish between justly and unjustly ; but we must . and yet k this proposition is clear of it self , if we take your word . but gods word and yours , are two . gods word saies , l non est potestas nisi à deo , there is no power but of god ; but you say , that there is a power , which is an usurpation against the word of god. but how can that be usurpata , which is data ; both usurped , and given ? that it is given by god , m our saviour testifies , s. joh. 19. 11. indeed this power may be abused ; and the abuse of this power is an usurpation . the office is from god , the abuse from our selves . but you cannot , or will not distinguish between the office and the abuse . if all ●ffi●es must be discarded , because the officers have done a misse , what office will remain in this kingdom ? i fear , not one . 6. we read , that n pas●ur the high priest set jeremie the prophet in the stocks for preaching the truth , o which the lord had commanded him to preach . and yet who dares say that the high priesthood in the old law was an usurpation ? we know , that p the office of a king is gods own ordinance ; and yet we dare not say , that the power of jehoi●kim king of juda was an usurpation against gods word , when q he slew vrijah the prophet . but we may safely and truly justifie , that he abused his power . and so did king zedekiah , when r he imprisoned jeremiah for prophesying , what the lord had injoyned him to denounce . both regall and priestly power are the gift of god ; they cannot therefore but be good . but the abuse of this power to other ends then god gave it , is the viciousnesse of man , and therefore bad . ſ solomon made just use of this power , when he despoiled abiathar the high priest not onely of his priviledges , but also of his office , and of all that belonged to his office . the reason is , because t abiathar for his treason deserved this and an heavier doom . and i presume , it was no usurpation in st. paul , when u he delivered hymeneus unto satan , that he might learn not to blaspheme : nor yet when he x anathematized and accursed those preachers , that taught otherwise , then they had received . if then our bishops have made use of this power in silencing or depriving hereticall , schismaticall , or seditious preachers , y they have done no more then they ought to do . this therefore is no usurpation , but a just use of that power , which with their orders was conferr'd upon them for this end and purpose . 7. i have done with your major ; now to your minor. z but this prelacy did ▪ as it stood in england . what did it ? why it a despoiled christs ●fficers ( the good presbyters that preached up the scottish discipline and doctrine ) of their priviledges indulged , and duty inj●yned them by the word of god. if they deserved this censure , it was no despoiling , but a just deprivation . if they deserved it not , let it be proved . i am sure , courts and committees have been long enough open , to receive large informations , and easie proofs against them . and i am as sure , that our saviour never indulged any such priviledge to his apostles , or any other of his ●fficers , as to vent heresie , schisme , or sedition . if any bish●p be faultie , i plead not for him . i justifie episcopacy , not the bishop . judas was bad , cut his episcopacy good ; judas offended , but not his office . judas was cut off , not his episcopacy ; b the office is continued , and a good man must be put into it . so st. peter . and c let another take his bishopprick . so the spirit of prophecie . prelacy therefore is not in fault ; but the prelate . and it is as false a speech to say ▪ prelacy despoils any , as to say , judicature wrongs any . since we know , that judicature is blamelesse , when the judge is criminous . and as improper a speech it is to say , that a man is despoiled of his duty : i may be forbidden my duty , but not spoiled of it : because i am bound to discharge it , though forbidden , if unlawfully forbidden . 8. but what are these priviledges , and duties , whereof they are said to be despoiled ? the particulars are these ; d power to rule , and to preach in their own congregations ; and this power they are indued with ●y christs warrant . power to rule , and by christs warrant , sound high , and raise attention . and this they have as well , as much , as power to preach ; if we may beleeve you . as if they had ruledome ( as you call it ) from christ himself . if this be doubted of , you give us scripture for it , and that in foure severall texts . the first is this , e if any cannot rule his own house , how shall he take care for the church ? here is care to be taken for the church , but no rule given to a presbyter in the church , unlesse you allow him as much power to rule in his parish , as he hath in his own house . to which assertion no man , i conceive , will subscribe . it is required indeed , f if any lay-man desire to be a presbyter-bishop , that before he be ordained , he be known to be such a one , g that could rule his own house well . but what is this to prove , that by christs warrant in scripture a presbyter is indued with power to rule in his eongregation ? alas , h this government , as your learned brethren confesse , is but domesticall in private families ; not ecclesiasticall in the publick congregation . in like manner i deacons must be such , as rule their houses and children well . and yet ye allow them no ruledome in the church , but set lay-ruling elders to over-top them . no warrant here for this presbyteriall ruling power ; what may come hereafter , shall be examined . 9. the next proof is from the same epistle ; the words are these ; k i charge thee before god , and the lord jesus christ , and the elect angels , that thov observe these things without preferring one before another , and do nothing partially . this is something , were it to the purpose . here is a large authoritie given to timothy in this chapter ; and a charge in this verse , that he be carefull to discharge his office with integritie . but what is this to the point in question ? alas , you are clean mistaken in your mark . it rests upon you to prove , that this power in scripture is given to a presbyter-bishop ; whereas it is here given to an apostle-bishop ; who is clean of another , an higher order . if i should justifie , that a sergeant at law hath power to hear and determine suits in westminster-hall , because the justices of the kings bench , and common ple●● have such a commission , you would think , i were beside the cushion ; and so are you . 10. in the third place , you produce a text of the same apostle to the hebrews ; where-in he commands his brethren , to l obey those , that have the over-sight of them , and to submit themselves un●o them . no question , but they ought to do so . but who are these praepositi , these rulers , here mentioned ? are they presbyters onely ? presbyters are not mentioned here ; and it is impossible to prove , that presbyters onely are intended here ; unlesse they be the onely church-governors . it is rather to be beleeved , that all church-governors , or else the chief governors , were here intended . that he speaks of presbyters , i deny not ; but that he speaks of presbyters onely , i utterly deny . when you can prove , that onely presbyters m watch for the souls of the people , and that they onely must give an account for those souls , then shall i readily acknowledge , that the apostle speaks only of presbyters in this place . 11. if the kings majestie should command his souldiers to obey their commanders , could any man imagine , that he spake of the lieutenants and captains onely ? no wise man can have this imagination : but this must reach , to majors , and collonels , and all other in authority . thus , when the lord commands his people , to obey those governors , that watch for their souls , he means not onely deacons and presbyters , but bishops also . for as in an army there are captains over souldiers , and commanders over captains ; so in the church , which is n aci●s ordinata , a well-ordered army , there are o praepositi populo ▪ & praepositi presbyteris , spirituall governors of the people , and some set over both people and presb●ters . such were the apost●●s in scripture , and such their p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their copartners in labour , and successors in office ; whom we now call bishops . such were timothy and titus , q who had not onely the power of ordination , but of jurisdiction also : that is , they had authoritie , not onely to set in order , what was amisse in the church , and r to reform the laitie ; but to 1. convent , 2. silence , and 3. excommunicate the clergie , even deacons and presbyters , if they deserved it . 12. for convention , in the first place observe , that ſ s. paul acknowledgeth in bishop timothy power to receive an accusation against a presbyter , or elder ; and upon proofe to rebuke him . which could not be done without conventing him . 2ly . that the power to silence preaching presbyters was in bishop timothy , these words manifest , t thou maiest command some that they teach no other doctrine . and as for bishop titus u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it be hoves him to stop the mouths of the disobedient and deceitfull , as also to x stay foolish questions and contentions . and if this will not serve , then must they proceed to higher censures even to excommunication . for doth not s. paul command timothy , to y withdraw himself from those , that teach unwholsome doctrine ? and what this means let beza speake ; z gravissime damnatos extra ecclesiam ejicit , he casts for●h these as condemned men out of the church . for as s. cyprian speaks , a they that are not in communion with the bishop , are out of the church . timothy then being bishop of that church , and withdrawing his communion from them , they were no longer members of the church . this power , we see , was in the apostle bishops ; but no man can shew that ever it was in the presbyter bishops , par enim in parem non habet potestatem ; it is a sure rule , that no man hath power over his equall , while his equall . 13. the last place is reserved for the first in scripture , which you have kept for your reserve to help at a dead lift ; and this it is . b we beseech you , brethren , that ye know them , which labour among you , and are over you in the lord , and admonish you : a great friend of the presbytery tels us that c this is the same with that , which the apostle speaks in another epistle that those presbyters are worthy of double honour , who labour in the word and doctrine . so then , in his judgement , this rule , you so much boast of is , but your labouring in the word and doctrine . and surely he hath two able men , that back him very well , viz. the●d●ret and ca●vin . theodoret tels us , that when s. pau saith , qu●praesunt , th●se th●t are over you in the lord , it is all one ▪ as if he ha● said , they that ●ff●● up prayers and supplica●ions for y●u . and ca●vin thu● , e qu docendo rite & fideliter gu●ernant , who by teaching orderly and faithfully govern the people . and el●ewhere f he expounds this kind of g●verning by boris & salutaribus consiliis popu●o praeire , by guiding the pe●ple with good and wholesome counsell . the preifis rule then consists in 1 prayer for gods people , in 2 admonishing , 3 inst●ucting , and 4 advising them ; as also in 5 conveying to them those heavenly blessings by the sacraments ; which in an ordinary way they could not otherwi●e obtain . this is all the rule , that i can find belonging to presbyters . and this was ever allowed you in your own congregations , while ye behaved your selves as the ministers , of christ in all meeknesse and sobriety , dividing the word of god aright ; and while ye kept within the ru●e of faith . 14. thus your ruledome ( my fellow presbyters ) is come to no great matter by these texts . shew me one place of scripture , that allowes presbyters to excommunicate , or absolve , of their own authority ; and i shall be of your mind , and justifie , that ye have susteined much wrong ; if ye have been suspended from officiating , or silenced , ye may thank your unbridled tongues , which have been so lavish in venting unsound and seditious doctrine . the bishop in these cases hath but discharged that dutie , which is required of him by gods word . 1 ▪ tim. 6. 3. 5. 2. tim. 3. 5. tit. 1. 11. tit. 3. 9. and it is no more , then the presbytery chalengeth to it selfe in those places , where it hath gained autho●i●y . 15. g that ye were excluded from all society in rule ▪ is that , which troubles you . society pretends equ●litie , and rule is that which ye affect . so ye may be made bishops , or b●shops fellowes , equall with them in rule and authority , all sh●ll be well , but till then we must expect no p●ace , if ye can hinder it . h●d your leading church-men be●n made bish●ps or deanes , the k●ngs oath had been most just , and unalterable ; yea unquestion●ble . some mens mouths have been stopt so heretof●re ; the more the pitie : and ye have gaped after such morsels . what the benefit hath been , is sufficiently discerned , and ambitious male-contents shall no more , i hope , be tempted in this manner to continue among us , when they are neither with us , nor of us . but , i pray you , what society in rule , can you chalenge with the bishops , when by scripture ye are made subject to them ? we know your pride ; ye would faine be hail-fellows with your governours both ecclesiasticall and civill . faine would ye have the raines in your own hands , with phaeton , though it were with the same issue . but how shall they learn to govern , that know not how to obey ? all baristers are not qualified to be judges . 16. but there is another thing , which troubles you marvelously , that you deem to be h much more prejudiciall to the dignity and liberty of the ministery ; namely to be subjected to a lay chancelour . and yet how many lay chancelours have you subjected us to ? i to the whole parliament ; that 's plaine ; and yet not so much as one presbyter among them : and to every committee-man both in citie and countrie , whose busie apparators are all persons disaffected to the doctrine and discipline of the church of england . and all this is for the dignity and liberty of the ministery , according to your new magna charta . thus much to manifest , that ye are deeply plunged in those crimes , which you boldly charge upon others . but this is no new , no strange thing . for this hath been generally observed ; when your great masters blemish our most gracious soveraigne with any foule or illegall surmise , they usually act it themselves . dominisimiles , such masters , and such chaplaines . k par autem erat , ut vel quod accusant , non facerent , vel quod facerent , non accusarent . but it were meet , that either they should not do , what they blame ; or not blame , what they do . 17. and now , i beseech you which is most prejudicall , to be subject to one lay chancelour in a diocese , or to those great lay courts of lords and commons and others at westminster ? to so many lay committees in the city ; to so many in every countie ? without whom ye are not able to subsist , nor to abide in your congregations , if these men take but the least offence against you . and how can the gentrie and comminaltie of this kingdome take it well , that you complain so much of one lay chancelour in a diocese , and yet enthrall them to so many lay elders , parochiall , classicall , provinciall , and nationall . say not , that there be preaching elders joyned with them , least it be returned upon you , that the lay chancelour is but the bishops officer in such cases of judicature , as belong to his profession ; and to the bishop he is accountable . but you can endure no loy judges over you , on any hand . and whereas l you charge the lay chancelorship with usu●pation contrary to gods direction , i am certain , ye have made use of it against gods direction . for how many of you have been instituted into benefices by lay chancelours ? qu● jure , comes not now to be scanned . thus ye can abuse them , and yet use them . but i shall turn you over to the doct●rs of the commons ; them it concerns , they are well able to argue the case with you , and to wash off these aspersions . 18. your first argument is , i hope , sufficiently confuted in the eye of indifferent and judicious men . i shall not therefore any longer insist upon it , but observe , at how low a rate you value authority . nor bishop , nor king , nor your idolized parliament shall be a power , but an usurpation against god and his word , if they deny you any priviledge indulged , or debarre you any dutie , which ye suppose to be injoyned you by the word . if they sequester you from the pulpit , or from ruling in your congregations , farewell my great lords and masters at westminster . and when they have sold the bishops and chapters lands , they shall no longer be a parliament , but an vsurpation ; because they have m despoiled you of those lands , which ye lay claim to , and which they ought to have disposed of , to supply you and your predicant brethren with such maintenance , as your selves hold sufficient . chap. iv. whether the king may consent to the abrogation of epi●copacy , if so that calling be la●full . 1. saving your argument , in the first place this is certain , ●f episcopacy be lawfull , then the kings oath at coronation was not as you would have it vinculum iniquitatis , a bond of iniquitie . and hereupon it follows , quod non obligatur in contrarium , that he is not bound to break this oath . take this by the way . you must then seek some other way , to cleere it to us , that it is lawfull for his majestie to wave this oath . but your own conscience seemes to check you for your former resolution ; you therefore confesse , that n this way of invalidating the kings is most satisfactory but to some . 2. surely if to some it be satisfactory , those some are such , that are either very weak , or wilfully blinded with avarice ; o whose gaine is godlinesse . but the end will prove , th●t p godlinesse is pr●fitable to all things . q that is ( as the geneva note hath it ) he that hath faith and a good conscience , is promised to have all things necess●ry for this life , and to injoy life everlasting . this would be seriously layed to heart . 3. but though your former argument seem satisfactory to some r yet to some it will not hold ; namely to those that are not c●nvinced of the unlawfulnesse of episcopacy . what ? so satisfactory and yet not hold ? alas , alas , what creatures have you to deale with ? pitie it is , that you have to deale with learned and rationall men , and not with ignoramus and his dull man. what shall now become of your case of conscience ? why ? z it will cast the resolution of this doubt upon another question . from one question to an other . and what 's that ? the lawfulnesse of episcopacy . this is a large field , that you are not acquainted with . and yet to satisfie the conscience of your reader , you have already concluded , that a episc●pacy is an usurpation against the word of g●d ; and therefore sinfull and unlawfull . how ? conclude first , that episcopacy is unlawfull , and then b grant it to be lawfull . but this is granted onely for argument sake . that is , because your argument is so loose , that it proves just nothing again●● episcopacy . for a firme demonstration admits of no contradiction , it leaves no doubt behind . 4. well , be it lawfull , c yet not withstanding that his o●th , th● king without impea●hment may in this circumstance consent to the ab●●g●tion of episcopacy . what mean you by circumstance ? is the kings o●●h , or episcopacy , or the abr●ga●i●n of episcopacy but a circumstance ? a circumstance is that , which is not substantiall , or essentiall to the point in question ; but comes in upon the by ; at most , for illustration . the question is , d whether the king , notwithstanding his oath , may consent with a safe conscience , to the abrogation of episcopacy ? all these then i take to be essentiall to the question ; unlesse a safe conscience be with you and with your brethren but a circumstance . and yet it is such an ingredient , that a man may neither swear , nor consent to , nor act , but what he may undertake with a safe conscience . e for if our heart ( if our conscience ) condemn us , god is greater then our heart , and knoweth all things ; his majesty , i make no question , hath sadly thought on this . 5. that he may abrogate that which is lawfull , you say , and we deny not , since god hath given kings a power nt onely over things indifferent , but even in such things , as are lawfull , and honest , and in their kind necessary for the preservation of a common-wealth . this is evident in jonadab the sonne of rechab , f who commanded his posterity , that they should neither drink wine , nor build house , nor sow seed , nor plant vineyard , nor have any . and yet as lawfull , and necessary , as these things were , g they obeyed their fathers voice . h god approves of their obedience , and crowns it with a blessing . and what a father is in his own familie , that is a king , at least , within his own dominions . 6. but here the case is different , for the question is concerning christs own ordinance and institution ; which the king hath sworne to maintaine . this then being lawfull , and legally sworne , the oath may not in any wise be dispenced with . nay , if we say , that the king , or any authoritie upon earth , may alter , or abolish any one ordinance of our saviour , we contradict our selves , and complie with the papists . what reason bring we against the halfe communion , but christs own institution , who commanded it to be deliver'd and received in both kinds . and i calvin deservedly reproves bishop cardiner for attributing this power to a king : now if episcopacy be our saviours institution , then may no humane power root it up ; least they that do it , be rooted out of the land of the living . but that this very order , which we now call episcopacy , is christs own institution , is already proved cap. 2. 6. 7 8. 7. besides , if this be the onely order , to which christ hath given power to ordaine presbyters and deacons , who shall confer these orders , when bishops are taken away , and utterly extinguished ? say not , that in case of necessity presbyters may ordaine , when you maliciously make the necessity . god provides for such necessities , as are inforced upon us , or happen casually and inevitably ; not for those , whereinto we wittingly and wilfully plunge our selves ; delve up the root , & god will hardly work a miracle to provide sap for the branches , or body of the tree . k sine nostro officio est plebi certa pernicies . it is s. austins . without our , without the episcopall office there is certaine ruine to the people . s. austine was a bishop , when he resolved thus , and wrote it to a bishop . l that i may speake plainly ; god and the times require it : no bishop , no preist ; no preist , no lords supper ; no lords supper , no salvation , according to the ordinary way prescribed by our blessed saviour . 8. this shall be made good , first according to your protestation ; secondly , according to your solemn league and covenant . in your m protestation , ye have vowed in the presence of almighty god , to maintain and defend the true reformed protestant religion expressed in the doctrine of the church of england . this doctrine is punctually and carefully delivered in the 39 articles . according to which articles i proceed thus . the ordinary way to heaven is by the word and sacraments . no man may preach , or administer the sacraments , but he that is lawfully called and sent . none are lawfully called and sent , but they onely , who are called and sent by those , that have authority . but bishops , and onely bishops have authority to send in this kind . and therefore no bishop , no ordinary way to heaven . 9 the first proposition is not doubted of by protestant or papist ; it is therefore taken for granted . the second proposition is in terminis let down art : 23. it is not lawfull for any man to take upon him the office of publicke preaching or ministring the sacraments in the congregation , before he be lawfully called and sent , to execute the same . the third is likewise expressed in the same article . those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent , which be chosen and called to this work by men , who have publick , authority given unto them in the congregation to call and send ministers into the lords vineyard . and who are these men , that have this authority ? bishops , onely bishops ; so the 36 article . the book of consecration of arch-bishops and bishops , and ordering of preists and deacons , doth containe all things necessary to such consecration and ordering and whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites of that book , ●●e decreed to be rightly , orderly , and lawfully consecrated and ordered . but therein the bishop onely hath authority to ordain . and in the preface to the book of ordination it is resolved that i is requisite that no man shall execute any of these orders , except he be called , tried , examined and admitted , according to the forme following in that book . 10. thus we cannot but see , that according to the expresse doctrine of this church of england without a bishop no sacraments , and consequently no salvation . for though god can save without meanes , yet he hath tied us to the meanes ; and the meanes must be used , if we desire to be saved n this book was composed and set forth in the time of k edward the sixt , by those holy men , who afterwards were blessed martyrs , and at the same time confirmed by full consent and authority of parliament . o after this in the time of queen elizabeth it was again confirmed , and alwaies ratified with the 39 articles ; and p the clergie injoyned to subscribe to this booke , in and with those articles , that so they might be known to be in communion with the church of england . thus far with the protestation . chap. v. whether ye have not bornd your selves by your solemne league and covenant , to maintain episcopacy . 1. now i descend to your solemne league and covenant , wherein ye have publickly vowed to endeavour the reformation of religion according to the word of god , and the example of the best reformed churches . i shall therefore prove first by the word of god , and secondly by the best reformed churches , that ye have solemnly bound your selves to maintain episcopacy , if so ye are resolved to keep this branch of your covenant . 2. first , we know , that q there is no other name under heaven , whereby we may be saved , but onely the name of our lord jesus christ . secondly , we are agreed , that r faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the word of god. thirdly , our saviour saith flatly , ſ except ye eat the flesh of the son of man ; and drink his blood , ye have no life in you . we cannot therefore but acknowledge , that without the word and sacraments , there 's no salvation . since then all those , that are in orders , exercise t the ministration of the word and sacraments , not in their own name , but in christs , and do minister by his commission and authority ; we are therefore to enquire , who have this commission given them in and by the word of christ . for s. paul wonders , u how any man can preach , in publick , except he be sent . the commission for preaching was immediately given by our b. saviour , both to the twelve apostles , and to the seventy disciples . to the twelve , st. luk 9. 2. st. matth. 28. 19. to the seventy , st. luk. 10. 9. 16. the commission to consecrate and administer the lords supper , is given to the twelve apostles , st. luk. 22. 19. 1 cor. 11. 24. x st. paul , and y st. matthias also were immediately admitted to the apostleship by christ himself . these , and onely these , who are here mention'd , were immediately ordained by our b. saviour . 3. but our saviour having commanded and provided , that z all nations should be taught , and baptized ; and having a instituted , and in his holy gospel commanded us to continue a perpetuall memory of his precious death , untill his coming again ; that this might be done , he gave his apostles this large commission , b as my father hath sent me , even so send i you . and how was that ? even to preach , to baptize , to consecrate , and administer the lords supper ; to binde sinners , and loose the penitent ; and to ordain other apostles and presbyters , which might continue these blessings to his people in all ages . as also else-where in c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a gift ye have received , give this gift . the greeks take not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adverbially , but substantively : and i beleeve , in the east they understand their own , the greek tongue better , then we do in the west . and as they were commanded , they did . d s. paul and s. barnabas were apostles ; and them we find ordaining presbyters in every church , where they come . act. 14. 23. e s. paul himself ordains timothy to be the apostle , or bishop of ephesus . he gives the power of ordination to titus . tit. 1. 5. and acknowledgeth it to be in timothy . 1 tim. 5. 22. these were the apostles , or bishops properly so called , of their severall churches . these had the power of ordination , but not the seventy , not those of the inferior order , not meer presbyters . 4. besides , doth not st. paul justifie , that f none may preach , except they be sent ? talk not of an inward calling , or extraordinary sending . neither of these will serve the turn , without the outward , without the ordinary ordination . st. pauls words are full to this purpose . g no man taketh this honour [ of priesthood ] to himself , but he that is called of god , as aaron was . the extraordinary calling , which some pretend to , is abolished , in that , no man takes this honour to himself . how then must he attain the priesthood ? the apostle tels you , he must be called of god , as aaron was . and how was that ? non immediatè a deo , sed mediante hominis ministerio ; he was not called or ordained immediately by god , but by the interceding ministery of man. the apostle therefore doth not say , he , that is called of god , as moses was ; but , he , that is called of god , as aaron was . but we know , that though h moses were immediately ordained by god , yet i aaron was not , he was ordained by moses . and yet both k moses and aaron are among his priests ; for moses discharged the priests office , before aaron was ordained . exod. 24. 4. &c. exod. 29. 12. 18. 25. 36. &c. exod. 30. 29. 30. 5. i have done with your first way , having , according to your covenant , proved by scripture , that none may confer orders in the church of christ , but onely apostles , or bishops , as we take them in a strict and ecclesiasticall sense : that is , onely such , as are of the same order with the apostles , and may fitly be called apostle-bishops . 6. we are now cast upon the example of the best reformed churches , which may raise some dust . for when we descend to comparisons , we cannot but displease those , who are left out of the superlative . yet this i dare say , that those churches are best reformed , which come neerest to the primitive church in doctrine and government . for to reform is not to innovate , but in primaevam & veram formam reducere , to settle it in the ancient and true state . for l thus saith the lord ; stand in the wayes , and behold , and ask for the old way , which is the good way , and walk therein , and ye shall find rest for your souls . this rule therefore is given by zanchius , m exempla veteris ecclesiae nobis debent esse instar praecepti ; and your learned ministers of london second him , assuring us , that n the examples of the ancient church bind us as firmly , as any precept . and reason good , since o the custome of the ancient church is optima legis interpres , the best interpreter of the law of christ . the ancient church then ought to be a pattern to all reformers . 7. well , what kinde of government was there in the primitive church ? peter moulin testifies , that p either in the apostles times , or suddenly after , bishops had praeheminence over presbyters , in the severall cities , wherein they were setled . this government is very ancient ; and in the church of christ every thing the more ancient it is , the truer and better it is . zanchius justifies it . q in ecclesia dei , quo quid antiquius , eo etiam est verius , ideoque & melius . and lest i may seem to wrest that famous learned mans words to another sense , then he intended them , i shall give you his resolution at large concerning this point in question , whether bishops , or no bishops : and this it is . r hoc unum addo , me coram deo in mea conscientia , non alio habere loco quàm schismaticorum , illos omnes , qui in parte reformationis ecclesiarum ponunt nullos habere episcopos , qui authoritatis gradu supra veros compresbyteros emineant , ubi liquido , possint haberi . praeterea cum d. calvino , nullo non anathemate dignos censeo , quotquot illi hierarchiae , quae se domino jesu christo snbmittit , subjici nolunt . these are his words in latine ; and to your comfort you shall have them in english : like them as you please . this one thing i adde ( saith learned zanchius ) that in my conscience before god , i esteeme all those no better then schismaticks , who make it a part of reformation to have no bishops in the church ( where they may readily be had ) which maybe above their true fellow-presbyters in degree of authoritie . yea , with mr. calvin , i hold them worthy of the most grievous curse , who will not submit to that sacred prelacy , which is subject to christ . he was far from a rooter . 8. neither is zanchius alone , he hath that moderate and judicious melancthon to second him ; who is so right and home for episcopacy , that he comes with his ſ ego reddo , i , for my part , restore the whole jurisdiction and dignitie to bishops . and t he wisheth with all , that he and the rest of his friends might redeem peace , though it were upon harder terms . yea , he affirms , that u he sees not , quo ore , with what face they can take from bishops their ecclesiasticall government . and then he adds : x that i may speak my mind vtinam , utinam possem , non quidem dominationem confirmare , sed administrationem episcoporum restituere : i would to god , i would to god , it were in my power , not to confirm the dominion , but to restore the administration of bishops . for i see , i see ( saith he ) what a ●inde of church we are like to have , when the ecclesiasticall policie shall be dissolved . video postea multo intolerabiliorem futuram tyrannidem , quam antea unquam fuit i see , we are hereafter like to have a far more intolerable tyranny , then ever we have known heretofore note that ; and consider , whether experience hath not made us sensible , that his words were but a prophecie of these times . and after this he expostulates the same businesse with camerarius , and questions , y quo jure , by what law it might be free for them , to subvert the ecclesiasticall policie ; if so the bishops would yeeld unto them , what is meet ? the question being thus proposed , his resolution follows ; z et ut liceat , certè non expedit ; but suppose it lawfull yet is it not expedient . luther himself was ever of this opinion ; whom some , i perceive , love meerly for this ; because by his means they had shaked off their bishops , and thereby gained libertatem minimè utilem ad posteritatem , such a litertie , as will be little for the good of posteritie . this he spake , and we feel . a for what kinde of state shall the church be in , in after ages , if all ancient customes and manners be utterly abolished , and no certain governors established ? god knows , and we imagine . 9. hitherto you have seen , how zanchius for himselfe and calvin ; and melanthon with luther , did endeavour , even in the shell , to crush that new model , b which ye boast to be of divine right , and yet confesse , that c it is not much above fourscore yeers standing ; and that but d in some churches . for , the truth is , ye can give us no president for the presbyteriall government in any one orthodoxe church , for 1500 yeers after our saviours ascension . all this while the wisedom of god , it seemes was breeding this truth , and stayed for you , and such as you are , to be her midwives . her pangs were long and doubtful , but now juno lucina hath done her part , and the strip●ing reckons fourescore yeers , and that but in cantons , in some odde corners of the world . truth it is , he was creeping in here about seventy yeers since ; but banished he was as dangerous to the crowne . but now he is returned in a fresh suite , and hath got the hand both of king and bishops ; yea he hath put the peeres shroadly to it ; even those , that complyed with him . 10. it may be , for all this , you will replie , that these are but the opinions of a few particular men . what say you to that memorable convention at auspurg , where met all , or most of the learned , that endeavoured the reformation ? these were , at least , the whole reformation representative ; and melancton gives them that very title in his apologie . wherein he tels us , that e all the reformation did often professe in their meetings at auspurg , that they desired exceedingly , to f preserve that ecclesiasticall policie , which was settled by the cannons of the church : as also to continue those very degrees in the church , which were agreed upon by humane authority . these pious men desired not the subversion , but the reformation both of church and church-men . yea , g by protestation they cleer themselves to all porsterity , that it was neither their intent , nor fault , to overthow the order , or authority of bishops . melancthon therefore , in behalf of all his brethren , acknowledgeth , that h bishops have both potestatem ordinis , & potestatem jurisdictionis , power of order , and power of juridiction . and i beleeve , that these men had seriously considred of their protestation . 11. but what is this , that he calls power of order ? surely a power to do that , which presbyters could not do ; that is , a power at least , to ordain ministers . for i herein by calvins confession , was the difference between a presbyter and a bishop properly so called , in the opinion of the ancients , that a bishop hath power to ordain , but not a presbyter . indeed the resolution of the ancient church is this , k presbyterorum ordo non est potens generare patres ; the whole order of presbyters is not able to beget fathers , that is , presbyters for the church ; but bishops are able : the order therefore of bishops and presbyters is not one and the same . hence it follows , that there is a necessity of continuing bishops in the church , if so we desire presbyters ; since without a bishop no presbyter ; and without a presbyter ( at least ) no lords supper . 12 besides , your grand champion walo messalinus acknowledgeth , that l from the time that those orders and degrees were distinguished , and that a bishop became greater then a presbyter , ordination could not be common to them both . but those orders and degrees were from the beginning distinguished by our saviour , though not by these specificall titles observe , i beseech you . in the first place m he names the twelve , those of the higher order , apostles ; and after this , those of the lower order , the seventy , are called diciples , as i conceive , 3. luk : 10. 22. or else in the four evangelists they are distinguished from his other diciples by number onely , and not by title . in the other writings of the new testament they are distinguished into apostles and presbyteres , or bishops . n the apostles are of two sorts ; either such as were immediately ordained by christ , or such as were ordained by those apostles . the former are called the apostles of christ ; or o the holy apostles ; and sometimes p the chief apostles . the other are styled q apostoli vestri , and r apostoli ecclesiarum , your apostles , and the apostles of the churches ; because they had set cities , and a certaine people committed to their charge . the twelve were ordained by our saviour , while in the flesh he was conversant here on earth . but s. matthias , and s. paul , after his ascension were ſ called to be apostles by jesus christ and god the father . these did ordain , but not the seventy , not presbyters , or such as in scripture text are called bishops . s. paul and s. barnahas were apostles ; those we finde ordaining presbyters , act : 14. 23. and s. paul professeth , that he ordained timothy , 2 tim. 1. 6. 13. let us now descend to those apostles , who were ordained by christs apostles . such were s. iames , appollos , epaphroditus , timothy , and titus . none of these were immediately ordained by christ ; and yet they are called apostles . the three former plainly in scripture , as is heretofore evidenced ; t the latter by your good friend salmasius . that timothy & titus did ordain , is too plain to be denyed ; and u for epaphroditus we have an acknowledgement likewise from salmasius . 14. these offices were necessarily to be continued in the church ; for x christ gave them for the gathering together of the saints , for the work of the ministery , and for the edifying of the body of christ y till we all grow up unto a perfect man : which is now but in fieri , in polishing , not perfected , neither will it be , till the second comming of our lord and saviour jesus christ . for z the church is the body of christ , which will have her imperfections and blemishes , till she be made fully compleat in the kingdom of glory . our saviour therefore saith , a behold i am with you alwaies , even unto the end of the world : which could not be spoken of their persons , but of their office , b as is confessed by the london ministers : since their persons were shortly to leave this world ; but their office is to continue , till heaven and earth passe away . when therefore c s. paul had lively described the true government of the church , and instructed timothy the bishop of ephesus d how he ought to behave himself in the church , he charged him in the sight of god , and before jesus christ , that he keep these commands without spot , and unrebukeable , untill the appearing of our lord jesus christ . but this he could not do in his own person , which was shortly to depart ; calvin therefore readily acknowledgeth , that f these things were written not so much for timothy s as for other mens directions , that were to come after him ; since g herein ( as beza observes ) many particulars belong to the daily office of a pastor . these things then must be daily and duely done , as occasion requires : but diverse of these ought , and might be done by timothy onely , and by such as were of his ranke ; but by no other ; needs therefore must this order be continued for the edifying and perfecting of the body of christ . this office then being quotid●a●um munus an office of daily use , must of necessitie be continued in the church . 15. but what office was this , that timothy and titus did beare in the church ? let salmasius speake . h they at that time were mamed apostles , & revera erant episcopi jvre eodem et ordine , quo hodie habentur , qui ecclesiam regunt , & presbyteris praesunt , and indeed were bishops in the same right , and of the same order , whereof at this day those are accounted , who govern the church , and rule presbyters . but this very office was none of those , which were extraordinary , and to continue for a season onely , no , no , in beza's judgement it is quotidianum munus , an office of daily use ; of necessity therefore it must be perpetull in the church . and yet the duties of that office were such , i quibus sustinendis non alius quilibet ( e vulgo pastorum ) par fuisset , as none of the vulgar pastors , no ordinary presbyters , were meet to undertake . and what are these ? k even to redresse , what is amisse , and to ordain presbyters . these are matters of moment , and require more then ordinary discretion . l for this cause s. paul left titus at creete ; and for this very end m he sent epaphroditus to philippi , though at that time there were in that citie many bishops . phil. 1. 1. if then there needed no ordination , but every man without orders might have discharged presbyteriall duties ; or if the presbyter-bishops of that citie might have set that church in order , and therein ordaine presbyters , why did s. paul send epaphroditus to philippi , to do those things , which might either have been left undone , or at least have been done as well without him . surely s. paul imposeth not needlesse businesses upon any . 16. bishops there were ( you will say ) before in that church ; if then it belong to the episcopall order to ordain , and reforme in the church , what is amisse , why was epaphroditus sent thither ? take notice ( i beseech you ) that those bishops were but presbyters , or presbyter . bishops ; n which order never had the power either of ordination or jurisdiction . s. paul therefore sends unto them , epaphroditus an apostle-bishop , who could performe both . this you see acknowledged by your most able and subtill advocate . 17. well , let it be , what it will , lawfull or unlawfull , t is all one , in this exigent or distresse that his majestie is put to , o notwithstanding that his oath the king ( say you ) without impeachment , may in this circumstance , consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . his majesties oath now falls in question ; and i shall be willing fairely and calmely to consider , wherein , and how far forth a christian king is bound to keepe , or breake his oath . chap. vi. whether the king , without impeachment to his oath at coronation , may consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . 1. this question hath two branches . the first , whether a christian king be bound to keep his oath . the second , whether he may notwithstanding his oath , consent to the abrogation of episcopacy . his majesties coronation deserves also to be looked upon ; since an oath deliberately and solemnly taken , deserves the more seriously to be thought on ; and will draw from god the heavier doome , if despised , or slighted . 2. by your own confession it is evident , that p an oath against christs institution is vin●u um iniquitatis , an impious oath , and ought not to be observed ; but to be cut off with shame and sorrow ; since q all bonds to sin is frustrate confesse we must , that an oath against god revealed will or honour , is a bond to sin ; and therefore no sooner made then void , and to be abhorred such is your covenant against episcopacy . and had the king either through misunderstanding , ill advice or fear taken that irreligious covenant , he had been obliged , by your confession , to have made it frustrate ; since it is a bond to sin , because it is against christs word and instituition , as is manifested c. 2. & 4. 3. but r an oath taken in truth , and righteousnesse , and judgement , because it is of such things , as may justly and lawfully be performed , yea because god approves & ratifies this oath , is vinculum aequitatis & necessitatis , such a bond as equity and conscience bind us necessarily to performe , to the utmost of our power . but such is his majesties oath at coronation concerning the church , the spouse of christ . 4. no unrighteousnesse can ye shew in it , the lawfulnesse of episcopacy , as also their just right to govern presbyters , is sufficiently justified c. 4. no untruth ; for our soveraigne hath sworn to maintaine an ordinance of truth , of christ himself . and sub paenâ judicij , upon paine of judgment he is bound to make good this his oath , so justly taken , least he fall into the hands of god , and so into eternall judgement . ſ for justice requires , that every man , much more a christian , and a king , keep his oath made upon such grounds , t though it be with hazard both of crown , and life , and all that may be indangered upon earth . 5. consider , i beseech you , how u in an oath we call god to record ; and we make him not onely our witnesse , but our suretie , that we will , with his blessing , performe , what we have vowed , or sworne in his name . and not onely so , but we call upon him to be our judge , and the revenger of our perfidiousnesse , if so we wittingly depart from this oath . with what face then can we fall back , and wilfully incurre perjury ? is not this as philo judaeus hath it , to x make god a shelter for our wickednesse , and to cast our sin upon him ? that so to the infamie of christian religion , we may ●oder up a faire repute before men . is not this to cast aside not onely a fore-head , but all conscience , and the fear of god ? oh , ( saith s. austin ) y what blindnesse can equall this , to hunt after a little vaine glory by deceiveing man , while in thy heart thou sleightest god the searcher of all secrets ? as if his error , who thinks thee good , were comparable with thine , who seekest to please man with a show of good , whilest thou displealest god with that , which is truly naught . 6. but this is no new thing to you , that have dispenced so long , so often , so variously with so many oaths of supremacie , allegeance , and canonicall obedience : that have done so many strange acts , contrarie to your faith , and subscription . take heed in time , lest not onely your oaths , but your own hand-writing arise in judgement against you , for casting off the book of ordination ; for renouncing the booke of common-prayer ; for disclaiming the articles of the church of england , with those three creeds , the glory and hope of all good christians . thus you , and your brethren , are become apostata's and renegadoes to all religion and piety ; gracelesse , faithlesse , perjured men . god of his mercy give you a sence of these sins , that so you may in time repent , and make some satisfaction to the church of christ , by an open confession , and by a full detestation of those presumptuous and crying sins . 7. this oath his majestie took solemnly before god , in the house of god , in the presence of the nobility , and clergie , and a multitude of his leige people . and shall not all these oblige him so much the more to be tender of this oath ? zanchius tels us , that z it is a more grievous sin to offend against a publick solemne oath , then against one made in private . what may we then think of an oath taken with such high solemnity ? 8. this oath was voluntarily , freely taken , without compulsion , or perswasion ; so no excuse that way . indeed it was taken a in truth , in judgement , and in righteousnesse . in truth , his sacred majesty resolving truly to keep it : in judgement , judiciously , upon mature deliberation ; and in righteousnesse ; intending that every branch of this oath should be justly and righteously observed in all his courts of justice . how then can he infringe this oath ? 9. he made this promiss●ry oath to a great body of this his kingdome , the whole clergie of this land ; and those not the meanest of his subjects . and not onely so , but to holy church his mother , and to god the father of us all . how can he then disclaime this oath ? which so obligeth his conscience before god. that b ●ad he bound himself by such a tye to high-way robbers , or to his professed ●nemies , he had been bound by the law both of nations and christianity , strictly to haue observed it without fraud or coven . talke not of a dispensation . nor life , nor death , nor principalities , nor powers , whether civill or spirituall , can possibly discharge him of this oath ; no more then they can me of my oath of allegiance . and yet it is a point of your religion to perswade to perjurie ; as if it would ease your consciences , to have millions concurre with you in the same perfidiousnesse and end . 10. is perjurie a sin , or no sin ? if it be a sin , and an heinous sin , c how then can i commit this great wickednesse , and sin against god ? is it no sin ? if you be of that mind , speake out , shew your self in your true colours . what religion are you of , i know not well ; little use hath your conscience made of religion in this case . your eye is wholly upon the parliament , and the present necessity , those members have wrought our good king and this whole nation . necessity hath so far prevailed with you , as rather to be forsworne , then to forgo your present maintenance . but our most gracious soveraigne , whom god ever blesse , hath wholly fixed his heart upon god , and his word , wherein we are charged d , not to sweare falsely by the name of the lord ; no , e nor to forsweare our selves , but to performe our oaths unto the lord. marke ; though the oath be made to the servant , it must be performed unto the lord ; because the caution is given to the servant in the lords behalfe ; yea upon the lords credit ; for by his name , and upon his book we sweare to do it . and if we do it not , f the lord will not hold us guiltlesse . minus dicitur , plus intelligitur ; by this one word much may be understood ; for g the lord will come against us in judgement , and call us to an account for our oaths . h oaths therefore must be avoided , lest we fall into condemnation . for perjurie is a foule , a dangerous , a damnable sin . i odious it is to god , because , k it defiles his most holy name . l for this very sinne the land mournes ; i beseech god , it become not disolate . sure i am , m a curse will enter into his house , that sweareth falsely ; it will settle there , till it have consumed the timber and stones thereof . or as the wise man hath it , n his house shall be full of calamities , and the plague shall never depart from it . let zedekiah be our evidence . o he took the oath of allegiance to nebuchadnezzar ; but slighted it , and rebelled against that his soveraign lord , who had so highly honoured him , and trusted him with a kingdom . but what became of him ? p the caldees came , besieged jerusalem , conquer'd it , took zedekiah prisoner , and slew his sons before his eyes . this done , they put out his eyes , and in fetters carried him captive to babylon . here was an end of the kings of that land , descended from the tribe of judah . are not here the timber and stones of his house , his strong men , and the sons of his loins utterly consumed ? 11. think not to excuse your selves or any other , by some later covenant ; this will not serve the turn . was the first sworn in truth , and judgement , and righteousnesse ? or was it not ? doth it truly and justly agree with the word of god ; at least , not contradict it ? if so , thou art bound in justice to observe it , lest judgement fall upon thee . for this is a true rule , if zanchius mis-guide us not , q posteriores promissiones , etiam juramento firmatae , nihil de prioribus detrahere , aut imminuere possunt : later aths cannot possibly make the former of no , or lesse validitie . why then do you perswade the king to break his oath ? he that enticeth a man to perjurie , under pretence of pietie and religion , r what doth he else but affirm , that some perjuries are lawfull . which is as much to say , as some sins are lawfull . which is naught else , but to conclude , that some things are just , which are unjust . i appeal to men of understanding , whether this proposition savours of pietie , or discretion . think not then to ensnare prudent and conscientious men , with such frivolous and senslesse pretences ; which favour strongly of absurditie , if not of atheisme . chap. viii . whether the king may desert episcopacy without perjury . 1. give me leave to passe over a few pages , and to take that into consideration , which follows next in reason , though not according to your method . we are now fallen upon a strange question , too high to be proposed by any subject . but you have enforced me to make that a question , which is harsh to loyall ears , lest i may seem to avoid your subtill and sawcie cavils , as unanswerable . for do not you say ▪ that your second ant●gonist plainly ●ffi●ms , that the king cannot desert episcopacy without flat perjury ? his words are far more mannerly : but i am bound to trace your steps ; and shall , with gods assistance , manifest , that his majestie without violation to his oath , and to religion , may not desert episcopacy , and leave it naked to the subtill fox , or the mercilesse swine . 2. first , according to your own confession , his sacred majestie hath sworn to almighty god , in his holy place , before a solemn assembly , to t protect the bishops , and their priviledges to his power , as every good king in his kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the bishops , and churches under their government . 1. good kings protect bishops ; and good they are in doing so ; there is no evill then in protecting bishops . 2. they ought to do it : it is therefore their duty ; and to fail of this their duty , when they may choose , is sin . 3. in right they ought to do it : they do wrong therefore , if they do it not . this right is grounded upon scripture ; for god saith , u erunt reges nutritii tui , kings shall be nursing fathers , and queens shall be nursing mothers to the church . who then dares say , they ought not , or shall not ? 3. besides , what is done in right is injurious to no man ; since jus and injuria , right and wrong cannot consist in the same action , under the same consideration . and yet no right is done , but it is displeasing to the adverse partie . god did right in protecting moses and aaron , against korah , and his confederates . he did right in destroying those factious and rebellious persons ; and yet x this was displeasing to all the congregation of the children of israel . and shall god or the king forbear to do right , because the multitude murmure at it ? this be far from the lord and his vicegerent . a judge is sworn to do right . if then he do not right to the utmost of his understanding , he is perjured . and the more eminent a man is in place , the greater the sin . you know , to whom it was said , y because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the lord to blaspheme , the childe that is born unto thee , shall surely dye . and of jer●boam it was said , z go , tell him , thus saith th● lord god of israel ; for as much as i ex●●ted the fr●m ●m●●g the people , and made thee prince over my people israel : and yet th●● hast done evill above all that were before thee , and hast cas● me behind thy 〈…〉 ▪ therefore behold , i will bring evill upon the house of jeroboam ▪ &c. 4. secondly , the king hath sworn to be the protect●r and defender of the churches under his government : and this , you will confesse , the king ought to do . but the king doth not protect the church , unlesse he protect the bishops ; since without bishops the church must needs crumble away , and come to nothing . the bishop is the ministeriall spouse of the church : how then can the church be protected , if her husband be taken from her , or stripped of his means ? just as our wives are maintained with the fift part . fed with an ordinance , with words ; but where 's the fift part ? which of our wives have had that justly payed them ? 5. the bishop is , under christ , the father of the church . destroy the father , and how shall the children be provided for ? nay who shall beget children of the church , when she is void of an husband ? and the bishop is the onely husband of the church ; a take ●way the bishop , and the church is a widow ; if you will beleeve the councell of chalcedon . b i have heretofore manifested , that none but a bishop can ordain either priest or deacon . and zanchius determines , that c the church may not want ministers , who are to administer these externall things , the word and sacraments . remove the ministers that have this power derived unto them from christ , and the sacraments must fail , and consequently the church . for what d is the church , but a congregation of christians , wherein the pure word of god is preached , and the sacraments duly administred , according to christs ordinance . but , according to christs ordinance , none may administer the word and sacraments but bishops , priests , and deacons . take these away , and what becomes of the sacraments ? take away baptisme , and according to gods ordinary and revealed way , we cannot become christians , e we cannot be born anew of water , and of the holy ghost . and when we are become christians , take away that food of life , the lords supper , and we must needs famish : for f unlesse we eat the flesh of the son of man , and drink his blood ( in that blessed sacrament ) we have no life in us . hence is that of calvin : g the light and heat of the sun , meat and drink are not so necessary for the cherishing and sustaining this present life , as the apostolicall and p●storall office is for the preservation of the church on earth . if then it be proved , that bishops properly and strictly so called , be of the same office and order with the apostles , then have we calvins acknowledgement , that the church cannot subsist without bishops . 6. indeed it cannot , if we beleeve s. cyprian ; for he saith , that h we ought to know episcopum in ecclesia esse , & ecclesiam in episcopo ; that the bishop is in the church , and the church in the bishop : it stands and fals with him . what then becomes of that church , where there is no bishop ? i si qui cum episcopo non sint , in ecclesia non esse . we must also know ( saith that blessed martyr ) that they , which are not with the bishop , are out of the church . thus the bishop is in the church causaliter , causally ; but the church in the bishop virtually . the fountain is in the brook causally ; and the brook in the fountain virtually ; because from the fountain the rives derives his being , from thence it is derived and fed . damne up the fountain , or divert his course , and what becomes of the river ? thus is it between the bishop and the church . hence i infer , that the matter of the oath is lawfull : i conclude therefore , with the author of the review , that k his majestie is bound in religion and conscience to protect the bishops with their churches , and priviledges . unlesse it be so , that you can bring him a new christ , who will ordain another way to heaven . 7. but , say you , ▪ it is a ground laid down by this author , that no oath is obligatory beyond the intention of it . that is , according to the common , plain , and literall meaning thereof , otherwise we know no intention of an oath . we must therefore look back to the intention of the first framers thereof , as also to the good and securitie of those , to whom , and for whose sake , it is tak●n . n. that m the intention of this oath , and the framers thereof , is against a tyramous invasion on the rights of the clergie ; as also to protect them against violence , no question at all is to be made ; and you do well to acknowledge it . so far then the king is to protect them to the utmost of his power . and hitherto , by the assistance of god , he hath done it : and my trus● is in jesus christ , that he will strengthen our good king to live and dye in this pious and princely resolution . 8. this oath is to the clergie ; the king then must have an eye upon them , and their intention , who so humbly begge his protection , and to whom he makes this oath . n expectationem enim eorum , quibus juratur , quisquis decipit , non potest esse non perjurus : for he that deceives their expectation , to whom he swears , cannot but be perjured . this s. austin proves at large in the preceding epistle ; wherein o he wonders , that any man should be of such an opinion , as to conceive , that a man might incur certain perjurie , to avoid uncertain danger , losse or death . it is a rule therfore in the canon law , p quacunque arte verborum quis juret , deus tamen , qui conscientiae testis est , ita hoc accipit , sicut ille , cui juratur , intelligit . what art soever a man use in the words of his oath , god who is witnesse of the conscience , takes the oath in that very sense , wherein the party takes it , to whom we swear . otherwise we shall not onely deceive others , but we shall cheat our selves into equivocation , wherewith of late we have so justly charged the jesuites ; and for which the fathers most deservedly heretofore condemned q the helcheseites , r valentinians , ſ priscillianites , and t the followers of origen . truly , i am much afraid , we are fallen into such times , as roger hoveden complains of under k. steven ; u wherein it was accounted a noble act to lye , and forswear ; and a manly deed to betray their lords and masters . 9. and is not this , which is wrought against the clergie , a tyrannous invasion ? what law is there to countenance , what of late yeares hath been done against us ? where is the orderly alteration , you speak of ? hath not all been done by tumults , and insurrections ? have not divers of the peers been assaulted , and many of the commons vilified , and terrified by a seditious faction , that so they might bring them to their own bend ? how many have been inforced to flye with all secrecy from westminster , because they would not passe their vo●es against law and conscience ? was it orderly to frame petitions at westminster , against the bishops and orthodox clergie , and then to gleane hands in the countrey from factious spirits , to your own petitions ? was this an orderly alteration , without any pretence of law , to deprive us of our freeholds , to plunder our houses , to imprison our persons ; and to thrust into our benefices men with unwashed hands , felt-makers , blacksmiths , taylors , and i know not whom ? and yet all this hath been done by our great masters in israel . 10. by your own confession , the king hath taken an oath to protect the clergie and their rights against violence , and a tyrannous invasion . but how shall he protect us , that is not able to secure himself ? this , it seems , was his dutie , and with gods assistance in his power , when his sacred majestie took the oath . his duty still it is , though he be robbed of his power . and when god shall restore him to his power , he is bound to discharge this dutie . for you confesse , that x his majestie is ingaged to his power to protect the bishops and their priviledges . and if he breake this solemne oath , in his own person , with what conscience can he punish perjurie in others ? 11. an orderly alteration , or legall waies of change , who condemnes ? but we justly complaine , that no such alteration hath been endeavoured . for that is not orderly , which is illegall : neither can that be imagined rationall , which is wrought by violence , or forced upon a king. he is to be ruled by the word of god , and right reason , y which is the life of the law ; not to be over-awed , or over-swayed by a faction . 12. that z it is rationall for a king to undertake , to protect the clergie against violence , you acknowledge ; and it is no more then all the kings ministers are bound in conscience to performe , the king hath done it , blessed be god , to the utmost of his power . whether the kings officers , and those he hath put in trust , have done their dutie , wi 〈…〉 be answered for at an higher barre . in right reason the oath should have no other sense . th●● sense then it hath ; and we desire that sense may be made good by parliament , and we restored to our free-holds , according to reason , and law ; and satisfaction made us for our losses , ●nd illegall imprisonment , ●ill an orderly and legall change be made . chap. viii . whether the kings oath taken to the clergie , be injurious to his other subjects , and inconsistent with his oath to the people . 1. you object , and we confesse , that a this oath to the clergie , must not be intended in a sense , inconsistent with the kings oath to the people ? how ? inconsistent with the kings oath to the people ? what ? all blind but mr. iohn geree , and his confederacy ? king and subject , preist , and people , composers , approvers , takers , all dimme-sighted ? how came you to spie this foule mistake ? surely this is one of your new lights ; for both these oaths as you please to call them , have happily stood , and may long stand together . there was a time , when the devill had found a device , to set god and caesar at odds : but our saviour set them to rights ; b give ( saith he ) unto caesar what belongs to caesar , and to god , what belongs unto god. that difference being reconciled , that arch enemie of man , hath found out a late device , to raise a quarell between clergie and people , as if the liberties of the one could not consist with the rights of the other . but we have learned of our blessed master to set these also at one , and beseech his majestie , to give unto the people what belongs to the people , and to the clergie , what belongs to the clergie . we desire nothing , that is theirs ; and we are certaine , that no good man will repine , at what is iustly gods , or ours . 2. it is gods command to c give every man his due . and if any law be made contrary to this , it is no law. the reason is , because d all power i● from god , and under god. e that law then , that god hath made , man may neither abrogate , nor alter ; it is onely in the lords breast to do it . indeed what is settled by man , may be changed , or abolished by man. but man must be carefull , that the law be just . f lex enim non obligat subditos , in foro conscientiae , nisi s●t justa : no law binds a subject in case of conscience , unlesse it be just . indeed it bind● them not to performance , but to submission . though they be not bound to performe , what is injoyned ; yet must they submit , to what shall be inflicted ; since resistance is damnable . ro. 13. 2. 3. since then it is onely the just law that binds us to obedience , it will not be a misse to set down , what laws are just , and what not . g that a law be just ( saith thomas ) three ingredients are requisite : first , power in the law-maker ; 2ly . the end , that it be for the common good ; and 3ly . the forme ; namely , that all burthens and taxes be equally , evenly layed upon the subjects ; not more upon one then upon another , but proportionably upon every man according to his estate . laws so qualified , are just , because impartiall . 4. from hence we may safely conclude , that h those laws are unjust , where , in the first place , the imposer wants authoritie . 2ly . when burdens are imposed , that are not for the common good , but for private interest , gaine , or glory . 3ly . when taxes , or subsidies , though for the publick good , be unequally layed . or , in the last place , when laws contradict gods written word : for i all laws ought to be so framed , vt illis , quos tangunt , prosint , & nemini praesertim notabile afferant n●cumentum : that they may be commodious for those , whom they concerne , and yet not be evidently injurious to others . from these or the like grounds , i find it resolved by the sages of this kingdom , that k the king may grant priviledges to any corporation , so they be not prejudiciall to some other of his subjects . 5. but wherein is the kings oath to the clergie , inconsistent with his oath to the people ? because his majestie hath first ( say you ) taken an oath for the protection of the people in their laws and liberties . their laws ? the peoples laws ? who made them makers ▪ or masters of the laws ? do the people use to make laws in a monarchie ? behold , all are law-makers . who then shall obey ? none but the clergie ▪ thus the clergie must obey the people ; and if obey , then please . for whom we obey , them we must please . and yet there is much danger in pleasing the people : for l if i should please men , ( that is , the common people ) i were not the servant of christ . the plain truth is , the laws are the kings laws , so we call them , and so they are ; and his subjects must observe them . otherwise m he beareth not the sword in vaine . the liberties indeed are the peoples , granted and confirmed unto them by the soveraignes of this realme . but wherein n will the latter oath be a present breach of the former and so unlawfull ? one would think , here were some great wrong offered to the people , as if some immunities , or means were taken from them , and transferred upon the clergie by this oath . but when all comes to all , it is no more then this , that o one of the priviledges of the people is , that the peers and commons in parliament , have power , with the consent of the king , to alter what ever in any particular estate is inconvenient to the whole . i had thought , that this priviledge , you speake of , had not been a priviledge of the people , but of the parliament , that is , of the peers and commons , representees of the people met in a lawfull and free parliament with the kings consent . not of the representees of the people alone . but you would faine incense the people a new against us , under a pretence , that all is for their good , and for the maintenance of their priviledges ; because they are represented by the house of commons . whereas the truth is , you endeavour to devolve al upon that house , for the erection of p●ssbytery ; that so both church and state may be democraticall , both settled under a popular government . 6. let us take a view of this passage , and see what truth is in it . one of the priviledges of the people is , say you , that the peers and commons in parliament have power to alter what-ever is inconvenient . how the lords will take this , i know not , though of late they have been so passive . can they endure , that their power should be onely derivative , and that from the people ? your words are plain ; one of the priviledges of the people is , that the peers have power . as if the lords had no power in parliament , but what issued from the peoples priviledges . why then are they called peers ; when they are not so much as peers to the people , but their substitutes , if not servants ? surely you lay the lords very lowe . and if it be one of the peoples priviledges that the lords have power ; then is it also one of their priviledges , that the lords have no power , that the people may take it from them , when they please . cuius est instituere , ejus est & destituere ; they that can give power , can also take it away , if they see good . this of late hath been usually vaunted against the house of commons ; and you say as much to the house of peers . whereas the peoples priviledges are but severall grants of the kings of this land , proceeding meerly from their grace and favour . alas , the people hath not so much as a vote in the election of peers ; neither have they liberty to choose members for the house of commons ; no , not so much as to meet , for any such purpose , untill they be summoned by the kings writ . so the peoples priviledges depends upon the kings summons ; no such priviledge till then . 7. and whereas you say , that the peers and commons have power to alter , what-ever is inconvenient ; you are much mistaken . when by the kings summons they are met in parliament , they have power to treat and consult upon alterations , as also to present them to his majestie , and to petition for such alterations , where they see just cause . but they have no power to alter : that is in the king ; or else , why do they petition him so to this day , to make such changes good , as they contrive ? hoc est testimonium regiae potestatis , vbique obstinentis principatum . this a full testimonie of the kings power in all causes , and over all persons , that the lords & commons assembled in parliament are faine to petition for his royall consent and confirmation , before they can induce an alteration . the truth is , the power of making laws is in him , that gives life to the law , that enacts it to be a law : not in them , that advise it , or petition for it . p where the word of a king is , there is power ; it is his word , le roy le v●lt , that makes it a law ; then t is a law , and not before . no power makes it a law but his . for q he doth , whatsoever pleaseth him . when it pleaseth him ; not when it pleaseth them : many times therefore he rejects bills agreed by both houses , with his roy ne veult , the king will not have them to be lawes . the reason is given by that renowned justice jenkins ; because r the law makes the king the onely judge of the bills proposed . ſ i counsell thee therefore to keep the kings commandment ( or , to take heed to the mouth of the king ) and that in regard of the oath of god. t that is ( saith the geneva note ) that thou obey the king , and keep the oath , that thou hast made for the same cause . this is agreeable to scripture . and the wisest of this kingdome not long since acknowledged , that u without the royall consent , a law can neither be complete nor perfect , nor remaine to posterity . a law it is not , it binds not , till the king speak the word . yea the kingdom of scotland hath declared , that the power of making laws is as essentiall to kings , as to govern by law , and sway the scepter . declar. of the kingdome of scotland . p. 34. 8. but if this be the peoples priviledge , that the peers and commons in parliament have power with the consent of the king to alter , what is inconvenient : whose priviledge is it , i pray you , for the lords and commons , without the kings consent , to make alterations , and abrogations with root and branch ? this is no priviledge of the people , nor yet of the houses ; x because ( as justice jenkins observes ) it is against their oaths to alter the government for religion . for ( saith he ) every of them hath sworne in this parliament , that his majestie is the onely supreme governour in all causes ecclesiasticall , and over all persons 9. but what inconvenience , i pray you , ariseth to the people from the rights and priviledges of the clergy ? not tithes . no , say you , y that justifie them to be due to your precious presbyters , by divine right . not the bishops revenues . by no meanes ; z they must not come into any mans hands but yours ; who are the parochiall pastors ; these must be your maintenance . a to seize them to private or civill interest , is detestable sacriledge , cried out upon all the world over , and to be deplored of all good men . so you with your master beza . indeed to take them away from those , that are intrusted with them , would prove marvelous inconvenient to the people . 10. how many inconveniences will arise to the people of this kingdome , by stripping the clergie of their immunities , and lands , cannot suddenly be discovered . some of them i shal lay down , and leave the rest to be displayed by those , that are cleared fighted . first the curse , that is likely to fall upon this whole nation by sacriledge . for a nationall sin must have a nationall punishment . b admensuram delicti erit & plagarum modus ; according to the fault , and the measure thereof , the number of the stripes shall be . let it be considered , how from severall counties multitudes came in with petitions , for the exrirpation of episcopacy . by whose instigation the petitioners best know . think not to avoid the scourge , because multitudes conspired in the sin : c we must not follow a multitude to do evill . hope not to lye hid in a throng ; d be sure , thy sin will find thee out , as e it did achan among the thousands of israel . his nobility could not excuse him . remember that this was for sacriledge ; for f he stole two hundred shekels of silver , & a wedge of gold , g which were consecrated unto the lord. this is a dreadfull sinne , h it will lye at thy doore ; it will be a stone of offence to thee , at thy going forth , and thy coming in . 11. i know there are men of severall mindes met at westminster . some are wholly bent upon church lands , and are resolved to swallow them up , come what will come . others are content to covenant , vote , or do any thing to save their own stakes ; for to what purpose were it for them to withstand ? alas , they are but an handfull ; they may wrong themselves , but no good can they do to church , or king. but we forget the lords rule ; i thou shalt not speak in a cause , to decline after many , to wrest judgement . 12. some young gentlemen there are , that must plead ignorance in their votes , as being not acquainted with the state of the question ; much lesse with the mysterie of iniquitie , which worketh powerfully in the sons of disobedience . but they must know , that there be sins of ignorance ; for these there must be an attonement made by the preist , and without this , for ought i read , no forgivenesse . levit. 4. yea , saith the lord , k if a soule sin , and commit any of these things , which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the lord , though he wist it not , yet is be guiltie . and he shall beare his iniquitie , for l he hath certainly trespassed against the lord. but to bring it home a little neerer to these times , that are so violent for sacriledge , let all achans broode give eare to the words of the lord , m if any person transgresse , and sin through ignorance , by taking away things consecrated to the lord , he shall restore that , wherein he hath offended , in taking away of the holy thing , and shall put the fift part more thereto , and give it unto the preist . then n shall the preist make an attonement for him , not before ; then shall the sin be forgiven him , not before . here then remaines no excuse for any , that have the least hand in sacriledge , without restitution . but why do we o abhor idols , and commit sacriledge ? why rob we god , as if he were an idol , not sensible of these wrongs , nor able to revenge them ? 13. next , when the church is stripped of her means , what kinde of clergie shall we have ? p jeroboams priests ; the lowest , and meanest , of the people . for as now , so then , q the priests and levites followed their true liege lord. for that arch-rebell and his sons had cast them off from executing the priests office . this being done , r who would , might consecrate himself , and be one of the priests of the high places . like king , like priest ; each had alike right to their places . a lively character of our times . these are called the devils priests , 2 chron. 15. 11. men that wanted either the knowledge , or the fear of god , or both . and surely this is the ready way to fi●● our priests places with men void of learning , not ſ apt to teach , not t able by sound doctrine either to exhort , or to convince the gainsayers . now s. peter tells us , that u the unlearned and unstable ( ungrounded men ) wrest the scriptures to their own destruction . what then shall become of the people ? x if the blinde lead the blinde , both shall fall into the ditch . this will bring us to that passe , which bishop latymer speaks of , y we shall have nothing but a little english divinitie ; which will bring the realm into very barbarousnesse , and utter decay of learning . it is not that , i wis ( saith that good bishop ) that will keep out the supremacy of the bishop of rome . and this will be a strange dishonour to this nation , which hath alwayes abounded with learned men . 14. 3 hospitalitie will come to nothing ; 4 your rents will be racked ; and 5 your sons barred from one fair and most commendable course to preferment . for with us no one familie , or set persons are tyed to be priests , as was the tribe of levi. the qualification of the person , and not his pedegree , is with us inquired into . what understanding man then will freely dedicate his son to the ministerie , and be at an extraordinarie charge to breed him up to divinitie , when his reward shall be certain poverty ? and what scholer of worth will desire orders , when he knows , that by these he shall be exposed to contempt and beggary ? though we love the priesthood , when we are miserable in it ; yet no man affects the priesthood , that he may be miserable . i know many , since our coat is grown so contemptible , who intended divinitie , that have diverted their studie to physick ; knowing that this nation is carefull of their bodies , though carelesse of their souls . 15. is it not enough by this extirpation to barre your selves from heaven , unlesse ye sink your posteritie into the same damnation ? is it not enough to murder priests , unlesse ye slay the priestood also ? certainly ye run the readie way to do it . if ye will not beleeve bishop latymer , because a priest ; yet trust sir edward coke , because a lawyer and a states-man . this great learned man assures us , that z it is a more grievous and dangerous persecution to destroy the priesthood , then the priests . for by robbing the church , and spoyling spirituall persons of their revenues , in short time insues great ignorance of true religion , and of the service of god ; and thereby great decay of christian profession . for none will apply themselves , or their sons , or any other they have in charge , to the study of divinitie , when after long and painfull studie they shall have nothing whereupon to live . will not our church then come to a sweet passe ? and yet to this passe we are almost brought . 16. all the inconvenience , that mr. geree presseth , is this , that a we are not subject to the parliament , to be whipped and stripped as they please . if we be not subject to them , i am sure they have made us so . but how far forth , and wherein we are subject to the parliament , and what parliament , shall speedily be taken into consideration . chap. 9. 17. you speak much of b a former and a latter oath ; the former to the people , the latter to the clergy . as if his majestie took two severall oaths , at two severall times . whereas in truth it is but one oath , c as you acknowledge p. 1. taken at the same time , and , as it were in a breath . indeed there are severall priviledges proposed to the king , which he first promiseth , and afterwards swears to maintain . as for the promise , it is first made in grosse to the people of england ; & afterwards to the severall states of this realm ; but first to the clergie by name . in generall to the people of england , the king promiseth to keep the laws and customs to them granted by his lawful and religious predecessors . under this word people are comprehended the nobilitie , clergie , and commons of this kingdom . afterwards distinguishing them into severall ranks , he begins with the clergie , promising that he will keep to them the laws , customes , and franchizes granted to them by the glorious king s. edward his predecess●● . secondly , he promiseth to keep peace and godly agreement entirely , to his power , both to god , the holy church , the clergie , and the people . here also , you see , his promise to the church , and clergie , goes before that to the people . in the third branch his majestie promiseth to his power to cause law , justice ▪ and discretion in mercy and truth to be executed in all his judgements , to all before named . next he grants to h●ld and keep to the comminalty of this his kingdom , the laws , and rightfull customes , which they have to the honour of god [ mark that ] so much as in him lyeth . the commonalty , you see , are not mentioned , till we come to the fourth clause . and last of all , lest the bishops , though implied in church and clergie , should seem to be omitted , and an evasion left to some malignant spirits , to work their ruine , and yet seem to continue a clergie ; the king promiseth to the bishops in particular , that he will preserve and maintain to them all canonicall priviledges , and due law and justice ; and that he will be their protector and defender . how then can he desert them , or leave them out of his protection ? 18. these promises made , the king ariseth , is led to the communion table , where laying his hand upon the holy evangelists , he makes this solemne oath in the sight of all the people : the things , that i have promised , i shall perform and keep ; so help m● god , and the contents of this book . though then the promises be severall , the oath is but one : and so no former , no latter oath ; not two , but one oath . d the kings oath to the people is not first taken ; but you are wholly mistaken . 19. if any man desire to know , who the people and commonalty of this kingdom are , let him look into magna charta ; where he shall find them marshalled into severall estates , corporations , and conditions . there you shall also see the severall laws ▪ customes , and franchizes , which the king and his religious predecessors have from time to time promised , and sworn ▪ to keep and maintain . that great charter begins with the church ; e inprimis concessimus deo : first , we have granted to god , and by this our present charter have confirmed , f in behalf of our selves and our heirs for ever , that the church of england be free , and that she have her rights entire , and her liberties unmaimed . now sir edw : coke , that oracle of the law , tels us , that g this charter for the most part is but declaratory of the ancient common laws of england : to the observation wherof the king was bound and sworn . and not onely the king , but h the nobles and great officers were to be sworn to the observation of magna charta : i which is confirmed by thirtie and two acts of parliament . 20. the liberties of this church , as i have gleaned them from magna charta , and sir edw : coke are these . first , that k the possessions and goods of ecclesiasticall persons be freed from all unjust exactions and oppressions . secondly , that l no ecclesiasticall person be amerced ( or fined ) according to the value of his ecclesiasticall benefice , but according to his lay tenement , and according to the quantitie of his ●ffence . thirdly , that m the king will neither sell , nor to farm set , nor take any thing from the demeans of the church in the vacancie . fourthly , that n all ecclesiasticall persons shall enjoy all their lawfull jurisdictions , and other rights wholly without any diminution or subtraction whatsoever . fiftly , o a bishop is regularly the kings immediate officer to the kings court of justice in causes ecclesiasticall . sixtly , p it is a maxime of the common law , that where the right is spirituall , and the remedy therefore onely by the ecclesiasticall law , the conusans thereof doth appertain to the ecclesiasticall court. seventhly , q sir edw : coke tels us from bracton , that r no other but the king can demand ( or command ) the bishop to make inquisition . eightly , ſ every archbishoprick and bishoprick in england are holden of the king per baroniam ( by baronry ) . and in this right they that were called by writ to the parliament , were lords of parliament . t and every one of these , when any parliament is to be holden , ought ex debito justitiae ( by due of justice ) to have a writ of summons . and this is as much as any temporall lord can chalenge . the conclusion of all is this , that u neither the king , nor his heirs ( or successors ) will ever endeavour to infringe or weaken these liberties . and if this shall be done by any other , nihil valeat , & pro nullo habeatur , let it be of no force , and passe for nothing . hence x it is provided by act of parliament , that if any judgement be given contrary to any of the points of the great charter , by the justices , or by any other of the kings ministers whatsoever , it shall be undone , and holden for nought . let all true hearted englishmen observe this , that are lovers of their countreys liberties . 21. we have seen , what the king hath granted & sworn , as also in what order ; and that the oath is but one . and yet mr. geree goes forward , as if it were certain without question , that this to the clergie , were a severall oath from that to the people . confidently therefore he presseth it , that y the king cannot afterwards ingage himself . whereas he ingaged himself alike to his people at the same instant , that he would preserve the priviledges both of clergie and commonaltie , because both his people . now , why his majestie should be bound to maintain the priviledges of that one estate , rather then of the other ▪ i cannot conceive . especially when i consider , that z the priviledges of the clergie are granted to god ; without whose blessing nor privilege , nor people can be preserved . the king then herein non c●●sit jure suo , hath not yeelded up the clergie or his right to any other ; neither can he with a safe conscience do so . but since a magna charta hath been so often confirmed , even by 32. severall acts of parliament , the parliament , in that sense you take it , hath parted with that right it had , by these severall grants and confirmations : and we ought in justice to enjoy our priviledges , and they to maintain them ▪ unlesse they mean to affront and subvert so many acts of parliament , and that main charter and honour of this kingdom . as if they onely had the judgement of infa 〈…〉 ibilitie ; which scotland denies . declarat . of the kingdom of scotland , p. 19. chap. ix . how far forth , and wherein the clergie is subject to a parliament , and to what parliament . 1. the net is prepared , the snare layed , danger is at hand , and yet we must not forsake , or betray the truth in time of need . the noose layed by our church adversary , is this : b the clergie and their priviledges are subject to the parliament , or they are not . to this we must say , yea , or nay ; and the man thinks he hath us sure enough . but the man is mistaken , one mesh is not well made up ; and i must tell him that we are subject to the parliament , and we are not . subject we are to the parliament , consisting of head and members ; but not to the members without the head , not to the members alone ; since we are subject to the members meerly for the heads sake ; and in those things onely , wherein he subjects us to them . set apart the head , and we are fellow members , fellow subjects . for iowe no temporall subjection to any or many subjects , but onely for the kings sake . though the parliament be a great , a representative , an honourable body , yet it is but a body : and that body , with every member thereof , owe obedience and service to the head ; not one to another . i say nothing , if i prove it not by scripture . c submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the lords sake ; whether it be to the king as supreme ; or unto governors , as unto those that are sent by him , by the king. as if he should say , submit your selves to the king , for the lords sake ; and to other governors for the king● sake . for king● have their commission from god ; but all state governors from the king : and iowe them no subjection beyond their commission . if then it shall please the king to give the members of parliament power over us , we must submit either by doing , or suffering . either by doing , what they shall command , or by suffering , what shall be inflicted on us . 2. subjection is not due to them , as they are great , or rich men ; but as they are the kings ministers . this is evident , because d all commissions breath and expire with the king e upon death of the king follows necessarily the dissolution of parliament . none of us , that are meer subjects , have at such a time power one over another , but onely by advice ; none of us authority , but onely as this or that man hath gained esteem by his wisedome and integritie . onely the preisthood never dyes , because christ ever lives , from whom the preist hath his commission . but all other subordinate powers expect a new commission from the succeeding prince . this experience taught us upon the death of queen elizabeth . 3. though this be truth , yet no truth can charge us , that f we claime exemption from secular power . you see , we acknowledge our selves subject to the king , as also to those ministers , that he sets over us . but as these may not exceed their commissions given by the king ; neither may the king exceed his commission granted him by god. the kings commission is like the preists , g ad aedificationem , non ad destructionem , for upholding the church and service of god ; not for the ruining of either . and the king may not grant a larger commission to his ministers , then himselfe hath received from the king of heaven ▪ his commission is , to be h a nursing father to the church , not a step-father ; to i preserve to her all her rights and dues , to see , that she be provided with necessaries , and to protect her against her profaine and sacrilegious enemies . surely if our soveraigne hath intrusted the parliament with any power over the church and church-men , it is but with some part of that , wherewith god hath enriched him , and no other . 4. well , k if we be under parliamentary power , it cannot rationally be conceived , to be the meaning of the king so to subject us to the parliament , as to forget , or renounce his hath , by destroying the priviledges of the clergie ( which he hath swo●ne to preserve ) against ( or in dishonour to ) that power to which they are legally subject ▪ how far we are legally subject to this parliament , i know ; and how far we are ▪ or may be under parliamentary power , i have alreadie declared . the power we are legally subject to , is his royall majestie ; and it is not , it cannot be , the meaning of the kings oath , to preserve our priviledges against his own power ▪ or to exempt us from his iurisdiction . let the world judge , whether your , or our priviledges and principles be distructive of legall power . we are bound by canon l faithfully to keepe and observe , ( and as much as in us lieth ) to cause to be observed and kept of others , all and singular laws and statutes made for restoring to the crown of this kingdome , the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiasticall , m against all usvrped and forraign power . marke that ; it is not onely against forraign , but it is against usurped , and all usurped power ▪ shew me , if you can , one such loyall canon or resolution from any presbyteriall assembly . n this jurisdiction ecclesiasticall is by the lawes and statutes restored to the imperiall crown of this realme , and not upon the parliament ; because it is by gods word settled upon the crowne . 5. o this authority in causes ecclesiasticall was in the godly kings amongst the jews , & christian emperors in the primitive church ; and hath been exercised by the kings of this realme , according to an act of parliament in that behalfe , an. 32. henr. 8. c. 36. according to this statute were the bishops and the rest of the clergie assembled b● king edward vi. and queene elizabeth for composing the articles of religion , which were allowed to be holden and executed within this realme , by the assent and consent of those princes ; and confirmed by the subscription of the arch-bishops & bishops of the upper house , and of the whole clergie in the neather house in their convocation . as is to be seen in the r●tification of those articles . agreeable to the same statute , the arch-bishops , bishops and other of the clergie were summoned & called by k. iames to treat of canons and constitutions ecclesiasticall ; which were by them agreed upon an. dom. 1603. and were by the same king of blessed memorie ratified and confirmed by his letters patents . and i am certaine , that we have subscribed and sworne , p that the kings majestie under god is the onely supreme governor of this realme , and of all other his highnes dominions and countries , as well in all spirituall , or ecclesiasticall things or causes , as temporall . 6. the substance of your touchie argument is , i hope , satisfied in the eye of every moderate and discreet man. the rest ▪ that follows is but a rhetoricall flourish , or reiteration of what passed before , as if q the kings oath to the clergie could not be consistent with the priviledges of the nation , formerly by him sworn to . as if , without peradventure , there were a former and a latter oath , which i have proved to be most false . and as if we of the clergie were none of the nation . or as if we were bastards , and not legitimate ; slaves , and not free-born subjects . and yet , blessed be god , diverse of our orthodox clergie are as well descended , as any that speake against them , is this , my good brother , to r reverence the preists , and count them holy ? is this the way to invite men of worth , to incorporate themselves into your presbyteriall hierarchie ? surely we are a part of this nation , to whom this promissory oath was made . our rights consisted comfortably many yeers with the priviledges of the people , to the honour of this nation , and to the astonishment of others . with what face then can you say , that the kings oath to the clergie cannot be consistent with the priviledges of the nation ? whereas it is evident , that in three or foure yeers this nation is so weary of the presbyteriall encrochments , that they can no longer possibly endure them . 7. but by your words it seems , ſ when and while the clergy were a distinct corporation from the laitie , the oath had this sense , viz. that the kings oath to the clergie was consistent with the priviledges of the nation ▪ that must be the sense , if i know what sense is . but the clergie were and are a distinct corporation . in ceasing to be popish , we are not ceased to be preists : neither is that necessary and just exemption , or distinction yet abolisht . if it be , why are you so zealous , to distinguish us and our privileges , from the people and their priviledges ? whereas if we be all one without distinction , our priviledges must needs be the very same ; and so no inconsistencie at all . but of this more fully chap. 11. 8. a popish exemption it was for the clergie to be free from the kings commands . but this is abolished , and we readily submit to every ordinance of man ; and wish , that you , and your assembly brethren would learn the same christian obedience . a popish exemption it is for the bishops and their churches to know no governor but the pope . that also is disclaimed , and at the kings coronation it is publickly acknowledged , that the bishops and their churches are under the kings government . the antichristian usurpation is condemned , and true christian subjection justified . the king is the ●nely supreme o vern●r , to him we owe obedience , and to others for him , and under him . and though all antichristian usurpation were abolish●d upon the death of queen mary , yet in all the acts since that time to this present parliament the lords spirituall are distinguished from the lords temporall , the clergy from the laity , and the convoc●tion from the parliament . yea even in these times of confusion , the clergie are doomed by your great masters , to be unfit for lay ▪ or civill imploiment ▪ if there be no such men , then was that sentence sencelesse : & while we are of the same corporation with them , we are as capable of any office of state , as the rest of our fellow-subjects , even to be members of both houses . but this distinction is still on foot ; the kings oath therefore to us is still binding ; especially since our immunities may as well subsist with the priviledges of the commons , as the priviledges of bristoll with the franchizes of london . 9. indeed you may well twit us with the change of our condition ; for we have just cause with bishop latymer to complain , that z there is a plain intent to make the clergie slavery : which was far from the intention of this oath , till your faction prevailed in the change . but what inconvenience will follow , if we confesse , that the intention of the oath was changed , with the change of our condition ? not that , which you aime at . for therein , and so far forth onely is the intention of the oath changed , as our condition is changed . but wherein is our condition changed ? a church we are still ; bishops and preists we are still ; onely our condition is thus far changed ▪ before we were subject to antichristian usurpation , but now we are altogether for christian allegiance . before our bishops and preists were subject to the pope ; but we submit wholly to the king. and i hope , we shall not fare the worse for that . the kings oath is , to protect the church , as it is , not as it was ; not as she was popish and superstitious , but as she is catholick and apostolike . then she was subject to the pope , and free from the king , but now she is subject to the king , and free from the pope . but you would faine enforce us to our old vomit ; for we cannot but discern , that a far more intollerable tyranny is drawing on , by how much the more dangerous it is to be subject to a multitude , then to one ; to a multitude at home , then to one abroad : both of them being equally destructive to the liberty of the church , and alike contrary to the word of god. 10. besides , the change of our condition is either for the better or the worse . if for the worse , this is to maintain popery . he that saith our condition is changed for the worse , justifies , that it is better for us to be subject to the pope , then to the king. if for the better , then must the intention of the oath be changed for the better . for are not these your words , that the change of the clergies condition must needs change the intention of the oath ? without question the intention of the oath was to protect all his subjects in their severall places , dignities , add degrees ; and not to suffer them to oppresse or devoure one another , to see justice done for them and upon them , according to the laws established ; and not to yeeld to any law , that may be distructive to the rights or liberties of any of his subjects . 11. the intention of the oath is , to maintain the ancient , legall , and just rights of the church ; and to preserve unto the bishops due law and justice . we desire no more , and no man may with reason deny this , to be the intention of the oath . the the words are plaine : sir , will you grant , and keep , and by your oath confirme the laws , customs , and franchizes granted to the clergie by the glorious king s. edward ▪ your predecessor , &c. and again ; our lord and king , we beseech you to pardon and grant , and preserve unto us , and to the churches committed to your charge , all canonicall priviledges , and due law and justice . all this the king hath sworne to performe ; and hath acknowledged , that by right he ought to do it . and would you have him to be forsworne , and to neglect that , which by right he ought to make good ? surely you would make an excellent ghostly father for the man of sin . 12. neither is this the peculiar opinion of us church-men onely ; that great oracle of the law resolves , that a the king is bound to maintain and defend the rights and inheritance of the church . and he gives two reasons for it ; first , because the church is alwaies in her minoritie , it is under age : seconly , she is in wardship to our lord the king. and then he addes , b nec est juri consonum , quod infra aetatem existentes , per negligentiam custodum svorum exhaeredationem patiantur , seu ab actione repellantur : neither is it consonant to the law ( nor yet to conscience ) , that those who are under age , should either be spoiled of their inheritance , or barred from action at law , through the negligence of their guardians . especially kings being by divine ordinance made guardians and nursing fathers to the church . es . 49. 23. 13. you see , we have divine and humane law for what we say , we claime no c priviledges long since by act of parliament abolisht . we desire not his majestie to contradict , but to ratifie bis oath , and to maintain those laws he found in force . but as for you , all your endeavour is to perswade the laity , that our weale is their woe , and that the upholding of the clergie in their due and ancient state , would be certain ruine to the commons . as if our priviledges were like d pharaohs lean kine , ready to devoure the fat of the laity : as if our aime were to reduce antichristian usurpation , & to subvert the ancient laws . whereas every man may readily discern , that these are but pretences . the true end aimed at in these invectives and incentives , is that the caninus appetitus the wilde ravenous stomachs of m. geree and his fellow presbyterians may be satisfied . but at seven yeers end they will be as lank and hungrie as pharaohs famished kine . it was so with king henry viii : and it will be so with all , that tread in his steps . 14. e it s apparent then to make the intention of that oath to be false and fallacious , and under pretence , that it may not be against legall alteration , so to wrest it , that it may be to the ruine of a great body of his subjects , and those not the worst ; that it shall be against all law and conscience , ( for f that law , which is unjust is no law ) : that it shall be to the subversion of the true religion and service of god , to the distraction of his people , and to the eternall dishonor of himself and the whole kingdome , makes his oath in your sense utterly unlawfull . and if unlawfull , then is it not obligatory either in foro conscienciae , or in foro justitiae , either before god , or any good man ; unlesse it be to do the contrary . but if this oath in the true and literall sense be not against legall alteration , but against unjust oppression , sacriledge , and profanenesse , manifest it is , that it is both lawfull and obligatory ; and the king may not , without violation of his oath , and certain danger of the pure and undefiled religion , passe a bill for the abolition of episcopacy , what ever his houses of parliament think , or petition , or presse never so violently . 15. but your opinion is , that the king may passe a bill , for the abolition of episcopacy . and what i thinke , or what the king thinks ; it is no matter if his houses of parliament think it convenient , he may do it . it is wonder , you had not said , he must do it . indeed you say that , which is equivalent ; for are not these your words ; g he cannot now deny consent ( to their abolition ) without sin ? and if the king without sin cannot deny it , then must he assent unto it . thus by your words it seemes , he is at their disposing , not they at his . indeed , if a man may beleeve you , the power is in the houses , and not in the king. for do not you say , that h the peers and commons in parliament have power , with the consent of the king , to alter whatsoever , &c. and againe ; i there 's no question of power in the parliament to over-rule it . the power , it seemes , is in them , consent onely in the king. and here , the king may passe a bill , when his houses think it convenient . well , he may , and he may choose ; he may consent , or dissent . k cujus enim est consentire , ejus est & dissentire . and so long we are well enough . for the kings negative in parliament is a full testimony of his supreme power . hence is it , that the houses petition for his consent , which they need not do , if the power were in the houses . besides , his houses , the kings houses , you call them ; and so they are . this also manifests , that they are at his disposing , and not he at theirs . they must therfore wait his pleasure , til he thinks it convenient . his consent they may petition for , enforce they ought not , since they are his subjects ; enforce it they cannot , since l he hath power over his own will. and whatever you suppose , it is in his power to consent , or dissent , when he sees it convenient ; and consequently to keep , or not to keep his oath . his affirmative makes it a law ; his negative denys it to be a law. for m the king is the onely judge , whether the bills agreed upon , and presented , be for the publick good , or no : and to take away the kings negative voice , is contrary to your covenant ; it diminisheth the kings just power and greatnesse ; and cuts off all regall power . witnesse the declaration of the kingdome of scotland . p. 18. chap. x. whether it be lawfull for the king , to abrogate the rights of the clergie . 1. the question proposed is concerning episcopacy ; but now you are fallen to the rights of the clergie . as if this were a sound and unanswerable argument , it is lawfull for the king to abrogate the rights of the clergy : ergo , it is lawfull for him to abrogate episcopacy . it is for all the world , as if one should say , it is lawfull for the king to take away the rights of lawyers ; ergo , he may also take away judicature . yet all men would say , that this were flat tyrannie ; since without judicature no man can compasse , or enjoy his own with peace . 2. but i shall return your argument so upon you , as shall concern you more neerly . it is lawfull for the king to abrogate the rights of the clergie : it is therefore lawfull for him to abrogate presbytery . how like you this ? is it not your own argument , changing terme episcopacy into presbytery . ye have strooke out the former & set up the latter in the place of episcopacy . and your scholers , by the same argument , may live to root up thut too , if any lands be annexed to this great diana of geneva . thus you have made a rod to scourge your selves with . 3. but you will say , that though it be legall for the king , to take away the rights , yet he may not destroy the order . and why so ? because the rights are granted by man , but the order was settled by god : and what god hath ordained , is not lawfull for man to abrogate . i must return you the same answer , since t is sufficiently justified . c. 4. 5. that the order of episcopacy is the immediate institution of our b. saviour , and ministeriall root , from whence all orders spring . though then this be n the usuall way of cleering this your assertion , and you o conceive it to be a sound resolution , yet learned men see , that you have said just nothing , unlesse you confesse , that the order of presbyter may likewise be ex●i●pated by royall authority . 4. but return we to the rights of the clergie , and take notice upon what grounds you suppose it lawfull for the king to abrogate those rights , which he hath vowed so solemnly to maintain . p the king ( say you ) is sworne to maintaine the laws of the land in force at his coronation . yet it is not unlawfull for him after to abrogate any of them , upon the motion , or with the consent of his parliament . i am glad that you acknowledge it to be the kings prerogative , to maintaine the laws of the land ; and that it is not unlawfull for him , to abrogate any of them with the consent of his parliament . if he be bound by oath , either he hath power to maintain these laws , or not . if he hath not power , it is a senselesse oath . if he hath power , where is it ? what is become of it ? hath he resigned it ? we know the contrary . hath he forfeited it ? to whom ? to his subjects ? he can no more forfeit his regall power to his subjects , then a father the right of fatherhood to his children . he is no more a king upon condition , then a father is a father upon condition . his power he hath not from the people , but from god. q per me reges regnant , by me kings reign , saith god. and , i hope , god speaks no untruth . his substitute the king is , for r he sits on gods ( not on the peoples ) throne ; and ſ king he is for the lord , in his stead . 5. if you object misdemeanours , or bearing armes against his parliament ; your self say , that t he is sworne to maintain the laws of the land. the laws , liberties , and properties were all at stake , they were trampled upon by his faithlesse , but potent subjects . this enforced him to take up u that sword , which he ought not to beare in vaine , but to x execute wrath as the minister of god , upon them that do evill ; upon such , as plunder his good subjects , and turn them out of house and home . for y the king is made by god the supreme governor , for the punishment of evill doers , as also for the praise of those , that do well . but suppose the king were a tyrant , as bad as bad may be , yet z we ought from our hearts to give him all due honour ; so beza ; and not to rob him of his just power . if he sin a it is against god onely ; and to him onely he must account ; not to his subjects . 6. well , bound he is by oath , b to maintain the laws , while they are laws . as yet then the rights of the church are safe , and the king is bound to maintain them . but how long are these laws in force ? c till they are abrogated by just power in a regular way . they are your own words , and we subscribe them . but the just power is in his majestie , by your own confession , both d to maintain , and to abrogate laws . and the regular way , say you , is at the motion , or with the consent of his parliament . but with all our loyall predecessors we say , at the petition , or humble suit [ not at the motion ] of his parliament . and his it is , his they are all , though members of parliament , since the parliament is his. they are not then a parliament of themselves , at their own choice , or disposing , nor yet without him . his they are ; i am sure , they should be so ; i would to god they were so . * the king is the fountain of honour and power within his own dominions . and e who may say unto him , what doest thou ? why doest thou honour this man , and not that ? why doest thou call a parliament at this time , and not at that ? f impius est , qui regi dixerit , inique agis : he is impious , that saith unto the king , thou dealest unjustly , or unequally . so the fathers read that place . no obbraiding , no controulling of a king ; g he can do no wrong . so the law. 7. his , the kings , they are , when they are met , and set in parliament , h his great councell , magnum concilium regis ; i his houses , k his parliament . and l therefore called so , that they may parlar la ment , speak their minds freely for the generall good . him they may entreat , not controul ; advise , not command ; perswade , not enforce . suppose , the king grants them power and authoritie , he grants them none either over , or against himself : this he cannot do . this were to set the members above the head , and to make his subjects superior to himself . this were to despoil himself of the power of the sword. but this he may not do , since m god hath made him supreme , and n given him the charge of the sword. and his majestie may not invert that order , which god hath set ; neither may he repeal gods ordinance , or make it void . god hath laid the charge upon him , and he cannot with a safe conscience decline it , or neglect it . 8. observe , i beseech you : o though pharaoh set joseph over his house , and over his people to rule and arm them at his pleasure : though joseph were so p made ruler over all the land of egypt , yet without him no man might lift up his hand or foot , within that land ; yet joseph is not king . q pharaoh keeps his throne ; and therein is he greater then joseph , who still is but pharaohs deputy , though r lord of all egypt . and though he be ſ a father to pharaoh , yet t is he still at his command . thus is it with the parliament of england ; though they are put in highest trust by the king , yet are they still at his disposing , either u to be adjourned , prorogued , or dissolved at his pleasure ; and are at his command in all things lawfull and honest . to this great councell we are no further to submit , then in those things they are sent for by the king , and so far forth as they have commission from him . s. peter saies the same . x submit your selves unto the king as supreme , or unto governors as unto them , that are sent by him , by the king. so far forth , and in such things , for which they are sent , i owe them obedience ; but no further . 9. how far forth the king is sworn to maintain the laws of the land , and upon what grounds they may safely be repealed , we have alreadie seen . now we are called upon to descend to the rights of the clergie ; whereof your resolution is this , by way of consequence . y so the king by his oath is bound to maintain the rights of the clergie , while they continue such . but , blessed be god , such they do continue : the king therefore by oath is bound to maintain them . 10. z but ( say you ) if any of their rights be abrogated by just power , he stands no longer ingaged to that particular . why , i beseech you , do you leave out something here , that you held necessary for the abrogation of the laws of the land. before it was , that the laws might be abrogated by just power in a regular way . but here you grant , that the rights of the clergie may be abrogated by just power . but what 's become of the regular way ? was it forgotten ? or left out on set purpose ? surely there is a my fiery in it ; for your argument ought to procede thus : by what means the laws of the land may be abrogated , by the same means may the rights of the clergie be abrogated . but the laws of the land may be abrogated by just power in a regular way . ergo , the rights of the clergie may be abrogated by just power in a regular way . thus the syllogisme stands fair for the form ; and the major or minor proposition must be denied by the respondent : otherwise he is at a non-plus , and convinced . but your conclusion is , so , or , ergo , the rights of the clergie may be abrogated by just power . but this so is faultie ; and so is the syllogisme ; because the minor terminus is maimed in the conclusion ; it comes not in whole , as it should do . the reason why , is plain ; because you are not able to set down a regular way , wherein , or whereby those rights , you aim at , may be abolished . 11. and what wonder , that you can finde no regular way for the clergie and their rights , since you have put them clean out of the regular , the right way . and when ye will find the regular way , god knows ; for , plain it is , that ye are out of the way . ye wander this way , and that way , like men in a maze , or mis-led by an ignis fatuus , by jack in a lantern . no rule at all you have to be guided by but onely this , that the book of common prayers must down , and episcopacy shall not stand . so farewell heavenly devotion , and all true faith ; and farewell church . if this be not to be possessed with the spirit of giddinesse , and impietie , i know not what is . 12. but , i pray you , give me leave , before i passe further , to tell you , that just power goes alwayes in a regular way . and when it leaveth that way , it ceaseth to be just ; unlesse inforced by such necessitie , as cannot be provided for in a regular way . that power onely is just , which doth nothing wittingly but what is just ; and distributes to every man and societie their severall dues . if it do otherwise , we cannot call it just , unlesse we desire to incur that sentence of the almighty , a he that saith unto the wicked , thou art righteous , him shall the people curse , nations shall abhor him . 13. well , be it just , or unjust , be it never so much cursed at home , or abhorred abroad , you are resolved to justifie the abrogation of the rights of the clergie . what ? a clergie-man , and a preacher of the word of god , and altogether for ruine and destruction ? surely you are not a preacher of that word , which s. paul taught ; for he professeth , that b authoritie is given to men of our calling , not for destruction , but for edification . shew me one preacher in the word of god , besides corah and his confederates , that ever spake , or wrot any thing against the rights of the clergie . you cannot possibly , unlesse you bring in judas with his c ad quid , finding fault , with that cost , which was bestowed upon our saviours person . indeed no man so fit for your turn ; d he robbed and betrayed the head , and you the body . but you know , what censure is passed upon him for it ; e this he said , because he was a theife , and did carrie the bag . he did , and you would . it is private , not publick interest , that stirres up ambitious and greedy spirits against christ and his vicegerents . i can shew you f s. paul magnifying his office , and g justifying the priviledges therof . but you are none of s. pauls followers ; demetrius and alexander , silver-smiths and copper-smiths , are your good masters , and with them i leave you . 14. but what are these rights that you are so eagar to have abrogated ? every subject in his severall place and degree hath right to his lands , to his goods , to his liberties and privileges : and so hath every clergie-man ; unlesse we of the clergie be no longer subjects , but slaves . would you have all these , or onely some of these abolished ? a question it was at first , but now i see , what they are . first , h episcopacy . 2ly , i the clergies priviledges , & immunities . 3ly , the k bishops ecclesiasticall , or sole jurisdiction in so large a circuit . 4ly , l the bishops great revenues . thus the rights of the clergie , are precisely inventoried , that so neither root nor branch may scape their fingers . episcopacy we have already taken into consideration ; now let us take a survey of the rest . 15. but first let us observe the course , you propose , to strip us of these rights . your method is subtil , and your expressions at first view seeme moderate : you put us in equall balance with the rest of our fellow-subjects . thus you argue ; m it is not unlawfull to abrogate any of the laws of the land : it is not therefore unlawfull to abrogate any of the rights of the clergie . thus far your argument seemes to proceed fairely . but how comes it to passe , that out of this any of the kingdome , you conclude against all the rights of the clergie ? for what have the clergie besides their orders , priviledges , and immunities ; besides their jurisdiction and revenues ? and yet all , all these you expose to the mercie of a parliament . but , in good sooth , do you think , that if it be lawfull for a parliament to alter or abolish any particular laws of the land , that therefore it is lawfull to take away all , that the clergie have , or should have ? indeed this is something answerable to the proceedings of these times . it would sound very harsh , if it were thus resolved ; it is lawfull for king and parliament to abrogate any of the laws of the land : it is therefore lawfull for them to abolish all the laws of the land. and yet this is your manner of arguing . as if a particular included the generall ; as if any were equivalent to all . which is apparently false ; for universals are of a far larger extent then these individua vaga , uncertain notions . though all comprehend any , yet any comprehends not all . for lawfull it is not to subvert the fundamentall laws ; therefore not all . this were to raze the foundation of the kingdome . were this justified of any particular corporation , or body politick , besides the clergie , it would not be indured . oh , how would the citizens of london storme , if we should conclude thus ; it is lawfull to take away any of the laws of the land ; and therefore it is lawfull to take away all the rights of the city of london . yet let wise men judge , if this be not your argument right . but the clergie is become the asse of the times ; it must bear all , or sink under the burden . 16. but you say , that this is to be done n by just power in a regular way . well and good . but can that be a just power , which deals unjustly ? for o justice gives to every man his own ; according to gods command , p render to every man his due . the law of god we confesse to be the supreme law ? whatever then is done against the law of god , cannot be just . yea though it be done by a law , no act can justifie it ; since a law contrary to gods word , is no sooner made , then void . i speak to christians . but with you r the law shall be valid , though injurious . to the injuriousnesse of this law i shall submit , because a subject ; but never acknowledge any validitie therein , because a christian . 17. by a just power , we see , this cannot be done ; how then shall it be done in a regular way ? a regular way , as you conceive you have set down ; wherein any law of the land may be abrogated . and that is , ſ upon the motion , or with the consent of the parliament . how comes this to passe ? because the parliament consists of the head , and the representative body of the whole kingdome . and who are these ? first t the king , who is the head . 2ly , the lords spirituall and temporall : and 3ly , the commons . but the parliament is maimed of late . u 1. the house of commons represents the greivances of the countrey . 2. the house of lords advise his majestie with their counsell , and propose for the common good , what they conceive meet . 3. x it is in the kings power to assent to these proposals , or to disassent , to make them statutes , or no statutes . and that the crown may receive no detriment , the king hath the judges of the land , his councell , and other officers of state present , to prevent such mischiefes . the lords take care of their lands and honors , that they be not damnified by any new law. the knights and burgesses by the severall counties and corporations , are intrusted with such things , as concern their generall or particular good . and all are to take care for the good of the church , the common mother of us al. in these things every man doth , or ought to provide , that all things be so done for the common good , that ( if it be possible ) nothing be done to the prejudice of any . 18. and reason for it : for as y by one spirit we are all baptised into one body spirituall , or mysticall , so by the goodnesse of god we all are under one king incorporated into one body politick . z but the body is not one member , but many . indeed a if it were all one member , where were the body ? and god hath so tempered this body together , that b every member hath need one of another ; and c those , which seem to be most feeble , are necessary . all this was done by the great wisedome of god , d that there might be no divisions , or distractions , in the body : but that the members should have the same care one for another . thus god hath knit us together with the bonds of a mitie and necessity , that we might love one another sincerely . but charity is so farre from doing wrong , that e she seeketh not her own . which is thus to be understood , according to s. austins expression , f quia communia propriis , non propria communibus anteponit : because charity prefers the common good before her own private interest , and not her own private interest before the common good . where this love is , ther 's the common-wealth . but what state is that kingdom in , where they that are intrusted by the publick , seeke their own , and indeavour with might and maine , to make that theirs , which is none of theirs ? where under pretence of the common good , they ingrosse all into their own clutches ? is not this the crying sinne , the grand monopolie of these times ? 19. the regular way to abrogate any of the rights of the clergie , or laity , is at their own motion , or consent , made and delivered by their representatives in parliament , or convocation . henry viii , with cromwell , and the rest of his blessed councel , after banishment of the popes power , knew not which way to make a title to monasteries with their lands and goods , but onely by grant and surrender of the abbots . with them therefore he labours by his great and active servant cromwell ; who prevailes with some by promises and large annuities ; with other by violence and the sword : as is manifested by master spelman , in the preface to his ever honoured fathers book de non temerandis ecclesiis . the statute therefore 31. hen. viii . c. 13. tells us , that these grants surrenders , &c. were made freely , voluntarily , and without compulsion , to the king , his heires and successors . what ever the truth be , this was the onely legall pretence they could devise . and this is the onely course you can take , to make a plea in law to the church-lands . you are faine therefore at last to perswade the clergies consent , p. 5. but of that in due place . 20. in the mean space thus much by the way . either we are subjects , or no subjects ; if we are subjects , then ought we to have the liberties and priviledges of subjects ; whereof this is one , that not so much as a subsidie , or a little ship-mony be taken from any one of us , without our assent yeelded either by ourselves , or by such as we put in trust . and this present parliament hath often protested before god and the world , that the rights and liberties of subjects they do and will defend with their lives and fortunes . why then are our rights and liberties so strook at , and exposed to contempt and sale ? are we no subjects ? surely we were borne so . how then did we forfeit g our birth-right ? by taking orders ? then is it better to be mr. gerees groom , then himself . and , it may be , this is the reason , why so many step up into the pulpit without orders , lest perchance they lose their birth-right . 21. it may be , you will say , that we were not born priests or clergie-men . you say right ; neither is any man born a lawyer , a goldsmith , or a draper . and yet when any of our brethren undertake these professions , they enjoy the rights and liberties , they were born to , with some additions . and why not we ? and yet we poore clergie-men are the onely free-born subjects , that are out-lawed , as it were , and cast forth as dung upon the face of the earth . surely it is better to be a parliamentarians foot-boy , then h a steward of the mysteries of christ . and yet such we are . little do these men consider , that all subjects are born alike capable of these rights , if so they be fit to take orders . the wrong therefore is done alike to all free-born subjects ; perchance to mr. speakers grandchild . since then i the kings oath ( as you confesse ) is against acting or suffering a tyrannous invasion on laws and rights ; it must necessarily follow , that as he may not act , so he may not suffer any such tyranny to be used . hitherto he hath withstood these temptations : and god , i hope , will ever deliver him from them , and from the hands of his enemies . even so amen , lord jesu . chap. xi . whether the clergie and laitie be two distinct bodies , or one body politick . that church-men in all ages had some singular priviledges allowed them . 1. that with some colour you may perswade the people , that it is lawfull not onely to clip the wings , but to pick the carkasse , and to grate the very bones of the clergie , you tell them , that k this oath was so framed , when the clergie of england was a distinct society or corporation from the people of england . when was this oath , i beseech you , framed ? you should have done well to have pointed out the time ; and not tell us , that l this distinction is a branch of popery . but this is the fashion of such , as you are , when you intend to disgrace , alter , or destroy any thing , that concerns the church , then presently 't is popery . thus you cast a mist before the peoples eyes , that loath popery ; and yet know not , what popery is . 2. but this his majesties oath is grounded upon the word of god , who hath made promise to his church , spread among the gentiles , that m kings shall be her nursing fathers , and queens her nursing mothers . when therefore christian kings are inthroned , they take a most solemn oath , not onely to administer true justice to the people , but that they will also maintain the rights and priviledges of the church and clergie , as by right they ought to do . the reason is , because there are so many envious & mischievous eyes upon the church : because n the edomites and ishmaelites , the moabites and hagarens , have cast their heads together with one consent , and conspired to take her houses and lands into possession . gods word prevails with few ; the kings sword therefore must stand between the church , and such sacrilegious spirits . 3. if they fail in this duty , then o will the lord enter into judgement with the ancients of the people , and the princes thereof . what , for this cause ? yes , for this very cause : p for ye have eaten up the vineyard ; the spoil of the poore is in your houses . is this any thing to the church ? yes marrie is it , the geneva note tels you so . q meaning ( saith the note ) that the rulers and governors had destroyed his church , and not preserved it according to their duty . those , who are guilty of this mischief , let them beware : his majesties comfort is , that he hath withstood these impious designes according to his duty . for r whosoever shall gather himself in thee , against thee , shall fall . ſ meaning the domesticall enemies of the church , as are the hypocrites . dear brother , take heed to your feet , and remember , that t it is a dreadfull thing to fall into the hands of the everliving god. but view we your reason . 4. u the clergie and laitie ( say you ) were distinct bodies ; but this distinction is taken away , and laity and clergie are now one body politick . one body politick ? are we so ? whence is it then , that the bishops are thrust out of the house of peers ; and that none of us may vote , or sit in the house of commons ? are we of the same body ; and yet have no priviledges with the body ? in at subjection , out at immunities ? in at taxes , out at privileges ? this is one of those even ordinances , which your blessed covenant hath hatched . of the same body we are , under the same power , subject to the same laws , and yet not capable of the same privileges . is this equalitie ? scoggins doal right , some all , and some never a whit . 5. neither do we say , that we are a severall or distinct body ; but we are a severall state , or corporation in the same body . one body , but severall members in and of the same body . in ecclesiasticall persons of this kingdom are commonly three qualities or conditions : one is naturall , the other two are accidentall . 1. englishmen and denisons of this kingdom we are by birth : 2. vniversitie men by matriculation and education : and 3. clergie men by ordination . by the first we have an interest in the privileges of the kingdom . by the second we have an interest in the immunities of the universitie . by the third we have an interest in the rights of the church . the later privileges do not annihilate that right or claim , which we have by birth . neither cease we to be the kings subjects , because clergie men . in taking orders we put not off allegeance ; we rather confirm and inlarge it . for x a shame it is for us to teach others , what we do not our selves . and our duty it is , to y put every man in minde to be subject to principalities and powers , and to obey magistrates . 6. that there are severall relations in us of the clergie , and that we have severall privileges by these relations , will appear evidently in s. paul , who was z an israelite by blood , a a roman by freedom , but b an apostle by ordination . by his orders he lost none of his former privileges , but c acquired new , whereto he had no right as israelite , or romane . yet , as occasion serves , he stands upon his privileges as a romane ; and both d the centurion and the commander in chief were afraid to offend against that law , or privilege . but we with bl●shlesse foreheads trample upon gods laws , and the privileges of his nearest servants . but though s. paul stand upon his privileges , and e magnifie his office , yet f he acknowledgeth himself to be cesars subject , and that at his tribunall he ought to be judged . 7. our saviour himself had severall relations : g he was the son of david , and the lord of david ; the son of david , according to his humanitie ; but the lord of david , in his deitie . as lord of all , he receives tithes and sacrifices ; h as a subject he payes tribute to cesar : and when an arraigned person , i he acknowledgeth judge pilate to have power against him . besides this , he is a king , a priest , and a prophet : a king , to command ; a priest , to offer sacrifice ; and a prophet , to foretell , what he sees meet . nay there is hardly a citizen of london , but hath a treble relation to severall privileges : 1. to the generall rights as he is a free denison of this nation ; 2. to others , as he is citizen of london ; and to a third sort , as he is free of this or that company . and shall the meanest freeman enjoy his severall rights , when the ministers and stewards of god are cut out of all . are we dealt with as the dispensers of gods high and saving mysteries ? nay , are we so well dealt with as the lowest members of this nation ? is not this the way to lead in jeroboams priests ; to fill the pulpits with the scum of the people , and to bring the priesthood into utter contempt ? o all ye , that passe by the way , behold , and consider , if ever the like shame befell any nationall church , that is threatened to ours , at this day . but k thus it comes to passe , when there is no king in the israel of god. 8. if this distinction between clergie and laity be a branch of popery , how comes it to passe , that those great reformers , and zealous enemies to popery , suffered the clergie to continue a distinct province of themselves ; and that they did not with popery quite extinguish this distinction ? why doth q. elizabeth call them l a great state of this kingdome , if they be no state at all ? why did king edward vi. that vertuous lady queene elizabeth , and wise king iames , summon the bishops to convene in convocation as a distinct society ; and to vote in the house of peers as lords spirituall ; plainly by title distinguished from the lords temporall ? m vndoubtedly ( say you ) all priviledges of the clergie , that are ( or were ) contrariant to the laws of the land , were abolisht in the reign of henry the eight . they were so . it follows therefore undoubtedly , that these priviledges , which were continued through so many princes raigns that were enemies to popery , were neither popish nor contrariant to the laws of the land. and yet some of those times were not over favourable to the clergie . 9. that we are a distinct society , or corporation from the people is evident ; by the coronation oath , by magna charta , by severall acts of parliament , and by scripture itself . the coronation oath observes the distinction of clergie and people ; and assures us , that they shall be distinctly preserved . magna charta does the like : and the acts of parliament distinguish the kings subjects into clergie and laity , allotting to each their severall priviledges ; allowing the people to take many courses , which the clergie may not . this distinction is approved by scripture , where n the lord takes the levites from among the children of israel . s. paul assures us , that o every high preist is taken from among men. and the scholiast tels us ▪ that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the apostle had said , he is set apart from men , from the common people . this exemption or distinction , which you are pleased to call q a branch of popery , or r of antichristian usurpation , is here justified by gods owne word . and josephus that was well skilled in moses writings , and judaicall antiquities , testifies , that ſ moses did seperate the tribe of levi from the communitie of the people . he might have said , that god himself did it ; for the text saith plainly , that t the lord seperated the tribe of levi to beare the arke of the covenant , to stand before the lord , to administer unto him , and to blesse in his name . from that time forward u they were not numbred amongst the rest of the people ; x the lords they were : and y the rest of the tribes were strangers to their office . z the very light of nature taught the heathen to distinguish between preist and people ; and to allow them distinct priviledges . and the light of scripture taught christians to do the like : hence is it , that not onely in the canons of the church , but also in the imperiall constitutions this distinction between the clergie and laity is most frequent and familiar . otherwise what strange confusion must necessarily have overspread the face of the church , if this distinction had not been religiously preserved ? what diverse would not see , these times have enforced us to feele . 10. and yet for all this , we say not , that a we are exempt from secular power ; neither set we up two supremacies . this will prove to be your popish or anarchicall doctrine ; yours , i say , that would so fain cast this aspersion upon us . for do not you tell us , that b ther 's a supremacie in the king , and a supremacie in the parliament ? are not here two supremacies set up by you ; that so you may make the parliament law-lesse , and subject to no power ? we detest and have abjured the popes supremacie ; and not onely that , but all other supremacies , besides the kings , within these his majesties dominions and countries . for we have sworne , that king charles is the onely supreme governor of all his realms , over all persons in all causes . but you induce the peoples supremacie . wheras we know no coordination but a subordination of all persons severally and jointly to his majestie , and to his majestie onely , within all his dominions . 11. we protest before god and the world , sincerely and from the heart , that the king is major singulis , & major universis , greater then any , and greater then all the members of his dominions , whether in , or out of parliament : and that he is c homo a deo secundus , & solo deo minor , second to god , and lesse then god onely . to this our best lawyers bear testimonie , even that d the king is superior to all , and inferior to none . and our e acts of parliament say the same . thus much in substance we have sworne ; and we unfainedly beleeve , that all the world cannot absolve us of this oath . as therefore we hitherto have done , so shall we still , by gods grace , bear faith , and true allegiance to his majestie , his heirs and successors , though it be to the hazard of our liberty , of our estates , and lives . yea we acknowledge our selves obliged to the laws of the land in all those things , which concern the right and peaceable administration of the state. to the king we pay first fruits and tenths : which lay impropriators are seldome charged with . to the king we grant and pay subsidies after an higher rate , then any of the laity , by many degrees . where then are the two supremacies , which we erect ? 12. 't is true indeed , that f for deciding of controversies , and for distribution of justice within this realm , there be two distinct jurisdictions , the one ecclesiasticall , limited to certain spirituall and particular cases . the court , wherin these causes are handled , is called forum ecclesiasticum , the ecclesiasticall court. the other is secular and generall ; for that it is guided by the common and generall law of the realme . now this is a maxime , affirmed by the master of the law , that g the law doth appoint every thing to be done by those , unto whose office it properly appertaineth . but h unto the ecclesiasticall court diverse causes are committed jure apostolico , by the apostolicall law. such are those , that are commended by s. paul to timothy the bishop of the ephesians , and to titus the bishop of the cretians . first , to i receive an accusation against a presbyter , and the manner how . 2ly , to k rebuke him , if occasion require . 3ly . l if any presbyter preach unsound doctrine , the bishop is to withdraw himself from him , m that is to excommunicate him . 4ly , n in the same manner he is to use blasphemers , disobedient and unholy persons , false accusers , trucebreakers , traitors , and the like . 5ly , o the bishop is to reject , p that is , to excommunicate , all hereticks after the first and second admonition . 13. q these things the ordinary ( or bishop ) ought to do de droit , of right ( as sir edward coke speaks ) that is to say , he ought to do it by the ecclesiasticall law in the right of his office . these censures belong not to secular courts ; they are derived from our saviours preistly power , aud may not be denounced by any , that is not a preist at least . and , r a maxime it is of the common law , ( saith that famous lawyer ) that where the right is spirituall , and the remedy therefore onely by the ecclesiasticall law , the c●nusans thereof doth appertain to the ecclesiasticall court. but ſ a bihop is regularly the kings immediate officer to the kings court of justice in causes ecclesiasticall . therefore not a company of presbyters : no rule for that . and this is it that wrings and vexes you so sorely . for your a me is t to share the bishops lands and jurisdiction among you of the presbyteriall faction . this your vast covetousnesse & ambition have of late cost the church full deere , and have been a maine cause of these divisions and combustions . by these means you have made a forcible entrie upon nabaoths vineyard . it were well ahab and jezabel would beware in time . however , wise men consider , that every one , that steps up to the bar is not fit to be a judge ; nor every one , that layes about him in the pulpit , meet to be a bishop . 14. besides , in those epistles this power is committed to single governors , to timothy alone , and to titus alone . but timothy and titus were bishops strictly and properly so called ; that is , they were of an higher order then presbyters , even of the same with the apostles . hence is that of s. cyprian , u ecclesia super episcopos constituitur , & omnis actus ecclesiae per eosdem praepositos gubernatur . the church is settled upon bishops , and every act of the church is ruled by the same governors . by bishops , not by presbyters . now the word of god is , norma sui , & obliqui , the rule , whereby we must be regulated : from which if we depart , we fall foule , or runne awry . since then the church is settled upon bishops , it is not safe for any king or state to displace them , lest they unsettle themselves and their posterity . they that have endeavoured to set the church upon presbyters , x have incurred such dangers , as they wot not of . for if we beleive s. cyprian , 1 they offend god , 2 they are unmindfull of the gospel ; 3 they affront the perpetuall practise of the church ; 4 they neglect the judgment to come ; and 5 endanger the souls of their brethren , whom christ dyed for . neither is this the opinion of s. cyprian onely ; ignatius speaks as much ; y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as many as are christs , cleave fast to the bishop . but these that forsake him , and hold communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with the accursed , shall be cut off with them . this is ignatius genuine resolution , attested by vedel●us from geneva : and if true ; a most dreadfull sentence for those , that endeavour the extirpation of episcopacy . 15. as for the priviledges of the clergie , which you are so earnest to ruinate , i shall manifest , that they have footing in the law of nature , in the law of moses , and in the gospel . in the law of nature . z abraham give tithes to the preist of the most high god , a the preists in egypt had lands belonging to them , as also portions of the kings free bountie . and the same law of nature taught pharoah and joseph b not to alienate either the preists lands , or other their maintenance in time of extremest famine . by the light of nature c a●taxerxes king of perfia decreed , that it should not be lawfull for any man to lay toll , tribute , or custome upon any preist , levite , singer , porter , or other minister of the house of god. and d king alexander sonne of antiochus epiphanes made jonathan the high preist a duke , and governor of a province . e he commanded him also to be clothed in purple ; and f caused him to sit by , or with , his own royall person . g he sent also to the same high preist a buckle or collar of gold , to weare ; even such as were in use with the princes of the blood . and h by proclamation he commanded that no man should molest the high preist , or prefer complaint against him . and can it be denied , that i melchisedec , preist of the most high god , was king of salem , and made so by god himself ? 16. in the law , k the lord made aaron more honourable , and gave him an heritage . he divided unto him the first fruits of the increase ; and to him especially he appointed bread in abundance . l for him he ordained glorious and beautifull garments . m he beautified aaron with comely ornaments , and clothed him with a robe of glory . n upon his head he set a miter , and o a crown of pure gold upon the miter , wherein was ingraved holinesse ; and this , if i mistake not , is p that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which philo tels us , was set upon the preists head , and is the cheife ornament of the eastern kings . the reason , he gives for it , is this ; because q while the preist is discharging his dutie he is more eminent then any person whatsoever , even then kings . but i rather conceive , it was because at that time he represented , or prefigured the royall preisthood of our saviour . 17. for the gospel , we have prophecies , in what state and honor preists ought to be had among christians . witnesse that evangelicall prophet , whose words are these , r ye shall be named the preists of the lord ( as they are at this day ) : men shall call you the ministers of our god. ye shall eat the riches of the gentiles , and ye shall be exalted with their glory . this is one ▪ the other shall be from that royall psalmist ; t in stead of thy fathers thou shalt have children , whom thou mayest make princes in all lands . do not you go about to make the word of god a lye , while you endeavour to dis-inherit the clergie of these privileges and honors ? but u god shall be true , he shall be justified in his sayings ; and every man shall be a liar . behold , how these prophecies were fulfilled under the gospēl . when our saviour sent forth his apostles and disciples to preach the gospel , and to dispense his heavenly mysteries , he daines them with this honour , to rank them for usage with himself ; x he that despiseth you , despiseth me ; and he that receiveth you , receiveth me . to intimate to all christians , that they ought to use his messengers , as they would christ in his own person . for whether well , or ill , he will take it as done to himself . hence is it , that y the galathians received s. paul as an angel of god , even as christ jesus . yea z they were ready to pull out their own eyes , to do him a pleasure . and a when this apostle came to melita , he , and those that attended him , were courteously entertained , honoured they were with many honors , and enriched with gifts , by the prince of that island , and his people . 18. some , it may be , may conceive , that these were but personall honors ; and that they belong to them onely , whom christ immediately ordained . but the scripture will teach us a better lesson . for doth not our saviour say , b he that receiveth whomsoever i send , receiveth me ? now we know , that our saviour sendeth not onely by himself , but by those also , to whom he hath given power to send , and ordain . thus by s. paul he sent timothy and titus : and we find c s. barnabas with s. paul ordaining presbyters in all churches , where they came . this therefore is a generall rule ; d those governors , who labour in the word and doctrine ( whether they be ordained by christ , or his apostles , or any other , to whom this authoritie is duely given ) are worthy of double honor ; that is ( saith primasius ) e both in love , and place . thus f titus by the corinthians was received with fear and trembling , and memorable obedience . g they honoured him ( as theodoret speaks ) as their father , and reverenced him as their spirituall governor . these honors are due , not so much in respect of personall worth , as in regard of the office , which they bear . this appears by s. paul ; who willeth the philippins not onely to h receive epaphroditus , their apostle , or bishop , with all gladnesse ; but , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he chargeth them to hold such , as he was , in honour and reputation . all must be thus honoured ; but those most , that are most worthy . 19. constantine , the first emperor that ever was christen'd , had learned this lesson ; i he therefore did reverence the bishops , ad imaginem quandam divinae praesentiae , as if he had some resemblance of god before his eyes . k he kissed those bishops skars , that had suffered for christs most holy name . l he entertained divers of them at his own table : and m at their departure he bestowed upon them many & goodly gifts . n upon bishops he conferr'd very many privileges , and the highest honors he had to bestowe . he ordained , that o those canons , which were agreed upon by the bishops , and had received his royall approbation , should be of more sacred authority , then any law or sentence , that should passe from his highest judges : and that none of his princes should dare to infringe them . to conclude , p he commanded the governors of his severall provinces to give reverence and honour to bishops ; threatning no lesse then death to such as should revile or abuse them . what reverence and esteem bishops were of with his severall sons , though differing in religion , the church history manifests : for these and all other privileges were inviolably preserved to the church , till that apostata julian ware the crown . but those pious and orthodox emperors , that succeeded him , raised up the church , and made good her former privileges . 20. the reason why good princes were so carefull of the church and churchmen , was q because they were confident , with great constantine , that god gave a blessing to their affairs , for the bishops sakes . and those two wise emperors leo and constantine professe with justinian , that r the peace and felicitie of their people , as well for body as soul , depend upon the harmonious consent of the imperiall and episcopall functions . mark that . in scripture ſ the prophets and servants of god are called the charet of israel , and the horsemen thereof ; because t by their prayers they did more prosper their countrey , then by force of arms . yea u by them god blessed his people . these were the church-priviledges ; and these the opinions the most christian princes had of church-men . and you cannot say , that any of these emperors had any dependance upon the pope , or any compliance with him . but we are fallen into those times , wherein it is accounted losse , to bestowe cost upon christ ; pietie , to rifle the church ; and good service to god , to murder his apostles and priests . indeed , what ever is good and commendable , is now with the round brotherhood cried out upon as popish . by this time , i hope , it appears , that x these immunities , which belong to the church , arise not from the errour of the times , as you suppose , but from the tenure of scripture . that 's the tenure , we hold by . chap. xii . whether to sit and vote in parliament be incongruous to the calling of bishops . 1. something an hard theme to treat upon , and unpleasing to the times . and yet i must say something to it , lest i seem to desert the cause , to blame our predecessors of indiscretion , and to acknowledge that weaknesse in our bishops , which the wisest of this kingdom know to be far from them . what ? not contented to strip us of our rights , lands , and priviledges , but you must twit us with the losse of y the bishops votes , as if they were neither fit to sit or vote , in the house of peers ? that this hath been done cannot be denied ; but how justly i shall not question for the honour i bear to my soveraign . yet thus much is evident to every single eye , that we have had many even and conscionable parliaments , wherein bishops have voted : what kinde of parliament we have had without them , some will make bold to speak hereafter . but a word in private . were they not thrust out , lest the king should have too many faithfull counsellors in the house ? were they not removed , to make way for these civill broils ? the incendiaries knew full well , that those messengers and makers of peace would never have passed a vote for war. 2. but what were the motives , that wrought upon his majestie , to yeeld to have the bishops turned out of that house , z wherein they had voted from the first day , that ever parliament sate in england ? and before ever there was an house of commons , they had their votes in the great councels of the kingdom ; as sir robert cotton manifests in his treatise , that the soveraigns person is required in the great councels of the state. p. 3. &c. if at any time they have been forced out of these parliaments , or great assemblies , it hath been with so ill successe , that with all possible speed they have been recalled . will you hear the motives ? surely they were the very same , that drove the king from westminster , and london . i remember , the clothiers were perswaded in a mutinous manner to cry down the bishops votes , because they had no market for their clothes . and now they cry out , that they want wooll to make clothes . is not this the blessing they have gained by that hideous and senselesse out-cry ? 3. but why was this privilege abolisht , as incongruous to their calling ? are bishops unfit to advise , or assent in framing laws ? surely they are rationall men , and learned men . by reason of their age , and offices , which they have heretofore passed thorow , they must needs be men of much experience . and it is to be presumed so many , for so many , as conscionable , and as much for the common good , as any . and such men are most fit to prepare , and commend laws for and to kings . for i have learned , that a this is a strong argument in law , b nihil , quod est contra rationem , est licitum , nothing contrary to reason , is lawfull . for reason is the life of the law ; nay the common law it self is nothing else but reason . which is to be understood of an artificiall perfection of reason , gotten by 1 long studie , 2 observation , and 3 experience , and not every mans naturall reason : for , nemo nascitur artifex , no man is born master of his profession . against reason therefore it is , that men of long study , much observation , and experience , should be excluded from voting in matters of such high concernment . and some men , that have scarce any of these , should be admitted , as if they were born wise , or gained state-experience by hawking , or hunting . 't is true , that c senatore sons might be admitted to the government of the common-wealth , before they were five and twenty yeers of age : but d before they were twenty and five yeers compleat , they could give no suffrage among the rest of the senators , though senators . this was the wisdom of that thriving roman state. 4. now give me leave to enquire more strictly , what it is , that is incongruous to the calling of bishops . is it to sit in the house of peers ? or to vate in the house of peers ? or both ? that the lords spirituall have sate and voted with the lords temporall , cannot be denied . the acts of parliament speak it , from the first session to this last . let it not be thought incongruous for bishops to sit with the best of subjects . e they sate at constantines own table . nor to be numbred among peers . f the prophecie saith , that they may be made princes . nor to vote in matters of state : since usually they are men of great learning , of much experience , observation , and conscience . such as fear god , honour their soveraign , and love their countrey with-out by ends . such they are , and such they ought to be . and though sometimes there be a judas among the twelve , yet is the calling never the worse . 5. had it been incongruous to their calling , melchisedech that was both king and priest had never been a type of our saviour . the law of god and nature abhor that , which is incongruous . had it been incongruous to the priesthood , god had never made moses and eli governors of his people , in temporall affairs ; for g they were both priests . h jethro , priest of midian , was of excellent use to moses in state affairs . and it may not be forgotten , that i king jehoash thrived , as long as he hearkned to jehoiada the high priest . but when he sleighted the priests counsell , he suddenly fell into the extremest miseries . 2 chron. 24. 21. 23. &c. our histories will likewise tell you , how k. henry vii . prosper'd by applying himself to the advice of his bishops , morton , denny , fox , and others . and how his son k. henry viii . never thrived , after he turned his ears from the counsell of his prelates . and yet he excluded them not from parliaments ; he could not be drawn to that . sure , had this been incongruous to their calling , your fellow ministers of london would never have granted , that two distinct offices may be formally in one and the same person ; as melchizedech was formally a king and priest . i. d. p. 212. 6. a wonder it is , that you & your faction should spie thi● incongruitie , which was never discerned by the wisest of our fore-fathers . the writ , which summons the parliament , runs thus , k rex habiturus colloquium & tractatum cum praelatis , magnatibus , & proceribus . the king intending a conference and treatie with his prelates , and great men , and peers . this writ , as some report , was framed under k. henry iii. and is continued in the same terms to this day . and yet no incongruitie discerned in it , till ye came in with your new lights , which issue from your light brains . but now the bishops must no more vote , no , not sit in parliament ; because you , forsooth , conceive it to be incongruous to their calling . but will any wise man take your word for a law , or imagine it to be more authentick , then the resolutions of all our fore-fathers ? you have no way to finger the bishops lands and jurisdiction , but by turning them out of the house . this , this was it , that moved you to charge their presence in parliament with incongruity . 7. the lawyers tell us , that l the writ of summons is the basis and foundation of the parliament . and m if the foundation be destroyed , what becomes of the parliament ? truly it falls ; saith justice jenkins ; according to that n maxime both in law and reason , sublato fundamento opus cadit , the foundation being taken away , the work falls . if then it shall be proved , that you endeavour to ruine the foundation , the writ of summons , it must necessarily follow , that you endeavour the ruine of the parliament . by the writ the king is to have treatie with his prelates . but you suffer him to have no treaty with his prelates . where then is the writ ? nay , the bishops are quite voted down root and branch . how then shall he treat in parliament with those , that have no being ? the lord commands o the ark to be made of shittim-wood : if there had been no shittim wood , the ark could not haue been made . if there be no prelates , where 's the treatie ? where the parliament ? it will not serve to slip in the presbyters ; they are not the men , they are not called for . p these are episcopall privileges : q all other ecclesiasticall persons are to be contented with those liberties and free customes , quas priùs habuerunt , which they enjoyed heretofore . 8. the writ summoned this parliament , for the defence of the church of england . herein you have also made the writ void ; for you have destroyed the church of england . and in destroying the church , you have destroyed the writ . the commission is for defence ; they then that destroy , what they are bound to defend , overthrow their commission . r our saviour sent his apostles to preach peace ; ſ to blesse , and not to curse ; t to please god , and not man. if then we preach warre , and not peace ; if we curse , when we ought to blesse , if we please men , and not god , we forfeit our commission . s. paul is plain ; u if we please men , we are none of christs servants ; much lesse apostles . for x his servants we are , whom we obey , whom we please . if then we prove y faithlesse and unprofitable servants , we shall be turned out of our masters house , even out of doores , and cast into outer darknesse . upon these grounds i argue thus . he that overthrows the prime intention of the writ , overthrows the writ . but you have overthrown the prime intention of the writ . therefore you have overthrown the writ . that you have overthrown the prime intention of the writ , i prove thus . the prime intention of the writ is for the state , and defence of the church of england . but you have z overthrown the state and defence of the church of england . you have therefore overthrown the prime intention of the writ . the second proposition cannot be denied , it is so palpably true . the former is sir edw : cokes ; his words are these . a the state and defence of the church of england is first in intention of the writ . and b if the writ be made void , all the processe is void ; and so farewell parliament . 9. besides , i have learned , that c the assembly of parliament is for three purposes . first , for weighty affairs , that concern the king. secondly , for the defence of his kingdome . and thirdly , for defence of the church of england for the king , no question , but the bishops are faithfull to him . we see , they have constantly adhered to him in these times of triall . in gods and the kings cause they have all suffered , and some died commendably , if not gloriously . for the defence of the kingdome none more forward with their advice , purses , and prayers . and for the church , who so fit , who so able to speake as bishops ? versed they are in the divine law ; in church history , and in the canons of the church . they fully understand not onely the present , but the ancient state of the church . they know , what is of the essence of the church ; what necessary , and what convenient onely ; what is liable to alteration , and what not . these things are within the verge of their profession , and most proper for them to speak to . 10. when king david first resolved to bring up the arke of the lord from kiriath-jearim , into his own citie , d he consulted with the captains of thousands , & hundreds , & cum universis principibus , and with all his princes , about this businesse , e by their advice he orders , that the arke should be carried in a new cart ; and vzzah and ahio are to drive it . but what becomes of this consultation ? f an error was committed clean thorough , and vzzah suffers for it . though david were a marvelous holy man , and a good king , and had a company of wise , religious councellors about him , in the removall , and ordering of the arke , they were mistaken , because they did not advise with the preists about it . for g the preists lips preserve knowledge ▪ & they shall inquire of the law at his mouth . and h the law will not have a cart to carrie the arke , nor lay-men to meddle with it . david saw his mistake with sorrow ; and confesseth to the preists , that i he and his councellors had not sought god after the due order . and why so ? k quia non eratis praesentes ( so the fathers read ) because the preists were not present , & he had not consulted with them about this sacred businesse . and hence it is , that l they did illicitum quid , somthing that was unlawfull . that then a thing be not unlawfull , we must consider , not onely what is to be done ; but the order and manner is to be considered , how it ought to be done ; least failing of the due order , it prove unlawfull . most christians know bonum , what is good ; but few are skilled in the bene , how it ought to be done ; and that is it , that makes so many ruptures , so many breaches , and factions in the world , because every man will prescribe the order , and manner ; which , god knows , they ttle understand . 11. when therfore david had once more resolved to fetch up the arke from the house of obed edom , he calls for the preists , and acknowledgeth , that m none ought to carrie the arke of god , but they ; and that n therefore the lord had made a breach upon him and his , because the preists had not brought it up at first . that this fault may be duly and truely mended , o david commands the preists to sanctifie themselves , and to bring up the arke . they did so , p they brought it up upon their shoulders , q according to their dutie . and r god helped the levites , that bare the arke ; because it was now done in due order . it is no shame then for us , to acknowledge our error with david , and with him to amend , what is amisse . yea this was such a warning to him , that ſ he would not so much as resolve to build an house for the lord , till he had acquainted the prophet nathan with it . in matters therefore , that concern the arke of the covenant , the church of the living god , it is not safe to do any thing without the preists advice . if then the cheif and maine end of calling a parliament be for the good of the church , it is most necessary to have the cheif fathers of the preists present . but sir edward coke assures me , that this is the main end of calling a parliament . his words are these ; t though the state and defence of the church of england be last named in the writ , yet is it first in intention . and what is first in intention is chiefly aimed at , all other things that are handled , are but as means to effect that . it is not then incongruous , but most consonant to the calling of bishops to sit and vote in parliament . 12. besides , u if the honour of god , and of holy church be first in intention , how shall the honour of god , and of the church be provided for , how defended , when the fathers of the church are discarded , who know best , what belongs to gods honour ; who are most able to speake in defence of the church , & to shew how she ought to be provided for ? shall she not in their absence be layed open to the subtill foxes , and mercilesse bores to wast and distroy her ? yea x by this means she is already distroyed . so pious justice jenkins . the incongruitie then is not to the bishops calling , but to the covetousnesse of bores and foxes . 13. another incongruity will follow upon this . y the whole parliament is one corporate body consisting of the head and the three estates . if one of the estates be wanting , it cannot be called a whole , but an imperfect , a maimed parliament . but z the bishops are one of the three estates . suppose them to be the more feeble and lesse honourable estate , or member , yet a this very member is necessary ; and the body is but lame without it . take heed then , that the excluding of bishops , be not incongruous to the parliament . i see not , how it can be incongruous to the prelates to suffer wrong , since b for this purpose they are called . but it is incongruous to the parliament , to be without them ; since without them , it is not a whole , but an imperfect parliament . for i have read , that c bishops were in all parliaments , and voted in them , since we had any . yea , that great master of the law justifies , that d every bishop ought ex debito justiciae of due justice to be summoned by writ , to every parliament , that is holden . but if they leave out the bishops , they begin with injustice , and lay but an ill foundation for so great a court of justice . and where injustice beares the sway , there is little justice to be hoped for . so they are incongruous in the first stone , or foundation of a parliament . 14. there is a statute , that no act of parliament be passed by any soveraign of this realm , or any other authority what soever , without the advice & assent of the three estates of the kingdome , viz. of the 1 lords spirituall , & 2 temporall , & the 3 commons of this realme . and all those are solemnly cursed , by the whole parliament , that shall at any time endeavour to alter this act , or to make any statute otherwise then by the consent of all these , or the major part of them . this , as the learned in the law report , is upon record in the parliament roles . 15. and what comfort , i beseech you , can his majestie have to call a parliament without bishops , since he cannot assure himself of gods assistance without them ? f cenwalch king of the west-saxons was sensible , that his province was destitute of gods protection , while it was without a bishop . indeed g a good bishop is ( with gregory , metropolitan of cesarea ) not onely the beautie of the church , and a fortresse to his flock , but he is the safety of his country . it was the religious conceit of our country men heretofore , that h both king and kingdome have by the church a solid , ● sure foundation for their subsistence . and it was the usuall saying of king iames , i no bishop , no king. in scripture the preists are called k the charets and horsemen of israel ; because by their prayers the country prospered more then by force of armes . and the greek fathers observe , that l the bishop is therefore to pray for all , m because he is the common father of all , be they good or bad . 16. and as he can have little spirituall comfort without bishops ; so n without them he can have no temporall releife , no subsidies granted for his own supplies , or for the defence of the kingdome . i am sure , none have been granted him at westminster , since the expulsion of the bishops . thus have you moulded up such a parliament , as was never known in this realme , since these great councels of state were first assembled . for though the bishops were by his majestie summoned according to justice ; yet were they afterwards turned out at the instigation of a strong & tumultuous faction ; & not suffered to vote in matters that concerned either church or state. thus ye are become o like the princes of judah , that remove the bounds ; that is as the genevians interpret , p ye have turned upside down all politicall order , and all manner of religion . q therefore upon those , that have done so , the lord will powre out his wrath like water ; which will surely overwhelm them , as it did those desperate sinners in the deluge . thus i have manifested , that it is not incongruous to the calling of bishops to sit , and vote in parliament ; but to exclude them is incongruous to the being of a parliament , to the weale of the king , and safety of the kingdom . 17. and yet , as if what-you had delivered , were ex tripode , as sure as gospel , r from barring their votes , you deduce an argument for taking away their jurisdiction ecclesiasticall . if one be abolished , why may not the other be removed ? as if , because my cassocke is taken from me , i must necessarily be stripped out of my gowne 't is true , if this be also done , i must bear it patiently ; but my patience doth not justifie their action , that do me the injurie . neither doth the former fact justifie the latter : truly no more then davids follie with bathsheba can countenance the murder of vriah . the question is not de fact● , but de jure , not what is done , but whether it be justly done . if the fact may justifie a right , then may we maintaine robbing upon salisbury plain ; because it hath been done there more then once . a wonder it is , you had not framed your argument thus : who knows not , that the parliament caused the arch bishop of canterbury to be beheaded ? and then why may they not hang the rest of the bishops , if their lives prove inconvenient , and prejudiciall to the church ? but with julian the apostata , ye had rather slay the preisthood , then the preists . 17. indeed ſ the removall of their ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is no more against the oath then the abolition of their votes . both alike in respect of the oath ; but if we consider the severall authorities , from whence they are derived , we shall find a difference ; because the most part of their jurisdiction is the grant of god ; but their voting among the peers is by the favour of princes , grounded upon the right of nature , and that civill interest , which every free denizon ought to have in some measure , in disposing of his own , and assenting to new laws . but suppose princes may revoke their own favours , can they without perill to their soules , cut off that entaile , which god hath settled upon his church ? i beleeve , no. but you will onely remove it , not abolish it . and removed it may be from dorchester to lincolne , from crediton to exiter . but the removall of ecclesiasticall jurisdiction from bishops to presbyters , is utterly unlawfull ; since without sinne we may not alter the ordinance of god , who settled this jurisdiction upon bishops onely , and not upon presbyters ; as is demonstrated in the next chapter . chap. xiii . certaine light and scandalous passages concerning prince and preist tenderly touched . 1. there 's a great cry in the fourth page against the jurisdiction of bishops , ● inconvenient and prejudiciall to the church ; against unlawfull immunities , anti-evangelicall pompe , combersome greatnesse , and forfeiture by abuse . all these are cryed out upon , but none of them proved . i shall therefore passe these by as a distempered foame , or pulpit froath . yet thus much i must say , that the immunities of the clergie , are held by law , or not . if by law , then are they not unlawfull , but legall . if legall , it is presumption in you to call them unlawfull . if unlawfull , shew against what law. we take not your word to be so authenticke , as if we were bound to beleeve , what ever you say . 2. somthing answerable to this it is , that you tel us , t when this oath was framed , the church was indued with the ignorance of the times . but when was that time ? for that we may go seek ; for you relate it not . if you had , perchance we might have shewed you as wise , and as learned men in those times , as westminster affords at this day . 3. and yet upon these imaginations you conclude , that u the kings oath is invalid , and not onely so , but that it is vinculum iniquitatis , the bond of iniquitie . the respects , you relie upon , are onely these . first , that x prelacy is an usurpation contrary to christs institution . 2ly , that y the clergie ●e of themselves a distinct province , is a branch of popery . 3ly , that z bishops sitting and voting in the house of peers , is abolisht as incongruous to their calling . 4ly , that a the church was endowed with diverse unlawful immunities . and last of all , that b when this oath was framed , the church was indewed with the ignorance of the times . the foure former have been pretily well sif●ed , and a non liquet is returned , i find them not proved . when you make good the last , i shall , with gods blessing , return you an answer . 4. in the mean space i cannot but tell you , that you have willfully & dangerously scandalized diverse princes or blessed memorie ; and charged them almost as deeply , as c s. peter did simon magus , with the bond of iniquitie . a binding , in intangling sinne . surely those princes if you may be credited , tooke this coronation oath either ignorantly , o● maliciously . if ignorantly , they are simple , or carelesse : if maliciously , they were neither good kings , nor good christians . but light forsooth , hath shined forth since those mistie daies . i fear this late light , is but a false light : for it was never spyed by any , that were not condemned hereticks , till now of late . 5. well , thinke men , what they please , you have lately discovered , that the jurisdiction , which was inconvenient and prejudiciall in the bishops , will prove very convenient and commodious for the church in preaching presbyters . those immunities , that were unlawfull in them , will be lawfull in you . that pompe , which was anti-evangelicall , and carnall in them , must needs be spirituall and throughly sanctified to such evangelists as yourself . that combersome greatnesse will but fit your shoulders ; and those great promotions , will not at all be unwildy to presbyteriall saul , which did comber bishop david . and d those priviledges , which were disadvantagious to the church , and hindred the growth of religion , while they were in episcopall hands ▪ will in a classicall assembly turn to the advantage of the church , and further her edification . if this be not your meaning , let the world judge . for these are your words ; e and why may not the great revenues of the bishops , with their sole ▪ jurisdiction in so large a circuit , be indicted and convict to be against the edification of the church ; and it be found more for the glory of god ; that both the revenue be divided , to maintain a preaching ministery , and their jurisdiction also , for the better oversight and censure of manners . you have indicted them indeed , and their revenues , as if under the bishops there were no preaching ministery , no censure of manners ; as if under them there were nothing to the edification of the church or the glory of god. wheras it is well known , that whilest the bishops enjoyed their jurisdiction , other manner of sermons were preached , then have been ever since . 6. you have already vaunted , that the bishops revenues and jurisdiction are against the edification of the church ; and i make no question , but you will justifie , that the abolishing of the three creeds , is much to the edification of gods people . and is not the silencing of the ten commandments , for the better oversight and censure of manners ? thus you have also condemned that most excellent forme of divine service , and vented multitudes of heresies ; and all for the glory of god. but when these things come to try all we shall certainly see , who will be convicted by that grand jury , f that shall sit upon twelve thrones , judging the twelve tribes of israel . not onely of israel according to the flesh , but of israel also according to faith . 7. but why are you so suddenly fallen from an abolition , to an alteration ? before you professe , g that the abolition of the one , is no more against the oath , then of the other . there you would have the bishops jurisdiction abolisht with their votes . but here you will have the jurisdiction divided , their domination altered , and all to maintain a preaching ministery . this you call h the removall of their ecclesiasticall jurisdiction ; in the same page . aaron must lay down his miter and holy garments , that korah may put them on . and s. paul must resigne his apostolicall rod to simon magus , to alexander the copper-smith , and to the brethren in q●irpo . and why so ? alas , the apostle-bishops i do not further , but hinder the work of the gospel ; they are superannited and decrepit ; away with them by all means , and bring in the young , lustie presbyter-bishops , k where strong holds are to be vanquisht . these are the men will do the work , or the pulpit and church shall ring for it . this you call l a good plea to alter the uselesse anti-evangelicall pomp . indeed ' ●is the best you have ; and make the best you can of it , it will prove but an anti-evangelicall and antichristian plea ; if we trust scripture . 8. yet , that this may be done according to your designe , you allow the king thus much power , m that he may , notwithstanding his oath , consent to alter the clergies immunities . no oath shall stand in the way , so ye may gain by it . what ? again fallen from the question ? from abrogation to alteration ? what if i should tell you , that you have altered the state of the question ? that abrogation is the repealing , the disanulling of a law ; and not the changing of it ? but this is no error with you , whose aim is to have episcopacy abolisht , that so the immunities and lands thereof may be transferred upon the presbytery . this is the alteration you gape after . yes , you would so ; n settled you would have them upon preaching ministers , and o upon parochiall pastors : as if none were preachers or pastors , but you of the presbyteriall cut . i will not say , that you are hereticks in this and in other your new-forged doctrines , invented to subvert monarchy and episcopacy . but i shall tell you s. austins opinion , and so leave you to the opinion of the world . p he , in my conceit , is an heretick ( saith that father ) who for any temporall commoditie , and chiefly for his own glory and preferment , doth either raise or follow false and new opinions . and are not pelf , honour , and preferment the cause of all these fidings , and seditions , in church , and state ? if these times speak it not , i am deceived . as for your opinions , it hath been sufficiently manifested , that they are both false and new . 9. be your opinions what they will , their immunities and rights must down , or you will fail in a dilemma . q the clergie ( say you ) either hold their rights and immunities by law , or otherwise . this is not to be denied . but what follows upon this ? r if by law then the parliament , which hath power to alter all laws , hath power to alter such laws as give them their immunities : and those laws altered , the immunitie ceaseth ; and so the kings ingagement in that particular . if not by law , it is but an usurpation . you say it , and we grant it . for truth it is , that we claim no rights and immunities , but what the ancient and christian laws of this realm have confirmed unto us by act of parliament . 10. you say , that the parliament hath power to alter all laws . what if a man should say , that this assertion is not true ? i conceive , it were no blasphemie . indeed it is a blasphemous position to broach the contrary . none but an atheist dares justifie , that ſ the parliament , or any mortall soveraigntie , hath power to alter either the law of god , or the law of nature . and yet these are laws . and who , but an enemy to his countrey , and a friend to confusion , dares affirm , that the parliament hath power to alter the monarchicall or fundamentall laws of this kingdom . i am sure justice jenkins resolves , that t by the law of the land a parliament cannot alter any morall law. 11. give me leave to propose your own argument in terminis , in behalf of the city of london . the citizens of london either hold their rights and immunities by law , or otherwise . if by law , then the parliament , which hath power to alter all laws , hath power to alter such laws , as give them their immunities : and those laws altered the immunity ceaseth . if their immunitie be not by law , it is an usurpation without just title ; which upon discovery is null . how like you this , my rich masters of london ? hath not mr. geree set you in the sleep way to ruine ? but ye may , perchance , have a confidence , that the parliament will not serve you so . be of that minde still . the power , it seems , is in their hands : how they will use it towards you , i cannot say . how they have used it towards us , and towards our good soveraign , ye know . and can ye look to fare better ? remember , what our saviour saith , u the servant is no greater then his master . if they have persecuted me , they will also persecute you . as they have used your lord and king , they will use you . the courtesie ye are like to find , is that , which vlysses had from polyphemus , to be their last breakfast . 12. well , x upon the alteration of the law , the immunitie ceaseth , and so the kings ingagement in that particular . an ordinance of parliament hath absolved many a subject from his oath of allegeance : and now we shall have a law , to absolve the king from his oath of protection . but i am sure no law can absolve him from a duty inherent to his crown . and * such is the duty of protecting his subjects from oppression , and the church from sacriledge . you cannot therefore possibly absolve him from this ingagement . besides , it was never conceived , that an ordinance was of sufficient force to alter a law. the kings ingagement therefore stands as yet in this particular . 13. but suppose , there were such a law , as you-speak of , could it be just ? i have learned from your london ministers , that y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 law , is so called in greek , from rendering to every person , what is just , meet , equall . in very deed , as the great lawyers speak , z jus , idem est , quod justum & aequum ▪ the law is nothing else , but that which is just and right . if it be otherwise , it is not jus , but injuria , an injurie , but no right . you are pleased to acknowledge a our privileges to be our rights . how then can they be taken from us without injuri●● and it is not lawfull , with the supreme judge , for any prince or court to deal injuriously , with the meanest , that are subject to them . justice it is , to give to every man his own . injustice then it must needs be , to spoil any man of that , which is his , either by the laws of god or man. suppose us to be in equall balance with our fellow subjects , and that we have no other right to our lands and privileges , but by the laws of the realm : what reason can be given , why we should not peaceably enjoy , what is ours , by the law of the land , as well as the rest of our fellow subjects ? we have the same right ; and why not the same protection ? chap. xiv . whether the lands of the church may be forfeited by the misdemeanour of the clergie . 1. vve shall have reason to work us out of our rights , and law to turn us out of the kings protection . but such reason and law , as may with much ease , and more equitie be returned upon your selves . your reason is this ; because b these rights were indulged to the clergie , for the personall worth of present incumbents . if therefore their successors forfeit them by their ill demeanour , these rights may be taken from them . this is easily resolved , not so easily proved . for the truth is , these rights were not given to particular persons , but to a succession of bishops and priests , and other officers for gods service . or rather , these lands and privileges were given to god and the church , for the maintenance of these offices . my unworthinesse makes not the office the worse ; neither can my wickednesse make a forfeiture of gods inheritance . i may , c with abiathar , justly be deprived of my place , and the benefits thereof ; but the place , and the rights thereof fall not into a premunire ; a good man even d zadok succeeds this traitor abiathar , and enjoyes not onely the office , but all the profits ▪ that belonged thereto . this was solomons justice ; he knew , how to distinguish between the faultie priest , and the faultlesse office . but you are a rooter ; if a twig be in fault , up with b●ai●h and root . this is your justice . but e it is far from the ju● judge of all the world , to root up the righteous with the wicked . and surely we ought to endeavour to be righteous and just , as our heavenly father is just . 2. have you a desire to know , what true justice is ? it is that , f quam uniformen ac simplicem proposuit omnibus deus , not what we fancie , but what to all men god hath proposed uniform , and alike , plain and simple ; such as can admit of no cavill or misconstruction . g where this true justice is wanting , there can be no law , no right . for that which is done by right , is done by law. and that , which is contrary to right , is contrary to law. nothing can be according to law , but what is according to justice . for justice is that , which gives lif● & being to a law. and to say , that this or that is an unjust law , is a flat contradiction : since it is jus à justicia , law hath the latin denomination from justice : r and the greek from rendering to every man , what is just ▪ and meet . and the latin word jus signifies both law and right . an unjust statute therfore there may be , an unjust law there cannot be . ſ n●n enim jura dicenda su●t , vel putanda , iniqua hominum constituta : for the unjust constitutions of men , are not to be called , ●r esteemed laws . and they that frame unjust decrees , are not princes , but tyrants : neither are their subjects , free-men , but slaves . neither can the state , they live in , be called a common-wealth ; since , as scipio africanus observes , and s. austin approves , t respuplica and res populi , the common-weal and the weal of the people , are one and the same . and then is it truly a common-weal , u cum benè ac justè geritur , when it is fairly and justly governed , either by one king , or by a few noblemen , or by all the people . but where the government is unjust , there 's no common-wealth . it is s. austins ; x vbi justicia non est , non est respublica . take away justice , and farewell republick . for how can that be for the generall good of all , where justice is not equally distributed to all of whatsoever profession . 3. but y there 's a great deal of difference ( say you ) betweene an ingagement made to persons , on valuable consideration , and that which is made gratis to an office or society subservient to publike good . so much difference indeed there is , that the setling of land upon a corporation is more firme then any entaile upon a familie ; because persons dye , but corporations live . if gratis make the difference in your opinion , it makes none in law : for that land ●● as much mine , which is conferred upon me by deed of gift , as that which is conveyed to me by purchase . what difference , i pray you , between lands , purchased by the society of goldsmiths , and such as are freely given to that company ? are not the later as much theirs , as the purchased lands ? are they not alike settled by the same law , & justified alike by the same law ? and z of this very sort is this ingagement to the english clergie . and never a whit the worse for that . for of this sort is that magnificent maintenance , which was settled upon the tribe of levi , by god himself : all given gratis . a and of this sort are the ingagements made to them by darius king of persia . and yet b whosoever shall alter this word , let the timber be pulled down from his house , and being set up , let him be hanged theron : and for this let his house be made a dunghill . and the god , that hath caused his name to dwell there , destroy all kings and people , that shall put their hand to alter and to destroy this house of god. of this sort also were c the silver and gold , which were freely offered by king artaxerxes and his counsellers , by the preists and people to the god of israel , for the house of god. of this sort also was d the relaxation of all toll , tribute , & custome to the preists and levites ; a free gift . and yet e whosoever will not do the law of god and of the king , in these things , let judgement be speedily executed upon him , whether it be 1 unto death , or 2 to banishment or 3 to confiscation of goods , or 4 to imprisonment . and was not this priviledge granted , for the grace and favour that f shesbazzar and g ezra found in the eyes of those kings ? or , if you will , for their personall worth ? and yet this grant is called not onely the law of the king , but the law of god : and delivered so to posterity by h ezra aready scribe in the law of moses , and the penman of god. 4. suppose we also , that i these rights were indulged for the personall worth of the present incumbents ; may they therfore be alienated , because some succeeding officers demean themselves amisse ? so say you ; but you are wide of the marke . these lands and immunities were not made to any particular persons , but to the office or society ; or to god for their use . what is given to a person for life , goes not to the office , but dyes with the person . but what is settled upon an office , lives with the office. k and i have manifested , that episcopacy is a living office ; an office , that must last , while christ hath a church on earth . persons may forfeit their place , and the benefits arising from thence to their incumbency ; but the office , if necessary , must continue . l judas by transgression fell from his office ; but the office fell not with him ; no , m another , a saint may , and must take his bishopship , or apostleship , and the rights that belong thereto . 5. however then some such favours may be granted to an office , with relation to the personall worth of the present incumbent , yet being given to promote the usefulnesse of the office , it shall be no movable ; it is fixed ( as the lawyers speak ) to the freehold , and shall abide , till the office be found uselesse , and therefore abolisht . but till then n it is injustice to alter , or alienate those rights , without which the usefulnesse of that office cannot be so well promoted . injustice it is , to take that away , which you never gave , and is so usefull for the office , let the officers fault be what it will. it is wild work to punish the office for the person : this is none of gods course . o the sons of eli were as bad as bad might be ; god destroyeth them , but not the office , neither yet doth he fleece it . but before i passe further , i must make this observation : the quarrell you picke with the clergie , to rob them of their lands and priviledges , will suite with any society , or corporation . if it shall please your great masters to say , that the drapers , or grocers , or that great corporation of london have so demeaned themselves , that they have forfeited their lands and immunities , up they go ; they shall be in the same state with us . they that uphold their power by the sword , do usually what they list , not what they ought . if parliaments might utterly be abolished for misdemeanour and miscarriage , i presume , this iland should never see another parliament . 6. you speake largely p of the parliaments power . it is out of my element , and i am tender to meddle with it . i know t is large in a free and full convention , when the members constitutive are present : but how large , i shall leave it to the learned of the law to define . yet this i dare say , whatever their power be , they cannot make that just , which is unjust ; nor that truth , which is a lie . q ahab and jezabel had power to over-rule the elders and nobles of jezreel ; and to take away both naboths vineyard and life , without any cause at all . you will not , i hope , justifie any such power , or act. 't is true ; naboth hath lost all at a blow ; but it was by tyranny , not by law : because there was no equity in the sentence . and yet there were as good witnesses came against naboth , as any appeare against episcopacy . 7. but you have been at the bar of late , and have learned a law distinction , which neither scripture , nor fathers , nor scholmen ever taught you , and this it is . r an ingagement may be gone in law , though not in equity . and that an order of parliament will be valid in law , though injurious . how ? valid in law , though injurious ? the learned in the law deny , that an order of parliament is valid in law. and some of their own creatures in their circuits have rejected some orders from westminster , because they were contrary to law. but you , my masters , that have been so forward with your purses , bewar . ſ he speaks of summs of mony , borrowed upon the publique faith , for publique good : for t the parliament may ordain release of the ingagement . here 's divinity without equity or conscience . but it 's like the rest . 8. gone in law ( saith this conscientious preacher ) , not in equity ; valid in law , though injurious . behold law without equity ; a law , and yet injurious . god blesse me from such law , and such divinity . i ever thought , that law and equity had gone together , and that law could not have stood with injurie : since ( as s. austine speaks ) u jus & injuria contraria sunt , law and injurie are contraries ; and can no more consist then light and darknesse . and if with x thomas , and y the london ministers , jus be that , which is prescribed , or measured by law ; then either that is no law , which prescribes , what is not right ; or else injurie shall be right , because it is prescribed by law. i hope , you are not of this mind . 9. if the fathers were not quite out of date , i could tell you , what s. austine saith . and yet why may not i make use of him as well as your fellow ministers of london ? behold then the very case . z quid si a liquis condat jus iniquum ? what if any shall make an unjust law , a law without equity ? is not the case put right ? if it be so , take his resolution . a nec jus dicendum est , si injustum est . if it be unjust , it is not to be named a law. and yet with you it shall be a law though injurious . thus your case of conscience is resolved against conscience ; for all injurie , if understood , is against conscience . surely the parliament is much beholding to you , to stretch your conscience , and their fringes so much against conscience . for you justifie a power in them to do injurie ; and not onely so , but a power to make laws , to justifie this injurie . and yet b in them this shall be no tyrannous invasion on any societies rights , because done by a parliament . that title is a salvo for all blemishes and injuries . no tyranny , no invasion , if done by a parliament : as if they were infallible , and could not erre ; impeccable , and could not do amisse . or as if god himself did alter his own laws , that their alterations might be irreprovable . 10. i must confesse , the next is a very conscientious proposition , of another die ; and this it is . c if there be no injury , the king and parliament may cancell any obligation . without peradventure they may . but what makes that so there ? as ther 's no question of power in the parliament , to ordain an injurious order , or a law without equity : so if there be no injury &c. what so , and no otherwise ? then have they no power at all to cancell any obligation , because the parliament hath no power to make a law without equity . if this do not follow , let men of understanding judge . and if you have no better argument to prove , that it is lawfull for the king and parliament to abrogate the immunities , and to take away the lands of the clergie , you will never be able to approve the lawfulnesse thereof . 11. what is according to law , true law , is lawfull ; and what is lawfull , is according to law. if lawfull , not injurious ; if injurious , not lawfull , not valid in law : since nothing is valid in law , that is injurious . to what purpose then are those words ; d the abrogation will be just , as well as legall , there will be no injury done ? surely none , where law is of force ; for where law is , there can be no injustice countenanced . but where your law bears sway , an order may be legal , though injurious ; for your words are , e the order would be valid in law , though injurious . 12. and as for f forfeiture by miscariage , the forfeiture in justice must fall upon him , that miscarries , that is , upon the person , not upon the office ; for an office duely settled can no more make a forfeiture , then it can miscarrie . such an office is episcopacy , which was duely settled by christ himself . and i hope you have not so far forgotten your selfe , as to say , that an office immediately instituted by our blessed saviour can run into a forfeiture by miscarriage . what reason can you give , why that should suffer , that cannot erre ; that never offended ? this is none of gods justice . and it is well known to the wise , that bishops hold their lands , revenues , and immunities not as granted to their persons , but as annexed to the office for the continuall and comfortable maintenance thereof . our religious predecessors had learned of s. paul , that g no man feedeth a flock , but he eateth of the milk of the flock . and that h it is the dutie of the gentiles to minister unto them in carnall things , of whose spirituall things they have been made partakers . indeed i he makes a wonder , that any man should doubt of it ; for how can the office be maintained without means ? surely , though k s. paul did sometimes worke with his own hands , that he might not be chargeable to new converts ; yet he telleth the corinthians , that l he robbed other churches in taking wages of them , to do the church of corinth service . yea this apostle justifies , that m he hath power to eat and drinke of their charge , and to n live upon their cost . and that o he wronged them , when he did otherwise . 13. we confesse , that p the office was provided for publick good ; and that those , which are of the office neither hold , nor ought to hold any thing but for publick good . is the ministery lawfull , or no ? was it settled by christ , or no ? q your london ministers have concluded for the divine right of ministers , or pastors , and teachers : and i know , you subscribe to their doctrine . there may not then be any forfeiture of the ministery , since the ordinance of christ cannot be forfeited by the miscarriage of man ; that 's out of all peradventure : of priviledges perchance there may be a forfeiture , where they prove prejudiciall to the publick good . but if and where never prove any thing , unlesse you can justifie , that these priviledges have been prejudiciall to this church and state. 14. our religious predecessors began the great charter with r concessimus deo , first of all we have granted to god , and by this our present charter have confirmed for us , and for our heires for ever , that the church of england be free ; and that it have all her rights entire , and her liberties unhurt . ſ william the conqueror began his raign with confirming the liberties and priviledges of the church . and he gives this reason for it , t quia per eam & rex & regnum , solidum habent subsistendi fundamentum ; because both king and kingdome have by the church a solid foundation for their subsistence . had that prince been alwaies of the same mind , he had never defiled his hands with sacriledge , nor plunged himselfe and issue into so deepe a curse . for after he began to ransake churches , to rifle monasteries , and to expose holy ground to wild beasts , and church-lands to his pleasure , he and his became most unfortunate . he rips up the bowels of the church his mother ; and sucks her blood : and the son of his loines rebels against him , beats him , and draws blood from him . the conqueror turns god out of his inheritance , and his sonne robert endeavours to do the same to him . what afterwards befell him , and all his issue , i shall not need to relate , u mr. spelman hath lately saved me that labour ; to him i remit you . in whose treatise you may briefly see the lamentable end of all that great conquerors posterity . to this i shall adde , & wish all my countrie men to observe , that in the strictnesse of reformation episcopacy was continued , as most usefull for the church . 15. but though episcopacy have not been prejudiciall heretofore , it is likely now to prove so . for unlesse they degrade themselves , unlesse they will patiently x part with their wealth and honour , and lay down their miters , the crown is like to runne an hazard , and the whole land be brought to nothing but misery . i am sorrie to read these lines from a professed preacher of the word of god ; for so you stile your self . and yet i am glad , you deale so fairely with us , as to give us notice , what hath been the cause of your factious preaching , the countries and citys tumults , and this detestable and deplorable rebellion ? 1 the bishops great wealth , 2 their honour , and 3 their miters : these three 1 their wealth they are already stripped of ; 2 their honour lies in the du● ; and 3 their miters have not been seen many a faire yeer , unlesse it be upon their armes . we know no more what a miter is , then a bishop knows what great wealth is ; by speculation meerly . few of them have gained so much by the church , as their breeding cost their parents . and yet the clergie is the onely profession repined at . 16. you should have done well , mutatis mutandis , to have directed this passage to the parliament with this small alteration . i hope , you will not be so tenacious of that wealth , and honour , you have gained in these tumultuous times , as to let the crown run an hazard , rather then lay down this usurped power , and indanger the whole land to be brought to nothing , rather then your selves to moderation . o , that they would bow down their ears in time , and embrace this counsell ; then might they yet heal the sores of this shaking land ; and save their own souls . but the blame and danger are layed upon those , that least deserve it ; that stood in the gap , as long as possibly they could , to avert schisme , heresie , blasphemie , atheisme , rebellion , & bloodshed . all which , since the bishops have been stripped of their honour and power , have overspread the face of this land. 17. suppose , the bishops were faulty , shall god be turned out of his possessions , because his servants are to blame ? mr. selden can tell you of a charter of king edgar , which will teach you to distinguish between god and man ; between gods right , and mans fault . a inviolabilis stet monasterei winton libertas ; b although the abbot , or any of the covent , through the incitement of satan , fall into sin , let the liberty of winchester monastery stand inviolable ; because god , who possesseth the plentifull munificence of this privilege , as also the place , with the whole family of monks , and all the lands belonging to that holy monastery , never committed sin , neither will in future times commit any . let therefore this liberty , or privilege , be eternall , because god the possessor of this liberty is eternall . the same say all good men for , though the bishop be faulty , god is not , cannot be . the possessions therefore , and rights of the church must stand inviolable . the faults are the bishops , the lands are gods. let not god suffer for the bishops irregular behaviour . let the bishop be deprived of his place and profits , but not god of his lands . c episcopatum ejus accipiat alter , according to the holy ghosts prescription , let another , a good man , take his bishoprick , that gods service may be duely celebrated , his name glorified , and christs flock faithfully provided for . 18. but say we , what can be said , the bishops are to blame , and must be brought to moderation . and how must this be done ? by being brought to just nothing . for , according to your doctrine , episcopy must be abrogated , and their lands alienated . this we simple men take to be extirpation , or annihilation . but such discreet , conscionable men , as you are , know it to be but moderation . should god return this moderation upon your heads , the presbyteriall government would come to , what it should be , even to nothing . 19. well , their wealth , their honour , and their miters are in fault : and the bishops must be corrected , for not laying down all these at this blessed parliaments feet , to redeem the kings crown . good king , he suffers for the bishops obstinacy ; and they , poore men , have parted with all , but what they may not part with , namely , their fidelitie to god and the king. have you not alreadie dis-roabed them of their honors ? have you not plundred their houses , and seized their lands ? have you not made them house-lesse , harbourlesse , not able to keep a servant ? what would you more ? but , let me tell you , your great masters might have purchased better houses and lands at a cheaper rate . this they will be sensible of , when the accounts are cast up as well elsewhere , as at london . 20. the bishops wealth , honor , and miters were your aim ; these you have preached for , these you have fought for ; what would you more ? all these your masters have , and the crown to boot ; and yet not quiet . indeed all these thus gained will not afford a quiet conscience . that there may be some shew of legality , y the king must get the clergies consent , and the bishops must lay down their miters . and then 't will passe for currant , that these acts were passed by their own consent , and so no wrong done . z volenti non fit injuria . true it is , undone they are without consent : but if they consent , they undo themselves , and wrong their souls . and a madnesse it were to be chronicled , if i should cut mine own throat , to save my enemie the labour . how then can i give away gods inheritance to the edomites & ishmalites , lest perchance they enter forcibly upon it ? and yet the bishops are much to blame , if they will not do this : if not , the crown will run an hazard , and the whole land be brought to ruine . 21. what is to be done in this case ? surely if the bishops knew themselves guilty of the difference betweene the king and his subjects , god forbid , but they should be willing to part with all , they may lawfully part with ; and a be earnest with jonah , that they might be cast into the sea , to allay this dangerous storme , if that would do it . but b what is gods and the churches , they cannot give away , or alienate . no , no , saith s. ambrose , i cannot deliver up that , which i have received to preserve , not to betray . the lands of the church they may take , if they please . imperatori non dono , sed non nego . i give them not to the emperour , but i deny them not . c i withstand him not ; i use no violence . d what i do , is for the emperours good ; quia nec mihi expediret tradere , necilli accipere ; because it would be neither safe for me to give them up , nor for him to receive them . what beseemes a free preist , i advise freely ; si vult sibi esse consultum , recedat à christi injuriâ ; if he desire to prosper , let him forbear to wrong christ . observe what belongs to the church , is christs , not the bishops . if any part of it be diminished , the wrong is done to god , and not to man. e ananias layed down his possession at the apostles feet ; but kept back part of the price . here was wrong done ; but to whom , think you ? not to the apostles ; no : f he lyed not unto men , but unto god ; he couzen'd god , and not man. this was the moderation of s. peter , and s. ambrose ; and we may not be drawn from this moderation . advise your great masters to embrace so much moderation ; as to wrong no man , but g to give unto caesar , what belongs to caesar , and to god , what belongs unto god. till then , however they may seem to prosper , they will never be secure . chap. xv. whether it be lawfull to take away the bishops lands , and to confer them upon the presbytery . 1. the church at this present , is much like her h saviour hanging between two theeves : but in so much the worse case , because neither of these are for our saviour . one , the independent , is wholly for stripping the church of all settled maintenance : with him the minister is to rely meerly upon the peoples benevolence . and reason good ; for he is no longer a minister , then it pleaseth that congregation . but the other , the presbyterian is like the chough in the fable , that would faine prank up himself with other birds feathers . i the bishops lands and revenues must be diverted , & divided , to maintaine parochiall pastors ; so you call them . k sacriledge you condemne ; but theft you like well of , so you and your fellow presbyterians may be gainers . quocunque modo rem , is profitable doctrine ; so you may have it , you care not , how you come by it , nor who smarts for it . l the man of jerusalem fel into such hands . 2. m prelacy must be abolisht ; that 's agreed upon . so far you go with your parliament , but you are against seizing of the prelates revenues , to private , or civill interest . that is , as i conceive , to any particular mans use , or for the service of the state ; as ye call it . i am just of your mind , and resolve with you , that this kind of impropriation could want neither staine , nor guilt . such was that in the dayes of , k. henry the eight ; which was deservedly cried out of , all the christian world over . but cry out you and your mr. beza with your stentorian voices , upon this n detestable sacriledge , your good masters are resolved upon the question , and have exposed the bishops lands to sale . so they may have these revenues to dispose of , they will venter stain , guilt , and curse too , say what ye can . 3. i must confesse , you would faine set a faire glosse upon this detestable act . you would have o those large revenues ( as you are pleased to call them ) to be passed over from the fathers of the church , to the sons of the church ; from the bishops to parochiall pastors , or presbyters . i call these parochiall pastors , sons of the church : because , though they be called fathers in respect of their parishioners ; yet are they but sons in respect of bishops , from whom they have their orders , and by whom , as ministers , they are begotten . for presbyters have not power to ordain a deacon , much lesse to ordain a presbyter ; as p hath been already manifested , & shall be more fully , if god give me life and leave , to examine the divine right of church government . 4. but since q these revenues must be diverted , or passed over from the fathers to the sons , to supply them with sufficient maintenance , who shall make the conveiance ? and when the conveiance is drawn with all the skill that may be , it is nothing worth , till the proprietary , the true owner give his consent , and confirme it . desire you to know , who is the true owner ? look upon god , he hath accepted them , and taken possession of them ; his they are by deed of gift . the charters usually run thus ; concessi , offero , confirmavi deo & ecclesiae , i grant , offer , or confirme to god and the church , such and such lands , mannors , or messuages . when they are thus offered , god accepts of the gift , and sets this stamp upon them , * they offered them before the lord , therefore they are hallowed . and again , r nothing devoted , or separated from the common use , that a man shall devote unto the lord ( whether it be man , or beast , or land of his inheritance ) may be sold , or redeemed : every devoted thing is most holy unto the lord . when it is once seperated from common use , it may no more return to common use ; since ( as your geneva note tells us ) ſ it is dedicated to the lord with a curse to him , that doth turn it to his private use . and of this curse they have been sensible , that have turned it to such use . observable therefore it is , that t this word , which we here translate devoted , or dedicated , signifi●s properly , destroyed , quia destructio imminet usurpan●il us illa , because destruction hangs over their heads , that usurp them . jos . 7. 1. &c. we translate this word accuesed : and u ● cu●se fell upon achan openly for medling with the accursed or devoted silver , and gold , and a costly garment . god made a●●ma● example of his justice to all posterity , that so the dreadfull end of him and all his , might strike a terrour into the hearts of all covetous persons ; that they medle not with that , which is dedicated to the lord. 5. achans fault was , that x he clancularily stole it , and dissembled , and put it among his own stuffe . but what you do shall be in publike , enacted by parliament ; and they shall not be seized to private or civill interest . your purpose is to have them diverted , or settled upon your selves , and your fellow presbyters , who are no private or civill persons . oh , no , you are the men , by whom the work of the ministery is cheifly performed . and yet i cannot but observe , that here is a diversion ; and what is diverted , runs not in the right channel , it is enforced another way . but y this ( you say ) will not be to ruine , but to rectifie the devotion of former ages , and turn pompe into use , and impediments into helps . there needs no proofe for this , ipse dixit , mr. geree hath delivered this in the pulpit ; it is enough , so it come from him , who is so well skilled in devotion , and able to rectifie former ages . but i am none of your credulous followers ; my faith is not pinned to your sleeve . indeed , to deale plainly with you , i am of another mind , and suppose , i have good reason for it . 6. that revenues were very anciently settled upon the church , can be no new thing to them , that are skilled in councels , fathers , and church history . but who were these lands settled upon ? to whose trust were these committed ? z that constantine settled revenues upon the bishops , is too too evident to be denyed . that the bishops had houses and lands long before constantines time , is manifest by the councell of angur , can. 15. as also by that of a paulus samosatenus ; whom the emperor aurelian ejected out of the episcopall house , after he had been deprived of his bishoprick of antioch by a councell of bishops . b in s. cyprians time and writings we read that the church was endowed with means . a little higher we may go in our own country , c we find king lucius in the yeer of grace 187. settling possessions upon the church . 7. neither were these means very small ; as some conceive . d s. austine was a gentleman well desended , and had a faire estate left him . and yet he professeth , that e the possessions of his bishoprick of hippo , were twenty times more then the lands of his inheritance . and yet his was none of the richest bishoppricks in africk . such was the devotion of former áges . 8. of these revenues the bishops had the profits ; they did f uti frui rebus ecclesiae ( as s. austin speaks ) tanquam possessores & domini ; they were gods trustees ; and yet as possessors and lords they disposed of the church goods . g at his see the government of the lands and oblations belonged to him ; but h to some of his clergie he committed the charge both of the one and of the other . but so , that once a yeer at least , he had an account from them , as from his stewards . i at his charge , as it were , the presbyters and other clerks of that church were fed and clad . indeed k the lands and goods of the church were so at the bishops disposing , that the steward might not distribute any of them , as he thought meet , but as the bishop directed him . this was not onely by custome , but by canon , that the bishop have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power to dispose the goods of the church upon the needie . and l if it happened , that any of the lands were alienated , or sold in the vacancie , it was in the succeeding bishops power to ratifie or make void the sale . 9. neither did the bishops innovate any thing therein ; they followed the steps of the prime and apostolick church ; as is to be seen apost . can. 41. and in the acts. there we read , that the christians , who were so charitably minded , m sold their lands , or houses , and layed the prices thereof ( not at the disciples , not at the presbyters , but ) at the apostles feet . after this indeed n the disciples choose out men of honest report , full of the holy ghost , and of wisdom , that might dispose of these legacies to such , as were to be relieved by the church stock . but this they did not of their own heads , but at the apostles directions , who reserved this power to themselves . the text justifies it ; o whom we may appoint over this businesse . so the apostles . hence is it , that s. paul commanded timothy , bishop of ephesus , to take care , that the presbyters be well provided for : p let the presbyters , that rule well , be counted worthy of double honor , of double maintenance . and to what purpose was this charge to timothy , unlesse he were to provide for the presbyters of his church ? i am certain , that it is most consonant to common sense , nature , and scripture , that q parents provide for their children , and not children for the parents . and is it not reason , that he , who sets the presbyters on work , should pay them their wages ? but bishop timothy was to set them on work ; r those things , that thou hast heard ( or learned ) of me , the same commit thou to faithfull men , who shall be able to teach others . and ſ charge them , that they teach no other doctrine then this . but if they do , what then ? t withdraw thy self from them . that is , eat not with them , let them not come to thy table , allow them no maintenance . what counsell the apostles gave others , without question they observed themselves . but s. paul commands , that u we eat not with open and notorious sinners ; and s. john , that we x receive not deceitfull preachers into our houses . the same rule then they observed themselves . for in those times y the bishop and his presbyters did usually live in the same house , and eat at the same table . in those times the bishops provided for the presbyters ; but our start up presbytery will so provide , that the bishops shall have just nothing left them to relieve their own wants ; all must be for mr. presbyter . 10. and why so ? because there are many z defective parishes in england , which want suffi●ient maintenance to supply their parochiall pastors with . but from whence comes this defect , or want of maintenance ? surely not from the bishops , not from their greedinesse , and wretchlesnesse : but from that detestable sacriledge ( a as beza and you call it ) which was by parliament acted and ratified under the reign of king henry viii . at the dissolution of abbeys the appropriations of tithes were taken into lay-mens hands ; which heretofore were appropriated and annexed to this or that particular religious house ; b which house ( according to mr. spelman ) was the perpetuall incumbent parson of each of those rectories , and did duely officiate the cure , by one of their own fraternity . then were there few , or no defective parishes . but upon these new statutes the lay appropriatoes swept all into their own custody and possession . from hence ariseth the want of congruous maintenance , in too many parishes , for him , or them , that serve those cures . and shall bishops smart for it , when lay-men have done the mischief , and purse up the profits ? dat veniam corvis , vexat censura columbas ; when the laity offends , the clergie suffers . is this justice ? but so the parliament do it , it is with you c valid in law , though injurious . but god and you are of severall minds . 11. nay , if this be done , if bishops lands be removed to presbyters , d there will be no danger of sacrilege . how prove you that ? e this ( say you ) will not be to ruine , but to rectifie the devotion of former ages , and turn pomp into use , and impediments into helps . this is somewhat like cardinall wolseys pretence , who dissolved fourty small monasteries of ignorant silly monks , to erect two goodly colleges , for the breeding up of learned and industrious divines . was not this to turn impediments into helps ? lo , he removed lazie drones , that did little but eat , and drink , and sleep ; that so learned men might be provided for , who would labour in the word and doctrine , and might be able to do church and state good service . was not this as fair a pretence as yours , or as any you can invent ? and how was this accepted of ? god , that forbids theft , will no more endure the offering gained by theft , f then by adultery . one of his colledges dyes in the conception ; the other remains unfinished to this day : and it pities me to see her foundations under rubbish . and a misery it is to take into consideration the ruine of this man , as also of that king and pope , who gave him licence to commit this sin . this attempt and grant opened a gap to the most profuse sacrilege , that ever christian nation , before that time , had been acquainted with . and yet , for ought i find , by this particular sacrilege there came no gain into any of their private purses . 12. but , i beseech you , what is the meaning of these words , this will turn pomp into use ? what your intent is , perchance i may gesse : but to take them according to the plain and literall sense , i can make no other construction of them , then this : if the prelates revenues were diverted , to supply with sufficient maintenance all those parochiall pastors , that want congruous maintenance , this would turn pomp into use . that is ; that pomp , which the prelates made no use of , the presbyterians would turn into use . if this be not the grammaticall sense , i appeal to any rationall man. and their essay in the divine right of church government , shews what their proceedings would prove . i must confesse , ye have marvellously improved the impediments , and turned them into helps . for the power and jurisdiction of bishops , which were the main impediments to schisme and heresie , you have covenanted to root up ; and have brought in all the helps , that may be , to further irreligion , and atheisme . while the bishops had power , heresies were rarae nantes , seldom seen , and suddenly supprest , if any such crept in . but now they flowe in by shoals , and have pulpits and presses cloyed with them . does not your own mr. edwards professe , that never was there such plenty of sects and heresies ? as many more in truth , as ever the church knew in former ages . onely , as g by julian the apostata , both pulpits , and presses are locked up to the orthodox ; no coming there for them , lest perchance they infect the auditories with sound and apostolike doctrine . 13. parochiall pastors are most necessary men ; by them the work of the ministery is chiefly to be performed . this is true , and not true . true in the fathers sense ; not in yours . h in the fathers sense a pastor is a bishop strictly so called , as by his order he is differenced from a presbyter ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no petty countrey or citie parish ; i it is a whole citie , with the precincts and countrey adjoyning , which were under the jurisdiction of the citie , and repaired thither for justice , if differences arose . with them paraecia was the same , that a diocese is with us . so a parochiall pastor , in the ancient and church sense , is a diocesan bishop : and in this sense , the work of the ministery is chiefly performed by the parochiall pastor . this pastor indeed can perform all ministeriall acts ; divers of which are clean out of a presbyters power . and yet you say , that by the parochiall pastor , who is with you but a presbyter , the work of the ministery is chiefly performed . not so , my good brother not so , not that work , without which the church cannot possibly subsist . and that is twofold ; first k the ordering of the church ; and 2ly , ordeining of presbyters . the chief works of the ministery , according to st. paul , are to 1 regular the church , and to 2 beget those , by whom the sacraments may be administred , and absolution pronounced . but these works may not , cannot be done by any , or many presbyters . in your sense therefore this proposition is false . 14. but why cheifly ? what , because presbyters offer up the prayers and supplications of the church ? because they are the usuall preachers , and dispensers of the sacraments ? these indeed are the most usuall and daily offices , and very necessary ; but i dare not say , that by them these offices are cheifly discharged . what say you to that principle of reason , l propter quod aliquid est tale , illud est magis tale ? especially if it be such an efficient or ministeriall cause , without which , in the ordinary way , there can be no such thing . but by a bishop a presbyter is made a minister of these holy duties ; & in the ordinary way , without him he could not be a presbyter . the bishop then doth cheifly performe the work of the ministery . the reason is , because illo mediante by his means , or mediation , that is done , which without him could not be done . the work of justice is usually performed by the justice of the severall benches . but i presume , you will not say cheifly ; that you will reserve to the parliament ; since you have sworne that to be m the supreme judicatorie of this kingdome . and in this treatise you have concluded , that n the parliament is the supreme court , by which all other courts are to be regulated . and as all courts are to be regulated by parliament , so are all presbyters to be guided by their own bishop . 15. cheifly , say you ; onely , saith your ordinance for ordination ; wherein you make the presbyter the onely minister . in your solemne league and covenant , ye resolve and vow o the extirpation of arch-bishops and bishops . and in both ye lay the whole work upon the presbytery ; as if they were the men , that could discharge all sacred and ministerial duties . no such matter ; the contrary is manifested . can any man imagine , that a common souldier , or an ordinary marriner , doth performe the cheife work in an army , or ship , because they take the greater toile to the outward eye ? no , no ; it is the pilot in a ship , the colonel in a regiment , the admirall in a navy , and the generall in an army , that discharge the cheife duties . without these there would be wise worke by sea or land. ev●ry one , that can pull a gable , or manage an oare , is not fit to be a pilot. every man that can and dare fight , and charge with courage , is not fit to be a commander . but the church is both a ship , and an armie . and i dare say , that every one , that can talke lavishly , or make a rhetoricall flourish in the pulpit , is not fit to be a bishop , or governour , in the church of christ . and yet q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this cause left i thee in creet , that thou shouldest set in order the things , that are wanting , & ordain presbyters in every city . these are the duties of a bishop ; without which the church will suddenly be out of frame , and crumble into nothing . 16. in a ship , or regiment , no man comes to sit at the stern , no man attempts the cheife command , the first day ; if he do , both ship and regiment suffer for it . no ; they are trained up in their severall professions , and by degrees they rise till they come to the highest . thus was it in the ancient , and thus is it in the present church . if any be suddenly raised to a bishoprick , it is seldom for the good of that diocese . 17. but you and your fellow presbyters want congruous and sufficient maintenance ; down therefore must the bishops ; and their revenues must be divided amongst such good pastors , as you are . the levellers doctrine right ; the nobility and gentrey have too much , & the godly of the land to little : all therefore must be shared , that jack and tom may have a congrurus maintenance . if the great men of the land will not yeeld to this , the parliament shall be garbled , the nobility and gentry shall be turned aside ; and then look for a new covenant , and a fresh extirpation . dukes descend from profane esau ; marquesses , earles , vicounts , &c. are but heathenish titles , invented by the children of darknesse , and the children of light defie them . what ? are we not all adams sons ? are we not brethren in christ ? is it not fit , that we should all have share , and share like , as had the children of israel in the land of promise ? as long as the church onely was strook at , it was well liked of ; but now patience perforce , we must be leveled both in church and state. we shall find , that there is such a sympathy between them in all christian common-wealths , that they stand and fall , swimme and sink together . 18. what ? talke we of levelling ? that is enough to destroy the state and face of a kingdome . but in your project there will be no danger . how ? no danger ? no danger , ( say you ) of sacriledge . no danger in the subversion of the church ? surely this must be ruine to episcopacy , and consequently to the church . for no bishop , no church . r ecclesia enim super episcopos constituitur ; for the church is founded and settled upon bishops . so s. cyprian . think not , that we exclude christ . christ it is that layd the foundation , and settled the church so . and it is not for man to unsettle it , or to lay another , a new foundation . for other foundation can no man lay , then that is layed by jesus christ . but ſ we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets . and bishops and apostles , are of the same order ; they are one and the same . t apostolos , id est , episcopos & praepositos dominus elegit . so s. cyprian , the lord made choice of apostles , that is of bishops & prelates . when therefore our saviour founded the church upon the apostles , he founded it upon bishops . who dare then after this foundation ? he that endeavours it , doth not build , but destroy the church . 19. is there no danger of sacriledge in robbing father and mother ? the bishop your father , and the church your mother ? for as in the church you were born anew of water and the holy ghost ; so if you be a presbyter , as a presbyter you have your being from a bishop ; or else you have no such being . but you return , that ye rob not the church : for you intend , that these revenues shall be settled upon church-men ; that is , upon presbyters . suppose , you rob but one , but your father , the sacriledge is detestable . for doth not the lord say , u who so robbeth his father , or mother , and saith it is no transgression ; the same is the companion of a murtherer . but to make the sacriledge more odious , i shall manifest , that ye have not onely robbed your father , but your mother also . the bishop your father is the husband to his particular church ; if then you rob him of his meanes , who will succeed in his roome , and become an husband to that church ? for though there be a thousand presbyters in a diocese , yet , x if she be without a bishop , that church is a widow . so that great councell of chalcedon . thus ye rob the bishop of his means , & that church of her husband . and wile a widow , she can bring forth but a bastard brood . consider that . 20. upon these motives i must tell you , that if his majestie shall gratifie either the parliament , or the assembly , in the abolition of episcopacy , and in sacrificing the church-lands to your , or their sacrilegious avarice , it will be such y a work , for which following generations shall have just cause to pitie , & lament him , that so good a man should either be cheated , or enforced into so foule a sin . his children and the whole kingdome would rue it ; and the generations to come ( unlesse the world turn presbyterian ) will speak of him as of king henry the eight : with this difference , that king henry wilfully plunged himself into this sin , and king charles was driven into it by an atheisticall and bloody faction . but i am confident , his majestie is seasoned with better principles ; he knows , it was z no excuse for saul , to confesse , that he had sinned , because he was afraid of the people , and obeyed their voice , not gods directions . a this king knew gods word , & rejected it ; god therefore rejected him from being king , and his seed from the throne . a lamentable case , to be frighted by a multitude , out of gods favour , and the crowne . but i hope , you have no saul in hand : our good kings crowne you may cause to totter , but not his resolution . ye may , and have robbed him of his prerogatives , revenues , and liberty : but you cannot imprison , or force his conscience , that will injoy her ancient priviledges , & freedome ; and these disasters shall end in a crowne of glory . his memory shall be honoured in our annals , and his posterity flourish in these thrones . amen , amen . chap. xvi . how far forth the king ought to protect the church and bishops . 1. it is confessed to my hand , that b the king is ingaged to his power , to protect the bishops , and their priviledges ; as every good king ought in right to protect & defend the bishops & churches under their government . reason requires no more ; and religion requires so much . for by that god , whom we serve , kings are made guardians , and c nursing fathers to the church ; and by the same god this ingagement is put upon them . not by man , not d by the author , as you seem to intimate ; nor yet by the bishops . one of the bishops indeed , in the behalfe of his brethren , and the whole clergie , humbly beseecheth his majestie to protect and defend to them , and to the churches committed to their charge , all canonicall priviledges , and due law and justice . the king with a willing and devout heart premiseth , to be their protector , and defender to his power , by the assistance of god. and afterwards at the communion table , he makes a solemne oath , upon gods own book , to observe the premises . this ingagement then is not put upon the king , but with a willing heart he takes it upon himselfe ; acknowledging that he ought to do so , if he be a good king. yea , ( saith sir edward coke ) e the king is bound and sworn to the observation and keeping of magna charta . his majestie then is but intreated to do , what he is sworne and bound to do . and since sworne and bound , he may not with a safe conscience give them up to the f wild boares of the forrest to root up the plants , or suffer the wild beasts of the field to devour this vine , g which the lords right hand hath planted . 2. that h the king is bound no further to exercise his power in the protection of the church , then he can do it without sinning against god , is most undoubtedly true : and it were not the part of a christian to desire more . for we know , that i the king receives his power from god , which is to be used , not against , but for god. not to protect the church to his power , is to break his oath , it is to desert that trust which god hath committed to his charge : and is not this to sin against god ? in the discharge of this dutie , he is so far from being injurious to the rest of his people , that if he should forbear it , it would prove the greatest mischeife , that can be imagined , to his people , and to their posterity , in their soules , in their estates ; and a perpetuall infamie to this nation . i need not prove it now , it is already done , cap. 8. sect 10. 11. &c. 3. that k his sacred majestie hath interposed his authority for the bishops , & put forth all the power he hath to preserve them , is that which vexeth your confederacy . and yet you cannot deny , but that every good king is bound in right to do so . what we ought to do , is our bounden duty ; and what we do in right , is justly done . oh , that this had been done in the right time . indeed he is not onely bound , but he finds it more then necessary to protect and preserve them ; for in protecting them , he protects himself , his throne , and his posterity . alas , he was strook at thorough the bishops sides . his wise father descried this long since , l no bishop , no king. what the father spake , his sonne our good king hath found true by woefull experience . his crowne hath sunke with their miters . 4. well , by your own confession , what our gracious king hath done , is right , and what good kings are bound to do , to the extent of their power . thus our good king is justified by his enemies , as m our saviour was by judas . if his majestie have endeavoured to do that , which is right , what are they , that have hindered him from doing it ? have not they done wrong ? how can they excuse themselves before god or man , that have so manacled our betrayed soveraigne , that he cannot do , what good kings are bound in right to do ? is this to be good ? is this to be just ? then have all the saints of god been utterly deceived . 5. n if after all this he must perforce let the bishops fall ; you and your schisme have much to answer for , that have driven him to this necessity . you seem to pitie his good subjects , who with their blood have endeavoured to support episcopacy . their swords were not drawn to maintaine this government , or the religion established ; they never learned to fight for religion . what they did , was done in submission to his majesties just commands , and to manifest their allegiance . but if these be good ; that have indangered their lives to uphold bishops , what are they , i beseech you , that have spent their blaod to root them out ? surely in justifying the former , mr. geree hath condemned the latter ; and when the waspes find it , he must look to his eares : 6. i must confesse , it is an hard case for one man to o ingage his life for the maintenance of other mens privileges . but who did so ? not a man ingaged himself ; but the kings command , the oath of allegiance , and the laws of the land ingaged every good subject , to assist his soveraign to the utmost . the king , according to his oath , endeavoured to maintain the laws of the land , to protect the members of both houses driven from parliament , to support the bishops ; and to suppresse those seditious and sacrilegious persons , which plotted and covenanted the ruine of religion , root and branch . though much the greatest part of the nobility , gentrie , and learned in the law , were deservedly moved to see majestie dethroned and blasphemed ; religion spurned at , and vilified ; the fathers of the church scandalized , and persecuted ; the laws of the kingdom , and liberties of the subject sleighted , and trampled on ; yet not a man of these took up the sword , till he was commanded by him , to whom the laws of the land , and the word of god have committed the power of the sword. this may not be called backwardnesse , or unwillingnesse , but pious discretion , which ever waits upon the soveraigns call . when therefore his majesty had set up his standard , i may truly say , p the governors of our israel offered themselves willingly among the people ; they did the king service to the utmost . had there not been a back-doore to let in a forrein nation , to divide the kings forces ; had not some of q the nobles of judah conspired with tobiah , held intelligence with him , and acquainted him with nehemiahs secrets , there never had been so many thanksgiving dayes , nor so much boasting , that god prospered the cause . god suffered david his own chosen servant , his anointed , and a man after his own heart , to be hunted as a partrige upon the mountains , to be frighted from his throne , and to live like a forlorn man ; and yet in his good time he restored him to his scepter in peace , and subdued the people to him . 7. and whereas you term them others privileges , as if they concerned no man but the clergie ; i dare boldly say , they concern every man , as he is a member of this church and realm . r if we have sown unto you spirituall things , is it a great matter if we reap your carnall things ? and if we reap not your carnall things , how shall we sowe unto you spirituall things ? this is worthy of consideration ; unlesse you have layed aside all care of the soul . have we some privileges , that the laity have not ? they are not ours alone ; they are every mans , that enters into orders . and orders are indifferently proposed to all , of all families whatsoever , so they be sufficiently qualified . high and lowe , noble and ignoble have reaped the benefit of these privileges . i have known some of high birth in orders ; and some of good rank , that have taken sanctuary under a priests coat . and we read of ſ a young man of the tribe of judah , of the most remarkable family , that was glad to turn priest , and to t serve by the yeer for ten shekels of silver , a double suit of apparell , and his victuals . if then our calling suffer , all families suffer in it , and with it . 8. but what if the laws of the land , what if magna charta do oblige all men to stand up for the due observation of these privileges ? if so , then must every man readily acknowledge , that all good subjects are bound to obey his majestie , when he commands that , which the law requires . view we then the words of that great and justly magnified charter , which are these . u reserving to all arch-bishops , bishops , earls , barons , and all persons , as well spirituall as temporall , all their liberties , and free customes , which they have had in times past . and all these customes and liberties aforesaid , which we have granted to be holden within this our realm ; as much as appertaineth to us and our heirs , we shall observe . and all men of this our realm , as well spirituall as temporall ( as much as in them is ) shall likewise observe the same , against all persons . mark that : are we not all , both spirituall and temporall , bound to maintain each others privileges , as much as in us lies ? 9. i know , you will return , that abbots and priors are provided for by the same law ; and yet they have since been taken away by act of parliament . i confesse it : but i shall desire you to observe in the first place , how they prospered , that were the contrivers and procurers of that act. 2ly , i cannot but take notice , that you with your master beza call that disso●ution x detestandum sacrilegium , detestable sacrilege , and such as was cried out of all the christian world over . it is not therefore to be drawn into president . 3ly , consider , i pray you , that y they who did so , are stiled enemies of our soveraign lord the king ▪ and his realm . 4ly , that great * councell of chalcedon , consisting of above 600. bishops , resolves , that no monastery , consecrated with the bishops liking , may be turned to a secular dwelling . and those that suffer any such thing , are lyable to the canonicall censures . 5ly , you will , i hope , make a difference between our saviours institution , and mans invention . bishops are of our saviours own institution , but abbots and priors are titles and orders of mans invention . and yet z hospitalitie , and alms , and other works of charity , for which these fraternities were erected , failed much with them . how those means were imployed , i shall not enquire ; but i am certain , that good and pious men have wished , that the abuses had been pruned off , and that the lands had been disposed of according to the doners intentions . this indeed had been pietie , not sacrilege . 10. how oft have the kings of this realm ingaged themselves to observe magna charta , and to maintain the rights and liberties of the church ? are not these the words of the statute , a we take the prelates and clergie with their possessions , goods , and chattels into our speciall protection and defence ? the princes of this land have bound themselves strictly to keep this great charter ; and have provided , that if any other shall do , or procure to be done , any thing contrary to this charter , it is to be accounted void , as soon as procured . take the words of the charter . b we have granted unto them ( the spirituall and temporal persons of this realm ) on the other part , that neither we , nor our heirs shall procure , or do any thing , whereby the liberties in this charter shall be infringed , or broken . but suppose , they shall make any such grant through ignorance , wilfulnesse , or evill counsell , shall it be of force ? the law saith , no. for it follows immediately ; c and if any thing be procured by any person contrary to the premisses , it shall be holden of no force , ne effect . you and your great contrivers , what have ye laboured for , all this while ? what have ye fought for ? what have ye shed so much blood for ? for wind , nothing but wind . for all the westminster orders and ordinances contrary to this charter , shall be holden of no force , ne effect . you had best then keepe your paper for a more necessary use . 11. and yet you tell his majestie , that d it is not equall to ingage the lives of some to uphold the honour of others . is it equall then , i beseech you , to ingage the lives of some , to destroy the honour and estate of others ? all this while you have been on the destructive part , all for rooting up , what the lords right hand hath planted , and for alienating the lords inheritance . and that ye might effect , what ye have subtilly projected , ye have ingaged the lives of many , who were very unwilling , to uphold the honour of some at westminster , that had overlashed , & ran themselves upon dreadfull rocks . i would to god , the commons of this kingdome would lay it to heart , how e cruell ye have been to many thousands to be indulgent to a few , to uphold the honour of a few . consider , how many thousands in england and ireland have been plundered , sequestred , imprisoned , maimed , and murdered , because they would not submit to the illegall , unjust , and irreligious decrees of the men at westminster . a compleat mercurius rusticus will make after ages stand amazed , and their hearts bleed within them , to consider , that such a nation as this , so blessed with peace and plentie , should be so miserably deluded , as to undoe themselves willfully , and sheath their swords into one anothers bowels , to save a lord and five members from tryall by law. 12. that you may perswade us , some way or other , that the king ought to give up the bishops , and their lands , since he hath hitherto protected them to the utmost of his power , you argue by supposition . f suppose ( say you ) a king put a commander into a city , and give him an oath to maintaine the priviledges of it , and keep it for him to his power : and this commander keeps this towne , till he have no more strength to hold it , unlesse he force the towns-men to armes , against the priviledge , which he hath sworne to maintaine . well , what then ? if this governour now surrender this towne upon composition , doth he violate his oath ? thus far mr. gerees question : what think you of it ? what any man thinks , is no matter ; g mr. geree thinks none will affirme it . and i think , there be many , that will affirme it ; and i am one of that number . good lord , to see , how mr. geree and i differ in opinion ! his is but thought without proof , but i shall give you reason for what i think , and say . 13. if this casuist speake to purpose , as he ought , he speaks of a king of this realme ; and no town within this realme hath any such priviledge , as not to bear armes against the kings enemies ; or not to keep it for his majestie , to the utmost of their power . the reasons are these : first , h these are the kings dominions and countries . 2ly , these towns and cities are part of these dominions . 3ly , the inhabitants and citizens thereof are his majesties subjects . 4ly , i all lands and tenements are holden either mediatly , or immediatly of the king. 5ly , this citie or towne is the kings ; otherwise how could he put a commander into it , and give him an oath to keep it for him ? i speake of towns within these his majesties dominions , which in all writings are called the kings cities , counties , and towns. 6ly , it cannot be imagined , that the kings of this realme would grant any priviledge destructive or dangerous to their owne safety . and we must take notice , that k all liberties at the first were derived from the crown . adde hereunto the severall acts of parliament , wherein l the peers and comminalty confesse themselves to be bound , and make faithfull promise , to aide their soveraigne at all seasons ; as also to assist and defned his , or their , rights , and titles , to the utmost of their power , and therein to spend their bodies , lands and goods , against all persons , whatsoever . but new lords , new laws ; and these statutes are out of date . 14. by this time , i hope , you see , that no towns-men have any such privilege , as to refuse to bear arms in the kings behalf . but they are bound by their allegiance , and the laws of this land to keep those towns for his majestie , & to defend them with all their might against his foes . if then the inhabitants shall be backward , the commander ought to force them to armes : and if he do it not , he violates his oath , and the towns-men their fidelity . and now you may tell your freind , that helped you to this supposition , that he is no skilfull apprentice at law. if then m the kings case be such in this particular , his highnesse may not recede from his oath , nor do any thing contrary thereto . 15. though this may seeme reasonable to sober men , yet n the onely objection ( as you conceive ) which lyeth against this , is ; that though it be not in the kings power to uphold them , yet it is in his power not to consent to their fall . though this be not the onely , yet is it a just objection , or rather a resolution ; which being rightly harkned to , will preserve the king from sin in this particular . for how ever you are so uncivill with his majestie , as to call it o peremtorinesse in him to deny assent to the fall , or abolition of episcopacy ; yet such as are learned to sobriety , know this to be christian prudence , and true fortitude , p not to fear them , that can imprison him , that can rob him of this earthly crowne , and slay his body , but to stand in aw of him , that can slay the soul , that can deprive him of his heavenly crown , and cast him into the infernall pit . oh , q 't is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living god ; we are not therefore to be threatned , or frighted into sin . these things you can presse violently in the pulpit , but now you are beside both pulpit and text , beside modesty and truth . it is justice , religion , and courage , not peremtorinesse , to deny the least assent to sin . that it is sin to yeeld to , or confirme the abolition of episcopacy , is already manifested c. 4. 6. since it is to destroy an ordinance of christ ; which cannot be done without sin . 16. however then he may indanger his own crown , not save their mitres , yet he shall be sure , by denying assent , to save his own soul : for r without consent no sin ; and without sinne no damnation . ſ a woman ravished is free from fornication , because she assents not , but is really enforced ; and yet t he , that commits that sin upon her , must die for it . this is the kings case right : if he yeeld not , this is a rape upon his power , no sin in his person , since no assent . hence is it , that idolatry and oppression in scripture are charged upon kings ; because their assent makes a law. without the kings affirmative every ordinance imposed upon the people is not law , but tyranny ; since it is not legall , but arbitrary . our brethren of scotland say as much . take their words . there can be no law made , and have the force of a law without the king. declaration of the kingdom of scotland . p. 19. 17. that t it is in his majesties power , or not in his power to deny assent to the abolition of bishops , is most certainly true . but we must learn of you to distinguish between a naturall and a morall sense ▪ and then we shall find both true , that he can , and he cannot deny consent . in a naturall sense he may , but in a morall sense he may not . in a naturall sense he may ; because the will cannot be inforced . in a morall sense it is not in his power ; because he cannot now deny consent without sinne . so it is , and it is not in his power , or rather as s. austine speaks , u in potestate est , quod in voluntate esse non debet : that is in our power , which ought not to be in our will ; x the king then hath it in his power to yeeld , or not to yeeld ; because he may do , which he pleaseth . the book of god stands by , and adviseth him to do that , which is right in the sight of god , proposing blessings if he do so ; and menacing curses , if he shall do any thing contrary to gods revealed will. and all this while it doth but instruct & perswade him to do , what he ought and may , when he will. this then being in the kings power , he must take heed , he incline not to sin . 18. i cannot but resolve , that to forsake the naturall sense , if good , is to be unnaturall . to renounce the morall sense is against good manners , and the morall law. if therefore both senses may be kept , we are to preserve them both safe . with confidence therefore , i speake it , that it is not onely in his power , but * it is his dutie to be master of his negative voice , and to deny consent . if he deny consent , he does his dutie , & observes his oath . if he yeeld assent , he breaks his oath , and failes of his dutie . and this will prove no lesse then sin . i have already demonstrated , that episcopacy is agreable to the word of god , and that it is the institution of christ himself . it is sinne therefore to abolish it , or to consent to the abolishing thereof . you neither have , nor can justifie the contrary out of holy writ , or from the ancient and apostolike church . and yet the observations upon the ordinance for ordination have been extant in print above these three years . but you and your assembly rabbines take no notice of it , because you have not what to say against it . 19. but though you have neither scripture , councels , nor fathers , for the abolishing of episcopacy , yet you have reason grounded upon policy , to worke his miajestie to yeeld to this abolition . for ( say you ) he cannot now deny consent without sin . it seemes then , he might , without sin deny consent heretofore : but not now . and why not now ; as well as heretofore ? because ( say you ) x if he consent not , there will evidently continue such distraction and confusion , as is most repugnant to the weale of his people ; which he is bound by the rule of government , and his oath to provide for . thus sin shall vary at your pleasure : sin it shall be now , that was none heretofore . that shall be sin in king charles , which was vertue and piety in queen elizabeth , and all their religious ancesters . 20. y where no law is , there is no transgression . before then you prove it to be a sin , you must prove it to be against some law either of god or man. not against the law of god ; that 's already proved . not against the law of man ; since no man can sin against that law , to which he is not subject . * the laws are the kings ; he gives laws to his subjects , not his subjects to him : and we know no law of his against bishops . indeed the laws of this land are so far from the extirpation of bishops , that z the fundament all law of this kingdom approves of them . they then that are enemies to bishops , are enemies to the fundamentall law of this kingdom . and what is fundamentall , is in and of the foundation . if then a law be made to extirpate bishops , it grates upon the foundation , it is against the fundamentall law of this realme , & it contradicts that law of laws , the word of god. besides , we are assured by that learned in the law , justice jenkins a that it is against the kings oath , and the oaths of the houses , to alter the government for religion . but an alteration of this government , must necessarily follow upon the abolition of episcopacy . yea with bishops , not onely the church and religion will be ruined , but the very government and laws of the kingdom will be so confounded , that the learned in the law will not know , where to find law. they must burn their old books , and begin the world upon the new model . all this will amount to no small sin ; it will be to the shame of this land ; to the ruine of those two noble professions , divinity and law ; and to the common misery of the people . 21. these reasons premised , i shall justly return your own words upon your self , in this manner . it is not in the kings power to consent to the abolition of episcopacy , because he cannot now yeeld consent without sin . for if he consent , there will evidently follow such distraction and confusion , as is most repugnant to the weal of his people ; which he is bound by the rule of government , and his oath to provide for . i say so , and true it is ; because it is evident to every discerning eye , that there are as many , and those more considerable , that are cordially for episcopacy and common prayer , as are against them . indeed they are not so factious , so mutinous , and bloody as the other . what multitudes are there in this kingdom , that mourn and grieve to see religion so opprest , so trampled on , and almost breathing out her last ? in truth it is palpable , that these seditious and irreligious courses have ingendred , and propagated , and will continue such distraction and confusion in church and state , as is most repugnant , not onely to the present , but to the eternall wedl and salvation of his people : both which he is bound to provide for , but more especially for the later . 22. and whereas you say , such distraction and confusion will continue , unlesse episcopacy be abolished ; if seems , you are resolved to continue these distractions . but , god knows , and your words testifie , that it is not the calling or the office of a bishop , that is offensive ; it is b their honour , and their wealth , which you aim at ; c these , with their revenues must be shared amongst you of the presbyterian faction ; and then all shall be well . till then we must look for nothing but fire and sword . hence it evidently appears , that neither episcopacy , nor the kings dissent , but your ambition and avarice have been the true cause of these distractions and combustions . d such a sedition as this there was in the time of moses about the priesthood ; because every man might not sacrifice , as , when , and where he pleased . because corah might not wear a miter , and go into the most holy place , as well as aaron . and yet who dares say , that the priestood was the cause of those uproars ? 23. that insurrection was against moses and aaron , against prince and priest : but against the prince for the priests sake ; because the prince would not endure , that every one should meddle with the priests office , or strip him of his means and honour . that conspiracie was linsie-woolsie , loomed up of clergie and laitie . korah , the son of levi was the ring-leader ; and c with him two hundreth and fiftie of his own tribe . to these were joyned f dathan and abiram , great princes , and men of renown ; such as were eminent in blood , and of the tribe of reuben . and was not the crie the same then , that is now ? g moses and aaron , prince and priest , ye take too much upon you , seeing all the congregation is holy , every one of them , and the lord is among them ; wherfore then lift ye your selves above the congregation of the lord ? the prince and priest did but their duty ; and yet are obbraided with pride . god raised them to their places ; and they are charged to raise themselves . but moses justly retorts upon them , what they had falsly cast upon him ; h ye take too much upon you , ye sons of levi. what ? i is it not enough for you , that god hath separated you from the multitude , that he hath taken you neer himself , to do the service of the lords tabernacle , but you must have the priests office ? but you must be k offering incense , as well as the high priest ? the priest of the second order would needs be equall with the chief priest , the priest of the first order . and is it not so now ? have we not just cause to say to you , ye take too much upon you , ye presbyters , ye sons of bishops . what ? is it not enough for you , that god hath separated you from the multitude , that he hath taken you neer himself , to do the service of the lords house , and to administer the sacraments ; but you must have the bishops office ? but you must be giving orders , as well as the bishop ? surely this is to assume that power to your selves , which god never committed to any presbyter , while a presbyter . 24. last of all , i cannot but observe , that when the lord had punished these schismaticall and seditious persons , l the tumult ariseth afresh against moses and aaron ; they cry out upon them as m murderers , as if these two had slain the people of the lord : for thus they call that factious and damnable crue . but the lord decided the controversie , and shewed manifestly , who were his ; first n by consuming the mutineers with the plague ; and secondly , by causing o aarons rod , when it seemed to be quite dead , to revive , even to bud , and blossom , and bear fruit in the tabernacle . p thus the mouthes of the rebellious children were stopped , and gods ordinance justified . q oh , that salvation were given unto israel out of sion : oh , that the lord would deliver his people out of captivity . oh , that we might see aarons rod once more bud , and blossom , and bring forth almonds . r then should jacob rejoyce , and israel should be right glad . chap. xvii . whether there be two supremacies in this kingdom . 1. in this treatise ſ you blame those , that seem to set up two supremacies ; and yet you cannot see the same beam in your own eye . you are of kin , sure , to those lamiae , those witches , that were blind at home , but quick-sighted abroad . thou , that findest fault with another , doest the same thing . for do not you say plainly , that t there 's a supremacie in the king , and a supremacy in the parliament ? i hope , you know your own language . clodius accusat . it is an usuall thing for your confederacie , to charge the king and his good subjects with that , which your selves are either guilty of , or intend to induce . 2. what , two supremacies , two superlatives , at the same time , in the same kingdom ? is this possible ? what , because there is summus and supremus ; because there are two superlatives of the same word , shall we therefore have two supremacies in the same realm ? is not this flatly against the oath of supremacy ? wherein you , and i , and your great patriots , have sworn , that the kings highnesse is the onely supreme governour of this realme , and of all other his highnesse dominions and countreys . but the king hath been so long out of your eye , that he is now out of your minde , and the parliament shall at least be his corrivall in the supremacy . take heed , take heed of perjury . i can tell you of severall acts of parliament since the reformation , that u lay a penaltie of fourty pounds , upon every particular perjurie . if his majestie had all these forfeitures , they would satisfie his debts , and make him a glorious king after all these pressures . 3. but you clip his majesties wings , though ye make him flie ; and tell us , as x you conceive , that the supremum jus dominii , the supreme right of dominion , which is above all laws , is not in the king. to say it is in him , is in this , in our state a manifest error . why , what 's become of the oath of supremacy ? have we forgot that ? was not that provided for this state ? in our state this is no error ; in yours it may be ; or else you are in a manifest error . certainly the members have sworn , that the king is the only supreme governour of this realm , or state. and that he is so , as well in all spirituall or ecclesiasticall things , or causes , as temporall . if he be the onely supreme , how shall we find another supreme , or an equall to him within his own dominions ? if he be so in all things and causes both ecclesiasticall and temporall , what thing or cause is there , wherein he is not the onely supreme ; or wherein he hath any other supreme joyned to him ? for certain , these particles onely and all , are exclusive of any copartner . 4. but you will chalk out a way , whereby to elude , or avoid this oath , and the restrictions therein . there 's a supreme parliament , as well as a supreme king. or , a supremacy is in the parliament , and a supremacy in the king. an excellent arithmetician , he hath learned to multiply ; of one , and one onely , he hath made two . thus have they raised division out of unity : and from hence are these distractions and divisions , which are so repugnant to the weal of the people . this is one of their new lights , which is borrowed from their multiplying glasse , that makes a molehill as bigge as a mountain , and a spider as large as a sea-crab . but when the multiplying glasse is layed aside , the spider will be but a spider . 5. well , let us see , how you make good this twofold supremacy . y the supremacy , or the supremum jus dominii , that is over all laws , figere or refigere , to make , or disanull them at pleasure , is neither in the king , nor in the houses apart , but in both conjoyned . here then we are fallen back to one supremacy . and this supremacy is not the kings onely ; but it is the parliaments , as well as his . this is to skip from monarchy to aristocracy . kingdoms indure no corrivals ; and z kings have no peers . but this man hath found one thing , wherein the king hath peers ; and consequently is not the onely supreme governour of this realm . strange , how that parliament , and all since that time have been so mistaken , as not to see their own right , but to ascribe all to the king ; and that in a point of so high concernment . surely they wanted this young preacher , to bring them in a new light . but i beleeve , it will appeare , that the supremacie over all laws to make , or disanull them , is in the king alone , at the petition of both houses : and that those parliaments knew full well . 6. for satisfaction in this point i shall observe , what scriptures , fathers , and some modern writers have resolved concerning kings . s. petter plainly and fully a ascribes supremacy to the king. submit your selves ( saith he ) to every ordinance of man for the lords sake : whether it be to the king , as supreme ; or unto governors , as unto them , that are sent by him . kings are sent by god ; to them therfore we submit for the lords sake . all other civill governours are sent by the king ; to them therefore we submit for the kings sake , that sent them . answerable hereunto are those passages in tertullian , that b the emperor is homo a deo secundus , & solo deo minor , c in dei solius potestate , a quo secundus , post quem primus , the man second to god , and lesse then god onely . that he is in the power , or under the command of god onely ; from whom he is the second , and after whom he is the first . optatus saies as much ; d super imperatorem non est nisi solus deus , qui fecit imperatorem ; there is none above the emperor , but god alone ; who made him emperor . and what the emperor was in the empire ; the same is the king of england within his own dominions . for e the crown of england hath been so free at all times , that it hath been in subjection to no realm , but immediately subject to god , and to none other . hence is it called f an empire ; and g the imperiall crown of this realm . 7. the greeke commentators are so full for obedience to kings , that h they will not yeeld , that an apostle may be freed from this subjection . this doctrine s. paul justifies ; i i stand ( saith he ) at caesars judgment seat , where i ought to be judged . and after this appeal he resolves , that k no man , not the president himself , may judge him , or deliver him to be judged by any other . nay after this the president himself might not release him . so king agrippa , l had not this man appealed to caesar , he might have been set at liberty . are not these strong evidences of the kings supremacy ? that learned grotius gives a sure rule , whereby to know , on whom the supremacy is settled . m that ( saith he ) is the supreme civill power , cujus actus alterius juri non subsunt , whose actions are not subject to any other mans censure , or law. but such is the king , n qui sub nullo alio , sed sub solo deo agit , who lives in subjection to none , but to god onely . for o who may say unto him , what doest thou ? when therefore david had sinned , he cries out unto the lord , p in te solum peccavi , against thee onely have i sinned , thou onely canst call me to account hence is that resolution of all the learned of this church , in the time of king henry viii . among whom were bishop carnmer , and bishop latymer , q although princes do otherwise , then they ought to do , yet god hath assigned no judges over them in this world , but will have the judgement of them reserved to himself . and the judgement of the great lawyers in france is this , r rex solus ▪ the king onely is the supreme lord of all the subjects , aswell lay , as ecclesiasticall , within his own dominions . ſ all other men live under judgment ; & cum deliquerint , peccant deo , peccant & legibus mundi ; and when they offend , they sinne against god , and against the laws of the land. 8. but i know , you relye more upon the laws of this land , then upon the laws of god ; and upon our lawyers , rather then the fathers , and out best divines . i shall therefore transgresse my profession . & shew you , what their opinion is . t this realme ( say the statutes ) is an empire , whereof the king is the supreme head ; and consisteth of the spiritualty and tempora●ty , over which the king hath whole power , and jurisdiction . are you of this realm , or are you not ? i●●on be , then are you either of the spiritualty or tempora●ty and if of either , then wholly under the kings power the whole power is his ; why seek you to rob him of it ? of this realme the king not the parliament , is the supreme head : one head not two . he that makes two supremacies , makes a bul ; and he that se●● two heads upon one body , frames a monster . 9. indeed they are so far from having any supremacy , that they are subjects as well in , as out of parliament . u when king edward the confessor had all the earles and barons of the kingdome assembled in parliament , he cals them all , his leige men my lords , you that are my leige men. perchance you may say , the king calls them so , but that makes them not so . you shall therefore have their own acknowledgement , in parliament , thus . x we your most loving , faithfull , and obedient subjects , representing the three estates of your realme of england . thus the whole parliament united into one body . false therefore is that proposition , that the king is major singulis , sed minor universis , greater then any , and lesse then all the inhabitants of this realme . for here the representative body of the three estates of this kingdome , assembled in parliament , in their highest capacitie , acknowledge themselves to be the queens subjects , and her most obedient subjects ; because to her , they thus assembled , did justly owe both subjection , and obedience ; which none that are supreme , can owe. and these are due to his majestie & à singulis , & ab universis , from one , and all ; from every one singly , and from all joyntly . 10. secondly , when they are assembled in parliament , they petition , as well as out of parliament . this is evident by the acts themselves ; wherein we read , that y our soveraigne lord the king , by the assent aforesaid , and at the praier of his commons . the same words are repeated 2 hen. 5. c. 6 & 9. and in queen elizabeths time , the parliament humble themselves in this manner , z that it may please your highnesse ▪ that it may be enacted , &c. i might come down lower , but i shall satisfie my selfe with sir edward cokes report , b who assures us , that in ancient times all acts of parliament were in forme of petitions . mr. geree himselfe acknowledgeth , they should be so now . c the king ( saith he ) may passe a bill for the abolition of episcopacy , when his houses of parliament think it convenient , and petition for it . either then the houses have no supremacy , o● else they humble themselves too low , when they petition his majestie . but this supremacy of parliament is one of the new lights , that were lately wafted into this land in a scottish cookboate . 11. thirdly , what supremacy can there be in those , that may not lawfully convene , or consult , till the king summon them ; and must dissolve and depart , when the king command ▪ the writ it self runs thus , d prelatis & magnatibus nostris , quos vocari fecimus . to the prelates . and our nobles . whom we have caused to be called . and e sir robert cotton , out of elie register , tels us that parliaments were assembled at first as now , edicto principis ( not at their own , but ) at the kings pleasure . and sir edward coke assures me , that f none can begin , continue , or dissolve the parliament , but by the kings authority . and let me tell you , that if his majestie shall withdraw himself from parliament , it is not for your great masters to inforce him to return , but to g pray his presence , and to inform his majestie , that if he forbear his presence among them fourty dayes , that then by an ancient statute , they may return absque domigerio regis , to their severall homes . this is all they ought , or may do . 12. fourthly , whereas , according to your words , h the parliament is to regulate all other courts ; the court of parliament is to be regulated by the king. for the time , that is already manifested , to be at his majesties pleasure . and for the matter , that is prescribed , and limited by the king ; i super praemissis tractare , to consult and advise upon such things , as the king nominates , and prescribes . and if credit may be given to iohn speede , he tells us , that k the great lawyers judgments , in king richard ii. time , concerning orderly proceedings in parliaments , run thus . that after the cause of such assembly is by the kings commandement there declared , such articles , as by the king are limited for the lords and commons to proceed in , are first to be handled . but if any should proceed vpon other articles , and refvse to proceed vpon those limited by the king , till the king had first answered their proposals , contrary to the kings command ; such doing herein contrary to the rule of the king , are to be punished astraitors . and he cites the law books for what he saies . truly i am the rather induced to beleeve , what speed delivers , because sir edward coke gives us the reason , why , and how far forth , the king relies upon his parliaments . l the king ( saith he ) in all his weighty affairs used the advice of his lords and commons ; so great a trust and confidence he had in them . alwaies provided , that both the lords and commons keep them within the circle of the law and custom of the parliament . the reason , why the king useth their advice , is because he hath a great trust and confidence in them . but alwaies provided that they keepe themselves within the circle of the law , and custome of parliament . but how if they deceive the kings trust , and abuse his confidence ? how if they break the lawfull circle , and transgresse the customs of parliament ? how then ? what speede hath recorded , i have shewn you . but what the king may do in this case , i shall leave to the masters of the law to determine . 13. last of all , the king regulates their consultations . for in his breast it is , whether their bills shall become laws , or no. observe ; though the advice and assent be theirs , yet the power of ordaining , establishing , and enacting , is in the soveraigne . the statute books shall be my witnesses . m the king by the advice , assent , and authority aforesaid , hath ordeined and established . and again , n be it enacted by the queens most excellent majestie , with the assent of the lords spirituall , and temporall , and the commons , &c. hence is it , that they are called the kings laws . and o the king is called the head of the law ; because from him it is derived ; from him the law receives both life and force . p his breast is the shrine , or deske , wherein all the laws are stored up , and preserved . if any man make question of this , present experience will satisfie him . for do not the houses at this day petition his majestie , to make that a law which they have voted ? take their own words in that high message sent to holdenby house in march last . we the lords and commons , assembled in the parliament of england , &c. do humbly present unto your majestie the humble desires and propositions , agreed upon by the parliaments of both kingdoms respectively . vnto which we do pray your majesties assent . and that they , and all such bills , as shall be tendered to your majestie in pursuance of them , or any of them , may be established and enacted for statutes and acts of parliament , by your majesties royall assent . which words , though very high , do manifest , that there is neither majesty , nor supremacy , nor power in this , or any other parliament , to make , or repeale laws . it is at the kings pleasure to establish and enact them for laws and statutes , or not . this our neighbour scotland sees , and confesseth that regall power and authority is chiefly in making and enacting laws . declarat . of the kingd . of scotland . p. 18. 14. from hence it appears , first , that there is no supremacy in the parliament , without the king. secondly ; that the supremum jus dominii , the supreme right of dominion , which is over laws , to establish or disanull them , is in the king alone . for a bill not established , is of no force , it is no law. 3ly , that q the king is the supreme magistrate ( as you are pleased to call him ) from whom all power of execution of laws is legally derived . and 4ly , if the power of execution be derived from the king , much more is the power to regulate . for he , that gives them power by his commission , to put the laws in execution , he gives them rules in the same commission , whereby they must be guided ; and sets them bounds , which they may not passe . if they transgresse either , the king hath a legall power to revoke their commissions , and to dispose of them , to whom , and when , he pleaseth . hence is it , that all courts , and the judges of those courts , are called the kings courts , and the kings ministers of justice . and when we are summoned to appear in any court of justice , the processe runs coram domino rege , before our lord the king : because the kings person and power is there represented . and though his majestie be over-born , and against all law and reason kept from his courts of justice , yet in all writs you are fain to abuse his name ; though he be no way accessary to these lawlesse , and illegall proceedings . how these courts have been regulated , since his majesties forced departure , this kingdom is very sensible , and laments to consider it ; god amend it . 15. upon these grounds i argue thus . they , that are subjects ; they , that are suppliants ; they , that owe obedience to an higher ; they , that cannot lawfully convene , or consult , till they be called by another ; they , that must dissolve their meeting at anothers command ; they , that are to be regulated by another ; they , that can onely advise , perswade , entreat , but not enact a law , have no supremacy . but the whole parliament sever'd from the king , are subjects , are suppliants ; they owe obedience to an higher ; they cannot lawfully convene , or consult , till they be called by his majestie ; at his command , they are to dissolve their meeting ; by him they are to be regulated ; and q without him they cannot enact a law. the major is evident , to every intelligent eye . the minor is demonstrated , sect. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. i must therefore upon these premises necessarily conclude , that the parliament , in that sense you take it , hath no supremacy . 16. that nothing may be wanting , i shall give you the resolution of our sages at law , concerning the kings unseparable and incommunicable supremacy ; that so all mouthes may be stopped . bractons resolution is this , r rex habet potestatem & jurisdictionem super omnes , qui inregno suo sunt . the king hath power and jurisdiction over all , within his own kingdom . plowden saith as much ; ſ the king hath the sole government of his subjects . here is no man , no societie of men exempted ; all under the king , and solely under the king. where then is the parliaments supremacy ? not in this kingdom ; it must be looked for some where else . 17. secondly , t ea , quae sunt jurisdictionis & pacis ad nullum pertinent nisi ad regiam dignitatem : those things , which concerne jurisdiction and peace , belong to none but onely to the royall dignity . u the same he affirmes of restraint , and punishment . these then belong not to the parliament ; since that cannot chalenge royall dignity . where then is their supreme power ? all power almost consists in jurisdiction , ordering of peace , and punishing offenders . and all these are flowers of the crown . yea , x the power of the militia , of eoyning of mony , of making leagues with forreigne princes ; the power of pardoning , of making of officers , &c. all kings had them , the said powers have no beginning . if then all these and many more are peculiar to soveraignty , what is left for the parliament ? why surely if you will , to be the kings supreme or chief councell , and his capitall court. this they are ; and this is an high honour to them being rightly used . 18. thirdly , y omnis sub rege , & ipse sub nullo ; every one is under the king ; but the king is under none , but god onely . the supremacy then must needs be in the king ; who is superior to all but the god of heaven . and over the supreme there can be no earthly superior . to admit a comparative above the superlative in the same kinde , is a solecisme not onely in grammar , but in reason , and religion . yet , though no superior , there may perchance be an equall to this supreme . there may so ; but not within his own dominions . z rex enim non habet parem in regno suo ; a the king ( saith the statute ) hath no peer in his land. and if justice jenkins may be heard , he tels us , that b the houses in parliament confesse , the king to be above the representative body of the realm . they are not therefore his equals ; and so have no supremacy . when i can be perswaded , that any , or all the members of the body are equall to the head , then i shall be apt to beleeve , that there may be two supremacies in a kingdom . but i am confident , that c a wife may as safely admit of two husbands , as a kingdom of two supremes . for d the king is sponsus regni , that husband , who by a ring is espoused to this realm at his coronation . but a ring is superstitious , and husbands are grown out of date . the onely thing in request is liberty , to take or leave what and whom we please . 19. but e the parliament is the supreme court , by which all other courts are to be regulated : what say we to that ? this i say , that the parliament is f curia capitalis , the supreme court of this kingdom : and yet his court it is , whose courts the rest are . it is therefore called g curia regis , and h magnum concilium regis , the kings court , the kings great councell : yea and the kings parliament . sir rob. cotton justifies it from the parliament rowles . i henry iv. began his first parliament . novemb. 1. k the king began his second parliament jan. 20. and of henry vii . thus : l it is no doubt , but he would have been found as frequent in his great councell of parliament , as he was in the starre-chamber . and this very parliament , how oft have they called themselves , the kings great councell ? they are so , and they are no more . but why am i so carefull to heap up instances ? your self call it . his , the kings , parliament , p. 2. and his houses of parliament , p. 8. 20. if then in your sense , we take the houses without the king , there is no supremacy in them , either severally , or joyntly : since they are but subjects , and the representative body of subjects . and under this consideration they cannot regulate other courts , unlesse the king give them power to do so . but take the houses with the king , and then it is most true , that there is a supremacy in the parliament ; and that it hath power to regulate all other courts . but this supremacy it hath by , and from the king ; and from no other . we therefore professe with that learned mr of the law , that m the parliament is the highest , and most honorable and absolute court of justice of england , consisting of the king , the lords of parliament , and the commons . the lords are here divided into two sorts , viz. spirituall and temporall . when such an assembly meets , and each house and the members thereof keep themselves within their proper limits , i dare be bold to say , that this court is assembled as it ought , n for provision for support of the state in men and money ; and well ordering of the church and common-wealth ; and determining of such causes , which ordinary courts nesciebant judicare , were not skilfull to determine . o these are the causes of such assemblies . 21. but truly , when they are thus assembled , i do not conceive , that they have power to p make or disanull all laws at pleasure ; but upon just and necessary occasion . for there is great danger in altering laws without urgent cause . innovation in government makes an alteration in state : & sudden alterations are not for the safety either of bodies naturall , or bodies politicke . observe , what the mirror of his time k. iames speaks : q we are not ignorant of the inconveniences , that do arise in government , by admitting innovasion in things once settled by mature deliberation : and r how necessary it is to use constancy in the upholding of the publik determinations of state. for that such is the unquietnesse and unstedfastnesse of some dispositions affecting every yeer new formes of things , as if they should be followed in their unconstancy , would make all actions of state ridiculous and contemptible . whereas the stedfast maintaining of things by good advice established , is the weale of all common-wealths . there is often danger , seldom pleasure in the change of laws . truly since the laws-have been neglected , and varietie of ordinances have supplied their roome , ſ we have been fed with the bread of tears , we have had plentiousnesse of tears to drinke . we are become a very striffe unto our neighbours ; and our enemies laugh us to scorne . 22. that the king in parliament doth usually make or alter laws , as the necessity of the times , and common good of his subjects require , is no rare thing . yet this ought to be done with much care and deliberation ; that so nothing be enacted , which may be justly greivous or destructive to his leige people . sithence , according to your determination , t he cannot lawfully make any ingagement to any , against the laws , and legall rights of others . your reason is because , u that were not cedere jure suo , sed alieno , a parting with his own , but with other mens rights . the same reason will hold against the parliament . suppose we should grant , what we may not , that the king and parliament are equals ; it follows necessarily , that whatsoever is unlawfull for one , is unlawfull for any other of the same ranke and power . if then it be not lawfull for the king , neither is it lawfull for his great councell , to take away the legall rights of others against law. and therefore not the legall rights of bishops , deanes and chapters , or any other of the clergie . for by the laws of the land , we have as firme an interest , and as true a freehold in those possessions , wherein to we are admitted , or inducted , as any other of his majesties subjects have in theirs . boast not of your power ; x power must attend upon justice , not go before it , nor over-rule it . i● justice take place , it is a judiciall , a just power ; but if power over sway justice , the government proves tyrannicall . 23. as for the power of making laws , we must know , that y by the common law , which is guided by the light of nature , and the word of god , that power is acknowledged to be in the king. who is leg●●us superior , as * fitz harbert speaks , above the law. but the soveraignes of this realme to reitifie the tender care they have of their peoples welfare , and the desire they have to injoy their love , have so far condescended in the stature law , that they will not henceforth do so without the advice & assent of the houses . this is not to give them a supremacie , but to admit them to advice . this is the way to win the most refractary , to submit to those laws , whereto they have given consent either in person , or by proxy . besides , z what is concluded on with good advice , by common consent , and hath the opprobation of diverse wise , learned , and religious persons , gives better satisfaction to all in generall , then what is done by one alone , be it never so well done . and yet to this day the power of ordeining , establishing and enacting laws , is reserved wholly to the crowne . most of these statute laws are as so many royall legacies bequeathed to this nation , by the severall soveraignes and fathers of this countrey . a not a liberty or priviledge , b not any land or tenement , but is originally derived from the crowne . such hath been the goodnesse and bounty of our princes to us their unworthy subjects . all we have , is from them : and now we take all from them . is this gratitude ? we serve god and the king alike ; we are resolved to seize upon all , that is called sacred . and i have learned , that not onely c the kings house , but d his very lands are called in law patrimonium sacrum , the holy patrimony . is not this that sacra fames , that sacred hunger , which is so greedy of all that is called sacred ? 24. brand not us , poore clergie-men , with foule and fained aspersions ; delude not the people with false & forged suggestions . e whose legall priviledges , or rights have we invaded , or sought after ? when did we ever desire , or perswade his majestie , to do the least injurie to people , or parliament ? your own conscience clears us in the generall . and your own profession is , that f you cannot but have a better conceit of the major part of the clergie , at this time , that they will not be so tenacious of their wealth and honour , as t● let the crowne run an hazard . if then we will , and have parted with that , which is justly ours , rather then in the least manner we would prejudice the king , or wrong our own consciences ; certainly we cannot perswade the king g to make any ingagement to us , against the laws , and legall rights of others . if any particular person have offended in this kind , we make no apologie for him : upon just proofe let him have a legall censure . this kingdom cannot but take notice , that we have been so far from incroaching upon others , that we have parted with u● own rights , though not with gods. we have deserted all we had , to preserve a good conscience . this is truly cedere jure suo , to part with our own , that we may not faile that trust , which is committed to us . we justifie gods right , and lose our own . 25. we confesse , that h the king is bound to maintain the legall priviledges of people and parliament ; but not so , as to destroy gods rights , or the priviledges of his ministers . that be farre from him . i suum cuique , the true princely justice is , to be just to god and man ; to give god what is his , and impartially to his subjects , what is theirs , as also what truly belongs to them in their severall places and professions . his majestie knows full well , that the liberties of the subject , the priviledges of parliament , and rights of the clergie , have long consisted and prospered together . take away the vine , and the elme will beare no fruit ; take away the elme , and the vine will fall to the ground , and be trod to durt . 26. that k the king hath been alwaies ready to confirme needfull ( not wanton , not malicious , not destructive ) bills , cannot be denyed by any of his impartiall & conscionable subjects . the quarrell raised against him is , because he will not suffer gods inheritance , and the churches patrimony to be devoured ; because he will not endure gods service , and all religion to be trampled on ; because he end eavours to releive his poore people the clergie , against whatsoever greivance they suffer , or threatned to be enforced upon them . the same favour he alwaies hath , and is at this time forward to afford to all his good people , and loyall subjects . yea , even to those , that are neither good , nor loyall . 27. but before i take my leave of your case of conscience , i shall resolve you , what a pious designe you have ventered on , and what a rock you have run your self upon . you will , i hope like the better of it , because it comes from that law , you most delight in . the statute saith , l when a man secular or religious slayeth his prelate ; to whom he oweth faith and obedience , it is treason . if then it be treason to slay the prelate , what sin is it to murder prelacy ? certainly by how much the sin is greater to destroy the species , all mankind , then one particular man ; by so much is the treason more heinous more abominable to kill episcopacy , then any one bishop whatsoever . and yet this you have endeavoured to the utmost of your power . for this i shall leave you to the law , and to those , m whom the king shall send for the punishment of evill doers . pray we therefore for the safety of our soveraigne , and that he may with speed be restored to his throne ; for these times have made us sensible with rabbi chanina , that n were it not for fear of him , alter alterum vivus devoraret , one would devoure another quicke . 28. o thus i think , by this time , i may safely conclude , that it is sufficiently cleared , that neither as a king , nor as a christian , may his majestie in justice , or conscience , ingage himselfe , or yeeld consent either to the extirpation of episcopacy out of this church of england , or to the abrogation of the just priviledges of his clergie , or to the alienation of their lands . since by your confession , p he cannot lawfully make any ingagement to any , against the laws and legall rights of others . and the king is so just ; that he will never do , what he cannot lawfully do . observe the plagues of such men , as are never touched with the miseries of others . they commonly fall under the same judgment , which others unpittied have tasted before . d. corn. burges . fire of the sanct. p. 50. 51. finis . errata . pag. 6. l. 34 melsalinus , r. messalinus . p. 20. l. 34. cardiner r. gardiner . p. 21. l. 33. let , r. set . p. 30. l. 21. perpetull , r perpetuall . p. 31. l 29. cut off . r. cast off p. 33. l. 20 teneatur , r. tenetur ib. l. 23 possit . r. posse . ib. in marg . l 12 quisquis r. quisque p. 34 l. 12. are you of r. you are of . ib l. 16. nation r. nation into ib l. 3● disolate . r. desolate . p. 35 l 29. viii . r. vii . p 38 l ▪ o rives r river . p. 44. l. 7 depends , r. depend . ib. l. 17. obstinentis r. obtinentis . p. 51 in marg . l. 13 concessimo , r. concessimus . p 53. l. nlt. distructive , r. destructive , p. 54. l. 10. not upon , r. not set upon . p 55 l. 25. abolishet , r. abolished . p. 50. l 2. overnor , r. governor . p. 60 l. 21. changing terme , r. changing the terme . ib , l 32. 1. and the ministerial . p. 6● . l. 2. yet r. that p. 83 l ult ttle , r. little . p 84 l. 34. distroied , r destroyed . p. ●●0 . l. penult . regular , r. regulate p. 111. l. 18. the justice , r. the justices . p. 113 l. 17. after , r. alter . p 116. in marg . l. 24. other , r. others , notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28864-e420 a i. d. p. 4. psal . 39. 4. c 2 sam 1● . 9. d psa● 89. 50. e 1. reg. 2. 44. 45. f the fire of the sanctuary p. 22● . g ib. p. 272. h nathan ward p. ●lt . i a● ▪ 8. 23. k ib v. 21. l ib. v. 23. m ib ▪ v. 22. notes for div a28864-e1000 episcopus . notes for div a28864-e1840 a i. g. p. 1. b mr. challenor● speech . c i g p. 1. d s. luk. 1 51. 52. e i● . v. 49. 31. f ex. 18. 21. g ex. 23. 2. h that such an union is ●●n●●p●●si●i●e ●●p●●si●i●e , 〈…〉 the king condescend in the point of episcopacy l. g. p. 1. i for the king to condescend renitente conscientiâ , though it might gratifie us , it would be sinfull to himself . i. g. p. 1. k i. g. p. 1. l the oath taken at the kings coronation hath been prest by some learned pens with that probability , &c. i. g. p. 1. m neither have they that i know , received an● satisfactory answer in print i g p. 1. n it may ●e a work worthy some pains to resolve this case ▪ and clear your obj●ctions , that while they stand unanswered , cast an ill reflect on both upon the king in condescending to abrogate episcopacy , and the parliament , in pressing him to it . i. g p. 1. o the bond of the k●ngs oath may be taken off two waies either by clearing the unlawfulnesse of it i. g. p. 1. p though it be granted , that episcopacy is lawfull ▪ yet notwithstanding that his oath , the king without impeachment may consent to the abrogation of episcopacy i g. p. 2. a it was vinculum iniquitatis , and so void the fi●st day : for qui jurat in iniquum obligatur in contrarium , ● . g p. 1. b i. g. p. 1. c i. g p. 1. d 1 s pet. 2. 13 , 14. e i. g. p. 9. f solemn league and covenant . ● . g. p. 1. h ier. 11. 19. i s. pet 2. 25. * as scripture is the rule of church ▪ government ▪ so christ is the sole root and fountain wh●nce it originally flows i. d. p. 50 k ambr. de dignit sacerd c. 5. l hieron . in mat. 10. 8. m gen●ad apud balsam . p. 1085. n s ioh 20. 21. o hilar in mat. can 10 p cyril in io. l. 12 c. 55. q hieron i● gal. 1. ●9 . r calvin in 1 cor 4. 9. ſ wal ▪ messal . p. 41. t theo in phi. lip . 11. k ignat ad eph. l theodoret ▪ in 1 tim. 3 1. m walo . messal . p ●0 43. n i● p. 53. o timoth●m apostoli munere & officio functus est ib p 42. 52. p ib. p. 47 50. 244. q smect . answ . to the remonst . p. 21. & 26. r epaphroditus by s ●au●●● ●● called the apostle of the p●●lippians , b●caus● h● had sent him to the philippians to confirm their church , and therein to ordain them ●resbyters and bishops walo . messal p. 58. ſ tit. 1. ● . t ephes 4 11. 1 cor. 12 28. x s. luk. 22 19. 1 cor. 11. 24 , 25. y ● joh. 6. 53. z ordinance for ordinat . p 2. a ib. p ▪ 13. b i. g. p. 1. c psal 89 50. d s. jude v. 3 ▪ e i. g p 1. f i. g p 1. g i g. p 2. h i. ● ▪ ● ▪ ● ▪ i ordinance for ordinat . p 2. k i. g. p. 2. l rom. 13. 1. m thou couldst have no power at all , ag●●nst me , except it were given thee from above s. jo. 19. 11. n ier. 20. 2. o ier. 19. 14. p prov. 8. 15. q ier. 26. 23. r ier. 32. 3. ſ 1 reg. 2. 27. 31. t ib. v. 26. u 1 tim. 1. 20. x gal ▪ 1. 9. y 2 tim. 3 ▪ 2. &c. z i. g. p. 1. a ib b act 1. 22. c act ▪ 1. 20. d presbyters are by christs warrant in scripture indued with power to rule in their own congregations , as well as to preach . see 1 tim. 3. 5 & 5. 21. heb. 13. 17 ▪ 1 thes . 5. 12. i g. p. 2. e 1 tim. 3. 5. f 1 tim. 3. 1. g ib. v. 4. h i. d. p. 12● ▪ i 1 tim. 3 ▪ 12 ▪ k 1 tim. 5 ▪ 2● ▪ l heb. 13. 17. m ib n c●nt 6. 3. o episcopus est pres●yt●●is pr●positus cypr ep . 10 p 2 cor ● . 23. philip. 2. 25 ▪ q 1 tim 5. 22. tit ▪ 1. 5. r 2 tim. 3. 5. t it 2. 15. & 3. 10. ſ 1 tim 5. 19. t 1 tim. 1. 3. u tit. 1. 11. x tit. 3. 9. y 1 tim 6. 3. 5. z beza & piscat . in loc . a si qui cum episcōp● non sunt , in ecclesid non sunt ▪ cypr. ep . 69 ▪ n. 31. b 1 thes . 5. ●2 . c hilar. dial. rom. in loc . apud ambros . d theodoret ▪ in 1 ●he● . 5. 12. e calvin in loc . f caluin i●stit . ● . ● . c. 3. sect. 15. g as prelacy stood in ●ngl●nd , the presbyters were ●x●●●●ed from all soc●●tie in rule . i. g p. 2. h which was much more preiudiciall to the dignity & lioerty of the ministery , the presbyters w●re subiected to a lay chancelor . i. g. p. 2. i the clergie & their priviledge● are subiect to the parliament . i. g. p. 7. k greg naz. orat . 52. ● 15. l an● was not here ●●urpation against gods direction ? i. g. p. 2. m i. g. p. 6. n though this way o● i●validating the k●●gs oath be most satisfactory to some , i. g. p. 2. o 1 tim. 6. 5. p 1 tim ● 8. q gen. no●e in loc . r yet to those that are not onvin●ed of the unlawfulnesse of ep●scopacy , it will not hol● . i. g. p. ● z it would cast the res●lution of th●s ●ou●t a●out the oa●h , upon another qu●stion touc●●●g the l●wfulnesse of episcopac● , which is a lar●er feild . i. g p. 2. a i. g. p. 1. 2. b i sh●ll endeav●u● to shew , that though for argument s●ke , it be grant●● , that episcopacy●e ●e lawfull i g. p 2. c i. g. p. 2. d i. g. p. 2. e 1. s. joh. 3 20. f ier , 35. 6 , 7. g ib. v. 8. h ib. v. 19. i calvin in amos 7. 13. k aug. ep . 180. l nunc malori libertate & fiduciâ veritatem profitemur : ne al●oqui per ●miditatem hâc poenâ mulctemur , ut deo minimè placeamus greg. naz. orat. 35 n. 2. m the protestation . n art 36. o viii elis . 1. p xiii . elis . ●2 . q act. 4. 12. r rom. 10. 17. ſ s. joh. ● . 53. t artic. 26. u rom. 10. 15. x gal 1. 1. y act. 1. 26. z s. mat. 28. 19. a com : prayer book , at the communion . b s ioh. 20. 21. c s. matt. 10. 8. d act 14. 4. 14. e 2 tim 1. 6. f rom. 10 , 15. g heb. 5. 4. h exod. 28. 41. exod. 29. 9. &c. i levit. 8. 12. k psal . 99. 6. l ier. 6. 16. m zanch. n i. d. p 11. o hug. grotius de jure belli . l. 1. c. 4. sect. 5. & 7. p statim posttempora apostolorum , aut etiam eorum tempore , constitutum est , ut in unâ uroe unus inter caeteros presbyteros episcopus vocaretur , qui in suos collegat hateret pr●●minentiam pet. molin de munere past . p. 20 21. q zanch. de verâ reformand● eccles ratione . thes . 5. r ib. thes . 7. sect. pono . ſ jurisdictionem ●otsm , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reddo episconis . melane . ad ioach. carner ●1 ep . 99. t io. u io. ep 104. x ib. y ib. ep . 106. z ib. a ib. b i. d. passim . c i. d. pre●at . sect. the imputation . d ib. e p. melane . apo● . confes . aug cap. de ord eccles . f politiam canonicam non reprehendimus . ●b . c. de ●otest eccles . g ib. de ord . eccl. h ib. de potest . eccles . i veteres ho● saepe habent , non differte aliâre ab episcopo presbyterum , nisi quia ordinandi potestatem non habet . calv. instit . l 4. sect. 15. k epipha . haer . 75. l vbi distingui ordines & gra●us caepti sunt , atque episcop 〈…〉 exit it pr●●ly 〈…〉 , tum ordinatio non potuit esse utriusque commnois . wal. messal p. 299. m s luk 16. 13. n qui apostoli vocabantur duo rum generum fuere , primi & secundi . primi à christo missioné suam acceperunt , immediatè ab ipso missi secundi ab ipsis aposto lis walo messal . p 4● . o ephes 3. 5. apoc. 18. 20 p ● cor 11. 5. &c. ●2 . 11 q phil. 2 25. r ● cor. 8. 23. ſ gal. 1. 1. t walo messal . p. 40. 41. 43. &c. u ib. p. 38. x eph 4. 12. y ib. v. z col. 1. 24. a s mat. 28. 20. b i. d. p. 14. 32. 168. c calv. in ep . ded. ad edvard ▪ somerseti ducem . d 1 tim 3. 15. e 1 tim. o. 13. 14. f calvin arg in 1. & 2. ad tim. g beza in 1 tim. 3. 14. h walo messal . p. 4● . i calvin . in 1 tim. 1. 3. k tit. 1. 5. l ib. m ad philippenses eum misit , ad ecclesi●m eorum confirm and am , & constituendos in eâ presbyteros & episcopos . walo messal . p. 58. n chrysost . in philip. 1. 1. o i. g. p. 2. p i. g. p. 1. q ib : r ie● . 4 2. ſ hoc jus ipsum postulat , quo quisque tenetur . zanch. in 3 praecept . de juramento . thes 3. sect. actionem . t ib , sect. quid fit . u ib. thes 6. sect. quid. sit . x philo iud de special . leg ● 1. y quid i●●â caecitate tenebrosius , ad obtinendam inanissimam gloriam , errorem hominis aucupari , & deum testē in corde contemnere ? quasi verò ullo modo comparan●u● sit error illius , qui te bonum putat eirori tuo qui homini de 〈◊〉 bono placere stu●●s , de 〈…〉 displices deo aug. in gal c. 6. z gravius est peccatum , facere contra publicum s●●enne jusju andum , quàm contra privatum . zanch. in 3 praecept . thes . 4 sect. actionem . a jer. 4. 2. b omnino juramentum quisquis suum . sine ullo prorsus dot● , aut de●raudatione , ●u●● gentium legeque dei , ipsis etiam hostibus , & latronibus fervare teneatur : eosque à nemine hominum ta●i i●r●méto lib rari possit . zanch in 3 , praecept . thes . 6. c gen. 39. 9. d levit. 19. 12. e s. matth. 5. 33. f exod. 20. 7. g mal. 3. 5. h s. isa . 5. 12. i zech. 8. 17. k levit. 19. 12. l hos 4. 2. 3. m zech. 5. 4. n ecclus. 23. 11. o 2 chron , 6. 13. p 2 reg. 25. 6. 7. q zanch. in 3. praecept de juramento thes . 6. sect. prima igitur . r nihil judicandus est dicere , qui dicit aliquae iustae esse mendacia , nisi aliqua iusta esse peccata , ac per hoc aliqua iusta esse , quae iniusta sunt . quo quid ab surdius dici potest ? aug. cont . mend . c. 15. i g. p. 7. t i. g. p. 8. u es 49. 23. x num. 16. 41. y sam. 12. 14. reg. 〈…〉 &c ▪ a concil . chalced . can . 25. b c. 5. c ministris carere non potest ecclesia , qui externas res administrent , ver●um & sacramenta . zanc. in 4. praecept . de minist eccles . 9. 1. sect ontavo . d act. 19. e ● . joh. 3. 9. f s. ioh. 6. 53. g neque vel solis lumen ac calor , velcibus ac potus tam sun ▪ prae send v●tae foven dae ac sustinendae necessari● , quam est conserv●ndae 〈…〉 rris ecclesiae postolicum , ac 〈…〉 storale munus . calvin . instit . l. 4. ▪ 3 , sect. 2. h cypr. ep . 99. n. 31. i ib. k i. g. p. 7. ib. ● m i propose to consideration , whether the in tention of this oath be not only against a ty●●nnous invasion on the rights of the clergie : not against an o●derly alteration of them , if any prove inconvenient , and to protect them against violence , not against ●egall wayes of change . i. g. p. 7. n aug. ep . 225. o aug ep . 224. p c. quacunque 22. quaest . 5. q euseb hist . l 6. c. 31. r iren. l. 4. c. 53. ſ sulpit. sever. hist . l. 2. t hierom. ep . 65. c. 1. u perjurare fidem , mentiri , nobile factum : prodere vel dominos , actio digna viris . rog. hove . in r. steph. p. 485 x i. g. p ▪ 8. 9. y sir ed : coke in litleton ▪ ● . 2. sect. 138. z this is as much , a 〈…〉 rationall for a king to underta●● & th r● . f 〈…〉 in ●●g●● reason the oat● should have no other ●●n●e i g p. 7. a this oath to the clergie , must not be intended in a sense inconsistent with the kings oath to the people , first taken for their protection in their laws , and liberties . i. g. p 7. b s. mat. 22. 21. c rom 13 7. d ib. v. 1. e lex divina sicut deo●●rtur ●●rtur , ita à solo also tolli , aut abroga●i po●est lex autem human● sicut per hominem con●tituitur , ita ab homine tolls , aut abroga●i potest . franc. à v●ctor . relect 3 n 16. f tho. 1. 2● . ● . 96. 4. g tho. ib. h i ▪ b. i gul. ockam de jurisdic . in causis matrimon . k fitzherbert . nat . brev . tit . protection . p. 28. l gal. 1. 10. m rom. 13. 4. n for then the latter oath would be a present breach of the former , and so unlawfull . i. g. p. 7. o ib. p eccles . 8. 4. q ib. v. 3. r lex terrae . p. 14 & 15. ſ eccles . 8. 2. t gen. note in loc . u 1 i●c . 1. x lexterrae , p. 29 y i d. p. 33. z i. g. p. 6. a ib. b deut 25. 2. exod. 23. 2. d num. 32. 23. e iosh . 7. 18. f ib. v. 21. g iosh . 6. 19. h gen. 4. 7. i exod. 23. 2. k levit. 5. 17. l ib. v , 19. m ib. v. 15. 16. n ib. v 15. o rom. 2. 22. p 1 reg 12. 31. q 2 chron. 11. 13. 14. r 1 reg. 13. 33. ſ 1 tim. 3. 2. t tit. 1. 9. u 2 s. pet. 3. 16. x s. mat 15. 14. y bp. la●yme● ser. 5 before k. edw : vi. z sir edw : coke reports , 2d . part . levesque de winchesters case . fol. 44. a i. g. p. 7. b ib. c the kings oath taken at coronation i. g. p 1. d the kings oath to the people , first taken for their protection ▪ &c. i ▪ g. p. 7. e mag. charta ●● these words are added to avoid all scruples that this great parliamentary charter might live , and take effect in all successions of age● for ever . sir ed coke in loc . g sir edw coke proeme to magna charta . h ib. i ib. k sir ed coke in mag. chart c. 1. l mag cha c. 14. m ib. c. 1. n sir ed. coke in mag. chart. c. 1 ▪ sect. et habe . bunt . o sir ed. coke in litleton l. 2 , sect. 201. p ib. in sect. 136 q ib. in sect. 201. r nullu● ali●● praeter regem potest episcopo demandare inquisitionem ●●ciendā . bract. l. ● . 10● . ſ sir ed. coke in mag chart c. 1. sect e● habeat . t sir ed coke instit part l 4 c 1. sect o● what persons . u mag. cha. c 38. x sir ed coke proeme in mag. chart. y he cannot afterwards in●age himsel● to any particular estate to exempt it fr● this power : for by that oath at least cessit ●●re suo i g p ▪ 3 z conce●●imo deo , quod ecclesi● a●glicana libera ●it mag. cha. c. 1. a sir ed. coke proem . in mag. chart. b i. g. p. 7. c 1 s. pet. 2. 13. 14. d lex terrae . p. 8. e ib. 7. f i hope they will not now claim an exemption from secular power . i. g. p. 7. g 2 cor. 13. 10. h es . 49. 23. i meaning , that kings converted to the gospel , shall bestow their power and authoritie , for the preservation of the church gen note in is . 49. 23. k but if the● be under parliamentary power , how can it ●ationally be conceived to be th 〈…〉 meaning of the kings oath to pr●s●rve the privi●edges of the c●er●● against that power to which they are legally subject ? i. g. p. 7. l canons eccles . ●an . 1. m 1 eliz. 1. n ib. o can eccles . can . 2. p 1 eliz 1. q or how were the oath in that sens● consistent with the p●ivil●●●e of the nation ▪ formerly ●●orn to ●y the king. i. g. p. 8. r thou shalt count the priests holy , and reverence them . gen. note in levit. 21. 8. ſ if the oath had such a sense in the times of popery , when the clergy were a distinct corporation , yet when that exemption was abolisht , as a branch of antichristian usurpation , the change of their condition must needs change the intention of the oath . i. g p. 8. z b● . latymers serm. before k. edw. vi. march 8 ▪ 1549. a ecclesia est infra aetatem , & in custodiâ domini regis , qui tenetur jura & haereditates suas manu tenere , & defendere . sir ed : coke in mag , chart. c 1 b ib. c vnlesse they will say , that the crown stands still ingaged to them , to maintain such priviledge● , as by act of parliament were long since abolisht : which is to make his oath to them contariant to that taken before , for the maintenance of the laws . i. g. p. 3. d gen. 41. 4 ▪ e it ▪ s apparent then , to make the intention of the oath to be against legall alteration of their priviledges by parliamēt , makes it unlawfull , and so not obligatory . and if it be not intended against legall alteration , the king may passe a bill for the abolition of episcopacy when his houses of parliament think it convenient , and petition for it , without violation of his oath ▪ i. g. p. 8. g i. g. p. 9. h ib. p. 7. i ib. p. 5. k he that hath power to consent hath power also to dissent . l 1 cor. 7. 37. m lex terrae , p. 14 , 15. n i. g. p. 2. o ib. p ib. q prov. 8. 15. cujus iussu nascuntur homines , huius iussu & reges constituuntur . iren. l. 5. p. 601. r 2 chron. 9 ▪ 8. ſ ib. t i. g. p. 2. u rom. 13. 4. x ib. y 1 s. pet. 2. 13 , 14 z magistratibus ex animo de●erendus est honor , 〈…〉 etiam tyrannis . beza in act. 23. 5 a psal . 51. 4. b i. g. p. 2. c ib. d the king is sworn to maintain the laws of the land in force at his coronation yet no man questions , & the constant practise shews , that it is not unlawfull after to abrogateany upon the motion , or with the consent of his parliament . i. g p. 2 * declarat . of the kingd . of scotland . p. 22. e eccles 8. 4. f ib. g lex terrae , p. 19 h sir ed. coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 164. i i. g. p. 8. k ib. p. 2. l sir ed : coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 164. m 1 s pet. 2. 13. n rom. 13. 4. o gen. 41. 40. p ib. v , 43. 44. q ib. v. 40. r gen 45. 9. ſ ib. v ▪ 8. t ib. v ▪ 19 ▪ & 21. u lex terrae , p. 27 x 1 s. pet. 2 ▪ 13 , 14. y i. g. p. 2. z ib. a prov. 24. 24. b 2 cor. 10. 8. c s. matth. 26. ● . d christ is the head of his body , the church . col. 1. 18. 24. e s. joh. 12. 6. f rom. 11. 13. g 1 cor 9. 1. &c. 2 cor. 10 4 &c. 2 cor. 11. 7. 8. h i. g. p. 4. i ib. p. 4. 5. k ib. p. 4. l ib. m i. g. p. 2. n i. g. p. 2. o iust●s est animus qui scientia atque ratione , in vitâ ac moribus ▪ sua cui . que distribuit . aug. de trin ▪ l. 8. c. 6. p rom. 13. 7. q ea , quae contra legem dei fiunt , ju●ta esse non poss●nt . ●ug cont mendac . c. 15. r i. g p. 5. ſ i. g. p. 2. t sir ed. coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 164. u lex terrae , p. 15 x it is no statute , if the king assent not to it : and he may disassent . lex terrae p. 7. y 1 cor. 12. 13. z ib. v. 14. a ib. v. 19. b ib. v. 21. c ib. v. 22. d ib. v. 25. e 1 cor. 13. 5. f aug. in reg. 3. g the ancient rights , laws , and liberties , are the birthright of the subiects of this land. declarat . parl. july 12. p. 458. h 1 cor. 4 1. i i. g. p 2. k i. g p. 3. l this distinction of the clergie from the laity , that they should be a distinct province of themselves , being a branch of popery , s with it quite extinguisht . i. g. p. 3. m es 49. 23. n psal . 83 5. &c. o isa . 3. 14. p ib. q gen. note in loc . r isa . 54. 15. ſ gen. note in loc . t heb. do . 31. u i. g ▪ p 3. x thou which teachest another , teachest thou not thy self ? thou , that preachest , a man should not steal , doest thou steal ? rom. 2. 21. y tit. 3. 1. z rom. 11. 1. a act. 22. 25. b gal. 1. 1. c 1 cor. 4. 1. and 9. 4. 5. 1● . d act. 22. 26. 29● . rom. 11. 13. act. 25. 10. g s. matt. 22. 42. &c. s. m at . 17 27. s. ioh. 19. 10. 11 k iud. 21. 25. l 8 eliz. 1. m i. g. p. 3. n numb . 3. 12. & 18. 6. o heb. 5. 1. p occumen . in loc . q i. g. p. 3. r ib. p. 8. ſ moses tribum levi , à communione populi segregavit . joseph . antiq. l. 3 c. 13. t deut. 10. 8. num. 16. 9. u num. 1. 47. 49. num ● . 33. &c. x num. 3. 12. y num. 1. 51. z gen. 47. 20 22. a vndoubtedly that privilege was abolisht , that any society should be exempt from secular power : for that were to set up supremacies● g p. 3. b ib. p. 9. c tertul ad scap. c. 2. d bracton . temps h. 3. l. 4. c. 24. sect. 5. sir ed● : coke in litleton la. sect. 140. e 3. ed. 3. 19. f sir ed. coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 136. g ib. h cod. asric . can . 59. i 1 tim. 5. 1● . k ib. v. 20. tit. 1. 13. l 1 tim. 6. 3 , 4. 5. m beza & piscat . in loc . n 2 tim. 3. 2. &c. o tit. 3. 10 ▪ p piscat . in loc . q sir ed. coke in litletop , l. 2. sect. 136. r ib. ſ ib. sect. 201. t and why may not the great revenues of the bishops b● divided , to maintain a preaching minister● ▪ and their iurisdiction also , for the better over sight and censure of manners ? i. g. p. ● . u cyp ep . 27. n. 1 x quod non peri●●ium metuere debemus , 1 de ●ffenlâ domini , quando aliqui de presbyteris 2 ●ec evangelii , 3 ●ec loci sui memores , 4 sed neque suturum domini judicium , neque nunc sibi praepositum episcopum cogitantes , quod nu●quam omnino sub antecessoribus factum est , cum contemptu & contume●ià praepositi totum sibi vendicent ? atque utinam non 5 prostratâ fratrum nostrorum salute sibi omnia vindicarent cyrp ep . 10. y ignat ad philadelph p 91. z gen. 14. 10. a gen. 47 22. b ib. & v. 26. c ezra 7. 24. d 1 mac. 10. 65. e ib. v. 62. f ib v. 63. g ib. v. 89. h ib v. 63. i heb. 7. 1. k ecclus 45. 20. l exod. 28. 2. m ecclus. 45. 7. n ex. 28. 36. 37. o ecclus. ●5 . 12. p philo iud. de vitâ mosis . q ib. r es . 61 6. s● soli episcopi & presbyteri propri● jam vocantur in ecclesiâ sacerdotes . aug. de civit . dei. l. 10. c. 10. t psal . 45. 17. u rom. 3 4. x s. mat. 10 40. s. luk. 10. 16. y gal. 4. 14. z ib. v ▪ 15. a act. 28. 27. 10. b s. ioh. 13. 20. c act. 14. 20. d 1 tim. 5. 17. e primas . in 1 th ● . ● 23 f 2 cor 7. 15. g theod. in loc . h philip. 2. 29. i ruffin hist . l. 9. c. 10. k theod. hist . l 1. c. 11. l euseb . de vi●â constant . mag. l 1. c. 33. m gelas . cyzie . l. 1. c. 37. n ruffin . hist . l 9. c. 10. o euseb de vitâ constant . m. l 4. c. 27. p theodoret. hist . l. 1. c. 2. q euseb . de vitâ constant m. l. 1. c. 35. r ius graeco-rom●tom . 2. lib. leonis & constant tit. 3. n 8. ſ 2 reg. ● . 12. &c. 13. 14. t gen note in 2 reg. 13. 14. u ib. x immunities arising from the error of the times , not the tenure of scripture . i. g. p 4. y one of the privileges of the clergie was for the bishops to sit and vote in the house of peers . yet that is abolish● as incongruous to their calling i. g. p. 4. z lex terrae p. 14 a sir ed. coke in litleton , l 2. sect. 138. b omne factum , si rectè factum non est , peccatum est , nec rectè factum esse ullo modo potest , quod non à rectâ ratione proficiscitur . aug. de util . credendi . c. 12. c gu●d . pancirol . de magistrat ▪ municipal . c. 2. d ib. c. ● . e ●useb . de vitâ constant . m. l. 1. c 33 f psal . 45. 17. g psal . ●9 ● . h exod. 18. 14. 17. &c. i 2. reg. 12. 2. k iustice ienkins inconven . p. 4. l ib. m ib. n ib. p. 5. o exod. 25. 10. p sit ed. coke instit . part 4. c 1. sect. of what persons . q mag , charta . c. 38. r s. mat. 10. 12. ſ rom. 12. 14. t gal. 1. 10. u ib. x rom. 6. 16. y s. mat. 25. 30. z defensionem ecclesiae anglic●●ae , that is gone . just ienkins inconven . p. 5. a sir ed coke instit . part 4. c. 1. sect. the matters . b iustice ienkins inconvenien p. 5. c ib. p. 4. d 1 chron. 13. 1. e ib. v. 7. f 2 sam. 67. vzzah died before the ark , for usurping that , which did ▪ not appertain to his vocation● for this charge was given to the priests , gen. note in 1 chron 13 10. g mai. 2 7. h numb . 4 15. i 1 chron. 15. 13. k ib. l ib. m 1 chron. 15. 2. n ib. v. 13. o ib. ● . 12. p ib. v. 1● . q num. 4. 15. r 1 chron. 15. 26. ſ 1 chron. 17. 1. t sir id coke inssit . part . 4. c. 1. sect. the matters . u ib. x iust . ienkins inconven . p 5 ▪ y iust ienkins inconven . p ● . instit . ●●● . 4 ▪ c 1. sect of what persons ▪ z sir ed. coke ib. a 1. cor. 12. 22. 23 b 1 s. p●● . 2 ▪ 21. c lex terrae p. 14 d sir ed coke instit . part . ● c. 1. sect. of what persons . f beda eccles ▪ hist l. 3. c. 7. g bafil . m. ●p . ●1 . h rog. hoveden . in hen. ● . p ▪ 601. i confer . at hampt . court p. 36. & 82. k 2 reg. 13. 14. l 1 tim. 2 : 1. m occumen . in ioc. n ●4 ed. 1 c. 1. & 14. ed. 3. c. 1. o hos . 5. 0 p gen. note in ioc. q hos . 5. 10. r and then why may not the removall of their ecclesiasticall iurisdiction be consented to , as well , if it prove inconvenient & prejudiciall to the church . i. g. p. 4. ſ the abolition of the one , is no more against the oath then of the other . i. g. p. 4. t i. g. p. 4. u in all which respects the oath was invalid ▪ being vinculum iniquitatis . i. g. p. 4. x ib. p. 1. y ib. p. 3. z ib. p. 4. a ib. b ib. c act. 8. 23. d i. g. p 4. e ib. f s mat 19 ▪ 2● . g i. g. p. 4. h ib. i ib. k ib. l ib. m ib. n ib. o ib. p. 6. p haereticus est , ut mea fe●t opinio , qui alicuius temporalis commodi & maximè gloriae principatusque sui gratiâ , falsas ac novas opiniones vel gignit , vel sequitur . aug deutil ▪ credend . c. 1. q i. g. p. ● . r ib. ſ princeps supra legem divinam non est , positailla quippe ab eo est , qui supra ipsum est : neque supra naturalem , quae aboleri non potest nisi cum naturâ ipsâ . io. be daeus de jure regio c. 2. t lex terrae p. 29. u 8. joh. 15. 20 x i. g. p. 5. * all kings by the royall office , and oath of coronation , are obliged to protect their laws and subjects . declarat of the kingd . of scotland . p. 20 y i. d. p. 6. z calv. lex jutid . in verbo ius . a i. g. p. 2. b ingagements to a societie to maintain their rights , indulged for the personall worth of present incumbents , or to promote the usefulnesse of the office : if in their matters they prove prejudiciall to the office , or the succeeding officers by their ill demeanour forfeit them , their ingagement becomes alterable . i g p. 5. c 1 reg 2. 27. d ib. v. ●5 . e gen. ●8 . 25 26. f lactan. instit . l. 6. c. 9. g vbi iusticia ve ra non est , nec ius potest esse . quod enim iure fit , iustè sit . quod autem fi●imustè , nec ●●re fieri potest . aug. de civit . dei. l. 19. c. 21. r see c. 13. sect 13. ſ aug. de civit. dei. l. 2. c. 21. t aug de civit . dei l 2. c. 21. u ib. x aug. ib. l. 19. c. 21. y i. g. p. 5. z of the later sort , is this ingagement to the english clergy . ib. a ezra 6 8 , 9. b ib. v. 11. 12. c ezra 7. 15 , 16. d ib. v. 24. e ib. v. 26. f ezra 1. 8. g ezra 7. 6. h ib. i i. g. p. 5. k cap. 4. 5. l act. 1. 25. m ib. v. 20. n there 's no injustice done to make a law to overrule or alter this ingagement . i. g. p. 5. ●1 sam. 2. 12. 22. p there 's no question of power in the parliament , to overrule it . i. g. p. 5. q 1 reg. 21. 13. 16 r the ingagement were gone in law , though not in equity . the order would be valid in law , though injurious . i. g. p. 5. ſ ib. t ib. u aug. in psal . 145. 6. x tho. 2. 2● . q. 57. 1. 2m . y i. d. p. 6. z aug. in psal . ●45 . 6. a ib. b the kings oath is against acting or suffering a tyrannous invasion on laws and rights , not against a parliamentary alt●ration . i. g ▪ p. 2 c so if there be no injury , the king and parliament may cancel any obligation . i. g p. 5. d ib. e ib. f where there is forfeiture by miscarriage , or the privilege indulged to a ministery , proves preiudiciall : the abrogation will be just . ib. g 1 cor. 9. 7. h ib. v. 11. & rom. 15. 27. i if we have sowen unto you spirituall things , is it a great thing , if we shall reap ▪ your carnall things ? 1 cor. 9. 11. k act. 20 34. & 1 thes . 2. 9. 2 thes . 3. 8. l 2 cor. 11. 8. m 1 cor. 9. 4. n 2 thes . 3. 9. o 2 cor. 12. 13. p the privilege indulged to a ministery ( which ought to hold nothing but for publick good ) proves predudiciall . i. g. p. 5. q ● . d. p. 114. &c. r mag ▪ char. c. 1. ſ rog hoveden in hen. 2. p. 601. t ib. u prefat . de non temerand . eccles . x i hope , they will not be so tenacious of their wealth and honor , as to let the crown run an hazard , rather then lay down their miters , and indanger the whole land to be brought to nothing , rather then themselves to moderation i g. p. 5. a in cod. edgar● apud selden . in notis . ad eadmer . p 159. n. 10. b ersi abbas , vel fratrum aliquis , incitante daemone , reatus quippiam contraxerit ; quia deus , qui hanc privilegii largifluam donationem locumque cum universâ monachorum familiâ , ruraque omnia sa●io subiecta coenobio possidet , nunquam rea●um commisit , nec ullo unquam tempore committet . sit igitur prae●ata libertas aet●rn● , quia deus libertatis possessor aeternus est . ib. c act ▪ 1. 20. y take it at the worst , it is but for the king to get the clergies consent i. g. p. 5. z no injurie done to him , that consents . a jonah 1. 12. b ambros . orat . in auxent . de basil . tradend . ep . l 5. c tradere bafilicam non possum , sed pugnare non debeo . ambros , ep . 33. d ambros . orat . in auxent . de basil . tradend . e act. 5. 1. &c. f ib. v. 4. g s. mat. 22. 21. h s. luk. 23. 33. i i. g. p. 6. k ib. l s. luk. 10. 30. m to abolish prelacy , and seize the revenues of prelates , to private , or civill interest , undoubtedly could neither want stain , nor guilt , such kind of impropriation as happened in the dayes of h. 8. was cried out of , all the christian world over . i. g. p. 6. n ib. o who knows not the great defect amongst us , of congruous maintenance for ▪ parcchiali pastors , by whom the work of the ministery is chiefly to be performed , i. g. p. 6. p c. 4. & 5. q if those large revenues of the prelates were diverted ●o supply with sufficient maintenance all the defective parishes in england , there would ●e no danger of sacrileg● i. g. p. 6. * numb . 16. 38. r levit. 27. 28. ſ gen. note in levit. 27. 2● . t caiet , in levit. 27. 28. u jos . 7. 25. x ib. v. 11. y i. g. p. 6. z euseb . hist . l. 1. c. 35. sozom l 1. c. 8. a euseb . hist . l. 7. c. 24. b cypr ep 56. 36 60. 61. c mat westminst . an dom 187. d possed , de vitâ . august c 1. e aug ep . 225. f aug. ep . 224. g possid . de vitâ august . c. 23. h ib c. 24. i ib. c. 25. concil . antioch . can . 25. k cypr. ep . 38. & concil . chalced. can . 26. * concil . anti. och . can . 25. l concil . ancyr . can . 15. m act. 4. 34. 35. 37. & 5. ● . n act 6. 3. o ib. p 1 tim. 5. 17. q 2 cor. 1● . 14. r 2 tim 2. 2. ſ 1 tim. 1. 3. t 1 tim. 6. 3. 5. u 1 cor. 5. 11. x 2 joh. 10. y possid . de virâ august , c. 25. z i. g. p. 6. a ib. b prefat . de non temerand . eccles . c i. g p. 5. d i. g. p. 6. e ib. f deut. 23. 18. g theod. hist . l. 3. c. 11. h ignat. ad rom. p. 250. hieron . damas . ep . 57. 58. basil . m. ep . 292. cypr. ep . 3 n. 6. & ep . 38. n. 3. i concil . antioch can . 9. 19. christ . justellus in cod . eccles . univer . can . 88. k tit. 1. 5. l that , by , or for which , any thing is made so , is more so . m solemn league and coven . n. 4. n i. g. p. 9. o sol. league & coven . n. 2. p i. d. q tit. 1. 5. r cypr. ep . 37. n. 1. ſ ephes . 2. 20. t cypr. ep . 65. n. 3. u prov. 28. 24. x concil . chalced . can 25. y a work , for which following generations should not need to pity the king , as put upon it by misfortune : but rise up , and call him blessed , whose many other disasters ended in so good , and so usefull a work . i. g. p 6. z 1 sam. 15. 24. a ib. ● . 26. b you see the ingagement put upon the king , is but to his power : as every good king ought inright to protect and defend the bishops & churches under their government . i. g p 8 c isa . 40. 22 d i answer from the expressions in the oath it self , a● they are set down by the same author . i. g. p. 8. e sir ed. coke proem . in mag. chart. f psal . 80. 13. g ib. v. 25. h such power is no further , then he can do it , without sinning against god , and being injurious to the rest of his people . i. g. p. 8. i rom. 13. 1. 4. k when he hath interposed his authority for them , and put forth all the power he hath to preserve them : he hath gone to the extent of his power , and as far as good kings are bound in right . i. g. p. 8. l confer . at hampt . court. p. 36. m s. mat. 27. 4. n if after all this he must let them fall , or support them with the blood of his good subjects . i. g. p. 8. o and those unwilling too , to ingage their liues for the other privileges . i. g. p. 8. p jud. 3. 9. q nehem. 6. 17. 18. 19. r 1 cor. 9. 11. ſ iud. 17. 7. t ib. v. 10. u mag. charta c. 37. x i. g. p. 6. ● y 25. ed. 3. * concil . chalced . can . 24. z statut. de provisor . 25. ed. 3. a stat. of the clergy . 14. ed. 3. 1 b mag. charta . c. 37. c ib. d i. g. p. 8. e that were to be cruel to many thousand , to be indulgent to a few , i. g. p. 8. f i. g. p. 8. g i think , none will affirm it . i. g. p. 9. h mag. charta , c. 37. 38. i sir ed coke in litleton . l. 2. sect. 139. k sir ed coke in mag. chart. c. 1. l statute of armour . 7. ed. 1. & 1. eliz. 3. m such is the case with the king in this particular . i. g. p. 9. n i. g. p. 9. o if the king should be peremptory in deniall , what help would this be to them ? such peremptorinesse in this circumstance might in danger his crown , not save their mitres . i. g. p. 9. p s mat. 10. 28. q hebr. 10. 31. r vsque adeò peccatum voluntarium malum est , ut nullo modo sit peccatum , si non sit voluntarium . aug. de vera relig c. 14. ſ deut. 22 26. t ib. v. 25. t though it be in his power to deny assent to their abolition , in a naturall sense , because voluntas nonpotest cog● ; yet it is not in his power in a morall sense , because he cannot now deny consent without sin . i. g. p. 9. u aug. de fide cont , manish c. 9. x hoc habemus in potestate , quod cum volumus , possumus . aug. cont maximin . l. 3. c. 14. * far are we from taking away his negative voice . exact collect , of remonst , & declarat , p. 727. x i. g. p. 9. y rom. 4. 15. * declarat . of the kingd . of scotland . p. 19. z lexterrae . p. 14. a ib , p. 29. b i hope they will not be so tenacious of their wealth and honour , as to let the crown run an hazard , and indanger the whole land. i. g. p. 5 , c that the revenues be divided to maintain a preaching ministery . i g. p. 4. d num. 16. 2. c num. 16 , 16. 17. 35. f ib. v 2. g ib. v. 3. h ib. v. 7. i ib. v. 9. 10. k ib. v. 40. l ib. v. 42. m ib. v. 41. n ib. v. 49. o numb . 7 8. p ib. v. 10. q psal . 54 7. r ib. v. 8. ſ that was to set up t●o supremacies . i , g. p. 3. t i. g. p. 9. u 3 eliz. 9. &c. x that the supremum jus dominii , even that , which is above all laws , is in the king , which , under favour , i conceive , in our state is a manifest error . i. g. p. 9. y i. g. p. 9. z rex non parē habet in regno suo . bract. temps . el. 3. l. 4. c. 24. sect. 5. a 1. s. pet 2. 13. 14. b tertul. ad scap. c. 2. c tertul. apol. c. 30. d optat. l. 3. e 16. rich. 2. 5. f 24. hen. 8. 12. & 1. eliz. 1. g 1. eliz. 1. h chrysost . theodoret . theophilact . occum . in rom. 13. 1. i act. 25. 10. k ib. v. 11. l act. 26. 32. m hug grot. de jure belli l. 1 c. 3. sect 7. n atnob . in psal . 51. 4. o eccles . 8. 4. p psal 51. 4. q instit . of a christ man fol 86. the supreme and soveraigne prince hath none between him and god , representing the person of god , executing his office , and in this respect bearing his name : to whom onely he is accountable dr. corn burgesse , fire of the sanct. p. 263. r rex solus , omnium subditorū , tam laicorum , quam ecclesiasticorum , in suis ditionibus supremus est dominus commo fact . & postulat ●●g . cogni p 38 ſ arnob. in psal . 51. 4 t 24. hen. 8. 12. & 1 eliz. 1. u sir rob. cotton . p 5. x 1. eliz. 3. y 16. ri● . 2. 5. z 1. eliz. 1. b sir ed coke instit . l 4. c 1. sect. the severall forms c i. g. p. 8. d rot. clausa . an. 59. hen. 3. e sir rob cotton , p. 3 , f sir ed. coke in litleton , l 2 sect. 164. g sir rob. cotton p. 8. h i. g. p. 9. i rot. claus . an. 59. hen. 3. k speed in ric. 2 , c. 13. n. 102. l sir ed. coke in sti●l 4 c. ● . sect how parliaments succeed . m 12. ed. 4. 3. & 2. men. 5. 6. 9 ▪ n 13 eliz. 2 ▪ & 27. eliz 17. o sir fd. coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 140. p praesumitur rex habere omnia jurain scrinio pectoris sui . ib. q i. g. p. 9. q the houses of parliament without the king cannot enact any laws . declarat ▪ of the kingd . of scotland p 19. r bract. temps . h. 3. l. 4. c. 24. sect. 1. ſ ●lowd ▪ 234. 242. t bract ib. u ib. x lex . terrae : p. 4. y bract. temps . h. 3. l. 4. c. 24. sect. 5. z ib. a 3 ed. 3. 19. b lex terrae p. 7. c nee regna socium ferre nec tedae queunt . d sir ed coke reports , part . 2. magd. college case . e i. g. p. 9. f sir rob. cotton . p 1. g ib. h sir ed coke in litleton , l 2. sect. 164. i sir rob. cotton p. 8. k ib. p. 9. l ib p. 11. m sir ed coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 164. n sir rob. cotton p , 3. o ib. p the supremum jus dominis , that is over all laws , to make or disanull them at pleasure , is neither in the king , nor in the houses aparti but in both conjoyned . i. g. p. 9. q in his proclamation before the book of common prayer . r illud exploratissimum est , leges patrias aut mutare , aut ad earum obsequium sese non accommoda ▪ re , negotium semper cum periculo fuisse conjuncti●simum . smith , de repub. anglorum l. 1. c. 5. ſ psal . 80. 5. 6. t i. g. p. 9. u ib. x potentia sequi debet ●u●●ti●m , no● praeire augde trin l. ●● . c. 13. y the forms or acts of parliament sometimes beein with concessimus , or statuit rex and of latter times laws and statutes begin , as deinz enacted by the king , &c declarat . of the kingd of scot and , p. 19. * nat brev. tit . pro●ection fol 28 z p●u●imum ●acit ad populum corrigendum multorum in unâ re sententia atque consensus . hieron . in gal. 1. 2. a sir ed : coke in mag chart. c. 1. b sir ed. coke in litleton , l. 2. sect. 139. c notit ▪ imperii orient . c. 159. d lex terrae . p. 5. e this oath to the clergy , cannot ingage him against the legall privileges of the people , or parliament i. g. p. 9. f i. g p. 5. 6. g ib. p. 9. h i. g. p. 9. i rom. 137. k one of which is to be ready , by confirming needfull bills to relieve thē against whatsoever grievance they suffer from any . i. g. p. 10. l 25 ed. 3. 2. m 1. s. ●et . 2. 14. n apud jo. coch in notis ad maccoth c. 1. n. 31. o thus i think the case is sufficiently cleared , that notwithstanding the kings oath to the clergie at his coronation , he may consent to the extirpation of prelaey out of the church of england . i. g. p. 10 p ib. p. 9. divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain and ireland tending all, to the asserting of the truth, in vindication of their majesties / by james howell ... ; som[e] of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed, but now are newly retreev'd, collected, and publish'd by richard royston. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1661 approx. 456 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 215 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70276) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98493) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 422:3 or 1594:6) divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain and ireland tending all, to the asserting of the truth, in vindication of their majesties / by james howell ... ; som[e] of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed, but now are newly retreev'd, collected, and publish'd by richard royston. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 411 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. printed by j. grismond, london : 1661. "the first tome" engraved illustrated t.p.: the people is a beast which heads hath many, england of late shew'd this more then any. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. political science. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649. ireland -history -rebellion of 1641. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 rina kor sampled and proofread 2004-03 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain , and ireland , tending all , to the asserting of truth , in vindication of their majesties ; by iames howell esquire ; som of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed , but now are newly retreev'd , collected , and publish'd by richard royston . the first tome . london , printed by i. grismond . 1661. belua multorum capit●…m plebs vana vocatur , plus satis hoc angli ●…uper docuere popelli . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ i : h : the people is a beast which heads hath many , england of late hath shew'd this more then any . to his majesty sir , these historical discourses ( set forth in such variety of dresses ) having given so much satisfaction to the world for the asserting of truth , in vindication of your royal father of ever blessed memory , and som of them relating also to your majesty , i humbly conceiv'd might be proper for your majesties perusal & patronage . concerning the author therof his name needed not to have bin prefix'd , he being so universally well known and distinguishd from other writers both at home and abroad by his stile , which made one of the highest wits of these times say of him , author hic ex genio notus , ut ungue leo. god almighty blesse your majesty with a continuance of happiness , and daily encrease of glory , so prayeth your majesties most loyal , and humble subject , royston . a catalog of the severall peeces that are here contain'd . i. a dialog twixt patricius and peregrin presently after kintonfield battaile , which was the first book that came forth for vindication of his majesty . ii. the second part of that discours . iii. a seasonable advice sent to philip late earl of pembrock , to mind him of the severall solemn oaths wherby he was bound to adhere to the king. iv. a manifesto sent in his majesties name to the reformed churches , and princes beyond the seas touching his religion . v. apologs , and emblemes , in whose moralls the times are represented . vi. of the land of ire , or a discours of that horrid insurrection in ireland , discovering the tru causes therof . vii . the sway of the sword , or a disurs of the common militia or soldiery of the land , proving , that the command therof in chief , belongs to the ruling prince . viii . an italian prospective , through which england may discern the desperat condition she stands in . ix . a nocturnall progresse , or perambulation of most countries in christendom . x. a vindication of his majesty touching a letter he writ to rome from madrid , in answer to a letter which pope gregory the 15th . had sent him upon passing the dispensation for concluding the match . xi . of the trety of the i le of wight , and the death of his majesty . xii . advise from the prime statesmen of florence , how england shold come to her self again , which can be by no other means under heaven , but by calling in the king , and that , in a free confident way without articles , but what he shall be pleas'd to offer himself . the tru informer , who discovers to the world the first grounds of this ugly rebellion and popular tumults in england , scotland , and ireland . deducing the causes therof in an historicall discours from their originall . — neutrum modò , mas modò vulgus . written in the prison of the fleet anno 1642. casuall discourses , and interlocutions betwixt patricius and peregrin , touching the distractions of the times , vvith the causes of them . patricius . surely i shold know full well that face and phisnomy : o heavens ! 't is peregrin . gentle sir , you are well met , and welcom to england , i am heartily glad of your safe arrivall , hoping now to apprehend some happie opportunity whereby i may requite part of those worthy favours i received from you in divers places t'other side side of the sea. peregrin . sir , i am as joyfull to see you , as any friend i have upon earth ; but touching favours , they deserve not such an acknowledgment , i must confesse my self to be farr in the arrear , therfore you teach me what i shold speak to you in that point : but amongst other offices of friendship you have bin pleased to do me from time to time , i give you many thanks for the faithfull correspondence you have held withme , since the time of our separation , by intercours of letters , the best sort of fuell to warm affection , and to keep life in that noble vertue friendship , which they say abroad , is in danger to perish under this cold insulary clime for want of practise . patricius . truely , sir , you shold have had an account of matters hence more amply and frequently , but that of late it hath bin usuall , and allowed by authority , to intercept and break open any letters ; but private men need not complain so much , since the dispatches of ambassadors , whose p●…ckets shold be held as sacred as their persons , h●…ve bin commonly open'd , besides some outrages offered their houses and servants ; nay , since their maj●…sties letters under the cabinet signet have bin broke up , and other counterfeit ones printed and published in their names . peregrin . indeed i must confesse the report hereof hath kept a great noise abroad , and england hath suffered much in point of national repute in this particular ; for even among barbarians , it is held a kind of sacriledge to open letters ; nay , it is held a baser kind of burglary , then to break into a house , chamber , or closet : for that is a plundering of outward things onely , but he who breaks open ones letters which are the idea's of the mind , may be said to rip up his brest , to plunder and rifle his very brain , and rob him of his most pretious and secretest thoughts . patricius . well , let us leave this distastfull subject , when these fatall commotions cease , this custom , i hope , will be abhorred in england : but now , that you are newly arrived , and so happily met , i pray be pleased t●… make me partaker of some forraign news , and how the squares go betwixt france and spain , those two great wheels , that draw after their motion ( some more , some lesse ) all the rest of the western world : and when you have done , i will give you account of the state of things in england . peregrin . i thought you had so abounded with domestick news , that you had had no list or leisure to hear any forrain ; but to obey your commands , you know that i have been any time these six years a land-loper up and down the world , and truly i could not set foot on any chr●…stian shore that was in a perfect condition of peace , but it was engag●…d either in a direct , 〈◊〉 or collaterall war , or standing upon it's guard in continuall apprensions and alarmes of fear : for , since that last flaming usher of gods vengeance , that direful comet of the yeer 1618. appear'd in the heavens , some malevolent and ang●…y ill-aspected star hath had the predominance ever since , and by it's maligne influxes , made strange unusuall impressions upon the humors of subjects , by inci●…ing them to such insurrections , revolts , and tumults ; which caused a jewish rabbi to say lately , that it seems the grand turk thrives extraordinarily in his devotions , it being one of his prime prayers to mahomet , that he shold prevaile with god almighty to continue disentions still among christian princes . and truly , as the case stands , one may say , that the europaean world is all in pieces ; you know well with what fearfull fits of a high burning fever poor germany hath been long shaken , which hath wrought a lethargie in some of her members , by wasting of the vital spirits which shold diffuse themselves equally through that great body ; and how she st●…ll ●…ostereth a cold northern guest ( the swed ) within her bosom , and is in 〈◊〉 fear of a worse from the levant : in the netherlands one shall hear the half-starv'd souldier murmur in every corner , and railing against his king , and ready to mutiny for want of pay . in france you shall see the poor asinin peasan half weary of his life , his face being so 〈◊〉 grownd , ever and anon with new tallies . you know ther are som soverain princes , who have a long time wandred up and down in exile , being outed of their own anti●…nt patrimoniall territories , and little hopes yet , god wot , of restoring them . the world knows how savoy is become of late a kind of province to france ; nay , spain , who hath been so dexterous to put her neighbours ogether by the eares , and to foment war a far off , to keep her own home secure , is now her self in the midst of two fearfull fires , kindled on both sides of her by quite-revolted subjects , viz. the portugues and cat alan , which so puzzles her , that shee cannot tell what saint to pray unto . the venetian also , with the pope , and all the princes of italy , are arming apace ; the hollander onely , salamander like , thrives in these flames : and as i have heard of some that by a long habitu●…l custom could feed on poyson , and turn it to nourishment , so hans alone can turn war to a trade and grow fat by it . now , sir , being weary of eating my bread in such a distracted world abroad , and hoping to take some sweet repose in england , i find that shee is in as bad a case , if not worse , then any other . so much news i give you in a lump , i will be more particular with you som other time , if you please to spare me now . patricius . i hear , not without much resentment , these pithy expressions you have been pleased to make of the torn estate of europe abroad ; and since you mention that blazing star , i remember what a noble knight told me some yeers ago , that the astronomers , who lay sentinel to watch the motion and aspect of that comet , observ'd that the tail of it having pointed at divers climats , at last it seem'd to look directly on these north-west i lands , in which posture it spent it selfe , and so extinguish'd ; as if thereby it meant to tell the world , that these islands should be the stage whereupon the last act of the tragedie should be play'd . and how many scenes have passed already , both here and in ireland , we know , god wot , by too too wofull and fresh experience . peregrin . there is a saying when your neighbours house is on fire , by it's light you may see in what danger your own stands : and was england so blind and blockish , as not to take warning by so many fearfull combustions abroad ? when i took my leave last of her , i left her in such a compleat condition of happines , both in court , country , city and sea , that shee was the envie of all europ , in so much , that that golden verse might be fi●…ly applied to her then golden times , mollia securae perage●…ant otia gentes . the court was never so glorious , being hanselld every yeer almost with a new roya●… off-spring ; the gentry no where more gallan●… and sportfull ; the citizen never more gorgeous and rich , and so abounding with treasure , bullion and buildings , that no age can parallel ; commerce , inward and outward was never at that height ; the customes increasing every yeer to admiration ; the narrow seas were never guarded with braver ships , nor the navie royall for number of vessels and magazines of all sorts of materials was ever so well replenished ; the universities had never such springing dayes : and lastly , the church did so flourish , that amongst the rest of the reformed churches of christendome , i have heard her call'd the church triumphant . besides , ireland was arriv'd almost to the same degree of prosperity , for all the arrerages of the crowne were paid , and not a peny sent hence for many yeeres to maintain the standing army there , or for any other publick charge , as formerly ; trafique came to that mighty height of encrease , that in few years the crown customes and imposts came to be five times higher . in fine , ireland was brought not only to subsist of her selfe , but inabled to contribut towards the filling of the english exchequer , and to make some retribution of those vast expences the crown of england hath been at any time these 400 yeeres to reduce her to civility ; her boggs were almost all dry'd up , and made good land ▪ her mudde-walls turn'd apace to brick in divers places , so that in one sommer that i fortun'd to be there , above 50. new brick-houses were built in one towne . but it hath been the fate of that island , to be 〈◊〉 neer a condition of a setled , happiness , and yet to have some odd accident still intervene to crosse it . in conclusion , there wanted nothing to make england and her united crowns so exactly blessed , that she might have assumed the title of one of the fortunat islands . good lord , how comes it to passe , that she is now fallen into such horrid distempers , and like a distracted body , laying han●…s upon her self , would thrust the sword of civil war into her own bowels ? i beseech you , sir , impart unto me the true cause of this change ; for i know none so capable to do it as your self . patriciu●… . infandum , peregrine , jubes renovare dolorem : first , sir , in the generall you know , that it is with the regions upon earth , as it is with those of the ayre , sometimes we have a clear azur'd skie with soft gentle ventilations , and a sweet serenitie the whole hemesphere over ; at other times we know the face of the heavens is over-cast with frowns , with frog vapors , and thick clouds of various shapes , which look like monsters , hovering up and down , break at last into thunder and fulgurations , and so disquiet and raise a kind of war in the aereall common-wealth . just so in the regions that are dispers'd up and down this earthly glo●…e , peepled with men ( which are but a composition of the elements ) you have sometimes a gentle calm of peace and quietude , with a general tranquillitie all the countrey over ; at other times you have ugly mishapen clouds of jealousies , fears , and discontentments rise up , which break out at last into acts of disobedience , rebellion , and fury . and as those aereall meteors and monsters above , are ingendered of those watery fogs and mists which are drawn up out of fennie and rotten low grounds here upon earth ; so in the region of the mind , the ill vapors which ascend to the brain from rotten and impostumated hearts , from desperate and mal●…-contented humorists are the causes of all civil commotions and distempers in state. but they have much to answer for in the world to come ( though they escape it in this ) who for any private interest or respect whatsoever , either of promotion , vain-glory , revenge , malice , or envie , will embroyl and plunge their own native country in any publick ingagement or civil war , by putting a partition-wall betwixt their soverain prince and their fellow-subjects . truely , in my opinion , these may be called the worst kind of betrayers of their countreys . but i am too far transported from satisfying your request in relating the true causes of these calamities , i will now fall to work , and bring you to the very source of them . ther is a pack of perverse people ( composed for the most part of the scummie and basest sort ) multiplied in england , who by a kind of natural inclination , are opposit so point blank to monarchy in state , and hierarchy in church , that i doubt if they were in heven ( whither 't is to be fear'd they run a great hazard ever to enter , it being a rule , that he who is rotten-hearted to his king , can never be right-hearted to his crea●…or ) i say if these men were in heven , they w●…uld go near to repine at the monarchical power of god almighty himself , as also at the degrees of angels , and the postures of holiness in the church triumphant . they call every crotchet of the brain , tenderness of conscience forsooth : which being well examined , is nothing else but a meer spirit of contradiction , of malice and disobedience to all higher powers which possesseth them . ther are no constitutions either ecclesiastical or civil can please them , but they wold cast both into such and such a mould , which their crack'd brains wold fain devise , yet are never able to bring to any perfection ; they are ever labouring to bring religion to the dock , and to be new trimm'd , but they wold take down her fore-castle , and scarce allow her the kings armes to adorn her : they are great listners after any court-news , and prick up their ears when any thing is spoken of king , queen , or privie councellour , and are always ready , though upon loose trust , to take up any report whereby they may whisper in conventicles and corners , and so traduce the government . these great z●…lots use to look upon themselves most commonly through multiplying glasses , which make them appear to be such huge santons , that it renders them not onely uncharitable in their opinions of others , but luciferian-like proud in their own conceit , insomuch that they seem to scorn all the world besides , beleeving that they are ●…he only elect whose souls work according ●…o the motion of the spirit : that they are ●…he true children of promise , whose faces alone look towards heven ; they are more pleased with some new reach or fancy , ( that may puzzle the pericranium ) than a frenchman is in some new faction in cloathing : they are nearest to the nature of the jew of any people upon earth , and will converse with him sooner than with some sort of christians ; and as in their pharisaicall dispositions they symbolize with the iew , so in some of their positions they jump pat with the iesuit : for though they are both in the extremes , and as contrary one to the other , as the points of a diameter , yet their opinions and practises are concentrique , viz. to depresse regall power ; both of them wold bind their kings in chaines , and the nobles in links of iron ; they both deny all passive obedience , and as the one wold have the morter of the temple tempred with blood , so the other wold beat religion into the brain with the poleaxe . their greatest master-piece of policy is to forge counter●…eit news , and to divulge and disperse it as far as they can to amuse the world , for the advancement of their designs , and strengthing their party : but the iesuit doth it more cunningly and modestly , for he fetcheth his news from far , so that before the falshood of it can be contrould , his work is commonly done , and the news forgotten ; but these later polititians use to raise lies hard by home , so that the grosseness and palpablenesse of them is presently discovered . besides , to avoid the extremes of the other , these later seem to fall into flat prophanness , for they may be called a kind of enemies to the very name , crosse , and church of christ. touching the first , they repine at any reverence to be done unto the name of jesus , though spontaneous , not coercive . for the second , which was held from the beginning to be the badg and banner of a christian , they cry up the crosse to be the mark of the b●…ast ; and for the last , viz. the church , they wold have it to be neither beautifull , holy , nor amiable , which are the three main properties that god requires in his house . to conclude , when any comes to be season'd with this sower leaven , he seems to degenerat presently from the nature and garb of a gentleman , and fals to be of a sordid and low disposition , narrow hearted and close handed ; to be timerous , cunning and jealous , and far from the common freedom , and sweetness of morall society , and from all generous and loyal thoughts towards his king and country . these , these have bin the chiefest machinators , and engeneers englands unhappy divisions , who viper-like have torn the entrailes of their own mother their dear country : but ther were other extern concurrent causes , and to find them out , i must look northward , for there the cloud began to condense first ; you know sir , the scot's nation were ever used to have their king personally resident amongst them , and though king iames by reason of his age , bounty , and long breeding there , with other advantages , drew such extraordinary respect from them , that they continued in good conformity : yet since his death , they have been over-heard to mutter at the remotenesse and absence of their king , and that they shold become now a kind of province by reason of such a distance : some of their nobles and gentry found not at the english court , nor at his majesties coronation in edenburgh that countenance , familiarity , benefit and honours which haply they expected , and 't is well known who he was , that having been denied to be lorded ( david lesley ) took a pet , and went discontented to his country , hoping that some title added to the wealth he had got abroad , should have purchased him more respect . these discontented parties tamperd with the mercenary preachers up and down scotland , to obtrude to the p●…ple what doctrines they put into their mouthes , so that the pulpits every where rung of nothing but of invectives against certain obliquities and solaecismes ( and i cannot tell what ) in government , and many glances they had upon the english church : yet all this while there was not matter enough for an insurrection , nor to dispose the peoples hearts to a mutiny ▪ until by the policy ( as some affi●…med ) of the said discontented party the english lyturgie was sent thither : this by the in●…itement of those fiery pulpiteers , was cryed up to be the greatest i doll that possibly could be brought into their kerke , insomuch that when it was first offer'd to be read , the woman and ba●…er sort of mechaniks threw stooles and stones at the bishops heads , and were ready to tear them in peeces ▪ and here began the storm . 〈◊〉 majesty having notice hereof , sent a most gracious proclamation , signifying , that whereas he had recommended that book to be practis'd amongst them , wherein he himself served god almighty twice a day , he did it out of a pious endeavour to breed an uniformity of publick divine service in all his dominions , specially in that his native kingdom . but since it had produced such dangerous effects , he was contented to revoke it absolutely ; for it was never his purpose to press the practise of the said book upon the consciences of any , he did onely commend , not absolutely command , the use of it ; therefore he exhorted and required that every one unto whom it had given any scandal , shold return to his pristine obedience , and serve god as formerly , offering herewith a gracious pardon , and to passe an act of amnestia for an abolition of all faults passed . peregrin . and would not this suffice ? in naturall motions we find that the cause being taken away , the effect ceaseth , and will not this hold in civil actions ? patricius . no , this wold not serve the turn , but 〈◊〉 was a further reach in it , and for an inch to take an ell : you know the scots since 〈◊〉 single lion came to quarter with our three , are much elevated in their spirits , more respected , emploied and trusted abroad , they are heightned in their resolutions and aims , and will questionless be daily more and more . you have heard of a mine that reach'd from our exchequer to edenburgh . and i beleeve you have not forgot boccolinies balance , that was shewed us in italie , wherein lorenzo de medici weighed all the states of christendom , and throwing in england amongst the rest , you know how much he made her to weigh less by this addition . the former proclamation i say , and pardon would not suffice , but they took opportunity to fish in those troubled waters , and vent their spleen further , by an utter extirpation of episcopacy , and by trampling the mitre under their feet , hoping to have som of the birds plumes , being pluck●… , to feather their own nests ; and they brought their work about ; good lord , what a deal of dirt was presently thrown into the bishops faces by every rurall pettie clerk ! what infamous ballads were sung , what a thick clowd of epidemical hatred hung suddenly over them , so far , that a dog with black and white spots was called a bishop amongst them up and down the streets . the chiefest contrivers of this up-roare , ●…inding their design to go on so well , and perceiving the whole country so eagerly bent against bishops , ( and what artifices and suggestions were us'd to render them so odious is incredible ) but finding withall his majestie unwilling to alter the government his father ( of so fresh and famous memory ) had left him , and to which he had bin sworn at his coronation , they put themselves in arms , and rais'd forces to beat down the mitre with the sword , if the scepter would not do it . to the frontiers they came with a great army , ( not half so great as was bruted ) pretending they came as petitioners ( though they brought their petition upon the pikes ▪ point , ) some of the great ones ▪ about the king grew cold in the action : and what a pacification was then shuffled up , and how a parliament was called thereupon in scotland , with other passages , is a fitter subject for a story then a discourse . peregrin . i could have wished two things , that either his majesty had given them battail then , having the flower of his nobility and gentry with him , who i understood came with all cheerfulnesse and pomptitude to attend him , or else that after the said pacification , his majestie had shaken off all jealousies , and with a royall freedom and a commanding confidence gone amongst them to hancell their new parliament house at edenburgh ; for it is probable , it had averted those showers and cataracts of ●…miseries which have fallen ●…pon us since ; but i pray sir , proceed . patricius . as they say , there is no wind but blows some-body good , so it was thought , this northern clowd did england some advantage , for a parliament was summond hereupon : a parliament do i call it ? it was rather an embryo of a parliament , an ephemeran of 20 ▪ days . in this sitting his majesty declared unto both houses the indignities he had received by his scotch subjects , and therefore propos'd a supply to be made of twelve subsidies to suppress that rebellion ; and in lieu thereof he was willing to forbear and utterly to abolish the ship-money , which he had reason to think legall at first , being advised thereunto by noy his attorney generall , who had such a mighty repute in the law ; yet he would not rest ther , but he advised further with his learned councell , who concurred in opinion with noy ; nor wold he rest ther also , but he had the approbation of all the iudges singly , and afterwards of nine of the twelve jointly upon a demur . this was enough to induce his conscience to hold it legall all this while ; it was clearly proved that the moneys levied this way , were employed to no other but the intended service , the garding of the narrow seas ; and not onely for that , but to preserve his right of dominion in them , being the fairest flower of his crown , which was not onely discoursed of abroad , but began to be questioned by the french cardinall : and touching danger , how could england be but in apparant dangers ? consideri●…g how all her next neighbours were in actuall hostility , which made huge fleets of men of war , both french , dunkerkers , hamburgers and hollanders to sail and flaunt ever and anon in her channells , and hard before her royall chambers : nor came ther one penny of that publick contribution to his privat coffers , but he added much of his own demeans for the maintenance of a royal fleet every sommer : yet he was ready to passe any bill for the utter abolishing of the said ship-money , and for redressing of a●…y other grievances , provided they wold enable him to suppress this scots rebellion : some say the house was inclinable to comply with his majesties demands , but ( as the ill spirit wold have it ) that parliament was suddenly brok up , and i wold they who gave that counsel had bin then in arabia , or beyond the line , in their way to madagascar , who neverthelesse have got to be in high request with this present parliament . among others , old sir harry vane was one , who , when the house seem'd willing to give six subsidies , and the king inclinable to take them ; the said vane being the secretary of state stood up , and said , his majesty expected no less then twelve , which words did so incense and discompose the house , that they drew after them that unhappy dissolution . his majesty being reduced to these straits , and resenting still the insolence of the scot , proposed the busines to his privy councell , who suddenly made up a considerable and most noble summe for his present supply , whereunto divers of his domestick servants and officers did contribut . amongst others who were active herein , the earl of strafford bestir'd himself notably , and having got a parliament to be call'd in ireland he went over , and with incredible celeritie raised 8000. men , who procured money of that parliament to maintain them , and got over those angry seas again in the compasse of lesse then six weeks . you may infer hence to what an exact uncontrollable obedience he had reduced that kingdom , as to bring about so great a work with such a suddennes and facilitie . an armie was also raised ▪ here , which marched to the north , and there fed upon the kings pay a whole summer . the scot was not idle all this while ; but having punctuall intelligence of every thing that passed at court , as farre as what was debated in the cabinet councel , and spoken in the bed-chamber , ( and herein amongst many others , the scot had infinite advantage of us ) he armed also , and preferring to make england the stage of the warre , rather then his own countrey , and to invade rather then to be invaded , he got over the tweed , and found the passage open , and as it were made for him all the way till hee came to the tine , and though there was a considerable army of horse and foot at newcastle , yet they never offered so much as to face him all the while , at newburgh indeed there was a small skirmish , but the english foot would not fight , so newcastle gates flew open to the scot without any resistance at all , where it is thought he had more friends then foes , and who were their friends besides for this invasion , i hope time , and the tribunall of justice will one day discover . his majesty being then at york , summoned all his nobles to appear , to advise with them in this exigence : commissioners were appointed on both sides , who met at rippon , and how the hearts and courage of some of the english barons did boil within them , to be brought to so disadvantageous a treatie with the scot , you may well imagin . so the treatie began , which the scot wold not conform himself to do , unless he were first unrebell ▪ d and made rectus in curia , and the proclamation , wherein he was declared traitour , revoked , alledging it wold be dishonorable for his majesty to treat with rebels . this treaty was adjourned to london , where this present parliament was summoned ( which was one of the chiefest errands of the sco●… , as some think . ) and thus far by these sad and short degrees , have i faithfully led you along to know the tru originals of our calamities . peregrin . truly sir , i must tell you , that to my knowledg these unhappy traverses with scotland , have made the english suffer abroad very much in point of national honour ; therefore i wonder much that all this while ther is none set a work to make a solid apologie for england in some communicable language , ( either in french or latin ) to rectifie the world in the truth of the thing , and to vindicat her , how she was bought and sold in this expedition , considering what a party the scot had here , and how his comming in , was rather an invitation , then an invasion , and i beleeve if it had bin in many parts of the world besides , some of the commanders had gone to the pot . patricius . it is the practise of some states i know , to make sacrifice of some eminent minister , for publick mistakes : but to follow the thred of my discourse . the parliament being sate , his majesty told them , that he was resolved to cast himself wholly upon the affection and fidelity of his people , whereof they were the representative body : therfore he wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that were made by this infortunat war , and that the two armies , one domestick , the other forrain , which were gnawing the very bowels of the kingdom , might be dismissed . touching grievances of any kind ( and what state was ther ever so pure , but some corruption might creep into it ? ) he was very ready to redresse them : concerning the ship-money , he was willing to pass a b●…ll for the utter abolition of it , and to establish the property of the subject ; therefore he wished them not to spend too much time about that . and for monopolies , he desired to have a list of them , and he wold damn them all in one proclamation : touching ill counsellours , either in westminster-hall , or white-hall , either in church or state , he was resolved to protect none , therefore he wished that all jealousies and misunderstandings might vanish : this , with sundry other strains of princely grace he delivered unto them , but withall he told them , that they shold be very cautious how they shook the fram of an ancient government too far , in regard it was like a watch , which being put asunder , can never be made up again , if the least pin be left out . so ther were great hopes of a calm , after that cold northern storm had so blustered , and that we shold be suddenly rid of the scot , but that was least intended , untill som designs were brought about . the earl of strafford , the archbishop of canterbury , the iudges , and divers monopolists are clapt up , and you know who took a timely flight ( lord finch ) to the other side of the sea. and in lieu of these , the bishop of lincoln is enlarged , bastwick , burton , and prynn are brought into london with a kind of hosanna . his majesty gave way to all this , and to comply further with them , he took as it were into his bosom , i mean , he admitted to his privy councell those parliament lords , who were held the greatest zelots amongst them , that they might be witnesses of his secret'st actions , and to one of them ( the lord say ) he gave one of the considerablest offices of the kingdom , by the resignation of another most deserving lord , upon whom they could never fasten the least misdemeanour ; yet this great new officer wold come neither to the same oratory , chappell , or church , to joyn in prayer with his royall master , nor communicat with him in any publick exercise of devotion : and may not this be called a tru recusancie ? to another he gave one of the prime and most reposefull offices about his own person at court ( the earl of essex ) and thereby he might be said to have given a staff to beat himself . moreover , partly to give his subjects an evidence how firmly he was rooted in his religion , and how much he desired the strenthning of it abroad , the treaty of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter , and the young prince of orenge . hereunto may be added as a speciall argument of compliance and grace , the passing of the bill for a trienniall parliament , and lastly ( which is the greatest evidence that possibly can be imagined , of that reall trust and confidence he reposed in them ) he passed that prodigious act of continuance . peregrin . touching the trienniall parliament , there may come some whole some fruit out of it , will keep all officers in awe , and excite the nobilitie , and young gentrie of the kingdome to studie , and understand the government of the land , and be able to sit and serve their countrey in this great senate : but for this act of continuance i understand it not ; parliaments are good physick , but ill meat ; they say abroad that england is turned hereby from a monarchy to a democracy , to a perpetual kind of quingentumvirat ; and whereas in former times ther was a heptarchy of seven ▪ kings in her , they say now she hath seventy times seven . but in lieu of these unparallell'd acts of grace and trust to the parl. what did the parliament for the king all this while ? patricius . they promised , specially upon the passing of the last act , that they would make him the most glorious , the best beloved , and richest king that ever reigned in england : and this they did with deep protestings and asseverations . but there intervened an ill-favoured accident which did much hurt , viz. a discourse ( for truely i think it was no more ) but a discourse ) which some green heads held to bring up the northern armie , to check the puritan partie , and the rabble of the citie : this kept a mightie noyse , and you know who fled upon it , and much use was made of it to make that cloud of jealousie which was but of the breadth of a hand before , to appear as big as a mountaine . yet his majestie continued still in passing acts of grace , and complying with them in every thing ▪ hee put over unto them the earle of strafford , who after a long costly triall ( wherein he carried himself with as much acutenesse , dexteritie and eloquence , as humane braine could be capable of for his defence ) hee was condemned to the scaffold , and so made a sacrifice to the scot , who stayed chiefly for his head , which besides those vast summes of money , was given him to boot . peregrin . touching the earle of strafford , 't is tru , he was full of ability , elocution and confidence , and understood the lawes of england as well as any , yet there were two things , i heard , wherein his wisdom was questioned ; first that having a charge ready against his chiefest accusers , yet he suffered them to have the priority of sute , which if he had got he had thereby made them parties , and so incapable to be produced against him : secondly , that during the time of his tryall , he applyed not himself with that compliance to his iury as well as to his iudges , for he was observed to comply only with the lords , and not with the house of commons . patricius . howsoever , as some say , his death was ●…esolved upon , ( si non per viam justitiae , saltem per viam expedientiae ) which appears in regard the proceedings against him are by a clause in the act not to be produced for a leading case or example to future ages and inferiour courts : i blush to tell you how much the rabble of the city thirsted after his blood , how they were suffered to strut up and down the streets before the royal court , and the parliament it self , with impunity ; they cried out , that if the common law fail'd , club law should knock him down , and their insolency came to that height , that the names of those lords that would not doome him to death , should be given them to fix upon posts up and downe ; and this was the first tumult that happened this parliament , whereof so many followed after their example , being not onely conniv'd at , but backed by authoritie , for there were prohibitions sent from the parliament , to hinder all processe against some of them . these myrmidons , as they termed themselves , were ready at a watchword , so that one might say there was a kind of discipline in disorder . peregrin . were ther any troubled for delivering their votes in the houses ? i thought that freedom of opinion and speech , were one of the prime priviledges of that great nationall senat. patricius . yes , those that were the minions of the house before , became now the subjects of popular malice and detraction , ( as the lord digby now earl of bristol for one ) because against the dictamen of their consciences they would not vote the earl of strafford to death , and renounce their own judgments , and captivate it to the sense of others , yet they stood firm to their first grounds , that he was a delinquent in a high nature , and incapable ever to beare office in any of his majesties dominions . peregrin . i perceive sir by your speeches , that one of the chiefest causes of these combustions may be imputed to the citie of london , which may be called the metropolis of all these evils , and i little wonder at it , for it hath been alwaies incident to all great townes , when they grow rich and populous , to fall into acts of insolence , and to spurne at government ; where so many pots , ( so many braines i meane ) are a boyling , ther must needs be a great deal of froth , but let her look to her self , for majesty hath long arms , and may reach her at last . but the truth is , that london bears no proportion with the size of this island , for either the one shold be larger , or the other lesser : london may be well compared to the liver of a cramm'd italian goose , whose fatning emacerates the rest of the whole body , and makes it grow lean and languish , and she may be well term'd a goose now more then ever , for her feathers are pluck'd apace ; but now that you have done with the earl of strafford , what is become of all the rest who were committed ? patricius . they are still in durance , and have continued so these two years and upward , yet are not proceeded against , nor brought to their answer to this very day , though all the courts of justice have bin open ever since . many hundreds more of the best sort of subjects have bin suddenly clapt up , and no cause at all mentioned in many of their commitments , and new prisons made of purpose for them , where they may be said to be buried alive , and so forgotten as if ther were no such men in the world ( wherof the author was one : ) and how this can stand with magna charta , with the petition of right ( to vindicat which , ther was so much pains taken the last parliament ) let any man of a sane judgment determin . yet one of the judges , who hath an impeachment o●… high treason still lying dormant against him , though he be not rectus in curia himself , is suffered to sit as judge upon the highest tribunall of england , whereas another for a pretended misdemeanour only is barr'd from sitting ther. others who were at first cryed up and branded to be the most infamous projectors and monopolizers of the land , ( as hamilton , holland , &c. ) are not only at liberty , but crept into favour , and made use of . peregrin ▪ hath the house of commons power to commit any but their own members without conference with the lords ? or hath any order or ordinance of one of the houses singly , or of both conjunctly , power to enjoin a virtual , binding , generall obedience without the royal consent ? patricius . the power of parliament , when king , peers , and commons , which is the whole kingdom digested as it were into one volum , is indefinit , but what either of both houses can do of themselves singly or joyntly without the king who is the life of the law , especially when a visible faction reigns amongst them , i will not determin . — tantas componere lites non opis est nostrae — but for my own opinion , i think it is as impossible for them to make a law without the king , as it was for paracelsus to make a human creture without coition of both sexes . the results of parliament without the royall consent , are as matches without fire ; and it is an incontroulable principle , that the old law must be our guide , till new be made , nor is any act of the subject justifiable , but what is warranted by the old . but to proceed in the tru discovery of these domestick scissures , my lord of stafford being gone , we hop'd fair weather wold follow . ( he who was the cause of the tempest ( as they pretended ) being thrown over-board ) but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker ; yet the scots were dismist , having had fidlers fare , meat , drink , and money , for eleven long moneths together . so his majesty went to scotland , where the parliament ther , did but ask and have any thing , though it be the unquestionable prerogative of majesty to grant or deny petitions , and to satisfie his conscience before any councell whatsoever . but during his sojourn ther , this formidable hideous rebellion brok out in ireland , which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd ▪ yet the scene was never so tragicall and bloody as now : for the barbarismes that have bin committed ther have bin so sanguinary , and monstrously savage , that i think posterity will hold them hyperbolicall ●…when history relates them . the irish themselves affirm ther concurr'd divers causes to kindle this fire : one , was the taking off of straffor●…s head , ( who awd them more then any deputy ever did ) and that one of his accusations shold be to have used the papists ther too favourably : secondly , the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the roman catholiques here in england . lastly , the stopping of that regiment of irish , who was promised by his majesties royall word and letter to the king of spain , who relying upon that employment , rather then to beg , steal , or starve , turned rebels : and that , which hath agravated the rebellion all this while , and heightned much the spirit of the irish , was the introduction of the scot , whom they hate in perfection above all people els ; and intended lastly the design spoken of in our parliament , to make an absolute conquest , and nationall eradication of them , which hath made them to make vertue of necessity , and to be valiant against their wills . peregrin . indeed i heard that act of staying the irish regiment , considering how the marquesses de velada , and malvezzi , and don alonso de cardenas , who were all three ambassadours here for the king of spain at that time , having by reliance upon the sacred word and letter of a king , imprested money , and provided shipping for their transport , and bin at above 10000. crowns charges , i say this act was very much censured abroad , to the dishonour of his majesty and our reproach . patricius . i am very sorry to hear it . well sir. his majesty by his presence having setled scotland , was at his return to london received with much joy and exultation , but though he was brought in with a hosanna at one end of the town , he found a crucifige at the other : for at westminster ther was a remonstrance fram'd , a work of many weeks , and voted in the dead of night , when most of the moderat and well-thoughted members were retired to their rest , wherein with as much aggravation and artifice as could be , the least moat in government was exposed to publick view , from the first day of his majesties inaugurat●…on to that very hour : which remonstrance as it did no good to the publick but fill peoples heads with doubts , their hearts with gall , and retard the procedure of all businesse besides , so you may well think it could expect but cold entertainment with his majesty , who hoped his great councel , according to their often deep protestations , had done something for his welcom home , that might have made him the best beloved king that ever 〈◊〉 amongst his people . peregrin . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ther is no government upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up of m●…n , but is subject to corruption ; there is no court of judicature so cleane , but some cobwebs may gather in it , unlesse an act of parliament could be made to free and exempt men from all infirmities and errour ; it cannot be denied , but scotland might have something to complaine of ( though i think least of any ) and so leapt first into the pooll to be cur'd , and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well known : england also no doubt might have some grievances , which his majestie freely offered not onely to redresse for the present , but to free her of all feares for the future , from falling into relapses of that kinde ; but to redresse grievances by armes , by plunging the whole countrey into an intestine warre , this makes the remedy worse then the malady , it is as if one would go about to cure a sick body by breaking his head , or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose , it is as mad a tricke as his was who set the whole house a fire to roast his egs . but truly sir , in my opinion , his majesty at his return from scotland , might have justly expected some acts of compliance and gratitude from his parliament , considering what unparallel'd acts of grace he had pass'd before . patricius . his majesty did not rest there , but complied further with them by condescending to an act for putting down the star-chamber court the high commission , the court of honour , nay , he was contented his own privy councell should be regulated , and his forests bounded not according to ancient prerogative but late custome ; nay further , he pass'd a bill for the unvoting , and utter exclusion of the spirituall lords from the parliament for ever , whereby it cannot be denied , but by the casheering of 25 votes at a clap , and by excluding the recusant lords besides ( who subsist most by his grace ) he did not a little enervat his own prerogative . adde hereunto that having placed two worthy gentlemen biron and lunsford lieutenants of the tower , he remov'd them both one after the other , and was content to put in one of their election : and lastly , he trusted them with his greatest strength of all , with his navie royall , and call'd home pennington who had the guard of the narrow seas so many yeares . peregrin . truly sir , i never remember to have heard or read of such notable acts of grace and confidence from any king : but would not all this suffice ? patricius . no , but they demanded all the land souldiery and military strength of the kingdome to be disposed of by them , and to be put into what posture , and in what equipage , and under what commanders they pleas'd ; and this was the first thing his majesty ever denyed them , yet he would have granted them this also for a limited time , but that would not serve the turn ; hereupon his majesty grew a little sensible how they inch'd every day more and more upon his royall prerogatives ; and intending to go to his town of hull to see his magazin ( which he had bought with his own money ) with his ordinary train , he was in a hostile manner kept out , canons mounted , pistols cockt , and leveld at him . but whether that unlucky knight ( hotham ) did this out of his fidelity to the parl. or out of an apprehension of feare that some about the king , being mov'd with the barbarousnesse of the action would have pistold him , i will not determine . peregrin . i have read of divers affronts of this kinde that were offerd to the french kings , rochell shut her gates more than once against henry the great , and for the king now regnant , they did not only shut him out of many of his towns , but upon the gates of some of them they writ in legible characters , roy san foy , ville sans peur , a faithlesse king , a fearlesse towne . yet in the greatest heat of those warres , there was never any towne refus'd to let in her king , provided he came attended onely with his own traine ; and besides other people abroad , i heard the scot's nation did abhor that act at hull . but i pray sir go on . patricius . his majesty being thus shut out of one towne , he might justly suspect that an attempt might be made to shut him in , in some other ; therefore he made a motion to the yorke-shire gentlemen , to have a gard for the preservation of his person , which was done accordingly . but i am come to forward , i must go backe and tell you how the king was driven from westminster . when his majesty was return'd from scotland he retir'd to hampton court , whence upon the lord majors and the cities humble sollici●…ation , he came back to white-hal to keep his christmas . but when the bill against bishops was in agitation , which businesse ●…asted neer upon ten weekes , a crue of bold ●…turdie mechanicks , and mariners , came ●…rom the citie and ruffled before white-hall and westminster-hall , and would have violated the abby of westminster , so that for many ●…ights a court of gard was forced to be kept ●…n the body of that church , ( the chiefest sanctuary of the kingdom . ) moreover , his majesty having impeached some of the members of both houses , of high treason , and being denied to have them delivered up , he went himself to the lower house to demand them , assuring the house they should have as faire and legall a triall as ever men had . but as it pleas'd god , they were not there , but retir'd to london for refuge ; the londoners grew starke wilde thereupon , and notice being sent to all the adjacent counties , this act of the kings ( though it wanted no precedents of former times ) was aggravated in the highest degree that possibly could be . hence you may easily inferre , what small securitie his majesty had at white-hall , and what indignities he might have exposed himself unto , by that which had pass'd already from the rabble , who had vilified and cried tush at his proclamations , and disgorg'd other rebellious speeches with impunity : therefore he retird to hampton court ( as we read , our saviour withdrew himselfe once from the multitude ) thence to windsor castle , whence accompanying her majesty , with his eldest daughter to the sea side for holland , and having commanded the prince to attend him against his return at greenwich , the prince had been surpriz'd , and brought to london , had not the king come a little before . thence he removed to yorke , where he kept his court all the sommer . but to returne to london , the very next day after their majesties departure , the countrey about , especially buckinghamshire being incited by the c●…tie and parliament , came in great swarmes , and joyning with the london mechanicks , they ruffled up and down the streets , and kept such a racket , making the fearfull'st riot that ever i beleeve was heard of in parliament time : so those members which formerly were fled into the citie , were brought to the house in a kind of triumph , being garded by land and water in warlike manner by these champions : after this , sundry troops of horse came from all the shires near adjoyning to ●…he parliament , and buckingham men were ●…he first , who while they express'd their ●…ve to ( hamden ) their knight , forgot their ●…worn oath to their king , and in stead of feathers they carried a printed protestation in ●…heir hats , as the londoners had done a lit●…le before upon the pikes point . peregrin . this kept a foul noise beyond sea i re●…ember , so that upon the rialto in venice , ●…t was sung up and down , that a midsummer moon ( though it was then midst of winter ) did raign amongst the english , and you must ●…hink that it hath made the venetian to ●…hrink in his shoulders , and to look but ill-favouredly upon us , since wee 'l have none of his currans . but sir , i heard much of that protestation , i pray what was the substance of it ? patricius . it was penn'd , and enjoyn'd by the par●…iament for every one to take , and it consisted of many parts ; the first was , to maintain the tru potestant religion against all popish innovations , which word popish ( as som think ) was scrued in of purpose for a loop hole to let in any other innovation : the second was to maintain the prerogative an●… honour of the king ; then the power and priviledge of parliament ; and lastly , the propriety and liberty of the subject ; for thre●… parts of this protestation , the people up an●… down seem'd to have utterly forgotte●… them , and continue so still , as if their consciences had bin tied only to the third , viz the priviledge of parliament , and never was ther a poor people so besotted , never wa●… reason and common sence so baffled in an●… part of the world . and now will i go to attend his majesty at york , where , as i told you before , being loth to part with his sword , ( though he had half parted with his scepter before ) by denying the parliament an indefinite time to dispose of the militia , ( alleadging that as the word , so the thing was new . ) he sends forth his commissions of array , according to the old law of england , which declares i●… to be the undoubted right , and royall signorie of the king , to arm or disarm any subject : the parliament sends out clean countermands for executing the said militia , so by this clashing 'twixt the commission of array and the militia , the first flash of this odious unnaturall war may be said to break out . the pulse of the parliament beats yet higher , they send an admirall to the sea ( the earl of warwick ) not only without , but expresly against the kings special command . they had taken unto them a military gard from the city for their protection , without his majesties consent , who by the advice of the lord keeper and others , had offered them a very strong gard of constables and other officers to attend them , which the law usually allows ; yet the raising of that gard in york-shire for the safegard of his majesties person , was interpreted to be leavying of war against the parliament , and so made a sufficient ground for them to raise an army , to appoint a generall ( the earl of essex ) with whom they made publick declarations to live and die . and they assumed power to confer a new appellation of honour upon him , ( excellency ) as if any could confer honour but the king ! and this army was to be maintain'd out of the mixt con●…ribution of all sorts of people ; so a great masse of money and plate was brought into the guild hall , the semstresse brought in her silver thimble , the chamber-maid her bodkin , the cook his spoons , and the vintner his bowles , and every one somthing , to the advancement of so good a work , as to wage war directly against the sacred person of their soverain , and put the whole countrey into a combustion . peregrin . surely it is impossible that a rationall christian people shold grow so simple and sottish , as to be so far transported , without some colourable cause , therfore i pray tell me what that might be ? patricius . the cause is made specious enough , and varnished over wonderfull cunningly ; the people are made to believe they are in danger , and a prevention of that danger is promised , and by these plausible ways the understanding is wrought upon , and an affection to the cause is usher'd in , by aggravation of this danger , as one wold draw a thred through a needles eye : this huge bugbear danger , was like a monster of many heads , the two chiefest were these ▪ that ther was a plot to let in the pope ; and to 〈◊〉 the civil government into a french frame ; it is incredible to think how the pulpits up and down london did ring of this by brainsick lecturers , of whom som were come from new-england , others were pick'd out of purpose , and sent for from their own flock in the countrey , to possesse , or rather to poison the hearts of the londoners , to puzzle their intellectualls , and to intoxicat their brains by their powerfull gifts ; it was punishable to preach of peace , or of caesars right , but the common subject of the pulpit was either blasphemy against god , disobedience against the king , or incitements to sedition ; good lord , what windy frothy stuff came from these fanatick brains ; these phrenetici nebulones ( for king iames gives them no better character in his ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) who may be said to be mad out of too much ignorance , not knowledg ; who neverthelesse are come to that height of prophaness and pride , that they presume to father all their doctrines , all their non-sense , raptures and ravings upon the holy spirit . nor did the pulpit only help to kindle this fire , but the presse also did contribute much stubble ; what base scurrilous pamphlets were cryed up and down the streets , and dispersed in the 〈◊〉 ? what palpable and horrid lies were daily printed ? how they multiplied in every corner in such plenty , that one might say t●…er was a superfaetation of lies , which continue unto this day ? one while the king of denmark was comming over from the sound : another while the king of france had a huge army about calais design'd for england : another while ther was an army of irish rebels comming over with the privity of the king : another while a plot was cryed up and down to burn london : another while ther were subterranean invisible troups ( at ragland castle ) mustered under ground in wales , and thousands of papists armed in lancashire , and divers reports of this nature were daily blown up , and though the authors of them were worthlesse and mean futilous persons , yet the reports themselves had that credit as to be entertain'd and canvas'd in the high court of parliament . but these false rumors produc'd one politick effect ( and it was the end indeed for which they were dispers'd ) they did intimidat and fill the peoples hearts with fears , and dispose of them to up roars and so to part with money . peregrin . i know ther be sundry sorts of fears ; ther are conscientious fears , and ther are ●…annick fears , ther are pusillanimous fears , and ther are politick fears . the first sort of fear proceeds from guilt of conscience , which turns often to phre●…cy . the second sort of fear may be call'd a kind of chymera , 't is som sudden surprizall or consternation arising from an unknown cause . pusillanimous fear makes a mountain of a mole-hill , and proceeds from poverty of spirit , and want of courage , and is a passion of abject and degenerous minds , and may be call'd cowardise , and this fear is always accompanied with jealousie . politick fear , is a created forg'd fear wrought in another , to bring som design about ; and as we find the astronomers ( the comparison is too good ) do imagin such and such shapes and circles in the heavens , as the zodiak , equinoctiall , colures , zones and topiques with others , though ther be no such things really in nature , to make their conclusions good . so the polititian doth often devise and invent false imaginary fears , to make his proceedings more plausible amongst the silly vulgar , and therby to compasse his ends : and as the sun useth to appear far bigger to us in the morning then at noon , when he is exalted to his meridian , and the reason the philosophers use to give , is the interposition of the vapours which are commonly in the lower region , through which we look upon him ( as we find a piece of silver look bigger in a bucket of water then elsewhere ) so the polititian uses to cast strange mists of fear , and fogs of jealousie before the simple peoples eyes , to make the danger seem bigger : but truly sir , this is one of the basest kinds of policy , nor can i believe ther be any such polititians amongst the cabalists of your parliament , who pretend to be so busie about gods work , a glorious reformation , for you know ther is a good text for it , that god needeth not the wicked man ▪ he abominats to be beholding to liers to bring about his purposes : but i pray sir deal freely with me , do you imamagin ther was a design to bring in the mass●… again ? patricius . the masse ? you may say ther was a plot to bring in mahomet as soon , to bring in the alchoran , or talmud as soon ; for i dare pawn my soul , the king is as cordiall a protestant as any that breathes under his three crowns , which besides his publick deep protestations , and his constant quotidian exemplary open practise , many other convincing private reasons induce me to believe , and it is in vain to think the pope can take footing here to any purpose without the kings leave . you know as well as i sir , that of all the reformed churches in christendom , the lutheran retains most of the roman , both in his positions and practise , and comes much nearer to him then we do , yet i have observed , that from the first day of his reformation , to this , he is as averse , and as far off from rome , as the rigidest calvinist that is ; and shall i think , because ther are som humble and hansom postures , and decent vestures revived in our church ( for they were never abolished ; ) because the communion table stands in the east end where it ever stood since christianity came in all our cathedralls , which shold be a rule to all inferiour churches , though the seperatist cries it up most falsly to be an innovation : because the queen hath a few simple capuchins ( fewer then was allowed by the matrimoniall capitulations ) whither to retire sometimes : because schismaticks were proceeded against with more care , and the government of the church born up ●…ately with more countenance , shall i be●…ieve out of all this that the pope must pre●…ently come in ? shall i believe the weakness ●…f our religion to be such , as to be so easily ●…aken and overturn'd ? yet i believe ther was a pernicious plot to introduce a new religion , but what i pray ? not popery , but presbitry , and with it to bring in the doctrine of buchanan and knox for civill government , and so to cast our church and state into a scots mould . peregrin . indeed i heard the english much derided abroad for resigning their intellectualls in point of religion to the scots , whom from infidels they made christians , and reformed christians first , and now for the english to run to them for a religion , and that the uniformity & reformation shold proceed from them , having disdain'd us formerly , what a disparagement is it thinke you to the anglican church ? this with other odd traverses , as the eclipsing the glory of the king , and bringing him back to a kind of minoritie , the tampering with his conscience , i will not say the straining it so farre , the depriving him of all kind of propertie , the depressing of his regall power , wherein the honour of a nation consists , and which the english were us'd to uphold more then any other , for no king hath more awful attributs from his subjects , as sacred sovereigne , gracious and most excellent majestie , nor any king so often prayed for , for in your morning liturgie he is five times prayed for , whereas other princes are mentioned but once or twice at most in their's : i say that this , with interception of letters , some incivilities offered ambassadors , and the bold lavish speeches that were spoken of the greatest queenes in christendome , and his majesties late withdrawing his royall protection from some of his merchant-subjects in other countreys , hath made the english lose much ground in point of esteeme abroad , and to be the discourse , i will not say the scorne of other people . they stick not to say , that there is now a worse maladie fallen upon their minds , then fell upon their bodies about an age since by the sweating sicknesse , which was peculiar onely unto them and found them out under all climes . others say , there is a pure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst them , that they are turn'd to wolves ( as you know it is a common thing in l●…pland ) & that the old adage is verified in them , homo homini lupus ; nay our next neighbours give out , that the saying was never truer then now , rex anglorum , rex diabolorum . nor is it a small disrepute to the english , that the word cavalier , which is an attribute that no prince in christendome will disdain , and is the common appellation of the nobilitie and gentrie in most parts of the world , is now us'd , not onely in libels and frivolous pamphlets , but in publicke parliamentarie declarations , for a terme of reproach . but truely sir , what you have related touching the pulpit and the presse , transformes me into wonder , and i should want faith to beleeve it , did you not speak it upon your knowledge ; but the english when they fall to worke upon a new humour , use to overdoe all people . patricius . you have not yet the tithe of what i could give you , you would little think that coachmen , and feltmakers , and weavers were permitted to preach up and down without controulment , and to vent their froth and venome against church and state , to cry downe our hierarchy and liturgie , by most base and reviling speeches . peregrin . touching your lyturgie , i have heard it censur'd abroad by the regidest calvinists of generva and dort , yet i never heard any other character given of it , but that it is a most pious , pathetick , and perfect peece of devotion , both for the matter and forme of it , which i have been a little curious to observe . it begins with some choise passages of holy scripture , and a previous declaration or monitory to excite us to the worke in hand ; the first addresse wee make to god is by an humble and joynt confession which is appliable to any conscience , and comprehends in it all kind of sins . then followeth a pronuntiation of gods promises and pronesse to pardon and absolve us ; we goe on to the lords prayer , which having bin dictated by our saviour himself we often use , and is as amber throwne in amongst our frankincense , to make the sacrifice more precious and pleasing unto god ; then we proceed to som choice psalms , and other portions of holy scripture taken out of the old and new testament ; then we fall to the symbole of faith , whereof we make a solemn joynt confession in such a posture as shews a readinesse and resolution in us to defend it : and so to the letany , wherein the poor penitent peccant soul may be said to breath out herself into the bosome of her saviour by tender ejaculations , by panting groans , & eviscerated ingeminations , and there is no sin , no temptation whatsoever that humane frailty is subject unto , but you shall find a deliverance from it there , it is so full of christian charity , that there is no condition of people , but are remembred and prayed for there . then wee proceed by holy alternatif interlocutions ( whereby wee heare our selves speak as well as the minister ) to some effectuall short prayers ; because in long prayers the minde is subject to wander , as some zelots now a dayes use to bring their hearers into a wildernesse by their prayers , and into a labyrinth by their sermons . then goe we on to the decalogue , and if it be in a cathedrall , there is time enough for the hearer to examine himselfe , while the musick playes , where and when he broke any of gods holy commandements , and ask particular forgivenesse accordingly in the intervall ; then after other choice portions of scripture , and passages relating to our redemption , and endearing , unto us the merits of it , with a more particular confession of our faith , we are dismissed with a benediction : so that this liturgy may be call'd an instrument of many strings , whereon the sighing soul sends up varions notes unto heaven : it is a posie made up of divers flowers , to make it the more fragrant in the nostrills of god. now touching your bishops , i never knew yet any protestant church but could be content to have them , had they meanes to maintaine the dignitie , which the churches of france with others have not , in regerd the reformation beg an first among the people , not at court , as here it did in engl. for unlesse ther be som supervisers of gods house , endowed with eminent authority to check the fond fancies , and quench the false fatuous fires of every private spirit , and unlesse it be such an authority that may draw unto it a holy kind of awe and obedience what can be expected but confusion and atheisme ? you know what became of the israelites when the wonted reverence to the ark , and the ephod , and the priest , began to languish amongst them : for the braine of man is like a garden , which unlesse it be fenced about with a wall or hedge , is subject you know to be annoyed by all kinde of beasts which will be ready to runne into it ; so the braine unlesse it be restrain'd and bounded in holy things by rules of canonicall authoritie , a thousand wild opinions , and extravagant fancies will hourely rush into it : nor was there ever any field so subject to produce cockle and darnell , as the human brain is rank and ready to bring forth tares of schism and heresie of a thousand sorts , unlesse after the first culture the sickle of authority be applyed to grub up all such noisom weeds . patricius . yet this most antient dignity of bishops is traduced and vilified by every shallow-pated petty clerk , and not so much out of a tru zeal , as out of envy that they are not the like . and touching our liturgy , wherof you have bin pleas'd to give so exact a character , people are come to that height of impiety , that in som places it hath bin drown'd , in other places burnt , in som places torn in pieces to serve for the basest uses , nay it hath bin preached publickly in pulpits , that it is a piece forg'd in the devils shop , and yet the impious foul mouth'd babbler never was so much as questioned for it . nor did the church only eccho with these blasphemies ; but the presse was as pregnant to produce every day som monster either against ecclesiasticall , or secular government . i am asham'd to tell you how som bold pamphleters in a discourse of a sheet or two , wold presume to question , to dispute of , and determin the extent of monarchik jurisdiction , what sturdy doubts , what sawcy quaeries they put , what odd frivolous distinctions they f●…am'd , that the king though he was gods anointed , yet he was mans appointed : that he had the commanding , not the disposing power : that he was set to rule over , not to over-rule the people ; that he was king by human choice , not by divine charter ; that he was not king by the grace of god , so much as by the suffrage of the people ; that he was a creatur●… and production of the parliament : that he had no implicit trust , nor peculiar property in any thing ; that populus est potior rege ; that grex lege , lex est rege potentior ; that the king was singulis major , universis minor , ( wheras a successive monarch — uno minor est iove . — sometimes they wold bring instances from the states of holland , sometimes from the republick of venice , and apply them so impertinently to absolute and independant royalty ; but i find that the discourse and inferences of these grand statists were bottom'd upon four false foundations , viz. that the king of whom they speak must be either a minor , and idiot , an insufferable tyrant , or that the kingdom they mean , is elective ; none of all which is appliable , either to our most gracious and excellently qualified king , or to his renowned kingdom , which hath bin always reputed an ancient successive monarchy , govern'd by one suprem undeposeable and independent head , having the dignity , the royall state , and power of an imperiall crown , and being responsible to none ●…ut to god almighty and his own 〈◊〉 ●…or his actions , and unto whom a body ●…olitick compacted of prelates , 〈◊〉 , and all degrees of people is naturally subject ; but this is a theam of that transcenden●…y , that it requires a serious and solid tractat , rather then such a slender discourse as this is to handle . but i pray excuse me sir , that i have stept aside thus from the road of my main narration ; i told you before , how the clashing 'twixt the commission of array , and the militia , put all things in disarray throughout the whole kingdom ; the parliament as they had taken the first military gard , so they began to arm first , and was it not high time then for his majesty to do some thing think you ? yet he essayed by all ways imaginable to prevent a war , and to conquer by a passive fortitude , by cunctation , and longanimity . how many overtures for an accommodation did he make ? how many proclamations of pardon ? how many elaborat declarations breathing nothing but clemency , sweetness and truth did drop from his own imperious invincible pen , which will remain upon record to all ages , as so many monuments to his eternall glory ? yet som ill spirit stept still in , between his grace , and the abused subject , for by the peremptory order of parliament ( o monstrous thing ) the said proclamations of grace , and other his majesties declarations were prohibited to be read ; fearing that the strength and truth of them wold have had a vertue to unblind , or rather unbewitcht ( for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft ) the poor besotted people : what deep protestations and holy vowes did he reiterate that the main of his designs , was to preserve the tru protestant religion , the known lawes of the land , and the just priviledges of parliament ? how often did he dehort and woo the city of london ( his imperiall chamber ) from such violent courses , so that she may be justly upbraided with the same words , as the prince of peace upbraided ierusalem withall : london , london , how often wold i have gathered thee , as a ●…en doth her chickens under her wings , yet thou wouldst not ? how often did he descend to acknowledg the manner of demanding the one and five members in his publick remonstrances ? and if ther was an errour in the proceedings , how oft did he desire his great councell to direct him in a course how to go on in the empeachment ? which they never did , but wold reserve the priviledge to themselves to be judge and party . peregrin . can your parliament protect high treason ? i am sure the character of an ambassadour cannot , which the late french ambassadour ( who for his time play'd his cards more cunning than ever count gondomar did ) knew well ; and therefore , as i heard som french men say , he got letters of revocation before his designed time : but it seems strange to me , that the king who is the protectour of the law , and fountain of justice , cannot have the benefit of the law himself , which the meanest of his vassals can claim by right of inheritance : 't is strange , i say , that the law shold be a dead letter to him who is the life of the law , but that for omission of some punctillio in the form of the processe , the charge of high treason shold be so slightly wav'd , specially treason of so universall a concernment , that it may be call'd a complication of many treasons ; for if in every petty state it be high treason to treat only with any forrein power without the privity of the prince , it must needs be treason of a higher nature actually to bring them in ; and hereof i could alleadge you many pregnant instances , ancient and modern , but that i do not desire to interrupt you in your relation . patricius . the parliament , as i told you before , armed apace , it was not fitting then his majesty shold sit idle ; therfore he summons those nobles and others , who had an immediate relation unto him by office or service , to attend him at york , according to their particular obligation and oath : but it seems the parliament assumed power to dispence with those oaths , and excuse their attendance , which dispensation prevail'd with som ( tender ) consciences ; yet the great seal posted to court , and after it most of the nobles of the land , with the flower of the gentry , and many of the prime members of the commons house ; so that were it not for the locall priviledge , the parliament for number of members , might be said to be ever since about the king : these nobles and gentlemen resenting his majesties case , and what practices ther were on foot to alter the government both of church and state , not only advised his majesty to a royall war for defence of his crown and dignity , but contributed very chearfully , and have stood constant to the work ever since . peregrin . they have good reason for it , for the security of the nobility and gentry depends upon the strength of the crown , otherwise popular government wold rush in like a torrent upon them . but surely those nobles , and those parliament gentlemen and others , som of whom i understand , were reputed the wisest and best weigh'd men for experience and parts thorowout the whole kingdom , and were cryed up in other parliaments to be the most zealous patriots for the propriety and freedom of the subject , wold never have stuck so firmly to his majesty , had they not known the bottom of his designs , that it was far from his thoughts to bring in the pope or french government ; for therby they shold have betrayed their own posterity , and made their children slaves . patricius . to my knowledge , these nobles and gentlemen are still the very same as they were in former parliaments , wherin they were so cryed up for the truest lovers of their country , and best common-wealths-men ; yet now they are branded , and voted to be seducers , and traytors , because according to their oaths and consciences , they adhere to the king their master and liege-lord , for maintenance of that religion they were baptized and bred in . those most orthodox and painfull divines , which till this parliament began were accounted the precisest sort of protestants , are now cryed down for papists , though they continue still the very same men , both for opinions and preaching , and are no more papists than i am a pythagorean . in fine , a tru english protestant is put now in the same scale with a papist , and made synonyma's . and truly these unhappy schismaticks could not devise how to cast a greater infamy upon the english protestant than they have done of late by these monstrous imputations ; they wold fasten upon him such opinions which never entred into his thoughts , they wold know ones heart better than himself , and so would be greater kardiognosticks than god almighty . but to draw to a conclusion ; the parliaments army multiplyed apace in london , the kings but slowly in the north , so that when he displayed his royal standard at nottingham , his forces were not any thing considerable , so that if the parliaments generall ( essex ) had then advanced towards him from northampton , he had put him to a very great strait ; they encreased somthing at derby , and stafford , but when he was come to shrewsbury , the welch-men came running down the mountains in such multitudes , that their example did much animate the english ; so that his army in lesse than a month that the court continued in shrewsbury , came to near upon twenty thousand horse and foot ; not long before , the nephew princes came over , and the first encounter prince rupert had with the parliaments forces was at worcester , where he defeated the flower of their cavalry , and gave them a smart blow . at shrewsbury his majesty took a resolution to march with his whole army towards london , but after seven days march he understood the parliaments forces were within six miles side-long of him , and so many miles he went out of his road to find them out , and face them : upon sunday morning he was himself betimes upon edge-hill , wher the enemies colours plainly appear'd in vale before keinton ; it was past two in the after-noon before all his infantery could get to the bottom , who upon sight of the enemies colours ran as merrily down the hill , as if they had gone to a morris dance . so his majesty himself being generalissimo , gave command the great ordnance shold flye for a defiance , so the battell began , which lasted above three hours , and as some french and dutch commanders ( who were engag'd in the fight ) told me , they never remembred to have seen a more furious battail for the time in all the german wars . prince rupert pursued the enemies horse like a whirl-wind near upon three miles , and had ther bin day enough , when he came back to the infanterie , in all probability a totall defeat had bin given them : so that the same accident may be said to fall out here , as happened in that famous battell at lewis , in henry the thirds time , where the prince of wales ( afterwards edward the first ) was so eager , and went so far ( by excesse of courage ) from the body of the army in pursuance of the londoners , that it was the fatall cause of the losse of that mighty battail . his majesty ( to his deserved and never-dying glory ) comported himself like another caesar all the while , by riding about and encouraging the souldiers , by exposing his person often to the reach of a musket-bullet , and lying in the field all that bleak night in his coach. notwithstanding that many lying pamphlets were purposely printed here , to make the world believe that he had retir'd himself all the time of the fight ; what partiall reports were made in the guild-hall to the londoners , and by what persons , ( w. and strode ) i am ashamed to tell you : but that his majesty was victorious that day ( a day which i never thought to have seen in england ) ther be many convincing arguments to prove it ; for besides the great odds of men which fell on their side , and cannons they lost , som of their ordnance were nayl'd by the kings troops the next morning after in the very face of their army . moreover , the king advanc'd forward the next day to his former road , and took banbury presently after ; but the parliamenteers went backwards , and so from that day to this , his majesty continueth master of the field . 't is tru , that in som places , as at farnham , winchester , and chichester , they have prevail'd since , but no considerable part of the royall army was ther to make opposition ; and i blush to tell you , how unworthily the law of armes was violated in all those places . peregrin . good lord , how can the souls of those men that were in the parliaments army at keinton battell , dispense with the oaths of supremacy and allegeance , besides the protestation you speak of , they had taken to preserve the person , honour , and prerogative of the king , when they thus actually bandy against his person , and appear in battel with all the engines of hostility against him ? patricius . i wold be loth to exchange consciences with them , and prevaricate so palpably with god almighty ; touching the cavaliers , they may be said to comply with their duties both towards god and their king according to the oaths you mention ; moreover , ther was a strong act of parliament ( for their security ) which was never as much as questioned or controverted , much lesse suspended or repeal'd : but always stood , and yet stands in as full validity and force , as it was the first day it was enacted , and as much binding to an universall obedience , which act runs thus : 13. octobris anno undecimo henrici septimi , anno dom. 1496 it is ordained , enacted , and established by the king our soverain lord , by the advice and assent of the lords spirituall and temporall , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , and by authority of the same , that from henceforth no manner of person or persons whatsoever he or they be , that attend upon the king and soverain lord of this land for the time being in his person , and do him tru and faithfull service of allegiance in the same , or be he in other places by his commandment , in his wars within this land or without : that for the said deed , and tru duty of allegiance , he or they be in no wise convict or attaint of high treason , nor of other offences for that cause , by act of parliament or otherwise by any processe of law , whereby he or any of them , shall lose or forfeit life , lands , tenements , rents , possessions , hereditaments , goods , chattels , or any other things : but to be for that deed and service utterly discharged of any vexation , trouble or loss . and if any act or acts , or other processe of the law hereafter , therupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this ordinance , that then that act or acts , or other processe of the law , whatsoever they shall be , stand and utterly void . provided alwayes that no person or persons shall take any benefit or advantage by this act , which shall hereafter decline their said allegiance . peregrin . this is as plain and fair as can be for securing both the person and conscience of the cavalier , but was ther ever any act or oath , or any thing like an oath that oblig'd englishmen to be tru unto , or fight for the parliament ? patricius . never any , but these men by a new kind of metaphysicks have found out a way to abstract the person of the king from his office , to make his soveraigntie a kind of platonick idea hovering in the aire , while they visibly attempt to assaile and destroy his person and progeny , by small and great shot , and seek him out amongst his life-gard with fire and sword ; yet they give out , they fight not only not against him , but for him , and that their army is more loyall unto him than his owne ; who , they say , fight only for the name king , though they have his person really amongst them , commanding and directing : thus they make him a strange kind of amphibium , they make in one instant a king and no king of the same individuum ; a power which the casuists affirme god almighty never assumed to himself , to doe any thing that implies a contradiction . peregrin . noble sir , you make my heart to pant within me , by the pathetick relation you have been pleas'd to make mee of these ●…uthfull times ; but one thing seems to me to be no lesse then a miracle , how his majestie hath beene able to subsist all this while , considering the infinite advantages the averse partie hath had of him ; for they have all the tenable places and townes of strength , both by land and sea ; they have the navie royall , they have all the amunition and armes of the crown , they have all the imposts and customs , poundage and tonnage ( which they levie contrary to their former protestation before the bill be pass'd ) they have the exchequer at their devotion , and all the revenue of the king , queen , and prince , and lastly , they have the citie of london , which may be eall'd a magazin of money and men , where there is a ready supplie and superfluitie of all things , that may seed , clothe , or make men gay to put them in heart and resolution : truely considering all these advantages , with divers others on their side , and the disadvantages on the kings , it turnes me into a lump of astonishment , how his majestie could beare up all this while , and keep together so many armies , and be still master of the field . patricius . i confesse sir , it is a just subject for wonderment , and we must ascribe it principally to god almightie , who is the protectour of his anointed , for his hand hath manifestly appear'd in the conduct of his affaires ; hee hath been the pilot , who hath sate at the helme ever s●…nce this storme began , and will we hope continue to steer his course till he waft him to safe harbour againe ; adde hereunto , that his majesty for his own part , hath beene wonderfully stirring , and indefatigable both for his body and minde ; and what notable things her majesty hath done , and what she hath suffered , is fitter for chronicle , then such a simple discourse . hereunto may be added besides , that his majestie hath three parts of foure of the peeres , and prime gentrie of the kingdom firme unto him , and they will venture hard before they will come under a popular government and mechanicall corporations , or let in knox or calvin to undermine this church , and bring in their bawdy stool of repentance . peregrin . truely sir , amongst other countreys , i extreamly long'd to see england , and i am no sooner come , but i am surfeited of her already , i doubt the old prophecie touching this island is come now to be verified , that the churchman was , the lawyer is , and the souldier shall be . i am afraid the english have seene their best dayes ; for i find a generall kind of infatuation , a totall eclipse of reason amongst most of them ; and commonly a generall infatuation precedes the perdition of a people ; like a fish , that putrifieth first in the head ; therefore i will trusse up my baggage and over again , after i have enjoyed you some dayes , and received your commands . patricius . dear sir , if you seriously resolve to crosse the seas againe so soon , i may chance beare you company , for as you have since the short time of your sojourn here judiciously observed a national defection of reason in the people of this island , which makes her so active in drawing on her own ruine ; so by longer experience , and by infallible symptomes i find a strange kind of vertigo to have seized upon her , which i feare will turne to the falling sicknesse , or such a frenzie that will make her to dash out her own braines : nor are her miseries , i feare , come yet to the full ; it is the method of the almightie , when he pleases to punish a people , to begin with roddes , to goe on with scourges , and if they will not do , he hath scorpions for them : therefore , i will breath any where sooner then here , for what securitie or contentment can one receive in that countrey , where religion and iustice , the two grand dorique columnes which support every state , are fallen down ? which makes all conditions of men , all professions and trades to go here daylie to utter ruine . the churchman grows every day more despicable , as if he had no propertie in any thing , nor is there any way left him to recover his tithe , but by costly troublesome sutes . the civilian , a brave learned profession , hath already made his last will ; and the common lawyers case is little better ; the courtier cannot get his pension ; the gentleman cannot recover his rents , but either they are sequestred by a high hand of unexampled power , or else the poor tenant is so heavily assess'd or plundred , that he is disabled to pay them in ; all kind of comerce both domestick and forrein visibly decayes , and falls more and more , into the hands of strangers ( to the no small dishonour of the wisedome of this nation ) nor can the tradesman recover his debts , parliamentary protections continue still in such numbers , so that it is a greater priviledge now to be a footman to the meanest of the lower house , then to be of the kings bed chamber : prenti●…es run away from their masters , and against their fathers intent turn souldiers , and for money , which is the soul of trade , i beleeve since the beginning of this parliament , above one half of the treasure of the kingdome is either conveyed to'ther side of the sea , or buried under ground , whence it must be new digg'd up againe . moreover , all things are here grown arbitrary ( yet that word took off the earle of straffords head ) religion , law , and allegiance is growne arbitrary ; nor dares the iudge upon the tribunall ( according to his oath ) do justice , but he is over-awed by ordinance ; or els the least intimation of the sense of the lower house is sufficient to enjoyne him the contrary , so that now , more then ever , it may be said here , — terras astraea reliquit . — peace also hath rov'd up and downe this island , and cannot get a place to lay her head on ; she hoped to have had entertainment in york-shire by the agreement of the best gentlemen in the countrey ; but an ordinance of parliament beat her out of doores ; then she thought to rest in cheshire , and by a solemne covenant she was promis'd to be preserv'd ther , the principal agents of that covenant having protested every one upon the word of a gentleman , and as they did desire to prosper , both themselves , their tenants and friends , , shold strictly observe it ; but the like ordinance of parliament battered down that agreement . then she thought to take footing in the west , and first in dorcetshire , then in cornwall and devonshire , and by the holy tie of the blessed sacrament she was promised to be preserved ther ; but another ordinance of parliament is pursuing her , to dispense with the commissioners of the said agreement for their oaths . lastly , his majesty is mainly endeavouring to bring her in again thorowout the whole land ; but the furious , phrentique schismaticks will have none of her ; for as one of them ( besides a thousand instances more ) preach'd in one of the most populous congregations about the city , it were better that london streets ran with bloud , and that dead carkasses were piled up as high as the battlements of pauls , than peace should be now brought in . and now that peace is shut out , learning is upon point of despair , her colledges are become courts of gard , and mars lieth in mercuries bed . honour also , with her court , lieth in the dust ; the cobler may confront the knight , the boor the baron , and ther is no judicial way of satisfaction ; which makes monarchy fear she hath no long time of abode here . publick faith also , though she had but newly set up for her self , is suddenly become bankrupt , and how could she choose ? for more of the kingdoms treasure hath bin spent within these thirty moneths , than was spent in four-score yeares before ; but she hopes to piece up her self again , by the ruines of the church ; but let her take heed of that , for those goods have bin fatall to many thousand families in this kingdom : yet , she thinks much , that those publick summs which were given to suppresse one rebellion ( in ireland ) shold be employed to maintain another rebellion ( in england . ) and lastly , methinks , i see religion in torn ragged weeds , and with slubber'd eyes sitting upon weeping-crosse , and wringing her hands , to see her chiefest temple ( pauls church ) where god almighty was us'd to be serv'd constantly thrice a day , and was the rendezvouz , and as it were the mother church , standing open to receive all commers and strangers , to be now shut up , and made only a thorow-fare for porters ; to see those scaffolds , the expence of so many thousand pounds , to lie rotting ; to see her chiefest lights like to be extinguished ; to see her famous learned divines dragg'd to prison , and utterly depriv'd of the benefit of the common law , their inheritance : methinks , i say , i see religion packing up , and preparing to leave this island quite , crying out , that this is countrey fitter for atheists than christians to live in ; for god almighty is here made the greatest malignant , in regard his house is plunder'd more than any : ther is no court left to reform heresie , no court to punish any church officer , and to make him attend his cure , not court to punish fornication , adultery , or incest : methinks i hear her cry out against these her grand reformers ( or refiners rather ) that they have put division 'twixt all degrees of persons . they have put division 'twixt husband and wife , 'twixt mother and child : the son seeks his fathers bloud in open field , one brother seeks to cut the others throat ; they have put division 'twixt master and servant , 'twixt land lord and tenant ; nay , they have a long time put a sea of separation 'twixt king and queen ; and they labour more and more to put division 'twixt the head and the members , 'twixt his majesty and his politicall spouse , his kingdom : and lastly , they have plung'd one of the flourishingst kingdoms of europe in a war without end ; for though a peace may be plaister'd over for the time , i fear it will be but like a fire cover'd with ashes , which will break out again , as long as these fiery schismaticks have any strength in this island ; so that all the premisses considered , if turk or tartar , or all the infernal spirits and cacodaemons of hel had broken in amongst us , they could not have done poor england more mischief . sir , i pray you excuse this homely imperfect relation , i have a thousand things more to impart unto you when we may breathe freer air ; for here we are come to that slavery , that one is in danger to have his very thoughts plundered ; therfore if you please to accept of my company , i will over with you by gods help , so soon as it may stand with your conveniency , but you must not discover me to be an englishman , abroad : for so i may be jeer'd at and kickt in the streets ; i will go under another name , and am fix'd in this resolution , never to breathe english aire again , untill the king recovers his crown , and the people the right use of their pericraniums ▪ the second part of a discourse ' twixt patricius and peregrin , touching the distempers of the times . london , printed in the year , 1661. a discours , or parly , continued betwixt patricius and peregrin , upon their landing in france , touching the civil wars of england and ireland . peregrin . gentle sir , you are happily arrived on this shore ; we are now upon firm ground , upon the fair continent of france ; we are not circumscrib'd , or coopt up within the narrow bounds of a rhumatick island ; we have all europe before us . truly i am not a little glad to have shaken hands with that tumbling element the sea ; and for england , i never intend to see her again in the mind i am in , unlesse it be in a map ; nay , in statu quo nunc , while this faction reigns , had i left one eye behind me , i should hardly returne thither to fetch it ; therefore if i be missing at any time , never look for me there . there is an old proverb , from a blacke german , a white italian , a red frenchman , i may adde one member more , and , from a round-headed englishman , the lord deliver us . i have often crossed these seas , and i found my self alwaies pitifully sick , i did ever and anon tell what wood the ship was made of ; but in this passage i did not feele the least motion or distemper in my humors : for , indeed i had no time to taink on sicknesse , i was so wholly tsken up , and transported with such a pleasing conceit , to have left yonder miserable island . peregrin . miserable island indeed ; for i thinke there was never such a tyrannie exercised in any christian countrey under heaven ; a tyrannie that extends not onely to the body , but to the braine also ; not only to mens fortunes and estates , but it reaches to their very soules and consciences , by violented new coercive oaths and protestations , compos'd by lay-men , inconsistent with the liberty of christians . never was there a nation carried away by such a strong spirit of delusion ; never was there a poor people so purblinded and puppified , if i may say so , as i finde them to be ; so that i am at a stand with my selfe , whether i shall pitie them more , or laugh at them . they not onely kisse the stone that hurts them , but the hands of them that hurle it ; they are come to that passive stupidity , that they adore their very persecutors , who from polling fall now a shaving them , and will flay them at last if they continue this popular reigne . i cannot compare england , as the case stands with her , more properly , then to a poor beast , sicke of the staggers , who cannot be cur'd without an incision . the astronomers , i remember , affirme that the moone ( which predominates over all humid bodies ) hath a more powerfull influence o're your british seas then any other ; so that according to the observation of some nevigators , they swell at a spring tide in some places , above threescore cubits high : i am of opinion , that that inconstant humorous planet , hath also an extraordinany dominion over the braines of the inhabitants ; for when they attempt any innovation ( whereunto all insulary people are more subject then other citizens of the world which are fixed upon the continent ) they swell higher , their fancies worke stronglier , and so commit stranger extravagancies then any other : witnesse these monstrous barbarismes and violencies , which have bin , and are daily offered to religion and just●…ce , ( the two grand supporters of all states ) yea , to humane reason it self since the beginning of these tumults . and now , noble sir , give me leave to render you my humble thanks for that true and solid information you pleased to give me in london of these commotions . during my short sojourne there , i lighted on divers odde pamphlets upon the seamstresses stalls , whom i wondred to see selling paper sheets in lieu of holland : on the one side i found the most impudent untruths ( vouch'd by publike authority ) the basest scurrilities , and poorest jingles of wit that ever i read in my life ; on the other side i met with many pieces that had good stuff in them , but gave mee not ( being a stranger ) a full satisfaction , they look'd no further then the beginning of this parliament , and the particular emergences thereof : but you have , by your methodicall relation , so perfectly instructed and rectified my understanding , by bringing me to the very source of these distempers , and led me all along the side of the current by so streight a line , that i believe , whosoever will venture upon the most intricate task of penning the story of these vertiginous times , will finde himself not a little beholden to that relation , which indeed may be term'd a short chronicle rather then a relation . wee are come now under another clime , and here we may mingle words , and vent our conceptions more securely ; it being , as matters stand in your countrey , more safe to speake under the lilly then the rose ; wee may here take in and put out freer ayre ; i meane , we may discourse with more liberty : for , words are nought els but aire articulated , and coagulated as it were into letters and syllables . patricius . sir , i deserve not these high expressions of your favourable censure touching that poor piece ; but this i will be bold to say , that whosoever doth read it impartially , will discover in the author the genius of an honest patriot , and a gentleman . and now methinks i look on you unfortunate island , as if one look upon a ship toss'd up and down in distresse of wind and weather , by a furious tempest , which the more she tugs and wrastles with the foamie waves of the angry ocean , the more the fury of the storme encreaseth , and puts her in danger of shipwrack ; and you must needs thinke , sir , it would move compassion in any heart , to behold a poore ship in such a desperate case , specially when all his kindred , friends and fortunes ; yea his religion , the most precious treasure of all , are aboard of her , and upon point of sinking . alas i can contribute nothing now to my poor countrey but my prayers and teares , that it would please god to allay this tempest , and cast over board those that are the true causers of it , and bring the people to the right use of reason againe . it was well observed by you , sir , that there is a nationall kinde of indisposition , and obliquity of mind that rageth now amongst our people , and i feare it will be long ere they returne to their old english temper . to that rare loyalty and love which they were used to shew to their soveraigne : for all the principles of monarchie are quite lost amongst us , those ancient and sacret flowers of the english diadem are trampled under foot ; nay , matters are come to that horrid confusion , that not onely the prerogative of the crown , but the foundamentall priviledge of the free-born subject is utterly overthrowne , by those whose predecessors were used to be the main supporters of it : so that our king is necessitated to put himself in armes for the preservation not only of his own regall rights , but of magna charta it self , which was neuer so invaded and violated in any age , by such causlesse tyrannicall imprisonments , by such unexampled destructive taxes , by stopping the ordinary processes in law , and awing all the courts of justice , by unheard-of forced oaths and associations , and a thousand other acts , which neither president , book-case or statute can warrant , whereof , if the king had done but the twentieth part , he had been cryed up to be the greatest tyrant that ever was . peregrin . sir , i am an alien , and so can speak with more freedom of your countrey . the short time that i did eate my bread there , i felt the pulse of the people with as much judgement as i could ; and i find , that this very word parliament is become a kind of idoll amongst them , they doe , as it were , pin their salvation upon 't ; it is held blasphemie to speake against it . the old english maxime was , the king can do no wrong ; another nominative case is now stept in , that the parliament can do no wrong , nor the king receive any : and whereas ther was used to be but one defender of the faith , ther are now started up amongst you , i cannot tell how many hundreds of them . and as in the sacred profession of priest-hood we hold , or at least wise shold hold , that after the imposition of hands , the minister is inspired with the holy ghost in an extraordinary manner for the enabling of him to exercise that divine function , so the english are grown to such a fond conceit of their parliament members , that as soon as any is chosen by the confus'd cry of the common people to sit within the walls of that house , an inerring spirit , a spirit of infallibility presently entereth into him ( so that he is therby become like the pope , a canon animatus ) though som of them may haply be such flat and simple animals , that they are as fit to be counsellours , as caligula's horse was to be consull , as the historian tells us . patricius . touching parliament , ther breaths not a subject under englands crown , who hath a higher esteem of it then i , it makes that dainty mixture in our government of monarchy , optimacie and democracy , betwixt whom , though ther be a kind of co ordination of power during the sitting of parliament , yet the two last , which are composed of peers and people , have no power , but what is derived from the first , which may be called the soul that animates them , and by whose authority they meet , consult and depart : they come there to propose , not to impose lawes ; they come not to make lawes by the sword ; they must not be like draco's lawes , written in bloud . their king calls them thither to be his counsellors , not controllers ; and the office of counsell is to advise , not to inforce ; they come thither to intreat , not to treat with their liege lord ; they come to throw their petitions at his feet , that so they may find a way up to his hear●… . 't is tru , i have read of high things that our parliament have done , but 't was either during the nonage and minority of our kings , when they were under protectorship , or when they were absent in a forrain war , or in time of confusion , when ther were competitors of the bloud-royall for the crown , and when the number of both houses was compleat and individed ; but i never read of any parliament that did arrogate to it self such a power paramount , such a superlative superintendence , as to check the prerogative of their soverain , to question his negative voice , to passe things , not only without , but expresly against his advice and royall command : i never heard of parliament , that wold have their king , being come to the meridian of his age , to transmit his intellectualls , and whole faculty of reason to them . i find som parliaments have bin so modest and moderat ( now moderation is the rudder that shold steer the course of all great councells ) that they have declined the agitation and cognizance of som state affaires , humbly transferring them to their soverain and his privy counsell : a parliament man then , held it to be the adaequat object of his duty , to study the welfare , to redresse the grievances , and supply the defects of that particular place for which he served ; the members then us'd to move in their own ( inferior ) sphere , and us'd not to be transported by any eccentric motions . and so they thought to have complyed with the obligation , and discharged the consciences of honest patriots , without soaring above their reach , and roving at random to treat of universals , much lesse to bring religion to their bar , or prie into the arcana imperti , the cognizance of the one belonging to the king , and his intern counsell of state : the other to divines , who , according to the etymologie of the word , use to be still conversant in the exercise of speculation of holy and heavenly things . peregrin . i am clearly of your opinion in these two particulars ; for , secrecy being the soul of policy , matters of state shold be communicated but to few ; and touching religion , i cannot see how it may quadrat with the calling , and be homogeneous to the profession of lay-men , to determine matters of divinity ; who , out of their incapacity and unaptnesse to the work , being not pares negotio , and being carryed away by a wild kind of conscience without science , like a ship without a helm , fall upon dangerous quick-sands ; so that whilest they labour to mend her , they marr her , whilst they think to settle her , they confound her , whilst they plot to prevent the growth of popery , they pave the way to bring it in , by conniving at , and countenancing those monstrous schismes which i observed to have crept into your church since the reign of this parliament : so that one may justly say , these your reformers are but the executioners of the old project of the jesuits , the main part wherof was , and is still , to hurle the ball of discord , and hatch new opinions still 'twixt the protestants , to make factions and scissures between them , and so render their religion more despicable and ridiculous . but methinks , matters are come to a strange pass with you in england , that the iudges cannot be trusted with the law , nor the prelats with the gospell ; whereas from all times , out of their long experience and years , these two degrees of men were used to be reverenced for the chief touch-men , and unquestionable expositors of both , which another power seems now to arrogate to it self , as the inerring oracle of both : but i pray god that these grand refiners of religion , prove not quack-salvers at last ; that these upstart polititians prove not impostors : for i have heard of some things they have done , that if machiavell himself were alive , he wold be reputed a saint in comparison of them . the roman ten , and athenian thirty , were babies to these ; nay , the spanish inquisition , and the bloet-rade ( that councell of bloud ) which the duke of alva erected in flanders , when he swore , that he wold drown the hollanders in their butter-tubs , was nothing to this ; when i consider the prodigious power they have assumed to themselves , and do daily exercise over the bodies , the estates and souls of men . in your former discourse you told me , that amongst multitudes of other mischiefs , wh●…ch this new faction hath wrought , they have put division 'twixt all sorts and sexes , 'twixt all conditious , both of men and women ; one thing more i may say , they have done in this kind : for , they have laboured to put division between the persons of the holy trinity , by making the first person to be offended at that voluntary genuflection and reverence which hath bin from all times practised in the christian church to the name of the second person ; so that iesu worship , as i have read in some of your profane pamphlets , is grown now to be a word of reproach amongst you . but to the point ; ther is one thing i can never cease to wonder at : that whereas at the beginning of this parliament , ther were as able and experienced , as stout and well spoken gentlemen , as any in the whole kingdom , that sate in the house , and made the far major part , i wonder i say , that they wold suffer this giddy-headed faction to carry all before them in that violent manner , that they did not crush this cocatrice in the shell . patricius . first , sir , you know ther is nothing so agreeable to the nature of man , as novelty ; and in the conduct of humane affaires , it is always seen , that when any new design or faction is a foot , the projectors are commonly more pragmaticall and sedulous upon the work ; they lie centinell to watch all advantages , the sand of their brains is always running : this hath caused this upstart faction , to stick still close together , and continue marvellously constant to their ends ; they have bin used to tyre and out-fast , to weary and out-watch the moderate and well-minded gentlemen ; sometimes till after midnight , by clancular and nocturnall sittings ; so that as his majesty saies in one of his declarations , most of their votes may be said to be nought else , but verdicts of a starv'd iury. another reason is , that they countenanced the flocking together of the promiscuous rabble from london , notwithstanding the two severall motions the lords made unto them , that they might be suppressed by parliamentary order : this riotous crue awed the wonted freedom of speech in both houses , cryed up the names , and confronted many of their members : yet these new polititians not only conniv'd at them , but call'd them their friends ; and so they might well enough , or rather their champions ; for they had ordered the matter so , that they were sure to have them ready at their devotion , at the heaving of a finger : and from this tumultuous mongrell crue , they derived their first encouragements to do such high prodigious insolencies they have committed since . adde hereunto , that they complyed exceedingly besides with the common councell of the city , they used to attend them early and late to knock heads together ; and if any new thing was to passe in the house , they wold first wait on them , to know their pleasure , and afterwards it shold be propounded and put to vote in the house : and how derogatory it is to the high law-making-councell , to make their chiefest members wait from time to time on the magistrates of the city , who in former times were used to attend them upon all occasions in westminster , i am ashamed to think on ; nor am i lesse ashamed to remember those base artifices and indirect courses that were practis'd at the election of this pretended major ; here they tack'd about to a second choice ; after the first was legally made , and how the common-councell was pack'd up of the arrandest schismaticks up and down the city . and to that mutinous wealth-swoln city , and the said unbridled pack of oppidans ( seconded afterwards by the countrey clownes ) who offered such outrages to gods house , the kings house , and the parliament house , may be ascribed all miseries , and the miscarriage of things : for they caused his majesty to forsake his own standing palace , to absent himself from his parliament , and make that unpleasing p●…ogresse up and down his kingdom ever since , which put all counsells at a stand , and to be involv'd in a confusion . peregrin . but let me tell you that your britannick sun , though he be now ore-set with these unlucky clouds , engendred of the vapours of distempered brains , and the rotten hearts of many of his own meniall servants , who have proved like the sons of serviah unto him , ingratefull monsters , yet is he still in his own orb , and will , when this foul weather 's passed , and the aire cleared a little by thunder , shine more gloriously and powerfully then before , it being a maxime of state , that rebellion suppressed , makes a prince the stronger ; now rebellion durst never yet look a prince long in the face , for the majesty of gods anointed , useth to dart such fulgent piercing beams , that dazle the eyes of disloyalty , and strikes her stark blind at last . and truly , as you say , i am also clearly of opinion , that these ingratefull londoners , as they were the comencers , so have they been the continuers and contrivers of this ugly rebellion ever since ; they seem to have utterly forgotten who hath given them the sword , and by , and from whom they hold their charter ; their corporations are now grown body politicks , & so as many petty republikes amongst them , so that they begin to smell rank of a hans-town . poor simple annimals , how they suffer their pockets to be pick'd , their purses to be cut ; how they part with their vitall spirits every week ; how desperately they post on to poverty , and their own ruine , suffering themselves in lieu of scarlet-gownes , to be governed by a rude company of red-coats , who 'twixt plundering , assessements , and visits , will quickly make an end of them . i fear ther is som formidable judgment of regall revenge hangs over that city ; for the anger of a king is like the roaring of a lyon ; and i never read yet of any city that contested with her soverain , but she smarted soundly for it at last . the present case of london bears a great deal of proportion with that of monpellier here in france , in charls the seventh's time ; for when that town had refused the publishing of many of the kings edicts and declarations , murthered som of his ministers and servants , abused the church , and committed other high acts of insolency ; the duke of berry was sent to reduce the town to obedience ; the duke pressed them with so hard a siege , that at last the best citizens came forth in procession , bare-headed , & bare-footed , with white wands in their hands , and halters about their necks to deliver the keys of all the gates to the duke , but this wold not serve the turn , for two hundred of them were condemned to the gallies , two hundred of them were hang'd , and two hundred beheaded , the king saying , he offered those as victimes for the lives of his servants whom they had murthered with the false sword of justice . but , sir , i much marvell how your church-government , which from all times hath been cryed up to be so exact , is so suddenly tumbled into this confusion ? how your prelates are fallen under so darke a cloud , considering that divers of them were renowned through all the reform'd churches in christendome for their rare learning and pietie ? at the synod at dort , you know some of them assisted , and no exception at all taken at their degree and dignity , but took precedence accordingly , how came it to passe , that they are now fallen under this eclypse , as so be so persecuted , to be push'd out of the house of peers , and hurried into prison ? i pray you be pleased to tell me . patricius . sir , i remember to have read in the irish story , that when the earl of kildare in henry the eighth's time , was brought before the lord deputy for burning cassiles church , he answered , my lord , i would never have burnt the church , unlesse i had thought the biship had been in it ; for 't was not the church , but the bishop i aim'd at . one may say so of the anglican church at this present , that these fiery zelots , these vaporing sciolists of the times are so furiously enraged against this holy primative order ; some out of envie , some out of malice , some out of ignorance , that one may say , our church had not been thus set on fire , unlesse the bishops had been in 't . i grant there was never yet any profession made up of men , but there were some bad ; we are not angels upon earth there was a iudas amongst the first dozen of christians , though apostles , and they by our saviours owne election : amongst our prelates peradventure ( for i know of no accusation fram'd against them yet ) some might be faulty , and wanting moderation , being not contented to walk upon the battlements of the church , but they must put themselves ●…pon stilts ; but if a golden chaine hath happily a copper link two or three , will you therefore breake and throw away the whole chaine . if a few sho●…makers ( i confesse the comparison is too homely , but i had it of a scots man ) sell calfes skin for neats leather , must the gentle-craft be utterly extinguish ▪ d , must we go bare foot therefore ? let the persons suffer in the name of god , and not the holy order of episcopacy but good lord , how pittifully were those poor prelats handled ? what a tartarian kind of tyranny it was , to drag twice into prison twelve grave reverend bishops , causâ adhuc inaudita , and afterwards not to be able to frame as much as an accusation of misdemeanor against them , much lesse of treason , whereof they were first impeach'd with such high clamors : but i conceive it was of purpose , to set them out of the way , that the new faction might passe things better amongst the peers . and it seemes they brought their work about ; for whilest they were thus reclused and absent , they may be sayed to be thrust out of doores , and ejected out of their owne proper ancient inheritance , and the tower wherein they were cast might be called limbo patrum all the while . peregrin . but would not all this , with those unparallell'd bills of grace you mentioned in your first discourse , which had formerly passed , suffice to beget a good understanding , and make them confide in their king ? patricius . no , but the passing of these bills of grace , were term'd acts of duty in his majesty ; they went so far in their demands that 't was not sufficient for him to give up his tower , 〈◊〉 fleet-royall , his magazines , his ports , castl●… and servants , but he must deliver up his swor●… into their hands , all the souldiery & military forces of the land ; nay , he must give up his very understanding unto them ; he must resigne his own reason , and with an implicit faith or blind obedience , he must believe all they did was to make him glorious ; and if at any time he admonished them , o●… prescribed wayes for them to proceed and expedit matters , or if he advised them in any thing , they took it in a kind of indignation , and 't was presently cryed up to be breach of priviledge . peregrin . breach of priviledge forsooth , there is no way in my conceit , to make a king more inglorious , both at home and abroad , then to disarme him ; and to take from him the command and disposing of the militia throughout his kingdome , is directly to disarm him , & wrest the sword out of his hand : and how then can he be termed a defendor ? how can he defend either himself , or others ? 't is the onely way to expose him to scorn and derision ; truly , as i conceive , that demand of the militia was a thing not only unfit for them to ask , but for him to grant . but , sir , what shold be the reson which mov'd them to make that insolent proposall ? patricius . they cry'd out that the kingdom was upon point of being ruin'd ; that it was in the very jawes of destruction ; that there were forreign and in-land plots against it : all which are prov'd long since to be nothing else but meere chymera's ; yet people for the most part continue still so grossely besotted , that they cannot perceive to this day , that these forg'd feares , these utopian plots , those publick idea's were fram'd of purpose , that they might take all the martiall power into their hands ; that so they might without controulment cast the government of church and state into what mold they pleased , and ingrosse the chiefest offices to themselves : and from these imaginary invisible dangers proceeded these visible calamities , and grinding palpable pressures which hath accompanied this odious warre ever since . peregrin . herein methinks , your statists have shewne themselves politique enough , but not so prudent & honest ; for prudence & policy , though they often agree in the end , yet they differ in election of the meanes to compasse their ends : the one serves himself of truth , strength of reason , integrity , and gallantnesse in their proceedings ; the other of fictions , fraudulence , lies , and other sinister meanes ; the work of the one is lasting and permanent , the others worke moulders away , and ends in infamy at last ; for fraud and frost alwaies end foule . but how did they requite that most rare and high unexampled trust his majesty reposed in them , when he before passed that fatall act of continuance , a greater trust then ever english king put in parliament ? how did they performe their solemn promise and deepe protestations , to make him the most glorious ( at home and abroad ) the richest and best belovedst king that ever raigned in that island . patricius . herein i must confesse , they held very ill correspondence with him , for the more he trusted them , the more diffident they grew of him ; and truly , sir , herein white differs not so much from black , as their actions have been disconsonant to their words : touching the first promise , to make him glorious ; if to suffer a neighbouring nation ( the scot ) to demand and obtain what they pleased of him ; if to break capitulations of peace with a great forrein prince ( the french king ) by the renvoy of the capuchins , and divers other acts ; if to bring the dregs and riffraffe of the city to domineere before his court-gate , notwithstanding his proclamations of repressing them ; if to confront him and seek his life by fire and sword in open field , by open desiance , and putting him upon a defensive war ; if to vote his queen a traytresse , to shoot at her , to way-lay her , to destroy her , if to hinder the reading of his proclamations , and the sleighting of his declarations ( enclosed in letters sign'd and seal'd with his own hand ) for fear they shold bring the people to their wits again ; if to call them fetters of gold , divellish devises , fraught with doctrines of division , reall mistakes , absurd suppositions , though ther never dropt from princes pen , more full , more rationall and strong sinewy expressions ; if to suffer every shallow-brain'd scolist to preach , every pamphletter to print , every rotten-hearted man or woman to prate what they please of him and his queen ▪ if to sleight his often acknowledgment , condissentions , retractions , pronunciations of peace , and proffers of pardon ; if to endeavour to bring him to a kind of servile submission ; if to bar him of the attendance of his domestiques , to abuse and imprison his messengers , to hang his servants for obeying his commission ; if to prefer the safety and repute of five ordinary men , before the honour of their king , and being actually impeach'd of treason , to bring them in a kind of triumph to his house ; if for subjects to article , treat and capitulate with him ; if to tamper with his conscience , and make him forget the solemn sacramentall oath he took at his coronation ; if to devest him of all regall rights , to take from him the election of his servants and officers , and bring him back to a kind of minority ; if this be to make a king glorious , our king is made glorious enough . touching the second promise to make him the richest king that ever was ; if to denude him of his native rights , to declare that he hath no property in any thing but by way of trust , not so much property as an elective king ; if to take away his customs of inheritance ; if to take from him his exchequer and mint , if to thrust him out of his own towns , to suffer a lowsie citizen to lie in his beds within his royall castle of windsor , when he himself would have come thither to lodg ; if to enforce him to a defensive war , and cause him to engage his jewells and plate , and so plunge him in a bottomlesse gulph of debt for his necessary defence ; if to anticipate his revenue royall , and reduce him to such exigents that he hath scarce the subsistence of an ordinary gentleman ; if this be to make a rich king , then is our king made sufficiently rich . concerning their third promise , to make him the best belovedst king that ever was ; if to cast all the aspersions that possibly could be devised upon his government by publique elaborat remonstrances ; if to suffer and give texts to the strongest lung'd pulpiteers to poyson the hearts of his subjects , to intoxicat their brains with fumes of forg'd jealousies , to possesse them with an opinion , that he is a papist in his heart , and consequently hath a design to introduce popery ; if to sleight his words , his promises , his asseverations , oaths and protestations , when he calls heaven and earth to witnesse , when he desires no blessing otherwise to fall upon himself , his wife and children , with other pathetick deep-fetcht expressions , that wold have made the meanest of those millions of christians which are his vassals , to be believed ; if to protect delinquents , and proclaim'd traytors against him ; if to suscitate , authorise , and encourage all sorts of subjects to heave up their hands against him , and levy armes to emancepate themselves from that naturall allegiance , loyalty , and subjection , wherein , they and their fore-fathers were ever tyed to his royall progenitors ; if to make them swear and damn themselves into a rebellion ; if this be to make a king beloved , then this parliament hath made king charles the best beloved king that ever was in england . peregrin . i cannot compare this rebellion in england , more properly then to that in this kingdom , in king iohn's time , which in our french chronicle beares to this day the infamous name of iaquerie de beauvoisin ; the peasans then out of a surfeit of plenty , had grown up to that height of insolency , that they confronted the noblesse and gentry ▪ they gathered in multitudes , and put themselves in armes to suppresse , or rather extinguish them ; and this popular tumult never ceased , till charles le sage debell'd it ; and it made the kings of france more puissant ever since , for it much increased their finances , in regard that those extraordinary taxes which the people imposed upon themselves for the support of the war , hath continued ever since a firm revenue to the crown ; which makes me think of a facecious speech of the late henry the great , to them of orleans : for wheras a new imposition was laid upon the townsmen during the league by monsieur de la chastre , who was a great stickler in those wars ; they petitioned henry the fourth , that he wold be pleased to take off that taxe , the king asked them , who had laid that taxe upon them ? they said monsieur de la chastre , during the time of the league , the king replyed , puis que monsieur de la chatre vous à liguè qu'il vous destigue , since monsieur de la chastre hath leagu'd you , let monsieur de la chastre unleague you , and so the said taxe continueth to this day . i have observed in your chronicles that it hath bin the fate of your english kings to be baffled often by petty companions ; as iack straw , wat tyler , cade , warbecke and symnel . a waspe may somtimes do a shrewd turn to the eagle , as you said before ; your island hath bin fruitfull for rebellions , for i think ther hapned near upon a hundred since the last conquest , the city of london , as i remember , in your story hath rebelled seven times at least , and forfeited her charter i know not how often , but she bled soundly for it at last , and commonly , the better your princes were , the worse your people have been ; as the case stands , i see no way for the king to establish a setled peace , but by making a fifth conquest of you ; and for london , ther must be a way found to prick that tympany of pride wherwith she swells so much . patricius . 't is true , ther has bin from time to time many odd insurrections in england , but our king gathered a greater strength out of them afterwards , the inconstant people are alwayes accessary to their own miseries : kings prerogatives are like the ocean , which as the civilians tell us , if he lose in one pla●…e , he gets ground in another . cares and crosses ride behind kings , clowds hang over them . they may be eclypsed a while , but they will shine afterwards with a stronger lustre . our gracious soverain hath passed a kind of ordeal , a fiery triall ; he while now hath bin matriculated and serv'd part of an apprentiship in the school of affliction ; i hope god will please shortly to cancell the indenture , and restore him to a sweeter liberty then ever . this discourse was stopp'd in the press by the tyranny of the times , and not suffer'd to see open light till now . a sober and seasonable memorandum sent to the right honourable philip late earl of pembrock , and montgomery , &c. to mind him of the particular sacred ties ( besides the common oath of alleageance and supremacy ) wereby he was bound to adhere to the king his liege lord and master . presented unto him in the hottest brunt of the late civill wars . iuramentum ligamen conscientiae maximum . london , printed in the year , 1661. to the right honourable , philip earl of pembrock , and montgomery , knight of the bath ; knight of the most noble order of the garter ; gentleman of his majesties bed-chamber , and one of his most honorable privy counsell , &c. my lord , this letter requires no apology , much lesse any pardon , but may expect rather a good reception and thanks , when your lordship hath seriously perused the contents , and ruminated well upon the matter it treats of by weighing it in your second and third thoughts which usually carry with them a greater advantage of wisdom : it concerns not your body , or temporall estate , but things reflecting upon the noblest part of you , your soul , which being a beam of immortality , and a type of the almighty , is incomparably more precious , and rendereth all other earthly things to be but bables and transitory trifles . now , the strongest tye , the solemnest engagement and stipulation that can be betwixt the soul and her creator , is an oath . i do not understand common tumultuary rash oaths , proceeding from an ill habit , or heat of passion upon sudden contingencies , for such oaths bind one to nought else but to repentance : no , i mean serious and legall oaths , taken with a calm prepared spirit , either for the asserting of truth , and conviction of falshood , or for fidelitie in the execution of some office or binding to civill obedience and loyaltie , which is one of the essentiall parts of a christian ; such publick oaths legally made with the royall assent of the soveraigne from whom they receive both legalitie and life ( else they are invalid and unwarrantable ) as they are religious acts in their own nature , so is the taking and observance of them part of gods honor , and there can be nothing more derogatory to the high majesty and holinesse of his name , nothing more dangerous , destructive and damnable to humane souls then the infringment and eluding of them , or omission in the performance of them . which makes the turks , of whom christians in this particular may learn a tender peece of humanity , to be so cautious , that they seldom or never administer an oath to greek , jew , or any other nation , and the reason is , that if the party sworn doth take that oath upon hopes of some advantage , or for evading of danger and punishment , and afterwards rescinds it , they think themselves to be involved in the perjury , and so accessary to his damnation : our civill law hath a canon consonant to this , which is , mortale peccatum est ei praestare juramentum , quem scio verisimiliter violaturum ; 't is a mortall sin to administer an oath to him who i probably know will break it ; to this may allude another wholesome saying , a false oath is damnable , a true oath dangerous , none at all the safest . how much then have they to answer for , who of late yeares have fram'd such formidable coercive generall oaths to serve them for engins of state to lay battery to the consciences and soules of poor men , and those without the assent of their soveraign , and opposit point blank to former oaths they themselves had taken : these kind of oaths the city of london hath swallowed lately in grosse , and the country in detaile , which makes me confidently beleeve that if ever that saying of the holy prophet , the land mournes for oaths , was appliable to any part of the habitable earth , it may be now applied to this reprobate iland . but now i come to the maine of my purpose , and to those oaths your lordship hath taken before this distracted time , which the world knowes , and your conscience can testifie , were divers ; they were all of them solemn , and some of them sacramentall oaths ( and indeed , every solemn oath among the antients was held a sacrament : ) they all implyed , and imposed an indispensible fidelity , truth and loyalty from you to your soveraign prince , your liege lord and master the king : i will make some instances : your lordship took an oath when knight of the bath to love your soveraign above all earthly creatures , and for his right and dignity to live and die &c. by the oath of supremacy you swear to beare faith and true allegeance to the kings highnesse , and to your power to defend all ●…urisdictions , priviledges , preheminences and authorities belonging to his highnesse &c. your lordship took an oath when privie counsellor , to be a true and faithfull servant unto him , and if you knew or understood of any manner of thing to be attempted , done , or spoken against his majesties person , honour , crown , or dignity , you swore to let , and withstand the same to the uttermost of your power , and either cause it to be revealed to himself , or to others of his privy counsell ; the oaths you took when bedchamber man , and l. chamberlain bind you as strictly to his person . your lordship may also call to memorie when you were installed knight of the garter , ( whereof you are now the oldest living except k ▪ of denmark ) you solemnly swore to defend the honour and quarrels , the rights and lordship of your ▪ soveraigne : now the record tells us that the chiefest ground of instituting the said order by that heroick prince edward the third was , that he might have choice gallant men , who by oath and honour should adhere unto him in all dangers , and difficulties , and that by way of reciprocation hee should protect and defend them , which made alfonso duke of calabria so much importune henry the eight to install him one of the knights of the garter , that he might engage king harry to protect him against charles the eighth , who threatned then the conquest of naples . how your lordship hath acquitted your self of the performance of these oaths , your conscience ( that bosome record ) can make the best affidavit ; some of them oblige you ●…o live and dye with king charles , but what oaths or any thing like an oath binds you to live and die with the house of commons , as your lordship often gives out you will , i am yet to learne : unlesse that house which hath not power as much as to administer an oath ( much lesse to make one ) can absolve you from your former oaths , or haply by their omnipotence dispence with you for the observance of them . touching the politicall capacitie of the king , i feare that will be a weak plea for your lordship before the tribunall of heaven , and they who ▪ whisper such chimeras into your ears , abuse you in grosse ; but put case there were such a thing as politicall capacitie distinct from the personal , which to a true rationall man is one of the grossest buls that can be , yet these forementioned oaths relate most of them meerly unto the kings person , the individuall person of king charles , as you are his domestick counsellor , and cubicular servant . my lord , i take leave to tell your lordship ( and the spectator sees sometimes more then the gamester ) that the world extreamely marvels at you more then others , and it makes those who wish you best to be transformed to wonder , that your lordship shold be the first of your race who deserted the crown , which one of your progenitors said , he would still follow though it were thrown upon an hedg : had your princely brother ( william earl of pembrock ) bin living he wold have bin sooner torn by wild horses than have banded against it , or abandoned the king his master , and fallen to such grosse idolatry as to worship the beast with many heads . the world also stands astonished that you shold confederate to bring into the bowels of the land , and make elogiums in some of your speeches of that hungry people which have bin from all times so crosse and fatall to the english nation , and particularly to your own honour : many thousands do wonder that your lordship shold be brought to persecute with so much animosity and hatred that reverend order in gods church ( episcopacy ) which is contemporary with christianity it self , and wherunto you had once designed , and devoted one of your dearest sons so solemnly . my lord , if this monster of reformation ( which is like an infernall spirit clad in white , and hath a cloven head as well as feet ) prevailes , you shall find the same destiny will attend poor england , as did bohemia which was one of the flourishingst kingdoms upon that part of the earth , which happen'd thus : the common people ther repind at the hierarchy and riches of the church , therupon a parliament was pack'd where bishops were abolished , what followed ? the nobles and gentry went down next , and afterwards the crown it self , and so it became a popular confus'd anarchicall state , and a stage of bloud a long time , so that at last , when this magot had done working in the brains of the foolish peeple , they were glad to have recourse to monarchy again after a world of calamities ; though it degenerated from a successive kingdom to an elective . methinks , my lord , under favour that those notorious visible judgements which have fallen upon these refiners of reform'd religion shold unbeguile your lordship , and open your eyes : for the hand of heaven never appeared so clearly in any humane actions : your lordship may well remember what became of the hothams , and sir alexander cary , who were the two fatall wretches that began the war first , one in the north , the other in the south , plymouth and hull . your lordship may be also pleased to remember what became of brooks the lord , and hampden , the first whereof was dispatched by a deaf and dumb man out of an ancient church ( at litchfield ) which he was battering , and that suddenly also , for he fell down stone dead in the twinkling of an eye ; now , one of the greatest cavils he had against our liturgy was a clause of a prayer ther against sudden death ; besides , the fag end of his grace in that journey was , that if the design was not pleasing to god , he might perish in the action : for the other ( hampden ) he besprinkled with his bloud , and received his death upon the same clod of earth in buckingham-shire where he had first assembled the poor country people like so many geese to drive them gaggling in a mutiny to london with the protestation in their caps , which hath bin since torn in flitters , and is now grown obsolet and quite out of use . touching pym and stroud , those two worthy champions of the utopian cause , the first being opened , his stomack and guts were found to be full of pellets of bloud , the other had little or no brain in his skull being dead , and lesse when he was living : touching those who carryed the first scandalous remonstrance ( that work of night and the verdict of a starv'd jury ) to welcome the king from scotland , they have bin since ( your lordship knows well ) the chief of the eleven members impeached by the house . and now they are a kind of runnagates beyond the seas , scorn'd by all mankind , and baffled every where , yea , even by the boors of holland , and not daring to peep in any populous town but by owle-light . moreover , i believe your lordship hath good cause to remember that the same kind of riotous rascals , which rabbled the k. out of town , did drive away the speaker in like manner with many of their memberships ( amongst whom your lordship was fairly on his way , ) to seek shelter of their janizaries the redcoats : your lordship must needs find what deadly fewds fal daily ' twix●… the presbyterian and the independent , the two fiery brands that have put this poor isle so long in combustion . but 't is worthy your lordships speciall notice how your dear brethren the scots ( whom your lordship so highly magnified in some of your publick speeches ) who were at first brought in for hirelings against the king for them , offer themselves now to come in against them for the king : your lordship cannot be ignorant of the sundry clashes that have bin 'twixt the city and their memberships , and 'twixt their memberships and their men of war or military officers , who have often wav'd and disobeyed their commands : how this tatterdimallian army hath reduc'd this cow'd city , the cheated country , and their once all-commanding masters , to a perfect passe of slavery , to a tru asinin condition ; they crow over all the ancient nobility and gentry of the kindom , though ther be not found amongst them all but two knights ; and 't is well known ther be hundreds of privat gentlemen in the kingdom , the poorest of whom , is able to buy this whole host with the generall himself and all the commanders : but 't is not the first time , that the kings and nobility of england have bin baffled by petty companions : i have read of iack straw , wat tyler , and ket the tanner , with divers others that did so , but being suppressed it tended to the advantage of the king at last ; and what a world of examples are ther in our story , that those noblemen who banded against the crown , the revenge of heaven ever found them out early or late at last . these , with a black cloud of reciprocall judgments more , which have come home to these reformers very doors , shew that the hand of divine justice is in 't , and the holy prophet tells us , when gods judgments are upon earth , then the inhabitants shall learn justice . touching your lordship in particular , you have not , under favour , escap'd without some already , and i wish more may not follow ; your lordship may remember you lost one son at bridgenorth , your dear daughter at oxford , your son-in-law at newbury , your daughter-in-law at the charter-house of an infamous disease , how sick your eldest son hath bin ; how part of your house was burnt in the country , with others which i will not now mention . i will conclude this point with an observation of the most monstrous number of witches that have swarm'd since these wars against the king , more ( i dare say ) then have bin in this island since the devil tempted eve ; for in two counties only , viz. suffolk and essex , ther have bin near upon three hundred arraign'd , and eightscore executed ( as i have it from the clerks of the peace of those counties ; ) what a barbarous devilish office one had , under colour of examination , to torment poor silly women with watchings , pinchings and other artifices to find them for witches : how others call'd spirits by a new invention of villany were conniv'd at for seizing upon young children , and 〈◊〉 them on shipboard , where having their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were so transform'd that their 〈◊〉 could not know them , and so were carryed over for new schismaticall plantations to new-england and other seminaries of rebellion . my lord , ther is no villany that can enter into the imagination of man hath bin left here uncommitted ; no crime from the highest treason to the meanest trespasse , but these reformers are guilty of . what horrid acts of prophanes have bin perpetrated up and down ! the monuments of the dead have bin rifled ! horses have bin watered at the church font , and fed upon the holy table ! widows , orphans , and hospitals have bin commonly robb'd , and gods house hath bin plunder'd more then any ! with what infandous blasphemies have pulpits rung ! one crying out , that this parliament was as necessary for our reformation , as the comming of christ was for our redemp●…ion : another belching out , that if god almighty did not prosper this cause , 't were fitting he shold change places with the devil : another , that the worst thing our savoour did , was the making of the dominical prayer , and saving the thief upon the crosse. o immortal god , is it possible that england shold produce such monsters , or rather such infernal fiends shap'd with humane bodies ! yet your lordship sides with these men , though they be enemies to the cross , to the church , and to the very name of iesus christ ; i 'le instance only in two who were esteem'd the oracles of this holy reformation , petrs , and saltmarsh ; the first is known by thousands to be an infamous , jugling and scandalous villaine , among other feats , he got the mother and daughter with child , as it was offered to be publickly proved ; i could speak much of the other , but being dead , let it suffice that he dyed mad and desperate , yet these were accounted the two apostles of the times . my lord , 't is high time for you to recollect your self , to enter into the private closet of your thoughts , and summon them all to counsel upon your pillow ; consider well the slavish condition your dear country is in , weigh well the sad case your liege lord and master is in , how he is bereav'd of his queen , his children , his servants , his liberty , his chaplains , and of every thing in which there is any comfort ; observe well , how neverthelesse , god almighty works in him by inspiring him with equality and calmnesse of mind , with patience , prudence and constancy , how hee makes his very crosses to stoop unto him , when his subjects will not : consider the monstrousnesse of the propositions that are tendred him , wherein no lesse then crown , scepter , and sword , which are things in-alienable from majesty , are in effect demanded , nay , they would have him transmit , and resign his very intellectuals unto them , not only so , but they would have him make a sacrifice of his soul , by forcing him to violate that solemne sacramentall oath hee took at his coronation when hee was no minor , but come to a full maturity of reason and judgement : make it your own case , my lord , and that 's the best way to judge of his : think upon the multiplicity of solemne astringing oathes your lordship hath taken , most whereof directly and solely enjoyne faith and loyalty to his person ; oh my lord ! wrong not your soule so much , in comparison of whom your body is but a rag of rottennesse . consider that acts of loyalty to the crown are the fairest columns to bear up a noblemans name to future ages , and register it in the temple of immortality . reconcile your self therefore speedily unto your liege lord and master , think upon the infinit private obligations you have had both to sire and son : the father kiss'd you often , kisse you now the sun lest he be too angry ; and kings , you will find , my lord , are like the sun in the heavens , which may be clouded for a time , yet he is still in his sphear , and will break out againe and shine as gloriously as ever ; let me tell your lordship that the people begin to grow extream weary of their physitians , they find the remedy to be far worse then their former disease ; nay they stick not to call some of them meer quacksalvers rather then physitians ; some goe further , & say they are no more a parliament then a pye-powder court at bartholmew-fair , ther being all the essentiall parts of a true parliament wanting in this , as fairnesse of elections , freedome of speech , fulnesse of members , nor have they any head at all ; besides , they have broken all the fundamental rules , and priviledges of parliament , and dishonoured that high court more then any thing else : they have ravish'd magna charta which they are sworn to maintain , taken away our birth-right therby , and transgressed all the laws of heaven and earth : lastly , they have most perjuriously betrayed the trust the king reposed in them , and no lesse the trust their country reposed in them , so that if reason and law were now in date , by the breach of their priviledges , and by betraying the said double trust that is put in them , they have dissolved themselves ipso facto i cannot tell how many thousand times , notwithstanding that monstrous grant of the kings , that fatall act of continuance : and truly , my lord , i am not to this day satisfied of the legality ( though i am satisfied of the forciblenesse of that act ) whether it was in his majesties power to passe it or no ; for the law ever presupposeth these clauses in all concessions of grace , in all patents , charters , and grants whatsoever the king passeth , salvo jure regio , salvo jure coronae . to conclude , as i presume to give your lordship these humble cautions and advice in particular , so i offer it to all other of your rank , office , order and relations , who have souls to save , and who by solemn indispensable oaths have ingaged themseves to be tru and loyall to the person of king charls . touching his political capacity , it is a fancy which hath bin exploded in all other parliaments except in that mad infamous parliament wher it was first hatched ; that which bears upon record the name of insanum parliamentum to all posterity , but many acts have passed since that , it shold be high and horrible treason to separat or distinguish the person of the king from his power ; i believe , as i said before , this distinction will not serve their turn at the dreadful bar of divine justice in the other world : indeed that rule of the pagans makes for them , si iusjurandum violandum est , tyrannis causâ violandum est , if an oath be any way violable , 't is to get a kingdom : we find by woful experience that according to this maxime they have made themselves all kings by violation of so many oaths ; they have monopoliz'd the whole power and wealth of the kingdom in their own hands ; they cut , shuffle , deal , and turn up what trump they please , being judges and parties in every thing . my lord , he who presents these humble advertisments to your lordship , is one who is inclin'd to the parliament of engl. in as high a degree of affection as possibly a free-born subject can be ; one besides , who wisheth your lordships good , with the preservation of your safety and honour more really then he whom you intrust with your secretest affaires , or the white iew of the upper house , who hath infused such pernicious principles into you ; moreover , one who hath some drops of bloud running in his veins , which may claim kindred with your lordship : and lastly , he is one who would kiss your feet , in lieu of your hands , if your lordship wold be so sensible of the most desperat case of your poor country , as to employ the interests , the opinion and power you have to restore the king your master by english waies , rather then a hungry forrein people , who are like to bring nothing but destruction in the van , confusion in the rear , and rapine in the middle , shold have the honour of so glorious a work . so humbly hoping your lordship will not take with the left hand , what i offer with the right , i rest , from the prison of the fleet 3. septembris 1644. your lordships truly devoted servant . i. h. his late majesties royal declaration , or manifesto to all forrein princes and states , touching his constancy in the protestant religion . being traduced abroad by some malicious and lying agents , that he was wavering therin , and upon the high road of returning to rome . printed in the year , 1661. to the unbiass'd reder . it may be said that mischief in one particular hath somthing of vertue in it , which is , that the contrivers and instruments thereof are still stirring and watchfull . they are commonly more pragmaticall and fuller of devices then those sober-minded men , who while they go on still in the plaine road of reason , having the king , and knowne lawes to justifie and protect them , hold themselfs secure enough , and so think no hurt ; iudas eyes were open to betray his master , while the rest of his fellow-servants were quietly asleep . the members at westminster were men of the first gang , for their mischievous braines were alwayes at work how to compasse their ends ; and one of their prime policies in order thereunto was to cast asspersions on their king , thereby to alienat the affections and fidelity of his peeple from him ●…notwithstanding that besides their pub●…ick declarations they made new oaths and protestations , whereby they swore to make him the best belov'd king that ever was ; ) nor did this diabolicall malice terminat only within the bounds of his own dominions , but it extended to infect other princes and states of the reformed churches abroad to make him suspected in his religion , & that he was branling in his belief , and upon the high way to rome ; to which purpose they sent missives and clandestine emissaries to divers places beyond the seas , whereof forren authors make mention in their writings . at that time when this was in the height of action , the passage from london to oxford , where the king kept then his court , was so narrowly blockd up , that a fly could scarce passe ; some ladies of honor being search'd in an unseemly and barbarous manner ; whereupon the penner of the following declaration , finding his royal master to be so grosly traduced , made his duty to go beyond all presumptions , by causing the sayd declaration to be printed and publish'd in latin , french and english , whereof great numbers were sent beyond the seas to france , holland , germany , suisserland , denmark , swethland , and to the english plantations abroad , to vindicat his majesty in this point , which produc'd very happy and advantagious effects for salmtisius , and other forrin writers of great esteem speake of it in their printed works . the declaration was as followeth . carolus , singulari omnipotentis dei providentia angliae , scotiae , franciae & hiberniae rex , fidei defensor , &c. universis et singulis qui praesens hoc scriptum ceu protestationem inspexerint , potissimum reformatae religionis cultoribus cujuscunque sint gentis , gradus , aut conditionis , salutem , &c. cum ad aures nostras non ita pridem fama pervenerit , sinistros quosdam rumores , literasque politica vel perniciosa potiùs quorundam industriâ sparsas esse , & nonnullis protestantium ecclesiis in exteris partibus emissas , nobis esse animum & consilium ab illa orthodoxa religione quam ab incunabulis imbibimus , & ad hoc usque momentum per integrum vitae nostrae curriculum amplexi sumus recedendi ; & papismum in haec regna iterum introducendi , quae conjectura , ceu nefanda potius calumnia nullo prorsus nixa vel imaginabili fundamento horrendos hosce tumultus , & rabiem plusquàm belluinam in anglia suscitavit sub pretextu cujusdam ( chimericae ) reformationis regimini , legibusque hujus dominii non solum incongruae , sed incompatibilis : volumus , uttoti christiano orbi innotescat , ne minimam quidem animum nostrum incidisse cogitatiunculam hoc aggrediendi , aut transversum unguem ab illa religione discedendi quam cum corona , septroque hujus regni solenni , & sacramentali juramento tenemur profiteri , protegere & propugnare . nectantum constantissima nostra praxis , & quotidiana in exercitiis praefa●…ae religionis praesentia , cum crebris in facie nostrorum agminum asseverationibus , publicisque procerum hujus regni testimoniis , & sedula in regiam nostram sobolem educando circumspectione ( omissis plurimis aliis argumentis ) luculentissimè hoc demonstrat , sed etiam faelicissimum illud matrimonium quod inter nostram primogenitam , & illustrissimum principem 〈◊〉 sponte contraximus , idem fortissimè attestatur : quo nuptiali faedere insuper constat , nobis non esse propositum illam profiteri solummodo , sed expandere , & corroborare quantum in nobis situm est . hanc sacrosanctam anglicanae christi ecclesiae religionem , tot theologorum convocationibus sancitam , tot comitiorum edictis confirmatam , tot regiis diplomatibus stabilitam , una cum regimine ecclesiastico , & liturgia ei annexa , quam liturgiam , regimenque celebriores protestantium authores tam germani , quam galli , tam dani quam helvetici , tam batavi , quam bohemi multis elogiis nec sine quadam invidia in suis publicis scrip●…is comproban●… & applaudunt , ut in transactionibus dordrechtanae synodus , cui nonnulli nostrorum praesulum , quorum dignitati debi●…a prestita fuit reverentia , interfuerunt , apparet istam , inquimus religionem , quam regius noster pater ( beatissimae memoriae ) in illa celeberrima fidei suae confessione omnibus christianis principibus ( ut & haec praesens nostra protestatio exhibita ) publicè asserit : istam , istam religionem solenniter protestamur , nos integram , sartam-tectam , & inviolabilem conservaturos , & pro virili nostro ( divino adjuvante numine ) usque ad extremam vitae nostrae periodum protecturos , & omnibus nostris ecclesiasticis pro muneris nostri , & supradicti sacrosancti juramenti ratione doceri , & praedicari curaturos . quapropter injungimus & in mandatis damus omnibus ministris nostris in exteris partibus tam legatis , quam residentibus , agentibusque & nunciis , reliquisque nostris subditis ubicunque orbis christiani terrarum aut curiositatis aut comercii gracia degentibus , hanc solennem & sinceram nostram protestationem , quandocunque sese obtulerit loci & temporis oportunitas , communicare , asserere , asseverare . dat. in academia et civitate nostra oxoniensi pridie idus maii , 1644. charles by the special providence of almighty god , king of england , scotland , france , and ireland , defendor of the faith , &c. to all who profess the tru reformed protestant religion , of what nation , degree , and condition soever they be to whom this present declaration shall come , greeting . wheras we are given to understand , that many false rumors , and scandalous letters are spread up and down amongst the reforme●… churches in forein parts by the pollitick , or rather the pernitious industry of som ill-affected persons , that we have an inclination to recede from that orthodox religion , which we were born , baptized , and bred in , & which we have firmly professed and practised throughout the whol course of our life to this moment , and that we intend to give way to the introduction , and publick exercise of popery again in our dominions : which conjecture or rather most detestable calumny , being grounded upon no imaginable foundation , hath raised these horrid tumults , and more then barbarous wars throughout this flourishing island , under pretext of a kind of reformation , which wold not only prove incongruous , but incompatible with the fundamental laws and government of this kingdom , we do desire that the whol christian world shold take notice and rest assured , that we never entertained in our imagination the least thought to attempt such a thing , or to depart a jot from that holy religion , which when we received the crown and scepter of this kingdom , vve took a most solemn sacramental oath to profess and protect . nor doth our most constant practise and quotidian visible presence in the exercise of this sole religion , with so many asseverations in the head of our armies , and the publick attestation of our barons , with the circumspection used in the education of our royall off-spring , besides divers other undeniable arguments , only demonstrate this ; but also that happy alliance of marriage , vve contracted 'twixt our eldest daughter , and the illustrious prince of orenge , most clearly confirmes the reality of our intentions herein ; by which nuptial ingagement it appears further , that our endeavours are not only to make a bare profession thereof in our own dominions , but to inlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lieth in our power : this most holy religion of the anglican church , ordained by so many convocations of learned divines , confirmed by so many acts of national parliaments , and strengthned by so many royal proclamations , together with the ecclesiastick discipline , and liturgy therunto appertaining , which liturgy and discipline , the most eminent of protestant authors , as well germans as french ; as well danes as swedes and swittzens ; as well belgians as bohemians , do with many elogies ( and not without a kind of envy ) approve and applaud in their publick writings , particularly in the transactions of the synod of dort , wherin besides other of our divines ( who afterwards were prelates ) one of our bishops assisted , to whose dignity all due respects and precedency was given : this religion we say , which our royal father of blessed memory doth publickly assert in his famous confession addres'd , as we also do this our protestation , to all christian princes ; this , this most holy religion , with the hierarchy and liturgy therof , we solemnly protest , that by the help of almighty god , we will endeavour to our utmost power , and last period of our life , to keep entire and inviolable , and will be careful , according to our duty to heaven , and the tenor of the aforesaid most sacred oath at our coronation , that all our ecclesiasticks in their several degrees and incumbences shall preach and practise the same . vvherfore vve enjoyn and command all our ministers of state beyond the seas , aswell ambassadors as residents , agents , and messengers , and vve desire all the rest of our loving subjects that sojourn either for curiosity or commerce in any forein parts , to communicate , uphold and assert this our solemn and sincere protestation when opportunity of time and place shall be offered . charles , par la providence de dieu roy de la grand ' bretagne , de france , et d' irlande , defenseur de la foy , &c. a tous ceux qui ceste presente declaration verront , particulierement a ceux de la religion reformee de quelque nation , degreou condition qu'ils soient , salut . ayant receu advis de bonne main que plusieurs faux rapports & lettres sont esparses parmi les eglises reformees de là la mer , par la politique , ou plustost la pernicieuse industrie de personnes mal affectionnes a nostre government ; que nous auons dessein a receder de celle religion que nous auons professè & pratiquè tout le temps de nostre vie iusques a present ; & de vouloir introduire la papautè derechef en nos dominions , laquelle conjecture , ou calumnie plustost , appuyee sur nul fundement imaginable , a suscitè ces horribles tumultes & allumè le feu d' une tressanglante guerre en tous les quatre coins de ceste fleurissante monarchie , soubs pretexte d' une ( chymerique ) reformation , la quelle seroit incompatible avec le governement & les loix fondementales de ce royaume . nous desi●…ons , quil soit notoire a tout le monde , que la moindre pensee de ce faire n●… a pas entree en nostre imagination , de departir ancunement de cell ' orthodoxe religion , qu' auec la couronne & le sceptre de ce royaume nous sommes tenus par un serment solennel & sacramentaire a proteger & defendre . ce qu' appert non seulement par nostre quotidienne presence es exercies de la dite religion , avec , tan●… d' asseverations a la teste de nos armees , & la publicque attestation de nos barons , avec le soin que nous tenons en la nourrituredes princes & princesses nos ensans , mais le tres-heureux mariage que nous avons conclu entre la nostre plus aisnee , & le tres-illustrie prince d' orenge en est encore un tres-evident tesmoignage , par la quell ' alliance il appert aussy , que nostre desir est de n' en faire pas vne nue profession seulement dicelle , mais de la vouloir estendre & corroberer autant qu' il nous est possible : cest ' orthodoxe religion de leglise anglicane ordonnee par tant de conventione de teologues , confirmee par tant de arrests d' parlement , & fortifie par tant d' edicts royaux auec la discipline & la lyturgi●… a elle appartenant , laquelle discipline & lyturgie les plus celebres autheurs protestants , tant francois , qu' allemands ; tant seudois que suisses , tant belgiens que bohemiens approuent entierement & non sans quelqu envie en leur escrits particulierement en la synode de dort , ou un de nos euesques assistoit , & la reverence & precedence deue a sa dignite ecclesi●…stique luy fut exactement rendue : ceste tres-sainte religion que nostre feu pere de ●…res-heureuse memoire aduoue en sa celebre confession de la foy addressee come nous faisons ceste declaration a tous princes chrestiens ; nous protestons que moyennant la grace de dieu , nous tascherone de conseruer ceste religion inviolable , & en son entier selon la mesure de puissance que dieu amis entre nos mains ; et nous requerons & commandons a tous nos ministres d' estat tant ambassadeurs , que residens , agens ou messagers , & a tous autres nos subjects qui fontleurseiour es paysestrangers de communiquer , maintenir & adouuer cestenostre solennelle protestation toutes fois & quantes que l' ocasion se presentera . apologs , or fables mythologiz'd . out of whose moralls the state and history of the late unhappy distractions in great britain and ireland may be extracted ; some of which apologs have prov'd prophetical . — nil est nisi fabula mundus . london , printed in the year , 1661. to my honored and known friend sir i. c. knight . sir , amongst many other barbarismes which like an impetuous torrent have lately rush'd in upon us , the interception and opening of letters is none of the least , for it hath quite bereft all ingenious spirits of that correspondency and sweet communication of fancy , which hath bin alwaies esteemed the best fuel of affection , and the very marrow of friendship . and truly , in my judgement , this custom may be termed not only a barbarisme , but the ba●…est kind of burglary that can be , 't is a plundering of the very brain , as is spoken in another place . we are reduced here to that servile condition , or rather to such a height of slavery , that we have nothing left which may entitle us free rationall creatures ; the thought it self cannot say 't is free , much less the tongue or pen. which makes me impart unto you the traverses of these turbulent times , under the following fables . i know you are an exquisite astronomer . i know the deep inspection you have in all parts of philosophy , i know you are a good herald , and i have found in your library sundry books of architecture , and comments upon vitruvius . the unfolding of these apologues will put you to it in all these , and will require ▪ your second , if not your third thoughts , and when you have concocted them well , i believe , ( else i am much deceived in your genius ) they will afford you som entertainment , and do the errand upon which they are sent , which is , to communicate unto you the most material passages of this long'd-for parlement , and of these sad confusions which have so unhing'd , distorted , transvers'd , tumbled and dislocated all things , that england may be termed now , in comparison of what it was , no other then an anagram of a kingdom . one thing i promise you , in the perusal of these parables , that you shall find no gingles in them , or any thing sordid or scurrilous , the common dialect and disease of these times . so i leave you to the gard and guidance , of god and vertu who do still advance their favorits , maugre the frownes of chance . your constant servant , i. h. the great conjunction , or , parlement of stars . upon a time , the stars complained to apollo , that he displayed his beams too much upon some malignant planets ; that the moone had too great a share of his influence , and that he was carryed away too much by her motion : they complained also , that the constellation of libra ( which holds the ballance of justice ) had but a dim light , and that the astrean court was grown altogether destructive , with divers other grievances . apollo hereupon , commanded mercury to summon a generall synod , where some out of every asterisme throughout the whole firmament were to meet ; apollo told them , i am placed here by the finger of the almighty , to be monarch of the skie , to be the measurer of time , and i goe upon his errand round about the worl●… every foure and twenty houres : i am also the fountaine of heate and light , which , though i use to dispence and diffuse in equall proportions through the whole universe ; yet there is difference 'twixt objects , a castle hath more of my light then a cottage , and the cedar hath more of me then the shrub , according to the common axiom , quicquid recipitur , recipitur ad modum recip●…entis . but touching the moon , ( the second great luminary ) i would have you know , that she is dearest unto mee , therefore let none repine that i cherish her with my beams , and confer more light on her then any other . touching the malignant planets , or any other star , of what magnitude soever , that moves not in a regular motion , or hath run any excentrick exorbitant course , or that would have made me to move out of the zodiak , i put them over unto you , that upon due legall examination and proof , they may be unspher'd or extinguished . but i would have this done with moderation ; i would have you to keep as neer as you can between the tropiques and temperate zones : i would have things reduced to their true principles , i wold have things reformed , not ruin'd ; i would have the spirit of malice and lying , the spirit of partiality and injustice , the spirit of tyranny and rigour , the base spirit of feare and jealousie to be farre from this glorious syderean synod ; i would have all private interests reflecting upon revenge or profit , to be utterly banished hence : moreover , i would not have you to make grievances , where no grievances are , or dangers where no dangers are . i would have no creation of dangers ; i would have you to husband time as parsimoniously as you can , lest by keeping too long together , and amusing the world with such tedious hopes of redress of grievances , you prove your self the greatest grievance at last , and so from starrs become comets : lastly , i would have you be cautious how you tamper with my soveraign power , and chop logicke with mee in that point ; you know what became of him who once presumed to meddle with my chariot . hereupon the whole host of heaven being constellated thus into one great body , fell into a serious deliberation of things , and apollo himself continued his presence , and sate often amongst them in his full lustre , but in the meane time , whilest they were in the midst of their consultations , many odde aspects , oppositions and conjunctions hapned between them : for some of the sporades , but specially those mongrel small vulgar stars , which make up the galaxia ( the milkie way in heaven ) gather in a tumultuous disorderly manner about the body of apollo , and commit many strange insolencies , which caused apollo ( taking young phosphorus the morning-star with him ) to retire himself , and in a just indignation to withdraw his light from the synod : so all began to be involv'd in a strange kind of confusion and obscurity ; they groaped in the dark , not knowing which way to move , or what course to take , all things went cancer-like retrograde , because the sun detained his wonted light and irradiations from them . morall . such as the sun is in the firmament , a monarch is in his kingdom : for , as the wisest of men saith , in the light of the kings countenance ther is life ; and i believe that to be the morall of this astrean fable . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . or , the great councell of birds . upon a time the birds met in councell , for redresse of som extravagancies that had flown unto the volatill empire ; nor was it the first time that birds met thus ; for the phrygian fabler tells us of divers meetings of theirs : and after him we read that apollonius thyaneus , undertook the interpretation of their language , and to be their drogoman . they thus assembled in one great covie by the call of the eagle their unquestioned hereditary king , and by vertue of his royal authority , complaints were brought , that divers cormorants and harpies , with other birds of prey , had got in amongst them , who did much annoy and invade the publick liberty : sundry other birds were questioned , which caused some to take a timely flight into another aire . as they were thus consulting for advancement of the common good , many rooks , horn-owles and sea-gulls flock'd together , and ●…luttered about the place they were assembled in , where they kept a hideous noise , and committed many outrages , and nothing cold satisfie them , but the griffons head , which was therfore chopt off , and offered up as a sacrifice to make them leave their chattering , and to appease their fury for the time . they fell foul afterwards upon the pies , who were used to be much reverenced , and to sit upon the highest pearch in that great assembly : they called them i dolatrous and inauspitious birds , they hated their mix'd colour , repined at their long train , they tore their white feathers , and were ready to peck out their very eyes : they did what they could to put them in owles feathers ( as the poor sheep was in the woolfs skin ) to make them the more hated , and to be star'd and hooted at whersoever they passed . the pies being thus scar'd , presented a petition to the royall eagle , and to this his great counsell , that they might be secured to repaire safely thither to sit and consult , according to the ancient lawes of the volatill empire continued so many ages without controllment or question : in which petition they inserted a protest or caveat , that no publique act shold passe in the interim . this supplication , both for matter and form , was excepted against , and cryed up to be high treason , specially that indefinite protest they had made , that no act whatsoever shold be of any validity without them , which was alledged to derogate from the high law-making power of that great counsell , and tended to retard and disturb the great affaires which were then in agitation : so the poor pies , as if by that petition they had like the black-bird voided lime to catch themselves , ( according to the proverb , turdus cacat sibi malum ) were suddenly hurryed away into a cage , and after ten long moneths canvassing of the point , they were unpearch'd , and rendered for ever uncapable to be members of that court , they were struck dumb and voice-less , and suddenly as it were blown up away thence , though without any force of powder , as once was plotted aginst them . but this was done when a thin number of the adverse birds had kept still together , and stuck close against them , and also after that the bill concerning them had bin once ejected , which they humbly conceived by the ancient order of that court could not be re-admitted in the same session . they petitioned from the place they were cooped in , that for heavens sake , for the honour of that noble counsell , for truth and justice sake , they ●…eing as free-born denisons of the aiery region , as any other volatills whatsoever , their charge might be perfected , that so they might be brought to a legall triall , and not forced to languish in such captivity . they pleaded to have done nothing but what they had precedents for : and touching the caveat they had inserted , it was a thing unusuall in every inferiour court of judicature , and had they forborn to have done it , they had betrayed their own nest , and done wrong to their successors . it was affirmed they had bin members of that body politique , long before those lower pearch'd birds , who now wold cast them out ; and that they had bin their best friends to introduce them to have any thing do do in that generall counsell : they prayed they might not be so cruelly used , as the solan goose , and redshanke had used them , who were not content to brail and clip their wings only , but to ●…ear them so , that they shold never grow again ; to handle them so unmercifully , was not the way to make their adversaries birds of paradice : in fine , they advised them to remember what the sick kite's mother answered him , when he desired her to pray to the gods for him , how canst thou , said she , expect any good from the gods , whose temples thou hast so violated ? at last , upon the importunity and pitifulness of their petitions , the accusation of treason , which kept such a noise at first , being declined against them , they were released in the morning , but cooped up again before night : and after the revolution of four full moons , they were restored again to a conditionall liberty , under which they remain till this day . ther wants not som , who affirm , that in that great counsell of birds , ther were som decoys ( and 't is well known where decoys were first bred ) who called in , not only these mongrill obstreperous birds from abroad to commit such outrages as were spoken of before , but drew after them also many of the greatest birds , who sate in that assembly , to follow them whither they listed : others , who were of a more generous extraction , disdained to be such buzzards , as to be carryed away hood-wincked in that manner , to be birds of their feather . thus a visible faction was hatched in this great counsell , as if the said decoyes had disgorged and let fall som grains of hemlock seeds amongst them to distemper their brains . or , as if som spinturnix , that fatall incendiary bird , or som ill-boding scritch-owle , which as stories tell us appeared once at rome , in a famous , though unfortunate great counsell ( when ther was a schism in the popedom ) had appeared likewise here . ther wanted not also amongst them som amphibious birds , as the barnacle , which is neither fish nor fowle ; and the cunning ba●…t , who sometimes professeth himself a bird , sometimes a mouse . i will not say ther were any paphlagonian birds amongst them , who are known to have double hearts . but 't is certain , that in this confusion ther were som malevolent birds , and many of them so young , that they were scarce fledg'd , who like the waspe in the fable , conspired to fire the eagles nest , ( and a wasp may somtimes do mischief to an eagle as a mouse to an elephant . ) moreover som of these light brained birds flew so high , that they seemed to arrogate to themselves , and exercise royall power , but foolishly ; for we know what became of the crow upon the ram's back , when she thought to imitate the eagle : and as it was observed that they were most eager to attempt those high insolensies against jove's bird , who had bin stark naked , and as bare as cootes , unlesse he had feathered them ; so that the little ant was more grateful to esops bird ; then those birds were to the eagle their liege lord and master . but the high-born bird with the two golden wings , the noble faulcons , the martlets , the ravens , the swan , the chough , and all the ancient birds of the mountains remained faithful and firm to the eagle , and scorned to be carryed away by such decoyes ; as also the generous ostriches , who unlesse they had had an extraordinary stomach , could not have digested such iron pills as were offered them . amongst other great birds which banded against the eagle , the flying dragons , green and white , were busie , specially the white ; and for the green , considering he was an ancient bird of the mountains , and that his progenitors had bin so renowned for their rare loyaly to the crown , every one wondered that he shold be drawn so far by the forefaid decoyes , as to be the first of his race that shold clap his wings against his soverain liege lord. the aforesaid destractions continued still , and increased more and more in that general convolation of birds ; therfore the turtle wold stay ther no longer , ther was so much gall amongst them : the pelecan flew away , he saw piety so vilified ; the dove was weary of their company , she found no simplicity and plain dealing amongst them : and the kings ▪ fisher , the halcyon ( the emblem of peace ) quite forsook them , he found so mnch jarring , dissentions , and bandings on all sides ; the swallow also , who had so ancient and honourable a rank amongst them , got into another aire , he fore-saw the weather was like to so be foul : and lastly , philomela , the queen of volatills , who was partner of the eagle's nest , abandoned them quite , and put a sea 'twixt her and them ; nay , the eagle himself withdrew his royal presence from them ; so the decoyes aforesaid carryed all before them , and comported themselves by their orders in that hight , as if like the lapwing , every one had a crown on his head ; they so inchanted in a manner , all the common sort of oppidan , rurall , and sea-birds , and infused such a credulity into them , that they believed them to have an inerring spirit , and what came from them , was as tru as the pentateuch : moreover , it was shrewdly suspected , that ther was a pernicious plot amongst them to let in the stork , who is never seen to stay long in any monarchy . morall . moderation is that goden rule wherby all great counsells shold square their deliberations , and nothing can tend more to their honour or dishonour , in point of wisdom : moreover , in a successive hereditary monarchy , when subjects assume regall power , when they bar the holy church of her rights , & of that reverence which is due to her chief professors , it is the most compendious way to bring all things to confusion , and consequently to an inevitable ruine , or som fatal change. and this i hold to be the chiefest morall of this apologue of birds . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the gathering together , or parlement of flowers . upon a time , the flowers assembled , and met in one generall counsell , by the authority and summons of the soveraign rose , their undoubted naturall king , who had taken the lilly for his royall spouse . the dew of heaven fell plentifully upon this happy conjunction , which made them to bourgeon , to propagate and prosper exceedingly , in so much , that the sweet fragrant odor which they did cast , diffused it self over all the earth . to this meeting came the violet , gilliflower , the rosemary , the tulyp , lavender and thyme , the cinquefoyle ( though of a forren growth ) had an honourable rank amongst them , and as some observed , got too much credit with the royal rose . the flowers of the field were admitted also to this great counsell : the couslip , the honysukle and daisie had their delegates there present , to consult of a reformation of certain abuses which had taken rooting in the common wealth of flowers , and being all under the rose , they had priviledge to speak all things with freedome ; complaints were made that much cockle and darnell , with other noxious herbs and tares were crept in amongst them , that the poppie did pullulat too much , with divers other grievances : the successe of this senat , this great bed or posie of living flowers , was like to prove very prosperous , but that the herb briony , wormwood , wolfbane , rue , and melampod ( the emblems of sedition , malice , feare , ambition and iealousie ) thrust in amongst them , and much distempered their proceedings : these brought in with them the bur , which exceedingly retarded and intangled all businesses ; and it was thought that the thistle was too medling amongst them , which made matters grow to that acrimony and confusion , as if the herb morsus diaboli had got in amongst them . amongst many other good-morrows , they propounded to the rose , that he should part with his prickles , and transmit his strength that way to be disposed of by them ; the royall rose liked not this bold request of theirs , though couched in very smooth language , but answered , i have hitherto condescended to every thing you have propounded , much more then ▪ any of my predecessors ever did ; but touching these prickles , which god and nature hath given mee , and are inherent in me and my stock from the beginning , though they be but excressencies , yet you know they fortifie and arm me , armat spina rosam . and by them i protect you and your rights from violence , and what protection i pray can there be without strength ? therefore i will by no means part with them to enfeeble my regall power , but will retain them still , and bequeath them to my posterity , which i would be loth to betray in this point ; nor doe i much value what that silly infected animall , the king of bees tells me sometimes , when humming up and downe my leaves , he would buzze this fond belief into me , how it added much to his majestie , that nature gives him no sting , as all other bees have , because he should rely altogether upon the love and loyalty of his subjects . no ; i will take warning by the eagle , the king of volatills , and by the lyon , king of quadrupedals , who ( as the prince of moralists reports ) when by fayre insinuations the one had parted with his tallons , the other with his teeth and ongles , wherein their might , and consequently their majesty consisted , grew afterwards contemptible to all creatures , and quite lost that natural allegeance and awe which was duc unto the one from all birds , and to the other , from all beasts of field and forrest . morall . every naturall borne monarch , hath an inherent inalienable strength in himself , which is the common militia of his kingdome ; for , though the peoples love ( which oftentimes is got by an apple , and lost by a peare ) be a good cittadell , yet there must be a concurrence of some visible setled force besides , which no earthly power may dispose of without his royall commands : and for him to transmit this strength to any other , is the only way to render him inglorious and despicable , both at home and abroad ; and thus you have the spirit of these flowers , and morall of the fable . the assembly of architects . there was an ancient goodly palace , composed of divers pieces , and partition'd into sundry chambers , halls and courts , which were supported by mixt pillars , partly corinthian , partly ionique , but principally by the dorique the king of columnes , as having the firmest pedestall : some tooke exceptions , and alledged , that some of the said courts were too high , and some of the chambers in this structure were too wide . the lord of this palace call'd together the best masons and architects , to advise with him ( not without him ) for mending of those faults , the better contrivance of the roomes , and to reduce the building to a just proportion . they solemnly met , and falling to consultation hereof , they found that the chamber which was spangled with stars , and where his privat counsell of state did use to sit , were too wide ; they thought that the court erected on the north-side , and that learned court where ecclesiasticall matters were scanned , was too high ; these , with that peculiar court which was erected for the support of honour , they went about in lieu of rectifying , to ruinat and raze to the very ground ; and some of these masons ( for indeed they were rather masons then true architects ) were so precise and over criticall , that they seem'd to find fault with the position of the chappell that belong'd to this palace , because , forsooth , it stood east and west , which situation , only in regard it was ancient , they held to be a superstitious posture ; they seem'd to repine at the decencie , riches and ornament of it , with divers other frivolous exceptions . the lord of the palace said little to that , but touching the errors and disproportions in the foresaid courts and chambers of publick justice , he was very willing they should be amended , and reduced to a true dimension and symmetrie ; and that all other roomes should be searched and swept cleane : but he would be loth to see those ancient pieces quite demolish'd , for that would hazard the fall of the maine fabrique , his princely hereditary patrimony ( descended upon him from so many wise oeconomists and royall progenitors ) in regard of the ●…uncture and contignation those parts had with the whole frame . to mend a thing by demolishing it , is as curing a sick body by knocking him in the head : he told them it was easier far to pull down , then build up ; one may batter to pieces in one houre , that which cannot be built in an age : that everlasting villaine , who burnt the ephesian temple , destroyed , as it were in a trice , what was a rearing up ten long olympiads : he wish'd them further to be very cautious how they medled with th the angulars and basis of that royal structure ; for so they might prove as wise as those architects , who took out som of the foundation stones , to repair the roof . lastly , he told them , that if they intended to pull down any part of his own standing palace , they shold be well advised before hand of the fashion wherof that new fabrick shold be , which they purposed to rear up in the room of the old . moral innovations are of dangerous consequence in all things , specially in a setled well temper'd ancient state ; therfore ther shold be great heed taken , before any ancient court of judicature , erected as a pillar to support justice by the wisdom of our progenitors , be quite put down ; for it may shake the whole fram of government , and introduce a change ; and changes in government are commonly fatall , for seldom comes a better . and this i hold to be the aim of this apologue . the insurrection of the winds . it fortuned , that the winds banded against eolus : and boreas ( the north-wind ) began to bluster first , and wold blow wher he listed , he grew so boisterous , that he is call'd scopa viarum , the high-way beesom , he seem'd to sweep all before him southward , insomuch , that uniting all his strength into one body , he made towards eolus in a hostile armed manner , and so obtained of him what he desired . after his example ( and an odde example it was ) the west-wind , his fellow subject rose up , alledging , that though he blew from the left-side of heaven , yet he deserved to be as much favoured as boreas , in regard he drove a far richer trade , and blew upon a more fertile countrey , which brought in much more benefit to the rest of eolus his dominions ; therfore he would have his liberties also assur'd him , which he alledged were altogether as ancient as the others : this made him puff with such an impetuous violence , that his blasts brought with them ( god wot ) divers showres of bloud , and whole cataracts of calamities : now , as it is observed in the course of naturall things , that one mischief seldom marcheth alone , but ushers in another , and hath alwaies its concomitants , so these north and western gusts , as one wave useth to drive on another , made all the winds in the compasse , both collaterall and cardinall to rise up and rebell against eolus , even under that very clime , and in those horizons , where he kept his principall residence and royal court. and this popular wind ( for 't was no other , take it all joyntly in one puff ) did rage with that vehemency , that it turn'd every wher into fearful flames of fire ( issuing out of a kind of ignis fatuus , which by its repercussions , and furious arietations , did a world of mischief , as if it had bin that incendiary prester wind , or rather an haraucana , that indian gust , which alwaies brings the devil along with it as those savages believe ) had blown here , for , surely god was not in this wind . yet som were so simple , to think that this wind proceeded from divine inspirations ; nay , they came to that height of prophaneness , as to father it upon the holy ghost , though nothing could be more different to his sweet motions , nothing so directly opposit to his soft gentle breeses and eventilatio●…s ; for no holy consecrated thing could stand before this diabolical wind , down went all crosses it met withall ; it batter'd down church and chappel windowes ( and i fear the walls and steeples will next to wrack . ) it was so violent , that it overturn'd all stone tables that stood east-ward ; it blew away all the decent vests and ornaments of the church ; the bishops mitre ( an order contemporary with christianity it self ) did quake like an aspen leaf before it ; nay , it shrewdly shook the very imperial scepter , and crown which stood on eolus his head , so that he was like to become ludibrium ventorum . but the highest deity of heaven , he who walketh upon the wings of the wind , and makes weight for them , and gathereth them in his fist when he pleaseth , hating such an odious rebellion , rebuked these tumultuous winds , he caused a contagious aire , to rush in and mingle with them , and infect them with new d●…seases ; besides whispers of jealousies , doubts and diffidence blew and buzz'd more and more amongst them , so that they could not trust one another ; insomuch , that it made them to fall into confusion amongst themselves , which is the common fate of all rebellions . so eolus recovered his monarchy , and as they say , ther is no wind but blows som body good ; so this turn'd much to the advantage of eolus , for he grew ever after more firm and better establish'd in his regall power , because he put a competent guard in those climes whence all these boistrous winds burst forth , and so secur'd himself ever after , that they could not blow where they listed . popular insurrections being debell'd , turn to the advantage , and render the ruling prince more secure afterwards , or a broken bone being well set , growes stronger oftentimes : and so you have the principal morall of this parable in brief . post-script . sir , i long to receive your opinion of these rambling pieces of fancy , you may , peradventure , have more , when the times are open : surely the wind will not hold stil in this unlucky hole , for it is too violent to last : it begins ( thanks be to god ) to sift already , and amongst those multitudes , who expect the change , i am one that lyeth at the cape of good hope , though a long time under hatches ( in the fleet. ) howsoever , though all the winds in the compass shold bluster upon me ; nay , though a haraucana should rage , i am arm'd and resolv'd to bear the brunt , to welcome the will of god , and possesse my soul with patience . if you desire a further intimation of things , i refer you to a discourse of mine call'd the tru informer , who will give you no vulgar satisfaction . so i am yours , as at first , inalterable . i. h. of the land of ire : or , a discours of that horrid insurrection and massacres which happen'd lately in ireland ; by mercurius hibernicus : who discovers unto the world the tru causers and incendiaries therof . in vindication of his majesty , who is most maliciously traduc'd to be accessary therunto ; which is as damnable a lie as possibly could be hatched in hell ; which is the staple of lies . a lie stands upon one legg , — truth upon two . mercurius hibernicus , his advertisement to the well-temper'd reader . there is a mongrell race of mercuries lately sprung up , but i claim no acquaintance with them , much less any kindred . they have commonly but one weeks time for their conception and birth ; and then are they but like those ephemeran creatures , which pliny speaks of , that are born in the morning , grow up till noon , and perish the same night : i hope to be longer liv'd then so , because i was longer a getting , ther was more time and matter went to my generation . ther is a tale how the tru mercury indeed , descended from heven once in a disguise , to see how he was esteem'd on earth ; and entring one day into a painters-shop , he found ther divers pictures of apollo , iupiter , mars , with others ; and spying his own hanging in a corner hard-by , he asked what the price of that pourtrait might be ? the painter answered , that if he bought any of the rest , he wold give him that into the bargain for nothing : mercury hereupon shaking his white caducean , flung out in indignation , and flew up to heven . shold mercury chance to descend now from his sphear , i think he wold be much more offended to find himself personated by every petty impertinent pamphleter ; yet i believe he would not think it ill that aulicus assumes his shape , nor that the harp , who owes her first invention to him , should be made now his crest . to my honourable friend mr. e. p. sir , if you please to cast your eyes upon the following discours , i believe it will afford you som satisfaction , and enlighten you more in the irish affaires . the allegeance i owe to truth , was the midwife that brought it forth , and i make bold to make choice of you for my gossip , because i am from the prison of the fleet 3. nonas april is 1643. your true servant , i. h. mercurius hibernicus . there is not any thing since these ugly warrs begun , whereof there hath been more advantage made to traduce and blemish his majesties actions , or to alienate and imbitter the affections of his people towards him , to incite them to armes , and enharden them in the quarrell , than of the irish affaires ; whether one cast his eyes upon the beginning and proceedure of that warre ( which some by a most monstrous impudence would patronize upon their majesties ) or upon the late cessation , and the transport of auxiliaries since from thence . there are some that in broken peeces have written of all three : but not in one entire discourse , as this is , nor hath any hitherto hit upon those reasons and inferences that shall be displayed herein . but he who adventures to judge of affaires of state , specially of traverses of warre , as of pacifications , of truces , suspensions of armes , parlies , and such like , must well observe the quality of the times , the successe and circumstance of matters past , the posture and pressure of things present ( and upon the place ) the inducement or enforcement of causes , the gaining of time , the necessity of preventing greater mischiefes ( whereunto true policy prometheus like hath alwaies an eye ) with other advantages . the late cessation of armes in ireland was an affaire of this nature ; a true act of state , and of as high a consequence as could be : which cessation is now become the common subject of every mans discourse , or rather the discourse of every common subject all the three kingdomes over : and not onely the subject of their discourse , but of their censure also ; nor of their censure onely , but of their reproach and obloquy . for the world is come now to that passe , that the foot must judge the head , the very cobler must pry into the cabinet counsels of his king ; nay the distaffe is ready ever and anon to arraign the scepter ; spinstresses are become states-women , and every peasan turned politician ; such a fond irregular humour reignes generally of late yeers amongst the english nation . now the designe of this small discourse , though the subject require a farre greater volume , is , to vindicate his majesties most pious intentions in condescending to this late suspension of arms in his kingdome of ireland , and to make it appeare to any rationall ingenious capacity , ( not pre-occupied or purblinded with passion ) that there was more of honour and necessity , more of prudence and piety in the said cessation , than there was either in the pacification or peace that was made with the scot. but to proceed herein the more methodically , i will lay downe , first , the reall and true radicall causes of the late two-yeers irish insurrection . secondly , the course his majesty used to suppresse it . lastly , those indispensable impulsive reasons and invincible necessity which enforced his majesty to condescend to a cessation . touching the grounds of the said insurrection , we may remember when his majesty out of a pious designe ( as his late majesty also had ) to settle an uniformitie of serving god in all his three kingdomes , sent our liturgie to his subjects of scotland ; some of that nation made such an advantage hereof , that though it was a thing only recommended , not commanded or pressed upon them , and so cald in suddenly againe by a most gracious proclamation , accompanied with a generall pardon : yet they would not rest there , but they would take the opportunity hereby to demolish bishops , and the whole hierarchy of the church ( which was no grievance at all till then ) to which end , they put themselves in actuall armes , and obtained at last what they listed ; which they had not dared to have done , had they not been sure to have as good friends in england as they had in scotland ( as lesly himself confessed to sir william berkley at newcastle ) for some of the chiefest inconformists here , had not onely intelligence with them , but had been of their cabinet-counsels in moulding the plot : though some would cast this war upon the french cardinall , to vindicate the invasion we made upon his masters dominions in the isle of rets ; as also for some advantage the english use to do the sp●…niard in transporting his treasure to dunkerk , with other offices . others wold cast it upon the iesuit , that he shold project it first , to ●…orce his m●…jesty to have recourse to his roman catholick subjects for aid , that so they might , by such supererogatory service ingratiate themselves the more into his favour . the irish hearing how well their next neighbou●…s had sped by way of arms , it filled them full of thoughts and apprehensions of fear and jealousie , that the scot wold prove more powerful hereby , and consequently more able to do them hurt , and to attemp●… waies to restrain them of that connivency , which they were allowed in point of religion : now ther is no nation upon earth that the irish hate in that perfection , and with a greater antipathy , than the scot , or from whom they conceive greater danger : for wheras they have an old prophesie amongst them , which one shall hear up and down in every mouth , that the day will come when the irish shall weep upon english mens graves : they fear that this prophesie will be verified and fulfilled in the scot above any other nation . moreover , the irish entred into consideration , that they also had sundry grievances and grounds of complaint , both touching their estates and consciences , which they pretended to be far greater than those of the scots . for they fell to think , that if the scot was suffered to introduce a new religion , it was reason they shold not be so pinched in the exercise of their old , which they glory never to have altered . and for temporall matters ( wherin the scot had no grievance at all to speak of ) the new plantations which had bin lately afoot , to be made in conaught and other places ; the concealed lands and defective titles which were daily found out ; the new customs which were imposed , and the incapacity they had to any preferment or office in church and state ( with other things ) they conceived these to be grievances of a far greater nature , and that deserved redresse much more than any the scot had . to this end , they sent over commissioners to attend this parliament in england , with certain propositions , but those commissioners were dismissed hence with a short and unsavoury answer , which bred worse bloud in the nation than was formerly gathered ; and this , with that leading case of the scot , may be said to be the first incitements that made them rise . in the cou●…se of humane actions , we daily find it to be a tru rule , exempla movent , examples move , and make strong impressions upon the fancy ; precepts are not so powerful as precedents . the said example of scotland , wrought wonderfully upon the imagination of the irish , and filled them ( as i touched before ) with thoughts of emulation , that they deserved altogether to have as good usage as the scot , their country being far more beneficial , and consequenly , more importing the english nation . but these were but confused imperfect notions , which began to receive more vigour and form after the death of the earl of strafford , who kept them under so exact an obedience , though som censure him to have screwed up the strings of the harp too high ; insomuch that the taking off of the earl of straffords head , may be said to be the second incitement to the heads of that insurrection to stir . adde hereunto , that the irish understanding with what acrimony the roman catholicks in england were proceeded against since the sitting of our parliament , and what further designes were afoot against them , and not onely against them , but for ranversing the protestant religion it self , as it is now practised ( which som shallow-braind 〈◊〉 do throw into the same scales with p●…pery . ) they thought it was high time for them to forecast what shold become of them , and how they shold ●…e 〈◊〉 in point of conscience , when a new deputy of the parliaments election ( approbation at least ) shold come over . therfore they fell to consult of som means of timely prevention : and this was another mo●…ive ( and it was a sh●…ewd one ) which p●…sht on the irish to take up arms. lastly , that army of 8000. men , which the earl of strafford had raised to be transported to england for suppressing the scot , being by the advice of our parliament here , disbanded ; the country was annoyed by som 〈◊〉 those stragling souldiers , as not one in twenty of the irish , will from the sword to the spade , or from the pike to the plough again . therfore the two marquesses that were ambassadors here then for spaine , having propounded to have som numbers of those disbanded forces , for the service of their master ; his majesty by the mature advice of his privy counsell , to occur the mischiefs that might arise to his kingdom of ireland by those loose casheer'd souldiers , yielded to the ambassadors motion , who sent notice hereof to spain accordingly , and so provided shipping for their transport , and impressed money to advance the business ; but as they were in the heat of that 〈◊〉 ▪ his majesty being then in scotland ▪ 〈◊〉 w●…s a sudden stop made of those promised troops , who had depended long upon the spaniards service , as the spaniard 〈◊〉 do●…e on theirs . and this was the last , though no●… the least fatal cause of that horrid insurrection : all which particulars well considered , it had bin no hard matter to have bin a prophet , and standing upon the top of holy-head , to have foreseen those black clouds engendering in the irish aire , which bro●…e out afterwards into such fearful tempests of bloud . out of these premises , it is easie for any common understanding , not transported with passion and private interest , to draw this conclusion . that they who complyed with the scot in his insurrection ; they who dismissed the irish commissioners with such a short unpolitick answer , they who took off the earl of straffords head , and delayed afterwards the dispatching of the earl of leicester , they who hindered those disbanded troops in ireland to go for spain , may be justly said to have bin the tru causes of the late insurrection of the irish ; and consequently , it is easie to know upon the account of whose souls must be laid the bloud of those hundred and odde thousands poor christians , who perished in that war ; so that had it bin possible to have brought over their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the doores , and in the presence of som men i believe they wold have gushed out afresh into bloud , for discovery of the tru murtherers . the grounds of this insurrection being thus discovered , let us examine what means his majesty used for the suppression of it . he made his addresses presently to his great counsel , the english parliament then assembled , which queen elizabeth and her progenitors did seldom use to do , but only to their privy counsel in such cases , who had the discussing and transacting of all foreign affaires ; for in mannaging matters of state , specially those of war , which must be carryed with all the secrecy that may be , trop grand nombre , est encombre , as the frenchman saith , too great a number of counsellours may be an incumber , and expose their results and resolutions to discovery and other disadvantages , wheras in military proceedings the work shold be afoot before the counsels be blazed abroad . well , his majesty transmitted this business to the parliament of england , who totally undertaking it , and wedding as it were the quarlel ( as i remember they did that of the palatinate a little before by solemn vote ; the like was done by the parliament of scotland also , by a publick joynt declaration , which in regard ther came nothing of it , tended little to the honour of either nation abroad ) his majesty gave his royal assent to any propositions or acts for raising of men , money and arms to perform the work . but hereby no man is so simple as to think his majesty shold absolutely give over his own personal care and protection of that his kingdom , it being a rule , that a king can no more desert the protection of his own people , then they their subjection to him . in all his declarations ther was nothing that he endear'd and inculcated more often , and with greater aggravation and earnestness unto them , then the care of his poor subjects their fellow-protestants in ireland : nay , he resented their condition so far , and took the business so to heart , that he offered to passe over in person for their relief : and who can deny but this was a magnanimous and king-like resolution ? which the scots by publick act of counsel , did highly approve of , and declared it to be an argument of care and courage in his majesty . and questionless it had done infinite good in the opinion of them that have felt the pulse of the irish people , who are daily ore-heard to groan , how they have bin any time these 400. years under the english crown , and yet never saw but two of their kings all the while upon irish ground , though ther be but a salt 〈◊〉 of a few hours sail to pass over . and much more welcom shold his majesty , now regnant , be amongst them , who by general tradition , they confess and hold to come on the paternal side from 〈◊〉 ( by legal and lineal descent ) who was an irish prince , and after king of scotland , wheras the title of all our former kings and queens was stumbled at alwaies by the vulgar . his majesty finding that this royall proffer of engaging his own person , was rejected with a kind of scorn , coucht in smooth language , though the main businesse concerned himself nearest , and indeed solely himself , that kingdom being his own hereditary right . understanding also , what base sinister use ther was made of this insurrection by som trayterous malevolent persons , who , to cast aspersions upon his majesty , and to poyson the hearts of his people , besides publick infamous reports , counterfeited certain commissions in his majesties name to authorize the businesse , as if he were privy to it , though i dare pawn my soul his ( or her ) majesty knew no more of it then the great mogor did . finding also that the commissioners imployed hence for the managing and composing matters in that kingdom , though nominated by the parliament , and by their recommendation authorized by his majesty , did not observe their instructions , and yet were conniv'd at . understanding also , what an inhumane design ther was between them and the scot , in lieu of suppressing an insurrection to eradicat and extinguish a whole nation to make booty of their lands ( which hopes the london adventurers did hugge , and began to divide the bears-skin before he was taken , as his majesty told them ▪ an attempt the spaniard nor any other christian state ever intended against the worst of savages ; the conceit wherof in●…used such a desperate courage , eagerness and valour into the irish , that it made them turn necessity into a kind of vertu . moreover , his majesty taking notice that those royal subsidies , with other vast contributions wherunto he had given way , with the sums of particular adventurers ( amongst whom som aliens ( hollanders ) were taken in , besides the scot to share the country ) were misapplyed , being visibly imployed , rather to feed an english rebellion , then to suppress an irish : nay , understanding that those charitable collections which were made for the reliefe of those distressed protestants , who being stripped of all their livelihood in ireland , were forced to fly over to england , were converted to other uses , and the charity not dispensed according to the givers intention . hearing also that those 5000. men which had been levyed and assigned to goe under the lord wharton , the lord of kerry , sir faithfull fortescue and others were diverted from going to the west of ireland , and imployed to make up the earl of essex army : and having notice besides that the earl of warwicke had stayd certaine ships going thither with supplies , and that there was an attempt to send for over to england some of those scottish forces which were in ulster , without his privity . lastly , his majesty finding himself unfitted , and indeed disabled to reach those his distressed subjects , his owne royal armie all his navall strength , revenues and magazines being out of his hands ; and having as hard a game to play still with the scot , and as pernicious a fire to quench in england , as any of his progenitors ever had : receiving intelligence also daily from his protestant nobility and gentry thence , in what a desperate case the whole kingdome stood , together with the report of the committee that attended his majesty from them expresly for that service , who amongst other deplorable passages in their petition , represented , that all means by which comfort and life should be conveyed unto that gasping kingdome , seemed to be totally obstructed , and that unlesse 〈◊〉 reliefe were afforded , his loyall subject●… there must yeeld their fortunes for a prey , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a sacrifice , and their religion for a 〈◊〉 to the mercilesse rebels . his majesty ( as it was high time for 〈◊〉 ) taking into his princely thoughts those wofull complainrs and cryes of his poore subjects , condescended at last to appoint some persons of honour to heare what the irish could say for themselves , as they had often petitioned ; and god forbid but the king of ireland should receive his subjects petitions , as well as the king of scotland . but his majesty being unsatisfied with what they propounded then , the lord marquess of ormond marched with considerable forces against them , and though he came off with honour , yet no reliefe at all comming thither for many moneths after from the parliament here , who had undertaken the businesse , and had received all the summes and subsidies , with other unknown contributions to that end , matters grew daily worse and worse . to sum up all , his majesty receiving express and positive advice from his lord justices and counsell of state ther , that the whole kingdom was upon point of utter perdition , which was co-intimated the same time to the parliament here , by a special letter to the speaker ; i say his majesty finding that he had neither power of himself , it being transmitted to others ; and that those trustees did misapply that power and trust he had invested in them ( for the time ) to make good their undertaking for preservation of that his fruitfull kingdome ; being impelled by all these forcible reasons , his majesty sent a commission to the lord marquesse of ormond his lievtenant generall ( a most known sincere protestant ) to hearken to a treaty according to their petition ; and if any thing was amisse in that treaty in poynt of honour ( as it shall appeare by comparing it with others , there was none ) we know whom to thank . for out of these premises also , doth result this second conclusion , that they who misapplied those moneys , and mis imployed those men which were levyed with his majesties royall assent for the reduction of ireland : they who set afoot that most sanguinary design of extirpating , at least of enslaving a whole ancient nation , who were planted there by the hand of providence from the beginning : they who hindred his majesties transfretation thither to take cognizance of his own affairs , and expose the countenance of his own royall person for composing of things : they , they may be said to be the true causes of that unavoydable necessity and as the heathen poetsings , the gods , themselvs cannot resist necessity ) which enforced his majesty to capitulat with the irish , and assent to a cessation . it was the saying of one of the bravest roman emperours , and it was often used by henry the great of france , her majesties father , that he had rather save the life of one loyall subject then kill a hundred enemies : it may well be thought that one of the prevalentst inducements that moved his majesty ( besides those formerly mentioned ) to condescend to this irish cessation , was a sense he had of the effusion of his own poor subjects blood , the hazard of the utter extirpation of the protestants there , and a totall irrecoverable losse of that kingdome , as was advertised both in the petition of the protestants themselves , the relation of the committee imployd thither to that purpose , and the expresse letters of the lords justices and counsell there . to prove now , that this cessation of arms in ireland was more honourable and fuller of piety , prudence and necessity , then either the pacification or peace with the scot. i hope , these few ensuing arguments ( above divers others which cannot be inserted here , in regard of the force intended brevity of this discourse ) will serve the turne . 1. in primis , when the pacification was made with scotland his majesty was there personally present , attended on by the floure of his english nobility , gentry and servants , and the enemy was hard by ready to face him. at the concluding of the irish cessation , his majesty was not there personally present , but it was agitated and agreed on by his commissioner , and it hath been held alwaies less dishonourable for a king to capitulate in this kind with his own subjects by his deputy , then in his own person , for the further off he is , the lesse reflects upon him . 2. upon the pacification and peace with scotland , there was an amnestia , a generall pardon , and an abolition of all by-passed offences published , there were honours and offices conferred upon the chiefest sticklers in the war. at the cessation in ireland there was no such thing . 3. when the pacification and peace was made with the scots , there was mony given unto them , as it is too well knowne . but upon the setling of this cessation , the irish received none but gave his majesty a considerable summe as an argument of their submission and gratitude , besides the maintainance of some of his garrisons in the interim ; and so much partly in point of honour . 4. at the concluding of the pacification and peace with scotland , there was a vigorous , fresh , unfoiled english army a foot , and in perfect equipage ; there wanted neither ammunition , armes , money , cloaths , victuals or any thing that might put heart into the souldier and elevat his spirits . but the protestant army in ireland had not any of all these in any competent proportion , but were ready to perish , though there had been no other enemy then hunger and cold : and this implies a farre greater necessity for the said cessation . 5. in ireland there was imminent danger of an instant losse of the whole kingdome , and consequently , the utter subversion of the protestant religion there , as was certified both to king and parliament by sundry letters and petitions which stand upon record : there was no such danger in the affairs of scotland , either in respect of religion or kingdome ; therefore there was more piety shown in preserving the one , and prudence in preserving the other in ireland , by plucking both ( as it were ) out of the very jawes of destruction by the said cessation . we know that in the medley of mundane casualties , of two evils , the least is to be chosen , and a small inconvenience is to be born withall , to prevent a greater . if one make research into the french story , he will find , that many kinds of pacifications and suspensions of armes were covenanted 'twixt that king and som of his subjects , trenching far more upon regall dignity then this in ireland . the spaniard was forced to declare the hollanders free-states , before they could be brought to treat of a truce : and now the catalans scrue him up almost to as high conditions . but what need i rove abroad so far ? it is well known , nor is it out of the memory of man ( in queen elizabeths raign ) that in ireland it self ther have bin cessations , all circumstances well weighed , more prejudiciall to majesty then this . but that which i hear murmured at most as the effect of this cessation , is the transport of som of those souldiers to england for recruting his majesties armies , notwithstanding that the greatest number of them be perfect and rigid protestants , and were those whom our parliament it self imployed against the irish. but put case they were all papists , must his majesty therfore be held a favourer of popery ? the late king of france might have bin said as well to have bin a favourer of hugonotts , because in all his wars he imployed them most of any in places of greatest trust against the house of austria ; wheras all the world knows , that he perfectly hated them in the generall , and one of the reaches of policy he had , was to spend and waste them in the wars . was it ever known but a soveraign prince might use the bodies and strength of his own naturall-born subjects , and liege men for his own defence ? when his person hath been sought and aimed at in open field by small and great shot , and all other engines of hostility and violence : when he is in danger to be surprized or besieg'd in that place wher he keeps his court : when all the flowers of his crown his royal prerogatives which are descended upon him from so many successive progenitors ) are like to be plucked off and trampled under foot : when ther is a visible plot to alter and overturn that religion he was born , baptized , and bred in : when he is in dan●…er to be forced to infringe that solemn sacramental oath he took at his coronation to maintain the said religion , with the rights and rites of the holy anglican church , which som brain-sick schismaticks wold transform to a kirk and her discipline , to som chimerical form of government they know not what . francis the first and other christian princes , made use of the turk upon lesse occasions ; and if one may make use of a horse , or any other bruit animal , or any inanimat engine or instrument for his own defence against man , much more may man be used against man , much more may one rational creature be used against another though for destructive ends in a good cause , specially when they are commanded by a soveraign head , which is the main thing that goes to justifie a war. now touching the roman catholicks , whether english , welsh , irish , or scottish , which repaire to his majesties armies either for service or security . he looks not upon them ●…s papists , but as his subjects , not upon their religion , but their allegiance , and in that ●…uality he entertains them : nor can the pa●…ist be denyed the character of a good subject , all the while he conforms himself to the lawes in generall , and to those lawes also that are particularly enacted against him , and so keeps himself within the bounds of his civil obedience : as long as he continues so , he may challenge protection from his prince by way of right , and if his prince by som accident be not in case to protect him , he is to give him leave to defend himself the best he can , for the law of nature allowes every one to defend himself , and ther is no positive law of man can annul the law of nature . now if the subject may thus claim protection from his prince , it followeth , the prince by way of reciprocation may require assistance , service and supplies from the subject upon all publick occasions , as to suppress at this time a new race of recusants , which have done more hurt then ever the old did , and are like to prove more dangerous to his crown and regal authority then any foreign enemy . but whosoever will truly observe the genius , and trace the actions of this fatal faction which now swayes with that boundless , exorbitant , arbitrary and antinomian power , will find , that it is one of their prime pieces of policy , to traduce and falsifie any thing that is not conducible to their own ends : yet what comes from them must be so magisterial , it must be so unquestionably and incontroulably tru & lawful , that it must be believed by an implicite faith , as proceeding from an in-erring oracle ( as if these zealots were above the common condition of mankind , to whom errour is as hereditary as any other infirmity ) though the thing it self encroach never so grosly both upon the common liberty , the states and souls of men . but if any thing bear the stamp of royal authority , be it never so just and tending to peace and the publick good , yea , though it be indifferent to either side , it is presently countermanded , cryed down , and stifled ; or it is calumniated and aspersed with obloquies , false glosses and misprisions ; and this is become now the common theam wherwith their pulpits ring which makes me think , that these upstart politicians have not long to reign ; for , as the common proverb saith , fraud and frost end foul and are short-lived , so that policy , those counsels which are grounded upon scandals , reproaches and lies , will quickly moulder and totter away , and bring their authors at last to deserved infamy and shame , and make them find a tomb in their own ruines . adde hereunto as further badges of their nature , that black irreconcilable malice and desire of revenge which rageth in them , the aversness they have to any sweetness of conformity and union , the violent thirst they have of bloud , which makes me think on that dis●…ique of prudentius , who seemed to be a prophet as well as poet ( a tru vates ) in displaying the humors of these fiery dogmatists , this all-confounding faction which now hath the vogue , to the punishment , i will not say yet , the perdition of this poor island . sic m●…res produnt animum , & mihi credite , junctus semper cum falso est dogmate coedis amor . thus in english. manners betray the mind , and credit me , ther 's alwayes thirst of bloud with heresie . the sway of the sword ; or a discours of the militia train'd-bands , or common soldiery of the land ; proving , that the power and command therof in chief belongs to the ruling prince , and to no other . sine gladio nulla defensio . the author's apology . t is confefs'd that the subject of this discours were more proper to one of the long-robe , which i am not , i am no lawyer otherwise then what nature hath made me , so every man , as he is born the child of reason , is a lawyer , and a logitian also who was the first kind of lawyer : this discoursive faculty of reason comes with us into the world accompanied with certain general notions and principles to distinguish right from wrong , and falshood from truth : but touching this following discourse , because it relates somthing to law , the author wold not have adventured to have exposed it to the world , if , besides those common innate notions of reason , and some private notes of his own , he had not inform'd and ascertain'd his judgment by conference with som professed lawyers , and those the eminentest in the land , touching the truth of what it treats of ; therfore he dares humbly aver that it contains nothing but what is consonant to the fundamentall and fixed constitutions , to the known clear lawes of this kingdom . from the prison of the flcet 3. nonas mail 1645. i. h. touching the polemical svvord , and command in chief of the militia , &c. government is an ordinance of god for mans good ; the kinds of government are ordinances of men for gods glory : now , among all wo●…ldly affairs there is not any thing so difficult , and fuller of incertitudes as the art of ruling man , for those nimble spirits ( as it is spoken elswhere ) who from apprentices have been made freemen of the trade , and at last thought themselves masters , having spent their youth , their manhood , and a long time of old age therein , yet when they came to leave the world they professed themselves still to be but novices in the trade . there is a known way to break , guide , and keep in awe all other animals , though never so savage and strong ; but there is no such certaine way to govern multitudes of men , in regard of such turbulences of spirit and diversity of opinions that proceed from the rational faculty , which other cretures that are contented only with sense , are not subject unto ; and this the philosopher holds to be one of the inconveniences that attend humane reason , and why it is given man as a part of his punishment . now , why the government over men is ●…o difficult , there may be two main reasons alledg'd , the first is the various events , and world of inexpected contingencies that attend humane negotiations , specially matters of state , which , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , miscarriages , and change , this makes the mindes of men ▪ and consequently the moulds of policy so often to alter , scarce one amongst twenty is the same man as he was twenty yeares ago in point of judgement , which turns and changeth according to the successe and circumstances of things , the wisedome of one day is the foolishnesse of another , posterior dies est prioris magister , the day following becomes the former dayes teacher . the second reason is , the discrepant , and wavering fancies of mens braines , specially of the common peeple , who ( if not restrained ) are subject to so many crotchets and chymeras , with extravagant wanton desires , and gaping after innovations . insulary peeple are observed to be more transported with this instability then those of the continent , and the inhabitants of this i le more then others , being a well-fed spriteful peeple ; in so much , that it is grown a proverb abroad , that the englishman doth not know when he is well : now the true polititian doth use to fit his government to the fancy of the peeple , the ruler must do as the rider , some peeple are to be rid with strong bitts and curbs , and martingalls , as the napollitan , and french our next neighbour , which is the cause that a kind of slavery is entail'd upon him , for the french peasant is born with chains ; other nations may be rid with a gentle small bridle , as the venetian and the hollander , who hath not such boiling spirits as others ; a bridle doth serve also the spaniard , who is the gretest example of stability , and exact obedience to authority , of any peeple ; for though spain be the hottest countrey in christendom , yet it is not so subject to feavers as others are , i mean to fits of intestin commotions : and this was never so much tryed as of late yeers ; for though the present king hath such known frail●…ies , though he hath bin so infortunat , as to have many countreys quite revolted , and rent away from him ; though the ragingst plague that ever was in spain under any king , happen'd of late yeers , which sweep'd away such a world of peeple ; though his taxes be higher then ever were any , though he hath call'd in and engrossed all the common coyn of the countrey , and delivered but the one halfe back again , reserving the other half for himself ; though there 's no legall instrument , no bond , bill , or specialty can be writ but upon his seal'd paper , with sundry other exactions , yet his subjects are still as obedient , and awful unto him , they are as conformable and quiet , as if he were the most vertuous , and victorious prince that ever was ; and this they do principally for their own advantage , for if ther were another governour set up , it would inevitably hurle the whole countrey into combustion and tumults ; besides , they are taught , that as in choice of wives , so the rule holds in governments , seldome comes a better . touching the originals of government and ruling power , questionless the first among mankind was that naturall power of the father over his children , and that despotical domestique surintendence of a master of a house over his family ; but the world multiplying to such a masse of peeple , they found that a confused equality , and a loose unbridled way of living like ●…rute animals to be so inconvenient , that they chose one person to protect and govern ; not so much out of love to the ●…erson , as for their own conveniency and advantage , that they might live more regularly , and be secur'd from rapine , and op●…ression ; as also that justice might be administted ; and every one enjoy his own without fear , and danger : such govern●…urs had a power invested accordingly in ●…hem , also as to appoint subservient , able mi●…isters under them to help to bear the ●…urden . concerning the kinds of government , ●…ll polititians agree that monarchall is the best and noblest sort of sway , having the neerest analogy with that of heaven , viz. a supreme power in one single person ; god almighty is the god of unity , as well as of entity , and all things that have an entity do naturally propend to unity ; unity is as necessary for a well being , as entity is for a being , for nothing conduceth more to order , tranquillity , and quietude , nor is any strength so operative as the united ; the fist is stronger then the hand , though it be nothing but the hand , viz. the fingers united by contraction ; the republick of venice which is accounted the most eagle-ey'd and lastingst state in the world , fo●… she hath continued a pure virgin , and shin'd within her watry orb nere upon thirteen ages , is the fittest to give the world advice herein , for if ever any have brought policy to be a science which consists of certitudes , this state is shee , who is grown a●… dexterous in ruling men as in rowing of 〈◊〉 gally . but whereas the vulgar opinion is that the common peeple there have a shar●… in the government , 't is nothing so , for he great counsel which is the maine hing whereon the republick turns , is compose●… onely of gentlemen who are capable b●… their birth to sit there , having passed twenty five years of age ; to which purpose they must bring a publick testimonial that they are descended of a patrician or noble family . but to return to the main matter , this sage republick who may prescribe rules of policy to all mankind , having tryed at first to govern by consuls and tribunes for som years , she found it at last a great inconvenience , or deformity rather , to have two heads upon one body ; therefore she did set up one soveraign prince ; and in the records of venice the resons are yet extant which induc'd her thereunto , whereof one of the remarkablest was this ; we have observed that in this vast university of the world all bodies according to their several natures have multiplicity of motions , yet they receive vertue and vigour but from one , which is the sun ; all causes derive their originals from one supreme cause ; we see that in one creture there are many differing members , and faculties which have various functions , yet they are all guided by one soul , &c. the island of great britain hath bin alwaies a royal isle from her first creation , and infancy ; she may be said to have worn a crown in her cradle ; and though she had so many revolutions , and changes of masters , yet she continued still royal ; nor is there any species of government that suits better , either with the quality of the countrey , and genius of the inhabitants , or relates more directly to all the ancient lawes , constitutions , and customs of the land , then monarchal ; which any one that is conversant in the old records can justifie ; britannia ab initio mundi semper regia , & regimen illius simile illi caelorum . concerning the many sorts of trust●… which were put in the supreme governor of this land ( for ther must be an implicite and unavoidable necessary trust reposed in every soveraign magistrate ) the power of the sword was the chiefest ; and it was agreeable to holy scripture he shold have it , where we know 't is said , the king beareth not the sword in vain ; the lawes of england did ever allow it to be the inalienable prerogative of the soveraign prince , nor was it ever known ( humbly under favour ) that any other power whatsoever managing conjunctly or singly , did ever pretend to the power of the publick sword , or have the militia invested in them , but this ever remained intire and untransferrible in the person of the ruler in chief , whose chiefest instrument to govern by is the sword , without which crownes , scepters , globes and maces are but bables . it is that instrument which causeth tru obedience , makes him a dread soveraign , and to be feared at home and abroad ; now 't is a maxime in policy , that ther can be no tru obedience without fear ; the crown and scepter draw only a loose kind of voluntary love , and opinion from the people , but 't is the sword that draws reverence and awe , which two are the chiefest ingredients of allegeance , it being a principle , that the best government is made of fear and love , viz. when by fear love is drawn as threed through the eye of a needle ; the surest obedience , and loyalty is caused thus , for fear being the wakefullest of our passions works more powerfully in us and predominates over all the rest ; primus in orbe deus fecit timor . to raise up a soveraign magistrate without giving him the power of the sword , is to set one up to rule a metall'd horse without a bridle ; a chief ruler without a sword , may be said to be like that logg of wood which iupiter threw down among the froggs to be their king , as it is in the fable . moreover , one of the chiefest glories of a nation is to have their supreme governor to be esteem'd , and redouted abroad as well as at home . and what forren nation will do either of these to the king of england if he be armless , and without a sword ? who will give any respect o●… precedence to his ambassadors , and ministers of state ? the sword also is the prime instrument of publick protection , therefore that king who hath not the power of the sword , must have another title given him , the protector of his peeple . now , in a successive hereditary kingdom , as england is known , and acknowledged to be by all parties now in opposition , there are three things which are inalienable from the person of the king : they are , 1. the crowne . 2. the scepter . 3. the sword. the one , he is to carry on his head , the other in his hand , and the third at his side ; and they may be termed all three the ensignes or peculiar instruments of a king : by the first , he reignes , by the second he makes lawes , by the third he defends them : and the two first are but bables without the last , as was formerly spoken . 1. touching the crown or royal diadem of england , ther is none , whether presbyterian , independent , protestant , or others now in action , but confess that it descends by a right hereditary line , ( though through divers races , and som of them conquerours ) upon the head of charles the first now regnant : 't is his own by inherent birth-right and nature , by gods law , and the law of the land , and these parliament-men at their first sitting did agnize subjection unto him accordingly , and recognize him for their soveraign liege lord : nay , the roman catholick denies not this , for though there were bulls sent to dispense with the english subjects for their allegiance to queen elizabeth , yet the pope did this against her as he took her for a heretick , not an usurpresse , though he knew well enough that she had bin declared illegitimate by the act of an english parliament . this imperial crown of england is adorned and deckd with many fair flowers , which are called , royal prerogatives ; and they are of such a transcendent nature , that they are unforfeitable , individual , and untransferrable to any other : the king can only summon and dissolve parliaments : the king can only pardon ( for when he is crowned , he is sworn to rule in mercy as well as in justice : ) the king can only coyn money , and enhance or decry the value of it : the power of electing officers of state , of justices of peace and assize is in the king ; he can only grant soveraign commissions : the king can only wage war , and make out-landish leagues : the king may make all the courts of justice ambulatory with his person , as they were used of old ▪ 't is tru , the court of common pleas must be sedentary in som certain place for such a time ; but that expired , 't is removeable at his pleasure : the king can only employ ambassadours and treat with forraign states , &c. these , with other royal prerogatives which i shall touch hereafter , are those rare and wholsom flowers wherewith the crown of england is embellished , nor can they stick any where else but in the crown , and all confess the crown is as much the king 's , as any private man's cap is his own . 2. the second regall instrument is the scepter , which may be called an inseparable companion , or a necessary appendix to the crown ; this invests the king with the sole authority of making lawes , for before his confirmation all results and determinations of parliament are but bills or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are but abortive things , and meer embryos ; nay , they have no life at all in them till the king puts breath and vigour into them : and the ancient custome was for the king to touch them with his scepter , then they are lawes , and have a vertue in them to impose an obligation of universall obedience upon all sorts of people , it being an undeniable maxime , that nothing can be generally binding without the king 's royall assent , nor doth the law of england take notice of any thing without it : this being done they are ever after styl'd the kings lawes , and the judges are said to deliver the king's judgments , which agrees with the holy text , the king by judgment shall stablish the land : nay , the law presumes the king to be alwaies the sole judge paramount , and lord chief justice of england , for he whom he pleaseth to depute for his chiefest justice , is but styl'd lord chief iustice of the rings ●…ench , not lord chief justice of england , which title is peculiar to the king himself , and observable it is , that whereas he grants commissions and patents to the lord chancellour ( who is no other then keeper of his conscience ) and to all other judges , he names the chief justice of his own bench by a short writ only containing two or three lines : which run thus , regina iohanni popham militi salutem , sciatis quod constitutmus vos justiciarium nostrum capitalem ad placita coram nobis terminandum durante beneplacito nostro ; teste &c. now , though the king be liable to the laws , and is contented to be within their verge , because they are chiefly his own productions , yet he is still their protector , moderator , and soveraigne , which attributes are incommunicable to any other conjunctly or separately . thus the king with his scepter , and by the mature advice of his two houses of parl. which are his highest councel and court , hath the sole power of making laws ; other courts of judicature doe but expound them and distribute them by his appointment , they have but iuris dati dictionem or declarationem , and herein , i meane for the exposition of the lawes the twelve iudges are to be believed before the whole kingdom besides . they are as the areopagites in athens , the chief presidents in france and spaine in an extraordinary iunta , as the cape-syndiques in the rota's of rome , and the republique of venice , whose judgments in point of interpreting lawes are incontroulable , and preferred before the opinion of the whole senate whence they received their being ; and who hath still power to repeal them , though not to expound them . in france they have a law maxime , arrest donné en rebbe rouge est irrevocable , which is , a scarlet sentence is irrevocable , meaning when all the judges are met in their robes , and the client against whom the cause goes , may chafe and chomp upon the bit , and say what he will for the space of twenty foure howers against his judges , but if ever after he traduces them , he is punishable : it is no otherwise here where every ignorant peevish client , every puny barister , specially if he become a member of the house will be ready to arraign and vie knowledge with all the reverend judges in the land , whose judgement in points of law shold be onely tripodicall and sterling : so that he may be truly call'd a just king , and to rule according to law , who rules according to the opinion of his judges ; therefore , under favour , i do not see how his majesty for his part could be call'd injust when he leavied the ship-money , considering he had the judges for it . i now take the sword in hand , which is the third instrument of a king , ( and which this short discours chiefly points at ) it is as well as the two first incommunicable and inalienable from his person ; nothing concernes his honor more both at home and abroad ; the crown and the scepter are but unweildy and impotent naked indefensible things without it . there 's none so simple as to think there 's meant hereby an ordinary single sword , such as ev'ry one carrieth by his side , or som imaginary thing or chymera of a sword ; no , 't is the polemicall publique sword of the whole kingdom , 't is an aggregative compound sword , and 't is moulded of bell-metall ; for 't is made up of all the ammunition and armes small and great , of all the military strengths both by land and sea , of all the forts , castles and tenable places within and round about the whole i le : the kings of engl. have had this sword by vertue of their royall signory from all times , the laws have girded it to their sides , they have employed it for repeling all foren force , for revenging all forren wrongs or affronts , for quelling all intestine tumults , and for protecting the weal of the whole body politicke at home : the peeple were never capable of this sword , the fundamentall constitutions of this kingdom deny it them ; 't is all one to put the sword in a mad mans hand , as in the peeples ; or for them to have a disposing power in whose hands it shall be . such was the case once of the french sword , in that notorious insurrection call'd to this day la iaqueris de beauvoisin , when the pesants and mechanicks had a design to wrest it out of the kings hand , and to depresse all the peers and gentry of the kingdom ; and the businesse had gone so far that the peasans might have prevail'd , had not the prelats stuck close to the nobility ; but afterwards poor hare ▪ brain'd things they desire the king upon bended knees to take it againe ; such popular puffs have blowen often in poland , naples and other places , where while they sought and fought for liberty by retrenching the regall power , they fool'd themselfs into a slavery unawares , and found the rule right , that excesse of freedom turns to thraldom , and ushers in all confusions . if one shold go back to the nonage of the world , when governers and rulers began first , one will find the peeple desir'd to live under kings for their own advantage , that they might be restrain'd from wild exorbitant liberty , and kept in unity ; now unity is as requisit for the wel-being of all naturall things , as entity is for their being , and 't is a receiv'd maxime in policy , that nothing preserves unity more exactly then royal government : besides , 't is known to be the noblest sort of sway ; in so much that by the law of nations , if subjects of equal degrees , and under differing princes shold meet , the subjects of a king shold take precedency of those under any republique . but to take up the sword again . i say that the sword of public power and authority is fit only to hang at the kings side , and so indeed shold the great seal hang only at his girdle , because 't is the key of the kingdom : which makes me think of what i read of charlemain , how he had the imperial seal emboss'd alwaies upon the pommell of his sword , and his reason was , that he was ready to maintain whatsoever he signed , and sealed . the civilians , who are not in all points so great friends to monarchy as the common law of england is , say , there are six iura regalia , six regal rights , viz. 1. potestas iudicatoria , 2. potestas vitae & necis , 3. armamenta , 4. bona adespota , 5. census , 6. monetarum valor : to wit , power of iudicature , power of life and death , all kind of arming , masterless goods , s●…issements , and the value of money . among these regalia's , we find that arming , which in effect is nought else but the kings sword , is among the chiefest ; and 't is as proper and peculiar to his person , as either crown or scepter . by these two he drawes a loose voluntary love and opinion only from his subjects , but by the sword he draws reverence and awe , which are the chiefest ingredients of allegiance , it being a maxime , that the best mixture of government is made of fear and love . with this sword he conferrs honor , he dubbs knights , he creates magistrates , the lord deputy of ireland , the lord mayor of london with all other corporations have their swords from him , and when he entereth any place corporate , we know the first thing that is presented him is the sword : with this sword he shields and preserves all his people that every one may sit quietly under his own vine , sleep securely in his own house , and enjoy sweetly the fruits of his labours . nor doth the point of this sword reach only to every corner of his own dominions , but it extends beyond the seas to gard his subjects from oppression , and denial of justice , as well as to vindicate the publick wrongs , make good the interests of his crown , and to assist his confederates ; this is the sword that edward the third tied the flower deluces unto ( which stick still unto it , ) when having sent to france to demand that crown by maternal right , the counsell ther sent him word that the crown of france was not tied to a distaff , to which scoffing answer he replied , that then he wold tie it to his sword , and he was as good as his word . nor is this publick sword concredited or intrusted by the peeple in a fiduciary conditionall way to the king , but it is properly and peculiarly belonging unto him , as an inseparable concomitant , perpetual usher and attendant to his crown . the king , we know , useth to maintain all garrisons upon his own charge , not the peeples ; he fortifies upon his own charge , not the peeples : and though i will not averr , that the king may impresse any of his subjects , unlesse it be upon an actuall vasion by sea , or a sudden irruption into his kingdom by land , as the scots have often done , yet at any time the king may raise volunteers , and those who have received his money , the law makes it felony , if they forsake his service . thus we see there 's nothing that conduceth more to the glory , and indeed the very essence of a king then the sword , which is the armes and military strength of his kingdom ; wherfore under favour , ther cannot be a greater point of dishonour to a king then to be disarmed , then to have his sword taken from him , or dispos'd of and intrusted to any but those whom he shall appoint ; for as à minori ad majus the argument often holds , if a private gentleman chance to be disarm'd upon a quarrell , 't is held the utmost of disgraces , much greater and more public is the dishonor that falls upon a king , if after som traverses of difference 'twixt him and his subjects , they shold offer to disarm him , or demand his sword of him : when the eagle parted with his talons , and the lion with his teeth and ongles , the apolog tells us how contemptible afterwards the one grew to be among birds , the other among birds , the other among beasts . for a king to part with the sword politic is to render himself such a ridiculous king , as that logg of wood was which iupiter let down among the froggs for their king at the importunity of their croaking ; 't is to make him a king of clouts , or as the spaniard hath it , rey de havas , a bean king , such as we use to choose in sport at twelfnight . but my hopes are , that the two present houses of parliament ( for now they may be call'd so , because they begin to parley with their king , ) will be more tender of the honour of their soveraign liege lord , which , together with all his rights and dignities , by severall solemn oaths , aud by their own binding instruments of protestation and covenant , ( not yet revok'd ) they are sworne to maintaine , and that they will demand nothing of him which may favour of aspertè or force , but what may hold water hereafter : but now , touching the militia or sword of the kingdom , i think , under favour , the king cannot transfer it to any other ; for that were to desert the protection of his people , which is point blank against his coronation oath and his office : what forren prince or state will send either ambassador , resident or agent to him , when they understand his sword is taken from him ? what reformed forein church will acknowledg him defendor of the faith , when they hear of this ? nay , they who wish england no good will , will go near to paint him out , as not long since another king was , with a fair velvet scabbard , a specious golden hilt and chape , but the blade within was of wood . i hope that they who sway now , will make better use of their successes : many of them know 't is as difficult a thing to use a victory well , as to get one ; ther is as much prudence requir'd in the one , as prowesse in the other ; they will be wiser sure then turn it to the dishonor of their king : it being a certain rule , that the glory of a nation all the world over depends upon the glory of their king , and if he be any way obscur'd , the whole kingdom is under an eclipse . i have observed , that among other characters of gallantry , which forein writers appropriat to the english nation , one is , that they use to be most zealous to preserve the honor of their king ; i trust that they who are now up will return to the steps of their progenitors , both in this particular and divers other ; that their successes may serve to sweeten and moderat things , and suppress the popular sword which still rages ; and it had bin heartily wished that a suspension of arms had preceded this treaty , which useth to be the ordinary fore-runner , and a necessary antecedent to all treaties ; for while acts of hostility continue , som ill-favour'd newes may intervene which may imbitter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ nor can it be expected that the proceedings will go on with that candor and confidence , while the old rancor is still in action ▪ 't is impossible a sore shold heal till the inflamation be taken away ; to cast water into a wound instead of oyle is not the way to cure it : or to cast oyle upon a fire instead of water is not the way to quench it ; poor england hath had a consuming fire within her bowels many years , she is also mortally wounded in all her members , that she is still in a high fever , which hath made her rave and speak idle a long time ; and 't is like to turn to a hectic , if not timely prevented . i pray god she may have no occasion to make use of the same complaint as alexander the great made when he was expiring his last , perii turba medicorum : too many physitians have undon me . to conclude in a word , ther is but one only way , under favor , to put a period to all these fearful confusions ; it is , to put the great master-wheel in order , and in its due place again , and then all the inferior wheels will move regularly ; let the king be restor'd , and ev'ry one will come to his own , all interests will be satisfied , all things quickly rectified ; till this be done , 't is as absurd to attempt the setling of peace , as if one shold go about to set a watch by the gnomen of an horizontall diall when the sun is in a cloud . i. h. an italian prospective , through which great britain ( without any multiplying art ) may cleerly see her present danger , and foresee her future destruction , if not timely prevented . perditio tua ex te anglia . paraenesis angliae . o england ( specially thou besotted city of london ) if thou be'st not quite past cure , or grown careless and desperat of thy self , if the least spark of grace , or ray of reson be yet remaining in thee , be warn'd , be warn'd by this stranger , who having felt thy pulse , and cast thy water very exactly , discovers in thee symptoms of inevitable ruine if thou holdst on this cours . divers of thy own children oftentimes admonish'd thee with tears in their eyes , and terror in their hearts , to recollect thy self , and return to thy old road of obedience to thy soverain prince , but they have bin little regarded , let a foreiners advice then take place , and make som impressions in thee to prevent thy utter destruction . from the prison of the fleet 2. aug. 1647. i. h. an account of the deplorable , and desperat condition that england stands in , sent from london , anno 1647. to the lord francisco barberini , cardinal of the most holy apostolick see , and protector of the english nation , at his palaces in rome . my last to your eminence was but short , in regard i had been but a short time in this countrey , i have now made a longer sojourn here , and taken a leisurely information of all matters ; therefore i shall give your eminence an account proportionably : for by conversation with the most indifferent , and intelligenc'd men , and by communication with the ambassadors here resident , i have taken some paines to pump out the truth of things , and penetrat the interest of all parties . and truly , i find , that that angry star , which hath lowr'd so long upon europe in generall , hath been as predominant , and cast as direfull aspects upon this poor iland , as it hath done upon any other part : truly , my lord , in all probability this peeple have pass'd the meridian of their happinesse , and begin to decline extreamly , as well in repute abroad , as also in the common notions of religion , and indeed in the ordinary faculty of reason : i think verily the ill spirit never reign'd so much in any corner of the earth by those inhumane aud horrid things that i have observ'd among them . nor is it a petty spirit , but one of the greatest cacod●…mons that thus drives them on , and makes them so active in the pursuance of their own perdition . to deduce matters from their originall , your eminency may please to understand , that this king at his accesse to the crown had deep debts to pay , both of his fathers , and his own , he was left ingaged in a fresh warre with spain ; and had another presently after which france , and both at one time , but he came off well enough of those : afterwards never any countrey flourished in that envied happinesse , and wanton kind of prosperity ; this city of london was grown to be the greatest mart , and mistress of trade , of any in the world ; insomuch , as i have been certainly inform'd , the king might have spent meerly upon his customes 4000 crowns a day : moreover , she had a vast bank of money being made the scale of conveying the king of spains treasure to flanders : insomuch that in a few yeers she had above ten millions of his moneys brought hither , which she might have remitted in specie or in marchandize , and for which this king had five in the hundred for coynage : yet could he not get beforehand with the world , having a sister with so many nephews and neeces , having a queen with diverse children of his own , ( at least 16 of the blood-royall ) to maintaine , with divers profuse courtiers besides , which made him more parsimonious then ordinary . the warres then growing more active 'twixt spaine and france , as also 'twixt holland and spaine both by land and sea , and divers great fleets of men of war as well french ( who were growne powerfull that way ) as dunkerkers , spaniards hollanders , and hamburgers , appearing daily in his narrow seas , and sayling close by his chambers , the world wondred this king had no greater strength at sea , in case that any of the foresaid nations should doe him an affront , as some of them had already done , by denying to dash their colours to his ships : insomuch that in holland and other places he was pasquill'd at , and pourtrayed lying in his cradle lullaby'd and rock'd asleep by the spaniard : hereupon being by advertisements from his agents abroad , and frequent advice of his privie councell at home , made sensible of the danger , and a kind of dishonour he was faln into , and having intelligence that the french cardinall began to question his title to the dominion of the narrow seas , considering he employed no visible power to preserve it , he began to consult of meanes to set forth a royall fleet : but in regard the purse of the crowne was lightly ballasted , and that he had no mind to summon the three estates , because of some indignities he had received in former parliaments by the puritan party ( a race of people averse to all kingly government , unlesse they may pare it as they please ) his then atturney generall ( noy ) a great cryed-up-lawyer , put it in his head to impose an old tax called ship-mony upon the subject , which the said lawyer did warrant upon his life to be legall , for he could produce divers records how many of his progenitors had done the like : the king not satisfied with his single opinion , refer'd it to his learn'd council , & they unanimously averred it to be agreeable to the law of the land ; yet this would not fully satisfie the king , but he would have the opinion of his twelve judges , and they also affirmed by their single vouches the said tax to be warrantable ; hereupon it was imposed and leavied , but some refusing to pay it , there was a suite commenc'd , during which all the judges were to re-deliver their opinions joyntly , and the businesse being maturely debated and canvased in open court divers months , and all arguments produc'd pro & con , nine of the said twelve judges concluded it legal . thereupon the king continued the imposition of the said tax , and never was mony imployed so much for the honour and advantage of a countrey , for he sent out every summer a royall fleet to scowre and secure the seas ; he caused a galeon to be built , the greatest and gallantest that ever spread saile : nor did he purse up , and dispose of one peny of this money to any other use , but added much of his own revenues yeerly thereunto : so the world abroad cried up the king of england to be awake againe ; trade did wonderfully encrease , both domestic and forrein in all the three kingdomes ; ireland was reduced to an absolute settlement , the arrears of the crown payed , and a considerable revenue came thence cleerly to the exchequer of england every year , the salaries of all officers , with the pay of the standing army ●…here , and all other charges being defrayed by ireland her self , which was never done before . yet for all this height of pappinesse , and the glorious fruites of the said ship-money , ( which was but a kind of petty insensible tax , & a thing of nothing to what hath hapened since ) there were some foolish peeple in this land which murmured at it , and cryed nothing else but a parliament , a parliament ; and they have had a parliament since with a vengeance . but before this occasion , it was observed , that the seeds of disobedience , and a spirit of insurrection was a long time engendring in the hearts of som of this peace-pampred people , which is conceived to proceed from their conversation and commerce with three sorts of men , viz. the scot , the hollander and the french huguenot . now an advantage happened that much conduced to necessitate the convoking of a parliament , which was an ill-favoured traverse that fell out in scotland ; for the king intending an uniformity of divine worship in all his three kingdoms , sent thither the liturgy of this church , but it found cold and course entertainment ther , for the whole nation , men , women and children rise up a gainst them : here upon the king absolutely revoked it by proclamation , wherein he declared 't was never his purpose to press the practise therof upon the consciences of any ; therfore commanded that all things shold be in statu quo prius , but this wold not serve the turn , the scot took advantge hereby to destroy hierarchy , and pull down the bishops to get their demeans : to which purpose they came with an army in open field against their own native king , who not disgesting this indignity , mustred another english army ; which being upon the confines of both kingdoms , a kind of pacification was plaistred over for the present . the king returning to london , and consulting his second thoughts , resented that insolency of the scots more then formerly : hereupon he summons a parliament , and desires aid to vindicat that affront of the scot. the scot had strong intelligence with the puritan faction in the english parliament , who seemed to abet his quarrel , rather then to be sensible of any national dishonour received from him ; which caused that short-lived parliament to dissolve in discontent , and the king was forced to find other means to raise and support an army by privat loanes of his nobler sort of subjects and servants : the scot having punctual advertisements of every thing that passed ; yea , in the kings cabinet councel was not idle all this while , but rallies what was left of the former army ( which by the articles of pacification ( a little before ) should have bin absolutely dismissed ) and boldly invades england , which he durst never have done , if he had not well known that this puritan party which was now grown very powerful here , and indeed had invited him to this expedition , wold stand to him . this forein army being by the pernicious close machinations of som mongrel englishmen aforementioned , entred into the bowels of the country , the king was forced to call this present parliament , with whom he complyed in every thing , so far as to sacrifice unto them both iudge , bishop , councellor and courtier ; yea , he yielded to the tumbling down of many tribunals of justice , which were an advantage to his prerogative ; he assented that the prelates , who were the most ancient and prime members of the upper house , and had priority of all others , since the first constitution of parliament in the enrollment of all acts , he assented i say that these , who were the greatest prop of his crown shold be quite outed from among the peers ; he granted them also a trienniall parliament , and after that , this perpetuall ; which words , to the apprehension of any rational man , carry with them a grosse absurdity in the very sense of the thing : and touching this last grant , i had it from a good hand , that the queen was a friend to this parliament , and your eminence knows how they have requited her since , but the main open councellor to this fatall act was a scot. now the reason which they alledged for this everlasting parliament was one of the baldest that ever i heard of , it was , that they might have time enough to pay the scots army , wheras in one morning they might have dispatched that , by passing so many subsidies for that use , and upon the credit of those , they might have raised what money they wold . the parliament finding the king so plyable , and his pulse to beat so gently , like ill-natur'd men they fall from inches to ells in seeking their advantages : they grew so peremptory as to demand all the military strength of the kingdom , the tower of london , with the whole royal navy , which they found in an excellent equipage , gramercy ship-money ; so that the benefit of ship-money , which they so clamoured at , turned most to their advantage of any thing afterwards . the scot being fidler-like returned to his country with meat , drink , and money , the king went a while after to keep a parliament ther , wherein he filled every blank , they did but ask and have , for he granted them what possibly they could propound , both for their kirk and state , many received honour , and they divided bishops lands amongst them : for all which unparallel'd concessions of princely grace , they caused an act already in force to be published , viz. that it shold be damnable treason in the highest degree that could be , for any of the scots nation conjunctly or singly to levy armes , or any military forces , upon any pretext whatsoever , without his majesties royal commission ; and this they caused to be don by way of gratitude , but how they perform'd it afterwards the world knowes too well . the king returning to london , in lieu of a welcom to his two houses of parliament ( to whom also before his departure he had passed more acts of grace then all his progenitors , take them all in a lump ) they had patch'd up a kind of remonstrance , which was voted in dead of the night , wherein they expos'd to the world the least moat in former government , and aggravated to the very height every grievance , notwithstanding that the king had redressed all before ; and this remonstrance , which breath'd nothing but a base kind of malice , they presented as a nosegay to their soveraign prince , to congratulat his safe return from a forein countrey ; which remonstrance they caus'd to be printed and publish'd before he could give any answer thereunto . the king finding such a virulent spirit still raign in the house , and knowing who were chiefly possess'd with it ( viz. those whom he had impeach'd before , but saw he could get no justice against them ) in such an extremity , he did an act like a generous prince , for taking the palsgrave with him , he took the first coach he met withall at his court-gate , and went to his house of commons in person , to demand five members , which he wold prove to be traitors in the highest degree 〈◊〉 to be the authors of all these distempers , protesting upon the word of a king , that they shold have as fair & legal a tryal as ever men had ; in the interim he only desir'd that their persons might be secur'd . the walls of both houses , and the very stones in london street did seem to ring of this high cariage of the kings , and the sound went thence to the country , whence the silly plebeians came presently in whole herds to this city , who strutting up and down the streets , had nothing in their mouths , but that the priviledg of parlement , the priviledg of parlement was broken , though it be the known clear law of the land , that the parlement cannot supersede or shelter any treason . the king finding how violently the pulse of the grosly seduced people did beat , and ther having bin formerly divers riotous crues of base mechaniques and mariners , who had affronted both his own court , and the two houses besides , which the commons , to their eternal reproach , conniv'd at , notwithstanding that divers motions were made by the lords to suppresse them , the king also having privat intelligence that ther was a mischievous plot to surprize his person , remov'd his court to the countrey . the king departing , or rather being driven away thus from his two houses , by this mutinous city , he might well at his going away have ubraided her in the same words as h. the 3. did upbraid paris , who being by such another tumultuous rabble driven out of her in the time of the ligue , as he was losing sight of her , he turn'd his face back , and said , farewel ingratefull city , i will never see thee again till i make my way into thee through thy walls : yet though the king absented himself in person thus from the two houses , he sent them frequent messages , that they wold draw into acts what he had already assented unto , and if any thing was left yet undon by him , he wold do it ; therfore he will'd them to leave off those groundless feares and jealousies wherwith they had amus'd both city and country ; and he was ready to return at all times to his palace in westminster , provided that his person might be secur'd from the former barbarisms and outrages : but in lieu of a dutiful compliance with their prince , the thoughts of the two houses ran upon nothing but war : the king then retiring into the north , and thinking with a few of his servants only to go visit a town of his ( hull ) he was denyed entrance by a fatal unlucky wretch ( hotham ) who afterwards was shamefully executed with his eldest son , by command of his new masters of the parlement : the king being thus shut out of his own town ( which open'd the first dore to a bloudy war ) put forth a declaration , wherin he warn'd all his people that they shold look to their proprieties , for if he was thus barr'd of his own , how could any privat subject be sure to be master of any thing he had , and herein he was as much prophet as prince ; for the parlement-men afterwards made themselfs land-lords of the whole kingdom , it hath bin usual for them to thrust any out of his freehold , to take his bed from under him , and his shirt from off his very back . the king being kept thus out of one of his townes , might suspect that he might be driven out of another , therfore 't was time for him to look to the preservation of his person , and the country came in voluntarily unto him by thousands to that purpose , but he made choice of a few only to be his gard , as the parlementeers had done a good while before for themselfs : but now they went otherwise to work , for they fell a levying , listing and arming men by whole regiments and brigades till they had a very considerable army afoot , before the king had one musqueteer or trooper on his side ; yet these men are so notoriously impudent , as to make the king the first aggressor of the war , and to lay upon him all the bloud that was split to this day , wherein the devil himself cannot be more shamelesse . the parliamenteers having an army of foot and horse thus in perfect equipage , 't was high time for the king to look to himself , therefore he was forced to display his royal standard , and draw his sword quite out : thus a cruel and most cruentous civil war began which lasted near upon four years without intermission , wherein there happen'd more batta les , sieges and skirmishes , then passed in the nether-lands in fourscore years , and herein the englishmen may be said to get som credit abroad in the world , that they have the same bloud running in their veines ( though not the same braines in their sculls ) which their ancestors had , who were observed to be the activest people in the field , impatient of delay , and most desirous of battaile then any nation . but it was one of the greatest miracles that ever happen'd in this land , how the king was able to subsist so long against the parlamenteers , considering the multiplicity of infinite advantages they had of him by water and land : for they had the scot , the sea and the city on their side ; touching the first , he rushed in as an auxiliary with above 20000. horse and foot compleatly furnish ▪ d both with small and great ammunition and arms , well cloth'd and money'd : for the second , they had all the kings ships well appointed , which are held to be the greatest security of the island both for defence and offence , for every one of them is accounted one of the moving castles of the kingdom : besides , they had all the other standing stone-castles , forts , and tenable places to boot : concerning the last , ( viz. the city ) therein they had all the wealth , bravery , and prime ammunition of england , this being the only magazin of men and money : now if the k. had had but one of these on his side , he had in all probability crush'd them to nothing : yet did he bear up strangely against them a long time , and might have done longer , had he kept the campane , and not spent the spirits of his men before townes ; had he not made a disadvantagious election of som commanders in chief , and lastly , had he not had close traitors within dores , as well as open rebels without ; for his very cabinet councel , and bed-chamber were not free of such vermin , and herein the parlementeers spent unknown sums and were very prodigal of the kingdoms money . the king , after many traverses of war , being reduced to a great strait by crosse successes and counsels , rather then to fall into the hands of the parlementeers , withdrew himself in a serving-mans disguise to the scots army , as his last randevous , and this plot was manag'd by the french agent then residing here ; a man wold think that that nation wold have deem'd it an eternal honour unto them to have their own king and countrey-man throw himself thus into their armes , and to repose such a singular trust in them upon such an extremity : but they corresponded not so well with him as he expected , for though at first when the parlamenteers sollicited their dear brethren for a delivery of the kings person unto them , their note was then , if any forein petty prince had so put himself upon them , they could not with honour deliver him , much less their own native king ; yet they made a sacrifice of him at last for 800000. crownes ; wherupon bellieure the french ambassador being convoyed by a troop of horse from the king towards london , to such a stand , in lieu of larges to the souldiers , he drew out an half crown piece , and ask'd them how many pence that was , they answered 30. he replyed , for so much did iudas betray his master , and so he departed . and now , that in the cours of this historical narration , i have touch'd upon france , your eminence may please to understand , that nothing almost could tend more to the advantage of that k. then these commotions in england , considering that he was embark'd in an actuall war with the house of austria and that this iland did do spain some good offices ; among other , by transport of his treasure to dunkerk in english bottomes , whereunto this king gave way , and sometimes in his own galeons , which sav'd the spaniard neer upon 20. in the hundred , then if he had sent it by way of genoa ; so that som think , though france made semblance to resent the sad condition of her neighbour , and thereupon sent the prince of harcour , and the foresaid monsieur bellieure to compose matters , yet she never really intended it , as being against her present interest and engagements : yet the world thinks it much that she shold publiquely receive an agent from these parlamenteeres , and that the french nobility who were us'd to be the gallantest men in the world to vindicate the quarrels of distressed ladies , are not more sensible of the outrages that have bin offer'd a daughter of france , specially of henry the greats . but to resume the threed of my narration , the king ( and with him , one may say , england also ) being thus bought and sold , the parlamenteers insteed of bringing him to westminster , which had put a period to all distempers , toss'd him up and downe to private houses , and kept the former army still afoot : and truly i think there was never prince so abus'd , or poor peeple so baffled , and no peeple but a purblind besotted peeple wold have suffred themselves to be so baffled : for notwithstanding that no enemy appeer'd in any corner of the kingdome , yet above 20000. tagaroones have bin kept together ever since to grind the faces of the poor , and exhaust the very vitall spirits of town and countrey , and keep them all in a perfect slavery : had the parlament-men , when the scots were gone , brought their king in a generous and frank way ( as had well becom'd englishmen ) to sit among them , and trusted to him ( which of necessity they must do at last ) as they had gain ▪ d more honor far in the world abroad , so they had gain'd more upon his affections then i beleeve they will ever do hereafter . but to proceed , the king having bin a good while prisoner to the parlement , the army snatch'd him away from them , and som of the chiefest commanders having pawn'd their soules unto him to restore him speedily , in lieu thereof they tumbled him up and down to sundry places , till they juggled him at last to that small ile where now he is surrounded with a gard of strange faces ; and if happly he beginns to take delight in any of those faces , he is quickly taken out of his sight . these harsh usages hath made him become all gray and oregrown with hair so that he lookes rather like som silvan satyr then a soverain prince : and truly my lord the meanest slave in st. marks gallies or the abjects captif in algier bannier is not so miserable as he in divers kinds , for they have the comfort of their wifes , children and frends , they can convey and receive letters , send messengers upon their errands , and have privat discours with any ; all which is denied to the king of great britain , nay the young princes his children are not permitted as much as to ask him blessing in a letter . in so much that if he were not a great king of his passions , and had a heart cast in on extraordinary mould , these pressures and those base aspersions that have bin publiquely cast upon him by the parlement it self , had bin enough to have sent him out of the world e're this , and indeed 't is the main thing they drive at , to torture his braine , and tear his very heart strings if they could : so that whereas this foolish ignorant peeple speak such horrid things of our inquisition , truly my lord 't is a most gentle way of proceeding being compar'd to this kings persecutions . as the king himselfe is thus in quality of a captif , so are all his subjects becom perfect slaves , they have fool'd themselfs into a worse slavery then iew or greek under the ottomans , for they know the bottom of their servitude by paying so many sultanesses for every head ; but here , people are put to endless , unknown , tyrannical taxes , besides plundering and accize , which two words , and the practise of them ( with storming of towns ) they have learnt of their pure brethren of holland : and for plundrings , these parliamenteer-saints think they may robb any that adheres not to them as lawfully as the iewes did the egyptians : 't is an unsommable masse of money these reformers have squandred in few years , whereof they have often promis'd and solemnly voted a publick account to satisfie the kingdom : but as in a hundred things more , so in this precious particular they have dispens'd with their votes : they have consumed more treasure with pretence to purge one kingdom , then might have served to have purchas'd two ; more ( as i am credibly told ) then all the kings of england spent of the public stock since the saxon conquest : thus have they not only begger'd the whole island , but they have hurld it into the most fearfull ▪ st chaos of confusion that ever poor countrey was in ; they have torn in pieces the reines of all government , trampled upon all lawes of heaven and earth , and violated the very dictamens of nature , by making mothers to betray their sons , and the sons their fathers , but specially that great charter , which is the pandect of all the laws and liberties of the free-born subject , which at their admission to the house they are solemnly sworn to maintain , is torn in flitters : besides those severall oaths they forg'd themselfs , as the protestation and covenant , where they voluntarily swear to maintain the kings honour and rights , together with the established laws of the land , &c. now i am told , that all acts of parlement here are lawes , and they carry that majesty with them , that no power can suspend or repeal them , but the same power that made them , which is the king sitting in full parlement ; these mongrell polititians have bin so notoriously impudent as to make an inferiour ordinance of theirs to do it , which is point-blanck against the very fundamentals of this government , and their own oaths , which makes me think that there was never such a perjur'd pack of wretches upon earth , never such monsters of mankind . yet this simple infatuated peeple have a saint-like opinion of these monsters , this foolish citie gards them daily with horse and foot , whereby she may be sayd to kisse the very stones that are thrown at her , and the hand whence they came , which a dogg would not do : but she falls to recollect her self now that shee begins to be pinch'd in trade , and that her mint is starv'd , yet the leading'st men in her common-councell care not much for it , in regard most of them have left traffiquing abroad , finding it a more easie and gainefull way of trading at home , by purchasing crown or church lands , plunder'd goods , and debts upon the publick faith , with soldiers debenters ; thus the saints of this iland turne godlinesse into gaine . truly my lord , i give the english for a lost nation , if they continue long thus , never was ther a more palpable oblaesion of the brain , and a more visible decay of reason in any race of men : it is a sore judgment from heaven , that a people shold not be more sensible how they are become slaves to rebells , and those , most of them the scumm of the nation , which is the basest of miseries : how they suffer them to tyrannize by a meer arbitrary extrajudicial power o're their very souls and bodies ▪ o're their very lifs and livelihoods ; how their former freedom is turn'd to fetters , molehills into mountains of grievances , ship-money into accize , justice into tyranny : for nothing hath bin and is daily so common amongst them as imprisonment without charge , and a charge without an accuser , condemnation without apparance , and forfeitures without conviction . to speak a little more of the king , if all the infernal fiends had ligu'd against him , they could not have design'd or disgorged more malice : they wold have laid to his charge his fathers death , as arrand a lie as ever was forg'd in hell : they wold make him fore-know the insurrection in ireland , wheras the spanish ambassador here , and his confessor who is a very reverend irish-man , told me , that he knew no more of it then the grand mogor did : they charge him with all the bloud of this civil war , wheras they and their instruments were the first kindlers of it , and that first prohibited trade and shut him out of his own town : they have intercepted and printed his privat letters to his queen , and hers to him , ( oh barbarous basenesse ! ) but therin they did him a pleasure , though the intent was malitious , their aim in all things being to envenom the hearts of his people towards him ; and this was to render him a glorious and well-belov'd prince , as likewise for making him rich , ( all which they had vow'd to do upon passing the act of continuance , ) but now they have made him poorer then the meanest of all his vassals , they have made him to have no propriety in house , goods , or lands , or as one may say , in his wife and children : 't was usual for the father to hunt in his park while the son hunted for his life in the field , for the wife 〈◊〉 lie in his bedds , while the husband layed wait to murther him abroad ; they have seiz'd upon and sold his privat hangings an●… plate , yea his very cabinets , jewels , pictures , statues , and books . nor are they the honorablest sort of peeple , and men nobly extracted ( as in scotland ) that do all this , ( for then it were not so much to be wondred at ) but they are the meanest sort of subjects , many of them illiterat mechaniques , wherof the lower house is full ; specially the subordinat committees , who domineer more o're nobles and gentry , then the parliament members themselfs their masters use to do . touching those few peers that sit now voting in the upper house , they may be said to be but meer cyphers , they are grown so degenerat as to suffer the commons to give them the law , to ride upon their backs , and do most things without them : ther be many thousand petitions that have bin recommended by these lords to the lower house , which are scornfully thrown into corners and never read ; their messengers have us'd to dance attendance divers hours and days before they were vouchsafed to be let in or heard , to the eternal dishonour of those peers , and yet poor spirited things they resent it not : the commons now command all , and though , as i am inform'd , they are summon'd thither by the kings original writ but to consent to what the king and his great counsel of peers ( which is the tru court of parlement ) shall resolve upon ; the commons i say are now from consenters become the chiefest counsellors , yea controulers of all ; nay som of this lower house fly so high as to term themselfs conquerors , and though in all conferences with the lords they stand bare before them , yet by a new way of mix'd committees they carry themselfs as collegues : these are the men that now have the vogue , and they have made their priviledges so big swoln , that they seem to have quite swallowed up both the kings prerogatives , and those of the lords : these are the grandees , and sages of the times , though most of them have but crack'd braines and crazy fortunes god wot ; nay som of them are such arrand knaves and coxcombs , that 't is questionable whether they more want common honesty , or common sense ; nor know no more what belongs to tru policy then the left leg of a joynt-stool : they are grown so high a tiptoes , that they seem to scorn an act of amnestia , or any grace from their king , wheras som of them deserve to be hang'd as oft as they have haires upon their heads ; nor have they any more care of the common good of england then they have of lapland , so they may secure their own persons , and continue their power now , authority is sweet , though it be in hell. thus , my lord , is england now govern'd , so that 't is an easie thing to take a prospect of her ruine if she goes on this pace : the scot is now the swaying man , who is the third time struck into her bowels with a numerous army : they say he hath vow'd never to return till he hath put the crown on the kings head , the scept●…r in his hand , and the sword by his side ; if he do so , it will be the best thing that ever he did , though som think that he will never be able to do england as much good as he hath done her hurt ; he hath extremely out-witted the english of late years : and they who were the causers of his first and last coming in , i hold to be the most pernicious enemies that ever this nation had ; for t is probable that germany ( viz. ponterland and breme ) will be sooner free of the swed , then england of the scot , who will stick close unto him like a bur , that he cannot shake him off ; he is becom already master of the englishmans soul , by imposing a religion upon him , and he may hereafter be master of his body . your eminence knows there is a periodicall fate hangs over all kingdoms after such a revolution of time , and rotation of fortunes wheele ; the cours of the world hath bin for one nation , like so many nailes , to thrust out another ; but for this nation , i observe by conference with divers of the saddest and best weighdst men among them , that the same presages foretell their ruine as did the israelites of old , which was a murmuring against their governors ; it is a long time that both iudges , bishops and privy counsellors have bin mutter'd at , whereof the first shold be the oracles of the law , the other of the gospell , the last of state-affaires , and that our judgments shold acquiesce upon theirs ; here as i am inform'd ; 't was common for evry ignorant client to arraign his iudg ; for evry puny curat to censure the bishop ; for evry shallow-brain home-bred fellow to descant upon the results of the councell table : and this spirit of contradiction and contumacy hath bin a long time fomenting in the minds of this peeple , infus'd into them principally , by the puritanicall faction . touching the second of the three aforesaid ( i mean bishops ) they are grown so odious ( principally for their large demeanes ) among this peeple , as the templers were of old , and one may say it is a just judgment fallen upon them , for they were most busy in demolishing convents and monasteries , as these are in destroying cathedralls and ministers ; but above all , it hath bin observ'd that this peeple hath bin a long time rotten-hearted towards the splendor of the court , the glory of their king , and the old establish'd government of the land : 't is true there were a few small leakes sprung in the great vessel of the st●…te , ( and what vessel was ever so ●…ite but was subject to leakes ? ) but these wise-akers in stopping of one have made a hundred : yet if this kings raign were parallell'd to that of queen elizabeth's , who was the greatest minion of a peeple that ever was , one will find that she stretch'd the prerogative much further ; in her time as i have read in the latin legend of her life , som had their hands cut off for only writing against her matching with the duke of aniou , others were hang'd at tyburn for traducing her government ; she pardon'd thrice as many roman priests as this king did , she pass'd divers monopolies , she kept an agent at rome , she sent her sergeant at armes to pluck out a member then sitting in the house of commons by the eares , and clapt him in prison ; she call'd them sawcy fellowes to meddle with her prerogative , or with the government of her houshold , she mannag'd all forren affaires , specially the warrs with ireland soly by her privy counsell ; yet there was no murmuring at her raign , and the reason i conceave to be , that there was neither scot or puritan had then any stroke in england . yet , for all their disobedience and grumblings against their liege lord the king , this peeple are exactly obedient to their new masters of the house of commons , though they sit there but as their servants and entitle themselfs so ; and also though in lieu of the small scratches which england might happily have receiv'd before ( all which the king had cur'd ) these new masters have made such deep gashes in her , and given her such deadly wounds that i believe are incurable . my lord , i find by my researches , that there are two great idolls in this kingdom , the greatest that ever were , they are the parliament and the pulpit ; t is held high treson to speak against the one , and the whole body of religion is nailed unto the other , for there is no devotion here at all but preaching , which god wot is little better then prating . the abuse of these two hath bin the source of all the distempers which now raign : touching the latter , it hath serv'd as a subvervient engin to prop up the power and popularity of the first ; these malicious pulpit-men breath out nothing thence but either sedition , schisme or blasphemy : poor shallow brain'd sciolists , they wold question many things in the old testament , and find apocrypha in the new : and such is the violence wherewith the minds of men and women are transported towards these preachmen , and no other part of devotion besides , that in all probability they will in time take a surfet of them : so that give this giddy peeple line enough ther will be no need of catholique arms to reduce them to the apostolick church , they will in time pave the way to it themselves , and be glad to return to rome to find out a religion again . there was here before , as i am informed , a kind of a face of a church , there were some solemnities , venerations and decencies us'd that a man might discover som piety in this peeple ; there was a publick lyturgie that in pithy pathetical prayers reach'd all occasions ; the sacraments were administred with som reverence , their churches were kept neat and comly ; but this nasty race of miscreants have nothing at all of sweetnesse , of piety and devotion in them ; 't is all turn'd to a fatuous kind of zeal after more learning , as if christianity had no sobriety , consistence or end of knowledg at all : these silly things , to imitat the apostles time , wold have the same form of discipline to govern whole nations , as it did a chamberfull of men in the infancy of the church , they wold make the same coat serve our savious at 30. yeers , which fitted him at three : 't is incredible how many ugly sorts of heresies they daily hatch , but they are most of them old ones newly furbish'd ; they all relate to aerius , a perfect hater of bishops , because he could not be one himself . the two sectaries which sway most , are the presbyterians and independents , the presbyterian is a spawn of a puritan , and the independent a spawn of the presbyterian : there 's but one hop 'twixt the first and a iew , and but half a hop 'twixt the other and an infidell ; they are both opposit to monarchy and hierarchy ; and the latter wold have no government at all , but a parity and promiscuous confusion , a race of creatures fit only to inhabit hell : and one of the fruits of this blessed parlement , and of these two sectaries is , that they have made more jewes and athiests then i think there is in all europe besides ; but truly , my lord , i think the judgments of heaven were never so visible in any part of the earth , as they are now here , for there is rebell against rebell , house against house , cittie against army , parlement against scot , but these two sectaries , i mean the presbyterian and independent who were the fire-brands that put this poor iland first in a flame , are now in most deadly feud one against the other , though they both concur in this to destroy government : and if the king had time enough to look only upon them , they would quickly hang , draw , and destroy one another . but indeed all christian princes shold observe the motions and successes of these two unlucky incendiaries , for if they shold ligue together again , ( as they have often plaid fast and loose one with another ) and prevail here , this iland wold not terminat their designs , they wold puzzle all the world besides . their preachmen ordinarily cry out in the pulpit , ther is a great work to be done upon earth , for the reforming all mankind , and they are appointed by heaven to be the chief instruments of bringing it about ▪ they have already bin so busie abroad , that ( with vast sommes of money ) they brought the swed upon the dane , and the very savages upon the english cavaliers in virginia ; and could they confederat with turk , or tartar , or hell it self against them , they wold do it : they are monstrously puff'd up with pride , that they stick not to call themselfs conquerors , and one of the chief ringleaders of them , an ignorant home bred kind of brewer , was not ashamed to vant it publiquely in the commons house , that if he had but 20000. men , he wold undertake to march to constantinople , and pull the ottoman emperour out of the seralio . touching the other grand idoll the parlement , 't is true that the primitive constitution of parlement in this iland was a wholesom piece of policy , because it kept a good correspondence , and clos'd all ruptures 'twixt the king and his peeple , but this thing they call parlement now , may rather be term'd a cantle of one , or indeed a conventicle of schismatiques , rather than a great counsell ; 't is like a kind of headless monster , or som estropiated carkas ; for ther is neither king nor prelat , nor scarce the seventh part of peers and commons , no not the twelfth part fairly elected ; nevertheless they draw the peeple , specially this city , like so many stupid animalls , to adore them . yet though this institution of parlement be a wholsom thing in it self , there is in my judgment a great incongruity in one particular ; and i believe it hath bin the cause of most distempers ; it is , that the burgesses are more in number than the knights of the shires ; for the knights of the shires are commonly gentlemen well born , and bred , and vers'd in the laws of the land , as well as forren governments , ( divers of them ) but the burgesses of towns are commonly tradesmen , and being bred in corporations they are most of them inclining to puritanism , and consequently to popular government ; these burgesses exceeding the knights in number , carry all before them by plurality of voices , and so puzzle all : and now that ▪ i have mentioned corporations , i must tell your lordship , that the greatest soloecism in the policy of this kingdom , is the number of them ; especially this monstrous city , which is compos'd of nothing els but of corporations ; and the greatest errors that this king , specially his father , committed , was to suffer this town to spread her wings so wide ▪ for she bears no proportion with the bignes of the iland , but may fit a kingdom thrice as spacious ; she engrosseth and dreins all the wealth and strength of the kingdom ; so that i cannot compare england more properly than to one of our cremona geese , where the custom is to fatten only the heart , but in doing so the whole body growes lank . to draw to a conclusion , this nation is in a most sad and desperat condition , that they deserve to be pittied , and preserved from sinking , and having cast the present state of things and all interests into an equal balance , i find , my lord , ther be three ways to do it , one good , and two bad . 1. the first of the bad ones is the sword ▪ which is one of the scourges of heaven , especially the civill sword . 2. the second bad one is the treaty , which they now offer the king in that small island wher he hath bin kept captif so long , ( 〈◊〉 which quality the world will account him still while he is detain'd there ) and by tha●… treaty to bind him as fast as they can , an●… not trust him at all . 3. the good way is , in a free confiding brave way ( englishmen-like ) to send for their king to london , where city and country shold petition him to summon a new and free full parlement , which he may do as justly as ever he did thing in his life , these men having infring'd as well all the essentiall priviledges of parlement , as every puntillio of it , for they have often risen up in a confusion without adjournment , they had two speakers at once , they have most perjuriously and beyond all imagination betrayed the trust both king and country repos'd in them , subverted the very sundamentals of all law , and plung'd the whole kingdom in this bottomless gulf of calamities : another parlement may haply do som good to this languishing island , and cure her convulsions , but for these men that arrogat to themselfs the name of parlement ( by a local puntillio only because they never stir'd from the place where they have bin kept together by meer force ) i find them by their actions to be so pervers , so irrational and refractory , so far given over to a reprobat sense , so fraught with rancor , with an irreconcileable malice and thirst of bloud , that england may well despaire to be heal'd by such phlebotomists , or quack-salvers ; be sides they are so full of scruples , apprehensions , and jealousies proceeding from blac●… guilty souls , and gawl'd consciences , that they will do nothing but chop logic with their king , and spin out time to continue their power , and evade punishment , which they think is unavoidable if ther shold be a free-parlement . touching the king he comports himself with an admired temper'd equanimity , he invades and o're-masters them more and more in all his answers by strength of reson , though he have no soul breathing to consult withall , but his own genius : he gains wonderfully upon the hearts and opinion of his peeple , and as the sun useth to appear bigger in winter , and at his declension in regard of the interposition of certain meteors 'twixt the eye of the beholder and the object , so this king being thus o're-clouded and declined , shines far more glorious in the eyes of his people ; and certainly these high morall vertues of constancy , courage and wisdom come from above ; and no wonder , for kings as they are elevated above all other peeple and stand upon higher ground , they sooner receive the inspirations of heaven ; nor doth he only by strength of reason out 〈◊〉 them , but he wooes them by gentlenesse and mansuetude ; as the gentleman of paris who having an ape in his house that had taken his only child out of the cradle , and dragged him up to the ridge of the house , the parent with ruthful he art charmed the ape by fair words and other bland●…ments to bring him softly down , which he did ; england may be said to be now just upon such a precipice , ready to have her braines dash'd out , and i hope these men will not be worse natur'd then that brute animal , but will save her . thus have i given your eminence a rough account of the state of this poor and pittifully deluded peeple , which i will perfect when i shall come to your presence , which i hope will be before this autumnal equinox ; i thought to have sojourn'd here longer , but that i am grown weary of the clime , for i fear there 's the other two scourges of heaven that menace this island , i mean the famin and pestilence , especially this city , for their prophanness , rebellion , and sacriledge ▪ it hath bin a talk a great while whether anti-christ be come to the world or no , i am sure anti-iesus , which is worse , is among this people , for they hold all veneration , though voluntary proceeding from the inward motions of a sweet devoted soul , and causing an outward genuflection , to be superstitious , insomuch that one of the synodical saints here printed and published a book entitling it against iesu worship . so in the profoundest posture of reverence i kisse your vest , as being , london this 12 , of august , 1647. my lord , your eminences most humbly devoted , i. h. a nocturnal progres , or a perambulation of most countreys in christendom , perform'd in one night by strength of the imagination ; which progresse terminats in these north-west iles , and declares the woful confusions they are involv'd at present . the progress of the soul by an usuall dream . it was in the dead of a long winter night , when no eyes were open but watchmens and centinels , that i was fallen soundly asleep , the cinq-out-ports were shut up closer then usually , for my senses were so trebly lock'd , that the moon , had she descended from her watry orb , might have done much more to me then she did to endymion when he lay snoaring upon the brow of latmus hill ; nay , ( be it spoken without prophanenesse ) if a rib had bin taken out of me that night , to have made a new mo●… of a woman , i shold hardly have felt it . yet , though the cousin german of death had so strongly seiz'd thus upon the exterior parts of this poor tabernacle of flesh , my inward parts were never more actif , and fuller of employments then they were that night . pictus imaginibus , formisque fugacib●… adstat morpheus , & variis fingit nova vultibus ora . methought my soul made a sally abroad into the world , and fetch'd a vast compas ; she seem'd to soar up and slice the air to cross seas , to clammer up huge hills , and never rested till she had arriv'd at the antipodes : now som of the most judicious geometricians and chorographers hold that the whole mass of the earth being round like the rest of her fellow elements , ther be places , and poizing parts of the continent , ther be peninsulas , promontories and ilands upon the other face of the earth that correspond and concenter with all those regions and iles that are upon this superficies which we read , countries that symbolize with them in qualities , in temperature of air and clime , as well as in nature of soil ; the inhabitants also of those places which are so perpendicularly opposit , do sympathize one with another in disposition , complexions and humors , though the astronomers wold have their east to be our west , and so all things vice versa in point of position , which division of the heaven is onely mans institution . but to give an account of the strange progresse my soul made that night ; the first country she lighted on was a very low flat country , and it was such an odde amphibious country , being so indented up and down with rivers and arms of the sea , that i made a question whether i shold call it water or land ; yet though the sea be invited and usher'd in into som places , he is churlistly pen'd out in som other , so that though he foam and swell , and appear as high walls hard-by , yet they keep him out , maugre all his roaring and swelling . as i wandred up and down in this watry region , i might behold from a streight long dike wheron i stood , a strange kind of forrest , for the trees mov'd up and down ; they look'd afar off as if they had bin blasted by thunder ; for they had no leafs at all ; but making a nearer approach unto them , i found they were a nomberlesse company of ship-masts , and before them appear'd a great town ( amsterdam ) incorporated up and down with water ; as i mus'd with my self upon the sight of all this , i concluded , that the inhabitants of that country were notable industrious people , who could give law so to the angry ocean , and occupie those places where the great leviathan shold tumble and take his pastime in ; as my thought ran thus , i met with a man , whom i conjectur'd to be 'twixt a marchant and a mariner , his salutation was so homely ; the air also was so foggy , that methought it stuck like cobwebs in his mustachos ; and he was so dull in point of motion , as if the bloud in his veines had bin half frozen : i began to mingle words with him , and to expostulat somthing about that country and people ; and then i found a great deal of down-right civilities in him : he told me that they were the only men who did miracles of late years ; those innumerable piles of stones you see before you in such comly neat frabriques , is a place ( said he ) that from a fish market in effect is come to be one of the greatest marts in this part of the world , which hath made her swel thrice bigger the●… she was 50. years ago ; and as you behold this floating forrest of masts before her mole , so if you could see the foundations of her houses , you shold see another great forrest , being rear'd from under-ground upon fair piles of timber , which if they chance to sink in this marshy soil , we have an art to scrue them up again . we have for 70. years and above without any intermission , except a short-liv'd truce that once was made , wrastled with one of the greatest potentates upon earth , and born up stoutly against him , gramercy our two next neighbour kings , and their reason of state , with the advantage of our situation . we have fought our selfs into a free-state , and now quite out of that ancient allegeance we ow'd him ; and though we pay twenty times more in taxes of all sorts then we did to him , yet we are contented : we have turn'd war into a trade , and that which useth to beggar others , hath benefited us : besides , we have bin and are still the rendevous of most discontented subjects , when by the motions of unquiet consciences in points of religion , or by the fury of the sword , they are forc'd to quit their own countreys , who bring their arts of manufacture , and moveables , hither ; insomuch that our lombards are full of their goods , and our banks superabound with their gold and silver which they bring hither in specie . to secure our selfs , and cut the enemy more work , and to engage our confederats in a war with him , we have kindled fires in every corner , and now that they are together by the eares , we have bin content lately , being long woo'd thereunto , to make a peace with that king to whom we once acknowledged vassalage ; which king out of a height of spirit , hath spent 500. times more upon us for our reduction , then all our country is worth ; but now he hath bin well contented to renounce and abjure all claimes and rights of soverainity over us ; in so much , that being now without an enemy , we hope in a short time to be masters of all the comerce in this part of the world , and to eat our neighbours out of trade in their own commodities : we fear nothing but that exces of wealth , and a surfet of ease may make us careles and breed quarrells among our selfs , and that our generall , being married to a great kings daughter may — . here he suddenly broke the threed of his discourse , and got hastily away , being haul'd by a ship that was sailing hard by ▪ hereupon my soul took wing again , and cut her way through that foggy condens'd aire , till she lighted on a fair spacious , cleare continent , a generous and rich soile mantled up and downe with large woods , where , as i rang'd to and fro , i might see divers faire houses , townes , palaces and castles , looking like so many carkases , for no humane soul appear'd in them ; methought i felt my he art melting within me in a soft resentment of the case of so gallant a countrey , and as i stood at amaze , and in a kind of astonishment , a goodly personage makes towards me , whom both for his comportment , and countenance , i perceiv'd to be of a finer mould then that companion i had met withall before : by the trace of his looks i guessed he might be som nobleman that had bin ruin'd by som disaster : having acosted him with a fitting distance , he began in a masculin strong winded language full of aspirations and tough collision of consonants , to tell me as followeth : sir , i find you are a stranger in this countrey , because you stand so agast at the devastations of such a fair piece of the continent , then know sir , because i beleeve you are curious to carry away with you the causes thereof , that these ruthfull objects which you behold , are the effects of a long lingring war , and of the fury of the sword , a cruentous civill war that hath rag'd here above thirty yeares : one of the grounds of it was the infortunate undertaking of a prince , who liv'd not far off in an affluence of all earthly felicity ; he had the greatest lady to his wife , the bes●… purse of money , the fairest stable of horse ▪ and choicest library of books of any other of his neighbour princes . but being by desperat and aspiring counsells put upon a kingdom , while he was catching at the shadow of a crown , he lost the substance of all his own ancient possessions : by the many powerfull alliances he had ( which was the cause he was pitched upon ) the fewd continued long ; for among others a northern king took advantage to rush in , who did a world of mischiefs , but in a few yeers that king and hee found their graves in their own ruins neer upon the same time ; but now , may heaven have due thanks for it , there is a peace concluded , a peace which hath bin 14. long yeers a moulding , and will i hope , be shortly put in execution ; yet 't is with this fatall disadvantage , that the said northern people , besides a masse of ready money we are to give them , are to have firme footing , and a warm nest ever in this countrey hereafter , so that i fear we shall hear from them too often : upon these words this noble personage fetch'd a deep sigh , but in such a generous manner that he seem'd to break and check it before it came halfe forth . thence my soul taking her flight o're divers huge and horrid cacuminous mountaines ( the alpes ) at last i found my self in a great populous town ( naples ) but her buildings were miserably battered up and down , she had a world of palaces , castles , convents and goodly churches : as i stepped out of curiosity into one of them , upon the west side there was a huge grate , where a creature all in white beckned at me , making my approach to the grate , i found her to be a nun , a lovely creature she was , for i could not distinguish which was whiter , her hue or her habit , which made me remember ( though in a dream my self ) that saying , if dreams and wishes had been tru , there had not been found a tru maid to make a nun of , ever since a cloyster'd life began first among women ; i asked her the reason how so many ugly devastations shold befall so beautifull a city , she in a dolorous gentle tone , and ruthfull accents , the teares trickling down her cheeks like so many pearles , ( such pearly teares that wold have dissolv'd a diamond ) sobb'd out unto me this speech : gentle sir , 't is far beyond any expressions of mine , and indeed beyond humane imagination to conceive the late calamities which have befallen this faire though infortunat city , a pernicious popular rebellion broke out here upon a sudden into most horrid barbarismes , a fate that hangs over most rich popular places that swim in luxe and plenty ; but touching the grounds thereof , one may say that rebellion entred into this city , as sin first entred into the world by an apple : for our king now in his great extremities having almost halfe the world banding against him ; and putting but a small tax upon a basket of fruit to last only for a time , this fruit-tax did put the peeples teeth so on edge , that it made them gnash against the government , and rush into armes ; but they are sensible now of their own follies , for i think never any place suffered more in so short a time : the civill combustions abroad in other kingdomes may be said to be but small squibs compar'd to those horrid flakes of fire which have rag'd here , and much adoe we had to keep our vest all fire free from the fury of it : in lesse then the revolution of a yeer it consum'd above fourscore thousand soules within the walls of this city ; but 't is not the first time of forty , that this luxurious foolish peeple hath smarted for their insurrections and insolencies , and that this mad horse hath o'rethrown his rider , and drawn a worse upon his back ; who instead of a saddle , put a pack-saddle and panniers upon him : but indeed the voluptuousnesse of this peeple was grown ripe for the judgement of heaven . she was then beginning to expostulat with me about the state of my country , and i had a mighty mind to satisfie her , for i could have corresponded with her in the re●…ation of as strange things , but the lady a●…adesse calling her away , she departed in an ●…nstant , obedience seem'd to be ther so precise and punctual . i steer'd my course thence through a most delicious country to another city that lay in the very bosom of the sea , ( venice ) she was at first nothing els but a kind of posie made up of dainty green hillocks , tied together by above 400. bridges , and so coagulated into a curious city ; though she be espous'd to neptune very solemnly once evry ●…eer , yet she still reserves her maydenhead , ●…ad bears the title of the virgin city in that part of the world ; but i found her tugging mainly with a huge giant that wold ravish her ; he hath shrewdly set on her skirts , and a great shame it is , that she is not now assisted by her neighbours , and that they shold be together by the ears when they shold do so necessary a work , considering how that great giant is their common enemy ; and hath lately vow'd seven yeers wars against her ; specially considering , that if he comes once to ravish her , he will quickly ruin her said neighbours , she ( to her high honor be it spoken ) being their only rampart against the incursion of the said giant , and by consequence their greatest security . from this maiden city , mee thought , i was in a trice carried over a long gulf , and so through a midland sea , into another kingdom , ( spain ) where i felt the clime hotter by some degrees ; a rough-hew'n soile , for the most part , it was full of craggy barren hills ; but where there were valleys and water enough , the country was extraordinarily fruitful , whereby nature ( it seems ) made her a compensation for the sterility of the rest . yet notwithstanding the hardship of the soyl , i found her full of abbeys , monasteries , hermitages , convents , churches , and other places of devotion ; as i rov'd there a while , i encountred a grave man in a long black cloak , by the fashion whereof , and by the brimms of his hat , i perceived him to be a iesuit ; i clos'd with him , and question'd him about that country : he told me the king of that country was the greatest potentat of that part of the world ; and , to draw power to a greater unity , they of our order could be well contented , that he were universall head over temporalls , because 't is most probable to be effected by him , as we have already one universall head over spiritualls : this is the monark of the mines , i mean of gold and silver , who furnishes all the world , but most of all his own enemies with mony , which mony foments all the wars in this part of the world : never did any earthly monark thrive so much in so short a tract of time , but of late yeers he hath been ill-favouredly shaken by the revolt and utter defection of two sorts of subjects , who are now in actual arms against him on both sides of him at his own doors . ther hath bin also a long deadly feud 'twixt the next tramontan kingdom ( france ) and him , though the q. that rules there be his own sister , an unnaturall odious thing : but it seems god almighty hath a quarrel of late yeers with all earthly potentats ; for in so short a time ther never happen'd such strange shocks and revolutions : the great emperour of ethiopia hath bin outed , he and all his children by a petty companion : the king of china , a greater emperour than he , hath lost almost all that huge monarchy by the incursion of the tartar , who broke ore the wall upon him : the grand turk hath bin strangled , with 30. of his concubines ; the emperour of muscovy hath bin content to beg his life of his own vassals , and to see before his face divers of his chief officers hack'd to pieces , and their heads cut off and steep'd in strong water , to make them burn more bright in the market place . besides the above mentioned , this king hath also divers enemies more , yet he bears up against them all indifferently well , though with infinit expence of treasure , and the church , specially our society , hath stuck close unto him in these his exigents : whence may be inferr'd , that let men repine as long as they will at the possessions of the church , they are the best anchors to a state in a storm , and in time of need to preserve it from sinking ; besides , acts of charity wold be quite lost among men , did not the wealth of the church keep life in them : hereupon drawing a huge pair of beads from under his cloak , he began to ask me of my religion ; i told him i had a long journy to go , so that i could not stay to wait on him longer ; so we parted , and me thought i was very glad to be rid of him so well . my soul then made another flight over an assembly of hideous high hills , ( pyreneys ) and lighted under another clime , on a rich and copious country ( france ) resembling the form of a lozenge , but me thought , i never saw so many poor peeple in my life ; i encountred a pesan , and asked him what the reason was , that ther shold be so much poverly in a country wher ther was so much plenty : sir , they keep the commonalty poor in pure policy here , for being a peeple , as the world observes us to be , that are more humerous than others , and that love variety and change , if we were suffered to be pamper'd with wealth , we wold ever and anon rise up in tumults , and so this kingdom shold never be quiet , but subject to intestine broils , and so to the hazard of any invasion : but ther was of late a devillish cardinal , whose humour being as sanguin as his habit , and working upon the weaknes of his master , hath made us not only poor , but stark beggars , and we are like to continue so by an eternal war , wherein he hath plung'd this poor kingdom , which war must be maintained with our very vital spirits : but as dejected and indigent as we are , yet upon the death of that ambitious cardinal , we had risen up against this , who hath the vogue now , ( with whom he hath left his principles ) had not the fearful example of our next transmarin western neighbours ( the english ) and the knowledg we have of a worse kind of slavery , of those endles arbitrary taxes , and horrid confusions they have fool'd themselfs lately into , utterly deterr'd us , though we have twenty times more reason to rise then ever they had : yet our great city ( paris ) hath shew'd her teeth , and gnash'd them ill-favouredly of late , but we find she hath drawn water only for her own mill , we fare little the better , yet we hope it will conduce to peace , which hath bin so long in agitation . i cannot remember how i parted with that peasan , but in an instant i was landed upon a large island , and methought , 't was the temperat'st region i had bin in all the while ( england ; ) the heat of the sun ther is as harmless as his light , the evening serene●… are as wholsom ther as the morning dew ; the dog-daies as innocuous as any of the two equinoxes . as i rang'd to and fro that fair island , i spyed a huge city ( london ) whose length did far exceed her latitude , but ne●…ther for length or latitude did she seem to bear any politicall proportion with that island : she look'd , methought , like the iesuits hat whom i had met withall before , whose brimms were bigger then the crown , or like a peticoat , whose fringe was longer then the body . as i did cast my eyes upwards , methought i discern'd a strange inscription in the aire which hung just over the midst of that city written in such huge visible characters , that any one might have read it , which was this : woe be to the bloudy city . hereupon a reverend bishop presented himself to my view , his gray haires , and grave aspect struck in me an extraordinary reverence of him : so performing those complements which were fitting , i asked him of the condition of the place , he in a submiss sad tone , with clouds of melancholy waving up and down his looks , told me ; sir this island was reputed few years since to have bin in the completest condition of happiness of any part on earth , insomuch that she was repin'd a●… for her prosperity and peace by all her neighbours who were plung'd in war round about her , but now she is fallen into as deep a gulf of misery , and servitude , as she was in a height of felicity & freedom before : touching the grounds of this change , i cannot impute it to any other then to a surfet of happiness ; now , there is no surfet so dangerous as that of happinesse : ther are such horrid divisions here , that if they were a foot in hell , they were able to destroy the kingdom of satan : truly sir , ther are crep'd in more opinions among us about matters or religion , then the pagans had of old of the summum bonum , which varro saith were 300. the understandings of poor men were never so puzzled and distracted ; a great while there were two opposit powers ( king and parlement ) who swayed here in a kind of equality that peeple knew not whom to obey , many thousands complyed with both , as the men of calecut who adore god and the devil , tantum squantum , as it is in the indian language ) they adore the one for love , the other for fear : ther is a monstrous kind of wild liberty here that ever was upon earth ; that which was complained of as a stalking horse to draw on our miseries at first , is now only in practice , which is meer arbitrary rule ; for now both law , religion and allegiance are here arbitrary : touching the last , 't is quite lost , 't is permitted that any may prate , preach or print what they will in derogation of their annointed king : which word king was once a monosyllable of som weight in this i le , but 't is as little regarded now as the word pope ( among som ) which was also a mighty monosyllable once among us : the rule of the law is , that the king can do no wrong , ther is a contrary rule now crept in , that the king can receive no wrong ; and truly sir , 't is a great judgement both upon prince and peeple ; upon the one , that the love of so many of his vassals shold be so alienated from him ; upon the other , that their hearts shold be so poyson'd , and certainly 't is the effect of an ill spirit ; both the one and the other in all probability tend to the ruine of this kingdom . but now sir , ( because i see you are so attentive , and seem to be much mov'd at this discourse ) as i have discover'd unto you the general cause of our calamities , which was not only a satiety but a surfet of happinesse , so i will descend now to a particular cause of them ; it was a northern nation ( scot ) that brought these cataracts of mischiefs upon us ; and you know the old saying , out of the north all ill comes forth . far be it from me to charge the whole nation herewith ; no , but onely som pernicious instruments that had insinuated themselfs , and incorporated among us , and sway'd both in our court and counsels : they had a hand in every monopoly ; they had out of our exchequer , and customs near upon 400000. crowns in yearly pensions , viis & modis ; yet they could not be content , but they must puzzle the peace and policy of this church and state : and though they are a peeple of a differing genius , differing laws , customs , and manners unto us , yet for matter of conscience they wold bring our necks into their yoak , as if they had a greater talent of reason , and clearer illuminations , as if they understood scripture better , and were better acquainted with god almighty then we , who brought them first from paganisme to christianity , and also to be reformed christians : but it seems , matters have little thriven with them ; nay the visible hand of heaven hath bin heavily upon them divers waies since they did lift their hands against their native king ; for notwithstanding the vast summs they had hence , yet is the generality of them as beggarly as ever they were ; besides , the civil sword hath rag'd ther as furiously as here , and did as much execution among them . moreover the pestilence hath bin more violent , and sweeping in their chief town ( edenburgh ) then ever it was since they were a peeple . and now lately ther 's the notablest dishonour befaln them that possibly could light upon a nation , in that 7000. of ours shold upon even ground encounter , kill , slay , rout and utterly discomfit thrice as many of theirs , though as well appointed and arm'd as men could be : and truly sir , the advantages that accrue to this nation are not a few by that exploit ; for of late years that nation was cryed up abroad to be a more martial peeple then we , and to have baffled us in open field in divers traverses : besides , i hope a small matter will pay now their arrerages here , and elsewhere ; but principally , i hope they will not be so busie hereafter in our court and counsel , as they have bin formerly . another cause of our calamity is a strange race of peeple ( the puritans ) sprung up among our selfs , who were confederat with those of the north ; they wold make gods house cleane , and by putting out the candle of all ancient learning and knowledge , they would sweep it only by the light of an ignis fatuus : but 't is visibly found that they have brought much more rubbage into it , and wheras in reforming this house , they shold rather find out the groat that is lost , they go about to take away the mite that 's left , and so put christs spouse to live on meer almes : true it is , there is a kind of zeal that burns in them , ( and i could wish there were so much piety ) but this zeal burns with too much violence and presumption , which is no good symptom of spirituall health , it being a rule , that as the naturall heat , so the spirituall shold be moderat , els it commonly turns to a frenzy , and that is the thing which causeth such a giddinesse and distraction in their braines ; this ( proceeding from the suggestions of an ill spirit ) puffs them up with so much spirituall pride ; for the devill is so cunning a wrastler , that he oftentimes lifts men up to give them the greater fall : they think they have an inerring spirit , and that their diall must needs go tru , howsoever the sun goes : they wold make the gospell , as the caddies make the alchoran , to decide all civill temporall matters under the large notion of slander , whereof they forsooth to be the judges , and so in time to hook in all things to their classis : i believe if these men were dissected when they are dead , they would be a great deale of quicksilver found in their braines . proh superi , quantum mortalia pectora coecae noctis habent ! — but i could pitty the giddinesse of their braines , had they not so much gaul in their breasts , were they not so thirsting after blood , so full of poison and irreconcileable malice ; in so much that it may be very well thought , these men are a kin to that race which sprung out of the serpents teeth : these are they which have seduced our great counsell , and led this foolish city by the nose to begin and foment this ugly war , insomuch that if those numberless bodies which have perish'd in these commotions , were cast into her streets , and before her doores , many thousand citizens noses would bleed of pure guilt . not to hold you long , these are the men who have baffled common sence , blasted the beams of nature , and offered violence to reason it self ; these are they who have infatuated most of the peeple of this iland ; so that whereas in times past , som call'd her the i le of angels , she may be term'd now the i le of gulls , or more properly the i le of doggs , or rather indeed ●…he i le of wolfs , there is such a true lycanthrepy com in among us : i am loth to call her the iland of devills , though she hath bin branded so abroad . to conclude sir , the glory of this isle is quite blasted ; 't is tru they speak of peace , but while the king speakes to them of it , they make themselves ready for battle ; i much fear , that ixion-like we imbrace a cloud for peace , out of which there will issue out centaures , and monsters , as sprung out of that cloud . touching that ancient'st holy order whereof you see me to be ; i well hoped , that in regard they pretended to reforme things only , they wold not have quite extirpated , but regulated only this order : it had bin enough to brayle our wings , not to have ●…ear'd them : to have lopp'd and prun'd , not to have destroyed root and branch of that ancient tree which was planted by the hands of the apostles themselfs : in fine sir , we are a lost peeple , 't is no other dedalus , but the high deity of heaven can clue us out of this labyrinth of confusions , can extricat us out of this maze of miseries : the philosopher saith , 't is impossible for man to quadrat a circle ; so 't is not in the power of man , but of god alone , to make a loyall subject of a round head : among other things that strangers report of this iland , they say that winter here hath too many teares in his eyes : helas sir , 't is impossible he shold have too many now , to bewaile the lamentable base slavery , that a free-born peeple is com to : and though they are grown so tame as to kisse the rod that whips them , yet their taskmasters will not throw it into the fire . truly sir , as my tongue is too feeble to expresse our miseries , so the plummet of the best understanding is too short to fadom the depth of them . with this , the grave venerable bishop giving me his benediction , fetcht such a sigh , that would have rended a rock asunder ; and suddenly vanish'd ( methought ) out out of my sight up towards heaven . i presently after awoke about the dawnings of the day , when one could hardly discern dog from wolf ; and my soul , my arimula vagula blandula , being re-entred through the horn gate of sleep into her former mansion , half tyr'd after so long a peregrination ; and having rub'd my eyes , distended my limms , and return'd to a full expergefaction , i began to call my self to account touching those world of objects my fancy had represented unto me that night ; and when by way of reminiscence i fel to examin●… and ruminate upon them ; lord , what a masse of ideas ran in my head ! but when i call'd to mind the last countrey my soul wandred in , methought i felt my heart like a lump of lead within me , when i considered how pat every circumstance might be applyed to the present condition of england : i was meditating with my self what kind of dream this might be ; wherupon i thought upon the common division that philosophers make of dreams , that they are either divine , diabolicall , naturall , or humane . for the first , they are visions more properly or revelations , wherof ther are divers examples in the holy oracles of god , but the puddled cranies of my brain are not rooms clean enough to entertain such : touching the second kind , which come by the impulses of the devil , i have heard of divers of them , as when one did rise up out of his sleep , and fetcht a poyniard to stab his bed-fellow , which he had done , had he not bin awake ; another went to the next chamber abed to his mother , and wold have ravish'd her ; but i thank god this dream of mine was not of that kind . touching the third species of dreams ; which are naturall dreams , they are according to the humor which predominats ; if melancholy sway , we dream of black darksom devious places ; if phlegm , of waters ; if choler , of frayes , fightings , and troubles ; if sanguin predominat , we dream of green fields , gardens , and other pleasant representations ; and the physitian comes often to know the quality of a disease by the nocturnal objects of the patients fancy . humane dreams the last sort relate to the actions of the day past , or of the day following , and som representations are clear and even ; others are amphibious , mongrell , distorted and squalid objects , ( according to the species of trees over troubled waters : ) and the object is clear or otherwise , accorning to the tenuity or grossenesse of the vapors which ascend from the ventricle up to the brain . touching my dream , i think it was of this last kind ; for i was discoursing of , and condoling the sad distempers of our times the day before : i pray god som part of it prove not propheticall ; for , although the frenchman sayeth , songes sont mensonges , dreames are delusions , and that they turn to contraries , yet the spaniard hath a saying , et ciego sonnava que via yera lo que querria . the blind man dreamt he did see light , the thing he wish'd for happen'd right . insomuch that some dreams oftentimes prove tru ; as s. austin makes mention of a rich merchant in milan , who being dead , one of his creditors comes to his son to demand such a sum of money which he had lent his father ; the son was confident 't was paid , but not finding the creditors receipt , he was impleaded and like to be cast in the sute , had not his fathers ghost appeared to him , and directed him to the place where the acquittance was , which he found the next day accordingly . galen speaks of one that dreamt he had a wooden leg , and the next day he was taken with a dead palsie in one whole side . such a dream was that of william rufus , when he thought he had felt a cold gust passing through his bowels ; and the next day he was slain in the guts , by the glance of an arrow , in new forrest , a place where he and his father had committed so many sacrileges . i have read in artimedorus , of a woman that dreamt she had seen the pictures of three faces in the moone like her self , and she was brought to bed of three daughters a little after , who all died within the compas of a moneth . another dreamt , that xanthus water ran red , and the next day he fell a spitting of blood . to this i will add another fore-telling dream , whereof i have read , which was thus : two young gentlemen being travelling abroad in strange countreyes , and being come to a great towne , the one lay far in the citie , the other in an hostry without the wall in the suburbs : he in the city did dream in the dead of night , that his friend which he had left in the suburbs rush'd into his chamber panting and blowing , being pursued by others ; he dreamt so againe , and the third time he might see his friends ghost appearing at his beds side with bloud trickling down his throat , and a poyniard in his brest , telling him , dear friend , i am come now to take my last farewell of thee , and if thou rise betimes , thou shalt meet me in the way going to be buryed ; the next morning his friend going with his host towards the inn in the suburbs wher he left his friend , they met with a cart laden with dung in the way , which being staid and search'd , the dead body was found naked in the dung . i will conclude with a notable dream that osman the great turk had not many years since , a few days before he was murthered by his janizaries , 1623. he dreamt , that being mounted upon a huge camel , he could not make him go , though he switch'd and spur'd him never so much ; at last the camel overthrew him , and being upon the ground , only the bridle was left in his hand , but the body of the camel was vanished : the mufti not being illuminated enough to interpret this dream , a santon who was a kind of idiot , told him , the camel represented the ottoman empire , which he not being able to govern , he shold be o'rethrown , which two dayes after proved tru . by these , and a cloud of examples more , we may conclude , that dreams are not altogether impertinent , but somthing may be gathered out of them ; though the application and meaning of them be denyed to man , unless by special illumination . somnia venturi sunt praescia saepe diei . by dreams we oft may guesse at the next dayes successe . thus have you a rough account of a rambling noctivagation up and down the world : i may boldly say , that neither sir iohn mandevile , or coryat himself travell'd more in so short a time : whence you see what nimble postillions the animal spirits are ; and with what incredible celerity the imagination can crosse the line , cut the tropiques , and pass to the other hemisphere of the world ; which shews that humane souls have somthing in them of the almighty , that their faculties have a kind of ubiquitary freedom , though the body be never so under restraint , as the authors is . they erre as much who think all dreams false , as they who think them alwayes tru . in the prison of the fleet 3. idus decembris 1645. i. h. a vindication of his majesty , touching a letter he writ to rome from the court of spain , in answer to a letter which pope gregory the 15th . had sent him upon passing the dispensation for concluding the match with the i●…fanta . which letter mr. pryn mention's in his book call'd the popish royal favorit , wherby the world is apt to beleeve that his majesty had inclinations to pope●…y . ther goe's also herewith , a clearing of som aspersions that the said mr. pryn cast's upon the author hereof in the same pamphlet , viz. that he was a malignant , and no friend to parlements . wherby , he takes occasion to speak somthing of the first rise , and also of the duty as well as the authority of parlements . to my worthily honor'd friend sir w. s. knight . sir , i have many thanks to give you for the book you pleased to send me , called the popish royal favorite ; and according to your advice ( which i value in a high degree ) i did put pen to paper , and somthing you may see i have done ( though in a poor pamphleting way ) to clear my self of those aspersions that seem to be cast upon his majesty ; but truly sir , i was never so unfit for such a task ; all my papers , manuscripts , and notes having bin long since seized upon and kept from me : adde hereunto , that besides this long pressure and languishment of close restraint ( the sense wherof i find hath much stupified my spirits ) it pleased god to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sickness , a high burning fever , with the new disease , wherof my body as well as my mind is yet somwhat crazie : so that ( take all afflictions together ) i may truly say , i have passed the ordeal , the fiery tryal . but it hath pleased god to reprieve me to see better daies i hope ; for out of this fatal black cloud , which now ore-sets this poor island , i hope ther will break a glorious sun-shine of peace and firm happinesse : to effect which , had i a jury , a grand-jury of lives , i wold sacrifice them all , and triumph in the oblation . so i most affectionately kiss your hands , and rest your faithfull ( though afflicted ) servant , from the prison of the fleet. i. h. the pre-eminence , and duty of parlement . sectio prima . i am a free-born subject of the realm of england ; wherby i claim as my native inheritance , an undoubted right , propriety , and portion in the laws of the land : and this distinguisheth me from a slave . i claim likewise protection from my soverain prince , who as he is my liege lord is obliged to protect me , and i being one of his liege peeple am obliged to obey him by way of reciprocation ; i claim also an interest and common right in the high national court of parlement , and in the power , the priviledges and jurisdiction therof , which i put in equal ballance with the laws , in regard it is the fountain whence they spring ; and this i hold also to be a principall part of my birth-right ; which great councell i honour , respect , value , and love in as high a degree as can be , as being the bulwark of our liberties , the main boundary and bank which keeps us from slavery , from the inundations of tyrannicall rule , and unbounded will-government . and i hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience , to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted , concluded , and constituted by its authority in church or state with the royal assent , whether it be by making , enlarging , altering , diminishing , disanulling , repealing , or reviving of any law , statute , act , or ordinance whatsoever , either touching matters ecclesiastical , civil , common , capital , criminall , martial , maritime , municipall , or any other ; of all which the transcendent and uncontrollable jurisdiction of that court is capable to take cognizance . amongst the three things which the athenian captain thank'd the gods for , one was , that he was born a grecian , and not a barbarian ; for such was the vanity of the greeks , and after them of the romans in the flourish of their monarchy , to arrogat all civility to themselves , and to terme all the world besides barbarians : so i may say to rejoyce , that i was born a vassall to the crown of england ; that i was born under so well-moulded and tempered a government , which endows the subject with such liberties and infranchisements that bear up his naturall courage , and keep him still in heart ; such liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of tyranny : and all this may be imputed to the authority and wisedome of this high court of parlement , wherein there is such a rare co-ordination of power ( though the soveraignty remain still entire , and untransferrable in the person of the prince ) there is such a wholsom mixture 'twixt monarchy , optimacy , and democracy , 'twixt prince , peers , and commonalty , during the time of consultation , that of so many distinct parts , by a rare co-operation and unanimity they make but one body politick , ( like that shea●…e of arrows in the emblem ) one entire concentricall peece , the king being still the head , and the results of their deliberations but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings . and what greater immunity and happinesse can there be to a peeple , than to be liable to no laws but what they make themselves ? to be subject to no contribution , assessement , or any pecuniary erogations whatsoever , but what they vote , and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves ? for in this compacted politick body , there be all degrees of peeple represented ; both the mechanick , tradesman , merchant , and yeoman have their inclusive vote , as well as the gentry , in the persons of their trustees , their knights and burgesses , in passing of all things . nor is this soveraign surintendent councell an epitome of this kingdom only , but it may be said to have a representation of the whole universe ; as i heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver the last parliameut , who compared the beautifull composure of that high court to the great work of god , the world it self : the king is as the sun , the nobles the fixed stars , the itineant judges and other officers ( that go upon messages 'twixt both houses ) to the planets ; the clergy , to the element of fire ; the commons , to the solid body of earth , and the rest of the elements . and to pursue this comparison a little farther ; as the heavenly bodies , when three of them meet in conjunction , do use to produce some admirable effects in the elementary world ; so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemne great iunta , some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth , tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom our microcosme . he that is never so little versed in the annals of this i le , will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered , i exclude the scot for the scituation of his country , and the quality of the clime hath been such an advantage and security to him , that neither the roman eagles would fly thither for fear of freezing their wings , nor any other nation attempt the work . these so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings , many disturbances and changes in government ; yet i have observed , that notwithstanding these tumblings , it retained still the forme of a monarchy , and something there was always that had an analogy with the great assembly of parlement . the first conquest i find was made by claudius caesar , at which time ( as some well observe ) the roman ensignes , and the standard of christ came in together : it is well known what lawes the roman had ; he had his comitia , which bore a resemblance with our convention in parlement ; the place of their meeting was called praetorum , and the laws which they enacted , plebiscita . the saxon conquest succeeded next , which were the english , there being no name in welsh or irish for an english man , but saxon , to this day ; they also governed by parlement , though it were under other names , as michel sinoth , michel gemote , and witenage mote . there are records above a thousand years old of these parlements in the reigns of king ina , offa , ethelbert , and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy : the british kings also , who retain'd a great while some part of the isle unconquered , governed and made laws by a kind of parlementary way ; witnesse the famous laws of prince howell , called howell dha , ( the good prince howell ) whereof there are yet extant some british records : parlements were also used after the heptarchy by king kenulphus , alphred , and others ; witnesse that renowned parliament held at grately by king athelstan . the third conquest was by the danes , and they govern'd also by such generall assemblies , ( as they do to this day ) witnesse that great and so much celebrated parlement held by that mighty monarch canutus , who was king of england , denmark , norway , and other regions 150 years before the compiling of magna charta ; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the specialst , and most authentick peeces of antiquity we have extant . edward the confessor made all his laws thus , ( and he was a great legis-lator , ) which the norman conquerour ( who liking none of his sons , made god almighty his heir by bequeathing unto him this island for a legacy ) did ratifie and establish , and digested them into one entire methodicall systeme , which being violated by rufus , ( who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck for his sacriledges ) were restor'd by henry the first , and so they continued in force till king iohn ; whose reign is renowned for first confirming magna charta , the foundation of our liberties ever since : which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffes set upon one english stock ; or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers ; for the choicest of the british , the roman , saxon , danish , and norman laws , being cull'd and pick'd out and gathered as it were into one bundle , out of them the foresaid grand charter was extracted ; and the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parliament . nor are the lawes of this island only , and the freedome of the subject conserved by parlement , but all the best policed countries of europe have the like . the germanes have their diets , the danes and swedes their rijcks dachs ; the spaniard calls his parlement las cortes ; and the french have , ( or should have at least ) their assembly of three states , though it be growne now in a manner obsolete , because the authority thereof was ( by accident ) devolv'd to the king. and very remarkable it is , how this happened ; for when the english had taken such large footing in most parts of france , having advanced as far as orleans and driven their then king charles the seventh , to bourges in berry the assembly of the three states in these pressures , being not able to meet after the usuall manner in full parlement because the countrey was unpassable , the enemy having made such firme invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdom ; that power which formerly was inhaerent in the parlementary assembly , of making laws , of assessing the subject with taxes , subsidiary levies , and other impositions , was transmitted to the king during the war ; which continueth many years , that entrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him , and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him ; so that ever since , his edicts countervaile acts of parlement . and that which made the businesse more feasable for the king , was , that the burthen fell most upon the communalty ( the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it ) who were willing to see the peasan pull'd down a little , because not many years before , in that notable rebellion , call'd la jaquerie de beauvoisin , which was suppressed by charles the wise , the common people put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry , to lessen their power . adde hereunto as an advantage to the work , that the next succeeding king lewis the eleventh , was a close cunning prince , and could well tell how to play his game , and draw water to his own mill ; for amongst all the rest , he was said to be the first that put the kings of france , hors de page , out of their minority , or from being pages any more , though therby he brought the poor peasans to be worse than lacquays , and they may thank themselfs for it . neverthelesse , as that king hath an advantage hereby one way , to monarchize more absolutely , and never to want money , but to ballast his purse when he will ; so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdom another way ; for this peeling of the peasan hath so dejected him , and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty ( which brings along with it a narrownesse of 〈◊〉 ) that he is little usefull for the war : which put 's the french king to make other nations mercenary to him , to fill up his infantery : insomuch , that the kingdom of france may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all it's bloud drawn up into the arms , breast and back , and scarce any le●…t from the girdle downwards , to cherish and bear up the lower parts , and keep them from starving . all this seriously considered , ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next neighbours , to prove how infinitly necessary the parlement is to assert , to prop up and preserve the publick liberty , and national rights of a peeple , with the incolumity and well-fare of a countrey . nor doth the subject only reap benefit thus by parlement , but the prince , ( if it be well consider'd ) hath equal advantage therby ; it rendreth him a king of free and able men , which is far more glorious than to be a king of cowards , beggars , and bankrupts ; men that by their freedom , and competency of wealth , are kept still in heart to do him service against any forrain force . and it is a tru maxime in all states , that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the prince to be poor , than his people : rich subjects can make their king rich when they please , if he gain their hearts , he will quickly get their purses . parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence 'twixt him and his peeple , it acquaints him with the reality of things , and with the tru state and diseases of his kingdom , it brings him to the knowledg of his better sort of subjects , and of their abilities , which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions ; it provides for his royal issue , pays his debts , finds means to fill his coffers : and it is no ill observation , that parlementmoneys ( the great aid ) have prospered best with the kings of england ; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad , and enableth him to keep his foes in fear , his subjects in awe , his neighbours and confederates in security , the three main things which go to aggrandize a prince , and render him glorious . in summe , it is the parlement that supports , and bears up the honour of his crown , and settles his throne in safety , which is the chief end of all their consultations : for whosoever is entrusted to be a member of this high court , carryeth with him a double capacity ; he sits ther as a patriot , and as a subject : as he is the one , the country is his object , his duty being to vindicat the publick liberty , to make wholsom lawes , to put his hand to the pump , and stop the leaks of the great vessel of the state , to pry into , and punish corruption and oppression , to improve and advance trade , to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed , and cast about how to find somthing that may tend to the advantage of it . but he must not forget that he sits ther also as a subject , and according to that capacity , he must apply himself to do his soveraignt businesse , to provide not only for his publick , but his personall wants ; to bear up the lustre and glory of his court ; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have , by encrease of royal issue , or maintenance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicat any affront or indignity that might be offered to his person , crown , or dignity , by any forrain state or kingdom , or intestin rebellion ; to consult what may enlarge his honour , contentment , and pleasure . and as the french tacitus ( comines ) hath ●…t , the english nation was used to be more ●…orward and zealous in this particular than ●…ny other ; according that to ancient eloquent speech of a great lawyer , domus regis vigi●…a defendit omnium , otium illius labor omni●…m , deliciae illius industria omnium , vacatio ●…lius occupatio omnium , salus illius periculum ●…nium , honor illius objectum omnium . eve●… one shold stand centinell to defend the kings house , his safety shold be the danger of 〈◊〉 , his pleasures the industry of all , his ease ●…old be the labour of all , his honour the ob●…ct of all . out of these premisses this conclusion ●…ay be easily deduced , that , the principall ●…ntain whence the king derives his happiness and safety , is his parlement ; it is that great conduit-pipe which conveighes unto him his peoples bounty and gratitude ; the truest looking-glasse wherin he discernes their loves ; ( now the subjects love hath been always accounted the prime cittadell of a prince . ) in his parlement he appears as the sun in the meridian , in the altitude of his glory , in his highest state royal , as the law tells us . therfore whosoever is averse or disaffected to his soveraign law-making court ▪ cannot have his heart well planted within him , he can be neither good subject , no●… good patriot , and therfore unworthy to breath english aire , or have any benefit , advantage , or protection from the laws . sectio secunda . by that which hath bin spoken , which is the language of my heart , i hope no indifferent judicious reader will doubt of the cordiall affection , of the high respects and due reverence i bear to parlement , as being the wholsomest constitution , ( and done by the highest and happiest reach of policy that ever was established in this island ) to perpetuate the happinesse therof . therfore i must tell that gentleman , who was author of a book entituled the popish royal favorite , ( lately printed and exposed to the world ) that he offers me very hard measure ; nay , he doth me apparent wrong , to term me therin , no friend to parlement , and a malignant ▪ a character , which as i deserve it not , so i disdain it . for the first part of his charge , i wold have him know , that i am as much a friend and as reall an affectionat humble servant and votary to the parlement as possibly he can be , and will live and die with these affections about me : and i could wish , that he were secretary of my thoughts a while , or if i may take the boldnesse to apply that comparison his late majesty used in a famous speech to one of his parlements , i could wish ther were a chrystal window in my breast , through which the world might espye the inward motions and palpitations of my heart , then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation . for the second part of his charge , to be a malignant , i must confesse to have som malignity that lurks within me much against my will ; but it is no malignity of mind , it is amongst the humors , not in my intellectuals ; and i believe , ther is no naturall man , let him have his humors never so well ballanced , but hath som of this malignity reigning within him ; for as long as we are composed of the four elements , whence these humors are derived , and with whom they symbolize in qualities ; which elements the philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves ( and the stoick thought that the world subsisted by this innated mutual strise ) as long i say , as the four humors , in imitation of their principles ( the elements ) are in perpetual reluctancy and combate for praedominancy , ther must be som malignity lodg'd within us , as adusted choler , and the like ; wherof i had late experience , in a dangerous fit of sicknesse it pleased god to lay upon me , which the physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacall effects of melancholy ; having bin so long in this saturnine black condition of close imprisonment , and buryed alive between the walls of this fatal fleet : these kinds of malignities , i confesse are very rife in me , and they are not only incident , but connaturall to every man according to his complexion ; and were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humors for mastery , which produceth such malignant effects in us , our souls wold be loth ever to depart from our bodies , or to abandon this mansion of clay . now what malignity my accuser means , i know not ; if he means malignity of spirit , as som antipathy or ill impression upon the mind , arising from disaffection , hatred , or rancor , with a desire of som destructive revenge , he is mightily deceived in me ; i maligne or hate no creature that ever god made but the devill , who is the author of all malignity ; and therfore is most commonly called in french le malin esprit , the malignant spirit . every night before i go to bed , i have the grace , i thank god for it , to forgive all the world , and not to harbour , or let roost in my bosom the least malignant thought ; yet none can deny , but the publick aspersions which this my accuser casts upon me , were enough to make me a malignant towards him ; yet it could never have the power to do it : for i have prevail'd with my self to forgive him this his wrong censure of me , issuing rather from his notknowledge of me , than from malice , for we never mingled speech , or saw one another in our lives to my remembrance ; which makes me wonder the more , that a professor of the law , as he is , shold pronounce such a positive sentence against me so slightly . but methinks i over-hear him say , that my precedent discourse of parlement is invol'd in generals , and the topique axiome tells us , that dolus versatur in universalibus , ther is double dealing in universals : his meaning is , that i am no friend to this present parlement ( though he speaks in the plurall number parlements ) and consequently , he concludes me a malignant ; therin i must tell him also , that i am traduc'd , and i am confident it will be never prov'd against me , from any actions , words , or letters ( though divers of mine have bin intercepted ) or any other misdemeanor , though som things are father'd upon me which never drop'd from my quill . alas , how unworthy and uncapable am i to censure the proceedings of that great senate , that high synedrion , wherin the wisdom of the whole state is epitomized ? it were a presumption in me , of the highest nature that could be : it is enough for me to pray for the prosperous successe of their consultations : and as i hold it my duty , so i have good reason so to do , in regard i am to have my share in the happinesse ; and could the utmost of my poor endeavours , by any ministerial humble office ( and somtimes the meanest boat-swain may help to preserve the ship from sinking ) be so happy , as to contribut any thing to advance that great work ( which i am in despair to do , while i am thus under hatches in this fleet , ) i wold esteem it the greatest honor that possibly could befall me , as i hold it now to be my greatest disaster , to have fallen so heavily under an affliction of this nature , and to be made a sacrifice to publick fame , than which there is no other proof , nor that yet urg'd against me , or any thing else produc'd after so long , so long captivity which hath brought me to suck a low ebbe , and put me so far behind in the course of my poor fortunes , and indeed more than halfe undone me . for although my whole life ( since i was left to my self to swim , as they say , without bladders ) has bin nothing else but a continued succession of crosses , and that there are but few red letters found ( god wot ) in the almanack of my age , ( for which i account not my self a whit the lesse happy ) yet this crosse has carried with it a greater weight , it hath bin of a larger extent , longer continuance , and lighted heavier upon me than any other ; and as i have present patience to beare it , so i hope for subsequent grace to make use of it accordingly , that my old motto may be still confirmed , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . he produceth my attestation for some passages in spaine at his majesties being there , and he quotes me right , which obligeth me to him ; and i hope all his quotations wherein he is so extraordinarily copious and elaborate in all his workes , are so ; yet i must tel him , that those interchangeable letters which pass'd between his majesty & the pope , which were originally couch'd in latin , the language wherin all nations treat with rome , and the empire with all the princes thereof , those letters i say are adulterated in many places , which i impute not to him , but to the french chronicler , from whom he took them in trust . the truth of that businesse is this ; the world knows there was a tedious treaty of an alliance 'twixt the infanta dona maria ( who now is empresse ) and his majesty , which in regard of the slow affected pace of the spaniard , lasted above ten yeares , as that in henry the sevenths time , 'twixt prince arthur , and ( afterwards ) queen katherine , was spun out above seven : to quicken , or rather to consummate the work , his majesty made that adventurous journey through the whole continent of france into spaine ; which voyage , though there was a great deale of gallantry in it ( wherof all posterity will ring untill it turne at last to a romance ) yet it prov'd the bane of the businesse , which 't is not the errand of so poor a pamphlet as this to unfold . his majesty being there arriv'd , the ignorant common people cried out , the prince of wales came thither to make himself a christian ; the pope writ to the inquisitor generall , and others , to use all industry they could to reduce him to the romane religion ; and one of olivares first complements to him , was , that he doubted not but that his highnesse came thither to change his religion : whereunto he made a short answer , that he came not thither for a religion but for a wife : there were extraordinary processions made , and other artifices us'd by protraction of things , to make him stay ther of purpose till the spring following , to work upon him the better ; and the infanta her self desir'd him ( which was esteem'd the greatest favour he received from her all the while ) to visit the nunne of carton , hoping that the say'd nunne , who was so much cried up for miracles , might have wrought one upon him ; but her art failed her , nor was his highness so weak a subject to work upon according to his late majesties speech to doctor mawe and wren , who when they came to kisse his hands before they went to spaine to attend the prince their master , he wish ed them to have a care of buckinham ; as touching his sonne charles , he apprehended no feare at all of him ; for he knew him to be so well grounded a protestant , that nothing could shake him in his religion . the arabian proverb is , that the sun never soiles in his passage , though his beams reverberate never so strongly , and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of maeotis , the black turf'd moores of holland , the aguish woose of kent and essex , or any other place , be it never so dirty ; though spaine be a hot countrey , yet one may passe and repasse through the very center of it , and never be sun-burnt , if he carry with him a bongrace , and such a one his majesty had . well , after his majesties arrivall to madrid , the treaty of marriage went on still , ( though he told them at his first comming , that he came not thither like an ambassador to treat of a marriage , but as a prince , to fetch home a wife ; ) and in regard they were of different religions , it could not be done without a dispensation from the pope , and the pope would grant none , unlesse some capitulations were stipulated in favour of the romish catholikes in england , ( the same in substance were agreed on with france . ) well , when the dispensation came , which was negotiated solely by the king of spains ministers ( because his majesty would have as little to do as might be with rome ) pope gregory the fifteenth , who died a little after , sent his majesty a letter , which was delivered by the nuncio , whereof an answer was sent a while after : which letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world , because his majesty would not have people whisper , that the businesse was carried in a clandestine manner . and truly besides this , i do not know of any letter , or message , or complement , that ever pass'd twixt his majesty and the pope afore or after ; some addresses peradventure might be made to the cardinalls , to whom the drawing of those matrimoniall dispatches was referred to quicken the work , but this was only by way of civil negotiation . now touching that responsory letter from his majesty , it was no other than a complement in the severest interpretation ; and such formalities passe 'twixt the crown of england , the great turke , the mogor and divers heathen princes . the pope writ first , and no man can deny , but by all morall rules , and in common humane civility his majesty was bound to answer it , specially considering how punctual they are in those countries to correspond in this kind , how exact they are repaying visits , with the performance of such ceremonies ; and had this compliance bin omitted , it might have made very ill impressions , as the posture of things stood then ; for it had prejudiced the great work in hand , i mean , the match , which was then in the heat and height of agitation , his majesties person was ther engaged , besides , and so it was no time to give the least offence : they that are never so little vers'd in businesse abroad , do know that ther must be addresses , compliances , and formalities of this nature us'd in the carriage of matters of state , as this great businesse was , wheron the eyes of all christendom were so greedily fix'd ; a businesse which was like to bring with it such an universal good , as the restitution of the palatinat , the quenching of those hideous fires in germany , and the establishing of a peace throughout all the christian world. i hope none will take offence , that in this particular which comes within the compasse of my knowledg ( being upon the stage when his scene was acted ) i do this right to the king my master , in displaying the truth , and putting her forth in her own colours , a rare thing in these days . touching the vocall forrest , an allegorical discourse , that goes abroad under my name , a good while before the beginning of this parlement , which this gentleman cites ( and that very faithfully , ) i understand ther be som that mutter at certain passages therin , by putting ill glosses upon the text , and taking with the left hand , what i offer with the right , ( nor is it a wonder for trees which ly open , and stand exposed to all weathers to be nipt . ) but i desire this favour , which in common justice , i am sure in the court of chancery cannot be denyed me , it being the priviledge of every author , and a received maxime through the world , cujus est condere , ejus est interpretari ; i say , i crave this favour , to have leave to expound my own text , and i doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me , and that in lieu of the plums which i give him from those trees , he will not throw the stones at me . moreover , i desire those that are over criticall censu●…ers of that peece , to know , that as in divinity it is a rule , scriptur a parabolica non est argumentativa , so it is in all other kind of knowledg ; parables ( wherof that discourse is composed ) though pressed never so hard , prove nothing . the●… is another rule also , that parables must be gently used , like a nurses breast ; which if you presse too hard , you shall have bloud in stead of milk . but as the author of the vocall forrest thinks he hath done , neither his countrey , nor the common wealth of learning any prejudice therby ( that maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad , as to be translated into divers languages , and to gain the publick approbation of som famous universities ) so he makes this humble protest unto all the world , that though the designe of that discourse was partly satyricall ( which peradventure induc'd the author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadowes of trees , and where should satyres be but amongst trees ? ) yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the high and honourable court of parlement , whereof he had the honour to be once a member , and hopes he may be thought worthy again : and were he guilty of such an offence , or piacle rather , he thinks he shold never forgive himself , though he were appointed his own judge . if ther occur any passages therin , that may admit a hard construction , let the reader observe , that the author doth not positively assert , or passe a judgement on any thing in that discourse , which consists principally of concise , cursory narrations of the choisest ▪ occurrences and criticismes of state , according as the pulse of time did beat then : and matters of state , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , contingencies and change , which makes the opinions and minds of men vary accordingly . i will conclude with this modest request to that gentleman of the long robe ; that having unpassionately perus'd what i have written in this small discourse , in penning wherof , my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand , he wold please to be so charitable and just , as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me , to be no friend to parlements and a malignant . a glance upon the i le of wight , and upon the unparallell'd concessions of grace his majesty pass'd in that trety , &c. concluding with the horrid murther committed afterwards upon his sacred person . cui dabit partes scelus expiant iupiter ? a glance upon the i le of wight , or an inquisition after truth . who vindicats truth doth a good office not onely to his own country , but to all mankind ; it is the scope of this short discourse , viz. to make som researches after truth , and to rectifie the world accordingly in point of opinion , specially touching the first author and aggressor of the late ugly war in england , which brought with it such an inundation of bloud , and so did let in so huge a torrent of mischiefs to rush upon us . ther be many , and they not only presbyterians and independents , but cavaliers also , who think that the king had taken the guilt of all this bloud upon himself , in regard of that concession he passed in the preamble of the late treaty at the isle of wight ; the aim of this paper is to clear that point , but in so temperat a way , that i hope 't will give no cause of exception , much lesse of offence to any : the bloud that 's sought after here , shall not be mingled with gaule , much lesse with any venom at all . we know ther is no principle either in divinity , law or philosophy , but may be wrested to a wrong sense ; ther is no truth so demonstrative and clear , but may be subject to cavillations ; no tenet so plain , but perverse inferences may be drawn out of it ; such a fate befell that preambular concession his majesty passed at the transactions of the late treaty , in that he acknowledg'd therin that the two houses of parlement were necessitated to undertake a war in their own just and lawful defence , &c. and that therfore all oaths , declarations , or other public instruments against the houses of parlement , or any for adhering to them , &c. be declared null , suppressed , and forbidden . 't is true , his majesty passed this grant , but with this weighty consideration as it had reference to two ends . first , to smoothen and facilitate things thereby to open a passage , and pave the way to a happy peace , which this poor iland did so thirst after , having bin so long glutted with civil blood . secondly , that it might conduce to the further security , and the indemnifying of the two houses of parlement , with all their instruments , assistants , and adherents , and so rid them of all jealousies , and fear of future dangers which still lodg'd within them . now touching the expressions and words of this grant , they were not his own , nor did he give order for the dictating or penning thereof ; the king was not the author of them , but an assentor only unto them : nor was he or his party accus'd , or as much as mentioned in any of them , to draw the least guilt upon themselves . besides , he pass'd them as he doth all lawes and acts of parlement , which in case of absence another may do for him in his politic capacity , therfore they cannot prejudice his person any way . i am loth to say that he condescended to this grant , — cum strict a novacula supra , when the razor was as it were at his throat , when ther was an army of about thirty thousand effectif horse and foot that were in motion against him , when his person had continued under a black long lingring restraint , and dangerous menacing petitions and papers daily ob●…ruded against him . moreover , his majesty pass'd this concession with these two provisos and reservations , first , that it should be of no vertu or validity at all , till the whole treaty were intirely consummated ; secondly , that he might when he pleas'd inlarge and cleer the truth with the reservednesse of his meaning herein , by public declaration : now the treaty being confusedly huddled up , without discussing , or as much as receiving any proposition from himself as was capitulated , ( and reciprocall proposalls are of the essence of all treaties ) it could neither bind him , or turne any way to his disadvantage : therfore under favour , ther was too much hast us'd by the parlement , to draw that hipothetick or provisional concession to the form of an act so suddenly after in the very heat of the treaty , without his majesties knowledg , or the least intimation of his pleasure . add hereunto , that this grant was but a meer preambular proposition , 't was not of the essence of the treaty it self : and as the philosophers and schoolemen tell us , there is no valid proof can be drawn out of proemes , introductions or corollaries in any science , but out of the positive assertions and body of the text , which is only argument-proof ; so in the constitutions and laws of england , as also in all accusations and charges , forerunning prefaces & preambles ( which commonly weak causes want most ) are not pleadable : and though they use to be first in place , like gentlemen-ushers , yet are they last in dignity , as also in framing , nor had they ever the force of laws , but may be term'd their attendants to make way for them . besides , ther 's not a syllable in this preface which repeals or connives at any former law of the land , therefore those laws that so strictly inhibit english subjects to raise armes against their liege lord the king , and those lawes è contrario which exempt from all dangers , penalties or molestation , any subject that adheres to the person of the king in any cause or buarrell whatsoever , are still in force . furthermore , this introductory concession of the kings , wherein he is contented to declare , that the two houses were necessitated to take armes for their defence , may be said to have relation to the necessity , à parte pòst , not à parte antè : self-defence is the universall law of nature , and it extends to all other cretures , as well as to the rationall : as the fluent roman orator in that sentence of his , which is accounted among the critiques the excellentest that ever drop'd from cicero ; est enim haec non scripta , sed nata lex quam non didicimus , accepimus , legimus , verum ex natura ipsa arripuimus , hausimus , expressimus , ad quam non docti , sed facti , non instituti , sed imbuti sum●…s , ut si vita nostra in &c. for this ( meaning self-defence ) is not a written , but a law born with us ; a law which we have not learnt , receiv'd or read , but that which we have suck'd , drawn forth , and wrung out of the very brests of nature her self ; a law to which we are not taught , but made unto , wherwith we are not instructed , but indued withall , that if our lifes be in jeopardy , &c. we may repel force by force . therfore when the house of parliament had drawn upon them a necessity of self defence ( and i could have wish'd it had bin against any other but their own soverain prince ) his majesty was contented to acknowledge that necessity . as for example : a man of war meets with a marchant man at sea , he makes towards him , and assaults him ; the marchant man having a good stout vessell under him , and resolute , generous seamen , bears up against him , gives him a whole broad-side , and shoots him 'twixt wind and water ; so there happens a furious fight betwixt them , which being ended , the marchant cannot deny but that the man of war , though the first assailant , was necessitated to fight , and that justly in his own defence , which necessity he drew upon himself , and so was excusable , à posteriori , not à priori ; as the civilians speak of a clandestine marriage , fieri non debuit , sed factum valet ; it ought not to have been , but being done 't is valid : wherunto relates another saying , multa sunt quae non nisi per acta approbantur . ther are many things which are not allowable til they are pass'd . the kings of france have had sundry civil wars , they have had many bloudy encounters and clashes with their subjects , specially the last king lewis the thirteenth , which turn'd all at last to his advantage ; among other treaties in that of loudun , he was by force of article to publish an edict , dont lequel le roy approuvoit tout le passé comme ayant esté fait pour son service , &c. wherin the king approv'd of all that w●…s pass'd , as done for his service , &c. and these concessions and extenuations are usuall at the close of most civil wars , but ther was never any further advantage made of them , then to make the adverse party more capable of grace and pardon , as also to enable them to bear up against the brunt of laws , and secure them more firmly from all after-claps ; they were pass'd in order to an act of abolition , to a generall pardon , and consequently to a re-establishment of peace ; now , peace and war ( we know ) are like water and ice , they engender one another : but i do not remember to have read either in the french history , or any other , that such royal concessions at the period of any intestin war were ever wrung so hard , as to draw any inference from them , to cast therby the guilt of bloud , or indeed the least stain of dishonour upon the king ; for royal indulgences and grants of this nature are like nurses breasts , if you presse them gently ther will milk come forth , if you wring them too hard you will draw forth bloud in lieu of milk : and i have observed that the conclusion of such treaties in france , both parties wold hugg and mutually embrace one another in a gallant way of national humanity ; all rancor , all plundrings , sequestration , and imprisonment wold cease , nor wold any be prosecuted , much lesse made away afterwards in cold bloud . touching the comencer of this monstrous war of ours , the world knows too well , that the first man of bloud was blew-cap , who shew'd subjects the way , how to present their king with petitions upon the pikes point , and what visible judgements have fallen upon him since , by such confusions of discord and pestilence at home , and irreparable dishonour abroad , let the world judge . the irish took his rise from him : and wheras it hath bin often suggested , that his majesty had foreknowledge therof , among a world of convincing arguments which may clear him in this particular , the lord maguair upon the ladder , and another upon the scaffold , when they were ready to breath their last , and to appear before the tribunall of heaven , did absolutely acquit the king , and that spontaneously of their own accord , being unsought unto , but only out of a love to truth , and discharge of a good conscience : but touching those cruentous irish wars , in regard ther was nothing wherof more advantage was made against his late majesty , to imbitter and poyson the hearts of his subjects against him then that rebellion , i will take leave to wind up the main causes of them upon a small bottom as was spoken elsewhere . 1. they who kept intelligence and complyed with the scot , in his first and second insurrection . 2. they who dismiss'd the first irish commissioners ( who came of purpose to attend our parlement with som grievances ) with such a short unpolitic harsh answer . 3. they who took off straffords head , ( which had it stood on , that rebellion had never been ) and afterwards retarded the dispatch of the earl of leicester from going over to be lord-lievtenant . 4. lastly , they , who hindred part of that disbanded army of 8000 men rais'd there by the earl of strafford , which his majesty , in regard they were souldiers of fortune , and loose casheer'd men , to prevent the mischiefs that might befall that kingdome , by their insolencies , had promised the two spanish ambassadors , the marquesses of veloda and malvezzi , then resident in this court ; which souldiers rise up first of any , and put fire to the tumult to find somthing to do . they , i say , who did all this , may be justly said to have bin the tru causes of that horrid insurrection in ireland ; and consequently 't is easie to judge upon the account of whose souls must be laid the bloud of those hundred and odd thousand poor christians who perished in that war ▪ and had it bin possible to have brought o're their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the lower house door , and in the presence of som members , which are now either secluded , or gone to give an account in another world , i believe their noses wold have gush'd out with bloud for discovery of the tru murtherers . touching this last fire-brand of war , which was thrown into england , who they were that kindled it first , the consciences of those indifferent and unbiassed men are sittest to be judges , who have bin curious to observe with impartial eyes , the carriage of things from the beginning . i confesse , 't was a fatal unfortunat thing , that the king shold put such a distance 'twixt his person and his parlement , but a more fatal and barbarous thing it was , that he should be driven away from it , that there should be a desperate designe to surprize his person , that ven with his myrmidons , and bourges with his bandogs , ( for so ▪ they calld the riffraff of the city they brought along with them ) should rabble him away , with above four parts in five of the lords , and near upon two parts in three of the commons : yet 't is fit it should be remembred , what reiterated messages his majesty sent from time to time afterward , that he was alwaies ready to return , provided there might be a course taken to secure his person , with those peers and other who were rioted away from the houses , 't is fit it should be remembred , that there was not the least motion of war at all , till hotham kept his majesty out of his own town kingston upon hull , ( for the name whereof shew'd whose town it was ) where being attended by a few of his meniall servants , he came onely to visit her , having peaceably sent the duke of york , and the palsgrave thither the day before ) which act of hotham's by shutting the gates against him was voted warrantable by the house of commons , and it may be call'd the first thunderbolt of war : 't is fit it should be remembred , that a while after there was a compleate army of 16000. effectif horse and foot inrolled in and about london to fetch him to his parliament by force , and remove ill counsellours from about him , ( long before he put up his royal standard ) and the generall then nam'd was to live and die with them : and very observable it is , how that generalls father was executed for a traytor , for but attempting such a thing upon queen elizabeth , i mean to remove ill counsellors from about her by force . 't is also to be observed , that the same army which was rais'd to bring him to his parliament , was continued to a clean contrary end two years afterwards to keep him from his parliament . 't is fit it should be remembred , who interdicted trade first , and brought in forraigners to help them , and whose commissions of war were neere upon two moneths date before the kings . 't is fit it should be remembred how his majesty in all his declarations and publick instruments made alwaies deep protestations , that 't was not against his parliament he raised armes , but against some seditious members , against whom he had onely desired the common benefit of the law , but could not obtain it ; 't is fit to remember , that after any good successes and advantages of his , he still courted both parliament and city to an accommodation ; how upon the treaty at uxbridge , with much importunity for the generall advantage and comfort of his peeple , and to prepare matters more fitly for a peace , he desired there might be freedom of trade from town to town , and a cessation of all acts of hostility for the time , that the inflammation being allayed , the wound might be cur●…d the sooner ; all which was denyed him . 't is fit to remember how a noble lord ( the earl of southampton ) at that time told the parliaments commissioners in his majesties name , at the most unhappy rupture of the said treaty , that when he was at the highest he would be ready to treat with them , and fight them when he was at the lowest : 't is fit the present army should remember how often both in their proposalls , and publick declarations they have inform'd the world , and deeply protested that their principall aime was to restore his majesty to honour , freedom and safety , whereunto they were formerly bound , both by their own protestation and covenant , that the two commanders in chief pawn'd unto him their soules thereupon . let them remember , that since he was first snatch'd away to the custody of the army by cromwells plot , who said , that if they had the person of the king in their power , they had the parliament in their pockets . i say being kept by the army , he never displeas'd them in the least particular , but in all his overtures for peace , and in all his propositions he had regard still that the army should be satisfied : let it be remembred , that to settle a blessed peace , to preserve his subjects from rapine and ruine , and to give contentment to his parliament , he did in effect freely part with his sword , scepter , and crown , and ev'ry thing that was proprietary to him : let it be remembred with what an admired temper , with what prudence and constancy , with what moderation and mansuetude he comported himself since his deep afflictions , insomuch that those commissioners and others who resorted unto him , and had had their hearts so averse unto him before , return'd his converts , crying him up to be one of the sanctifiedst persons upon earth : and will not the bloud of such a prince cry loud for vengeance ? bloud is a crying sin , but that of kings cryes loudest for revenge , and ruine brings . let it be remembred , that though there be some precedents of deposing kings in his kingdom , and elsewhere , when there was a competition for the right title to the crown by some other of the bloud royall , yet 't is a thing not onely unsampled , but unheard of in any age , that a king of england whose title was without the least scruple , should be summon'd and arraign'd , tryed , condemned , and executed in his own kingdom , by his own subjects , and by the name of their own king , to whom they had sworn alleagiance . the meanest student that hath but tasted the laws of the land can tell you , that it is an unquestionable fundamentall maxime , the king can do no wrong , because he acts by the mediation of his agents and ministers , he heares with other mens eares , he sees with other mens eyes , he consults with other mens braines , he executes with other mens hands , and judges with other mens consciences ; therefore his officers counsellors or favorites are punishable , not he : and i know not one yet whom he hath spar'd , but sacrificed to justice . the crown of england is of so coruscant and pure a mettall ▪ that it cannot receive the least taint or blemish ; and if there were any before in the person of the prince , it takes them all away and makes him to be rectus in curia . this as in many others may be exemplified in henry the seventh , and the late queen elizabeth : when she first came to the crown 't was mention'd in parlement , that the attainder might be taken off him , under which he lay all the time he liv'd an exile in france ; it was then by the whole house of parlement resolv'd upon the question , that it was unnecessary , because the crown purg'd all . so likewise when queen elizabeth was brought as it were from the scaffold to the throne ; though she was under a former attainder , yet 't was thought superfluous to take it off , for the crown washeth away all spots , and darteth such a brightnesse , such resplendent beams of majesty , that quite dispell all former clouds : so that put case king iames died a violent death , and his son had been accessary to it , ( which is as base a lie as ever the devil belch'd out ) yet his accesse to the crown had purged all . this businesse about the playster which was applyed to king iames , was sifted and winnow'd as narrowly as possibly a thing could be in former parlements , yet when it was exhibited as an article against the duke of buckingham , 't was term'd but a presumption or misdemeanure of a high nature : and 't is strange that these new accusers shold make that a parricide in the king , which was found but a presumption in the duke , who in case it had been so , must needs have been the chiefest accessary . and as the ancient crown and royall diadem of england is made of such pure allay , and cast in so dainty a mould , that it can receive no taint , or contract the least speck of enormity and foulenesse in it self , so it doth endow the person of the prince that weares it with such high prerogatives ; that it exempts him from all sorts of publique blemishes ; from all attainders , empeachments , summons , arraignments and tryalls ; nor is there or ever was any law or precedent in this land , to lay any crime or capitall charge against him , though touching civill matters : touching propertie of meum and tuum , he may be impleaded by the meanest vassall that hath sworn fealty to him ; as the subjects of france and spaine may against their kings , though never so absolute monarchs . in the constitutions of england , there are two incontroulable maximes , whereof the meanest mootman that hath but saluted littleton cannot be ignorant : the first is , rex in suis dominiis neque habet parem , nec superiorem . the king in his own dominions hath neither peer , or superior . the other is satis habet rex ad poenam quod deum expectet ultorem : 't is punishment enough for a king that god will take revenge of him : therefore if it be the fundamentall constitution of the land , that all just tryalls must be by teers , and that the law proclaimes the king to have no peer in his own dominions , i leave the world to judg , what capacity or power those men had to arraign their late king , to be in effect his accusers and iudges ; and that an exorbitant unsampled tribunall should be erected , with power and purpose to condemn all to cleer none , and that sentence of death should passe without conviction or law upon him that was the heard and protector of all the lawes . lastly , that they who by their own confession represent but the common people , should assume power to cut off him who immediately represented god , cui dabit partes scelus expiandi iupiter ? — well , we have seen such portentous things , that former ages never beheld , nor will future ages ever be witnesse of the like : nay , posterity , after a century or two of yeers will hold what is now really acted to be but romances . and now with thoughts full of consternation and horror , and a heart trembling with amazement and sorrow for the crying flagrant sins of this forlorn nation , specially for that fresh infandous murther committed upon the sacred person of his majesty , i conclude with this hepastick , wherein all cretures ( though irrationall ) that have sence , yea the very vegetalls seeme to abhor so damnable a fact . so fell the royal oake by a wild crew of mongrel shrubs which underneath him grew ; so fell the lion by a pack of currs ; so the rose witherd 'twixt a knot of burrs . so fell the eagle by a swarme of gnatts , so the whale perish'd by a shoale of spratts . in the prison of the fleet 25. febr. 1648. i. h. advice sent from the prime statesmen of florence , how england may come to herself again , which is , to call in the king , not upon articles , but in a free confident way : which advice came immediatly upon the readmission of the secluded members , and coppies therof being delivered to the chiefest of them. it produc'd happy effects . a letter sent from the city of florence , written by a great counsellor there , touching the present distempers of england ; wherein he , with som of the prime statesmen in florence passe their iudgements which is the onely way to compose the said distempers . to my honored , and most endeared patron . it is no small diminution to my former happinesse that i have not receiv'd your commands any time these two moneths , which makes me lodg within me certain apprehensions of fear that som disaste●… might befall you in those new distractions , therefore i pray be pleased to pull this thorn out of my thoughts as speedily as it may stand with your conveniency . we are not here so barren of intelligence , but we have weekly advice of your present confusions , and truly the severest sort of speculative persons here who use to observe the method of providence , do not stick to say , that the hand of heaven doth visibly stirre therein , and that those distractions in army , state , and city are apparent judgements from above , for if one revolve the stories of former times , as i have done many ( but you more ) he will find that it hath been alwaies an inevitable fate which useth to hang over all popular insurrections to end in confusion and disorders among the chief actors themselfs at last ; and we have had divers examples thereof here among us , which hath caus'd us to be so long in quietnesse and peace . but truly sir , give me leave to tell you that your nation hath lost much of their repute abroad all the world over in statu quo nunc ; som do laugh at you ; others do scorn , and hate you ; and som do pitty and comiserat you . they who laugh at you , think you are no better than mand men ▪ having strange magots in your brains bred out of the fat of so long wanton plenty , and peace . they who scorn and hate you , do it for your sacriledge , your horrendous sacrileges , the like whereof was never committed on earth since christianity had first a hole to put her head in . they who pitty you are few , and we are of the nomber of them , as well in the common sense of humanity , as for the advantages , and improvement of wealth which this state hath receiv'd by your trading at ligorne , for that town doth acknowledge her prosperity , and that she is arrived to this flourishing estate of riches , of buildings and bravery by the correspondence she hath had this latter age with england in point of commerce , which yet we find doth insensibly impair every day , and i believe you feel it more ; therefore out of the well-wishes , and true affections we bear unto england , some of the most serious , and soberest persons of this place who are well seasoned in the world , and have studyed men under divers climes , and conversed also much with heavenly bodies , had lately a private junto , or meeting , whereunto i was admitted for one , and two of us had been in england where we received sundry free civilities ; our main businesse was to discourse , and descant upon these sad confusions , and calamitous condition wherein england with the adjoyning kingdomes are at present involved , and what might extricate her out of this labyrinth of distractions , and reduce her to a setled government ; having long canvased the businesse , and banded arguments pro & con with much earnestnesse , all our opinious did concenter at last in this point , that there was no probable way under heaven to settle a fast , and firm government among you , then for the men that are now upon the stage of power to make a speedy application to their own king , their own liege lord and soveraigne , whom god , and nature hath put over them ; let●… them beat their brains , scrue up their witts , and put all the policy they have upon the tenterhooks as farre as possibly they can , yet they will never be able to establish a durable standing government otherwise , they do but dance in a circle all this while , for the government will turn at last to the same point it was before ▪ viz. to monarchy , and this king will be restored to his royall inheritances , maugre all the cacodaemons of hell : our astrologers here , specially the famous antonio fiselli hath had notes to look into the horoscope of his nativity , and what predictions he hath made hitherto of him have proved true to my knowledge , he now confidently averrs , with the concurrence of the rest , that the aspect of all the starrs , and conjunction of the planetts much favour him the next two yeares ; nam medium coeli in genitura caroli secundi regis angliae juxta axiomata astrologiae genethliacae dirigitur ad radios sextiles lun●… anno domini 1660. & significat acc●…ssum ad dominum , for the medium coeli in the geniture of charles the second according to the axiomes of genethliacall astrology is directed to the sextile rayes of the moon , and signifies an accesse to dominion . adde hereunto that a most lucky conjunction followes the same year , in the very centre of the said kings horoscope betwixt iupiter and sol in the moneth of september . when i was employed by this state in paris not many years agoe , i had occasion to make my addresse to your young king , and when i observed his physiognomy , and the lineaments of his face , i seemed to discern in it something extraordinary above vulgar countenances , and that he carryed a majesty in his very looks , and noting besides the goodly procerity , and constitution of his body , he seemed to be cut out for a king. now , in point of extraction , and lineage , it cannot be denyed but he is one of the greatest born princes that ever was in the world ; for whereas his grand-father , and father were allyed onely if you regard forraigne consanguinity , to the house of denmark and the guyses , this king bears in his veines not onely that bloud , but also the blouds of all the great princes of christendom , being nearly linked to the house of bourbon and france , to the house of austria , and consequently to the emperour , and spaine , as also to the duke of savoy , and our grand-duke : moreover he is nearly allyed to all the greatest princes of germany , as the saxe , brandenburg , bavaria , the palsgrave , and to the duke of lorain who descends in the directest line from charlemain ; adde hereunto that the young prince of orenge is his nephew , and which is considerable he is a pure englishman born , whereas your two former kings were forreigners . the queen his mother is of as glorious an extraction , which makes me admire the frontlesse impudence of some of your poor pamphletors who call her ever and anon the little queen , notwithstanding that the world knowes her to be the daughter of henry the great , and queen of great britain , which title and character is indelible , and must die with her. hereunto may be adjoyn'd , that this young king is now mounted to the meridian of his age , and maturity of judgement to govern , and doubtlesse hee is like to make a rare governour , having this advantage of all other soverain princes in the world to have been bredd up in the schoole of affliction so long , to have travelled so many strange countreys and observed the humors of so many nations . but to come to the cardinall point of our communication , after divers debates , and alterations how england might be brought to a stable condition of tranquility and perfect peace , to her former lustre , and glory , the finall result of all , ended in this , that there was no other imaginable meanes to do it then for you to make a timely and fitting humble addresse unto your own king , and without question it is in his power to grant you such an absolute pardon , such an abolition of all things pass'd , such a gracious amnestia , such royall concessions that may extend to the security of every person for the future that was engaged in these your revolutions , both touching his life and fortunes ; unlesse their guilt of conscience be such that like cain or iudas they thinke their sinne is greater then can be forgiven them . now the mode of your application to him may avail much , for if you chopp logique with him too farr , and stand upon puntillios , and too rigid termes , if you shew your selfs full of feares , jealousies , and distrusts , it will intangle , and quite marr the businesse , for in a soveraign prince ther must be an implicit , unavoidable necessary trust repos'd by his peeple , which all the laws that mans brain can possibly invent cannot provide against ; therefore if you proceed in a frank , and confident tru english way you may work upon his affections more powerfully , and overcome him sooner so , then by any outward arms , this way will make such tender impressions , upon that he will grant more then you can possibly expect . some forein historians as the french comines and our guicciardin do cry up the english nation for using to love their king in a more intense degree then other peeple , and to regard his honour in a higher strain , to support which they have bin alwayes so ready , and cheerful both with their persons and purses ; there is now a fair opportunity offered to rake up the embers of these old affections , and to recover the reputation of tru englishmen ; there is no peeple but may sometimes stand in their own light , go astray , and err , for error was one of the first frailties that were entayled upon man ( and his posterity ) as soon as he was thrust out of paradis ; 't is a human thing to err , but to persevere in an error is diabolicall ; you shall do well and wisely to follow the example of the spanish mule , who out of a kind of wantonesse being gone out of the high beaten road into a by path , which led her to a dirty narrow lane full of pitts and holes , at last she came to the top of a huge hideous rock where she could go no farther , for before her ther was inevitable destruction , and the lane was so narrow that she could not turn her body back , therupon in this extremity she put one foot gently after an other , and crablike went backward untill she came again to the common road ; this must be your course , by a gentle retrogradation to come into the kings high road again , and ther is no question but he will meet you more than three parts of the way : if you do not , truly in our opinions you will precipitat your selfs down a rock of inevitable destruction ; for heaven and earth are conspir'd to restore him , and though all the spirits of the air shold joyn with you , you shall not be able to oppose it . i presume you are not ignorant how ●…he two great monarks of spain and france ( which may be said to be the main poles wheron europe doth move ) have comprehended him within the private capitulations of peace , the emperour hath promised to wed his quarrell , and there is no prince or state in christendom but would gladly reach a frendly hand to restore him , being depriv'd of his birth-right , and his royal indubitable inheritance ( as you your felfs confesse ) for observing the fifth commandement , for obeying his father and mother ; from which birth-right he may be said to have been thrust out when he was in the state of innocency , being but in a manner a child , and very young then . now touching your selfs i will not flatter you , but plainly tell you that you have not one friend any where beyond the seas , nay your great confederate the swed ( as i had good intelligence ) could upbraid one of your ambassadors that are now there , that he had not washed his hands clean since they had been embrued in his princes bloud . the time that i sojourned in england i was curious to read your annals , and to make some inspections into your laws , and method of government ; as also into the genius of the peeple , and i find there is no species of government that suits better with the nature of the inhabitants , the quality of the clime , and relates more directly to the civil constitutions , laws , and customs of the land then monarchal ; the i le of great britain hath been alwaies a royall island from her very creation , from her infancy , she may be said to have worn a crown in her cradle , and although she had four or five revolutions and changes of masters , yet she still continued royal , whereunto alludes a saying that i observed in your old records , britannia ab initio mundi semper fuit regia , & regimen illiu●… simile illi caelorum : great britain hath been from the beginning of the world royall , and her government like that of the heavens . therefore , all these premises being weighed in the balance of true judgement you shall do well , and wisely to recollect your selfs , and call in your hopefull young king , whose title your consciences do acknowledge to be unquestionable , otherwise it is not onely improbable but impossible for england to be her self again , and to be setled in any stable government which may reach to posterity ; you may wind up your wits as high as you can , you may consult with your first , second , and third thoughts , but will never be able to settle a fixed government , you will be still at a losse , your debates will be like a skeyn of ravell'd threed , you will be in a labyrinth of confusions , and the end of one , will be still the beginning of another . to conclude , the current and concurrent opinion of all ministers of state here both forren and florentine is , that if you do not make a timely application to your king , you will have all the princes of christendom about your ears , and what a sad calamitous country , what an aceldama will england be then ? therefore if there be a true patriot , and publick soul amongst you , if there be ever any drops of true english bloud running in your veins , or the least spark of nationall fire and affections glowing in your bosoms toward your own dear country , prevent these imminent dangers , and invite your king by discreet and moderate proposals ; the gallant samnit general could tell the romans who had over powred them , that if they gave them easie and gentle capitulations they would perform them , but if they would tye them to too high and strict terms , they would observe them no longer then they cold have opportunity to break them . touching the affairs of italy , we are like to have a general blessed peace this side the alpes , and lombardy who hath been so pittifully harass'd a long time , and hath had her face so often scratch'd , is in a fair way to recover her former beauty ; signor giovanni palavicino , and d. lorenzo minuccio convey their most affectionate respects unto you , and so doth your entire , and faithfull servant . florence this 12th . of march , 1659. ther are divers other large peeces tending to the same subject , which shall be published in the second tome . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a70276-e19310 finch , &c. mechanicks ▪ mariners . 〈◊〉 stra●… . bishops . sco●… . m. hert. e. south . e. westm. e. worce . e. dover . wales . digbies . e. pemb. e wa●…w . arondelle . her majesty . notes for div a70276-e20430 m. hamilt . scot. plut. notes for div a70276-e21690 the scot. the irish. england .