A discourse concerning supreme power and common right at first calculated for the year 1641, and now thought fit to be published / by a person of quality.

CHAP. IV. What Duties Kings owe to their Sub∣jects, with the Excellency of that Government.

HAving endeavoured to shew, as it were in Landskip and dark sha∣dow only, the Great and High Prerogatives of Kings, not being able perfectly to describe them as they are in themselves without a seeming Court-flattery, (which yet might be for∣given

given in these times, and in a Garrison, where Peace of Conscience is the only reward of Loyalty) I shall further show you the Excellency of Regal Govern∣ment by its Effects. For so (as the Sun in Water) it is best seen in its Reflections, and the just Actions of Pious Kings, who are the Fountains of Honour, Ju∣stice, Power, and all other regular sub∣ordinate motions in the lower Spheres, (as the Vital Spirits in the Head are of all Natural Operations of the Body) are always best seen in their Piety and Moralities; the industrious endeavour of which makes their Mitres rather pon∣derous than glorious, as the Emblems of Christian Kings do show; in that the Cross is always fixt (but superiour) to their Crown, to the imitation of their Master, who was Crowned indeed, but with Thorns; to teach them how full of vexing Cares and Troubles that Head should be subject to, that (as the Stern to the Ship) is to guide the great Barque of the State, not only in Calms but Storms, which best prove the Pilot. So as we may consider the Infelicities of Good Kings (with respect to this World) to be more in the Scale than their happiness; when they are not Lords but Stewards; not Owners but Dispensers of all their

glorious Attributes and Endowments. For Regal, is that Paternal Power in the fifth Commandment, which Philo Ju∣daeus observes confines upon both Ta∣bles, that their Arms of Protection might extend to the keeping of both; and the greater the Trust the more severe the Account. In which there stands,

First, a Charge of Power upon each King's Score (it being one of God's communicable Attributes) how he hath used the Sword God hath put into his hand, which St. Peter saith ought to be a terrour to the Evil, not to the Good, (though a Protection to all against pri∣vate wrongs) with the Militia and Pow∣er of making War or Peace: which is seated in them, and inherent, by Divine Right;k 1.1 (as well as in our King by the known and established Laws, and magna chartal 1.2 and to the Son,m 1.3 succeeding him;) and though it be regulated in the Exercise,n 1.4 the Parliament never did pre∣tend to give the Power but to declare it.

And thus Reynolds in his Comment on the 110 Psalm,o 1.5 amongst the [Jura Regalia] proper honours belonging to the Person of the King (which none can use but in a subordination to him) doth reckon [Armamentaria Publica] the Magazines of all Military Provisions,

(citing Greg. Tholos.;)p 1.6 by them to fence and impail God's Church and Vine∣yard both from the wild Boar and little Foxes; and the persons of men from In∣juries and Violence; which are the great∣est Priviledges we can enjoy in this World, as may more clearly appear by the contrary Effects; (For things are seen carendo magis quam fruendo.) As in Judges,q 1.7 where the decay of Reli∣gion, advancing of Idolatry, making Priests of the lowest of the People, and all other Civil (uncivil) Disorders pro∣ceeded from the want of this Power in one man, and are imputed to it, as to the efficient cause, though properly ma∣lum non habet efficientem, sed deficientem causam.

And therefore we may expect great good from them, when so many Evils are occasioned by their want. For when there was no King in Israel, every man did what seemed good in his own Eyes, (saith the Spirit of God) disenthroning Reason, and making Lust their Law, and Rapes their boast.r 1.8 So that by just consequence the having of a good King is the proper Remedy of those Evils, who makes his just Power the measure of his Will, not his Will the measure of his Power. And therefore it is Enacted,

saith St. Peter, in the style of a Law-giver (as some observe) that all should be sub∣ject to him (at least in not doing his Lawful Commands, be punished by him.)s 1.9 And so we find it in all the Reigns of the good Kings of Israel; for there were no Micha's Idols nor High-places left; no Rapines nor Violences suffered; no acting of Wickedness un∣der the Countenance of Laws and Acts; but, as Gods,t 1.10 they medled with the Affairs of God; as Nursing-Fathers they nourished the Church with the two Breasts of God's Word and Sacra∣ments, through the Ministerial Admi∣nistrations of Priests, and as publick Mi∣nisters for good,u 1.11 they restrained all other Uncivil Insolencies, not suffering every man to be a King; nay more than a King, in doing what he list: for a King ought not to be a Jeroboam, favouring idolatry, or any false Worship;w 1.12 but a David, Learned, Pious and Wise, as an Angel of God,x 1.13 that Fraud, Inju∣ries, and violence might be detected and restrained, Innocency relieved, Indu∣stry encouraged, Vertue rewarded, and Vice punished.

Secondly, Justice Distributive is ow∣ing from a King to all his Subjects, as that which establishes his own Throne,

(saith Solomon) and keeps the just Boun∣daries of [meum & tuum] Common Right amongst men (out of which, as Seeds, the large Harvest of Contentions growes:) For, Judicium or Potestas ju∣diciaria is a peculiar of Royalty, in that the Administration is from the Prince as the Fountain of all Humane Equity (under God) deposited in the hands of inferiour Officers:y 1.14 For so he is in∣terpretative in them, who, as his mouth, are to publish the Laws, and to execute those Acts of Justice and Peace which principally belong to his own sacred Breast. So Reynolds still in that place, alluding there to that of Joh. 5.22, 27. and drawing his Parallel from Christ, where he saith, The Father hath commit∣ted all Judgment to the Son, &c. And therefore herein a good King ought e∣ver to make God's revealed Will, and the known Laws, (of which his sworn Judges are to be the Interpreters) the measure and rule of his proceedings; and that under pain of Damnation, a se∣verity from God, infinitely above the coercion of men: nor shall their punish∣ment be less, who usurp the Exercise of this Justice without his Commis∣sion.

Thirdly, Mercy must all derive from the King (as a Flower that groweth on∣ly in his Garland) a Gem which can shine only from the Diadem of Princes, For Jus vitae & necis, a Power of pardon∣ing Condemned Persons, and delivering from the Terrour of the Law, (though in some cases limited, as in wilful Mur∣ders, and the like) belongs only to him; being there deposited by God himself, and in no other Representative whatso∣ever; so that where Regal Government is setled, the Execution of any man (though wicked and deserving to dye by the Law) is wicked, if not having the King's Commission for it.

Fourthly, Honour (the ennobling of the Blood) is to derive from him, when Vertue or some Heroick Acts dignifie the Person; for without that he that re∣ceives it is but a Label which bears the Wax, without any impression of the Seal, or as a rotten Post that bears a glorious Escutcheon. But for the more clear manifestations of this, his [Orna∣menta Regia] Regal Ornaments, as a Crown, a Throne, a Scepter, and the like, with the universally acknowledg∣ed Rights to them, speak him to be the only Spring, from whence it can flow,z 1.15 and ought still to issue in lesser and

greater Streams, by it to enrich the hum∣ble Valleys, and make them shew gay, when adorned with those Flowers of the Crown for the encouragement of Ver∣tue; (as he beareth the Sword to cut down Offenders and prevent their growth:) And as a Testimony hereof the Romans had wont to send to Foreign Kings in League with them, an Ivory-Sceptre, a Royal Robe, and Chair of State,a 1.16 to show in Hieroglyphick what they were.

Fifthly, Kings owe an Example of Vertue and Piety to their Subjects in that (instruimur praeceptis sed dirigimur exemplis, saith Seneca,) the Actions of great men have a Compulsory Power in them, [Regis ad exemplum] are an Eye-Catechism, and (as the Basilisk) by see∣ing they many times kill our Vices, or by being seen invite us to Vertue; Ex∣amples being the shortest way of teach∣ing: For from that Milk we usually, as from our Mothers Breasts, suck our good or bad Inclinations.b 1.17 Nay like the first Mover they carry all the Infe∣riour Orbs with them, as the first Deer the Herd: When bad Kings, with the ill Influence of the Planets, kill more deadly than Poyson in Plants, because coming from a more glorious Body,

though the other be more Infecti∣ous.

But herein we in this Nation have the advantage of all others: For if ever the Rayes of Vertue had a Power of affimi∣lating others into their own Divine Na∣ture, the Beams of Goodness that shine upon us from the Example of our dear Soveraign (who, as a Combination or Conjunction of Graces, both Divine and Moral, hath all in himself that a fi∣nite and limited Being is capable of) must needs have a prevalency over us. Or if they make us not better, they will make us much worse, as they will rise up in Judgment against us to our greater Condemnation. And I am confident as he is an Active Example of Vertue, so he would be Passive to teach us how to suffer in a good Cause, though it were to pass through a Red Sea of his own Blood for the good of his People; Peli∣can-like to nourish us with the Spirits that flow out of his own Breast; and, by those Beams, to reflect a more glori∣ous Lustre than in his Meridian and height of Greatness.

But, not to suffer my Zeal to carry me besides my purpose, there is, amongst many others, one part of Duty most es∣pecially incumbent upon Kings. For,

6. Lastly, as Kings reign by God, so they should rule for him and the high∣est good of their People in matters of Religion, both in maintaining the Sub∣stance and Essential Parts of it, in their Vigour and Power, by Active Compul∣sions and Humane Restraints, to force the outward man to Obedience in things good in themselves, and to prescribe such Rules, Methods, and Boundaries in things indifferent, as may bring all to Uniformity in Worship, and may stand as a Wall or Fence to God's Vineyard, a∣gainst the Invasions of the little Foxes of Schisms and Factions. And this not only for Decency, Order, and Signifi∣cancy, but as that without which Reli∣gion it self cannot subsist: For though they are no parts of it, but Circumstan∣tials, Essentials in a Well-formed Church cannot be maintained without them, no more than a Tree can be preserved to live without its Bark, or Majesty in a King without Reverence: For that, like the Skin to the Body, preserves it both in Being and Beauty; which occasioned St. Paul's Precept of having all things be done decently and in order, that is, ac∣cording to appointment, as the Originalc 1.18 will bear it; so Dr. Hammond renders the Words.d 1.19

For take away those Regulations of our Publick Devotions, (which are as the Hemme, that strengthens the Gar∣ment, and keeps it Uniform,) all would resolve into Rents and Schisms, Chaos and Confusion. So as if the Church of God (his enclosed Garden) be not fenced by good Laws for Conformity, all Me∣thods of Devotion are lost, and the Bores of the Forrest (unruly men of Facti∣ous Spirits) will soon break in to de∣stroy and root it up; and offer nothing but the blind and lame to God, in loose and untruss'd postures, unbecoming the Greatness of an Earthly Prince in our Addresses to them, much more to our God,e 1.20 by it to make their Superiours bend to them, if pertinacious obstinacy could do it, when they should bow to their Superiours,f 1.21 according to the Oeconomy of Nature it self, where the inferiour Orbs are to be guided and move by the highest Spheres: Other∣wise the whole Fabrick would be un∣hinged and fall in pieces, or at least grow weak by separation. For a Dis∣pensation to several Forms of Worship in one Church would prove an Act ra∣ther of Division than Comprehension, encrease Emulation and Factions, and plant a Seminary for a continued Schism:

In that there could be no such Encou∣ragement but there would be scandal and a way of seduction in it, to all Ortho∣dox Protestants, and a Transmigration of Souls amongst themselves from the Father to the Son, with Encouragements and Supports from their pro••use Zeal of the Proselites to their Opinions. So as they would strengthen with time (in that Novelties never want Courtship and Adorers,) though the old way is (Regia via] God's way, and only to be con∣tended forg 1.22 and preserved by our Act of Uniformity.

And in this respect Kings and Queens are chiefly styled Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers to the Church; Fa∣thers for Provision and Protection; Mo∣thers for their tenderness and care; when as by little Stratagems and Circumven∣tions they bring their Children to an ha∣bituated Obedience, and keep Dangers from them by some outward and extra∣ordinary Confinements, both for Hone∣sty and Order.h 1.23

So as Kings have no meaner a depo∣situm committed to them, than the Crown and Throne of God and Christ in the Church: For they are as the Li∣ons about the Throne, to secure and guard it; and as Law-givers in indifferent

things,i 1.24 (though subject to the di∣rection of their Laws) and are with David to prescribe Rules for fixed Servi∣ces and Devotions,k 1.25 and with Josiah to compel to Religious Duties and Laws of his commanding, (as is before exprest,)l 1.26 as Hezekiah did;m 1.27 which Constantine the first Christian Em∣perour imitated:n 1.28 But they never (as Praxiteles the Painter made the silly People worship the Image of his Strumpet, under the Title of Venus) imposed the Visions of their own Fan∣sies, nor licensed the crude and un∣nourishing Vapours of others empty Wits upon the credulous People, it be∣ing below the Majesty of Truth and Religion; but according to the sin∣cerity of God's Law: not suffering their Lusts to guide them, which ever bring unconstancy with them, and make the Soul, like a distempered Body, ne∣ver well in any position or condition. For then men (like Bees from one Flow∣er to another) will be ever flying from one Change and Vanity to another, and not find enough to satiate the intempe∣rate desire of change.

So as it can be neither agreeable to Religion nor Prudence for a King to suffer variety of Postures and Forms in

the outward Exercise of Religion; (for what is good is to be obeyed for it self; what, indifferent in Obedience to his Command, when in middle things Su∣preme Power chiefly consists.) And,

1. For Religion, Kings ought to main∣tain it in its Essentials and Purity (without any Indulgence or Dispensations to any) as that only which can maintain them.o 1.29 And such Josephs will be Store-hou∣ses in their Kingdoms, and as Elijah, Cha∣riots and Horse-men for their security; there being no guard to that of Piety and Zeal for God's Glory, which they are entrusted to preserve, (even both Tables of the Law;) and are not to bear the Sword in vain, which is put into their hands for that use; Com∣pulsion being necessary where Com∣mands are contemned.q 1.30

Nor doth Christ's Permission of the Tares to grow give any just Power of Toleration to Princes by God's Law in known Evils, or pertinacious contuma∣cy to lawful Commands, but only per∣mits mixed Assemblies, where, by rea∣son of outward Conformity, none can discriminate the truly pious from the Hypocrite; by which he yet doth not for∣bid their Eradication absolutely, but for fear the good Seed also should be destroy∣ed;

when a Connivance to known Er∣rours in Doctrine, (or to pertinacious Non-conformists in indifferent things) would make the Magistrate contract the guilt of their Crimes, (Judg. 5.23.) by confirming the one in their mistaken Doctrines, and the other in their super∣stitious believing indifferent things un∣lawful; even to an adoring the Idol of their own Fancy, uncharitably censuring of all others, (even the Church and Go∣vernment it self;) though it bring Hell out of Heaven, (in a pretence of Devo∣tion) and the Devil upon God's Shoul∣ders to rule amongst us in Samuel's Gar∣ment, by the silly Charms of a seducing Spirit, through the warmth of Zeal, when it wants the light of Knowledge to guide it; though like the Volatil Spi∣rits of Poysons, when unconfined, (by not being luted up in some Viol or Ves∣sel) it evaporates into an Airy being, of use only to infect others that suck it in by a nearness of Conversation. So as some Ingredients of a seeming Cruelty in our Laws will prove the most Sove∣raign Mercy to reduce and recover them, and preserve the sound from their Con∣tagion, if tempered in a proportion to their Crimes by pecuniary Mulcts or o∣ther Confinements; saving some by

Compassion, others by Fears;r 1.31 when the violation of any just Law, if wil∣fully done, is unlawful. Nay the least minute Atome or Airy Omission, if ha∣bitual, may become the greatest Crime, if done with Scandal and Contempt to Authority; in that the Transgression is against Gods Ordinance, that requires Obedience to the Commander, not in the value of the thing commanded by him, it being no less Treason to coyne a Farthing, that has the King's stamp upon it, than a piece of Gold, according to our Saviours Rule; in that, He that offends in one wilfully, is guilty of the breach of all the Commandments, when upon equal Temptations he would break the rest; for one little wilful Sin, like the first drop in an Orifice, will usher in more, and dispose the whole Body to such Evacuations and Eruptions.

2. In Prudence there ought to be no Indulgence, as to the Publick Exercise of any false Religion or variety of Forms in outward Worship: For, what Unity, Decency, or Order can there be in set∣ting up one Congregation against ano∣ther? when Order is the Bond of Peace that keeps us in Unity: For once break that, or tye but with a slip-knot, and all will be dissolved and come to Confu∣sion,

which is the Womb of all Rebelli∣on and Schisms.

Nay, it were to depose Reason (the Supreme Monarch) and Enthrone the In∣feriour Members, which should submit, and not impose. And certainly the giv∣ing Ground in such a Duel would give Courage and Insolency in the Enemy to press for more; and the Pale of Law, that has a breach once made in it, will let out all the Beasts of the Forrest to Rapine and Prey, to the loss of good Subjects, but not to the making any better. So as however wise Princes may inlarge any thing that is too strait in matters of Discipline, they will never let Clamour, or the Unjust Discontents of any Midwife in what they call Refor∣mation; and much less a Toleration of all Sects and Errours.

Nor can the King expect a Harmo∣ny amongst Antipathies by permitting several Forms in one settled Govern∣ment, though the want of Power to maintain his own Laws may force him to unreasonable Condescensions; (for then a Dam against that Current would but enrage it to greater Violences) yet in such a Case I conceive he ought rather to make a General Rule of Conformity for all, if possible, than Differing-ones to

Parties;) by it to lay asleep and bury all Animosities the other would maintain; and, like Oyl upon Paper, would ra∣ther harden than soften such Rebellious Spirits, and render them rather Con∣querours than Supplicants: But I hope God will not submit his own Glory and our King to such an Eclipse, when no∣thing but necessity can make it lawful: Though probably such a Scheme by some may be set and calculated for our Horizon, when his Majesty's Comply∣ance to some things has made them ra∣ther impose more than acquiesce in what they desired; for he that once gives Ground ever loses more in his Retreat; (unless it be to rally again with some Re∣serves to maintain his own Right more vigorously;) so as we ought still to con∣tend to Blood for our King's Freedom in his Actings against such. Especially those whose Principles are for Resistance and Rebellion (not Submission) in things that are contrary to their seditious Principles; that hold it lawful to murder the King, (if not the man in whom the Regal Pow∣er is vested,) by dispoiling him of all his Regalia, and Essentials of Royalty; which were to un shakel mad-men, and set them free to Fury and Rage, perhaps for the de∣struction of those that endeavoured their

recovery and preservation, and not to strike Sparks into those Brands that need be quenched: but they heighten all into a Flame.

Besides, it were unsafe to the Publick Peace to permit the Factious Separatists (who are yet as Sand without Morter, weak, dispersed and loose) to gather in∣to Combinations and Confederacies, by which they'll know their own strength, and take advantage of others weakness to compass their own end, whose end is only (like Oyl among other Liquors) to be uppermost, and bring all into a subje∣ction to them, and to be able perhaps to give, not ask Dispensations.

Nay it would reflect dishonour and disgrace upon our Government and Go∣vernours, and Discouragement to all Or∣thodox Professors, not to maintain what hath been prosperously practised among us since the Reformation, and hath had the Influences of Heaven to give it a Prolifick Vertue, in producing a Loyal, Zealous and Pious People to beautifie their Professions. And therefore Chri∣stian Kings should not be out-done by a Heathen inspired by God to it, but send out a Decree that whosoever will not do th Law of God, and the King's Law, let him have Judgment without delay,

whether it be to Death, or to Banish∣ment, or to Confiscation of Goods, or to Imprisonment,s 1.32 which was in part practised by the Kings of Israel,t 1.33 and ought much more to be done under the Gospel, that hath more of light and di∣rection in it to walk by; lest Liberty should turn into Licentiousness, in hold∣ing things contrary to the Analogy of Faith, and against the Rules of Charity, Purity, Loyalty, Sobriety and Expe∣dience, to the disturbance of the Peace and Unity of the Church, which Good and Pious Kings ought always to pre∣vent or restrain by wholesom and Penal Laws of Regulation, to encourage or fright their People the more to their Du∣ties and Obedience; which I shall in the next place touch upon with a light and unskilful Pencil.

Notes

• k 1.1

  Num. 10. Deut. 17.
• l 1.2

  C. 2.6. & 7. & Ed. 7. C. 1.
• m 1.3

  H. 3.
• n 1.4

  By 13. El. 1. &c. 6 1 E. 3. c. 5. 4 H. 4. c. 13 5 H. 4. 11 H. 7. c. 1. 2 E. •• 4. 5 of P. M. ••. 3. 4 Jac. c. 1. 22 E. 4.
• o 1.5

  Upon Ps. 110.2.
• p 1.6

  De Re∣pub. l. 9. c. 1. Rom. 13. 1 Sam. ••0.16.
• q 1.7

  Cap. 17.
• r 1.8

  Judg. 19.
• s 1.9

  Rom. 3 4. Eccl••s. ••. Esdr. 7 25, 26, 27. Rev. 2.20.
• t 1.10

  Ps. 82.6.
• u 1.11

  Rom. 13.
• w 1.12

  2 Chro. 10.14.
• x 1.13

  2 Sam. 19.27.
• y 1.14

  Pr••v. 20.8.
• z 1.15

  2 King. 12.••2. 1 Kings 10.8.
• a 1.16

  Tacit. Annal. l. 4.
• b 1.17

  Gal. 2.14.
• c 1.18

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• d 1.19

  1 Cor. 14.40.
• e 1.20

  Mal. 1.
• f 1.21

  Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Eph. 4. and 6.
• g 1.22

  St. Jude Ep.
• h 1.23

  1 Cor. 14.40.
• i 1.24

  Deut. 33.4, 5.
• k 1.25

  1 Chro. 23.
• l 1.26

  2 Chro. 34.33.
• m 1.27

  2 Chro. 29. & 30. & 31.
• n 1.28

  Euseb. de vita Constant. l. 2. c. 37, 38, 39.
• o 1.29

  Prov. 16.12, 20, 28.
• q 1.30

  Luk. 14.23. Rev. 2.2, 6, 14, 15, 20. Ch. 3.15, 16.
• r 1.31

  Jude ver. 22.23.
• s 1.32

  Ezr. 7.25, 26, 27.
• t 1.33

  2 Chro. 15.12, 13, 14, 15. & 29. & ••0. & 31. & 34.31, ••2, ••3. 1 Chron. 23.