39. And it was a heresy that Mr Melvin taught, that presbyter and bishop are one function in Scripture, and that abbots and priors were not in God's books, dic ubi legis; and is this a proof of inconsistency of presbyteries with a monarchy ?

40. It is a heresy to the P. Prelate that the church appoint a fast, when king James appointed an unseasonable feast, when God's wrath was upon the land, contrary to God's word (Isa. xxii. 12—14); and what! will this prove presbyteries to be inconsistent with monarchies ?

41. This Assembly is to judge what doctrine is treasonable. What then? Surely the secret council and king, in a constitute church, is not synodically to determine what is true or false doctrine, more than the Roman emperor could make the church canon, Acts xv.

42 Mr Gibson, Mr Black, preached against king James' maintaining the tyranny of bishops, his sympathizing with papists, and other crying sins, and were absolved in a general Assembly; shall this make presbyteries inconsistent with monarchy? Nay, but it proveth only that they are inconsistent with the wickedness of some monarchies; and that prelates have been like the four hundred false prophets that flattered king Achab, and those men that preached against the sins of the king and court, by prelates in both kingdoms, have been imprisoned, banished, their noses ript, their cheeks burnt, their

ears cut.

43. The godly men that kept the Assembly of Aberdeen, anno 1603, did stand for Christ's Prerogative, when king James took away all General Assemblies, as the event proved; and the king may, with as good warrant, inhibit all Assemblies for word and sacrament, as for church discipline.

44. They excommunicate not for light faults and trifles, as the liar saith: our discipline saith the contrary.

45. This assembly never took on them to choose the king's counsellors; but those who were in authority took king James, when he was a child, out of the company of a corrupt and seducing papist,

Esme Duke of Lennox, whom the P. Prelate nameth noble, worthy, of eminent endowments.

46. It is true Glasgow Assembly, 1637, voted down the high commission, because it was not consented unto by the church, and yet was a church judicature, which took upon them to judge of the doctrine of ministers, and deprive them, and did encroach upon the liberties of the established lawful church judicatures.

47. This Assembly might well forbid Mr John Graham, minister, to make use of an unjust decree, it being scandalous in a minister to oppress.

48. Though nobles, barons, and burgesses, that profess the truth, be elders, and so members of the general Assembly, this is not to make the church the house, and the commonwealth the hanging; for the constituent members, we are content to be examined by the pattern of synods, Acts xv. 22, 23. Is this inconsistent with monarchy ?

46. The commissioners of the General Assembly, are, 1. A mere occasional judicature. 2. Appointed by, and subordinate to the General Assembly. 3. They have the same warrant of God's word, that messengers of the synod (Acts. xv. 22-27) hath.

50. The historical calumny of the 17th day of December, is known to all: 1. That the ministers had any purpose to dethrone king James, and that they wrote to John L. Marquis of Hamilton, to be king, because king James had made defection from the true religion: Satan devised, Spotswood and this P. Prelate vented this; hope the true history of this is known to all. The holiest pastors, and professors in the kingdom, asserted this government, suffered for it, contended with authority only for sin, never for the power and office. These on the contrary side were men of another stamp, who minded earthly things, whose God was the world. 2. All the forged inconsistency betwixt presbyteries and monarchies, is an opposition with absolute monarchy and concluded with a like strength against parliaments, and all synods of either side, against the law and gospel preached, to which kings and kingdoms are subordinate. Lord establish peace and truth.

The question is either of government in general, or of particular species of government, such as government by one only, called monarchy, the government by some chief leading men, named aristocracy, the government by the people, going under the name of democracy. We cannot but put difference betwixt the institution of the office, viz, government, and the designation of person or persons to the office. What is warranted by the direction of nature's light is warranted by the law of nature, and consequently by a divine law; for who can deny the law of nature to be a divine law?

That power of government in general must be from God, I make good, 1st, Because (Rom. xiii. 1) "there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God." 2d, God commandeth obedience, and so subjection of conscience to powers; Rom. xiii, 5, "Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, (or civil punishment) but also for conscience sake;" Pet. ii. 13, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, &c. Now God only by a divine law can lay a band of subjection on the conscience, tying men to guilt and punishment if they transgress,

Conclus. All civil power is immediately from God in its root; in that, 1st, God hath made man a social creature, and one who inclineth to be governed by man, then certainly he must have put this power in man's nature so are we, by good reason, taught by Aristotle.1 2d, God and nature intendeth the policy and peace of mankind, then must God and nature have given to mankind a power to compass this end; and this must be a power of government. I see not, then, why John Prelate, Mr Maxwell, the excommunicated prelate of Ross, who speaketh in the name of J. Armagh, had reason to say, That he feared that we fancied that the government of superiors was only for the more perfect, but had no authority over or above the perfect, nec rex, nec lex, justo posita. He might have imputed this to the Brazillians, who teach, that every single man hath the power of the sword to revenge his own injuries, as Molina saith,3

QUESTION II.

WHETHER OR NOT GOVERNMENT BE WAR-. RANTED BY THE LAW OF NATURE.

As domestic society is by nature's instinct, so is civil society natural in radice, in the root, and voluntary in modo, in the manner of coalescing. Politic power of government agreeth not to man, singly as one man, except in that root of reasonable na

1 Aristot. Polit. lib. 1, c. 2.

2 Sacro Sanc, Reg. Majestas, c. 1, p. 1, 3 Molina, tom, 1, de justit. disp. 22.

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ture; but supposing that men be combined in societies, or that one family cannot contain a society, it is natural that they join in a civil society, though the manner of union in a politic body, as Bodine saith,1 be voluntary, Gen. x. 10; xv. 7; and Suarez saith, That a power of making laws is given by God as a property flowing from nature, Qui dat formam, dat consequentia ad formam; not by any special action or grant, different from creation, nor will he have it to result from nature, while men be united into one politic body: which union being made, that power followeth without any new

action of the will.

We are to distinguish betwixt a power of government, and a power of government by magistracy. That we defend ourselves from violence by violence is a consequent of unbroken and sinless nature; but that we defend ourselves by devolving our power over in the hands of one or more rulers seemeth rather positively moral than natural, except that it is natural for the child to expect help against violence from his father: for which cause I judge that learned senator Ferdinandus Vasquius said well,3 That princedom, empire, kingdom, or jurisdiction hath its rise from a positive and secondary law of nations, and not from the law of pure nature. 1st, The law saith1 there is no law of nature agreeing to all living creatures for superiority; for by no reason in nature hath a boar dominion over a boar, a lion over a lion, a dragon over a dragon, a bull over a bull: and if all men be born equally free, as I hope to prove, there is no reason in nature why one man should be king and lord over another; therefore while I be otherwise taught by the aforesaid Prelate Maxwell, I conceive all jurisdiction of man over man to be as it were artificial and positive, and that it inferreth some servitude whereof nature from the womb hath freed us, if except that subjection of children to parents, and the wife to the husband; and the law saith, De jure gentium secundarius est omnis principatus. 2d, This also the Scripture proveth, while as the exalting of Saul or David above their brethren to be

5

1 Bodin. de rep. lib. 1, c. 6.

2 Suarez, tom. 1, de legib. lib. 3, c. 3.

you

3 Vasquez illust. quæst. lib. 1, c. 41, num. 28, 29. 4 lb. lib. 2, in princ. F. de inst. et jur. et in princ. Inst. Cod. tit. c. jus. nat. 1. disp.

5 Dominium est jus quoddam. lib. fin. ad med. C. de long. temp. prest. 1, qui usum fert.

kings and captains of the Lord's people, is ascribed not to nature (for king and beggar spring of one clay), but to an act of divine bounty and grace above nature, 1 Sam. xiii. 13; Ps. lxxviii. 70, 71.

1. There is no cause why royalists should deny government to be natural, but to be altogether from God, and that the kingly power is immediately and only from God, because it is not natural to us to be subject to government, but against nature for us to resign our liberty to a king, or any ruler or rulers; for this is much for us, and proveth not but government is natural; it concludeth that a power of government tali modo, by magistracy, is not natural; but this is but a sophism, a κατὰ τι ad illud quod est dictum axis, this special of government, by resignation of our liberty, is not natural, therefore, power of government is not natural; it followeth not, a negatione speciei non sequitur negatio generis, non est homo, ergo non est animal. And by the same reason I may, by an antecedent will, agree to a magistrate and a law, that I may be ruled in a politic society, and by a consequent will only, yea, and conditionally only, agree to the penalty and punishment of the law; and it is most true no man, by the instinct of nature, giveth consent to penal laws as penal, for nature doth not teach a man, nor incline his spirit to yield that his life shall be taken away by the sword, and his blood shed, except on this remote ground: a man hath a disposition that a vein be cut by the physician, or a member of his body cut off, rather than the whole body and life perish by some contagious disease; but here reason in cold blood, not a natural disposition, is the nearest prevalent cause and disposer of the business. When, therefore, a community, by the instinct and guidance of nature, incline to government, and to defend themselves from violence, they do not, by that instinct, formally agree to government by magistrates; and when a natural conscience giveth a deliberate consent to good laws, as to this, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," Gen. ix. 6, he doth tacitly consent that his own blood shall be shed; but this he consenteth unto consequently, tacitly, and conditionally,—if he shall do violence to the life of his brother: yet so as this consent proceedeth not from disposition every way purely natural. I grant reason may be necessitated to assent

to the conclusion, being, as it were, forced by the prevalent power of the evidence of an insuperable and invincible light in the premises, yet, from natural affections, there resulteth an act of self-love for self-preservation. So David shall condemn another rich man, who hath many lambs, and robbeth his poor brother of his one lamb, and yet not condemn himself, though he be most deep in that fault, 1 Sam. xii. 5, 6; yet all this doth not hinder, but government, even by rulers, hath its ground in a secondary law of nature, which lawyers call secundario jus naturale, or jus gentium secundarium; a secondary law of nature, which is granted by Plato, and denied by none of sound judgment in a sound sense, and that is this, Licet vim virepellere, It is lawful to repel violence by violence; and this is a special act of the magistrate.

2. But there is no reason why we may not defend by good reasons that political societies, rulers, cities, and incorporations, have their rise, and spring from the secondary law of nature. 1st, Because by nature's law family-government hath its warrant; and Adam, though there had never been any positive law, had a power of governing his own family, and punishing malefactors; but as Tannerus saith well, and as I shall prove, God willing, this was not properly a royal or monarchical power; and I judge by the reasoning of Sotus,2 Molina,3 and Victoria. By what reason a family hath a power of government, and of punishing malefactors, that same power must be in a society of men, supposing that society were not made of families, but of single persons; for the power of punishing ill-doers doth not reside in one single man of a family, or in them all, as they are single private persons, but as they are in a family. But this argument holdeth not but by proportion; for paternal government, or a fatherly power of parents over their families, and a politic power of a magistrate over many families, are powers different in nature,—the one being warranted by nature's law even in its species, the other being, in its specie and kind, warranted by a positive law, and, in the general only, warranted by a law of nature. 2d, If we once lay the supposition,

up

1 Ad Tannerus, m. 12, tom. 2, disp. 5. de peccatis,

q. 5, dub. 1, num. 22.

2 Sotus, 4. de justit. q. 4, art. 1.

3 Lod. Molina, tom. 1, de just. disp. 22.

4 Victoria in relect. de potest civil. q. 4, art, 1.

that God hath immediately by the law of nature appointed there should be a government, and mediately defined by the dictate of natural light in a community, that there shall be one or many rulers to govern a community, then the Scripture's arguments may well be drawn out of the school of nature: as, (1,) The powers that be, are of God (Rom. xii.), therefore nature's light teacheth that we should be subject to these powers. (2.) It is against nature's light to resist the ordinance of God. (3.) Not to fear him to whom God hath committed the sword for the terror of evil-doers. (4.) Not to honour the public rewarder of well-doing. (5.) Not to pay tribute to him for his work. Therefore I see not but Govarruvias,1 Soto,2 and Suarez, have rightly said, that power of government is immediately from God, and this or that definite power is mediately from God, proceeding from God by the mediation of the consent of a community, which resigneth their power to one or more rulers; and to me, Barclaius saith the same,4 Quamvis populus potentiæ largitor videatur, &c.

QUESTION III.

WHETHER ROYAL POWER AND DEFINITE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT BE FROM GOD.

The king may be said to be from God and his word in these several notions:

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1. By way of permission, Jer. xliii. 10, Say to them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them." And thus God made him a catholic king, and gave him all nations to serve him, Jer. xxvii. 6 -8, though he was but an unjust tyrant, and his sword the best title to those crowns.

2. The king is said to be from God by way of naked approbation; God giving to a people power to appoint what government they shall think good, but instituting none in special in his word. This way some make kingly power to be from God in the

1 Govarruvias, tr. 2, pract. quest. 1, n. 2, 3, 4.

2 Soto, loc. ett.

3 Suarez de Reg. lib. 3, c. 4, n. 1, 2.

4 Barclaius con. Monarchoma, 1. 3, c. 2.

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general, but in the particular to be an invention of men, negatively lawful, and not repugnant to the word, as the wretched popish ceremonies are from God. But we teach no such thing: let Maxwell1 free his master Bellarmine, and other Jesuites with whom he sideth in Romish doctrine: we are free of this. Bellarmine saith that politic power in general is warranted by a divine law; but the particular forms of politic power, (he meaneth monarchy, with the first,) is not by divine right, but de jure gentium, by the law of nations, and floweth immediately from human election, as all things, saith he, that appertain to the law of nations. So monarchy to Bellarmine is but an human invention, as Mr Maxwell's surplice is; and Dr Ferne, sect. 3, p. 13, saith with Bellarmine.

3. A king is said to be from God, by particular designation, as he appointed Saul by name for the crown of Israel. Of this hereafter.

4. The kingly or royal office is from God by divine institution, and not by naked approbation; for, 1st, we may well prove Aaron's priesthood to be of divine institution, because God doth appoint the priest's qualification from his family, bodily perfections, and his charge. 2d, We take the pastor to be by divine law and God's institution, because the Holy Ghost (1 Tim. iii. 1-4) describeth his qualifications; so may we say that the royal power is by divine institution, because God mouldeth him: Deut. xvii. 15, "Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose, one from amongst thy brethren," &c.; Rom. xiii. 1, "There is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God." 3d, That power must be ordained of God as his own ordinance, to which we owe subjection for conscience, and not for fear of punishment; but every power is such, Rom. xiii. 4th, To resist the kingly power is to resist God. 5th, He is the minister of God for our good. 6th, He beareth the sword of God to take vengeance upon ill-doers. 7th, The Lord expressly saith, 1 Pet. ii. 17,"Fear God, honour the king;" ver. 13, 14, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whe

1 Sacrosan. Reg. Maj. the Sacred and Royal Pregative of Christian kings, c. 1, q. 1, p. 6, 7.

2 Bellarm. de locis, lib. 5, c. 6, not. 5. Politica universe considerata est de jure divino, in particulari considerata est de jure gentium.

ther it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as those that are sent by him," &c.; Tit. iii. 1, "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers;" and so the fifth commandment layeth obedience to the king on us no less than to our parents; whence, I conceive that power to be of God, to which, by the moral law of God, we owe perpetual subjection and obedience. 8th, Kings and magistrates are God's, and God's deputies and lieutenants upon earth, (Psalm lxxxii. 1, 6, 7; Exod. xxii. 8; iv. 16,) and therefore their office must be a lawful ordinance of God. 9th, By their office they are feeders of the Lord's people, Psalm lxxviii. 70-72, the shields of the earth, Psal. xlvii. 9, nursing fathers of the church, Psal. xlix. 23, captains over the Lord's people, 1 Sam. ix. 19. 10th, It is a great judgment of God when a land wanteth the benefit of such ordinances of God, Isa. iii. 1-3, 6, 7, 11. The execution of their office is an act of the just Lord of heaven and earth, not only by permission, but according to God's revealed will in his word; their judgment is not the judgment of men, but of the Lord, 2 Chron. xix. 6, and their throne is the throne of God, 1 Chron. xxii. 10. Jerome saith, to punish murderers and sacrilegious persons is not bloodshed, but the ministry and service of good laws. So, if the king be a living law by office, and the law put in execution which God hath commanded, then, as the moral law is by divine institution, so must the officer of God be, who is custos et vindex legis divinæ, the keeper, preserver, and avenger of God's law. Basilius saith,2 this is the prince's office, Ut opem ferat virtuti, malitiam vero impugnet. When Paulinus Treverensis, Lucifer Metropolitane of Sardinia, Dionysius Mediolanensis, and other bishops, were commanded by Constantine to write against Athanasius, they answered, Regnum non ipsius esse, sed dei, a quo acceperit, the kingdom was God's, not his; as Athanasius saith, Optatus Milevitanus helpeth us in the cause, where he saith with Paul, "We are to pray for heathen kings." The genuine end of the magistrate, saith Epiphanius, is ut ad bonum ordinem universitatis mundi omnia ex deo bene disponantur atque administren

3

1 Jerome in 1. 4, Comment. in Jerem.

2 Basilius, epist. 125.

3 Athanasius, epist. ad solita.

4 Optat. Melevitanus, lib. 3.

5 Epiphanius, lib. 1, tom. 3, Heres. 40.