I.
IS it lawfull for Kings to doe, as Samuel from the Lord told the People Saul would do?
ANSW. I.

No; for Samuel at the establishing of Saul, 1 Sam. 10. 25. told Saul and all the people the duty of a King, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord, as a witnesse betwixt King and people, so that all that the Lord doth command, is lawful to be done, and it is a sinne not to do it; and all that the Lord doth forbid, is unlawfull to be done, and is a sin to doe it. The Lord doth not command Kings to take from one, and to give to another, and to do their own wills: therefore, it is not lawfull for Kings to exer­cise [Page 2] this Regal power: but the Lord saith that they will do so and so, which is not a sufficient warrant for Kings to do so and so, be­cause the Lord in his Law of the duty of a King hath expresly forbidden the same. Therefore, it is unlawfull for Kings to exer­cise this regall power.

II.
If it be unlawfull for Kings to take from, and to give unto, and to doe what they please, why did, or doth the Lord command the people to yeeld obedience, and serve their Kings, according to such demands, commands, will and plea­sure.
ANSWER.

For two reasons: first, in respect of the Lord himselfe, because he was King of Israel, and had that regall power and prerogative-Royal, to do his own will with man.

Secondly, in respect of man, because Israel would have a man to be their King, and forsake the Lord their God peremptorily; notwithstanding all before mentioned, Israel must know that a mor [...]all man, one of their brethren, to bee exalted to the dignity of the Lords throne of Majesty, unto which belongs such regall power, and Royal prerogative, that was not fit for any sinful mor­tall man, because the wayes power, and wisdome of man, cannot (as the Lord) exercise such a power, but either on the right hand or on the left, they will transgresse against God or man, in diso­beying the Commandement of the Lord, and this is the cause of the Lords anger, and therefore for a punishment, Israel must yeeld in obedience, and serve their Kings accordingly.

III.
Touching the true and only right place, office, and power of a King, according to the Word of God.
ANSWER.

First, the true and only right place and office of a King, is from amongst, above, and over all the people, alone to sit in the Lords throne of Majesty.

Secondly, The true and only right Office of a King, is to bee the Minister of God for the wealth or good of the people over whom he is set, doing the will (according unto the Lawes, Sta­tutes, and Ordinance) of him in whose throne he sits.

Therefore, Kings are not to make any Statute, Law, or Ordi­nance, destructive or contradictory unto them that were made by God before he made any King.

So that even Kings are to be as subject to the Lord, as men to Kings, and so as one intrusted by God, as the Lords Vicegerent, or Lieutenant over the Lords people betwixt God and Man, to see and look unto it, that God may be honoured, glorified, served by himselfe, and all the people, to see and looke to, and preserve the people from all enemies, perils & dangers, both from abroad and at home.

Thirdly, the true and only right power of a King, is as the Mi­nister of God, to bear the sword of Justice, to take vengeance on, or execute justice upon all evill doers, and to praise, honour, and encourage such as do well.

IIII.
Touching the difference between the Kings of Israels power, and the Kings of Englands power, and the Subjects of both.
ANSWER.

The people of Israel were within the Covenant and promise of Jesus Christ, unto whom the Lord gave his Lawes, Statutes, and Ordinances, both Morall and Ceremoniall: unto whom also was given Priests and Prophets to administer unto them, and to teach and direct them, and Judges to guide and lead them, and the great God of Heaven and Earth to be their King, to save de­fend, and deliver them.

Therefore, the Kingdome and Crown of Israel, was the Gods of Israel, and so of a greater and higher power and majesty, then any other kingdome of the earth.

V.
Touching the power of the Kings of Israel under the Morall Law, and the power of the Kings of England under the Gospel Law.

Answ. The Kingdom and Crown of Israel, was the Gods of Is­rael, who in judgment to the people for their sins, gave the same to Saul, and confirmed it upon David and to his Seed. The Lord never gave any Kingdom, nor Crowne, neither did the Lord ap­point or anoint any Kings, save only of Israel and Judah.

The Kings of England were not at their beginning appointed nor anointed, as were the Kings of Israel, but were by the Nation ordained as Kings over this Nation, according to the custome of this Nation, which is, before they wil admit the Crown to him, they do intend, hee must by Covenant and Oath imposed upon him, yeeld them their rights and priviledges, and that he wil rule them according to the Customs and Laws of the Land▪ and then they grant unto him the Crown for his own life: so that power that hath power to impose an Oath before a Graunt, hath power to detain the thing to be granted, if the Oath be refused by him to whom the Grant is intended, and every Grauntee is subject to the Grauntor, according to the Covenant of the Graunt, there can be no fee simple estate in the Grauntee of the thing granted, but the fee-simple estate of the thing granted is in the Gr [...]unter, viz. 1. The Kingdom or Common-wealth of England, is the Graunter. 2. The King of England is the Grauntee. 3. The Crown of England is the thing granted, So that the fee-simple estate of the Crown of England is the Common wealths of Eng­land to dispose of, according to the Custome and Lawes of the Land, which is by Covenant and Grant to the Prince in being, & after whose decease by custome, but no [...] by right of inheritance to the next in or of bloud, and so from one Generation to ano­ther in like manner. So that this Regal power doth not at all be­long to a King of England; therefore, if the Lord was wrath, and did exceedingly punish the Kings of Israel for exercising this re­gal power, before the light of the Gospel. How much more then shal Kings under the light and knowledge of the Gospel, incurre the wrath of God, if they be found guilty of oppression & tyran­nie against the believing members of the Lord Christ? themselvs drofessing the same faith, and acknowledging the same knowledg: [Page 5] the Lord is no respecter of persons, but the soule that sinneth shall dye.

A King of England may not by this regall power demand and command of and from the people, as the Kings of Israel, neither by the Laws of God, not by the Laws of the Land, neither are the people of England bound to that slavish obedience, as the peo­ple of Israel were; but the people of England, both by the Laws of God, and by the laws of the land, are freed from such a slavish obedience; and therefore both according to the lawes of God & the Land, may lawfully deny, aod refuse to submit because it is an unlawfull imposition, and where the demand and command unlawfull, the deniall or refusall is lawfull.

6. Props. How shall we know when a King doth transgresse against his Oath, and breake his Covenant, and what is the remedy?

An. A King doth transgresse his Oath, and breake his Covenant when that his demands are beyond the Nationall Law, which by vertue of his Oath, as it is a breach thereof is oppression, and when a King doth command of, and from the people such things as are opposite unto, and against the fundamentall Laws of the Land; which by vertue of of his Oath, as it is a breach thereof, is tyrany: which lawfully begets in the Common wealth an ab­solute deniall and refusall to such demands and commands, and so the peace of the land is endangered: the onely remedy to pre­serve the same, is for the King to preserve a Parliament, that is, to send out his Writs to the Commons to choose their Knights & Burgesses, who by vertue of the Kings Writs; and the Com­mons voices for them, are Parliament men, and as Arbitrators are to decide all differences in Church and State, and Common­wealth; whose conclusions and determinations, together with the Kings assent, consent, and signing, are binding Laws both to King and people.

7. Propos. How farre may or ought a King lawfully to deny to assent or consent, and signe their d [...]terminations and conclusions?

Ans. A King as he sits in the Lords throne may, and as he is in­trusted by God over the people, ought to deny to [...]ssent, consent [Page 5] and signe their determinations, if the same shall either be disho­nourable to the glory, worship, and service of the Lord, or inju­rious to the good of the Common-wealth, and no further; for it is his office to be as (or more) forward and carefull for both, as any other man, both by the lawes of God and the land, as he is the great Minister [...] of the greatest trust for both, by taking the same charge upon him.

8: Proposition, But if▪ [...] King shall deny to consent, assent, and signe the Parliaments determinations, although honourable to the Lord, and good and be­neficiall to the Common-wealth; then what is the Kings [...]ffence, benifit, or dan­ger; and their power, as they are Parliament-men, and so the body represen­tative of the Lord.

Answ. If a King shall deny to assent unto that which is lawfull befor God and man, and contend against it; and instead of signing their determinations, to seperate himselfe from them, and make warre against and upon them; he doth thereby break the peace, which as he sits in the Lords throne of Majesty, he ought to keepe, maintaine, and preserve; and also thereby he breakes and wilfully violates his Oath, and Nationall Covenant, by which he enioyes the Crowne, and so is an offender both against God and man, by both, for both, he is intrusted betwixt both. Gen. 7. 11. Iannes and Iombres, who had the Devils helpe, and by him did that they did in their withstanding of Moses? and so such are all they that do advise the King against the good advice of his grave and wise Elders the Parliament.