THe Warre is wonderfull that Antichrist should fight against the Lambe with his own Horns; for what are the horns of the Lambe but his own power? And what is that power, but the power of the keyes? And what power have the keyes, but to bind and loose, remit and retain sinnes? And to whom is this power given, but to the Pastors of the Church? And of them who [Page 2] challenge the ordination of all Ministers, and the jurisdiction over all persons, but the Bishops? And therefore of them we conclude, what they would have ac­cording to revelation. Apoc. 13.11. the second Beast had two horns like the Lambe, the honour of Episcopacie, but he spake as a Dragon, the dread of their calling, and disgrace of so great a dignitie. The ten horns, Dan 7.24. Rev. 17 12. are expounded to our hands to be ten Kings, that take away the Cesars, 2. Thes. 2.6, 7. and succeed him in his kingdom, Rev. 13.1. the crowns were upon the sixth head, Rev. 12 3 that is one Cesar held them, and by civill and barbarous warres ten enjoy them to themselves, which is called an Apostasie from Cesar, 2. Thes. 2.3 and this is first in order, but in time we must joyn it with another from Christ, Revel. 17.12. and this is to Antichrist, to whom the other give their power, and both fight with the Lambe and his chosen Army, who as Troopers in white, and upon white horses, make their expedition against a cruell companie with the greatest innocencie and alacritie in the world. Antichrist is said to come out of the earth, Revel. 13 11. both for secresie and silence. He is not seen so soon as the ten Horns that rise out of the Sea, for they are up in commotion, but he steals up in their troubled waters, and at their back subdues them, Dan. 7.25. Let my counsell be acceptable to the King and Kingdom, and consider our Camps, and how we have argued our selves into a civill warre, and from words are come to blows. Both cannot be innocent, or Caviiiers of the same condition. The Troo­pers in white must be known by the truth, and the truth by God and the Coun­trey. God, if we defend true Religion; and the Countrey, if we seek the peace of it.

The miserie of our warre shall be the meditation of our miserie, ever since we were a Kingdom. We have been ruled by Romanes from the first King that ever we had, who having killed his own Father by accident, exiled himself into this Island. A thousand yeers and more before Christ, Brute a noble Romane ruled us, and some 58. yeers before Christ we fell into a civill warre, and Julius Cesar conquered us, and when the Cesars were conquered, we fell into a civill warre, and the Saxons Fortiger sent for to help him conquered his sonne Vortimer, and themselves by a civill warre fell into an Heptarchie, and in this time came the Monke from the Pope and mastered our Bishops, and by them our Kings, and at this time they are suspected to joyn with a Malignant Partie, to part the King and his Councell, and all because he cannot have a Monarchie of their making, which is stamped with that character, 1. Sam. 8 9 11. where the judgement, reason, or will of the King is tyrannie, if the judgement of the Kingdom be not in it. Nineteen Propositions propounded by his Councell have provoked him ex­ceedingly, and made many to think his very Councell would impose a tyrannie upon him, and all this for want of a true distinction between justice distributive, and commutative. Distributive of honours to deserving persons, and in this the Kings Prerogative cannot be violated. Privy Counsellors, Bishops, Judges, Soul­diers, publick Officers, Courtiers, Servants to the King are by him to be honored, [Page 3] but not to the hurt of the Kingdom. His Majestie must look by distributive j [...] stice to the qualities of the persons he honours, that they be as himself, not for themselves, but the common good. Queen Elizabeth would say, Populus nihi preciocissimus, Courtiers, Maledictus, and when his Majestie saies his beloved peo­ple, too many curse them, and say keep them under. By reason of the which op­pression they cry to God, and we hope God will heare them, as he hath in this Parliament; which zealously seek the peoples good, not to distribute honours the right of the King, but prevent their hurt the right of the Kingdom by com­mutative justice, that respects not persons but things; and if his Majestie meane to distribute hurtfull honours, his Councell may well request that commutative justice may not be exchanged into tyrannie. Jus militiae [...]m bellum indicendi quam gerendi cum inimicis, pacis quoque contrahendae & paciscendae cum peregrinis est lex Re­gis. To proclaim and make warre, to contract and make peace, are in distribu­tive justice the Royalties of a King: but in commutative justice, the men and money the King would have to make war, must come from common consent. Let this be the carriage of the Common-wealth, and we shall soon be at peace.

THe Campe of Christ consists of 144000, and the Campe of Antichrist of 666; not because Christ hath the greater number, but the better men, as being vir­gins undefiled with women, Rev. 14.4. The other is a round number of a name, of a Beast, of a man, Rev. 13.17, 18. There will be great wisdome to search them out, and as opposites compared together will more clearely shew themselves. The 144000 is distributed into 12 Tribes, and the 12 Tribes into foure Beasts, Rev. 4.6. and here we must begin our search, Domine, ediscere nobis parabolam istam, Mat. 15.15. Wee must in the allusion fetch our Campe from the Congregation in the Wildernesse, Psal. 68.10. Thy Beasts dwelt therein; So our English ancient translation hath it, and the originall word is so, and our new translation gives us the sense of it, for by the Beasts we must understand Gods people, which in this booke of the Revelation is the ordinary expression of that part of the Church, as the 24 Elders are of the Pastours, to whom the 24 thrones belong to judge the o­thers, and the crownes of gold to shew their rule. They are the presbyteries of the Church, from the which our Bishops are fallen into a temporall jurisdiction, worse then any other Lay-Eldership, under the which for this thousand yeares our Church hath groaned and if we will learne a true presbytery, we must finde it in the first 600 yeares. S ^t Paul speakes of it, 1 Tim. 4.14 and Cornelius and Cypri­an use it in the same sense, and that without the Eldership they did nothing in the Consistorie. Epist. 6.13.35. Presbyt. & Diacon. Cornel. Cypr. Ep. 46. doubtlesse [Page 4] the 24 Presbyteries allude to the 24 Ephemeries, 1 Chron. 24.4. Luke 1.8. But there is now no speaking of Consistories, we must follow the Camp, as David did from Hebron to take Jerusalem from the Je [...]usites, before wee bring the Arke of God into any peaceable Tabernacle, and wee have fixed our selves in the Lambes Campe under foure Standards, that expresse both the order and excellency of it. The 12 Tribes of old were reduced to foure Ensignes, Judah, Issachar, and Zebu­lon to a Lyon: Reuben, Simeon▪ and Gad to a Man: Ephraim, Manasses and Benja­mine to an Oxe or Bullocke: Dan, Aser, and Nephtali to an Eagle. Thus were the Tribes quartered, and from them we take the spirituall meaning of the Lambes Campe, for fortitude and courage in the Lyon: for wisdome and prudence in a man: for patience and industry in the labouring Oxe: for speed and expedition in an Ea­gle; and we may further take notice of the names of Beasts in this Booke, to de­scribe both the Campe of Christ, and the Campe of Antichrist. Beasts are Em­blemes for both, yet in Greeke their names are not the same. Zoa is for Gods peo­ple, and the word signifies life. The other is Therion, and there be two of that kinde, the Beast with ten hornes, and the Beast with two: the first makes up Anti­christs Army, as it consists of the people that follow him, and the second is Anti­christ himself, or the Bishops that abuse the power of the Lamb in the two keys, turning them into so many hornes to the hurt of the Saints; for if it were not so there should be no such cause to complaine of them as now is done by all men, e­ven those that are no enemies to their calling. If they had used the keyes aright, and not made hornes of them, long might they and their calling have flourished, but now the crownes on their heads, and thrones they have sitten upon, are like to be shaken; and as Simeon the propheticall Monke foreseeing an earth quake, whipped the pillars of the Church, bidding them stand fast, for they should be sha­ken; so might these pillars have foreseene their scourge, if they by whipping of o­thers had not thought their standing had been out of the danger of a Parliament. I would wish them to struggle no longer, but to joyne their learning with others, and seriously observe the times, and what mischiefe they have done by the keyes; which I cannot but honour in the Episcopall Dignitie, and doe verily beleeve that in the Presbytery, the Thrones and the Crownes doe not equally belong to all the Elders. The thing I shall note is, that the Lambes hornes make Antichr st as well in England as at Rome; and since Austen the Monke medled with us, our Episco­pacie hath had too much of divine right, and by the excesse of that is like to bring Church Government into a defect, if both extreames be not prevented; but I say we must have the fire of civill warre quenched, before we can be quickned in the right use of the keyes. I have begun the Campe at the foure Standards, reduced the 12 Tribes to them, and now must number the Tribes as they are elsewhere no where numbred, Rev. 7. Each Tribe hath the like number, and that is compleatly twelve thousand, surmounting the Beasts almost one halfe, yet put them altoge­ther, and they are above halfe short of his number, if we compare the great Court of the Temple with the Temple it selfe, as the holy Ghost hath done, Rev. 11.1, 2. [Page 5] What a number of Gentiles may stand in Atrio magno, in respect of the inwarp Temple, and therefore it we goe on to view both Campes, we shall learne out in the end the mystery. Certainly, in six and twelve is some hidden secret. The great and grand Captaine of our Campe hath his under-Captaines, and they are the 12 Apostles, in this booke called 12 Starres, to give the Church light, Rev. 12.1. Secondly, they lie in the foundation with the Prophets, to beare it up for sinking in the sand of unsound doctrine, Ephes. 2.20. Rev. 21.14. Every building is re­duced to its foundation, and all companies to their Captaines; and in this Anti­christ sheweth himselfe that stands so much for Peter, that he would lay all upon him, because he is called Petros, which signifies a stone, and among 12 fundamen­tall stones he is one, and perchance may be the first in order, but under none, and therefore they are laid orderly one by one, that the Tribes may build upon them all. So was it first, and since the 12 Apostles have left their cure to 24 Elders to be understood by the Ephemeries of the Priests and Levites, but I suppresse my no­tion, and will set upon the hurtfull hornes of the Church, that is, Kings and Bi­shops. Kings and Kingdomes that make the Campe of Antichrist, and Bishops that make Antichrist to be their Generall. I hope Kings that have helped the Whore will hate her, and Bishops that are good, if any be so, for the most beleeve there are none, will no more horne it, but hate that office, and learne as brethren to exercise the keyes.

THese ten hornes given to the Beast with two horns shall make warres with the Lambe and his called, chosen, and faithfull Servants. The ten horns are these, Vortimer and Hengist in England; Childerike, Gunderike, and Theodorike in France; Riciarius in Spaine, Genserike in Africke; Theodemire in Panonia; Marcian in Greece. Cesar hinders the being of the Beast, and these ten Kings make warre for him, and the Apostasie from him and Christ begin una hora, ver. 12. It is a rule in the Word that wrath should be feared when God does first inflict it, as in the capti­vitie of the City and the Sanctuary, 2. King. 25.3.8. There be seven yeers diffe­rence, and the judgement begins with the first to account the seventie yeers cap­tivitie. But in Mercies it is clean contrary, the return of the people was a great blessing, Ezr. 1.1. but the building of the Sanctuary a greater, Ezr. 6.14. and so the sure account of 70. weeks for the wellfare of the Jews must begin with the second yeer of Darius Nothus, Ezr. 4.24. Happy are the Nations that take no­tice of Christ when he is angry, lest it kindle into wrath and they perish, Psal. 2. [Page 6] 12. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Mercie is at hand to this Nation that with zeal seek to set up Gods Sanctuary amongst us, and the time will be shortly when we shall see it, in the expulsion of those clouds that have fallen upon us since Reformation began amongst us; but by reason of the Samaritanes that dwell amongst us, could not to this day be accomplished. You have heard that judgement should be speedily looked unto, and Antichrist was not of 700. yeers thought of, but began as Magnum mundo malum, when these ten Kings fell from one Cesar: They are the Apostles words, 2. Thes. 2.3. a falling away first, that is, of duty to Cesar, and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Crowns depart from the heads of the Cesars, Revel. 12.3. to the horns of these Kings, Rev. 13.1. This Apo­stasie of kingdoms is the evidence we must have for the other being a mysterie, and not so manifest at the first. There are noted three divisions of the Romane Monarchie, the first by Constantine, the second by Theodosius, the third by Charles the great. We must begin at the second, for no sooner had Honorius and Arca­dius the Empire shared between them, but the West part was quickly distracted and dilacerated as we have said, and Augustus Cesar breathed out the ghost in Augustulus, when Odoacer made him abdicate and devest himself of all Imperi­all dignitie. The miserie began by Alaricus, Ann. 395. was followed by Rada­gaisus, and the miseries of warre like a Northerne storme, Revel. 7. fell upon the people as grasse, and the Princes of the Provinces as the taller Cedars, Zech. 11.2. and then the very mountain of the Monarchie was moved, Rev. 8.8. and cloven asunder into ten kingdoms, and the Westerne starre fals out of the orbe thereof, Revel. 8.10. so that between the first assault by Alaricus and this of Odoacer, Ann. 475. we may state the division to be made perfect in the number of ten Kings, Anno 456.

Martian in the East was a good King in those miserable times, and had peace, and died before he had fully reigned seven yeers, leaving behind him great grief in the hearts of the people, because they lost so good a man. He called the fourth generall Councell, wherein Leo and his Legates stormed at the honour done to the Patriarke of Constantinople, fearing some might advance him above the Pope, whose perking up in pride prepared for Antichrist, who prevailed least in the East till the second Nicene Councell, which was the first that ever decreed the worship of Images. The Greek Emperours still retaining the name, as Leo Isaurus, Con­stantinus Cabalinus, Nicephorus, Stauratius, Leo A [...]menus, Michael Baldus, Theo­philus, opposed, when Gregory the second, and third, Paul the first, Stephen the fourth, Adrian the first and second, Leo the third, Nicholas the first, &c. upheld them. 338. Bishops in a Councell at Constantinople, Ann. 754 solemnly condem­ned them, and 787 their veneration was made a Law, which to that day was a private opinion, and as Irene, and after her Basilius gave Images their first ho­nour, so God dishonoured their succession with the Saracens and Turks, and the next Generall Councels, as the Papists call them, were all to make warre with the judgements of God for the sinnes of the Church, and the children of God that re­pented, [Page 7] but none at all to pull down Idolatrie, for the ten Councels called by the Popes of Rome, are not one of them like the first, but are found to handle these matters, fitter for a Councell of Warre, then Consistory of Priests. First they consult of an holy Warre with the Saracens and Turks, and so pilgrimes go out of the West into the East to purchase graves to themselves in the Holy Land by fighting with God in his two woes, Revel 9. and the very sinne that caused them is expressed, v. 20. of which they repented not, and prospered accordingly. Se­condly, they are recalled again from the East into the West, to fight with the Waldenses, and Emperours that stood in the Popes light, and lastly the Kings and Princes of Germanie that have forsaken the Church of Rome, how are they per­secuted as Lutherans, and so you have all the Generall Councels held by the Church of Rome, and I wonder they do not blush at their words, for the first con­demne them of horrible pride, and they have denied two of them in some Ca­nons of Orders as if they had erred in a point of Faith, when they used their law­full libertie in such things as were most indifferent. The fifth Generall Councell condemned Vigilius for a cursed Nestorian. The sixth judged Honorius for an He­reticall Monothlite. The seventh and eighth manifest them to be guilty of Idola­trie never decreed before by any Councels, but condemned by all, and the ten last (the worst of all) are called by Popes against regall, and Imperiall authoritie, and condemne truth for heresie, Saints for Hereticks, and prove the Pope the greatest Tyrant in the world. If from Martian we cast our eyes upon the 9. Kings, I know not one of them to be good, and for our Nation before Vortimer I can say much both for Kings and Bishops. We had the first Christian King and Emperor in the world. An. 181. Lucius sent to Eleutherius for a Bishop, Rome being then famous, and his kingdom preserved pure religion to the daies of Diocletian, & in that 10 ^th persecution we were tried for it. Our nation is thought to receive the Gospel from the ministerie of Joseph of Aramathea, which was purely maintained above 250. yeares. It was the onely Sanctuary of the Saints, and for them being persecuted to flee unto. In the tenth Persecution Diaclesian found us out, as being the most generall, cruell, fatall and finall of all the rest, as we may feare this to be in which wee are, and may be the last by Antichrist, as that was by the Pagans. This pro­ved our faith, and I finde it fayled not till Austen the Monke came from Rome. And I pray you note it as being noted in the booke of God. I would faine know seeing all the Seven Seales have their Indexes, as foure Beasts for the foure first, and earthquake for the sixt, and Seven Trumpets for the last. What is meant by an Al­tar for the fifth, Rev. 6.9. certainely, Martyrdome, and of all the ten Persecutions that is called Aera Martyrum, the age of the Martyrs, as being the greatest an most remarkeable, and ended in our Nation, because he that put an end to it un­der God, was the Great Constantine, borne in our Nation, and for the Church to deliver it. After him we fell into a division and the two Kings I mentioned began our misery, and of Britons wee became Saxons, and fell into an Heptarchie, and from Rome comes Austen, and lands in Kent, the first part of our seven Kingdoms, [Page 8] and there begins as great a confusion in the Church, as there was in the State. He found many godly men of the Clergie which he insulted over, and being for­saken by them as used to no Romane pride, or Popish orders, but following such as came from the East, which Rome abhorred, they would none of his reformati­on, and therefore like a limbe of Antichrist he begins their persecution, and by such Romane hornes made warre with the Lambe, which lesse or more hath conti­nued to this day; for as the ten hornes that have usurped the Crownes from the Caesars, so the two hornes that the Bishops usurpe from Christ are used against him, and have for 900 yeares, as a booke taken out of the Records of the Tower hath shewed unto us, plainly proving the keyes of the Church by the Bishops to have beene turned into hornes to the hurt of it; for it is they that challenge the Lambes hornes, that is, the power of the keyes, Rev. 13.11. to themselves, and by the Lambes owne hornes fight against him, and cause the ten hornes so to doe, who are rather seduced by them, then cruell to Christians, being Christiās themselves; for it were unnaturall for the members of the bodie to doe so, except some De­vill, or Divine inspired with his spirit should doe it, and my conjecture is not in vaine by the words of a Pope himselfe, which are these, Rex superbiae prope est, & quod dici nefas est, Sacerdotum est praeparatus exercitus, Greg. l. 4. Ep. 38. A King of pride is not the Pope alone, but a prepared Army of Priests, and therefore may in our Bishops extend to us, and yet it is not they as Bishops, but as they use their keyes for hornes, and cause Kings to use their Crownes so, to whom in the Lambe himselfe, I shall now yeeld a better example in their Warres.

Piè regnare, rectè judicare, justè pugnare, to reigne religiously, to judge rightly, and righteously to make warre, are proclaimed in Heaven by a divine Herald when the Captaine of our Salvation goes out to warre. He sits upon a white horse when he gives Crownes to the obedient, Rev. 6.2. and casts them downe in the disobedient, Rev. 19.18. The Priests have Crownes and Thrones, Rev. 4.4. grant them to be the Bishops, and as we have said of their two hornes, to be their honours from the Lambe, yet will not the Lambe spare them in the great day of his wrath, Rev. 6 16, 17. Let Princes and Prelates thinke of their powers and pre­rogatives as vaine things with an angry Lambe; but why say I angry, when he calls to a nuptiall Supper, Rev. 19.7.9 O but it is the Supper of the great God, ver. 17. and the fowles of Heaven must be filled with it, that is, the Devills and hell, for thither goe alive the Beast and the false Prophet, ver. 20. and hell-fire de­voureth them, and because we meet them so coupled in their finall & fatall ruine, let us see their combination in all their Warres, and the expression is thus. The Beast and his Image, the Beast and the false Prophet. The Beasts Prophets are the Bishops, and he is deceived with their hornes, that is, with the keyes, and by them they mould Kings into what Image they please, and therefore (good Reader) toties quoties, as often as thou meets them thus matched, make this their mystery. The Beast and his Image, by Beast understand the false Prophet, or the Bishop with two hornes, and by his Image, all Kings and Kingdomes moulded by him, [Page 9] and then with ease thou wilt understand, that when Beast and false Prophet come together, the Beast must be Kings, and the false Prophets the Bishops that deceive them, which is no more dishonour to good Bishops, then the false Prophets of Baal, were to the Prophets of the Lord. Where are thy Prophets, Jer. 37.19. that is, thy deceivers, O Zedekiah; have not I told thee the truth, that the Caldeans would come againe, and though Pharaoh King of Egypt had wounded them all, yet should they rise up in their Tents, and borne the Citie, ver. 10. Where are the men of thy peace? Jer. 38.22. Thy Prophets that promised thee, that the King of Babylon should not returne, have deceived by their counsell, and prevailed, and fastned thee in the myre, &c. Pedes tui defixi funt in luto, retro conversi, from my counsell thou art gone, and invincibly tyed by flatterers in the mudde of thy own mischiefe. Be wise therefore, yee Kings, how you fight for Antichrist by the Lambes owne hornes, or your owne; let not the Bishops be your Counsellours, as Austen was when he came from Rome, but let such as come from the Lord Je­sus Christ, with the right use of the keyes, command your Consciences, (not your Crownes) to use them for the Lambe, and by his example to make warre; and give me leave first to begin with Piè regnare, to rule religiously, that is, from God as the cause, for God as the end, and by men as the meanes.

And because his Majestie saies the personall right is in him, as of any other thing he enjoyes, I will shew him plainly by Gods Word his errour, as the Parliament hath done by the Laws, confessing my self a Royalist for his crown to be from God, and a friend of the kingdome to hold their own by Law which they have from God as well as his Majestie means to maintain what God hath given him. Come we to the issue between David and all Israel for the kingdome and his wife. They restore her without conditions, as being absolutely Davids, and injuriously both taken from him by Saul, and kept from him by Israel, and therefore well might David say, See not my face, except my right in her be restored to me. Wife, children, goods belong to a King by commutative justice, and in them all, he hath a personall right, and is injured in the detaining of them from him by any force, or fraud. By this right he may not claime his kingdome, and say to his people the land is mine in commutative justice, for so it is not his but theirs: yet in distributive justice it is his not theirs, for God hath distributed to him the honour of the kingdome, but not the goods. Every man by Law is the owner of what is his, and all being put together the kingdome may keep from the King whatsoe­ver it hath, if by common consent it will not grant it him. The Historian saies, Imperium iisdem modis tenetur, quibus paratur, a kingdome is kept as it is gotten, and that is but two wayes, by conquest or by contract. The right of conquest, or rather the wrong, is obtained by the Sword and is so held, except people can by the same come to their right again. The Lord was with Hezekiah, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the King of Assyria, and served him not, 2. King. 18.7. The King is here in the case of his Subjects conquered by [Page 10] the sword, and the Rebellion is warranted by the Sword to recover what is lost by it, and therefore Gods people need not to fear the title of the Sword, but cou­ragiously defend themselves against it, which conquerours may call rebellion, but it is such a rebellion as shall be prospered by God, and therefore let Kings be wise that hold their kingdoms by contract, and keep it as God hath given it unto them. The foure Monarchies are so many tyrannies, because they are both kept and come by in the tempests, and tumults of warre, Dan. 7.2.3. Winds, that is, warres strive, and Beasts, not men, appear as they can get out of the Sea when they seek their greatnesse.

Come we to the second, Rectè judicare, the Lambe makes warre in judgement, Revel. 19.11. and his word counsels all kings, Prov. 20.18. With good advice make warre. [...], unicum rectum consilium, magnam mi­litum manum vincit, Eurip. It is said of Issachar, 1. Chron. 12.32. that the children of his Tribe were understanding men of the times to know what Israel ought to do. Its to be noted that all the Tribes that came to Hebron to serve David are set down by their severall excellencies, and this Tribe is described, Gen. 49. by strength, compared to the bone of an Asse able to bear any burden, and it is the best so to do, when prudence with patience makes us content to rest quietly in a kingdome, and what we can to follow that judgement, that is the stay of all good government, and so he that is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, is a meek and patient Lambe, and stands first as an Angel at the Altar to receive petitions, Rev. 8.3. as also he stands by it when it is measured, Revel. 11 1. as the Judge of truth, and he that is Agnus occisus, a Lambe killed once for our sinnes, is likewise Leo occidens, a killing Lion to all his Enemies; but before he kill in fight, he is found in judgement, and so should all kings be. Its true, Armorum officia nisi jussu principis sint interdicta: that is, to private men, for God hath onely given the sword to the Magistrate, Rom. 13.4. who is not the Master of Arms, but the Minister of God, and is to revenge for him. Men of warre are the honour of the King, and the help of the Kingdom. It is in him by distributive justice to give the honour: but because they help at the charge of the kingdom, justice commutative calls for the Councell thereof, and without common consent no warre can be made. God had commanded his people to root out Amaleke from under heaven, and had laid his anathema or curse upon the seven Nations, and so for warre with them no counsell was necessarie, but they might at all times fight against them, and because when they overcame, they made them but Tributaries, Judg. 1.28. they were overcome and made Tributaries themselves, and met with iron chariots, ver. 19. they could not conquer, and the strong hold of Sion that the Jebusites maintained to the dayes of David, and yet God was with them, but because they were not wholly with him, he suffered them so often to fall into their hands that hated them, and yet helped them by Judges which for the most part were good, and ho­noured for faith, Hebr. 11.32. when the kings they desired were few of them [Page 11] good; for we are deceived in our thoughts of Monarchie, and do not distinguish it from an apparent Thearchie or divine Dynastie, wherein not the will of men, but of God is followed, and the people are happy that are at the will of one man, when his will is ruled by the will of God: but when kings follow their owne judgement their government is never good. There is one excellent reason why the Canaanites dwelt amongst them, Judg. 3.1, 2. to learn them warre not as a blessing, for no warre is good in it self, but to be wise and prudent is of excellent use, and to be taught by enemies, valour is vertue prized by God. I must tell my Nation the iron chariots, and the strong holds of the Jebusites that oppose it is for the sinnes thereof, and yet to try our manhood to expell them at the last. Com­manded warre needs no counsell, but where God is silent, no Israelite might fight but by the advice of their great Senate, Deut. 17.8. and to this the King was referred, verse 14. and by it to him warre was permitted, and therefore Christ is an example of judgement in warre, and for method to make my mat­rer more plain, I will speak of a threefold judgement, Judicium legis, Regis & Regni, the Law, King, and Kingdom.

The judgement of the Law is this, Id Rex attribuat legi, quod Lex attribuit ei, Let the King yeeld that to the Law, which the Law hath yeelded to him. His Crowne, his Councell, his Kingdome, the Church, and Lawes of both are in his custodie. Rex leget in libro legis, &c. Deut. 17.19. the copie of the Law must be in his keeping, and for his learning; First, to live by it; secondly, not to lift up himselfe above his brethren; thirdly, to beware of Apostasie; fourthly, to pro­long his life; lastly, to leave his Kingdome to his children. The Kings Crowne is not so much his by any inherence in himselfe, or inheritance from others, as adherence to the Law. It both sets on and keeps on his Crowne. He that reades the seven Seales of five judgements, hath but two mercies interlaced. The Gospel in the first Seale, and the Law in the third. Of the Gospel the Embleme is White; of the Law Blacke, and both for expedition are well mounted, and well armed. The first with a Bow and Crowne, to give honour to the conqvered, for whosoe­ver obeyes the Gospel is crowned with felicitie. Law is severe and appeares in blacke with Balances to measure out all things. The two Horses that oppose these are red and pale, bloud and death, warre and woe, to teach us all the true causes of our misery. Lev. 26.25. I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrell of my Covenant. The Crowne is not safe that keeps not the Covenant of the Law and Gospel with Christ. Idolatry consented unto by Christian Kings, and op­pression not regarded by them, hath deprived them of their Crownes, and caused so many alterations in all States.

For the second, no King is above his Councell, but in it as a member. In solio Rex est sine pars, In the royall seate the King hath no Peeres, but in Concilio habet pares, but in his Councell he hath Peeres, not to command him, but to agree with him, Consilio, consensu, & votis. Wee may resolve two doubts: The first of a ne­gative [Page 12] vote; the second of the Kings Supremacie. That the King hath a nega­tive vote, quoad interesse suum, no man can denie it, and the Lords and Commons have as much, and the reason is good, no one part can be injurious to another; but quoad interesse regni, of the common good of all the members, they are all bound to consent to what is good, and to dissent from what is evill. The privie Councell, Judges of the Land, Men of Warre, Officers of State, &c. must all re­ceive their honours from the King. What shall be done to the man whom the King de­lighteth to honour? Esther 6.6. Royall favours must come from his Majestie, but not with the hurt of the Subject. Ahasuerus reading the Chronicles of his King­dome, and finding Mordecai to have done him good service; will have him re­warded, and Haman that had prepared the Gallowes for him, must be the Herald of his enemies praise; and when Hamon is found unworthy of his honour for the hurt he had done his Subjects, the King commands him to be hanged for Mor­decai. Here is right distributive justice, and it is onely the Kings to give: But to denie his Councell hearing in the hurts of his people is most unjust, and com­mutative justice pleads the Parliaments providence to provide for all these, and no King can denie it, and the contention riseth that the King may not give ho­nours, which is true when they hurt his Subjects, and the Parliament may see he be punished whosoever hath such honours, and if by that Councell they may be deprived of them, doubtlesse to save labour, they may advise the King not to give them, except he meane greater hurt to his people, then honour to his favou­rites. In point of Supremacie, we may thus be resolved. Rex est Major singulis, the King is greater then his Subjects, Minor universis, lesse then his Kingdome, and his Councell that represents it. No King needs to feare his Supremacie, for he both hath it sine pari, and cum paribus. The Kingdome is his, but not by con­quest but contract. The Church is his to nurse it with the sincere milke of the Word, but not with the poyson of Popery. The Lawes are his to keepe them, but not command them at his will. The judgement of the King in the distributi­on of rewards & penalties is properly his, as the provision in the vacancie of Par­liament, for such accidents as happen above Law, beside the Law, or beyond the reach of it. Ʋltra, supra, praeter legem, the Prerogative is as necessary, as Ordinan­ces are to provide where Law is defective: but contra legem terrae, or fundamen­tall Lawes commonly and constantly received in this Kingdome, neither King nor Councell are warranted at all, for both are to build upon that foundation. Furthermore, the King hath no legislative power, contra statuta regni.

Having then found out the maine matter of the Kings Prerogative in praemiis & paenis, wee will to his honours adde potestatem vitae & necis, and instance in that Indictment of Felons, Contra coronam & dignitatem regis, &c. It is the Scripture phrase, Vir es mortis, thou art worthy to dye, Non morieris, thou shalt not dye, is the Kings mercie, and yet here his Majestie is limited, and his pardon proves voyd when there comes in interesse viri, the right of any one man, much more interesse regni.

Come wee then to the judgement of the Kingdome, 1 Sam. 10.25. where wee have the same word Mishphat, but applied to a more universall subject, as the judgement of the Kingdome, and so it is in the great Councell, Deut. 17.8, 9.11. There is a judgement in that place inferiour both to the King and Councell, and therefore what is too hard for inferiour Courts comes to the supreame, and that must be heard and feared of all. The great Charter of this Kingdome granted by Henry the Third, hath in it these three fundamentall Lawes, that completely secure every free man in this Kingdome, yet now most grossely troden downe by our Caviliers, and his Majestie should thinke how they ecclipse his Protestati­on, in a violation of it and all good Lawes. There is jus personarum, nullus liber ho­mo capietur, imprisonetur, the Law is that no free person be arrested, imprisoned, or compelled to doe or suffer any thing, further then may justly be required by Law, Secondly, Jus rerum, quae nostra sunt sine nostro consensu à nobis tolli non possunt, fine furto Latricinio. Thirdly, Jus actionum, nulli justitiam negabimus, &c. How are these Lawes observed in the Kings Army? What man can resist violence done to his person? save his goods from rapine, theeverie and Latrocinie? What a­ction or suit of Law can he have with lawlesse men?

Our last Point taken from our Captaine, is justè pugnare, to make warre in righ­teousnesse. This appeares in foure things, in his vesture which he puts on, in his thigh which gives him issue, in his name which gaines him glory, and the inscrip­tion of it both upon vesture and thigh, to perpetuate his honour and fame to the worlds end. He puts not on the vesture of bloud, he is Dominus in albis, he and his appeare not like bloudy Souldiers, but Saints in the purest white, which may be dipt in bloud by others, yet is it not their naturall dye. From his thigh spring forth millions of men to be saved, though he smite his enemies, as Sampson did hip and thigh with a great slaughter. His name in so doing is above all names, and Kings and Lords must come under it. The inscription of this honour remaines to this day on his vesture and thigh, maugre the malice of Antichrist and all his members, whose reigne is most wicked, judgement corrupt, and warre cruell. They that cannot abide to be servants to God, are willing to be the greatest slaves to the Devill. Gideon knowing the best Government to be a Thearchie, would not make himselfe a Monarch at the request of the people, Judg. 8.23. neither he nor his should alter the forme of the Kingdome. God for him and them should rule over his owne Nation, all that he will request of them are the golden eare-rings gotten from the Ishmaelites, amounting to a thousand seven hundred Shekles of Gold, which the people give, and what will they not give to make an Idoll? They give beside them, Ornaments, Collars, and Purple rayment, that was on the Kings of Midian, and beside these the chains also that were about the Camels neckes. A masse of costly materialls to make an Ephod for a Monument of their deliverance. David danced in one not so costly as this for it seemes to rise as high as Aarons Ephod. But Gideons good intention for God proved superstition in the [Page 14] people, who went a whoring after it, as soone as he was dead, and what he made for God, that they speedily dedicated to Baal. Ready they were to change their Government, and to take any man for God that did them good, though he were but the instrument, and God to shew how the best men may fall, gives them o­ver in some things, to shew they are but men. Thus was it with the Bishops of the Church, who by the keyes of the Lambe gained power with his people, and might command eares and eare-rings, hearts and hands to set up any monument to God, and time turned all humane inventions into grosse Idolatrie, and the ve­ry keyes of Bishops prevailed with Princes to goe higher then their eares, even to the top of their heads, and take off their crownes and cast them into the laps of Bishops, which have so handled their keyes, that they are become hornes held as upon the head of the Lambe, but made to fight against him, and having gotten such interest in the Kings of the earth, and their Crownes, worke them as hornes with theirs to wage warre with the Lambe, and he is blinde that sees it not in that part of the Street of the great Citie that is in our Kingdome. Brute, a Romane, for killing of his Father was banished into this Land 1108 yeares before Christ, the first King we reade of in our Nation, and some 58 yeares before Christ, Ju­lius Caesar being twice beaten out of the feild, and having his sword taken from him by a valiant Duke, and Labianus a Romane Tribune slaine by it, yet civill warres gave Caesar the Conquest in the end, and when he lost his Crownes in all his Monarchie, he had the same fortune with us, and Vortiger, a murtherer of his lawfull Prince to hold that Crowne craves ayde of the Saxons, and Hengist for his good service marries his Daughter, and brings in the Saxons so fast, that as tum­bling stones they came upon us, and at the last over-bare us, and then in this divi­sion comes in the Monke, and finds hornes fitted for him, and so the ten and two in all Kingdomes agree to warre with the Lambe, and these miserable slaves to Satan, hold up his Soveraigntie against Christ, and not like Gideon grant Christ his due, but as the people will have it, take all to themselves.

We see in our dayes jurisdiction without Empire to doe well in the Low-Coun­treys, and the States rule, and their Generall the Prince of Orange warres for them and they prosper, and may be some thinke they should doe better, if the Prince of Orange were their Emperour and the States changed to be his servants. There is Empire with Jurisdiction, & this is two-fold, merum and mixtum Imperium. Meere Empire is absolute Monarchie, and that is divine or humane. Divine, when God alone rules, the Lord shall rule over you, Judg. 8.23. yet at this time was there an Aristocratie assisting this Thearchie, for Elders left by Moses, Numb. 11.17. and that out-lived Joshua, Judg, 2.7. kept the people to God, and might have done without kings in all ages; for we are mistaken to tye God to them as by a Law of nature to rule the world. The Apostle saies not be subject to kings, but to the higher powers, Rom. 13.1. and to confirm us in them all, saies, Th re is no power but of God: and therefore to resist one power with another is as well damnation, [Page 15] as to withstand one alone; and therfore the forms of Government must be obey­ed, as well as the men. In the Thearchie of God the Elders as well as the Judges were to be obeyed, and may be with the disobedience of God, the people disobey­ed their Elders, and for both were punished. Judges successively one by one are raised, and for the life of their judge they are said to obey, and being dead the people presently sin again, and I may think if they had been constant the people would have been the worse, for if God had not humbled them by oppression, and so for a time made them sensible of their sorrow, they would, as they were in the wildernesse, have kicked at their Commanders, Deut. 32.15. And it appears so at the last, as the book of the Judges ends their story for Thearchie, that when they had no kings, that is, no Judges, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. This is arbitrary Government, when no form is observed, and as his Majestie ac­cuseth the Parliament thereof, I dare say if we forsake that Government, our go­vernment will be as the King saith, an arbitrary Government, for meer Monar­chie is no other. The two Horns have long strugled for it, and the Pope hath gotten it over all Bishops, and what is his Government but an arbitrarie rule to rule all men, as if all men should rule themselves, and because Cesar kept Anti­christ from this meer Empire to the thraldome of all the world: so Antichrist having gotten it from Cesar, cannot endure one king to reign in Italie, Dan. 7.24. till he have subdued them all. I told you of Martian a good Emperor in the East, and the story of him is that the Gothes, Vandales, Hunnes, and Herules, gained from him the West, which in the dayes of Theodosius belonged to Constantinople, and from them it was gained again by the valour of Belisarius, Mundus and Narses, and lost again to the Lombards, and by Antichrist assisted, by the French they are expelled, and the French too, and the two Horns evidently the absolute Lord of Rome, and hath used his horns so well, that he hath by one means or another tamed all the ten horns, and either by power or policie makes them serve him. Its true hatred is spoken of, Revel. 17.16. and in point of Supremacie, Princes have since Luther looked to this two horned Beast, but their hatred as yet is not hot enough to eat the flesh of the Whore that Antichrist labours to cherish in all Countreys. I said this Whore ends her street with us; for Brute a Romane, and Cesar, Romes perpetuus Dictator have given us more then Ireland and Scotland our denomination to be in the Romane jurisdiction, and I see Historians this way carrie it no further then us, which makes me suspect this our present time to agree with Revel. 11.7. The street that from Jerusalem stretcheth to us receives our dead bodies, that is, the Church and kingdom which politically are taken for the two witnesses, for blessed be God, in spite of all that Antichrist, but Church and Kingdom do witnesse against him, and he must do to us as he hath done in other parts of this street over-seas, bring us into straits with them, and the time is when they and we shall be about to finish our testimonie, and then riseth the last warre to lay us as lowe as the graves mouth, but not to be able to bury us, and [Page 16] the reason is the same that we have, 2. King. 13.21. The invasion of the Moa­bites make the Israelites cast by the dead body, and fall to their Armes. It is thought our Bishops the worst of them intended again to bury us in the grave of Poperie, and would have done it solemnly in an honourable mixture of their sweet spices and ointments; and if Scotland had liked well of their preparation, we had gone down together into the grave without redemption. But Scotland tasted the Myrrhe and Aloes to be too bitter to be born by them, and there is no Nation up to hinder the buriall, and Ireland and England follow, and over-seas the watres preceded, and God hath so tempered them, that if the Papists were at peace amongst themselves, they would put hard but they would heave us into their grave again, and make their own peace by our buriall. They are glad they have such an opportunitie to kill us, but their joy will not be long to hurt us with their horns. That the horns of Antichrist are in it is more then manifest, and our Bi­shops so blinded that they see it not, and if his Majestie cannot through the thick mist see it, God of his goodnesse expell the clouds that hinder it. Admiration it is, to see Papists flock to the Church, take the oath of Supremacie by some dis­pensation from the Pope, for certain it is he loves meer Monarchie, and may per­swade Kings so to do; for if his Majestie would come to mixt Monarchie, and consider that his Parliament by the form of Government in this Kingdom must joyn with him, he would not forsake it, or suffer Papists to abuse his Crowns, to be as horns to goare his own body to prevent an arbitrarie Government where it cannot be, to set up one where it ought not to be. I say it is impossible to make the Parliament an Arbitrarie Government, for all the world cannot invent a bet­ter means against it, and his Majestie saies the power of it is sufficient to prevent tyrannie, and therefore it cannot set it up: But Anarchie, and absolute Monar­chie that is not Thearchie, is and ever will be an arbitrary form of Government, the good God of heaven preserve us from both for we are in the way to fall in­to them.