Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his…

In this Fury of the Rabble I was advised to withdraw a while from home; whereupon I went to Gloucester: As I past but through a corner of the Suburbs of Worcester, they that knew me not, cried, Down with the Round-heads, and I was glad ⟨p. 41⟩to spur on and be gone. But when I came to Gloucester, among Strangers also that had never known me, I found a civil, courteous, and religious People, as different from Worcester, as if they had lived under another Government. There I stayed a Month, and whilst I was there, many Pamphlets came out on both sides, preparing for a War. For the Parliaments Cause the principal Writing, which very much prevailed, was, Observations, written by Mr. Parker a Lawyer: But I remember some Principles which I think he misapplieth, as also doth Mr. Thomas Hooker, Ecclis. polit. lib. 8. viz. That the King is singulis major, but universis minor; that he receiveth his Power from the People, &c. For I doubt not to prove that his Power is so immediately from God, as that there is no Recipient between God and him to convey it to him: Only (as the King by his Charter maketh him a Mayor or Bailiff whom the Corporation chooseth so) God by his Law, as an Instrument, conveyeth Power to that Person or Family whom the People consent to; and their Consent is but a Conditio sine quâ non; and not any Proof that they are the Fountain of Power, or that ever the governing Power was in them; and therefore for my part I am satisfied that all Politics err, which tell us of a Magestas Realis in the People, as distinct from the Majestas Personalis in the Governors. And though it be true that quo ad naturalem bonitatem & in genere Causae finalis the King be universis minor, (and therefore no War or Action is good which is against the common Good, which is the end of all Government; yet as to governing Power (which is the thing in question) the King is (as to the People) Universis Major, as well as Singulis: For if the Parliament have any Legislative Power, it cannot be as they are the Body or People, as Mr. Tho. Hooker ill supposeth (who lib. 1. Polit. Eccles. maketh him a Tyrant that maketh Laws himself without the Body) but it is as the Constitution twisteth them into the Government:

In this Fury of the Rabble I was advised to withdraw a while from home; whereupon I went to Glocester: As I past but through a corner of the Suburbs of Worcester, they that knew me not, cried, Down with the Round-heads, and I was glad ⟨p. 41⟩