A57975:824
Lex, Rex
Lex, rex The law and the prince : a dispute for the just prerogative of king and people : containing the reasons and causes of the most necessary defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland and of their expedition for the aid and help of their dear brethren of England : in which their innocency is asserted and a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet entitled Sacro-sancta regum majestas, or, The sacred and royal prerogative of Christian kings, under the name of J. A. but penned by Jo. Maxwell the excommunicate P. Prelate. : with a scriptural confutation of the ruinous grounds of W. Barclay, H. Grotius, H. Arnisœus, Ant. de Domi P. Bishop of Spalata, and of other late anti-magistratical royalists, as the author of Ossorianum, D. Fern, E. Symmons, the doctors of Aberdeen, &c. : in XLIV questions.Lex, rex The law and the prince : a dispute for the just prerogative of king and people : containing the reasons and causes of the most necessary defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland and of their expedition for the ayd and help of their dear brethren of England : in which their innocency is asserted and a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet intituled Sacro-sancta regum majestas, or, The sacred and royall prerogative of Christian kings, under the name of J. A. but penned by Jo. Maxwell the excommunicate P. Prelat. : with a scripturall confutation of the ruinous grounds of W. Barclay, H. Grotius, H. Arnisœus, Ant. de Domi P. Bishop of Spalata, and of other late anti-magistratical royalists, as the author of Ossorianum, D. Fern, E. Symmons, the doctors of Aberdeen, &c. : in XLIV questions.
London: printed for John Field, 1644London: printed for Iohn Field, 1644
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Arg. 5. The lawful Ruler, as a Ruler, and in respect of his office, is not to be resisted, because he is not a terror to good works, 1but to evil; and no man who doth Good, is to be afraid of the Office, or the Power, but to expect praise, and a reward of the same, v. 3. But the man who is a King, may command an idolatrous and superstitious Worship, send an Army of Cut-throats against them, because they refuse that Worship: and may reward Papists, Prelates, and other corrupt men, and may advance them to places of State and Honour, because they kneel to a Tree-Altar, pray to the East, adore the letters and sound of the word [Jesus] teach and write Arminianism: And may imprison, deprive, confine, cut the ears, and ⟨p. 268⟩rip the noses, and burn the faces of those who speak, and preach, and write the truth of God: and may send Armies of Cut-throats, Irish Rebels, and other Papists, and malignant Atheists, to destroy and murder the Judges of the Land, and innocent defenders of the Reformed Religion, &c. The Man (I say) in these acts, is a terror to Good works, an encouragement to Evil: And those that do Good, are to be afraid of the King, and to expect no praise, but punishment and vexation from him; Ergo, this reason in the Text will prove that the Man, who is the King, in so far as he doth these things that are against his office, may be resisted; and that in these we are not to be subject, but only we are to be subject to his power and Royal authority, in abstracto, in so far as according to his office, he is not a terror to good works, but to evil. 6. The lawful Ruler is the minister of God, or the servant of God, for Good to the Commonwealth: And to resist the servant in that wherein he is a servant, and using the power that he hath from his Master, is to resist the Lord his Master, v. 4. But the man who is the King, commanding unjust things, and killing the innocent; in these acts▪ is not the minister of God, for the Good of the Commonwealth: he serveth himself, and Papists and Prelates, for the destruction of Religion, Laws and Commonwealth: therefore the Man may be resisted, by this Text, when the office and power cannot be resisted. 7. The Ruler, as the Ruler, and the nature and intrinsical end of the office is, that he bear Gods sword, as an avenger to execute wrath on him that doth evil, v. 4.
Arg. 5. The lawfull Ruler, as a Ruler, and in respect of his office, is not to be resisted, because he is not a terrour to good workes,