form of any government be, whether it be monarchy or polyarchy, that which is supreme in it under God must be immediately from him. So far from true is that modern maxim of some Jesuited politicians, viz. that civil government is the people's creature; which by necessary consequence excludes God from being the supreme governor of the world: for if he be absolutely supreme, there is none can be supreme immediately under him, but by an authority derived immediately from him. So that the relation of sovereign hath this right unalienably appendant to it, to be accountable to none but God; from whom alone it holds its authority, and to whom alone it is subjected. And therefore for subjects to call their sovereign to account, is both to arraign God's authority and to invade his peculiar; to set ourselves down in his throne, and summon his authority before us, and require it to submit its awful head to our doom and sentence; which is as high and impious an injustice as can be offered either to God or man, and (till popery, that fardle of religious impostures, set treason and rebellion abroach) as abhorrent to all Christian principles and practices as hell is to heaven, or darkness to light. But then, since sovereigns are God's vicegerents, and do reign by his authority, they have also an inseparable right to be obeyed in all things, wherein they do not interfere with the commands of God; for in obeying them we obey God, who commands by their mouths, and wills by their laws and edicts: and as he who refuses to obey the viceroy's command, doth in so doing disobey the king himself, unless he commands the contrary; so he who disobeys his sovereign, who is God's viceroy, doth in so doing disobey God, un

less it be where God hath countermanded him. So that while he commands only lawful things, he hath an undoubted right to be obeyed; because his commands are stamped with divine authority, and are thereby rendered sacred and inviolable. Again; since sovereigns are the supreme representatives of God's power and majesty upon earth, as being his immediate substitutes; they have also an unalienable right to be honoured and reverenced by their subjects, because they bear God's character, and do shine with the rays of his majesty; before which every creature in heaven and earth ought to bow and lie prostrate: and therefore for subjects to contemn and vilify their sovereigns, to expose their faults, and uncover their nakedness, and lampoon and libel their persons and actions, is an affront to God's own majesty, and an unjust and impious profanation of that divine character they bear about them. Once more; since sovereigns are substituted by God for the common good, to protect the innocent, and avenge the injured, and guard the rights of their people against foreign and intestine fraud. and violence; they must hereupon have an undoubted right to be aided and assisted by their subjects; because without their aid it will be impossible for them to accomplish the ends of their sovereignty. And therefore for subjects to refuse to aid their sovereign with their purses or persons, when legally required, or by any indirect means to withdraw themselves from his assistance, whenever his necessities call for it, is to detain from him a just right that is owing to his character and relation. And as these rights are all implied in the relation of a sovereign, so are there others implied in the relation of

a subject; for sovereign power being ordained by God for a public good, to guard and defend the innocent, to shelter and relieve the oppressed, to fence and propagate true religion, and adjust and balance private rights and interests; every subject hath a right to be protected by it, so far as it is able, in his person and legal rights, in his just liberties and privileges, and sincere profession of true religion: and that sovereign who doth not employ his power to these purposes, but through wilful and affected error or ignorance imposes a false religion on his people, or betrays, oppresses, or enslaves them himself, or permits others to do it either out of malice or carelessness, is an injurious invader of their rights and properties; and though he be not accountable to any earthly tribunal, shall one day answer for it at the tribunal of God.

2. There is the relation of subordinate magistrates to the sovereign and people: such are the judges and justices, the governors of towns, cities, and provinces, and the like; who, by virtue of that authority which is stamped upon them, and which they derive, as I told you, from God, who is the head and spring of all power and dominion, have by virtue of that a right to be honoured, and reverenced, and obeyed by the people, according to the degree and extent of their authority. For whereever it is placed, authority is a sacred thing, as being a ray and impress of the divine majesty, and as such may justly claim honour and reverence from all men; and whoever contemns the lowest degree of it, offers an affront to the highest. He who contemns subordinate magistrates who are vested with

the king's authority, doth therein contemn the king; and he who contemns the king, who is vested with God's authority, doth therein contemn God. Whatsoever therefore the personal faults and defects of magistrates may be, men ought to consider that their authority is a sacred thing, and, as such, challenges their reverence and obedience by an unalienable right; and that therefore to behave themselves frowardly, stubbornly, or irreverently towards a lawful magistrate, is to detain from him his rights, and offer an unjust affront to his character; which, how good soever they may be in other instances, doth in this bespeak them highly dishonest and injurious. And as the relation of subordinate magistrates entitles them to the people's reverence and obedience, so the relation which the prince and people bear to them, entitles them both to their fidelity, vigilance, and justice. For subordinate magistrates are the king's trustees for himself and his people; and in their hands he deposits the honour, security, and rights of his own crown and dominion, together with the safeguard and protection of the just and legal rights of his people. So that upon their acceptance of this trust, by which they engage themselves faithfully to discharge it, the king acquires a right to their faithful and vigilant care to see that his authority be reverenced, his laws obeyed, his person, government, and properties secured; the people acquire a right to be protected by them in their persons, reputations, liberties, and estates; and so far as they are wilfully failing either towards the king or the people in any of these matters, they do unjustly detain the king's or the people's rights, or

both; they betray the trust committed to them, falsify their own engagements, and, under the mask of authority, are public robbers of mankind.

3. There is the relation of pastors and people : for since, out of his tender care to the souls of men, God hath instituted an order of men to administer to them those holy ordinances by which he conveys his grace and Spirit, to instruct them in their duties, admonish them of their errors, and warn them of their dangers, and guide them to eternal happiness; there doth from hence arise a near and sacred relation between the people and their respective guides and pastors. They are joined together by the ties and obligations of religion, which gives them a mutual right in one another; and which gives the pastor a right to be diligently attended to by the people in his religious ministrations; to be construed in the best sense, and fairly treated and complied with in all his pious reproofs and admonitions; to be honoured and reverenced for his work's sake; to partake with the people in their temporals, as they do with him in his spirituals; and to be supported by them, according to their ability, with a fair and honourable maintenance: and they who are wanting to their pastor in any of these particulars, deprive him of that which is as much his right in conscience as any thing can be theirs in law. And then as for the people, they have also a right to have holy things duly and regularly administered to them by their pastor, to be taught and instructed by him with wholesome doctrine and example, to be prudently admonished of their faults and dangers, and counselled and advised by him in all their spiritual straits and exigencies; and he who is wilfully failing in the